We do not know how or when the Penlas joined the Corpus Christi celebrations in Redondela. We do know that they have participated since the 16th century and we also know (thanks to Casto Sampedro, the most important local historian) how they dressed. This dance, of supposed secular origin, has survived to the present day, with the incorporation of popular elements, becoming one of the most spectacular artistic expressions of the Coca Festival. In Europe union dances and Coca festivals are preserved, but not the figures of girls who seem to fly like angels through the sky, scattering flowers from a bird’s eye view and held on the shoulders of women (called Burras) who dance to the sound of the bagpipe and tambourine.
