Basque mythology

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Eguzkilore at the door of a house in Elvetea, in the Baztan Valley (Navarra), one of the areas where most elements of the Basque mythological tradition have been preserved.

Basque mythology (in Basque, euskal mitologia) is the set of traditional myths and legends of the Basques, understood as the original population of Navarra, the Basque Country and the French Basque Country or Euskal Herria.

The Basques maintain a language, Euskera, that has no relation to any of those that surround it. Among the various hypotheses of the origin of the Basques, one of them points to the permanence, at least since the Neolithic, in some of the territories they occupy, although it also spread over originally Celtic territories. The language expresses a specific cultural base that has evolved over time. Christianity, which came to replace the old religion that developed in the lands occupied by the Basque speakers at that time, imposed its forms and masked the autochthonous cults and deities, which gradually shaped the Basque mythological universe. Some creatures from Basque mythology, such as the Lamia, have a Greco-Roman origin and also appear in Cantabrian and Asturian mythology.

The primitive Basque religion

Geographic setting

The legends of more Romanized neighboring towns, such as those of Alto Aragón, Catalonia, La Rioja, Cantabria or Asturias, show a surprising similarity, especially in the Pyrenees area, this being one of the indications that point to a greater extension of the people who throw or pile up large mountains of rocks (like the "gentiles"), avoid storms, cure illnesses or guess the future (like witches), as Julio Caro Baroja and, especially, Ramon Violant i Simorra in his 1946 work, The Spanish Pyrenees.

Mari, the divine feminine

Representation of Mari, Mother Goddess.

Main article: Mari (Babyan)

The pantheon of ancient Basque mythology, apparently, was centered on a central genius or divinity of a female character: Mari. Her consort Maju or Sugar seems to have also been of some importance. It was said that when they met in the caves of the sacred peaks (according to Toti Martínez de Lezea to fornicate), they engendered storms. These meetings were held on Friday nights, the day of the covens. The "Zezengorri" or "Behigorri" (Betizu), wild bulls native to the area, were in charge of protecting the entrance to the caves where the goddess lived and in which, in addition to having gold furniture, rivers of milk and honey flowed.

Of the various abodes attributed to him, the one on Mount Anboto stands out, from which he periodically departed across the heavens like a bright light to go to his other abode on Mount Txindoki. According to one of the traditions, every seven days The Lady of Amboto ( Anbotoko Mari) would travel from her cave on Mount Anboto to another on another mountain (according to each story, this one changes); the weather was humid when she was on Mount Anboto, and dry when she was in Aloña, or the crops are abundant when she is in the cave of Supelegor (in Orozco).

The multiplicity of Mari-s in the territory does not seem to have been a problem for those who believed in her, as it happened with the dedications to the Virgin Mary of which in Euskal Herria, it was said that there were seven sisters.

Mari brings together in her being other feminine entities that involuntarily with the passage of time have been hiding behind this name. A quick look at the list of locations and forms of appearance of the same denotes the presence of other Maris.

Mari comes to mean mother, contraction of Amari (to the mother) according to some, contraction of Mary (mother of God) according to others. It is also possible that it comes from Matri dea or Cibeles, parallelisms and votive altars are not lacking to support this argument.

In addition to the mythical ones, we also have a historical Mari, Mari Urraca, a Navarrese princess from the 11th and 12th centuries to whom a priest brother is attributed and who others have as the wife of Diego López de Haro, with which goes from being a historical character to being the legendary Lady of Anboto.

Urtzi, the Basque Jovis

Another supposed celestial divinity was Urtzi (or Ost, Ortzi: it is interpreted as heaven), similar to the Latin Jupiter or the Nordic Thor. The absence of explicit references to it in Basque mythology is surprising; However, the fact that its name appears in the days of the week, in the name of the months and in meteorological phenomena associated with storms, which puts us on the track of its relevance at least during the time in which it was adopted and normalized the use of the septimana in the Basque Country.

In the Middle Ages, Aymeric Picaud, a French pilgrim, wrote about the Basques, saying: et Deum vocant Urcia, “and they call their god Urci-a”; the -a is the Basque absolutive, or an article suffix.

The ancient Basque religion is considered to be of a chthonic character, with all its characters having their home on Earth and not in the firmament, which appears as a passage through which Mari or Maju travel from mountain to mountain or herd herds of clouds. However, the sky is perceived as something magical in this mythology and everything that comes close to it like mountains or even trees is to some extent sacred.

According to the philosopher Andrés Ortiz-Osés, Urtzi never replaced Mari as the central figure of pre-Christian Basque mythology and her scant role in the legends indicates that she was a later incorporation, due to contact with the religions of the Indo-European peoples, and for that reason it would be assimilated to the Roman Jupiter, a masculine divinity that governs from the heavens. Instead, Mari would be a much older figure, equivalent to the Neolithic mother goddess. Christianity.

Genii or mythological entities

Genealogical tree of Basque mythology

Legends also tell of many geniuses, such as:

Lamiak, equal to the mermaids, nymphs and fairies of other cultures; it is remarkable that some toponymics collect this name, such as Lamiako;
Mairuak, builders of the stromlechs or circles of stones, which literally means Moros; in this aspect it must be pointed out that in many parts of Spain it is generically called Moro to the magical beings, as for example to the delights or aragonese pirenaic fairies are also called moras or moricas;
Iratxoak, similar to the elves of other cultures.
Sorginak, (readed in Spanish sorguiñak, plural de sorgin) followed by Mari's precepts, demonized under the prism of the Catholic church that translated the term "brujas". According to popular belief this denomination encloses itself to a magical being or beings who have the ability to hide their status in the form of normal women (during the day) and who can act through magical acts in the natural course of things once they adopt their real condition (mainly under the shelter of the night). The etymology of the name is somewhat discussed and discussed, although the most popularly accepted translation comes from the union of the words "so.you and "e"ginwhich means creating and doing respectively. Another name with which these beings are concerned seems to give wings to revisionist and empowered ideas that believe that the spiders were simple healers or guesses; Belagile, it would be to sign up as the word seems to be formed from the words belar and egile, grass and maker respectively.
Basajaun Literally Lord of the Forest, result of the union of the words Baso and Jauna, forest and lord respectively, in which all scholars agree. Under this denomination several beings or characters appear to be added through history and even today there is the (extended) belief that it represents the proof of the contact of the men of cromagnon and the Neanderthals in prehistoric times, not to mention the cryptozoologists who have called him Basque Yeti and still trust to find him. As being singular Basajaun is the lord of nature, equated with the Roman Silvano who seems to borrow the name and some of his functions. Belief in this being or being is spread by the territories adjacent to the Pyrenees. In the Aragonese part is known in some places as basajarau, and in the Catalan part similar myths are also collected under the name amiotsas Violant and Simorra collects. In some legends a culturizing hero approaches a group of Basajaun-s to which he manages to subtract various secrets: that of wheat cultivation, that of how to build alder mills, the way to create the saw and how to weld the iron; more peculiar advances of indo-European cultures than of an alleged genius or genius of prehistoric nature.
Martin Txiki ("Martin the Little One") or Mattin is one of the legendary characters that under other names and at different times have represented human beings. He is the culturizing hero who overcomes in the confrontation, putting in value the intelligence to solve and overcome seemingly irresolvable problems.
Mamarro, they are the goblins of the home, who are also known in other parts of the Pyrenees as "enemiguillos", or in the Aragonese part of the mountain range as "nemos", which can be beneficial or naughty, but there is also some case in which a human (often a priest) has temporarily domesticated them.
Gizotso, of which we barely have news unlike other peoples, is the name given in Basque to the werewolf
Akerbeltz, a black goat, famous in the wake of the statements drawn to the "brujas" by the inquisitors, to which the covens sat. If he had a place in the pantheon of beliefs of the early Basque religion it does not seem to be representing Satan, Belzebub or any other fallen angel who might invoke some fearful Catholic.

Other characters from Basque mythology are Gaueko, Tartalo, the galtzagorris, the primal dragon or Herensuge, etc.

Jentilak

Main article: Jentil

Representation of a Jentil.

On the other hand, jentilak (read in Spanish gentillak, "the Gentiles") were said to be mythical beings who lived in the highlands and were believed to be they possessed prodigious strength and size according to some "inexplicable" geographical accidents (such as Jentilzubi de Arratia) and various megalithic monuments (such as Jentilarri in Aralar) to which they attributed their construction and to which their supposed intervention gives their name. Its denomination is undoubtedly Christian since "gentile" it was one of the ways the Christian church used to refer to pagans. One of the versions of the legend that includes the reason for their disappearance is also Christian, a version that in general coincides with the fact that they were entertaining themselves (either dancing or playing throwing rocks) when they saw a luminous cloud coming from the east (light or another celestial phenomenon according to versions) and surprised by such a phenomenon decided to consult the oldest of them. After taking him out of the cave and helping him to see the phenomenon, the old man pronounces that the end of his species has come (in the Christianized version the reason for the phenomenon is to announce the advent of Kixmi, the Nativity of Jesus, since they called Christ that way)., which in the Gentile language meant monkey) after which he asks to be thrown off a nearby cliff. After complying with the request, frightened at seeing themselves persecuted by the celestial phenomenon, the rest of the Gentiles ran to hide under one of the numerous megalithic monuments that populate the territory and thus disappeared. The Christianized versions add that Olentzero, the last of the Gentiles, somehow emerged unscathed from this dramatic end and became a messenger of good news. Since his job was that of a charcoal burner, for some time now he brings coal to the bad children for Christmas and gifts to the good ones in the Basque Autonomous Community, Navarra and Iparralde.

These mythological beings are the basis of many place names, such as Jentilbaratza ("orchard of the Gentiles") in Ataun (Guipúzcoa).

It is noteworthy that similar figures can be found in the mythologies of the entire Cantabrian area and in Galicia, where there is also talk of mouros, mouras, oxen that guard the caves and xentis (gentiles). Likewise, the figure of a mysterious Raiña Lupa or Queen Loba stands out, who appears as the mistress of the lands where the tomb of the Apostle Santiago is installed, which leads us back to the idea of the goddess as the incarnation of the territory. Traces of the same belief system can be found throughout the European Mediterranean and Atlantic area, which could point to a Neolithic origin of such beliefs, even before the arrival of the Indo-Europeans, as indicated by the similarities between the Basque versions and those of other areas.^{[citation required]}

Reasons for their survival

Panoramic of the Aralar mountain range, where in 1971 an old important settlement of Gentiles (paganes) was discovered in Jentilen Sukaldea.

The late Christianization that Father José Miguel de Barandiarán pointed out in his work The primitive man in the Basque Country, especially in those parts far from the Roman access roads, could be the cause of the survival of the primitive Basque religion until very late stages compared to the rest of Europe; Proof of this would be the remains of two settlements that the locals had as a residence for gentiles in the foothills of Aralar still in the 13th century. The survival of the predominantly agricultural rural environment until practically the middle of the century XX has made it possible to transmit much of the oral traditions and it is not surprising that in this way the archetype of Mari has survived to the present day, although she was sometimes demonized and other times syncretized by the Catholic Church.

Art

Néstor Basterretxea, with the "Basque Cosmogónica", has preserved these beliefs until the 21st century.

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