Queimada (drink)


Queimada is an alcoholic beverage of Galician tradition.


Queimada is a punch made from Galician augardente -a spirit distilled from the rests of winemaking- and flavoured with special herbs or coffee, plus sugar, lemon peel, coffee beans and cinnamon. It is traditionally prepared in a hollow pumpkin.
Typically, while preparing the punch a spell or incantation is recited, so that special powers are conferred to the queimada and those drinking it. Then the queimada is set alight, and slowly burns as more brandy is added.

Origins

Although sometimes believed to be an ancient Celtic tradition transmitted along generations, some claim that the Queimada was actually developed in the 1950s.
Queimada was initially prepared by groups of Galician emigrants in places like Madrid, typically after fellowship lunches and other group events. This was accompanied by theatrical revivals of old beliefs such as the reading of spells written ad hoc to keep witches away.
This ritual was so successful that it quickly became very widespread. Tito Freire designed in 1955 the clay pot in which Queimada is usually prepared and the spell that is recited nowadays was written by Mariano Marcos Abalo in the 1960s.
Queimada is now part of the Galician tradition and considered as a sign of Galician identity.

Tradition

The goal of the preparation ritual is to distance the bad spirits that, according with the tradition, lie in wait for men and women to try to curse them. All occasions are good for a queimada: a party, familiar meetings or gatherings of friends. After dinner, in the darkness of night, is one of the best times for it. The tradition also says that one of the perfect days to make the conxuro da queimada is in Samhain, the Celtic New Year's Eve. However, typically the queimada ritual takes place during St. John's Night or 'witches' night' on the 23rd of June.
The people who take part in it gather around the container where it is prepared, ideally without lights, to cheer up the hearts and to be better friends. One of them ends the process of making the queimada while reciting the spell holding up the burning liquid in a ladle and pouring it slowly back into the container.

Spell