The Giants in the Middle Ages

The medieval giants which paraded during the processions of Corpus Christi were inspired by the famous medieval colossal figures described in the Holy Scriptures and in the Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine (Saint Christopher, Samson and Goliath). At the end of the fourteenth century, the religious processions also hosted the exhibition of huge strange hybrid creatures and gigantic animals. Known as “wicker monsters”, these fabulous creatures personified the enemies of religion and of the city and, more generally, the fears of the men of that time. On the occasion of the ceremonies of the Blessed Sacrament and major holidays towns, evil monsters were challenged, tamed or killed by the Saints and paladins. These stagings were called “games”. The dragons faced by Saint George and Saint Margaret and the mythical Tarasque (Tarasca in Spanish), tamed by Santa Marta in the south of France, are famous and still popular and represented in various ways in Spain and Portugal.