Slag

Escoriaza (in Basque and officially: Eskoriatza) is a Spanish municipality in the province of Guipúzcoa, Basque Country. It has a population of 4,087 inhabitants (INE 2018).

Toponymy

In Basque eskoria has the same meaning as in Spanish terra negra, that is, a type of high-quality soil for growing cereals, rich in humus. and with the presence of ceramic remains. Apparently these were the characteristics of the soil in the part of the Léniz valley that formed this municipality, which is why this part of the valley was known as Escoriaza. The suffix -za is an abundant suffix in Basque.

There is another different theory that derives the name of the municipality from that of the old fortress of Aitzorrotz, located in its area and which in medieval documents appears written as Axcorrocia. And in French it is "Scario", that is, "The Rock".

Traditionally the name has been transcribed as Escoriaza, according to Spanish spelling. With the creation of a unified orthography and grammar of Basque in the second half of the XX century, the name of the municipality began to be transcribed as Eskoriatza. In 1980 the municipality adopted Eskoriatza as the only official name, which in turn was published in the BOE on April 22, 1989, therefore currently being the only official name of this municipality.

At the dialect level and mainly when speaking in Basque, in the Alto Deva region this town is usually called Eskoitza, which is a syncopated form of Escoriaza.

The name is Escoriazano.

Neighborhoods

The church buildings are old villages that were attached to the town of Escoriaza, when the University of Escoriaza was formed in 1630. In fact, the church buildings predate the town's urban area in their existence. Throughout history they have maintained a strong personality of their own; Thus, for example, they still constitute parishes different from Escoriaza. Currently, the growth of the urban core of the municipality, together with the depopulation of the church buildings, has turned them into small rural neighborhoods that account for just over 11% of the municipality's population and have lost importance in the municipality as a whole. However, most of the municipal area of Escoriaza is territory of the parish churches. The seven churches of Escoriaza are:

• Apotzaga: 64 inhabitants.
• Bolibar: 106 inhabitants.
• Gellao: 25 inhabitants.
• Marin: 54 inhabitants.
• Mazmela: 77 inhabitants.
• Zarimutz: 62 inhabitants.
• Mendiola:

The anteiglesias have their own neighborhood mayor, and in the last municipal elections they achieved a councilor's vote for the Association of Anteiglesias, which represents the interests of these rural nuclei within the municipality.

History

The municipal area of Escoriaza has an area of 40.41 km² and currently has around 5,300 inhabitants. The first written references to the territory of the current municipality date back to the 12th century and mention the Aitzorrotz castle, from which a large area of the then Léniz Valley was dominated. The territorial organization of this valley will undergo modifications in subsequent centuries; Thus, Mondragón in 1260 and Salinas de Léniz in 1331 were separated from it, leaving only Arechavaleta and Escoriaza with the name Valle de Léniz along with their respective antechurches or rural neighborhoods.

In 1497 the Léniz Valley was incorporated into the Brotherhood of Guipúzcoa and in 1631 the valley was divided into two independent municipalities: Arechavaleta with eight churches and Escoriaza with seven: Apotzaga, Bolibar, Gellao, Marin, Mazmela, Mendiola and Zarimutz.

Administration

In the 2003 municipal elections, the Kontzejupe candidacy, related to the outlawed Batasuna, could not run in the elections as it was also outlawed and campaigned in favor of a null vote, voting in favor of said candidacy with invalid ballots. According to the city council website, his support reached 24.7% of the vote, but all of it was counted as a null vote, so he has not obtained any councilor's certificate.

In the 2005 regional elections, the most voted candidate was the nationalist PNV-EA coalition with 42.9% of the votes; followed by EHAK, a candidate related to the outlawed Batasuna that garnered 21.7% of the vote. In third and fourth place are the two major Spanish parties, the PSE-EE/PSOE with 16.8% of the vote and the PP with 6.5%. Ezker Batua Berdeak obtained 6.2% of the vote and Aralar 4.4%.

Economy

TESA locks have their origins in Escoriaza, its name being the abbreviation of Talleres de Escoriaza Sociedad Anónima. In 1970 TESA moved its headquarters to the town of Irún. Zubia pâtés are also from Escoriaza.

According to CIVEX, the following industrial companies in the municipality have more than 50 employees on staff:

• Alza: homeware.
• Ezcurra-Esko: locks.
• Fagor Automation: in Escoriaza is one of the 4 productive plants of this cooperative company of the Mondragon Group. The Escoriaza plant is specialized in linear and rotary catching systems for the machine-tool sector.
• Fagor Ederlan: cooperative company of the Mondragon Group dedicated to the manufacture of components for the automotive sector. It has multinational implantation and more than 3000 workers worldwide and in 2009 it has made 541 million euros. In Escoriaza are the headquarters of the group, an aluminum injection plant of the business unit powertrain (motor and transmission parts) and a business unit foundation plant chassis for the manufacture of chassis parts.
• Fagor Appliances: cooperative company of the Mondragon Group. In Escoriaza it has one of its many production plants.
• Hemen-Garbiketak: cleaning company

Festivals and Fairs

January

January 5 – Three Kings Parade.

February

February 5 – Saint Agatha Day

Urdelardero- Fat Thursday (Thursday before Carnival Saturday)

May

First Sunday in May: Pilgrimage to the hermitage of Santa Cruz and Aitzorrotz day.

June

First Saturday in June: Poultry, food, craft and agricultural fair. Ferixie

June 23: Bonfire on Saint John's Eve.

June 24: San Juan festivities in the Mendiola church.

June 28, 29, 30 and July 1: Patron saint festivities of Escoriaza, San Pedro.

June 29: San Pedro festivities in the Zarimutz church.

July

July 22: Feast of St. Mary Magdalene in the Marin church.

August

August 15: Andra Mari Festival in the Gellao church.

August 24: Festival of Saint Bartholomew in the Mazmela church.

September

September 29: San Miguel festivities in the Apotzaga church.

September 29: San Miguel festivities in the Bolibar church.

December

December 13: Festival of Santa Lucía in the Lete neighborhood.

December 24: Christmas and Olentzero festivities.

December 31: Silbestradie. Manuel Muñoz Saria (Popular end of year race)

Aitzorrotz

Mount that dominates the Alto Deva valley 736 meters.

Atxorrotx is already mentioned as Aitzorrotz, Aizçorroz or Aitz Çorriz in medieval documents, and as its name indicates, it is a sharp rock. It is located in the church of Bolívar in Escoriaza, in the Alto Deva region (Guipúzcoa), near the border with Álaba and Vizcaya.

It has great natural wealth and great landscape diversity. That is, it is a very interesting area from the point of view of biodiversity, as it is very natural and there are numerous protected animal and plant species present in the area. However, what really stands out in this natural area is the castle from the Middle Ages, which today is the archaeological zone of the Aitzorrotz castle, designated a monument by the Basque Government in 2012. The first documentary references to the castle Aitzorrotz date back to the 12th century, when the Navarrese lieutenants who were in charge of the fortress were named.

Until the 12th century, Guipúzcoa was a tenure governed from Aitzorrotz, but in 1199 Sancho the Strong divided the tenure into two (Guipúzcoa and San Sebastián), and if that were not enough, Alfonso VIII of Castile attacked the kingdom of Navarra from Pancorbo, besieged Vitoria and occupied the defensive positions of Guipúzcoa, Duranguesado and Álava. The Castilian conquest and the disappearance of land tenures strengthened the feudalism of the Oñacinos and Gamboínos.

In the documents from the time when the Castilian monarch Henry IV went around attacking older relatives, references to the Aitzorrotz castle appear again. The last reference to the castle dates back to 1463. Although no military occupation is documented in the 16th-17th centuries, the tip of a pike found at the site makes us think that a military occupation may have existed at that time.

It may have also been occupied during the Napoleonic War, since some words in French have appeared inside the hermitage of the Holy Cross located above the site. According to Pablo Gorosabel, the castle was used again during the first Carlists. Likewise, he mentions that remains of weapons and some coins from Roman times were found.

Finally, in the archaeological excavations carried out in 1968 and 2009, trenches and bullet casings from the civil war appeared. The Aitzorrotz fortress is located on a peak that offers an exceptional panoramic view. To enter the fortress there is an open path taking advantage of the natural rock, which served to strengthen the defensive system. To protect the entrance to this type of castle there were often wooden towers. However, in Aitzorrotz no remains have been found to confirm this existence.

Once you have crossed the entrance road, the fortress is divided into two spaces separated by the rock: the one below, next to the entrance, and the one above, which occupies the main areas of the castle. It can be thought that this two-level organization was carried out with the objective of improving the defensive function. Thus, at the bottom there would surely be accommodation for the guards; and in the upper main enclosure - that is, in the place occupied by the hermitage -, the cistern and the main tower.

Famous Escoriazans