– What a bicanca! – the people apparently exclaimed centuries ago, when faced with the nesting of a fantastic bird with a remarkable long beak, in the village of Aguiar da Beira. It was after that saying of amazement that the name of Cabicanca originated, a fantastic being that influenced the popular imagination to the point that people from Aguiar were also called cabicancas. The Cabicanca story is a legend, and legends are narratives with a fund of truth; however, how true were these events recorded in the collective memory?
With this article, GIFI inaugurates the publication of pieces whose authors are not its members, but that refer to themes included in its object. GIFI is responsible for the edition and publication, but the copyright and all the responsibility for the content are exclusively of the author. We thank the author for his willingness to contribute positively to the contents of GIFI’s website.
The author, Tiago Cardoso, is a native and resident of Vale da Amoreira. He holds a degree in Forestry Engineering and Natural Resources from the Instituto Superior de Agronomia. He is interested in folklore, mythology, and non-fictional mysteries of various types (namely unexplained disappearances and cryptozoology), subjects in which the focuses most of his reading and research over the Internet. He writes both fiction and non-fiction, having already collaborated with Portugal Num Mapa (see here) a site that promotes Portugal and its culture, places, and nature.
