Que é o aire?

Are you listless? Have you lost the desire of eating? If so, read carefully this post about the sickness we talk about today. We decided to continue with our section on mystery and mythology in Galician society, we have chosen to deal with the case of aire. “O aire” includes different types of ailments with similar symptoms, but different intensity and difficulty in curing them. Different names with which it is known are aires, enganido, asombramento, arangaño or tangaraño et cetera. This strange sickness has affected many children and it can only be cured with the help of some very special women. If you have questions such as: What is “o aire“? Does it only affect children? Is there only one way to heal from this evil? We will try to answer these and other questions in this post.

As always, you can see the references of our research and collaborate with us to increase the information or correct what you think is incorrect.

The sections into which we divide the article are:

So we got to know “o aire” without further ado in this post.

WHAT IS “O AIRE”?

First of all, it must be know the meaning of “o aire“. I means literally “the air“. “O aire“ (or sombra (shadow) is a sickness that can affect all kinds of people, even that children are often the most affected ones. Many of you may have heard your grandmothers saying: “This child is very thin and looks very small, let’s see if he’s going to have o aire“. This illness goes beyond mere thinness or height. O aire affects both physically and mentally. To the physical symptoms already mentioned, they should be added the lack of color in the skin and physical fatigue. They only way to have our grandmothers relax is being a little fatty and never missing our desire of eating. Maybe that’s where the expression used for Mazaricos lands comes from: If he/she is fatty and red face, he/she is pretty/handsome. Mental symptoms are lethargy and mental fatigue and, in some cases, lack of speech. If a sick person or a child has all these symptoms, it could be that they have o aire .

But what is it really? Where does it come from? To properly define aire, it must be defined it based on where it comes from, the kind of aire. As a short introduction to the different types of o aire, a general definition will be made:

O aire is the possession of the body by a spirit that affects the individual in a psychic and somatic way.

We will see in the following part what are the causes of this type of body possession and with it the origin.

YOUR COLLABORATION

If there is any extra and documented information you can give us, it will be welcome. Also, if you have information that doesn’t match what we have here, let us know. We try to have accurate information and so we always leave our references.