A Coca
The processional dragon of Iberian folk Catholicism, danced against Saint George at Corpus Christi. If the Coca bites — the harvest thrives.
In Redondela (Galicia) and Monção (Portugal), the Coca is still danced through the streets each Corpus Christi, confronted by Saint George. If the Coca bites the crowd — the harvest thrives. The community keeps its dragon alive, defeats it every year, and depends on its blessing. It is ritualized shadow-integration, performed annually in the plaza: a dragon everyone agrees to keep meeting.
The SGE Reading
Gift stage as *civic liturgy*: the shadow is not exiled, it is invited back into town square every summer.
Canon Resonance
Model for the saga's public rituals — the dragon that heals the community by being publicly, tenderly, defeated.
A Micro-Practice
Pick one shadow of yours (a grief, an anger, a fear) and set an *annual date* for it — one day a year to meet it in ritual and then send it back to sleep. Write the date on your calendar now.
Sources & Respect
Xerardo Pereiro on Redondela; A Festa da Coca de Monção documentation.
A living Corpus Christi tradition still danced by the communities of Redondela and Monção.