San Xiao(in Galician; San Julián in Spanish) is a small, intimate church 20 kms outside Santiago de Compostela, in Brión. It is from the 18th century, built on the site of a former Romanesque church, and is in a tranquil setting. Aloft from the broad valley below(hence the name Bastabales or vast valley), the church has a quiet yet still used cemetery of the typical rural Galician sort, a couple of stone houses of considerable elegance and simplicity, and a few interesting trees, vines, and some other vegetation that come together to make this a spot for reflection. There is currently a curious family of geese in one of the nearby edifices, and there is water flowing from a spring into a stone fountain. The valley has has some marring of its natural air due to modern speculation, but the church remains very important in Galician culture and is part of the ruta rosaliana, comprised of sites associated with the writer Rosalía de Castro. Many Galicians visit and revisit the little church for this reason, even if not entering(it is often closed). San Xiao was made famous by Rosalía’s poem to its bells, installed in the early part of the 19th century. The poem can be taken to refer to the emigrant forced to leave Galicia in search of work, some going to America never to return: Campanas de Bastabales, cando vos oio tocar, mórrome de soidades. Cando vos oio tocar, campaniñas, campaniñas, sin querer torno a chorar. Cando de lonxe vos oio, penso que por min chamades, e das entrañas me doio. The bells really do have a vibrating tone that resonates within the listener. An especially good time to go is at the end of the day, just before dusk.
