"Ermida de Sam Simion" - Medieval Galician-Portuguese chant (LYRICS + Translation)

Origin: Galician-Portuguese lyric poetry
Original title: "Sedia-m'eu na ermida de Sam Simion"
Genre: Cantiga de Amigo ("Friend song")
Minstrel: Mendinho (galician)

Performers: DOA
Album: "A Fronda Dos Cervos" (2011)

The shrine of San Simón is located on the island of the same name, in Redondela (Galicia). During the Early Middle Ages, the island would have been occupied by monastic orders seeking rest and retreat. Around the 10th century, the Benedictines arrived and it is even said that later the legendary and always mysterious Order of the Templars arrived in Redondela in 1150 and presumably built the first shrine of San Simón on the island. There is also the possibility that Almanzor devastated the island in 997 and also the Vikings, Olaf Haraldson in 1014 and Ulf in 1034.

Furthermore, this island inspired a famous minstrel and also one of the most famous "Cantigas de Amigo" ("Friend Songs") within the Galician-Portuguese literature. Indeed, this poem, written in the XIII century by the jogral Mendinho, is a reflection of the cult of San Simón, eternally immortalised by the poetic power that lies largely in the way Mendinho manages to transmit it. As the verses advance, it's possible to understand not only the helplessness and restlessness of the maiden, alone on the small island, and so afraid of the rising waves, but also the possibility that her 'friend' might miss the date, something she actually never says explicitly. Therefore, the rising tide symbolically reflects her state of mind: of passion, desire and frustration.

Source of the song:    • Sediame Eu Na Ermida De San Simon  

Source of the lyrics: https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt/cantiga.asp?l...

Artwork: "Disillusion" by Edouard Hamman (c. 1851)