Gerió

The Giant with three heads and six arms

Geryon debuted in the Plaza of Wine (Plaça del Vi, in front of City Hall) in 2001. He is the biggest—and heaviest—giant puppet figure (gegant, literally “giant”) in Catalonia. He is the mythological giant with three heads and six arms, each set with its own distinctive personality. 

- The angry-looking one, with a shield and a spear, is “The Warrior.” Father Cinto, Verdaguer (the “Prince of Catalan poets”), explains that he was the person who killed the unfortunate Pyrene in the legend that tells the origin of the Pyrenees Mountains. 

- The one looking out of the corner of his eye, with the walking stick in one hand and a fist raised, is “Cowherd”, who tends oxen. According to classical mythology, the Greek hero Hercules stole Geryon’s oxen in one of his famous Twelve Labors. 

- And the one with the satisfied smile, holding a mortar trowel and a drafting compass, is “The Architect”, the legendary founder of the city of Girona. 

Geryon of Girona has another feature that is not found in either poems or legends. If you look under his skirt, you will find he has no more and no less than four feet! His dance is “The African Market”, that can only be seen in Girona’s Plaza of Wine (Plaça del Vi, in front of City Hall) on the inaugural day of the “Festivals of Saint Narcissus” (Girona’s major festival, held from late October to early November).