Chicken Dinner

Many of the towns we walk through have legends attached to them. Our guide book usually fills us in and often the church or artwork in the town tell the story. Here's the story for Santa Domingo.

"The Hanged Innocent"

A German family (father, mother, son) were on the pilgrimage to Santiago. In Santo Domingo they stayed with a farmer's family, and the farmer's daughter tried to seduce the son Hugonell, but, as a pious pilgrim he refused her. She became so angry that she hid some silver items in his pack, and after he left, called the authorities and accused him of theft. Upon finding the items in his pack, he was found guilty and hanged.

His grief stricken parents continued on to Santiago, but stopped to see their son's remains on the return journey (thieves were left to rot on the gallows as warnings to others). They were delighted to find that he was still alive, claiming that Santo Domingo had held him up so that he didn't die. The parents hurried to the magistrate and asked them to cut  down their son, as he was clearly innocent. The magistrate, who had just sat down to a hearty chicken dinner, shouted, "Why, he is no more alive than this roasted chicken that I'm about to eat." At this, the cooked chicken stood up on his plate, miraculously brought back to life, feathers and all, and crowed.

They keep some live chickens in a glass coop in the cathedral in honor of Hugonell.

You can buy Ahorcaditos "little hanged men" that are sweet almond cream pastries shaped like a shell, a popular local snack.

The cathedral was beautiful with a gorgeous carved wood choir section.