Holy company

Santa Companha (Santa Compana, Estadea, Estantiga, Rolda, As da nuite, Pantalla, Avisóns, Pantaruxada, Güestia) is a procession of damned souls, harbingers of death, and they welcome a new soul who is ready to join their funeral procession. This is the Iberian (northwest Iberia: Galicia, Asturias (Spain) and Northern Portugal) version of the pan-European mythical motif known as Wild Hunting.

It is a procession of the dead (or processions of suffering souls) who wander the village paths of the parish, starting at midnight, dressed in white robes with hoods. The procession is led by a living person (usually a parishioner of a certain church) carrying a cross or a cauldron of holy water (sometimes both are carried), followed by several souls of the dead holding lighted candles.

They are driven by a curse that can only be lifted by a powerful witch, or fate will finally take pity on them. 

They always appear at midnight and disappear with the first rays of the sun.

Although these souls are not always visible, it is believed that one can smell the molten wax in the wind as they pass. Some say they have heard prayers and funeral chants accompanied by the ghostly melodies of small bells.

The living leader of the procession is forced by supernatural force (in this case, by a mysterious curse) to go out every night and walk through cities, villages and forests, but the next day he will not remember about it. 

He is unaware of what he/she is doing, as the curse that forces him to lead the procession puts him into a trance every midnight. The procession ends before dawn, and the living leader of the procession returns to his bed, not remembering what happened, but wakes up the next morning still tired, as if he did not get enough rest. This person can only be freed from the curse if, during the procession, he meets another person carrying a cross or a cauldron (or both), since the curse will pass to this person. It is said that if he does not transfer the curse to another person within a few weeks, he will eventually turn pale, lose weight and get sick and eventually die, after which the curse will unknowingly pass to another parishioner.

To avoid the curse, a person who sees a Santa Company passing by must quickly draw a "Circle of Solomon" on the ground with chalk (a circle with the seal of Solomon inside a six-pointed star that can be turned into a cross) and enter it or lie face down until the procession passes. You can also quickly escape from it or perform various protective symbols with both hands, for example, the horn gesture (extending the index finger and little finger with the rest of the fingers bent inward) or the fig sign (which consists in closing the fist and placing the thumb between the index and middle fingers).