Lalín is land of artists and Art lovers. It is obvious in its streets. A good way of crossing Lalin village is discovering its sculptures. Some of them have turned into symbols of the municipality, as the dedicated one to Loriga, the aviator, or the statue of the pork.
Some of them monumental, different and discreet another ones...figuratives or abstracts, all of them have a history behind...make up your mind and come to discover it!
Manuel Daniel Varela Buxán was born in “A Estrada” in 1909. In this municipality he spent part of his infancy, far from his parents. In 1921 he went to live with them to Cercio (Lalín).
In 1930 he emigrated to Argentina and, in this country, he worked in different sectors and also, he was part of the choir " Lembranzas da Terra".
He founded the first professional company of Galician theatre, Regional Galician Art “Airiños da nosa Terra”. In best theatres of Argentina he performed plays written by him and other as Castelao's work "Os Vellos non deben de namorarse” .
In 1950 he returned to Galicia and studied high school in Ourense and the career of Sanitary Technician in Santiago de Compostela, profession that practised the rest of his life and that he reconciled with the representation and publication of his theatrical works.
He started writing The first of his works while he was sailing towards Argentina, “So o sei... que non volvo á casa”, premiered in 1938. “Pola nosa culpa”, “Galicia canta”, “A xustiza dun muiñeiro”, “Taberna sin dono” and “O ferreiro de Santán” was also written and represented in Argentina. When he came back to Galicia he represented for first time there “¿Pista ou peste?”.
His work in the popular Galician theatre was recognized at the institutional level by Town hall of Lalin naming him honorary citizen in 1977. He died in Cercio in 1986.
