Montserrat · The Sawed Mountain

Montserrat rises straight out of the plain, its rock walls layered as if cut by a saw; the name means “sawed mountain.”

The monastery on the mountain holds the “Black Madonna,” a wooden figure worn smooth by hands. The legend says a shepherd boy found her in a cave and tried to carry her down; halfway she grew heavy and could not be moved, so a church was built in the mountain.

There are many caves and hermitages in the mountain. Catalans say the air up there makes people want to stay, and this is not a figure of speech — every year some really do not leave.

Folklore / Catalonia · Spain / 880