The bells of the Camino
Before there were clocks or telephones, the bell tower spoke for the whole village. It marked the hours, called people to Mass and to council, said who had died, warned of fire and tried to turn storms away. Each tower had its own language, and the ringer learned it in the village.
Spain declared manual bell ringing part of its intangible heritage in 2019 (Royal Decree 296/2019), and UNESCO added it to its list in 2022; since 2024 it shares the listing with Italy. The official file notes that from Navarre to Castile and Galicia the towers use a bell shape, the «Roman» bell, found only in the Iberian Peninsula, and that in Galicia and Asturias bells are barely ever swung full circle. There is no single code: these are the peals that recur along the Camino, with what the sources record about each.
What each peal says
toque de alba · argieskila
ánxelus · Angelus · trindades / ave-marias
Three times a day: at dawn, at noon and at dusk. In La Rioja the noon bell could stop a pelota match, and in Arnedo it is the only one still rung.
In Errenteria, three strokes on the big bell at noon. The Augustinian nuns there give six strokes on the middle bell.
From the opening words of the prayer, “Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae”. In Portugal it is called “trindades”.
tentanublo / toque de tronos · arriako-kontra
Against storms and hail. Many villages also rang it daily through the storm months, “from Holy Cross in May to Holy Cross in September”. In Los Arcos it rang every noon from 3 May to 14 September; today, on Sundays after High Mass.
A spell went with it: “Hold back, cloud, hold back, for God is stronger than you.” In La Rioja: “If you bring rain, come here. If you bring hail, go over there”, and “over there” was usually the next village.
“Tente” (hold back) plus “nublo” (storm cloud): the spell itself became the name of the ring.
Recording: CC BY-SA 3.0, Fundación Joaquín Díaz (Bercianos del Páramo, León, 1976; Mercedes Sarmiento) · Wikimedia Commons
toque de oración / toque de solpor · ameskila
toque de almas · toque das almas
At night, after the evening prayer bell: a reminder to pray for the souls in purgatory. At Santiago cathedral it closed the day.
The Augustinian nuns in Errenteria strike the big bell twenty slow times at nine at night. In Castile, on All Souls’ night, the bells tolled until dawn.
Spanish “ánimas” comes from Latin “anima”, soul, related to Greek “ánemos”, breath of wind.
toc de queda
At night, telling everyone to go home.
In Villalpando (Zamora) it rang at ten at night from early May to mid-September, and at nine the rest of the year, on a bell cast in 1431 and called “La Queda”. Such bells usually belonged to the town, not the church.
It is the feminine of Spanish “quedo”, still, from Latin “quietus”, past participle of “quiescere”, to rest: the hour of stillness.
At nightfall, to guide travellers caught on the mountain by the dark.
At Ibañeta, above Roncesvalles, a 16th-century order placed a bell in the chapel for a hermit to ring every day from nightfall, “to guide travellers and pilgrims overtaken by night on those mountains”. How it sounded is not recorded.
Spanish “guía” comes from “guiar”, perhaps of Gothic origin.
meza deia
Before Mass, in three calls: “first”, “second” and “third”. At the consecration a bell rings “at the elevation”.
In Errenteria, a small swinging bell for ordinary Mass and a full swing half an hour before on great feasts. In La Puebla de Alfindén, on the bell called Valera: “forty plus one, forty plus two, forty plus three”.
“Misa” comes from Late Latin “missa”, dismissal.
Recording: CC BY-SA 3.0, Fundación Joaquín Díaz (Remondo, Segovia, 2009; Antonio del Río, sacristán) · Wikimedia Commons
toque de agonía · ilezkila
While someone is dying, so the village will pray for them.
In Zegama, thirteen strokes for a man and twelve for a woman, none for children under seven. In Xunqueira de Ambía, fifteen for a man in three sets of five, nine for a woman in three sets of three.
From Late Latin “agonia”, struggle or anguish, from Greek “agōnía”.
toque a morto / sinal de morto · il-kanpaia / illeskila
When a death became known, when the body was carried to church, and at the burial. The number of strokes told the village whether a man or a woman had died.
A diocesan synod in León in 1306 ordered three strokes for a man and two for a woman. In Pampliega (Burgos), a stranger got just one. In Mondoñedo, on the bells Petra and Bárbara, the toll sounds as if it were saying “ven, ven, ven, vai, vai, vai”, Galician for “comes… goes”.
Spanish “doblar” (to toll) comes from Latin “duplare”, from “duplus”, double. “Clamor” is Latin for a cry; Spanish dictionaries also give it as the knell for the dead.
Recording: CC BY-SA 3.0, Fundación Joaquín Díaz (Pereda de Ancares, León, 1987) · Wikimedia Commons
anxeliño / «ben vás» · aingeru-kanpaia / aur-ezkilla
When a small child died. People believed the child went straight to heaven, and the bells changed their tune.
Along the Órbigo river people heard the bells say “bien vas, vas bien, pa la gloria vas”, “off you go, you’re going to glory”, and the ringer kept time with the words. In León, “din, dan, dan, din, al cielo vas”. In Pampliega they rang the little bells.
“Gloria” is Latin for fame; here, heaven.
rebato / redoble · sualdia · a rebate
Fire, flood or any danger: everyone out to help.
In Errenteria, the big bell struck fast and without a break. In Valladolid, after the alarm each parish rang its own number, one to fourteen, to show which district was burning.
From Andalusi Arabic “ribáṭ”, duty at a frontier post. Portuguese “rebate” comes from “rebater”, to strike again: near twins with different roots.
To call the neighbours together to settle village matters. In La Rioja they met in the churchyard when there was no town hall.
Every village had its own. In La Rioja the call was made “at the sound of the rung bell”.
From Latin “concilium”, a gathering.
Recording: CC BY-SA 3.0, Fundación Joaquín Díaz (Burbia, León, 1987, vecinos) · Wikimedia Commons
ibilaldia (procesión)
Great feasts, processions, weddings, Easter.
The bells swing right over. In Navarre the two largest swing while the small ones stay fixed. In Galicia and Asturias, according to the Spanish heritage listing, bells are not swung full circle.
Spanish “volteo” comes from “voltear”, to turn over and over.
Recording: CC BY-SA 3.0, Fundación Joaquín Díaz (Nava del Rey, Valladolid, 1987, durante una procesión) · Wikimedia Commons
Bells with a name
Cast in 1547, the oldest dated bell in the belfry. It rang when a canon died and his seat in the chapter fell vacant.
Sources: 1
Cast in 1749 by Fernando de Palacio. It never rang for daily calls, feasts or funerals, only for fire.
Sources: 1
Cast in 1672. It rang every night to close the day. Its inscription asks Saint Andrew to “pray for me”, in the first person.
Sources: 1
Two automata inside the cathedral. The Papamoscas strikes the hours and opens his mouth at every stroke; Martinillo strikes the quarters on two Iberian-style bells.
Sources: 1
Cast in 1219, according to its inscription, for the canon Pedro Pelayo Cabeza. It is the oldest bell in any Spanish cathedral. The story goes that it is called Bamba after its sound, “BAM… BA…”; the learned spelling Wamba, after the Visigothic king, has no basis. Its inscription reads “Christ thunders, Christ sounds, Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ commands”.
Sources: 1
In the 16th century the church inspector Martín de Córdoba had a bell hung in the pass chapel, for a hermit to ring every day at nightfall as a guide for travellers and pilgrims.
Sources: 1
The death knell runs three quick strokes on Petra and Bárbara, then three spaced ones on Prima, Ronda and Paula. On Petra and Bárbara it sounds as if it were saying “ven, ven, ven, vai, vai, vai”, Galician for “comes… goes”.
Sources: 1
Thirty-two recorded rings, inherited from the monastery. The sacristan was paid for the thunder ring in kind, usually maize, which he gathered from the hamlets after harvest.
Sources: 1