Why the Rooster on top?
The Barcelos Rooster Ring Bell is a unique good luck gift. The Barcelos Rooster has become a national symbol of Portugal. It symbolises "The winning of justice when you fight for it". The legend is many hundred years old. There are serveral versions of the legend.
A young man was sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit. He swore he was innocent but no one believed him. Before he was hung, he made his last wish to meet his judge.
The young man went to see the judge and the judge even served him a fried rooster. Again he swore his innocence. All of the sudden, he lifted his right hand's two swear fingers and bursted out "By the Virgin Mary and the Holy John, I once again swear that I am innocent. If I lie, the rooster on that tray will stay where it is, but if I am telling the truth, it will rise and crow". Right after his words, the rooster was in its earlier feathers, standing up and crowing so it was heard all over Barcelos. The young man was immediately released.
I don't remember how I got this. No one gave it to me. My daughters didn't buy it. I asked my husband if someone gave it to him. He couldn't recall at all. So, there's a possibility that it belonged to my grandma who was also a Portugese. I took few things from her house years after she passed away.
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