As far back as folkloric motifs allow us to trace it, the underground world is always ambivalent. Beneath the earth lie monsters, the dead and terrible dangers, but also wondrous treasures and the salvation of afflicted communities. It may be the realm of ancestors who preserve ancient wisdom, but equally the land of furious dead beings unwilling to dissolve into the separate parts once sewn together by the three sisters. Through long tunnels, descending among cold rock and terrifying underground torrents, one reaches Hell or the hidden temple where the Black Man teaches secrets known to no other living person. Mythic too are the caves leading into inner regions guarded by dreadful beings, where a silent heartbeat can be heard, where the blind serpent gnaws at the roots and hidden gold shines in the darkness.

Catalonia has its own famous katabases, descents into Hell such as that of the peasant Pere Porter. Some of humanity’s oldest folktales —the rescue of the three princesses, or the cycle of the mighty hero who is often half beast— likewise involve a perilous descent into the depths to recover seeds, children or maidens who will restore springtime life to the earth after being carried away by sorcerers and demons of winter. It is an eternal story repeated again and again beneath different forms, always centred upon the journey below the earth.