Basque Mythology

The following was translated from an article originally in Spanish at the Encyclopedia Auñamendi. Thanks to Enrique Batista for help with some of the translation.

Various levels or categories of myths exist, a function of the message they contain or the insufficient information we have about them.

a) Cosmogonic Myths. These types of myths reveal transcendental facts related to the origins, hierofanías(???) and the forces of Nature. Among the best-known in the Basque Country are: the ritual of water on the New Year, Urgoiena, the solstic rites connected to fire, and Mari, as a symbol of the fertility of the earth.

I. Urgoiena.
In the rituals celebrating the beginning of the New Year, this moment is exactly at the hour of the twelve strokes of the last day of the year. It produces miraculous effects, although difficult to confirm, that reveal the momentary supression of natural laws. According to beliefs recorded in Lecároz, at midnight, on Urtezar (New Year's Eve), the water of the river Urandia becomes wine and the boys go to look for girls. If they find the doors open, they threw water on those who were already in bed, on members of their own families, and on the young people. This event reminds us of an archaic practice which consisted of greeting the New Year by bring home water collected just before midnight. It must have been a fairly common ritual in Navarra, judging by the vestiges remaining today. Today, it is still practiced in the remote towns of la Barranca-Burunda. It wasn't so many years ago that it was lost in the valleys of Imoz and Larráun. Baztán conserves the last elusive verses of the water of New Year's Eve. The fact that the better conserved text is that of la Barranca-Burunda, becoming progressively worse as we approach the Pyrenees, indicates that the last phase of uprooting has taken place in a vertical sense, from north to south. Urdiáin is one o f the few towns that still concerves the ancestral rite of the offering of water. It is custom that the members of City Hall gather at the parochial house, where they spend hours in friendly company, until the clock of the tower sounnd the twelve strokes. At this moment, the boys, carrying a jug of water, "ur berria", sing the traditional song of the offering. The authorities exit the house and test the water offered by the boys. Thus the path of the New Year is officially initiated in Urdiáin. The parish priest, who before had entertained the councilmen with candies, gives a cake to the singers. In past days, the gift consisted of a roll, olatia, along with some coins. The object of desire has evolved with the times. Today, the youths offer the cake to the primary authority of the town, who symbollically accepts the gift, with an incision and a small piece. The mayor tries the cake and the singers retire.

II. Cult of the Sun.
The sun is a mythical element of primal order in the ways of thinking of the traditional world. It orbits in the firmament, emerging in the morning before going to rest in the breast of the mother earth. There are expressions such as «Eguzki amandrea badoia bere amangana», "Grandmother Sun goes toward her mother", that give understanding to this belief. The earth is regarded as immense, extending in all directions. Not even the Sun itself reaches the ends of the earth when, at the end of its path, it arrives at the western seas or the red seas (itxasgorrieta) where it enters the bowels of its mother, the Earth (according to reports of Elosua), from where it will leave in the morning. The traveller who walked the worlds (munduz-mundu) with his rooster, whose song announced the dawn, did not reach farther than the country in which the men, beating the rocks with their sticks, managed to force the Sun to leave every morning (story of Atáun). However, the Sun is not only a natural phenomenon that inspires more or less original cosmogonic theories in each age. It is the luminary that renews each day to the eyes of man the great scene of the world rescued from the shadows of the night, and it is also the maker of the light that illuminates the souls after death. Data remain that reveal sacred character the Sun had for archaic societies. In the morning and at night, they directed prayers to the Sun, in words that demanded transcendental virtue, and they treated it as sacred. Here is a prayer recorded in Azoleta (Valcarlos), and which a priest discreditted as an old wives tale, atso-kontua: O Iruzki Saindia, eman zahuzu biziko eta hileko argia! "Holy Sun, give us the light of life and death!" Upon the introduction of the Christian calendar in the West, the liturgical commemoration of the Birth of the Savior, Christmas, was introduced in the festival of winter, and the birth of John the Baptist replaced the celebration of the summer solstice festivals. This change would leave its mark on the Basque traditions. Some ancient practices disappeared, others became Christianized, and there are more than a few demonstrations that reveal the deep-rooted aspect these traditions had in their day, as elements of important myths that shaped the mentality of our ancestors. Despite the spectacularness of the joyful presence of the Sun on the morning of San Juan, these is a transcendental moment that recapitulates the prerogatives of the summer soltice. At midnight, nature is renewed, curses are neutralized, and sicknesses are healed, in virtue of the rites that are performed in this precise moment. It is equivalent to a new creation.

III. Mari.
The most prominent mythical being of the Basque traditions, without any doubt, is a beautiful woman: Mari. She habitually resides in the interior of the Earth and emerges at the surface in specific epochs via various caves and caverns. She alternates, therefore, moving from one mountain to another before the amazed look of man. Mari is beautiful and dressed in elegance, the quintessential essence of feminine guile. At other times, she adopts the form of different animals, or becomes a ball of fire crossing the horizon. The quality of her personal affects, such as her household furnishings, is considered the equivalent of solid gold, as prime example of the magnificance corresponding to her station. Haughty and arrogant in the defense of her interests, she allows no mortal to enter her dwelling, so that none of her personal goods are unduly appropriated. Mari has powers that allow her to reduce the stolen gold to coal with the simple contact of day light; and she knows how to turn tell the coal to turn into gold, the good services. At times it is risky to approach her, including her cave. She does not put up with the shepherds building their cabins in the environs of Supelegor. One such was pursued by the Lady, transformed into a raven, and although he escaped with his life, he died shortly afterwards as a consequence of the scare. The geography of Mari's influence was at one time more extensive than it is today. The children of la Burunda called the leftovers of the meal with bread that the men brought when they returned home «pan of Mari of the mountain», basoko Mariren ogia. And, to the south of Urbasa, in Améscoa, this custom continued until very recently: they used to tell the children «Eat the bread of the old woman of the mountain» or also, «bread of the little grandmother of the mountain». There are also areas where the traditions of this spirit are still very much alive, but where they do not use her name. They call her, simply, the Lady, Damea. Theses stories, however, are usually very similar and refer to the same person. Mari's spouse is Maju or Sugaar and her children are Attarrabi and Mikelats. According to the traditions of Arbizu, she continues to appear from time to time, the Lady of Aizkorri. She moved from the cave at Putterri, in Aralar, to the mountains of Cegama along the slope of the mount. The legends of Mari have, on the other hand, a very significant religious connotation. Repeatedly, the refusal of Christian practices by part of the protagonist is demonstrated; the origin of her marginalized life is even attributed to this rebellion.

b) Mythical beings. They can represent the exaltation of specific human values and some tangential manifestations of the cosmogonic myths: Roldán, Sansón, Gentules, Basajaun y Basandere, Herensuge, Tártalo y otros.

c) Progressive Heroes. They lack the complete capacity of the essential(???), since they deal with partial aspects of cultural progress. They refer to the origin of technology and the innovations important in the cultivation of the field: San Martín or Martin txiki, etc.

Interpretation of the Basque Mythology.
The study of the available information leads us to a variety of situations that have modified the radical concept and the appreciation of this myth. At first, myths were not spoken of, people simply lived immersed in them. Later, man separated symbolic thinking and the mythic concept of the universe, losing consciousness of the significant values that inspired that manifestation of the spirit. It is then that a people are found with traditional practices and specific customs giving by formulations that make no sense to them. Academics came to understand and value the testimony of the popular traditions and set upon the worthy task of systematic collection, which constitutes a valuable phase of invaluable interest. At present, without rejecting the effort of searching for unknown elements, study focuses on the deeper meaning of the myths, on the synthesis of the obtained results, and on the formulation of a general theory of comparative mythology.

Basque Mythological Repertoire collected by J.M. of Barandiarán can be found at this LINK.