An anthropological survey of the European Basques

Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic); maps

Authors Chidaine, John Gabriel, 1922-

Publisher The University of Arizona.

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Download date 10/10/2021 09:17:19

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/551373 ffl ANIHROPOLOGIGAL SURVEY:

OF . fHE EUROPE^ BASQUES

W

John Go Ghidaine

:V ••• . A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the

1 OF AHTHROPOLOGI

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements , For the Degree of

, . ^ ; : master OF m m

:. ; , In the Graduate College ; ; /

: , mnVERSITY OF ARIZOm

1 9 5 9 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR

This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of re­ quirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to bor­ rowers under rules of the Library.

Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in their judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author.

SIGNED:

APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR

This thesis has been approved on the date shown below:

T. GETTY Date Associate Professor of Anthropology FOHsroro : •

Judging from the abundance of publications which treat of the Basque people “=two thousand would be a conservative figure^ one might infer that the subject is esdiaustedo Surprisingly so5 ranch remains to be knomio The history and the language of the Basques have been thoroughly examined,, yet many of the data regarding the eharactezi sties of Basque society and ®raee?l have been often iaisinter= prated^ cursorily and incompletely observed,, or even never colleetedo

• In their obsession. to "prove** th eir personal viewpoints^ most of the authors were led to present subjective or conjectural arguments rather than objective facts» Some of them persisted in their attempts to discover the "mysterious origins® of the Basques and bitterly defended the place of origin they had chosen® Others9

@thnoeehtrieal2y biased^ praised the extraordinary virtues of these peopleg while a few deprecated their lack of virtue So Somes under the spell of the Basque countrys eulogised Basque life with a ll the passion of the romanticist school of literatureg aid a few others were stirring the creation of a movement for an independent Basque nation^ The few studies of a sociological characters even those written by such pioneers as Le Play and Tardes lack sorely in datas tend to jump to conclusions^ or approach the problem from Auguste

Comte's standpointo In general French authors ignore the Spanish Basques and the Spanish authors tend to neglect the French Basques^ lihat

• ■■ :; V ii pervades most of these writings is the common asstaraption of Basque

"'uniquenessw and ^puritjo!* This assumption could he expressed as followss if the is unique9 so must be the Basque race and social customsj and if all these are uniques they must derive from ancient original thus the present Basque languages vsss,es and culture must be the - purest in Europe'* In other wordss languages race s and culture were considered as ah' indivisible whole through time and srea and were. examined idth a purely speculative and conjectural approach*

' in the past few yfarss howevers' earnest attempts have been mad© to avoid the faults of earlier'literature* These newer studies tend.to treat the subject somewhat within the frame of anthropological methodologyc, Most of the data in th is ' survey are derived from such studiesa Only one social anthropologist has ever seriously undertaken the study of t&e Basquesj a Basque himselfs Julio Caro Baroja. is the author of several articles and publications among which his stenograph# ■ ,. ; .x" . " r Los Tasebss Etnologfas is the most complete and enlightened presentation of Basque culture to date* M other monograph of some standing is Las

■ ■ ’ '■■■■ : ■ \ Basques3 by Philippe Veyrin who appears to be chiefly a historian and a folkloristo

The object of this work is to gather# classify# reorganize# and interpret along the lines of anthropological concepts and methods of investigation the data which are presented in the most pertinent literature o Extensive reading was done in the Bibliotheque Municipal© . . ' • r-' ' ' ■, 0 . ' de and at the library of the Musee Basque de Bayonne # France <,

This was done with the purpose in mind of selecting the most pertinent

H i references for this study 0 From more that eight hundred references*" some three hundred were carefully analysed* Of this numberg about thirby-flve of the most comprehensive and authentic French and Spanish publications were used as the basis of this study*, Furthermore* some of these - data have been interpreted or completed in the light of the w r i t e r 8 @ personal observations, made, .especially on the French side of the Basque country* It is hoped that this analysis* condensation* and interpretation of original material* much of it unavailable in this country* m il be of some value to students of Basque problems* especially to those interested in conducting a field study*,

This student wishes"to express his gratitude to don Julio

Caro Baroja* whose help and guidance is greatTy appreciated^ to members

- • , ■ " ; of the larralde family of the of Louhossoa* in Inboard* w ith ; " ' , i:;: ' • - ' ; whom he has had'on several occasions since.1937* informative, contacts; to the staff of the Musee Basque of Bayonne for the use of its library; and to h is p ro fesso rs* Mrs* C lara le e Tanner* B r0 H0 Ts G etty* and

- . . ' _ , ' . i " ' Bto E o H o Spicer for their competent advice regarding the general

' ; ■ ' presentation of the materialo ’'

it number of Basque words had to be utilised either because of their linguistic interest, or because of their specific meaning0 In order to facilitate their pronunciation in Eogliah# these words were . arbitrarily transcribed according to a combination of Spanish and French

^ . / ■■ ■' orthogr^by* the Intematlonai" Phonetic Alphabet could not be used throughout-the texto It should be noted that at times the suffixes

=-a and -ak are added to Basque #brds to indicate respectively" the article or plural 0 It was also me@ gm^’t#,:Tas# a aumber of la41as

Spanish2 sa,d French words o In order to avoid any.possible ©©tifasionj, the origin of these words is indicated whenever neeessajcy in the foHra-ring mnners (1) Estoara, or Basque languages (L). I ^ la s;:

(S)Spanlshs and (?) French^ ■. TmiM m COMSNfS

F&ge FOKiO® o O O O O 0*0 O 0 op O

■ IS ... GIWTER 0B3E„ WkT IS A. BiEODE t „ „ c . » o o o o ' 1. I- «= Isitw a l Emd-roment © © © © © © © © . 0 6.' 1 . ■ : / Physiography ' - ; B= Natural Resourees - G=> GHmate . ' .... / : ’ D= Flora and Fatim - ■

I I = Die Pregent o - o o O O O O O O O O O 0*0 o o - ■ 7 ■ ■: ‘ A” Bi@ S&wen Provinmg . '' BA Definition in Terms, of % ee# G= Definition in Terns of Ffees® . B" Defimitlon. in Teas' of Gnltnre . V'.IIX 03 Tfet© P a st O 0 0 0.0 © o o o’ 0 o o o o o o o 15 . - V - ; A= " . : ■ • B-'Baoe ;. - ■ "■ ! . .■ ■ r . A : ; ' G nltw e. ' . : . ' ’' . ' IF «• G jondnsion ■ © o © © © © © © © © ©. © © .© O 0 21

' CHAPTER BFGo. THE MIGUAGE © © © © © © © © „ © © © © © © ©o - o ■ ' ■ 2k ■ 2 = General Mature • of Eska»a © © o o 25 , / Jfr Phonetios . - ' ' " . ' B^ Morphology . : ' - g.“ /'■ ' ' : ■ ■ ' ■ 12'■= Some Pediliarities of liteara o o .3 1 A° Smsrstien ' ■: ■ B©= Time' TaM ilm 1. . G= Color BisfeiBetion. . ' SomatbpoeiAs' '-;" III = Word 'BorroMngs © © © © © © © o o 32 IT »' problem ©f Origins © . © :© © © : o b 3k ' -. T M te ra tw e and MLteraey © © © o ■ f , 36 GEMTER IHEEEo ffiE mGB o o o o o o

I <= H - G‘3iO.'3T?U. G r’O cX ch o o o o o © © o o o o o o o' o o o A«= The ABO Blood G roips, B= The 1# Blood’ Groups G- The m #K@mi ' - ... ‘ ' ^ ' ' D=- The lutheran 9 Duffys' and Other Blood G-roups E= Other Gene Frequencies ...... ' : " ' ’ I I I = Gondnsxons o © © © © © o o : © © o © © © © © © © © © 51;

GlWTEH FOUR© THE CULTURE © © © © © © © © O P O O O G O 55

X a The lndtxstrs.al Areas © ©' © © © © © © © © © © © © © - j&i Siderurff ' Shipping. ' ' . ' . C= Other Industries D= #@#mlr'Md; :G0-tnral A#e@tm II ” The Fashxag Area ©. © © ©■ © © © © © © © © © © © © © ^1 III ^ The Rural Area © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © ^3 IF cz- The Fs^iBtoral A reas © © © © © © © © © © © © © © ©. © (Sii- Mp Lohg=distan©e TraashuBahoe B= aaort=di.sta8ioe Tr-ssishxaiaanee' - .

PART THD>; RURAL BASQUE CULTURE

CWTER H iE ®E ETCHE © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © ©. ©;© ?2 Definition and'Component Parts 'B= Tapes''of Faz*omses ’ ' ' ' : ' I ”• The JSocxaX © o’ © © © © © © © © © ©. © _© © © © © @3 ■ A- U n sh ip /" ; . " B^ RmkSsg ; v ...... , : C“: Breblem of .Inheritance '>' " ; ’ / .. ' ' t I I ^ The Eoono^xe © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 101 £«= Men6'® Work' , ; ■ ■ ' / . B=» tfome^ slfcrk' . ■. ^ ' ■ 0= ;Ohiiarehfs Worlc' t . ' . ■ .t . D= Oomolmslon: ' ' ' ' ' ' ' H I “ The Bolxtxoal ^^tit © © © ® . © © © © © © © © © © © © H2 I¥ » Other JB^ieets' of Etehe life © © © © © © © © © © © © 113 A* C lothing ' " ; ' ;■ ■ . ' . . . B" l&ythms of B,f® . ' ‘ Pag® CHSFEEE S3X THE VXLMGE-GOMMOMXTX 0 o 0 0 o » o » . o o. . 122 -

I The Neighborhood ,0 0 » 0 0 = ■ I2h Lehen M m B= SjsdalAties and Cliques II The o.o o o o o o o o 128 III The ooooooooooo o o 129 4“ Religious Center ; ' B= Soeio=ee©noraic Center 0= R ec re a tio n al C enter D= Goimaunieations and Cross-cultural Center IV - Social Organisation of the Village-eomunity 0 139 ' A= Kinship B- Sodalities , G= Cliques and Clienteles D- Stratification ¥ life Cycleg B eliefand some Cultural Values 0 O O lh9 m W TEl SE¥1I, THE , 0. o «. o o ■= o o o o <, o o o o « 16^ 1 i:° The V alley o p o & o c o o o o • o o o © o o o o o o 165 XI ^ The B m r x m s ® © o o © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 169 : Soul® . ■ ■ , . ';t;' ' B= tejer laTarr® y ■ ' : ; ' / G- " ' ' , . ■ ' ; . S- Guipmcoa . ■ ■ ■ - E“ V iseaya ; . . 'F-::1toarm ' . ' III - The World of Religion and Myth © 0 © © © © © © © © 180

GIttPTER EIGHT© CONCLUSIONS © © © © © © . © © © © © © © © © © • 18?

4= Historical Surrey . B-. Consciousness of Kind .C— Distinctive Characters of the Culture " Cohesive Factors of the Culture

B IB H 03W H I 200

yiii LIST OF

Page -

I O o o O O O O O O O 0 0 .0 0 0 O O O 0 O © O 0 0.0 0 o o

I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O © O O O O 0 © O O O

HST OF TgBIES fable ’ ' ■' Page'

lo ■ Fraqmeaeies of Blood Groups 65, -Ms, B> and MB im Spanish^ and Freneh PopalatloBs » © © © © © 0 © © © h6 .

20 Fsequeneles of Subgroups MX slid &2 in Blood Groups Os % Bs. and # in Baeepe. and Danish Populations © ® 46

3e Frequencies of Blood Groups 1 and 1 in" .Basqiaes ".Spanls&s Frendip s-nd Caucasian Populations © © © © © © © © © 47

4= Frequencies of Fli Blood Groups (tested only m ih aati=B.) in Frenehs Basque^ and Spanish.Populations © ©.© © .. 49 ...

5o Frequencies of Eh Blood Groups (tested m ih anti^Cc, -=BS . , «Sg ^©p and =■©) in the Basque Population © © © © © $Q

6

Diagram . Page

lo Ccaapcmen* Parts of the Etehe 0 .<, 0 = » o o = » c 0 7k

. 2.o Zabotard Hornse P la a o > o « . = o 0 « » = ■« 6.. 80

3» Unship EeMinology (Eg® 3 male) 0 * > - o e 85

iio : Basqpe Kinship Terminology (Ego ® female) o «. = = o . 86

5o Hypothetieal Sitnations Illustrating the Transmission , 1 ' . of. the Etohe o a = =' 0 0 0 . =, » o. o •» » 90

6 0 Gbaponent Parts of the fillage^eommunity o . o o - 0 125

7 o. Go^residenee Units and Their Relative Importance c 171 < m f 0 .1 b

■ GEMEBAL #PE0T8 OE: THE; BASQUES CH&PIER OHE

W Af IS :A BASQUE ?

The term ^Basque11 has been and s till Is loosely applied to a great number of people= It may refer to some who live in that ill-defined called the Basque country or to others'who happen to originate from -it, whether they speak the Basque slanguage or not. It has even been used to designate the players of that game which on the North. American continent is called jai-alaio The object of the present chapter is to determine and to define <, for the purpose of anthropological research) the existence of a group of people designated under that name who live in a particular area Of •Europe and who are distinguishable from their . neighbors by their languages their physical trait's, and their norms of behavior^ ,'/i i;. .

I - NATURAE , ENVIRONMENT

Hugging snugly some one hundred miles of the rugged and rocky coast of the Bay of and straddling the western end of the and eastern portion of the lies the region generally referred to as the “Basque country 011 Since it possesses no clear-cut geographic borders, the size of this region varies appreciably with different criteria =-politieals linguistic., .racial,, or .cultural,

A - ffllSIOGEAffll',

■ The low mountains erratically carved by numerous streams give

the Basque country an aspect of remarkable uniformity., Mhat can be

considered it s core is located in the area ..where the Cantabrians meet with the Pyrenees mountains» The physiography of this mountainous : : . .. '■ ’ ■ core presents features which differentiate it from the surrounding

on at least three sides=

To the north lies the large plain —or peneplain-- of

A q u itain e3 forming the southwestern corner of France» To the south is

the rugged plateau drained by the Ebro river 9 in S pain0 In between these

two regions, . to the east9 stands the high chain of the Fyrenees9 whose highest crests —above lO, 000 feet— are covered with eternal snows <>

It is only toward the west that these differences become lessvcharacterize#., for this portion of the Cantabrian chain offers many similar feature ss

though more regularly and evenly arranged.

It is important to note that because of their special geological formation the western portion of the Pyrenees differs markedly from

that of the rest of the chain<, From Pie d'Anie —89200 feet— to the

Mediterranean Sea these mountains form a high continuous axis of

Paleozoic —Bercynian— folds® Perpendicular to this axis descend wide valleys of glacial origin which open into the plains below®. But9 on th e other hand, the Pyrenees west of H e dlAnie are made up of a complex

system of Hereynian folds which are buried under Mesozoic sedimentary deposits —especially Jurassic and Cretaceous— and which are broken into irregularly arranged clusters 0 little affected by glaciation; these low 3 mountain clusters have been carred by active - water erosion which ultim ately produced this rugged and aecidented landscape so characteristic of the area.,

As a result the core of the Basque country is a region of very irregular features which is roughly split in half by two mountain systems running in an e@st=west direction^ the Pyrenees and the -Cantabrians.* Once more it should be noted that these two systems do not form a continuous chains, like'a .sierra,, but rather a series of isolated and dispersed mountain groups whose highest crests seldom exceed li.9000 feeto Water ■ erosion formed < crisscrossing mage of V-shaped valleys which at places become so, narrow as .to resemble miniature eanyonso Moreover,, numerous straits often fragment these valleys into isolated sectionso The resulting landscape is one of alternating rounded h ills, rocky peaks, and green valleys (See Map l ) 0 More than the mountains, through which exist numerous passes, these valleys form the real obstacle to accessibility from one slope to the other) the old shepherds1 paths, which until a few decades ago were used for travel, generally avoid the valley bottoms.,

The hydrography of this region is simple 0 Except for the , a ll rivers north of the Pyrenean and Cantabrian complexes flow in a ' northern direction into the Atlantic, and all those originating on the southern slope run into the Ebro river, which ultimately empties in the

Mediterranean® . -

Starting from the east, on the northern side, the main rivers ares the , Bidouze, and which join the Gave d$01oron, affluent of the Adomr) the live and its upper tributaries which run northwest into the mouth) the Bidasoa, though originating from the southern Pyrenean @lopes which separates the Spanish and French nations; along its lower course and flows into the Atlanticg farther wests a ll the rivers such as the Urameas Isigarans hr®las Devas and the Nervioh which flow north from the Cantabrians into the ©eean0 On the southern slope s starting from the easts are the Esea ==wh@re the Eoneal valley is looa&@d=>=<,

Salagars Ira tis and Err© whidhg coming from the Pyrenees^ join the

Aragon riverg the Srga and Ego eoittplexess the Zadorra and Bayas which originate from the Cantabrians and meet the Ebro©

B = NATURAL BESOUEGES

After centuries .of exploitation^ the-mineral resources which can be found today in the soil of the Basque country are/few and limited*/

During the pre^Ghritian Era. the coastal region was renbmed. for its mineral deposits o Iron^ copper^ gold^ and probably tin were exploited by the Romans and very likely by others before them* The iron deposits :‘v ' so in te n s iv e ly u t i l i s e d by th e Romans a t O iasso ■=>= i n th e . v ic in ity o f

Pasajes and Oyaraun-- ©re at present totally exhaustedo More exploitation during the Middle Ages and until a few centuries-ago have completely depleted the smaller iron mines situated:"inland0 Today the iron deposits at the mouth of the HervioB tdiieh have made the industrial wealth of

Bilbao are on their way to becoming ©xhaustedo Copper exploitation was - abandoned in the eighteenth century* Only marble, ophite, kaolin,,,and especially salt deposits are being mimed at present* It should be noted that the whole region has always been devoid of coal or of any usable lig n ite s *

. c = m m m . . .

■/.' ' . . ■ ■■<:'■ — ■ / Because of its situation along the coast and on the forty»third ; parallel of latitude/ the climate of the Basque country is oceanic and

tem p erate5 that is milds humids and ereno The yearly temperature is very

moder#e #m the coastal region; it has a mean of fifty-five degrees^

ranging; freon forty-seven degrees in winter to sixty-nine in summer,, Bains

are most abundant in the spring and scarce in the fall* The average

yearly rainfall along the coast amounts to some fifty incheso Snowfalls

are rare near the ocean,, but they become more abundant as the altitude .

r i s e s 3 Similarly the mildness of the climate decreases a® one goes

farther inlaid or higher in the mountains0 The c h ie f c h a r a c te r is tic of

Basque country weather is that it is subject to rapid modifications^

for the whole region is the battle ground between a variety of winds,

whichaccording to the season., may bring sudden changes in the matter

of a few hourso They range from the very humid oceanic winds to the

very dry winds blowing from the Spanish mesa0 The Basques recognize

five different types of winds,, and they are well aware of their specific

effects on the local climate (Veyrin 19k1° 31- 32), i.s a result the

southern slopes are prone to be drier and somewhat warmer than the

northern slopes because of the slight Mediterranean influence„

D - FLOM MD PA im

This slight climatic variation is reflected in the flora. It

. varies appreciably because of the difference in altitude between the

mountain tops of the eastern and western zones —from some 6 S000 to

3s000. feet— (lamare 19545 11). In spite, of excessive, deforestation ' o

of past centuriesj, some sizable forests; can still be found in the

Basque country, especially in the higher and more remote areas. These

become particularly beautiful on the southern slopes where they are protected from the colder northern winds by th e mountains» Above 3 <,000 feet coniferous trees predominate 0 Belows a variety of oaks beechs setae pines chestnuts and a few plane trees appear on the northern slopes*

S till lower or along the coasts the maritime pine and tamarisk become common* On most of the bare areas where forests once epd.steds ferns furaes heathers and other brush grow in great abundance® In the southernmost parts in the vicinity of the Ebro river —region called

Rioja— the Mediterranean influence is strong enough to permit the growth olives and grapes*

The fauna is almost non~exi stent * Man destroyed most of it*

The bearg the wolfs and the deers common during the Middle Agess have today practically disappeared* Only wild boars and a few foxes. can s till be found in the forests* The animals most peculiar to the Basque-uptoitfy are the half=#ild pottokak 3 small and hairy horses hardly larger than ponies# but with a . large he^.^ and bulging belly; they are supposed- to :' be the descendants of Equus'celticuss found depicted, in the Paleolithic

' ’ ' ' ' . ' ' . ::r -: '' ■: .|' ' ' : : ' ■ ' ; engravings of the Ideal prehistoric eaves*

The usual mountain birds of preys such as hawks# kites# busKardss and eagles are fairly abundant* Ring-doves make their appearance in great numbers in the fa ll and spring when they utilize the mountain passes during their seasonal migration! these birds are hunted in a very original manner by the natives (Lamare 195kt lUa17)o

Because of intensive —and often illegal— fishing# trout and salmon which used to abound in every stream have today been reduced to pitifully small numbers; no more than 2 S500 salmon are fished annually in the live* Even crawfish are becoming increasingly rare* I I w THE PBBSBWT'. '

A ^ THE SEVEM

To some people th e Basque co u n try c o n s is ts o f th e t e r r i t o r y

covered by the seven Basque province®o The area contained within the

borders of these provinces is 9 however^ fictitious from the linguisticc,

r a c i a l 9 and cultural viewpoints» During history these provinces were

never unified nor united to form a whole and independent political

state| they were and s till are divided among outside political powers0

They cover an a re a of some 8S000 square miles and support a population

close to l slj.0090QQo Of this total area slightly over 15000 square miles

' . ' ■. ' , : • ' " . • • • ' ■ „ : . belong to Franc©9 and 1809000 of its inhabitants are of French

national!tyo The rest is part of the Spanish nation.

The French portion is formed of the three former provinces of

Labourd ==Lapurdi (!)=»=• 9 Lower ==B©mbarra (E)==a and "Soule

»-Zub@roa (E)== (See Map II)= Since the political upheaval of the French

Revolutions these provinces' have lost their political identities. Mow

integrated in the centralised system of department s a they form'about one

third of the Dipartement des Basses Pyrenees. Bordering the oceanLaboord:.

•is the most densely populated with some 299(500 square m ile s f o r some

11^9000 inhabitants^ even if the 6$$Q00 people living in the urban complex

of Bsyonne-Bi&rrita are excluded. Its former capitals were Bayonne and .

Hstaritgo In the easts the narrow valleys and, high mountains of.,Soule

cover an*- area roughly equal to that of Lsbourds ' but it is' inhabited by only 2%000 people | the town of Mauleon used to be its capital. .. Between these two provinces is Sower Esmrarre* whose former capital was

Saint“tlean-Pied-de-Port$ it is the largest province with some 1*8,000

square miles, and also the least densely populated with about 1*0,000

inhabitants,, 1 ' v ■' .

■ ' , The portion belonging to is composed of four provinces which today still function as political units 3 they are part of the

■ provincial organisation; of that nation 0 The two provinces, Guipuzcoa

in the east, and Vizcaya in.the west, are situated on the coast and

hover ah area, of 730 and 850 square miles respectively^ the high density

pf their population, 300,000 and 1*50, 000, reflects the large degree of

their industrialization^ The capital of Guipuzcoa is the now famous

reso rt'of San Sebastian — formerly Donostia or Izurum (E)— with some .

105,000 inhabitants« Bilbao is the capital of Vizcaya, and with its

population of 250,P00 people is also the largest of the seven provinces^ In the southwest lies the province of ^ava, capital Vitoria

“•“Gasteiz (E)— covering 1,100 square miles and. populated by about

10p,P00o The easternmost and largest of all provinces is the former

kingdom of Navarra whose h,000 square miles extend from the Pyrenees to beyond thecEbroo, It is the least industrialized of all the Spanish '

provinces and, thus, the least densely populated ™»3i*0,000 inhabitants0

Its capital is the ancient city ©f wliich possesses today close

to 106,000 people, ' ^ ‘

; ;;Such is briefly the political and human of the area

covered by the seven Basque, provinces o The following pages w ill point

out that this whole area is of little interest to the anthropologist, for it does not correspond to the areas of Basque speech, Basque "race," 3* Z*

B A Y Oj BISCAY

Bilbao

Si JCdn ^ ) Pied dc / . Port

43" *?*

yy

r

BASQUE PROVINCES and B&sq^ ^ ■; ......

'• ... B IM TBK^ OF^BfEBCE ' \ ,

. Except for very rare cases; all the people living in the Basque

provinces speak either French or Spanishy: depending on their nationality

However^ those living on, less than half of that territory also speak a

language of their otmo Zt present between 500s000 and 600^,000 people

speak what they call Eskuara^ Euskara3 or Euskera. These people call

themselves Eskualdun or Eskualdmak3 meaning roughly "those who possess

■ Eslcuarao" This language 3 commonly r e f e r r e d to a s th e Basque language s. : ■ -EE. ■ ; :. :: is unique^ particularly because of its morphology and syntax whose

characteristics are nori-lndo-Sur ope an 0 I t stands alone amidst all the

qthef IWguages of :% Indo-European^, In all, ,

likelihood Eskuara, possesses characteristics of ancient origin whichs

in spite of evolutionary changes of its - own and changes due to outside

contactss existed in this part of Europe either before of at.the time

of the arrival of languages of Indo-European stocko The fact that some

of these ancient forms survived complete assimilation and eradication

can be termed as being.miraculous* . ' . ' ' - ■ ■ : . ' : ' . ■ ' c * ■ ; " . • ' -. Kie linguistic borders of. Ekuara are clearly establishedo They

embrace most of the- three former French provinces, —with the exclusion

of the Bayonne-Biarritz area— where ISOjOOO people at most use it;

and on the Spanish;side they include the eastern half of Vizcaya

—without the Bilbao complex—s about the northern tenth of Slavaj, the

whole of Guipuzcoa^ and the northern tenth of Navarra (See Map l) 5

where approximately an additional 500s000 speak i t e; Eskuara is today

rapidly receding in the region of northern and eastern. Navarra„ The terra Eskuara is in itself a generic term. It refers to innumerable varieties of dialectical forms. Prince Lucien Bonaparte, well-known bascophile of the nineteenth centurys distinguished, fifty dialects5 twenty-five sub-dialects3 fifty "varieties^" and ten "sub- varieties" of Eskuara, This classification is actually meaninglessj it merely.indicates that these variations progress so subtly from valley . ' ■ . ' tp yailey. a ^ region to regipn that it becomes impossible and pdintless to ' distinguish a ll the possible types of Eskuara,' However^ - in broad terms three main dialectical groups can be recognized in this languager.

(l) the. ?izcayans which is also spoken in northern^Jlavaj (2) the :

Guipuseoan^ labourdln,, and High-Navarresei (3) the Lower-Navarrese and Souletin. These dialectical divisions do not always correspond exactly to the political divisions of the provinces| for instance.,

Guipuzcoan forms are found in parts of Savarras but High-Navarre se is spoken in northeastern Guipuzcoa (M eillet et Cohen ip52s 26l),

Most linguists agree today that all these dialectical varieties can be reduced to only the Wzcayan and non-Vizcayan, These differences are said to be of such a degree that a Souletinj coming from the easternmost province j, cannot converse with a Vizcayan,

It is obvious that three factorsacontributed to this extreme diversity of Eskuara* (l) .localized isolation due to the physiographic features, of the country3 ( 2 ) lack of transcription of these varieties

--only the major dialects have been transcribed recently—s ( 3) la c k o f political unification; 0 = DEFINITION IM TERMS OF 6tMCEM

tJnlike the problem of Basque language $ the problem of Basque

“race® is highly complexs for the criteria which are to be used are mtieh less definite and have been the object of fewer studies« Many w riters. on the subject of the ,Basques have praised the qualities of the Basque raceprobably associating or confusing certain cultural characteristics rith what they felt was the physical appearance of the people themselveso Others, on the basis of the few observations of scientific character in anthropometry and blood groups, have pronounced a high degree of uniqueness of Basque physical features and declared that the “Basques were the purest race of Europe” (de Jaureguiberr-y

W ) o

They might be largely the descendants of a mixture of Pal@o= lithie man, who lived in the area, and other groups, which arrived up to the Bronze Ageo This possibility is supported by some evidence, though insufficient to be conclusivec Indeed studies conducted about the physical anthropology of the Basques so far have been incomplete • and defieiento

Anthropometric surveys, which were abandoned several decades ago, brought, forth the following conclusions# (1) the Basques living in the coastal area constitute no definite type because of their high degree of intermixture; (2) the French Basques are definitely brachy= cephalic, while the Spanish Basques are mesoeephaliej (3) a physical type, chiefly characterized by the appearance, of the face, was found to occur with great frequency in the Basque country« This latter type was suamarily described as follows (fallois 19k3z 99=101) & .■■■', ,

On the basis of these inconclusive observations about the face,,

a. generalised Basque physical type was recognizedj its secondary

characteristics are described in the following manner (Veyrin 1947 s

81t ) s: ' ' : '

"‘Whatever they may be3 the secondary characteristics of the Basques are little markedo Neither exclusively ta ll nor short5 their height tends to exceed average <, Among them can be found as many blonds as brunets and as many with straight hair as with curlys but twice as many auburn-haired slightly,curly. Their eyes, which have varied colors, . seem to be on the dark side though not utterly so, A somewhat more precise descriptions' their complexion is fair, not at all olive- colored or swarthy« They are pure whites6 The great majority of aquiline noses confirms the fact that they have nothing in common with the. black hr yellow races,t!: i'' / y : , " ' - .' , \

In spite of their large number, blood group surveys have been unsatisfactdry because of the small size of the samples taken and of

the restricted areas in which they were' made. They, however, point toward

a definite genotypic characterisation of the people living in the

Basque country and —probably--sorae of their neighbors,

- ' -.The result of these unfortunately incomplete observations and

..measurements merely confirms what the casual traveler can notice

readily s' the physical appearance; of the people living in this part of

the world is distinctive from that pf. the people living in the. surrounding

areap. Indeed, people having the type of face described by Vallois are

found not only in the rural areas of the Basque country but also over

most of the Pyrenean regions and in the eastern half of the Cantabrians, To probably a lesser degree they overlap into the Bepartement dea Landes

and Bepartement des Basses; Pyrenees as Bell as into the neighboring

portions of Jtragon and Castilla la Tieja0 In general terms it can be said

that people presenting this type of appearance live over the greater

area of the Pyrenees and Cantabrianso AH the research which has been

done is too incomplete to determine the area and frequency of the

distribution of this type and to ascertain whether it is the sole

apanage of the Basquesv .

■ There is little, doubt that the Basques5 like some of their

. neighbors, 'have not intermingled freely with the incoming waves of

invaders of historic timeso Because of their geographical isolation and

inbreeding they form a. definite genetic poolc

D - DEFINITION IN TEEMS OF CULTURE

Host of the literature on this subject is inclined to present

the Basque culture as being unique and particular to the Basques'® This

point of view must be accepted with reserve until it is supported by

more research® A large number of traitsLand tra it complexes of the

material and non-material aspects of Basque culture, is shared by many

other groups in the surrounding areass especially-, by the people living

in the Pyrenean valleys ■ and foothills —Beam and Aragon— and as far

west as Asturias® Caro Baroja does not fa il to point out a number of

analogies between the rural culture of this region and that of others

situated in certain parts ef the Alps and southern Germany (B aroja 19l$) =

On the other hand<;s some tra its and tra it complexes^ such as

kinship organisations seem to be of a strictly Basque character® Although

no study of the distribution of sueh.traits :ha:a, everr been-''made s it appears that on the basis of the da/oa furnished by the literatuz*e that am area

of Basque culture can be established. It includes the region of Eskuara

speech and slightlj overlaps south into. Slam and Navarra, and east. as

-far as the northern portions of the Salazar- and Roncal valleys. In the '' ; f ft-*-;, ''' ; f V ' \ ' ' course of this work this region w ill be considered^ perhaps arbitrarily

- but for the lack of better information, as the general culture area of

the Basques. Instead of labeling it Basque country because of its vague

connotations, it w ill be•specifically referred:to as Eskual-Berria, a

term which the Eskualdun use to designate their country. Whenever

possible, comparisons with cultural elements outside Eskual-Herria. w ill

be made. . .. ■

I l l - fHE-

Now that the nature of the^.language,'physical appearance, and

culture .of ; the Basques has been b riefly ' examined as they are found at

present in terms, of spatial dimension, it should be of interest to-find

out how these same aspects came to develop in terms of time dimension..

Because writers ofi this subject until recently failed to,..distinguish ;

between language, race, and culture as separate and. distinct elemental

' c h a ra c te rs o f man, much c o n fu sio n ;and, a g re a t many f e c k le s s hypotheses

are found in the literature.

: ~ u m w m - ' , - .

It is only recently that Eskuara has been transcribed. The first

: printings in this language which remain today are the mid-sixteenth .century Linguae [email protected] Prim itiae5 which contains verses by Bechepare,

and the more iw brtant Jesuh^Ohri# (jure Jaunaren Testaiaentu Ber-ria9 a ;;

protestant translation of the New Testament printed in La Rochelle in

l571o •Previous to these publications only a few words and egressions in

Eskuara had been collected- within /hatinj, Old Spanish^ or Old- French

textss such as the Codex de Coiirpostela3 dated 1139j which contains a

;lisrt4ng: 0f; some fli^eeni^ wordSd’ t , ; , . ; . ' ; , :

■ i ’. 'SS.th.; the-: expectaition of discovering, the ‘‘origins'* of Eskuaraj

much work in comparative philology has been done. This is surprising

because of the scarcity of the data ayailableo Indeed; the only means

of investigation in this matter- consist ofs (l) the modern forms, of

Eskuara^ dating back 'no more that three .eenturies<, ..and the modern; forms •

of other languageS| (2) the ancient forms'of a few languages; like

latin; Greek; Hebrew; etCoj (3) a very limited number of Iberian and

Celtic: wordso The rapid rate of evolution of Eskuara; as evidenoedlby

the recent documents;;^makes almost impossible any study of a comparative : - • ^ \ : V i t : ■ ' ■ ; ' v.;-; n a tu re «; " v ; . :.

However; with regard. to the linguistic past of Eskuara; our ;

, loiowledge amounts to th is 2 ( l ) L a tin and Romance languages; in flu en c ed

three-quarters of its vocabulary^ (2) part of the. rest.of the vocabulary

presents strong affinities with words of-Iberian and Celtic origihj

(3) syntax and morphology of the modern language are so distinct from

those of Indo-European' languages that they are related at least in ' : • '■ ' ' : , . /H: - '' part tb a language5 or languages 5 which existed, in the vicinity Of the

Pyrenees, before the arrival of Indd-European^speaking people 0. Some w riters have gone so far: as to surmise t h a t some o f . i t s

elements might date from Neolithic timeso They cites in this respects th e use o f th e morpheme a l t s — "stone*— i n compound, form s to denote sharp or cutting implementss as in: aitss°hortz —= “billhooks14 literally

"stone^tooth^T-s aitchtto --“knifes" or “sm&l!«stone“«=s aatzkor

-i-^eace,” or “raised-stones_aitsttur, —“scissors^'4 or “tearing ;

stone“—s aitzkon ^ “darts’4 or Htstone point*--# etc*.. From such evidence some of these.same writers state that the Basques, are the “oldest and purest people of Europe 011 It should be noteds however2 that if .adtz goes back to Neolithic timeSs it presents some analogies with some . ■ ■ • ' ■ ■■ ' " ' V. ■ Indo-European forms meaning “axes18 as lag

German to cite a few<> Almost anything that can be said on the subject of Eskuara origins iss at least until Iberian is deciphereds highly conjectural and speculative=

A nunher of historians and geographers of the. beginning of the

Christian Eras like Idvy# Strabo# Ptolemy#, anfi others# mention a. group of people called Vaseones who mere living among Iberian people in a region., corresponding to the southern; part of today' s Navarra<, It is generally accepted that on the basis of the analogy between the .words

Yascones ^-probably pronounced ¥ascones°° (Yeyrin 19k7t 82) and the present Eskualdun#' these people were the ancestors of the Basques of todays Furthermore# this assumption is corroborated by toponymic evidence (Baroja 19W)«. It%is' also generally^admitted# though on the ?■ basis of scant historical evidence# that these Yascones expanded and migrated west and north --even into the plain of Aquitaine # in' France— . sometime in'the fifth century* To determine.the extent of the territory in which Eskusra was spoken then is impossible^ but what is certain, is that a' few centuries ago it was .used inC entra! ilava s around Pamplona, as far east as the Eoneal valley^, and probably over most of ¥iacaya6

:3 ~ mm . . ■ : / ■■ ■; ■ ■ > : . ■':

: . Few aa’oteeologists have conddeted any field work in the Basque country» Among' them are de ^ransadi5 Campion^ and B re u il, By f a r the,. outstanding authority on this subject is de Barandiaran who has done systematic research over the whole area* It is regrettable that most of his publications are quasi impossible to obtain,.

Eemains ofkhuman bones are scarce« Probably the oldest were

in Guipuacoa (I9lt7)» The dolichocephalic crania found there include one male and^female.e The male may belong to the end of the Magdalenians and. the other is associated with izilian industry 0 Barandiarah cqneludes

( W s 686) s ■ . : d

ntfith regard to the. two. crania it can be ascertained that., in their relationship with the modern Basque5 the male as much as ; the. female coincide; With the present type (found) in the region as far as some indices are concerned,, - and that they approximate i t with regard to otherso e 0 ® Thus> with reference to these characterss the Urtiaga crania could w ell.be considered as good Pyrenaic of Basque prototypes♦"

oldest remains represent an intermediary type between Cro-I&gnon man. and the modern Basque, .' ' 1 ■ . '

' Some of the caves. Which ire so numerous in tills mountainous :'V;: •: y -V ;"t1'.--V/\- \ -... ■ : country^ have yielded definite evidence of a fairly early culturee The earliest sites so far discovered belong to the Middle PaleplithiCe The alluvial terraces of the near Cambo, in Labourd5 and the lower layers of the isturltz oaveji In Lower- Navarre, contain an industry of the Mousterian' type which In the latter site is associated with hundreds of bear skeletons. : : " y ■. v 'y-- . ■ .. - - - - ' The three Upper ..Paleolithic periods are well represented in an unbroken, sequence „ Thuss the tfnole region represents an important link y between, the two extrem ities of the Pramco-Gamtabrian zone, from the

Dordogne valley to Asturias = lo cave paintings have been discovered^ but i t should be remembered; that the Altamira cave is only, some sixty miles from Bilbao<, There is no evidence of Capstan culture in the whole . area, , .. . ,

v y The most complete site of this Upper Paleolithic period is in the Xsturitz cave5 located near the Arberoue river^ not far from the village of Meharin (See A p 1) »■ It contains large quantities of • maranoth • and reindeer bones associated with Aurignacian,, Solutrean., and Ma-gdalenian

Industrie So The latter is especially well represented by beautifully ornamented bones with geometric designs. Its walls are abundantly

' de corated with engravings especially of horse s and salmon^ other „ animals, are- outlined in such a way as to make use of the bumps and hollows in the wall, and. they are usually shown associated with barbed arrows. The Isturitz cave is the only jjaportant site of-;that period on the French, side (deSaiBt~»Perier 1932-1936), The Spanish provinces offer some fifteen different paleolithic sites,

' ' This archaeologieal evidence suggests: that from the end of the

Mousterian till the and of the Magdalenian man lived in natural caves, along nearby streams and rivers or in the vicinity of the ocean* s beaches,, But laters during the severe climatic transformation of the ,

Mesolithic^ these o^ves became uninhabited# Consequentlyg the site®

of that troubled period are few| their industries are Asilian or a

type of modified A2ilian> called Adturian# In the Bioja region of

southern Navarrai some artificial eaves seem to have been inhabited

during that period (Barandiaran l$3hl B aroja 19h9t $k)o

The Meolithic is scantily known and rather confusing# #m t

remains is a large number of megalithic monuments "-particularly

dolmens and cromlechs— which are generally situated on or near

mountain tops# This Megalithic period seems to have lasted for a long

span of time5 for it overlaps with the Eneolithic and the Bronze Ages

It has been suggested that it was during the leolithic that a number

of migrations from the east began to take place and that these newly -

arrived peoplej, of non-Indo-European linguistic stocky brought about-

a complete economic transformation in the Pyrenean areas# A culturej,

called the Pyrenaie; culture and characterized by pastoral!sms spread

over both slopes of the Pyrenees and continued the use of dolmens and

. cromlechs# The two most recent hypotheses concerning this culture can

, ;' , , " ■: - ■ - . ■ - be summarised as followss

I# These newly arrived, people brought with them pastoralism

onlys but borrowed the use of cromlechs and dolmens from other cultures

situated in the western portion of France and of the Hispanic peninsula

ands laters copper^ bronzes and pottery from the-Almeria culture of

- southern Spain# ■ /

2'# These people brought pastoralism^, metalsr, and megalithic

monuments from Asia Minor as well as their language 5 the latter was related to the Caucasic family of today0 This hypothesis^ formulated by

the distinguished .MnguistviSene Lafon (19it? § $23^2h) is at present the

most widely accepted0 . . ' , .

It is highly probable that this Pyrenaic culture underwent some

subsequent changes with the arrival of theLigurianss and again with

that of the .Celts in 1000 B*Co,' during the Iron Ages and s till later with

the arrival of the Iberians? in the sixth century 5= Co According to the

thorough study made by Baroja (l9l(-3) j it appears that, during that

. period, howevers the cultures of northern Spain and southwestern

France bffered an aspect of homogeneity which was sensibly distinct

from the Iberian and Geltiberian. cultures. of the peninsula*, It is also

•generally assumed that it was during the period of Roman colonization

that, the next great change began to occur =—the shift from pastoralism .

: to agriculture which resulted in the settlement of populations in the

tV "; ■ : : V V V:::'V ^ ;

1 The Incomplete and oft=eonfusing data of European archaeology :

.allow a wide latitude, for the formulation of a vaM|tybdfiinte^retazfcions«

Thisaocountof the past developments in this area condenseS; the latest

visMppintss which are shared by most present-day experts« It would be

wrong to accept them as fin al and definitive = For some other hypotheses^

■ see Bosh-Gifipera,) (1923:) 5 Coon (I9lt8) s and others«

1? - CONCLUSION

■Are the Basques a people really distinct from their neighbors

and; if : sog in what respect? This brief introductory discussion may have helpiM. sufficiently to clarify the following points 5 , :

■ ■ . lo Clinging to the mountains and valleys of, their prodigiously aecidented, country's there exists a group of people who s till speak a language -^Eskuarar- which is distinct from a ll those of Western Europej this language has evolved from a relatively —that iss relatively with , the time of introduction of these surrounding languages*- ancient forms or fpfmss and has survived/complete eradication* .

2o The people,who live in this;, region as well as other people in the surrounding regions present a distinctive type of appearance whichy because of geographical isolation and inbreeding <, has evolved ifom a relatively ancient racej, or races0 ■ t \

• 3o These people possess a type of culture whichs tho^h it . offers only a few specifically characterized traits3 centers on old patterns, of pastoral and agricultural economies! these patterns have persisted because of the geographical isolation of the country, but they are not unique to these peoples similar patterns seem to exist in some of the neighboring cultures ah; well as in others in Europe»

t Consequentlys the answer to the heading of this chapter w ill bes a Basque is an individual (1) .who speaks Eskuara and whos therefore, considers himself part of the Eskualdun, (2) who lives in a region of .definite geographical character which he. calls Eskual-

Herria, where live the Eskualdun and their immediate neighbors who only a few centuries ago Ipst the use of Eskuara, (3) whose social behavior conforms with the norms of a ll the people living in Eskual-

Herria, (it) and whose physical appearance resembles to some degree that of most of the people of Eskual-Hefria» It Is in the light of this definition^,: which is arbitrary because of the laick of clear information on the subject., that this study w ill treat of the Basques®

It might be interesting for the American reader to take note of the size of the Basque country,, Altogether the seven provinces form a coarse equilateral triangle some 110 miles on each side a EskuaMIerria could be compared to a rectangle 110 miles long and about thirty miles uidei it would occupy an area extending from the northeastern corner of our Pima ^ in Arizona <, as far as the western edge of the Fapago

Reservation in length and would be as wide as the distance from Haarana to the San Xavier Mission. . ... Gm?m f»

, she w m m $

Of a ll the eultapai elements which the Basques possess^ their language =--Eskuara="a is the most remarkable® That certain of its fe a tu re s^ w hich aare d e f in ite ly 'non»Indo»Eur©p®an$) were a b le to p e r s i s t . g£t@r more th at' two thousand years# numerous invasions# and constant contacts with people of Indo-European speech is a wonder® This survival of non-Indo-European features is; due in a large part to the geographical isolation of the valleys of . Eslmal-Herria# and also it must be ascribed ■, to Eskuara8 s remarkable ability to integrate within itse lf a number of forms Which i t borrows from the languages outside»

Few outsiders have1been able to master this language sufficiently to be able.to converse fluently® To leara this language is difficult because of its morphology and especially because of its syntaac; furthermore# it presents little practical interest since nearly all the Eskualduh speak either French’or Spanish and the dialect that one- might learn can be used, only within a lim ited area®

■A large number of grammars based on comparative philology have been written about the most important dialects# but no linguistic analysis of any form, of this language has ever been-published® For this reason and because the w riter is neither a linguist nor a member of the Esknaldun ranch indulgence is requested regarding the folloid.ng

summarized presentation of Eskuara linguistic analystSo -

% / , Jl - MJETICS ; < ; . .

If Eskuata does not contain all the phonemes of both Spanish

and Frenchs all of its phonemes are used in either of these languages0

Againg ^ tW :i# ) 0#amce of; .local.and dialectical variations^,: -#ich::,

cannet he treated her@3 should be emphasi^edo ’. : ^

Transcribed for the first time into the International

■. ; ' Phonetic ilphabets Eskuara phonemes ^.ould be as follows s

Vqwelsg' ' i3 probably E (between e and £)s a3 , - ,

prdb#]#:<3 : . prdbab^^A is ; :-; and y (in Soule)0

Diphthongsg ■. ' ®i9 Its @hd : \ ■ ' '■■- ■ Consonants: ; - :p , - : , b3 ' t 3;:. ; :ds\; k3 g3 f (more

common in France)3 s, | $ h (especially in Lsbourd) 9 ms' . i ' ■ V ‘ - ' n/' :j13 • :l3-y j, and Bo - ' / '

There is- no unified: system of transcriptipn0 Consequently3

the orthography of irords 'varies considerably0 Two main systems exists

oneeproposed by the Academy of Basque language3 in %»ains is closer to

the loPoAo system because it uses some of the letters of the.Spanish

alphabets the other3 used in Prancej .corresponds to. the phonetic

■ transcription: of Eskuara.into, the, French' alphabets Some of their main

differences areg ' - , - ': -;; ' i '; r y y; loPoiki, ■Spaalsh. French a . u . ou J S ; ' u • ; ’ k k es qug or k •;; s or a- '@5 g9 or e J '■ ::\— ; @h ' ; ; ‘ •; ; r. l i ':v; . '.'is W'j ■ R . ; : rr " , ; - rr : 1 ‘ ■-

■ The presence of the ( j) phoneme in Souletin denotes & Celtic ;

or French influence 0 Also the presence of the (h) in l®bourdin5 which

is absent in modem French^ might have been borrowed from Celtic =.=tM,s ,

' same phoneme eriste today in some French patoiss ,'suoh; as the Saintonges©c,

The voiced labiodental spirant (v) is:absents and its voiceless counter^

part (f) is seldom employed^ this led some linguists (Dausat 19kQi U W ;'

to assume that it might be of ancient origin ^-probably Iberian-™ and

thus influenced Castilians Catalans and G&sconan into adopting the (b)

; phonemes or an intermediary between; (b) and (v}s instead - of the (v) 0;:

Eskuara pronunciation is relatively easy for an English ' ; F

speaker0 Stress accent is practically non=>@3d.gtent^ it is even less

pronounced than in. Frencho Ewevers ihere is a definite pitehs pleasantly

singings whieh seems to; vary from province to province 0 This produces . .

ah even flow of sounds which are uttered with an attractive modulation^

Except for Souletin the articulation is generally laxg and the

resulting effect consists in the frequent elision of some phonemess

as in dudarlk gabe »«"doubtless"== which can be reduced to something

like du'aika (Y eyrin 19k7s 2.01) 0 . ■

B - MCEEH010GY

It is difficult to fit Eskuara into any elassificatory scheme o I t is a. sys-thetie laagmage yitix strong agglmtinatiTO eMametersg sme infleetional aad even a few poly^gmthetie prop®rbies0 \

There is a definite need for & [email protected]© study of the morphologies! processes of this language, in at least one of its dialect So H I. the learned treatises, approach this subject from a purely comparative or historical viespoiato Thuas to study an Eskuara dialect each treatise adapts to the: language in which it is written

-^Frenchg Spanish^ Germans Itali® n9 ©te0=~ & system of declensions and. a terminology based on Latin and Greek grammars <,

. Mhce' it is not the intention of the writer to present^, even in general, termss a discussion of Eskuara morphology^ a. few examples

of morphological processes w ill be shorn h©r@0

Eskuara words are either compound or eomplexo Word eospomding is very common^ but this process rarely exceeds the joining together

of three words without the. insertion of at least one bound morphem@o

Long compound words can be formed^ but they occur rarelys as in

of the following free forms g burdiin ^ ttiren*f*«=>e k u ru teh ==8l!eross® eta "-affix indicating location—s; ko —affix indicating possession or quality—s lepo —^mountain pass18—a a —suffix for the article0 This compound word can be translated by 88the iron-cross mountain pass88 (Lamre 19Sk°° 21=22) 0 But most ' ■ eorapdund words are: made up of two wordss such as ardigaana. which is composed o f a r d l: =^»@w©®— .and-, gasna, ==wph©@se8i—s o r sag arh e which is composed, of sagar —wappleM— and arno. —^ n ® 88—: and means 88eldero88

Cosplex words seem to be characterised more by inflection than by derivation,) The most common mdrphologioal. process is affixation^ and ©speeiaily suffissatidBo Sappletion- eeeurs frequently in verbal forme, but internal change is rare. V . Prefixation in non=.’r@pbti. forms is liitiited| J^fitte sites only '• six s%6h prefixes ' 37^38) o ' • ' - . -v On the other 'tend, tixe nodser of suffises is extremely Mgh<,;

' ■'' ' ■' , ■■ ' ■ '

Xo gjgoaB giapn/a ==®th© ■Ban®=~s gimon/a/mm

Lgon/S./rswgatife ==.®b@oause of the man*

t 0 etGheradinokqmn is eotopesed :o£ the paradigm etehe =«%ons®^= modified py the five snffixes °r»a ^din®fl =ko3 =as «=n whieh egress the meaning 8%hil® goia® to the >ons®oS;v : , ■ . ' . . . : ' ^i-:: '' , 3o .the suffix ~n added to a Verbal form becomes the equivalent - .■ • of one of our relative pronptinss as in hemen da gisona ==13h@re is the maa®—, opposed to hemeh den gjaona «=%h@ man x-rho is hereo81

Ihe morphology of the verbal, forms is extremely oomplexo, Most of the' comparative grammars distinguish. two main sorts of verbal formss the synthetic or wStroBg588 and the peripferasic or %@ak0e?

Strong verbal forms are modified by prefixes for the person and by su ffice for the pluralo Some esmmples of simple ,$transitive® forms of the ^nominative voice® ares-

he walks ‘ ## h® is . ■ 1 mtiU,..: v n /a is I th e y w alk tl we p a lk . , - , r e we

implied suffix which corresponds to a pron©un9 as ins he earries him ' £/m he has. Mm he earries me n/m. he h as me he earries them d/ita he has them he e a r r ie s ms g/ 5 t m he has ms

Weak verbal -forms. are more eommomly employed be earns© they are s±mpler0 They mtlllge am auxiliary element to indicate for example ®to makeup wt© h®^» “ean,* *to. §0$,® Mt© hav®9^ etcds ,-i'iaieh modifies. & ' ."verbal: smbstaativeo®. I t has been smggested. th a t these weak forms are the result of a recent development which began when Eskuara eaae in contact with the Romance languageso

Here are . some easmples of weak verbal forms g . -

- / . ■ i b l l t a e n -nai$: I w alk . - . ik a s l nm >.he -saw me . ■ mait@tm#.,n#$. I am .loved ikasi ditm . he saw them ikmsten dfc..." . I see . • . ikmsi gaitm h® saw ms . ikmsl dmt -. I saw ^ ; 7 .

Such a division between these two sorts of verbal forms is n o t rigido It happens that the element's of the weak forms become fused so as to' constitute a new synthetic,, or strongs form0 For instance as in nahi duzu? -“®do you wantiftl,== which becomes nausu? (ieyrin 19h/l g 20ls.)o

Suffixation in the verbal forms may be used to indicate gender0

I t i s expressed, in the -second person singular which denotes a- higher • degree of fam iliarity than it does in Spanish or French0 For instances duk and dun w ill mean lfyou have it® if addressed fam iliarly to a man or to a woman respectivelyo To egress see your house# the- same distinction w ill be made in hire etehea ikmsten diat or hire etohea ikusten dinato . ' ... - ' ', ' . ,

■ ■ c ;»-sHm - ; ;

Eskuara syntax is esctremely eosplexs Ideally the word order is subjects complements and verbs but the selection of the constituents and th e function, o f some ©f th e v e rb a l foKias can a l t e r a p p re c ia b ly th e type

©f s®nt©nee - eonstraetioao M agoists generally agree that almost all-the

W ^bll forms c, efen when BtransitiiiesM command the ^passive T0ieeo6t"

Gons@

becomes some sort of "indirect object1® to the 88passivei[t verbal form#

while the "direct ebj©ctMplays the role of actor. (Yeyrin 19^7° 2Qb,^2Q$) 0

For examples .'

Galdegitea dut graaia "By m© is asked the gratis Sudan besala hasia As i^.s by me begun Ikhabatzeke bizia0 To be finished the life0tt

which means “I ai .asking for the grace to finish my life as

I beg@»o® ' ■; / • •

; : : . ' ' . ' . < Am-Illustration of word order and eoasiatnents is shown in ■

t h i s @3mmpl®o aurrarf. ©man dlodan libunaa ©hit ederra da ==-mth@ book

which' !, gave the child is. beautifulo88 This sentence can. be separated

in to '^fee fo H o a in g . e©!$pon@Btss;. • '. ' , ' . '

Aurr/a/(r)/i effism ' . dio/(a)/n liburu/a ' chit. GhiM/the^r (to) , (to)|^ve iT&d/whieh bo©k/th® very

ederra da» ' beautiful i^iSo . . f:''" '

It seems as though the Verbal forms play a limited role in

;' the. sentence as far as the action is eoneeraed0;

. .. Ion-verbal forms can become at times so inflected that the

verbal fom is omitted (Yeyrin .19lj,7s 205)5 as in this examples •

Oaak . onari gorainsi. From==the=good=©n© to -th e-g o o d -o n e : coa^lim entSo

- ';' : which;can be translated by “a. gentleman (presents') Ms best

wishes to another =18 I I ^ SOME PEGUmEHIES OF ESKUARH ; .

• ^-v,-a - NimmTioE • ; ■ '

The Eskaara system of numeration is interesting with respect

to . its ^decimal and vigesimal eharacter,, Most of the numbers are non=>

Indo^Europemis : - >.

1 b a t ' 10 “ hamart t ' . 1*0 = berregoi bi (or) biga 11 = hameka •, 60 = hiruetan-hogoi hiru .(or) hirur. 12 - hamabi . , : ; 86 '= lauetan-hogoi :litt' (or) .laur.'Y . - 13' “ h a m -h ira ■;. d 100 = ehtart- ; , b o r t s : ■ (eu ) v;: ' '120. = :seietan -h o g o i-' ■. 6 s e i ' v 20 = .hogOi l 60 ° zortsietan-hogoi 7 a a sp i ; •, ' ' \ 21 =. hogoi-ta-bat 200 =• berrehun a o r t a i ■■ (etCo) ' ' : > . 300 - hiru-elxun bederatai :■ 30 - hogoi=ta=hamar ' ' (etOo) ; • :

v.;-V. 'v B “ TIM DIFIS10N' h \r.' ■'■' l '

As w i l l be seen in a.later chapter the names of Months

include the morpheme ilo This suggests Strongly that th is division

o f time was. established, on the Imiation ^cycle

The names of days in Eskuara indicate that the Basques '

might have possessed at one time a ■ three=day weeko Three words meaning

; Mbeginning5 w “middle 3 M and “end" are ■ compouhded w ith the. word astes

meaning “we@k“a. ast®leh®nfl..;astearteA ;and " asteazkeho &ev?m@##pnivbto ■ ;; Monday & Tuesday., and Wednesday o i i and ortsirale “-Thursday and

Friday—contain the morpheme orts which connotes the idea of "heaven”

Or; “thimderj*-. they approximate 'the. !nam for i&ur'sday in the German and

latln languagesa Donnergtag and Jovis dieso

C - COLOR DISTIKGTIOK

;The.words for purple 5- oranges and green were borrowed from ■; Romance languagesQ This would Indicate that at one time the Esknaldun knew only black s w hite ° ° c h n rl°°>s yellow ==hori==<, red

and bine ^urdlno The latter word contains the paradigm nr which means %ater.bs® I t might have been 'iased to mean originally

“colored like water»“ It wa.s used formerly to describe the color of - gray hair (Veyrin 19k7& 20?) o

' D - OHOmTOPOEIAS .

Estiara possesses a large mzAer of ©nomat©p©eiss|, ifcngr

Individuals hare the talent of creating their o$m0 Mong the most commonly employed are the very expressive? . ' • ' •

f i r f i r a rustling of leaves . ... ■ tip l° ta p a ra p id g a it darga-darga drinking with gulps , i r r i n t s l n a horse neighing tzintaarrotshk tinlcling of bells k arran k a squeaking wheels of a cart g l l i ° g i l i tic k lin g tarrapatakan action of botching a task

I I I - ¥0HD . BOEROCTGS

To date some seventy®five_:per ee# of Eskuara words have been borrowed from either iatin^ ._S^dL,sh.s or Freneho This process^ #d.ch started with the Roman conquest3, s till goes on at present and obeys

some rather, uniform rules. of phonetic adaptation (lafitte ISbkt 28®

29) o Evidene® from comparative philology permits .us to date approximately the time when some words were borrowed 0 Some of the words wM.ehs adapted from Iatins have remained an integral part of EskuaM. ar©siin

Mbourdin dialects bakes, from paeem °®Mp®ace8°°? errege* from- regem --*k&ag#* Others were borrowed la te r when the . early forms of Spanish

■ and French began' to develops like gumta® a from craeem (L) *^®«ross#«~*|

gorptotg a from corpus (L) =-=ll$body®=-"| zegu9 from coeliaa' (1) ==Ksliytt==|

ete0' Others s till are more r©cents each &s grazia =>='C5graceltt“=>| zizela ,

•==rseissorsto'==»i ®lizafl from Iglis® (F).br iglesla (S) = 68eht2rehc.88 Words

lik e ©skola.» from e so a e la (S) =»®scho©l®“= and k'ozinerg from em .gim .er .

(F) or cocinero (S) '-=>=#eookiilr“= are recent aequisitionso The process of

borrowing •'#11 eh occurs today is' interesting because i f may take two

different formsj in .some regions the foreign word is translated into

its Eskuara count®rpartSs ®&& in others i t is borrowed whole but with

■ some- phonetic adaptations burdin^bidea (literally Kir©n^road®:) or •

chemiadeferra 0 from cheaain de fer (?) =>=®railr©ad®=| lur°sagarra

(literally “earth apple®) or pomade terras from pmme de terre (?) ■

f^®p©tgtow”^§ and merMiatu°beltza (literally “market black®) or ' ■

mar@henolr&, from march® noir (?) <==Kblaek=marketoto

• , 1© one seems to agree as to the origin, of the twenty-five per

cent of words which remain0 It is generally accepted that some words :

like hogoi ■°-®twent^°°s . malt© --“dear®--9 andere —“lady1?—s snd a few

others were borrowed from ..GeltiCo Words originating from Iberian are

not eoxwineing except: for'.a - few analo^es. with topon^ri© names (Baroja

195k) o it few seem to have been borrowed from the Germanic invaders <,

like zilhar —“silver®—s urkia —®birch-treeK—| or from the Moorss •

like beSalas' from inch8Allah —“pleas®, God®—fl. almaka —“side®—9 @tcG

(Witte 2$-27) o . I ? ~ EBCBIEE OF OHGIIS

fM,s remaining portion of the "roe&btiargr wMeh presents analogies id.th other languages has been the object of numerous studies<,

It W s thought that these worde might give, some clue as to the % riginB of Estoarao:Most of the literature on this subject is devoted to meaningless arguments and .eomter^argmnentso The most epie battle divided linguists and other eaperfcs into the e8pro-=Iberian1-t and the

Manti=Iberianto eampso It is on3y recently that much of this polemic has toned doang for no* most realise that the data which we possess are x too few' and too weak to justify a rigid attitude» .

. little attention should be devoted to the ^heroic18 period when about the end of the eighteenth century a number of baseophil@@s probably inspired by their Christian seals decided and "proved" by . ; means of adroit comparisons that Eskuara was the original language o f' mankinds was created instantly in Biblical timeSs and had remained unchanged since=

Then§ from the beginning of the nineteenth century until a few decades ag©s; arose another school with a somewhat more "scientific" approaeho. On the basis of a few word analogies between modem Eskuara and ancient languagesV each author ruled on the origins of the Basques themselvesb T'huss the Basques were the descendants of the Jewss

Etruscansg Caucasianss Egyptianss PhoeniGlanss. Iberianss CeltSs @te0

One of these authors t*.o could find no conclusive analogies with any ancient language proceeded by elimination and finally decided that the ..Basques"rast,be the' sureiitrers’ of the ^lost18 A tlantis»■ '

During the same period a group of erudite philologists^

many of them Germanss s till using the same method of word analogies 3

split bitterly between the partisans of Iberian origin and those who

were opposed to. it* As a results this started new comparative studies

between Eskuara and. modern languagess such as Finno-Ugrian^ American

lndians Eskimos Japaneses Semitie=Hamitie groupss and otherso

Todays as has been stated previouslys most basoophiles have

realized that language and race do not by necessity fora one

inseparable entityo The latest hypothesiss which mow rates high

favors; is. the one. formulated by Rene tefon0 On the basis of exhaustive

and abstruse morphologic eomparisons2 he proposes that the most

antique portion of Eskuara is directly related with the Gaueasic

languages, of today and that Eskuara was introduced into the Basque

co u n try and A quitaine some|bime during th e E n eo U th ic by a group o f

Cm ieasians who brought along w ith them :;coppers ; bronze s and- m egA litM o

monuments =»all these being characteristic traits of Asia Mnor., he

states«? (%fon 1947)* It seems? howevers highly conjectural to a

layman like the writer that such an analogy can be solidly established

between teo groups of languages which have evolved independently for

some five thousand purported yearss especially in the light of the

rapid rate of change and the.esctreme degree.of.local variation that

modern Eskuara'presentso ; '

. Our present knowledge of ancient European languages, is too: .

scant to formulas.® any solid hypothesis^ Perhaps the day when the few

Iberian and Etruscan inscriptions which remain are fully deciphered^ we shall be in a position to take a more definite stando iffiiat appears to be eertain is that Eskuara is the product of the influences of

■ " " ' ' ' . . several languagego On the basis of the conclusion drawn by Baroja (19^k)s

Iberian and Celtic have influenced i t s but we know not to what degreec

V - IlT E m W m MD ilTEB&GY

In spite of the obstacle of its many dialectical differences

Eskuara literature has become fairly @bundant0 Some of these dialects .' -,r- ' - have .been unified under such groupings as “’lite rw y 68 Havarro=>Labourdins

#lite ra ry to Guipuae©an3 and ’‘lite ra ry 611 fiaeayano

Aside from the limited literature of the post-=Renaissanoe periods there exist several fpabtorals1" —egrstezies of medieval" origin— which date from the eighteenth century<, In an increasing manner since then folktaless legendss storiess popular songsg which were part of the richg- abundants and characteristic oral literature of the Eskualdm, have been transcribed in large numbers0 Some classical works s like la

Fontaine1 s FableSs came even to be translated into Eskuarao

About one hundred years ago almanacs began to be published in

Eskuara for the use of the famerso They haves sinceg enjoyed great popular!ty. In the last decades a, literary movement has actively taken place on both sides of the border5 and a number of reviews and periodicals

--such as Gure Herria., Eskual Herria publi cations s and many others— have increased, the diffusion of written Eskuara among the better educated Eskualdun0 Some of these are printed in various parts of the world where Basque colonies have become important,, as in the Argentine BspubUCo

It should be Boted9 though^ that aua&er ef raiters^aad latelleotm ls among the Bskualdun is very limitedo Tk@j are far mors numerous in. Spain beoamse of the presene@s there 9 of definite industrial wealth and-of important urban eenters o 'Basque education in the rural areas is restricted to the lower compulsory levels of the Spanish and

French educational systems o It is in school that the Basque child begins to loam either French or Spanish? Mhea he reaches the age of i, - ' v fourteen, or even before in some esses, he abandons completely all . . pursuit of an educational nature, for be well as his parents are either refractory or indifferent to such things? A negligible fraction of these children goes to secondary schools located in the urban centers, and- only a £ m among the most talented happen to go to the local seminaries with the intention of later becoming priests and possibly leaders of Basque ? On the other hand, an educated Basque is by necessity an individual aeeulturated to the French or Spanish ways of U fa, and because of his 'extensive esqposure to n®n=Basqu® language and culture he has become a marginal individual? He is, consequently, rather removed from the predominant and more -“typleal®, rural conditioning which prevails throughout Eskual-Herri&o It is chiefly among these . educated people that Bskuara literature is diffused, for the majority of the Eskualdun, who in many'cases live in remote and isolated valleys, does not possess either the education nor the inclination necessary to appreciate anything beyond the farmer Is almanac?

■ Sine® the sixteenth century the area of Eskuara speech has lost considerable territory (Baroja 19k9% h0)o This receding process. es previously stated^ is s till going on5 . .espeeiallj in northeam

HairarrBo The only factors which contribute to the ^persistence of

Eskaara are its use im the home , ^ it is the first language. that

oMldren l@ara-=g its use' im the ehmrch ==%?h@re th e" sermoa is delivered

in Bskuara—", and its use as an ordinary means of ^•comnMostioarawag

farmerso On the other handy the main factors, which contribute to its.

. disappearance ares (1). the eompuleofy teaching of: .Spanish or French

at seho©l| (2) the rapid spreading of th® sewer media of eommtaBieaiion

into Eskual=Herriaa such as newspapers in French or Spanish, radios,

movies, etc®j (3) the increasing use of these languages in various

places ,and occasions, at the market, in dealing with officialdom,

ete.o s (h) probably, some political pressure on the Spanish sidej and ;

(5) the large increase in the use of the newer modes of locomotion. \

which allow a constantly higher number o f.Esku&ldun to be in contact,

with non==Basquess eith er. by traveling outside the lim its of EskuaMlerria

or by remaining in their efwn villages where they are @3Epos©d to th e

seasonal ixiflux of touristso - CHSPEBR 2HEEE

, • ' ' ■ ' ■/ ; D® HOE

S.noe he was eonvlaeed; that the cham cteristies of Eskoara were. so $miqEe and so aneient3 .may a bascophil© until recent times sBzanised that the Basques themselires must fee as miqne and as ancient a people as the language they spokeo This point of view h@d the beneficial result of spurring anthropometric'research© This type of investigation started some one hundred years ago and continued until the turn of this century© In spite of some biased interpretations of its results in behalf of a hypothetical Basque “race,* it was abandoned probably because of its failure t© demonstrate the hypothesis proposed by the linguists© ,

In the past fifteen years genetic surveys have been actively conducted© . Despite %e inadequate statistical samples which were examin@d9. the results as to the ABO and Sh-blood group distribution . strongly suggest that some sigaifiem tly different characteristics may exist in the 'genetic pool of the people living in the vicinity of as well as in Estaal<=H@rtia0. flowed in 'the;. light of the new concept of races, these results are most stimulating© ' I - iffiTHRQPOMETBlG iPPRQifcCH

The aost eomp?@Ma@iw studies on this subject ean b© found in

Ripley (1931s. 190~2Qlj.) and Goon (19Ws 501=50l».) o The eonelusions which they reach should be accepted with some re serve s for they are establitiied on data insufficient as to 'mmber and inadequate as to areac

Pati Broq® started h is' research in 1862 on sixty crania exhumed : from the cemetery of Zarauss on the Guipimeoan eoasto In 1868 he studied fifty=seveh .mor® from the fishing community of Saint=Jean^de^lug a in

Mbourdo In the meantime Tirehow was taking some measurements .in .

Guipuaeoad These first investigations brought about '"surprlsimg^ differences between Spanish and French Basquess the average cephalic index of the former was 79* while that of the latter was 83a'

. . Towwd the end of ^ e century Telesforo de iransadi and Dr* . '

Gollignon Continued the rese@rehs this time on m ilita r y conscripts o

De lyamadi measured 250 soldiers In GuipAcoa and eastern Fiacay&a He recognised three typess among which on© was. characterised by its . naffew mandible o '

Gollignon measured recruits from the Departement-des Basses ■

Pyrenees sad then carried on his work in Ssn Sebastian 0 He found

(GoUi^ion 1895) that a sasple of 200' French Basques had an average ' ; cephalic .index of 82053 Md that a sa^le- of thirty=five %anish

Basques.had an average of 780I 60 Thuaa his results corroborated those of'the previous investigatorso.

' This discrepancy was a serious blow' to: the proponents of the ' pur® Basque race« After a series of debates and arguments^ I t m s finally a^eed that a l!pur@® racial element ”=the ?IberianK type— m s represented among the Spanish Basques and tto t it had been modified among the French Basques by some Alpine and Lappish accretions

—th eir Immediate neighbors to the ©&@ts the Bearnes@s being more

As for the general characters^ le t us turn to Coon (19l«Bg

502«=503)g

'fh© Basques are people of moderate stator® s #ith means of l6it m 0 in %>aia and 166 m,0 in Franeeo Th&j are lightly built8 ideally mith broad shoulders and aarr©?y M,pss: and a conical thorsxo These generalisations as to body build are .the result of general observations rather than tiiat of anthropometry, levertheless. it ..is likely that they ar®9 to a large extents founded on facto The ideal Basque type9 x-yhieh is not merely an artistic stahdardj, but a reality^ is chiefly identifiable by means of" a eo*ina,tion of facial featureso The forehead is. straight or but slightly sloping^ the brow ridges weak or5 absent^, the nasi on depression slight or ah sent 3 the nose thin9. often -aquiline9 m i# a th in t i p 9 sometimes depressed^ th e fo reh ead i s broad9 th e mid<=face quite narrows th® mandible extremely, slender and narrow through the bigonial r@gi@n9 snd the chin is narrow and pointed,, '»Th® French Basques are by no means iillrbiunetsj Collignon fin d s 22 p e rc e n t o f b lu e @yes9 p e rc e n t o f "medium’s and 3h p e r c en t o f darko Black hair is found in ? percent of the group's brown in 77 per cents and light brown to blond, in 16 per cento Among the Spanish Basques the incidence of blondiam is somewhat lower9 but the Basques are s till light when compared'to most other inhabitants of Spaino The nasal profile is convex in some b$ per cent of the French Basqu©s9 as compared to k3 per cent of the Spanish on©s0

The researchers’ attention was turned toward the Basque fae©o If anthropometrde methods had failed9 perhaps anthroposcopy could show some type that would correspond to most of the Basques0

ColMgaon and d® Aratisadi thus noted #© ’’apparent peculiar characteristic” of the face as it is described in Goon’s quotation» Collignon even published a map9 ■ reproduced by Ripley (1931s 19k) 9 low ing the relative frequency of Basque facial types in France o Be identified three types? (1) the bradhyeephaHe ronnd-faeed Beamese ™>=Alpine~= located

In the east| (2) the braehyeephalie triangular=fseeds or Basque■ fpspper,* in the Pyrenean £o©thills| |3)'in the mountains and probably spreading into Spain a dolichocephalic ’®asioothly® oval«£aeed ="=lberiaa and Mediterranean-” which would constitute the bulk of the Basque, population (Bipley 1931? 19©)V Various attempts were mad®, at explaining ti#W differences in terns of the fifth century Vaseones8 invasion of ■ the northern Pyrenean slope*. The favored hypothesis was that the

Basques derived from a Mediterranean stock which had become modified by inbreeding because o f:their geographical isolation*'

Since that tim® little ' research was don© = Be ireraadi became involved in the study of Basque archaeology and culture (de Aram&di ' , 1 i - ■ ■ - ' . ' . - - , 'v.' ' . 1919)o On® exception was that of G* Mo Morant whos in 1929g exsmined " ; . ; • / A \ ' ■: ' '.'7- ;;seventy«=hin@ c ra n ia in. G u ip ^ c o a . and whose r e s u lts confirm ed th o se of his predeeessorso Mention has been'mad©' that de Barandiaria*s . eonelusion about the Urti&ga ear© erm ia resemble the. ones of present®

r 7. - ' ' > . day Basques in many respeciso'

Ripley's remark (1931? 193) :#put the facial type % Basque m%y be generally, detected instantly, by.tills.feature .al©n©,$ is butt partially' true| even the casual observer cannot fail to notice ito.

This remark should be altered in tiie following manners various members and proportions of people with this distinctive facial appearance can be observed not only in the Basque country but over a wide area which covers,, .most of the Pyrenees and Cantabrians and ranges from the southwestern French,plain to the,horthem 'portion of the Spanish central plateauo 0@©gi5'g ©oaeliasioas (291*88 $03±$QkY$ 'sMeh. sse .based on

- eranlblogioal ds$tas m® that 8 the Basques are basically Mediterraneans

m th some braehyeepfoaXie aoeretiong (2) this secretion is chiefly

Bizmie and to a, lesser degree ilpinei (3) their fae® is .tiharaeterized.

by nasal prominence and & narrow mandible s acquired through a period

of isolationo '.-C -

In spite of Morant5 s complaint (1929) that more work should •

be don©' on Basque anthropometry^ such studies were abandoned^ •It^was

lorant who ©pressed the urgent need for & systematic study according

to th© modera methods of physical anthropology^, for he seems to be’the ■

'only on© who came to realiz® that the methods used by Collignon and

othersg though advanced for the timea had become almost valuelesso His

reasons were obvious8

lo Samples were inadequate and not representative of the

population distribution^ they consisted of. males onlyi and most of ..

them had been taken in highly questionable .regions ~along the e©ast=*=

where racial intermirbure prevailso

■ 20 Statistical analyses were too elementaryc -

3o A #- of the criteria were based on a purely subjective,

approach or on anthroposeopie observationso

\ ' I I » dEMEEto ., .• '

.About fifteen years ago some of.the genetic expressions in

human blood began to be extensively utilised s$s criteria toward th© .

■ racial classification of aano This method presents certain advantages 0¥W anthTOpomet^o Jbnong these advantages the genetic approach consists essentially of discovering the absence or presence of determined genes# while the other approach uses for eriteri.® phemo~ typie traits sometimes difficult to measure and classify °-llke eye eolor=“= because they are hard to relate to specific genes or to specific environmental factorso

Ths f i r s t o f such r e p o rts concerning th e Basqu@gs ?.a@:;far a@ could be. found out# were published by Henri Tallois in 19k! and 19k3 about the ABO blood groups distribution0 The first on© regarding Bh distributions among the Basques appeared in Argentina in 19h$ and was published by Ma-Ao Eteheverryo Since then a large number of surveys have been conducted. =>=>see Mourant (195k.) fo r bibliography0

A ° SHE ABO BLOOD GROUPS

The frequencies of phenotypes 09 As Bs and AB and the gen® fre q u e n c ie s o f A' (p)s B (q)9 and 0 (r) are shown in Table 10

Compared with the Spanish and French populations# the Basques display a remarkably low B frequencyo B gen® is almost absento This characteristic distinguishes them from a ll European populations which possess a definitely higher proportion of B genes “-ranging from some

3% to ll$o It places the Basques on a par with M erieaa Indian groups#

Australian aborigeaes# Polynesians# and Eskimoso This is particularly interesting because the world distribution of B gene frequencies shows all thee® people with little or no B at one extreme# and at the other extreme are the Mongoloids of Asia# while somewhere in between are a ll the Europeans —except# of course# the Basques (Boyd 1952s Table 23)»

Consequently# the distribution of ABO genes indicates that the Basques constitute in th is respect a distinctive population not only among ■ th e French a n d ' Spanish b u t a ls o among a l l o th e r Europeans o

Subgroups A1 and A2 offer interesting results (See Table 2)0

One distribution (Boyd.- 1952 s Table 2?) shows the Basques with a very . high 12/11 ratio of o50 which is just the opposite of aH Mongoloid

'groupSj, where subtype 12 is abseato This result was confirmed,by other

studies, not directly available to the w riter=> This is of interest because' it places the Basques as being part of all European ssid

African populations,,- characterised by the presence of. this .12 subtype0

The low 12 frequency and the correspondingly Iw ratio of o 13 shown by another distribution (Hb@rdi .et' alo 1957) is the only one of this kindo ,

B - THE # BIPOD ^ ' ■ '

The distribution of these alleles among the Basques is very

aliealsr to that of their neighbors and. other European populations 0

■ ThuWs i t has -little or. no distinctive meaning (See Table 3 ) 0 M appreciable difference with the people of the Caucasus should be notedo - -

' VThe population called Agates (S) refers to the feotak (E)a. • ■; - who; for centuries formed a caste in Basque societjo Although today only a' few of these people have maintained their social isolations they .may; constitute an interesting group to study in physical ; ,. ' • ■ '-w ■■ ■■ ' • ■ anthropology, ' ' ■ ' : . . /

c = THE m mmsg ^ : "

Excluding the ABO . groups/ of' a ll the other sereiogieal data . the Sh serie s display the most remarkable characteristic ©f the Basque S o T I B LB 1 '

FBEQBBHCIES OF BLOOD GROUPS2 Q$ A, B» W A B H BASQUE,' A3© FRENCH POPULATIONS

PoptisMoB Place Reference Sample 0 A B m P ;. q r .

Basques San Sebastian. Bo# 1952 s Table 23 91 57o2 Bo 7 1.1 0 .239 .008 .756 Spanish • Spain. ., , m • n ' l5i72 16.7 : 9.2 , 2.2 .291 .068 .615:

.French Paris' , M - IS- ■1,26^. 39.8 l2-o3 11.8.' 6.1 .2?6 ■ .088 .632 • • * v, ' ■ • French Cotentin Mourant 19$kz Table lU 1,158 17.81 13.12 6.38 2.10 .261 .015 .691 French %on B8 ft 10,03. H.6g B^OS 7.99 ’ 3.31 .296 .058 .616

•"• TABLE’ "2 ‘ . - ■’

FHEQDENCIES OF SUBGROUPS A1 AW M IN BLOOD GROUPS Os'A, Bs A ® AB IN M^ B E AND SPANI® POPUIATIONS

Population , Place Reference Ssple : 0: m 'M2 B #B A2B A2/Ai\ Ratio ■ & Basques San Sebastian Bo# 1952s Table 27 61 51.5 31,2 15.6 1.6 0 0 .50 Basque^ Navarra & Gulp. Alberdi et al. 1957 . 161 55.28 33.51 1.35 1.97 1.86 0 .13

%Wish San. !febasti« Boyd 1952s Table: 2?: 161 17.2 31=8; 11.8 • 5.0 ,1.2: 0 ©3l4, ■ • (mixed) T & B L 1 3

FBEQUMG1ES OF BLOCS GROUPS, M MB M I I BASQUE, SPiHISHs FREICH, AID G&UGASIM POPUIAIIONS

: Population • P lace Reference Sample ' l . M i m 33,

Basques ? Mourant 19$k% Table 16 383 29.50 B .5 6 ■ 21=93 =538. =462

Basques Ban Bebastlan 88' ts ' 81 M S i [ 3 8 .2 7 , , 27=16 =■537 ; =463

Basques f K .18 181 38.12 i a ?99 19=89 =591 =408

Basques Spain Boyd 195&s Table 25 91 2 3 el 51=6 25,3 o489 ,511

. Agotes Span' ; Moursmt 195W Table 16 ; J o .38.09 tooOO 18=00 =6qo =4oo

% a o ish Aragon ' 88 88 li.00 27.50 ii9o50 23=00 =523 ,477 SB m French. t % 3 5 l 30o28 k 9 ?m 20,45 =5W =45i

E0 Caucasians T i f l i s • Boyd. 1952i Table 25 1 3 k 38 o 8 k t o Q =62? >. V ' 13=4 =373 % Caucasians T i f l i s m ■ sf HO .0 46=5 ■ 13=5 ,=632 =36? The data are presented in ter© tabless one simplified (Table h) which

shows the distribution of the positive and negative Eh phenotypes and

only the frequencies of D and d genes9-and the other (Table 5) which

■ presents the complete breakdown of the observed.phenotypes and chromosomes

- pereentageo More complete data on th is subject can be found in Mourant

; a & k h .

' - ; A rapid examination of Table k w ill reveal the definite increase

■ in the frequencies of Rh negative and d gene from the north of Franc®

into the Basque country and their subsequent decrease from, the Basque

country into northern Spain0 The data concerning the French in Beam

should be temporarily. dismissed, u n til, a more. adequate sample of . these

people is examined (Mourant 19$k$ k2)o

Of all the people in the world the Basques appear to possess.

the high© st frequency of Bh negative» In one sample of hod Spanish

Basques d gene reaches the almost unbelievable proportion of 65>o

According to Mourant the best data consist of a sample of 383

^purest88 Basques| it is shown in second position in Table So T heir

©Hef characteristics are thBb d gen© frequency is the highest found .... - .

among' a ll the populations studied so fars. oDB chromosome frequency is

the lowest in Europe^ and GBe chromosome frequency reaches the north '

European level of kQ%0 .

The newest data so far founds. given by Alberdi et a l$»(1957) ■

■: provides the follad-ng information8 (I) the B11 antigen frequency is

as low as generally found in Europes but ePBe chromosome frequency is

characteristically. African or .Mediterranean r^h er than.north.Europemi

■ (2) n© ¥ antigen w&g found in..the., sas^le. =?.=>this antigen is almost f j . b l e ; .. li

m a W O lE f t Oi Bh BLOC© GROUPS ( te s te d ' o n ly M th a n ti =13) DI FBENGHS

(from Monrant ±95k% Table 20)

P o p u latio n :^V replace.,. •/. ; Sample m * : y;:D : - .../'• & :.y :: '■■■ i-' y',-: ■ '■' ■'/ •/y/^/.y': ; X.y/y ' ; , . ' ;• y '' i - FrenOh . 1,190 83 d 88 62oli2 37.38 : / -■ ■ uC- m . ' - French N orth 3,228 82690 17.10 38.63 ;#d35/ /

. .. 'FsenOh ■ : , S0B% :;r 2 , W : 816:19 ■ . 18.81 - /3 6 o63 /;;:.'43o37 - , ■/C:' ' -:/ \ -6;'."-' :: v French • Landes ' &29 y f^ o B -' 20,36 3 B 6 6 4 5 o S 'mrohde 'y French . 3,921 780 70 exolo - Bordeaux / 21.30 33o83 46.13 ::Frentia';;:; ■ B eam . : 89 65ql7 : : 3 # 3 l ' 4 0 .9 8 ■ y "'"' ■ / # ' ■ /'/'/ % .: '■ Basques /y 'France: 9 6 k ::75d-52' 2W 18 30»32 49,48

Basques 'y/: / ^ a i n : ;;/ , 6 # 75o63 , 2Uo33 30,63 49.33 , ' ^ • Basques :: ; " Spain y itOO yS?y75:: y W 3 / 33,00 63.00 r < '■ ■. 4 ■ • ' _ . •V, “ .. \ . Basques : ' % a in j*80 7 1 ° k & 280 5)4 46.38 53. 112:

. -'Agotes Spain \ 5X I B 32 - .13668/ 60.40 39-6 0 / . - ^\y,y y.'- r-/:": , ; : : ■\* ■ ^ ■ Spanish y." A sturias -359 '8 2 6 # :, 3 8 o ll. 41.89 i W ■■: • , “ . \ /S p a n is h : . / Cataluna • y5oo 83680: 'la .# : - 59.73 y 40.23 •'vy , - . T & B L E

FBEQUEIGIES:. OF Bh BLO® GROUPS ( ' IH "mE BASQUE POPUMHOI

Phenotypes Percentage

Basque

lararra & Guip0 :

P o p u la tio n

San Sebastian

B asques

N araraa & Gulp® eatiteeiw ly found among the people of Afrloan ssneestryo'

B - THE LUTHER# % BUFFI* MD OTHER BLOOD GEOUPg

" . ' Only one is known to have been conducted mth regard to

Lutheran and Duffy blood groups CUberdi ©t a l0 1957)o Its .results ar© that the Lua gen© fpequen^t'is about the same as that of the other

European, people far studied^ but th«fe'of the is rather high

(See Table 6)0 Apparently the Basques have not been tested for the

Kellj, Earnss KMds and other blood groups^ except recently for haptoglobin types (Allison ei: alo 1958) ^hieh are not significantly . ' different from those of other populations tested*

E - OTHER GEME FHEQUEHCIES

: The Basques have been tested for mid=digittl hair and for tasting of phenyl=thio=earb@midQ (Boyd 1952s Tables 36 and 33)o These

. ■ ' ■ , ■... , . : - results offer little frequency variation from that of other people | they are not very, significant in the light of th® small:".sig©:,'of the samples and of our understanding of the genes which are involved*

■ ; . • : ■ ■■ . . ' III « 'COICLfelOIS , '

. .There is little doubt'‘that on the basis of the research done in physical anthropology^ however ineoB^lete it may be, the Eskualdun and their immediate neighbors form a distinct genetic pool* This differentiation is expressed by a low B gene frequency., a high A2 frequency^ a very high Bh negatilres and a high frequency of gene; it is also expressed^ but in "a vaguer manner3 by this physical appearasice called. MBasqu® typeM wMoh is found over a wide area in and ■ T A B L: E ; 6

FEEqUBlGlES OF LUBIEW AM BUFFI BLOOD GROUPS IM THE BASQUE POPUI&HOI

Lutheran Groups

P o p u latio n P la e e . Reference Sample Lu(a>) Lu(a=) Lua Lu®3

Basqp.es „ Bm8xv& & G uip0 ' Mberdi et alo 161 6-0807 . o9193 oOiiia .9588 . • 1957; : .

Duffer Groups

■ Population P lace -' . '. R eference Sample %"(#) $ y ( a 4 Fya Fyb '

Basques Navarra & Gulp. Alberdi et alo 161 , o503i' olt969 .2951 o70li9 1957 .&@r=E@sS around E staaM Serriao

It is interesting to not® that Hngul^bie stuiiegj, anthropo-

metrio comparisons^, and genetic stirireys. a ll point toward the existence

of some very ancient elements which characterise the Basques0

At present the research which has been done in the field of

■" ' ' , ' ' ; " - ' ' ' , ■ ■ , ■ ■■ , . . physical anthropology dQ®.s not make possible a clear assesment of .

the racial origins of the Bssqy.es a Anthropometric data are too ■

insufficient! yet Goon asserts that the Basques are essentially a

Mediterranean peopl®0 Genetic data are 'unsatisfactory m to. sasple

sise and areas sux^^edi Bo^ (19^28 268) considers the Basques as

being part of a ^hypothetical early European group88 because of their

high Eh and low B| Mourant ■ (19ji>ip 39~h2 and 59=6o) suggests that they i ■ i ; ' . X i ■ ... . . V. -:; : ■ ' ; " , and some Lapp groups present.; analogies; as to their low B and non-

Indo-European language, and that their Eh .negative may relate them to

the Mediterranean people o The fontm lation; of any hypothesis s till

; • ■ . . . , . . ' . ' . ' • ■ : belongs to the realm of conjectures ' , ■ , ■

It is not difficult, to, notice the analogies between the AB#

' - * ■ ' ■: ' ' ' . • : blood groups distributions in the Basque country and those on the ^

. western region of the Gaucasuse The maps 'shown by Mourant ■ (1951*)

illustrste these analogiesg I for. gene A^ H for geirie Bs Map

- ' ; 1 ■ -r' . - . I ll for gene ©<, This evidence g however slights seems to strengthen

the Lafon hypothecs.idiieh proposes that ^som® five thousand years ago

CMeasiBespeaking people- settled, in the'Pyrenean region and probably

intermixed W.th the local descendants of the ''PgSLeolithic people0®

The. need for extensiveand intensive research In the fields

■ of anthropometry and genetics' Is;-cl@^\''©nonghg..!Perhaps a system atically organised research 5, done m.th ad@<|iisfce, sampling and eondueted in small doneentrie area® withln Md outsid© Eskaal-Herrlas, ■will shos an enHghterd.ng distribution of the distinctive traits of the Basques»

Blood group research extended to old skeletal material might prove to he of, eapit^ importance for the vaHdaSion or refutation ■ of one of the hypotheses on the origins 0 OHSFTEB. FOIE

IHS CULTUBE

To the aitF9jeti"f® of" ±%s landsoap® and of, its colorful v illa g e s th a t Esk$iiEl=®erf4.a o ff e rs th e v i s i t o r should b® added m o th e r . charms the ^arehaic® M y of life of the, Eskualduu0 These people here

Indeed maintained tap to the present many a cultural tred.t iahieh; long ago disappeared in most cultures of Western Europe» This relatively: slow rate of cultural change ©an be ascribed, to the ge©graph!eal isolation of the valleys of Eskual^Herria^ to the persistence of

Eslmaraa and probably musing Mnton' s terminology^- to the higher proportion of ,univ®rsals to that of specialties md altemaAiv9g:C ;

The basic cultural patterns of the Eskusldm have been established -sine® about the beginning of the Christian Era on the . pastoral and agricultural types of oeonomyo These patterns present a high degree of homogdneityi. on the other hsHds eultw al traits, offer a large number of varieties which w© ' due to, local. geographical isolatioBo like E^uara itself 9 these tr^ ts =and even some of the tra it Complexes^- vary subtly from vidley: to. valley and from region t© regioao ■ . , . " " . . '; .

. ffinee historic times these basic cultural patterns have been modified by a change in"'the type of ©conmyo F irsts mineral

@3iploit®bion and fishing were inWoducedy theng more - recently^ PaisfeorallsBj,' the ®axiQi©at® mod© of life of the Eyrenale > . V cttltema, is still being praetleed In the least fertile and most

Isolated meratalnoiis regions; i t is .eensiamlKly receding,- being imnreasiagly integrated M th faming activities o Agrieultwey. tiileh probti>ly began to make its appearemc® about the time of Roman colonisations is the most Important type of economys for it is extensively practiced a ll over the valleys of Eskusl-HerriSo Sea=£ishing %ms introduced in the early part of the Middle Ages; mow practiced by a few, i t has lost much of its former Importance^ but s till plays a substantial economic function in the Basque country ®s well as in the %@nish nsfcione

Finallys industry of the post=industrial revolution type —some other type® existed previously— includes mineral exploitation, manufacturing, sod even' tourism; it is found at the mouth of the few navigable, rivers and in a few relatively accessible, valleys where water is abuadanto ' . -

Thus, using the type of economy practiced by the people " ■ ” o f the Bassp.® country as a criterion, four main types of cultures ■ - aaad. culture areas can be. distinguisheds (l) the industrial centers, - tisieh. esm hardly be considered part of EstoaM Iersia because Estowa ‘ is .seldom used in them; (2) the fishing area, along the coast, where

Eskuara is generally ®i%)loy@d; (3) the -■ rural area, where the economy consists of fanning and stock-raising.‘with m form of ^integrated68

' ' - * •; r-f . ’ _ pastoraH™ .;. and (4). the pastoral. areas, in the isolated mountsdns, where onlytrue psstoralism is pr@etie@d0 ‘':" I - 3HB I1BUSTKE1I & m B

. • .ffinereti, escploit^tioa aad mamfseeturiag have reaehed a high , ; le v e l o f im portaaee i n to o piROVineess" ?i®sa3ra:i8md GuipraceSo They are prsetioelly non==e3Eisient in the other provinces except in Vitoziag capital..of AXavas Manle©n3 former capital of Sbule> and the tom of

Ha^>arr©% in l

%>rout es th© direct outcome of the technological revolution of last centuryo- it arose in part from the e^sloitation of minerals s x-ihieh st& ted probably before the Christian Eras and from the development of toe fishing and shipping industries during and after the ffi.dd.le

--r a . giBEEmmY

.. '' ' Most of the words' for metals in Eskuara are derivsrfeives of liido»European languagtes.. .urreaj, from aursm (L) ««%old^=« and urraidgifl lite ra lly ragdld=lik@® ==‘Elieopper®==| curiously z illa r -=^silver^— and alrraida9 literally % ilver^like^ =o=Pti#«« present some Gemanie affinities o The words, for iron ^«hurding bum in burdun—= suggest a .

Hebraic or.Phoenician origin (Baroja 29k9$ 256)0 Iron ea^loitation became particularly important during the Middle Ages over most of the territory of toe seven previa©©s0 It took too different forms8 (l) in t h e ' coastal, regions extraction^, , reduction <, and smelMng of to# o re; most of toe metal was exported thanks to the development of Shipping;

(2) in small mines located inland local processing of the ore; most . . of the metal •m s used, for to© manufacture of weapons =«=this,'. manufacturing played aa important rele Sow tfe© Baeeaqistag as a result the rord olha “"^forge”8”” is zim frequently found in Basque toponymyo To judge the importanee of this, siderurgi© industry* in past centuries the fact that Guipms.e@a and Yiseays possessed no less than three hundred forges in the year l$h$ should be mentiomedo Ore reduction was aooomplished by burning enormous quantities of wood furnished by ne^by forests0 I t i$9 therefore^ easy to understand the complete degree of deforestation that resulted everywhere and especially in these tw©provinceso fhe methods of exploitation and processing sw© discussed in some detail by' Bm'Oja (19k9& $$‘7<=&.6k)o

Today the most important center of this industry is spread around the mouth of the lerwion riv®rs in the vicinity of .Bilbao0 In .

1950s production from this center reached almost half that .of the'- total Spanish production for iron. ©res and more than half for iron and siSel ingots (®rarraea71^5lg2?§s ‘ 109j>;,:8hd';.10g)o ,

b - m ip p im

TMs industry developed from the fishing activities of the

Basques,, From as early as the thirteenth century it played an important role in the exportation of ir©n9 wools codfish^ and- other products*

It reached its in the eighteenth century with privateering and trading between Europe and the Americas (Churruca 1951s 23=2l&) * The developm ent o f th e h a rb o rs, o f BayoBa@s i n l # o u r d 9 and o f PgHsajes# in Guipua6©as parallels that of Bilbaos but in lesser importance* '

C c OTHER IBBPSTKEES '

The abundance of m ter combined with recent electrification spurred the development of a large number of diverse industries in Y±%Q&y&s ilsra> said especially in Guipu^e©a0 Pulp=paper3 textiles^

f©0d=o,aaaings aliWaiimg cement2 electrical appliances^ etc. are

manufactured in snail plants, often isolated and located inland

(C hw ruea 1951s l<,8=-65)» ■ r In the past decades; the tourist trade has become increasingly

important, especially along }'#e coast 'Ehere some world^renoimed -resorts

a re located* B ia r r its become famous' under the reign of Napoleon H Ig

Shn Sebastian followed later,; and sin ce th e n many & coastal town or\

tillage ““like Saint-Je@n=de=lug or Hendaye=— became to u ristic eenterso

The French c o ast h as now become so. crowded i n th e summer thm t la rg e

numbers of tourisfes roam' iSe inland •willageso The Spanish side is

flsited in somewhat lesser numbers^ # ere2 the tourists, who generally

belong to,the Spanish sristocracy,'remain for the most-pert confined within the balnemlos which dot.the countrysideg such as Deva, -i Cestonao etc0

B « SOQIMj m i CPhTUBjh iSSPEOTS % - 't: 'v: The immediate effect that the industrial revolution' of the

laht century produced in # e industrial merns was a rapid increase, in ; k-r'- ■ - • ■> ' ■ ' . ' the population which became^concentrated in large urban centers«

.. 111. historical records show that the Basque, population has

- tim ys remained fairly eonstmt 'in the rural.areas, this in spit® of

the high birth rate* This was due to the Eskualdun8s inheritance ' ■ ■ . ■ i " ’ ' system which, constrained the population excess to emigrateo The

non^industri-iO,. French provinces!'possess today appreadma&ely. the same

. number of, inhabitW tm - they h&d in ' 1718 (feyrin 19 Ws &8) , and ila ra .

shows only a slight increase' sine® th e. seventeenth century 0 ittth the development of modem indusbryj, urban .centers not only attracted large

numbers of non-=Bssque@ but also, absorbed a great portion, of the surplus

of Basque rural population^ Consequently, the most IndustrlaHaed

provinces show a ma-rked population increases that of ©uipuzcoa doubled

in the past hundred years and that of fiznaya more than tripled

during the seme period. (BardjaVlphPs. SS5 smd 272)» Such population

increases in these two provinces correspond only to the increase in

size of . the industrial=arban areas and not to an increase' of the

rural adrea® where population density has remained stable 0

' - : 1© data could'be found on the soeial: org@niK#.ion and

culture, of the industrial and urban centers<, ill bascophiles seem to

dismiss these aspects on the basis that a ll '“Basque^ tra its become

lost in these centersc I t might be useful to make an arbitrary

distinction between the larger . ®nd smaller centers* in the larger ones ---- ' / " r" - : '' " . ' ' - Eskualduns Basques^ and non^Ba^ues. are intermingled^ m d Eskuara is - . " ■ ' ... V. '.:: . ' i , ■ : ■ . supplanted by Spanish; notMng is known about the nature of the • ■

cross-cultural contacts which occur , within these centers nor about

their, effects upon the surrounding rural culture! they might prove

to. be fertile ground for # # student interested in cultural • change<,

In the ssnaller centers or' around the sm ll factories of Guipuscoas

the non=Basque element is substantially reduced#. end 'tb a large erient

Eskuara is used; -axess cent ess should"' offer some appreciably different

'■ - ' ' ' : ' > ■ ' ■ : ' patterns of cultural change o ■' i i > she iim m a AMk

>like;the other people.of Westera Europe the [email protected] were slow In golag to sea» Supposedly the lorsemeng who landed On several [email protected], along the shores of; Esfaa@l<=HexTia and oeeupled. Bayonne in : the ninth,e@ntuzys taught the Basques the art of sailing. Eventually th e Bsaepes became such everts @t sailing .and fishing that during ' the Mddle ' Iges their fiahemen were renowned in many parts of

Barova (19h9 a 2%) cites a fourteenth^ century poet who; during lent praised from the middle of. M s Castilian plateau the herring and red gnapper ©aught in B@me©o" . • ,

;. Three main phases, ©haraeteri't© the development of the fishing activities of the Basqueso Wi®|ihg was most important, in the .tetter p@rt of ■ the iEddle.' i^es when' whales used t© asbouad in the B^r of Biseayo • ■ • '■ ■ . " ' But;-with the progressive eradieation of tiiem mamaals from the Bays •; - - ' , -v . 1 „ '• *.-- i • -• - ' ' v \ - - Basque ships had to pursue them as far as. Spitsbergen^, Iceland^, .and . . . , . : " . ' ' ' • ' Newfoundland.) It is generally asserted that British sad Dutch fishermen learned the art of_. harpooning from Basque whalersj, and . that later the Basques were .‘the. first ones, to melt .blubber on board their ships* • The seasreity of: whales did'not ham the fishing industry^, for already in the sixteenth' century; cod fishing had become fully developed ^ in 1625 some forty=one ships.left the harbor of Pasajes to fish cod - nem Newfoundland (Mendisabal -100)o itoweye^ .■. ©teistmt

'[email protected].: and encounters M th B ritish ■ vessels ruined eqd fish in g |: i t disappeared finally in the eighteenth century0 The present phase offers little compared with the glorious past when the Basques had the reputation of being among the most daring namgators (Mendisabal 19h$s 10li,=105) °

Today fishing aetiw ities are restricted to the northern coast of Spain for haddoekp anchovyj, mackerel^, and the all-im portant sardine and tmia0

The literature provides only meager datag it mentions a few customs which have probably disappeared now$ Sbr instance j, the of deciding if the weather was suitable for the village boats to sails from a watch tower two men would scan the sea at daybreak^, and should the w ather be dubious they would send some girls back to the village calling in Esktt@rSj>,:,lffiise in the n a e of God|8t a ll boat owners would then assemble and vote whether to sti.1 or stay home 0 In the harbor of

I©queit©s balls were used for votingg they were placed in @ double uMj, either in the one side representing a boat or the other representing a houseo

Fishing communities are smail§ they ere strung along a very narrow coastal strip not exceeding two miles in deptho With the exception of a few urban centerss of which they are parts such ®@

BiarritSg Saint=Jean=de=lu39 H@nday©a San S®bastim9 these eommnities are village sl%@a often built between the cliffs or into a nook at the mouth of some small stream,, On the Spanish coast especially,, their houses are bunched together and form $ very picturesque effbet5 as in

0ndar$oa3 Tiscayao Each house has from three to five floors^ each floor being occupied by one family and having its own balcony from which are hung all manner of colorful netss clothesa and other things„

The data regarding the social organisation of these communities s se v e ry scarce 0 It is not clear 'Aether the eofgadfaa (S) s so important as to their religioBs and economic character in former times^ s till

• ^ ' ■' ■ existo In Fuenterratoa^ Gnipuzcoa^ a similar type of sodality seems to have persisted nntil the present (Baroja 19U9 s 2^8)0-Ahont one hundred years ago most of the fish were carried far inland by non»Basque muleteers but the fishermen's mves would travel on foot as far as twenty miles . ' inland to sell their fisho On the French side, the Caseagetes °«=»wives of the Cascarots and Gypsies^ often called Agotak (E)=«= were famous in this tradeo Today the distribution of fish is secured by merchants who follow regular routes inlands

. This fishing area is a mone of cross-cultural contact; the , nature of this contact differs from that of the industrial centers <, for it is with passing people like' traders$, fishermen from' other regionss - touristso For instances since 1919 Breton fishermen have been mingling to the point of marrying members of. th® fishing community of &int=J®an- de-lug (Bernoville .et alo 19%g Eskuara' seems to be the Imiguage generally used- by Basque fishermen^ Bareja (1949s 21*9) merely states that their social, behavior is distineto Outside an occasional mention about some differences as to beliefs or dances particular to certain fishing communities9 little else has been notedo This is a wide open field, for study. ■

- y'' I l l - TIE BDRA1 ABM

Outside the thin ' strip of land along the coast .and outside the few isolated urban and industrial centerss. the rest of the land of Eslca&l-Herria is.devoted to eeonomie activities of m. agricultural or

pastoral charactero Because they are the most widespread and are

recognised as the ^traditional18 types of eeonongrs the literature devotes

most of its attention to them* Ho®evers if the data which have been

compiled about this %ay of life" are considerables they are by no means

c o l l e t s o

Farming and pastoralism are .interrelated in such &. variety of

complex m iners that it is difficult to differentiate between them.

Two main, types of pastoralism can be arbitrarily distingalsheds ;•

(l). strictly local pastoralism which involves a direct relationship

between the farm, and its livestocks gracing in the pastures of the

nearby mountain or h ill tops (2) ^pastoralism. at large1* which involves -

transhuman©® over some larger o r. lesserdistances and which is

completely independent of the farmers8 activitieso

On the basis of this division^' local pastoralism w ill be

examined in the light of. its. relationship with the farm, that is as ...

part of the rural or. farming type of the. Eskualdun which w ill be the

object , of Part 11= . , .■

1¥ « THE mSTOBS ASMS ,

True pastoralism^ or 8$pastoraliffla at large ^88 is found in th e;

more isolated regions of high mountainso Throughout' the historical ■

period these areas have been receding or disappearing at the expense

of local pastoralism and farming o/ ' • ' ' ’ ' ■ - ■ ■ . ' 1 ■ - Sots authorities (Barandiaran 193k) have pointed, out a 65 F possible coaaeotion betoeen itiae faet.s that shepherds8 huts are generally built in the immediate vicinity of the dolmens or other megalithie remains which abound in these pastoral areaso It is conceivable^ as the lafon hypothesis proposes^ that the neolithic or Eneolithie migrators from the east changed the hunting and gathering economies of the ^Paleolithic people® of Eskual==Herria by introducing pastoral!sm directly associated with these, megalithie m®maments9 and that this element of the Pyrenaie culture persisted until the presents

Two breedS'..’of sheep are found in the Basque eountrys near the coastal regions the manech3 oldest of aU the local racesg which is characterised by its small sises short and black he@ds longj, ifhite9 and straight wool of poor quality9 good for millc production§ and the

^Basque® breed "which is found in the drier regions and is chlled v ,:: a rd ic h u rlg o r 6SwM te ewso®

Using for criterion the length of the distance traveled : during transhumance9 Barojs. (19h9s 22b) distinguishes two types of pagtoralisa at larges long-distance and short-distance transhumanceo

• - ■ &-c* LOMO-DISTMCE BaflB3BPMaHCE

This type of transhumanee is in many respects similar to that

. which is practiced in some parts of Castile or in the Alps0 During the

Mddle .Sges it used to cover wide areas! for instance9 livestock from the mountains around Roncesvalles9 in northern Mavarras were taken into the*marshy plains of.the Landesc, in southwestern Franc®9 even as far as the vicinity of Bordeauzo Today this type of transhumance is limited to the easternmost portion of lavsrra where livestock.are transferred

over a distance of some seventy miles from the mountains above the Roneal :;r ; ;66:

A;,:-.;-. .'A4: -yy' valley in the north to the Bardenas pastures s hear the Iti„ojas in the : yy,v.

south ==region north of the toTm of Tudela where the Aragon river •

nears the Ebro "(See Maps I and il) 0 ■ Gn their way south flockss which

eonsist mainly of sheep and a few goatss begin the descent from the : -''y :;y:• .v:::rv: 'X'' ;/V4; . V:. - Boneal valleyrabotit the end of Gctoberi they start to go up again

toward the end of Aprilo - . ■' y;y: y.^y yy''.--:: yfy 4 It seems that the Roncal transhumance started about the

twelfth eenturys after the Moors had been driven out of the Rioja .

region of Navarrao Flocks were owned and handled by Roncalese shepherds 0

These shepherds had to remain in contact during the six months of

their stay south with Spani sh<= speaking people j eventually they brought

to their families left in the Roneal.the Spanish language Which

f inallya at - the end of last century^ eradicated the local Eskuara

dialect (Wbda l^ y ^./’■■y;: . V::' , ■ y y

: Roncalese eeonomy is strictly based on pastoral activities0 ;:'y

' Roncalese social organisation, seemss according to the scant information t \y.,' ■ 'y ■ v y ■•y;:y;t-; ' t y / y'yy ^y-^y,;: y' tyy:y: :;yy'.''y yy: /'y-' ;y furnished b^ the li#rature^, to be dlstlndt from that of the rural

Basqueso Marriage occurred between individuals living within a very

s i a l l d i^ to ic t' -CBaroda -251^8 277)o -Roncalese houses are massives 4 1

rectangularg and' lighted by narrow windowSo Until a few decades ago -

the Roncalese were s till using a large round fireplacej, measuring some

ten feat in diameterj, and located in the center qf the ground floori

its conical dhlsmey Went through the second floor and emerged at the

: apex of -the. pyramidal roofe.' It is 'believed 'that thi s type -of fireplace -

is- more Spanish than Basque (lam re 19!?hs 37)6 v - a ' , ;‘yyyy;'.: ; :-y

‘■‘A- v. : Ronealese society magr still, be of interest 'refessSnee to historical reeonstrnetion»

' B = glOPMlSTMCE TRMSHUMCE • :

This form of transhmnanee is extensively practiced0 It is found ■ in every province from the Sotile Talleys and- Sala&ar Talley in the east to as far west as the Gorbea mountains whieh separate ilara from

Viaeaya (See Map l)o It is indirectly connected %ith the rural area. • because the liTestoek are generally omed.by associations of a. oosmunal nature and are managed, by ©. . group of hired ^>ecialistss the shepherdSo . . . -

Short-distanee transhumsmce originates from old eosmon Isw and . privileges which ''sere grM ted under Tarious circumstances during the

Middle Agess such as the ^General Parsdneria® of Alsra and Guipuacea which controls some 27sOOO acres of pastures and .forests.^ and the

Erai© ®Union® which groups fiTe Guipumcom villages0 ■

The territories on which this .transhumane® takes place are . subject to T@ry old and- rigid sets of . minute rules whieh were established by the <==local laws-- of each proTincej .for instance^ these rules' regulate the exact paths °°altehubideak°^ to be taken by the herds and floekss the dates on' * ic h transhumahee ttes .allowed to take places etc6 Omership of the Hvestock ranges from that of a village to groups of Tillages or of parishes. which were called .Pais or G alleys88 in Francej' or “Republics® or “Universities® in Spain0 Each of these associations was Tery jealous, of. its rights and of the. integrity of its territory! specially assigned1 guards prevented,;-and s till,pr@T@nis raids from the outside or the intrusion of alien animals which were ransomed to their rightful owners= This situation often led to open violence between rival.assboiationss this in spite of the mutual agreements existing among them0 One. of these agreements,, particularly known by tourists^ is rsndwed every year between the people of the

Roneal valley and those of Baretous s in Soule s at Merre=-Saint^feptih| by no memis the ©Mest stiS liln forceg it dates from the year 13?5o

; ' Slthough sheep are in-greater abundance a all kinds of live- stock participate in this type of trsishuawiees eowss goatsg .m resa hogs3 and even fowl0 Isbourdg being the least mountainous provinceg 's;-; sends only cattle to these pastureSo - '

Pastures used in short-distance transhumanee are called sels soroo gortaa or kortaoThe sels for instane®9 is a circular area of definite radius traced around a central stonej the winter sel is always twice the sise of the smmer one* In the Gorbea mountains of fiseaya shepherds take: their herds and flocks to the summer pastures just before parturition time, at the beginning , of Mays there they make cheese until the end. of July/ then on the first of^MdWmber they descend to the winter pastures,,

v...... : During. Ms summer stay in the mountains the shepherd lives in a rectangular hut built of stones --arteMn-ohola-er tohabola— - - which is partitioned into three roomsg the hearth -°sutoki9 sua» etcQ—s the ’‘‘bedroom11 —kamana<°°s and the cheese-room -°gaztandegulo I t is roofed m th beech boards, in the east and with grass elsewhere0 lo artzain-chola may be built without the permission of the local ayuntamiento (S) if the land is comm.unals or of the owners if it is privates it may not foe locked and -eamot be soldi tile may sever be

used lor roofing9 for it would indicate ownership by its occupants in

order to keep his privilege in forcea the shepherd or one of his

relatives must occupy the art 2Mm=@hol& every year 19h9s 228)

In certain regionsg i-ss.,.-in Soule 9 each shepherd may enclose

-his wm area of the commal summer grasing lamd| it is called a

cayol^o Each eayolar possesses a shelter for the animals ==borda=»

ands of eourses its. own art^ain=©h©2i$. (¥eyrin 19i&7g 39)»

■ Aside from watching and caring for the animals s the shepherds

■ must .perform two other functions § the sheerihg of the., sheeps, am operation

which .i s done m t h s p e c ia l s c is s o rs i n th e summer p a s tu re s ! and th e -

■ making of • cheeseo In this operation cow or ©we milk is strained from,

the kaiku -^container of a specific shape 9 formerly made of wood««

-into another containerj, called abataa-fl..in iteeh 'ew dliag is don® by -,

using rennet or a th istles a ll this\'iSdl®!-Sie.: 2i

wooden spatula! the whey is then separated^ and the solid part placed

into round molds achalak=- in which the cheese is

‘ aad@o During th is cheese=maklng period' the ^aepherda us® for food a

mixture - of curdled milk and whey which they cut with a special wooden,

k n ife ^ e p a k i (B aroja. 19lt98 230=-231)o I t may be o f i n t e r e s t to note

that milk is boiled in the kaiku by dropping into it red-hot stones^

usually ophites-, called em earriak or tchukunarMakg today the wooden

kaiku has been replaced in most places, by the aluminiwi kailms and

the stones often- by scraps of metal-, such as railroad bolts0

During their idle hours the shepherds ocei^y .the time by ©ardlng. wool m th a tool ©ommon to the Tsfiiole Pyrenean ar@as by

eplmrijig wool> and by knitting their long stockings =, They also like

to'fashion and. carve td.th the sharp point of a knife a tW iety of

objects like the asakhila -=wlking egme==a spoons 9 porringers a hornss .

etco (Baroj®. 19ii.98 232)o

In some regions they nse a nm#er of archaic trM ,ts (Baroja

;19k9i 232=233) s (l) in a past of Alhva they himt w ires by chasing

them toward':a ¥=shaped enclosure mhos® open apex leads to a trenchj X- ' - ' - ■ ' ' (2) the fnrran.=farraa a horn' s till used by some to call their animalsi

(3) th’e malote,a which is a stick notched at one eastremity and ttsed;

much like an atlatl to throw stones at tendering animals =»it is now

being replaced by. a sHngi (It) the adbok&a a complicated musical

instramemt used only by a;.few in the mountains of Tiaoay&b This •

instrument consists of two rgeds joined together9 one. haring fire ,

holes, and the other threej ®t one extremity, they iommunieat© with

two other, reeds which are enclosed in. a. large mouthplSceg,.and lat':-the ; .

■ other is attached a resonance box made of horn (Lamare 19$kt k9).o

' The: Sepherds8 clothing^' which is probably of ancient origin^

is rapidly disappearing P. It consists “of' a. brown dalm tie formerly made

of go&t hairs called kapusM-g "the'head passes throng, a central .

opening and is covered with a hoodo' Their legs are.protected by

coarsely knitted woolen stockings °=galtgoin== held by strips of

leather which at the same time fasten the abarkafl sort of moccasin

made of one piece ©f cow leather (feyrin 19ij?i 29^)o .

Shepherds seem- to be s till organised as they were in former

times» They are ranked into h®ad=sheph

a very different life from that of the farmers who remain in the valleys

they do not form a separate society similar to that of the Boneales@o

She literature makes Ho mention, as to whether they ®e married and keep

their fam ilies nearby the winter pasture So These shepherds should be

considered, as specialists to. &hW"the @We-Of :th® herds':'Mid flocks-.''t;'.?:

is entrusted'by the inhAitants of. a village or of a larger

The fact that the farmer himself is designated by the term nek&aarf

and that the hired farm hand or low artisan is called nekaaale =.=from

the verb nekatua mearing ^to - suffer"" or %o toil"' (Baroja 19^9 s 289)<=«.

may: well carry th e. connotation that at one time sheepherding was

regarded as an occupation of higher prestige than fm&ngo - . . .

. This type of economy^, ’ pastoraHma^ has. changed considerably

. in . historic timeso' (My the Eohealese: constitute a strictly psstorri,

society with^ apparentlys a distinct-type. of: culture o On the other

hands short»distanc@ ..p®storattsm, liquid be considered, as a .transitional

ty^e'between true. pastoralim'^and, the’ local, type, which is practiced-

at the ffasao This local pastorali^n tends to gain afc the expense, of 1 •« the short=distanee types the number of eayolars in. Soule dropped from

107. i n 1^06 to 83 in i860 (ieyrin 19478 40)o

; . ; .Mention should be made o f a n o th e rs b u t very, lim ited s group

of specialists who do not belong directly to agricultural or pastoral

lifeg, the lumbemen and. dmreoalmeno Some, of these people^, scattered

in the forested part# of the Spanish'.provincess. p re s e n t some c h a ra c te rs

of ®®ohaic® interest (Baroja 1949«-233=237)p ..... ' . >SRT TB0

R I M BASQUE CULTURE Eil ' Bf GHi ;

rugged laadseap©. of Estoal=-Iferria has been greatly altered

by aaso $Ms beeeme® psrtieulM 'ly notie@*l@ when observed from an- ■ •

elevated, point<, The mountain tops and rounded h ills present a-bare

and bra-mish aspeet iAibh contrasts m th the delicate patchwork of

the yellow and . green fields in the valleys and along the slop@s0 At

a3j6ost equal intervals the white walls aod red. roofs of the houses .

complete the ehro»ti© hsCTdz^o 'On .this ©tensive and even distribution

of. the rural poputition rest® the basis bf^.the Esku®ldun8s way of

life § an independent £am<&XQnse3 its green ®d yellw field% and

its portion, of the brown, mountain top "upon which depend® the life

of " its occupants o. All this bears in Eskuara the generic term of

e tc h e o . ■ . : ’ ■ ' •

This evenly distributed population contrasts. M th that, of

most European rural areas where most of the farmhouse ss instead of

being isolated^, tend to be gathered- into compact clusters forming

•viUageso In Eskual-=Herr±a what dm be termed “village11 takes a

different forms for it consists' chiefly of a few houses or- buildings

of a non=agricultural characterp In this light it could be considered

as a “vlllage«nuCleus“ rather than a “true11 village <,

; . Baroja (19k9% Chapters I to ¥) offers the most comprehensive

' : ■. '■ ?2 : presen.tssti©a of the historieal dewelopaeat. of the population dispersion and. of the nuclear Tillages of the Basque country*

A = m w n m i m j m oo»oifBMf m w

The term etdhe is & complex and composite temo In Eslmara it

connotes more the idea of “homew tlian that, of “house0“ I t designates ; • the" oo^residenee unit on itiich is located the £fm> !BaeKef©res it is applied to all the real pr^erty of the fam^ it groups the fam 6s

occupants'into one stable social unit 3 the extended faM.3yi and it

controls most of the farm" @ economic activities as w ll as a large number of the family8s social relations 0 Because of this unifying function the etdhe is to be considered as the most fundamental

co^resideao® unit of Basque societyo . .

. The property of:-the “ideal® etche (See Biagmn I) td.il be

coz^osed of s ■ . -

lo & farmhousesocio-economic ©enter of the etch®*

2o -Some thirty, acres of land 0 This domsdn —etehald®°° includes the arable fields^ meadowss pasture Ismd^ and a portion of th e “moorQ16 The a ra b le f ie ld s : and meadows; a re g e n e ra lly lo c a te d in the vicinity of the farmhouse5 and depending on the region they may b® enclosed by large flagstones planted vertically in the ground^,

spiny hedge or low walls built of piled-up stoness higher upg in

the mountainsj,. is the pasture or gracing Im d on which is found a

stone buildings the sheepfold —borda-- where the sheep find shelter

.at night; the “moor® consists of the least fertile land located near,

or on top of the mountain and may also include a forested area* 7U

ETCHALDE ETCHALDE (P a stu re ) (Portion of the Moor]

Borda

DIAGRAM I

COMPONENT PARTS OF THE ETCHE Pasture » d moor magr be indepexideatly owned by the ©toh@s. may be eomonly owned by a group of eteh@aks or . may be part of the ^neighborhood81 o r t i l l a g e eommoBo ■ - /

3o A eemetery plot located in the ¥il3ag®s called Ml°hs,gria

<=-=liter&Uy rodeath=st©m86'=<= where are buried the former masters of the et# @ amd; member# o f t h e i r fam ily* -Qammeetlng .the h il^ h a z r l m lth th e \ farmhouse i s th e hil'bid® -«%@@bh"=path88-=a g o rp u tz°b id efl etC oS along which ho building can be erected and which until recently was used ■': ■ exelusively for the ftaneral procession. of any of the members of the e tc h e 8 s fam ilyo

ko Inside th©: U llage church9 th e y a r° le k a fl now sym bolic sepulture -of the- etche 8 s .owners and plaee where tradition^Jy stand th e e tc h e 8 s women during church ceremonies: (feyrin 19h7s 257)» Mke the :M llterristhe yar=leleh forms an'integral ^art of the etche8s dom®ins for if the etche' is. solds both «e. transferred along with the rest of . the property (Bernoulli© et.alo-.-l^s 101) 0 .

. • , - ■ S> feature which is typical, of Eskual=Hezma is th®b each etche - - - » B - . 1 . - - ’ " - - • ' * , • ^ - f ’ T- - - • • • • ‘ - " ,i- ^ bears.. a specific, name ,# ich ^ applied since the time • of, its foundation. . • •. ' ■' •• • - i‘ • r : • • • • • "*- ...... - distinguishes it from the otherso This nane derives from four main sources: :(Bffiroja l 9h^s :1^8“17j|, Jfyrin 1$k7°« W9~2XQ)§ it may refer tos'

... . .' . lo 1 topographie ioeitiohs'. audi as Etchegoysn' —“the house . abdre”—* Beharan —“act th e b 6ttbm“-«g Chart --“between the waiters®—^ or.;'lturbid@a -»“patb to the spriiigo 81 ' ' ' ..

2 0 -The prevailing vegetation or flora, in the immediate vitiipitys ®s in hmrrea —“the moor86—s - or Irat^sa —“the place of the ferae:86. 3 c> A .specific qmMtys Hke the oeeupatioa or th e name o f

its aaoient oemers» as in Earortegai =«% t the blaelesfflithl, s®c==>5,

-ihuntaaenea ^=%t the goats 9 'Maadassain ==®the HBleteerto==5

Berastegni . =«®at. BerStbha8 s 88===9 o r, &leohandra«haita ==®&t Alexander8 So n

. ito -Its degree of memmeas relative to- the swrowiding eteheako

This is indicated by the common name Eteheverrias Eteheheral9 and a l l

its variations which mean %©w h@ase388 or hy adding the word horda

to th e name o f an o ld e r e te h e 0 In.the latter ease it means that the

new etehe was created ©mt of the : sheepfold of the older one 5 f o r .

instance^ &pestegnikob.©rda. :==>toi,pesteguia 8 s sheepfoM84®”^ or

Ihartmeheherekoborda •^ 88lhiM-s@¥®h@r@a&s :sheepfeS,dd ^--This trend, o f

p u ttin g older etehe&k. from their bordsk increased n©t^)3y after the

French Revolution 8 s reforms whidi compelled many a farmer to sell

part of the traditional domain of his etehe| it is still being done

at'presents but to a lesser "degree (Veyrin 15fe?s- . 50) o '

. It is s till ecroaon ■ to find that the family which occupies an .

eteh e b e a rs th e name o f . that-., etch®0 In times past the etdx© imposed

that the new tenants or owners are designated by the neighbors under

the name of the old etehe. they inhabito. Consequentlys many Eskaaldm

bear two name as the name of their etehe a and their “legal® mm.® which

is reco^siaed. by Frendi or Spanish laWo For instanee 3 the famous

"iad^alai® pls^ers 3 the brothers known under the name of Bongaits

actually' bear the legal name of Soraabal (Yeyrin 1 9 k 7 ° °. 25?) = Thus9

i t could .be sW,d that , in .Eskmi=H@rria the. topon^m tends' to impose It may be interesting to note that in the marginal areas where-' Esto^a is no longer spoken the patronym gains in importenee

at the expense of the toponyms in H w a; a ntimber of Spandsh-names remains combined with , the etehe 8s names as in Bm.%- de J^kante-, or .. y • , ' ' Gon%l®a d©, Eicheberryg and in central Ha^arra only the Spanish, name is retained/ as in -^iohes ==for Smohes de Hnniain°=s or Ortiz

—for tetis de eto 0 (Mendisabal 355) B - .npEm op pmmonms

IS its a$^)earano®9 s tr a e tu r ®3 ■ and internal arrangement vary

-appreciably @s: to I ts location and om@rsg .the Basqtie farmhouse

always performs the same function^, that is. to unite the soeio=

econondo elements of the family group0 The farmhouse, shelters

under its one roof the . etch ©11 s inhabitants9.. eropss . todlss and mb®b

of the liTOsfcocki it is the center of most ©f the social ®ad economic

aetifities of the etehe 0s memberio- : ' /

- - %@r® are so amy types of f@r$di©uses that it would be

impossible to describe a ll of. them her®» Parth@morea excellent . publicsbions. abound on this, subject —see Cola® , (1925) and BsseschHn

(1930) in the BibMogrtphyo Por the mke of simplification^ an

arbitrary "ddea!*' type combining those of Iajbourda Guipugeoas and both lawarres w ill be e^nined -at -titi-a point (See. Bisgrsn II) o

The Basque' farmhouse is: a. massive two=a?ooried building

erected on a. rectangle some forty=five by fifty=»five feet* The size

justifies the functions to protect the family as well as its economic -wealths It is built of stbties or brieks plaeed in a heaver wooden £tm »$ its m ils are covered by a white=washed roy.gh-=east inside and onto The roofg whose axis is oriented lengthwise^ consists of tm> slopes covered with red tiles and extends a foot or two beyond the walls to form a g ab l@0 One of the smaller sides of the rectangle forms the fagadej in order to be protected from the humid oceanic winds it generally faces the east or southeastg in the upper part it Is decorated with the red=paint@d beams of the wooden frame showing through the whitewashed ■ wallsi a.narrow balcony of the seme color, projects at the level of the. second, floor 0 -

The first floor is often raised a few'inches above ground levelo The main gates high enough for a loaded cart to pass through and situated toward the middle of the' facade ^ leads into a large roo®;, the eakaratSo This rooms whose floor is made of beaten earthy contains , some large agricultural implements as well as the farm’s vehicles 0

Hanging on the wall®, are the colorfully decorated harnesses' for cows, oxenp and the horse 3. some white blankets with, multicolored ®fcripes| fleeee=eovered yokes; and. saddles0 There may be a couple of goads$ a wMps, and some other driving instruments in a comer; a large table to be used for the drinking accommodation of the Sunday visitors in smother eomer0 This room also contains two eartSs one used for going to the village and the other-for working in the fieldso.

Alongside the left waU is the stairway leading to the second floor«

To the-rightg a door leads into the 'smeke^scented kitchen

°°°gukaldea0 It contains a font for holy water at its entrance; a large fireplace g some ten feet long; a rustic but matlque buffet which might date from the seventeenth eentmy and where' is displayed a eolleetion of ancient, but ,locally made ehinawsre or, rsrelyy some

Del£t| s cupboard or an enclosed buffet containing the kitchen utensils for everyday us®| in ' and around the hearth am array of potss iron p o ts 3 pans3 th e p o k er3 and other toolsg the table 9 with its chairs or benches^ where the meals ^e. eaterii. In a corner a huge stone sinks from the. beams of the ceiling hang slabs of. baeons hams3- » n s ^ e g a string of chile peppers and 'another of onionso

Behind the Mtehen. is the bedroom for the master and his wif@o 3his small roomg. lighted by '#mdo#3 ilm'e@«iti3y furnished, with a double; beds a. chest and sometime? a carved, coffer

°°kuteha~~ containing the clotheS3 and one or two chairs» The crucifix md the images, of a few saints, are hung on the walls 0 Altogether • . this bestows the impression.of■ an- • austere cello , .

The remaining portion of the ground floor consists of three

large rooms2 the tresm tegia,,' for storing more of the farming, implements s. ©specially those used in tilling the. fieldsj the estaulia 3 or stti>ld, housing. the eaStle,and the horse: or mule 5 .' and oftehg opening on the fa.oades. the zelauria^ used for the storage of fodder.

. The second floor possesses_two or three bedrobmss where the

children and servants sleeps"'one or two aelauria&s and the bihitegia 3 ■ where co m sgjd other crops are storedo St times the bihitegia may be

'rele'gated' directly under, the' ap©x of the roofs thus forming some '

sort of attioj in this m m . enough spae® can be. spared ■ on the second floor to add a aalhas to be used ss a.' reception room on' special oeessionso

Si leasi'one of the bedrooms opens on the balconyo.; ■ ' \ Zelauria First Floor IABOUHD PLAN HOUSE DIAGRAM II Second Floor

Zelauria Bihitegia Frequently adjoining the house alongside one of its walls but

under their own roofs^ are the pigpens ponltryg and rabbit enelosBres# ; \

the baking oven °°labea °^0 nowadays seldom employed^ m d the baeHaouseo

It has already been mentioned that this ideal type of farmhouse "

is subject to regional ®s well as; to individual modificstionso to® main /

regional modifications can be summarised as follows s.

toe MDourd hous@s renowned for its attractiveness^ is subject . .. . ■ to-considerable individual'improvisationo toe entrance' .is recessed to'

form & porch °^l©rina° ° 9 and often ©he of the side m ils extends a ■

few feet beyond toe fa cade | toe function of these two features is to

permit a. better protection from; toe Atlantic squalls» toe roof

consisbs of two unequal slopes^ one often. coming a few feet above toe. • •-< - ■ »-• > w . ^ s .A r V-- * i.' • A.. .. . , .f. » , , - • -• - •* > • » - ^ ' V. '■*tS - " "r v— -I ... • *• ’ groundo toe f^ade 9 richly .decorated .by imny red beams, i s . characterised

by a dorbel^table .at the level of the .second floor<, thus producing a ; '

picturesque.: projection of that floor about.a foot over the lower on®|

i f th e re i s & bale©ny<, i t . i s v e ry small.o to e k itc h e n i s o fte n lo c a te d

• on, to®, second f lo o r o ,. - - I

Sobriety ©f line and color ^-symmetrical roof 9 higher wallsj,

fewer. red beams—^ characterise the house of ' Lower. Hararreo toe eskarats • ..

entrance is adorned by a semi‘=-eirculs‘ arch: of grey sandstone which •

often bears an inscription regarding the original owners of toe house ,

and the date of its construction., ranging from the sixteenth, to the

eighteenth., centuries<> ,S. long balcony deedrptes its facade which is

covered in part by a grapevine o • , ,

toe.Mavarra house is much like this last type, but of plainer appearance because of its nax-rmr fagade and still higher walls« It often bears' a coat of arms o ......

In Gulpuseoa and eastern Vizcaya more wood was used in the facade than in the lahourd type* There5, houses are generally older=

The sixteenth oentwy honse is. made of a thiok. wooden frame, of vertical posts to which ere tied enormous horizontal beamsj very often its gables extend some ten or fifteen £@ets to the point that they have to: be. supported- by bmttreasesi the lower floor contains the

s ta b le 3 bedroomss and kitchen 3 while the upper floor is used exclusively for the storage of crops and foddero The seventeenth

century house contains less woods and the spaces between the.posts are filled with, briclcsj in this type of house the kitchen is located on the second floor®

. - In and certain parts of eastern Vizcaya the axis of the roof is.parallel with the facade 0 These features suggest the influence of the Cantabrian. type of houseSo-

Contrastihg with the warm appearance- of the Labour’d house s the Souletin type attests the- characteristics of the cold and.severe aspect of the Bearaese and Pyrenean houses0 Its plain and high white­ washed walls are topped by is steep roof and blue slates® The plan is more, re c ta n g u la r3 and the facade is located on one of .the longer sides®

People: and animals usually live on the ground floors the second floor ' and attic being reserved for storage® .. ,

Similarlya the Pyrenean influence is felt in the houses of eastern Havarras as in the Salazar valley® These houses are chiefly 'bm.lt' of stones and are- mueb higher2 as if the ground area had lost

.in fa^or of height0 , . . . , ;

S ll these types of farmhouses are relatively modern^, dating

from the post=Bemisssm©© to the last centuryc During the Biddle Ages

houses used, to be- even more massive and were built - almost entirely- of •

stonea- Some of these older types can s till be found in the Spanish- -

province S3 they are usually designated .under the name of dorreak .

=«=from torre (S)%'-^towero# M other type^, found in the French provineess

is called malson infangonne (F) or jauregui. (B) which was used as the

residence' of some local lord or his descendants,,

i - h i s o c m m u -

• . . A » KIMSH1P - .' . ; .

Only a limited number of publications takes up the subject of

Basque kinship 9 and except for very ...few they approach i t with a --

sub'jeetivea apologetic^. and historical point of v±@Wo There; is a

critical need for a systematic gathering of datao Only on® publication

(B aro ja 19k9°° 2Q2~28k) devotes, a few pages to the matter of kinship

terminologyo - . ' : : -

lo KINSHIP TBBMMOKiGY

The people who live on the etehe are called etehekoakj m eting

literally ®those of the etch® o69-

Kinship terminology is.a difficult subject to. treaty for the

■- dearth of data is complicated by the fact that some terms vary from one. dlalee* to aa©th@r0 Foe. instances the desigm tibns for ^ynele88 aiid

^graadsoB61 ar© respeetivelj .otfb- aad was©## in IsibourdiBs but ©saba

and semeso in Guipu^eoaao Mm the data stand it is impossible to asbertaia whether .the se teM inblogioal dif ferenoes correspond. to •

differences in social relations past or- presento

The kinship system to which the Eskualdun belong at present is.: essentially of the ^Maeal-^urppeaa” type with bilateral descent.

(See Diagrams H I' and IV) = Some of its characteristic features are

'thata . ■■ " ■' :

Id The word form for a sibling differs with regard to ego's

. seXo- If ego is male he w ill designate his brother and sister by am© or its variations =>=Mbrother of the man88=« and arreba ==®sister. of the mantt*=>«-."(.as shown in Diagram 111)« But .if. ego is female she w ill

eall.,h@r brother and siste r neb&: ^=%r@ther of . the womana°° and., aiapa

=="sister.‘ ©f the. woman84^ (as shown in. Digram IV) 0

20 Hephews and. nieces as well as grandsons, and granddaughters are designated by one and the same terms , lllobaa regardless of sex®

This might indicate that at one. time there: was an equivalence of relationship between grandparents to, grandchildren^ and uncle ~~Qr am t=-= to nephew =>=or niece (Baroja 19h9?> 283) c

3o &ecording to Baroja (19k9s 282«=-283)p th e s u f f ix =>ba .

(or'^pa) seems to connot# a female relationship^ as in-alaba ==datightir alabaso ==>granddaughter==>3 iaaba ==axmt=-=s neba ==!$brother of the womaa88"-^, a iz p a ==8lts i s i e r o f th e ifomanw==s a rre b a =>-=86si s t e r o f th e man*

If the application of the terms osaba and im#)a to the paternal-uncle A o A * o ordinal ordinal (same) + aitaso + amaso

r o

A O A O seme so alaibaso semeso alabaso aairso aurso aurso aurso illoba illoba illoba illoba arraseme arraseme

1 I A A O o ordinal + ordinal + semeso alabaso

DIAGRAM

BASQUE KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY (Ego = male) 86

A ■ O

A " O A A neba

r I A O o A illoba illoba illoba seme alaba alaba seme

DIAGRAM IV

BASQUE KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY (Ego - female) and aont is to he considered as re cent, 3 this suffix =ba migh% indeed ^ suggest that m atriliaeal descent existed, at some fom er times espeoiaOJy,." when this hypothesis is ’ viewed in the -light of the generic ilioba and of the term ugagaba^ which is one of the terns used to designate the whead of the household® CS]i»

The terms for ffamily® are mmy: and - tWy vary with the region 0

eehadi (in figeaya and Guipuseoa) 9. ^isolated house® or' caserlo (S)| leinu (in larsrra and the. toench provinces)3 ®lineage;® m%ku%± and

®8nik@raa ®kin|® supiggUs ®h@artii|® augo3 ^neighborhood® (B aroja X9k9%

27W 7g)o

2o SOOIia WITS

The etchekoak are. composed^ o f an extended fa m ily p lu s one o r two unrelated end unmarried' servantso Ideallys the extended family consists ofs

1* ih© elementary family. =<=a man;, , his wlfes and children; the man and his wife are called naugl. g$g tleka the 8iyounger masters e®

' 2@. The parents of. either spouse of the elementary fm ily; ■ they are called nausi garraks the ®older masters 0®

3o Che or two collateral membfirs of the elementary family who are related by consanguinity to the nausi mrr&Ic; they are usually an unmarried uncle8 aunt9 brothers or sister«

I t should be noted that in Bsku®l=Herria the transmission of the etehe follows the law of primogeniture0 Thus., the etch© passes to the oldest child regardless of its s«®0 In that sense the etehe Imposes sera® Sort of lineage mpoa 'Bppqu© kinship^ In the iges and even, tap to recently this etche lineage m s important as to kinship usages and ®as<, therefore 9 carefully preserved (Baroja 191*9s 279)e 4t present . it is limited to a mere matter of inheritanees the heir acquires the total economic wealth of the etches its leaderships mad its names even though; h is. legal name, mw differ (Ihande 192$ g 66) c

' Perhaps. Diagram 7 w ill provid® some help in illustrating through a series, of ideal and hypothetical. situations the mechanism

of fetdaet.transmission as well as the resulting impact of this transmission

on the fami3yo TMs digram shows .the transmisti.on of three steh@aks

% Bg and G through the three generations I? -H, IHg th® birth order • o^.,®aoh family member is indicated by an irabie numeralo . ■

The extended family living in etche 4 consists of 8 (1) widewer •:

I" 4,ls his daughter 11=41 who is head, of the households her husband2 and three children among whom IIIA&liis future heirg (2) .the collateral ' relatives 1=42 5 an old maid who remained all her life working in the

.®tch@9..,.imd young .11=41* who is working part of the year as shepherd in the mountains and the rest of the time at the eteheo,,

living outside etche 4 ares 11=42 s now a waiter in Parisj and

11=4 3 : sh o m arried a garage , meehard.© a id i s liv in g i n a v illa g e o f th e next valley o ; . .

The extended family of etche B is composed of s -(I) nsgusi

gaK&k I=B1 who. had married 1=43 9 and the present head of the household

11= Bl, his wife and three children^ t-dth daughter. II 1=B1 fu tu re . heiressi (2) collateral relative II=B3 who is working on the etche until Outside etehe. 3 ares (l) I=B2 who married a local girl with whom he is . managing a small grocery store in the villagej; their daughter married at hoy from the neat village and they both work as house serw its in a large home on the Bivierai their younger son . married .heiress II=C1| (2) I~B3 went to ^imeriea” when he was young and s till works there as a shepherd^ (3) 1I~B2 works part-time in the village at odd jobs and is a top ®jai«=>ala±.K player- in the region,,

•' . ■ The emteaded family of etehe C inoludest (1) the widow of l^Cl who helps at the eteh©| 11=01 head of the households married to . one of the collateral; descendants of etehe By and th eir four children among whom boy 111=01 is future, heirj (2) the collateral relatives

I=G23 who never, married and worked a ll M s life at the etehe s and

11=02 s who is working there until the time she hopes to marry*

laving outside etch® 0 ares - (l) 1=039 who went to Chiles married and settled there (2) II=03s who m arried a non=Basqu@ w h ile working as a m id in Paris and m th him nm manages a service st#ion in Bordeaux*

This etehe transmission along the line, of the oldest child affects considerably the society of the Eskualdun. as well, as their economy* Snce no new etehe can be. founded because a ll the available arable land i s .utilised^ since .the etehe. cannot normally be split into smaller urdtgy..since the number of children in therBasque family is ' rather hi^. ==a mod® between three and four==s and since only-a few of these children are able to inherit or to: marry, an heir or heiress9 whafc happens to the others is partially shown, in the di^ramj DIAGRAM V

ETCHE ETCHE ETCHE

A « O Generation I O * A

O « A Generation II A* O A o -A A ■ O O = A O * A A2 A3

Generation III A O A1 A2 A3 B2 B3 Cl C2

HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS ILLUSTRATING THE TRANSMISSION OF THE ETCHE

3 their ehoiee is to eitherg

Xo: Bemsin ^t the ©tdie @XX th eir lives -without marryings doing

their share of tiork whioh is [email protected] by their sex and by the head of

th e house*

: ' '2 0 Eemain at the etehe until they have the opportunity to marry

another Individual of sim ile, condition, and to ®sttle in a village as

traders or artism 9or to move to an urban center outside Eskual=H@rria

proper* ; v •: : : - ' "■ a t ■ 3 * -Work outside. as, dome stie servant in an urban centers m arry , ' ' ' ' ' : ' ■...... ' ' / • ' : " ' and remain there| or work as. 8 servant at another etch®*

, ' ho E n ter r e lig io n o r2 i f a b©y9 join the army ~=which is

ateays done reluctantly by the Basque s 0 • • • •

5# -Migrate to\%mezica** if a mal®g where he may choose to

remain and settle permanently^ or to retumg single g to Eskusa.=Herria

said become one of the' Merikanoaic - or Xndianoako In the la tte r ease 9 i f

he is young enough and has saved enough he may marry an. heiress ““this

method is commonly used in the Danish provinces (Bsroja 19h9o 277}==s

dr' marry a non^heiress and settle in ® village | if he is too old he

■ may choose to spend the rest of his life at his a#ive etch® like any

, other collateral relative* The importance of this emigration to the

Americas* temporary or permanents can best, be illustrated by the ' .

■estimated 80*000 French Basques who. le ft their provinces between

- th e year®. 1832 and, .1891 (V eyriu .ighTs -?5| BernoviSle- @t..a l* 19&.62

39-UO)* ' 3o EigiiF uamss

fib,® @f th e h©ias@hoMa i f a m alea 'bears th e t i t l e o f

etehekojaim <=~tol©rd of the h©us©K“=5 and M s wife that of ©tohekoander®

==6ti@dy o f th e housS'o81 His duty and responsibility are to conduct th©

' . . ■ / affairs of the etehe 0 His authority is final 9 Ms orders' obeyed^ Ms

rights absolutes M s prestige unquestionedo Hc®refer9 the etehekojaun® s

role and status ©ould not be equalled to that of the Roman pater

• fandliasa for i t does not re&eh suoh a degree of absolutism* .fishiera

it is of a- superMsory and moderating nature j if ultim ately Ms decision'

is final in all matters pertaining to the etehes much of his authority

i s d e leg a te d to o th e r meraibers o f th e fam i2ys-espeeially to the etebako-

-sndere* His rights and duties are..particularly concerned M th all the.

aetiM ties related to; the l& or diMsion attributed to. Ms sex0 His

. low toward the rest of the. family is stressed by real affeotions but M thout being effusive*

The etchekoandere ranks second* Her duties are to supervise the ©onduot of the affairs wMeh belong to her mm share of labors raising the children^:housekeeping ©hor®ss gardenings cere of the

, m ailer animals * Although she is; responsible for the s© . duties to her husband^ the latter w ill -rarely be concerned, with them, or even, eritieia® her in that respect* She w ill replace Mm in Ms abs®ne@9 and if the

situation arises she Will- even'take the initiative|'but, in: Ms presence

she- M i l w ith d rm 2 often to the point of remaiMng silent (Baroja 19#g

S56)* TMs clear-cut separation of roles between the spouses generates in the' etch ®8 s family an atmosphere of quiet and serene harmony* The etehekoandere doe's mot eat with the master<, but she serves him at the

tablej she never walks by hi# side s but behind him when going to the

■till&g®! at ehureh they are separated^ h® in the galleriess she on the

ground floor 3 by the traditional yar^lekui she never appears in public

places with him0 By no means can' she be compared to a slave p for she

is regarded with great respect'and dignity by all: members of the

society (Baroja 19^98 280 and 33?) ? i.r ' ■

These same title s are retained if the head of the household

happens' to be fem aleThe status is. ttoanspos@ds but some of the roles

■ remain uaaffeetedo On the basis"' ©f personal experiences .it seems that , ' „ ^ ► 4- it" -- , 'L-[. . . *' ,» , - ■ * 1 "• = - - ME - ; ' - • 4 - - ...... ^ 1 * 1 - the etehekoandere governs in a supervisory, manner the affairs of the

etehe,, her husband rankir^ second in that respeeto The etehekojaun is

responsible to - her as -to his share of. labors but die- s till serves him

at the tableo walks behind. hima etCo !. ■: ' ' , -■ ' • , v .'r . ' Barents address their children in the familiar'.fbrtoj, but

children must use the fomsd. address to their parents (Baroja 19k9&

. 316)o The children's relationship..with their mother is close and even

. te h d e r0 She is the one who cares 'for. them, and who disciplines them5

and in th is:respect she is hot reluctant to make good use of slaps or

, of-a smiteho They tend on . occasions@ .especially the oldest boy^, to be

saucy with her^ but the merd 'mention of reporting the incident to

their father 5, toward whom they show a feeling of respect mixed with

:aw®9 quickly brings, order0 In frqsat of male adults the children's

behavior tends to be shy and s@lf=effaeingo The status and role is

.■.’ based on sex and varies greatly' according to age; © stiy-irihis life e®eh child, has to perform some minor share of sorko But ouside these

obligationss children fom their OE-m and separate group tfhich

possesses great freedom of action, and of egression t-Then eom.es time

to play<, Bank soon becomes important #ithin this group m th regard

to the first-born who bears the title of eteheko-prlmua the heir or

heiress (Veyrin 192t7= 2595 ihande 1925s' 79) o ‘Howevers should th is

child b®.physically or, mentally deficient the head of the household

reserves the right to designate the second child as eteheko-primuo

In .most eases the etcheko-primu becomes the head of the

household as soon as his marriage^ceremony is performed! it is this

new couple, nausi gaatiak, .who then asswm® fu ll responsibility in the,

conduct of the. etohe S s;,affsdrs^'.4i ,thl#:.tr#s(er . occurs the parents

of the new head of the etehe become. nausi zarmk, and their status

and roles .are relegated.,to second position! ad their &ge increases

their prestige InereaseSo Their grandchildren use ^ecific forms of

address either to show .their respect, as in adtajami and arnidere

=ysl©rd father" saad. "lady mother88— or adtanagusi. and amanaguri.

—88ma # e r fa th e r" , and ,8ri@ tre.ss. m other$!-“ ,*.'Or::?t©''[email protected] d e f e r e n titi.

. love, as in the use of the diminutives iitsehi and amatehi, or aitan

and @mon —"good father® and "good mother88— or even aitob© —"best '

father" (Bare19ii-9s',2:83)0 •

The eollatersl relatives who remsin, mmarxleds mt the etehe

fall into two social ranks based on ages (1) those of the nausi zarrsk

generation!. called:,.muti jrarrak and neskazarrak —"old boys81 mid "old

■girls"—, they enjoy great prestige and deferential treatment because of their agej they have been, working all their lives at the etehe m th a higher rank than that of servants because of their eonmnguin© relationship mtfa the head, of the house; i t may happen that as Saesikaso or In

The etehe often needs some extra, help; a boy or & girl is . hired depending on the type of work that is neededo I t may happen^ though less; frequently no®> that this hired servant w ill remain, all his U fa a t. fhe; etehe 0 Although they may stay temporarily ©nlys servants are considered as part of the family group; their status suffers from the lack of consanguine - ties xath the masters3 but their prestige gains proportionately with age0 They must address the children with the formal expressions., while the' children us®, the fm ilia r forms o f ad d ress w ith ^headvof v.the©©teh®v;M,llt n o t "forget"-to consult his old servants before making an important decision (Xhand© 192& 106=lQ?)o ' ' : ' ' ' , ■ -

It is difficult to establish the ranking order of the Various members of the etch®o This attempt should be accepted with reservation ■until more complete and precis® data are gatheredo ffimking is based on three ^s®iieria8 MnsMps' :ag®s |pd sexl* tinship is modified, by status! kinship and age have precedence ©t o ? s®x »

Starting with the highest ranking individuals$, ranking order is as followss'

lo. Earns! GamtiWc ^ : . ' v : ' V. "" . . , a/ the household head (etehekojann or etehekoandere) b/ the consort of the household head

■' 2o Ismsi Zaraak' . : . a/th e fm aer household head b//'t&@-.:ebns©rt of the former household heM

3o Stehekoti-priito (if , passed childhood) % :

ko Collateral Relatives \ ' _• a/, the older ones b/ the younger ones

■ Children of the iiaiasi i^^iak v . . a/ et#ekb=prlma. (if. a child) i ' b/ the others ' ,

6 0 S e rv a a ts -: . .. V th® older male (?) b/ the older female . . . .. ©/ th e y o m g er m#l® (? ) . : d/ th® younger.fSteal® ' '

I t : should be n o te d 5.' tM tf iatth@f;wse@v,%h@r@ th® :-;. ®t©hbk@¥-prd3ttu does not become head of the household.upon his marriages #.e ranking order of the nausi gastiak and naasi sarrask should be [email protected] . v , 'Ll '■ : ^ . S - PRQBim OF IMEHITMCE - . .. .

Because of i t s . ia^oftance to the whole etch© the marriage of the eteheko=prirau is determined by preferred. choices. a lim ited number of individuals can. qualify as an eligible future, spouse 0 Three, criteria. are involved in this choices ' ' ; la Bae e©ns©rfe mus* b@ o&@ of the yerager @hll#@m of th@ saais [email protected]!. group preferably from another at die ==-b©©auae h® or she hIH be aeqjuainteti witia the work to be don©o' Bteoreiioally i t Is

eonoelvsbte that the eteheko^prlmu might marry another eteheko^priam and thus eonsoHdate two eteheak Into oh® sol® larger unlto Although ho negative sanetlon is know, to exist against such a possibility/ this situation never oeeursi this notion of absolute unity,, of the

©behe seems to be so. blindly and to tally @oo#pted by the Eskusldun - that to them the etch® eonstitutes an indivisible soeio^eeonomic unit

.which cannot ebneeiy^bly be split- or fused, with another @n®0

2e The consort must bring with Mms or with her9 a substantial' dowry in the form of easho # is dowry is remitted and added to the

estate in exchange for # lch the consort becomes eo=pr©prietor of. the

©tehe® As a result this restricts the number of eligibles to those

This dowry is acquired in various ways* The younger children

artisans: in a village or tw n§ or as servants outside Eskual=Herria

seldom manage to aeeumulate the "necessary wealth, to form,a dowy

even after many years'.:of saving0 In'this.'respect the younger Ameriksmoak

qr..Indiano^, are more fortuxtist@s '.for because of their comparatively ,

greater w e^th than that of . the, local' boys they/usually becom®

the Chosen on@s0 Ea. certain parts' of the %anish provinces and especially in the French. provinces personal savings plus the monies, which - ,

correspond to the. share inherited, from: their parents0 estate are often - 3® Sslde £$om these reqairements the consort ximit be" h ealth y ^

abaeongs dl3d.g©nts sad @£S.ti.ento SEhia. la & aas?riag@ of eonve'nienee lin

tAleh ysm aaW * oonslderatiom# play sa Wry. lim ited role «-=th® Basqp.es

seldom indmlge in such w£ssioi£Bl pastime 0 81 The rest of the family

p lay s, is definite roles iSiioh varies mith the status snd personality

o f e&eh in d iv id u a lj, in this ehoio© as,■mil as in the arrangements

for the marriage o I t -msy happen that such m®ndage oecurs m th a. young

: sew&nt *o e* ^aM fy 'CBaroja l^&^s 2.75^78 smdr312)o . „

Thus,, depend!^ on the . es$ 'of the @tehek0=prlmu M s msrrieg©

may b®. patriloeti. or matrilodalo "

. ■ In most regions the transfer' of omiersMp and smthority from

. the old masters to the near ones occur® at the time of the eteheko=

■ :primu6 s mrriag©6 In' this manner the nausi gsatiak obtain control of

. the etch® in the fossa of donatio propter nupti@So to th is occasion

a variety of ritess * ich have generally disappeared todays used to

be .performed* tM- bride mould receive the kitchen 1M1® or the tum=

spit from her mother5 or motherrinelmig a® it was the custom in Vera

de Bidasoa (Baroja. .Iptiss l5l=l52)| or the transfer, wpMd,!:4§&©.: pi®®

after both women had virited the M M hieria and the yar lekm of the.

: In SSule the gropm would, receive from the fomer m ster. a

rods;; apibolising the a rt of stoek^rM sing (Baroj®. 19^98. 2580).«'

In certain parts of Bsktt@l=Herria a serious conflict of a

; cross^eultwal' nature erists between the laws of the French arid

Danish nations md this tr^itional' Basque ^rstem of transmitting the wlieXe; etehe @ae ©HIM ©nl|’o Shis e©nf3d.et is ©speoially sietit®

is-the- fyendht proviness* One of the aims of the -fpencsh Sevolution was

W d£*aike a highly oentralised govemreatb established on a unified

l%ai'%yst©i» to b© applied- throughout the naiion0 Mb a-fesuit the

prbfliW s. of the Jncien Regime a which eorresponded roughly to culture

or ''sub^eulitase asceas# were arbitrs& lly broken up Into the turn

system of political divisions called departementg a and the legal r .

cod# /'of each province e^coutumes^ Tf®r®: suppressed and replaced by

the national e©d@0 Thuss the three Basque provinces became part of ■ - ' ' . ./ ; : - . ; _ ■ . the B©p®rt@ment: des Bassest$yrene©s3 and their local for# and

: coutumes Tgere, abolishedo The inheritanc© laws of the Fremtii cod®

provide that the parests0 estate- be divided into ei#al shares among •

all the siblings of the family* 0@nse#iently3 Basque tradition®! -

primogeniture was not recognised^, and each Basque child m s to

rpceiye M s. pr©p©rtibn®t® share ©f the .eiche upon the death ©£ his

parents* This serious cultural conflict was .a direct blow to the /

®core? of Basque culture* in spit©.: of. thi@3 hw®vers the. Basques tere-

generally mnaged to preserve the integrity, of. their eteheak* The "

only, the nausi gijatiak.'oan avoid the splitting;.of the etehe$s

real property is to settle before their, death the younger children^ s

claims funder the form. of a cash. settlem ent*. But this sort of arrangement

is ac.eeapli^ed a t, the .cost. .of. great' sacrifie® , and, often involves

definite risksg the parents .not. only. have, to utilise a ll their savings

but they are. frequently, compelled to borrow, and/or. to mortgage some,

of the etche8 s property in order. to . accumulate, the .necessary cash £<6r"t&e se ttle m e n t (ih aM e T3=?7)o The r e s u lts ■ may be d is a s tro u s at-.-tim

■ ' ; ’ & .©onfliet ©£ a sim ilar nature esists in the %anish provincesj, but "it-does not appear t© be as flagrant; or as severe as on the Freneh ■ side» It may be du® to the faet that in a number ©f provineial.:?

Is^s" have remained in force- and that in many eases the matter of i^heritanee is settled aicahly by mutual arrangement between the s t;i" :Y-'' : ' . ■ ■ - , - . interested parties; (Bssroja 19h9s 277) =

Y It is important to mention tlwb a large portion of the J v . " - '“ ■ * * • ■ * - T - __ families living on # e eteheak are not ©raers but tenants o In times.

this tenancy used to h® maintained through the successive generations of . the same fasdly| . as-;a result, this situation involved social' relations of a definite character, between, owner “^or '“master1®*** and [email protected] some of them of such nature.. as to suggest a feodal origin (Barpja 19k9% 287=292)» %h@® the turn of the century this . relationship-feettseen other and tenant has increasingly taken an economic rather than social ^ aspect! als©s the trend has been to@^d: a marked increase of etch® owner ship P probably because of the low .

•interest yield ==less ‘timt. tw© per ©@nt“^ on farm propertyo In a province like labourdg where teuan^r is a common occurrence and where leases are drafted to last several generations^ the mechanism ...... / of etehe transmission from one generation of tenants to another appears to be much the same as if the families involved were actual owners CBernoville @t al® 19b6g 30)G I I TEE EGOHOMG OTIf

In- fom er times the etohekosk prasileed the • grt of gg)iaaiags siaklBg @*otSg MsketSg aad a ^ew other objeoSs-which meM in the" local ms^keiso Today these . activities oeeur so rarely and so . sgoradioally that #ey shoold m@r@2y he mentioned (Bard# r"

Chapter II:)o: , ' ' : '

. ■ The present economic activities that are performed at the; etehe are exclusiTely of an agricultural .natureo The term ^husbandry.,118 used' strictly in its British sense 3' deserihes eametly'the sort'of : agriculture practieed by the Eskualduns it is oharaseterised by the : limited quantity of its products "and by the diversity of its ' activ ities =»=which -rang© from eheeie«=&aking to apiculture o

Idiixlted production is'"due''to''' th©; small slse of the etehe s to the" generally poor quality of "the ,s©il3 and to the predominantly - • obsolete'-methods of produotibno The sells ©f Eskaal=B@rria are particularly acid and they lack in lime .and ©lay contents »«=this essplains the frequent presence .outside, many tillages of a kiln which until recently was used fpr th e. ©aleinssfcion of limestone v

v . . Diversity of activities. is due in part to the diversity in the r@l@tlve quality of the soilss the lower lands beiz% generally more - fertile than the higher lands 0 Out of. the thirty acres which constitute the modal else of the . etehe a about half is located in :

# e lewer part of the valley and is. good enough for erop^raislng - (Bar©j ft 19k9°o 186 and 189)0 The other hal£s sitnated in the upper part

. of the valley or on the mountain tops- eonsists of moor or of land that

ean be u@®d only for graaiago

' ; A o MM8S MQBK , : -

■ ; • Ebeeept f o r a f w a e t i v i t i e s 9 the division of labor aecording

to the sex of the etehekoak is ole@r-@uto Men are in eharge of th®

raising .of the larger' animalsa of orop«#misl% of gathering s and of

(transportationo. They tate pride, in these aetivities 9 for they feel '

t h a t th e y a r t th e apanage o f men ©nlyo

1 - GM^m-BMSZm ' . : • "

Gf a ll; farming •a©tivitie% oattle=rsdsing is the one to which,

most care and attention ire;.■devtitido i t cam b®, regarded as the main'

activity^ the EskualduB ©all i t giaon lanfl “manly labor® (Teyrin 19W"g

k3)o Cattle are Important for the prosperity of the etches they are

the main source of trade-, they provide it with & iry product§5, •

transportation^, and saaetistes meat o

In an etch® of modal sis® the nwber of cattle is fairly .

constanto There w ill be four to six ©ows ==bei==s probgbly an ox

and - often a. bull °°aegen0 Coes are the most important of all :. these animals^ fo r they furnish..milks. calveSg abundant manures and

■ labor by pulling the carts and other implements used, in the fields 0

The most common type is the ;%londe“ breeds though poor in milk

produetions it is a-very agile and hardy breed 0 According to an

Austrian zoologist it. is the direct;descendant of the wild cattle :. .

of Paleolithic times. (Baroja .19k9@ 210) 0 it is customary to find in the ©ttiheak of the French, provisoes a eosr of the Breton or loman bre@d9 safely kept in the stable smd priced for her rilk | this breed began to be imported after the merlons epiBooty of the .eighteenth -' • eentnry (Teyrln ipM-s k3)<) - ' • .

Until a few years ago every stable had its horse whose main duty w s to draw the eart to go to the village ® Nowadays horses are disappeasing from Si® Frendi '@toh@@k and »e. being replaced.by a, motorised vehlele of some sort® In the. ^anish.psrt of Eskml=Herria mrnles are commonly used to carry heavy loads, over rough terrain^ - . b u rro s a re r a r e ly ,s@@Bo' ■ ■ ■ ; V . h

Pottekakg the h®lf=wlM p®ni®®s are occasionally captured" ' in the moors to be sol#' in the local markets ands' ultim ately$,

\ : ; ■. ; ■■■ : ; . h

Host of the crops, raised; in the fields are. used for feeding cattle .spd other aniaslss and most, of ,the.by«produetg @me.. mixed, w ith' manure to f©m a ccs^osto ...... '■ ' ■' ■ • . : ■■ ' - ■ v ' ' ' ■ ' 'r'-- ... \';-\/."Ihe la te s t portion of the fields is devoted to the culture of ©erns.. or m iseQ This eereals Twhieh^fas introduced ihto Es!cual<=Herri.a by a .'%#|i@h Basque, a t the beginning' of th e . sixteenth c@ntiiry9 beeam® rapidly accepted by the Eskttalduao. Its i%[email protected], to '.such a . degree -that i t now bears # e .name'''@rt6o9 . which in former times 'was- :.:- applied to .millety then m Sl»impbrtant eerealo The culture of .com' keeps increasing at presents'even at. the ©s^ense of the ^traditional1® wheato The cMamte of Eskusl-Heffia is particularly favorable for its

..' " .'v. v ' V : . : ■: : \ .. . ■ .

i ■ •" gmrt&o ■ '

Com is g@ne2?allj sowed in r©Es alieKmting slth pobs of

beans and beets —or turnips^g and sometimes gourds #r pumpkinsg

this method of cultivation is more popular on the Spanish side (Baroja

X9hh°o 51i.=55) o Evezything in the plant Is utilisedg grain and leaves

are fed to the animals s stalks are used for the litte r and one©

rotten they are mixed with the cobs to make an excellent composto

Even a small portion ©f the. grain is consumed by the ,etchere , 1 : •

occupants in the form of a special ©ak®| unlike most .Western Europeans^

the, Basques and their iwae.diat© neighbors eat como .. -

, Sieat ;==©^=>=s whieh is. being sapplsmted by e©m9 :is in turn

. supplanting other cereals like oatS9 barley9 and r^o She cultivation

of these ®secondary® cereals is rapidly decreasing in importance on

the French @ide 9 where they are being replaced by that of sugar beets $

these are planted between the wheat harvest and the planting of corn0

Sugar beets prove to be am-important supplement to cattle fodder*

, ^ In the Danish provinoes9 potatoes and habas CS) “«®r feves"”,

(P) are often added to, the plants grown in the fields 0 Pla$9 which

has, practically disappeared ^on # e French side9 is s till being. .. ..

cultivated in certain parts of the Spanish proviaeeso . .

The. other portion of the fields is devoted, to the production • -u - - ' « - ■ " - - * " ' / - - , * i ' - 4 , ' i » ' " - - of hay -«bel@rdi=-3 derived from the culture of elover9 lucerne9 and. ;,

alfalfa * The firs t two are .gaining lh';imp@rtance. in Prance ..(lefebvre

1533s : \ , ,

, Crop rotation • is praetieed’' every*@re9 but i t varies greatly . aceoydiag to the preddmlnsat' t^pe of ©«ltOT© of eash- region0 It .

be toienml ="=#he# and edm =g tzlennal »=addlng olover-«g qaadsleanal

^adding sugar beets or another eereal==3 .and there is even a six "

year rotation- system in certain parts .of Imrarm (Bar@J®i 19190)°

. Farming methods ara. so varied from province to provinee and

even from valley to valley that it would be impossible to mention aH

of th®Mo Jfeehinery tad more modem methods are used in the French t .

• provinoes^ partioulariy in . the marginal, areas and...in the more aoeessibl®

regions o 1 .; . \ ,

Ploughing instruments range from a few m otorised cultivator®

■and the- generally employed nen=a©toriged:Brabant..and Bombasles types?' ■

i n France to many, other types of. animsl^dram plougha, and ploughing ■

knives peculiar to.each region on the % smi* slds0 This variety o f,

' instrumeBts is justified by the nature of the t®rrai&9 which ,®t times

is so rugged that only,an ancient .instrument Mk® the laya..can be

utilised*. The lay# is a twoepronged metal forka some, two feet long#.:

and equipped with & short wooden handle.® In this method, of plougMi^

' everybody^ ineluding women and. ehildreaj .participates! foming a ' .

row of five, or six workers# the. weaker , and. the younger being placed .

in the middle of the' rows the. ploughers workrhythmically^ a 2aya

in each hsmds turning the soil, simultaneously. in a ©adeno® composed -

o f th re e motions# . and,progi@ ssing- i n such .rasmner (B sro ja 19k9% 19U^

■ : ' ■ ■ . ": • ■■■■■■■■ 197)°. . _ : ...... ; _ v ; ..

. Ploughing i s generally accompanied with fertilising (Baroja

:. 19fe9s 188)o' £. great many types of manure ^readers and horse. or e©w“ dram'jsaisss ®£© mtlHaedo

Th® siekl® ^imdLW L^g serrated.- la fom er times p i s still' widely employed for the harrestizBg of o®r®alsp ineluding eom 0 V arious methods of threshing ead-st? on the Spanish side 5 e&ttle and horses tread the sheavesi in the Pyrenean region the sheaves are beaten against the edge of a flagstone in the eskarats of the fmahouseg in other re^-ons flsdls of various names and shapes are used in the

©akarais (Baroja 19h9s ZQZ^ZOk)| on the French side there is an inorsaslng trend to employ. threshing msMaes in the more sscessible valleyso . . '

Grasses are cut isd-th the seythe ==se^=<=-and gathered by :: - • means of a. specially, built rake °^arrast®lUo Ifaen freshs the grass may be carried in sheets or other containers to be fed immediately t©- the animals at the farmhouse a but most of the time it is set up . in stacks in the fields to be dried for hajo

3 w QkWSmm - '

These activities are important.for eatile=rai@ingo Fern

^ iratae^cpg grotiing in great abundance on the upper slopes or in the moorsp is cut td,th the-scythes eoll@et©ds . and stacked on the spot to be rcuredo Brought , to the: farm laters aceordi^ to 'the a@edss i t is used for the animalsi litte rs after ishieh it makes a rich £erbilig®r0

Other plants whl#. also grw in the moorsj> like a type of thorny furs® ==>t^g=ti9 h@athg. and thistles of various sortss are gathered and used Hk© the ferno

Wood gathering is . also men8 @ work in. those, parts of the eotmtxy where i:t is necessary to eover large iistaaces to resell a

forested. area0 '

All these gathering aeti'M ties frequently Izwolv® eommal

labor b®e@,us@ th® moor is'often part of eomunal lands and beesuse -

long distances may be inf©Hredo. '

k ~ fEjlgeRfiyiOl ■ ■ . ■ ' 7 " '' .....■ ' \ ' ' ' : ' ' ’ ' . Coifs asr® at present this main draft animalss and they are

speeially shod for this propose»\$h@. Basque yoke ==mstarri== is

uniques instead of forming a © ellar.around the head of each. animals

i t .rests only, on' the horns» This yoke9 which, is always' eofered with

a ^ieep@M,ns is used whenever the team. is. a t works whether pulling

a cart or any, other implement for work la th e. fields o Its, shape s

the mrangemeat of its leather straps, and paddings sad its wood

cartings fary only slightly, throughout Estoaal<=B©rria« This type of,

yoke is gaining favor and is spreading ever, most of. the surrounding •

areaso ; ■ : / . V . '

The ©art moat commonly used fo r f®m work is the orgfe. @r v

burdio I t consists essentially of a rectangular wooden, box placed, ©a ,

a long shaft and between two wooden wheelSo The teas# composed of -

two animalSg.is placed on each side of the shafto Smoked wheels are,,

now replacing - the older wheels made of solid wo©d| th e. W ^ter cam " "

■ .s till b© seem only in &e more remote redone <, Ihen in motion the

seldom lubricated axle turns with the wheels and thus produces a

characteristic squeak which can be heard .over a long, distance*. It is

because of this nostalgic squeak that this cart has been named in ; A large number ©f -other ©arts modified and adapted to.a

speeifi© use is found throughout the Basque eountzyo Only a few t^pes.

ean he mentioned heres ' (1)' ©meg % th a boss eholdsed ©f lattice, work

of chestnut wo©d.s used for the.. transportation of manure in the

Pyrenean regions (2) one with no sideboards^ hut with protected

, A.eelSg; employed for :f@rn3 ©om5 or wood (B «oja 19k9% 212=€l5)o "" ' ' ' ■ . i- An interesting implementg prohahly of ancient orlglna is the lerag

it. is a wooden sledge meed for the transportation of fern from the

stee p moors© :

The only ahimals which' are not sheltered, at the faahouse are

the sheep and a few goats© A flock of twenty to thirty head of sheep

per etch© lives in the pasture g located- in the upper part of the

valley© On th is grBsUng land Is the. hordag or sheepfoM©- Sometimes

the landg animalss and bordalc are owned jointly by a group of ’

neighboring ©t©h@ak0 . , , . ,

„. Ctee ' of the members of ttie eteh@g usually s. boyg. goes . to the

■ borda .twice m. days in. the moving to; release the flock9 and in the

evenimg to gather it and shut it . in© Buring parturition and laots.tions

in.th©: spring g he ' or another .m ale. member of the etdh® m^. remain with

the flock for; a few. days at s ’time in', order to make cheese'and to -

©are for. the young animals © la? somi"'oas@Sg. during tiiat period and'-:. -.

. at shearihg time the flock miy“‘be "brought' to the farmhouse where the '

' dieese is madeg the wool shomg'' and- the male lambs separated to be sold, s i ih@ market ov '

:gh.e®p

psstorallsm i at best I t might be termed 8Epa'rt=>tlme68 pastorslismo

b . wo»i8s worn -

Most of the farming m otilities that ©an b® eondmeted, in the

Immedl^e tielnlty ©f the fsmhotis®, befall to the wemn0; Gons®quently9

they take charge of the gardens or@Mrd@ am H er animals 9 and dairy .

worko

i . HOBTiGmmm . : .

: ' -The garden is situated behind or beside the honseo. In it sr® "

; gram m. v a r ie ty of. vegetables, and. greens .like eabb@gess potatoes# , ,

beamss habas or fev@Ss peass artieh©kes9 earretss and many others*

H I ' th e se pro d u o ts w e eomsmaed. a t th e ®ttii@o Men may h e lp to spadi ' -

the gardens bmt women always take' ear® of the smAngg weetiings and-:

harvestings -

There may be an orchard nearby0 The term %reh#rd" seems

hardly propers for the trees' are eoapletely devoid of ear®6 Some tfees

bear Eskuara aamees intehapr ^walnnt°tge ®«^9 aran ^plw<=-tge®a ■ %*-->

ndar ==p©ar=tr®e»=s s a g ^ ^ <=^appl@=tr@@| the names of others may '■

indicate their relatively recent introductions, as ’in the ease of the

peach and eh®rry«tr®®So 'Gatherings rather than agricultures would better

describe this tjfpe 'of es^loitationo 4,yv . . ..

2 ~ gfOCK-lJggXHG . •*. ..

The number of hogs possessed by a modal etehe may range from

'' two to' #out a domeno. Although the# animals are generally kept in their penss they' ’ allowed at times to wander in the front yard*

It was the .ensttia, now disappearing^ to keep them enclosed part of

the year at the edge of a nesrhy: w©od| .they.wottld sometimes he ... -

released to. fatten ©n a©©m@s @h@stnuts<, and yoang seedlingso

- In Eskual^Eerria hogs are present in a great diversity of

breedss they result from the interbreeding of the Englishs Frenehs

and local hreedSg and eveM' of wild hmrso #bm@n feed them com and

ssormsf they rarely* help in doing the heavy t?@rls .such as cleaning

the penso Hogs are usually killed ami butchered by the m©a§ women

prepar® and preserve the meat whi#h is mot immediately consumed

■ under the form of baeons h@m@s sausage s blutw w sta salted meatg

. and lard0 411 ■ this provides a large share. of the etehekoak8 s diet2,

for it is entirely consumed at the fam 0

Ghiekenss d.meksa geese2 pigeons s®1® raised in and around- the

fam | ' their meat and eggs ar©' also entirely consumed at the fam c

Wbbit&^#re' frequently found'ln"#e f&rmhouseo " : .'

' " " "'Beekeeping is not as''eoimonli'. practiced as i t was a few

decades @g@o Women have charge of the prim itive <, conical beehives o

A. number of beliefs related to. the beehives and the etehe are s till

h@M today; in the more - remote areas o, f

a ^ GHiimmm worn , "

Children are ezpeeted to perform a certain amount of chores,

depending on their age and sesso. fhe m aiU billty of water being often

a problem for the farms young v ©^5 adolescent g irls are: charged with

.the function of fetching the water from the nearby spring = During - school holidays or after elasSg boys g&ther the fruits in s©asons Mke ©h@stnuts9 m@dlars9 hagelnutss blaekberTi@ss et®o| s t times

' ' ' : : ' ' they and the girls. ■ am sent to gather .firw©©d5< w»-W0rns'--'f@r'i-the h©gs0 dhildren are often asked t© make errands in the village when -

g ^g ^ tO ijSehO®l. , / ■ ; , , . , V v

/ . b » coMCLusioM . ; ' / ; : . : • ;• . "#ie# eoB^ared Tdith.^fams: of Western la r^ e 9 the. sise of the @teh@ is^somdifhat; below, averageo Its sise. is limited by the underlying kinship organisationf prodmetiim is hampered by the poor quality of the soil and by its toarch8d,ett- methods| and the isolation of many

'regions' hinders eeonomie ' tisllibutibno Farmisag is . extensive rather - Ji "

. From this brief @ury@y of the- etehe6@.©6©no«^-s i t is easy to. ednelude that this type of doondiy- is'essentially one of subsisten@@o

Most of t& products grown dr found op. the: etch® are consumed at the etdies-.either by .its inhabitants or, by. it®, animslso the ®tch@ 'is ■- k ...... -'id- V ■ ' '' ' ' ...... ' . therefores largely a. self=-suffIcient economic uaito. Practically all. the cattles1 most of the "Sleep$ . wools and wheat.. ®re. sold ia the 'market; purchases' limited and they consist of wines breads some beefs

some fruits fishs and-a few tmanufa©iwed objeetso - : ■ .

^ & fw words 'should probably. S@ added with regard to two minor agricultural aetivitieSs the culture of the apple-tree and that, of the grapevine0

Until several decades ago Eskual=Herrla used to, be famous for i t s : ciders but at .present most - of " the large apple' orchards hare Freadh provinces ih@ only rem iss of ihls oa©@ ImporSsat activity . '

are ©eoasloaally found in . the name of a house s resd-nder

of the former ootmaunal apple=-pr©ss (Feyria 19k7s kX)a

The soil of Eslmal^Heswia is unfavorable for the produetien

©f good i^ m lity Mines? However^, g rap ev in es «=#aha.ts@=.= -used to be

abimdant as early m the ■ sixteenth ©enturys they w re wiped out by '

the phylloggem of the last eeatury0 The only Tkmiqm td»n©@ th a t @%i#

at present @r@ the acid aad sow Irouleguy era (F) of Lower Navarro

-and the chacolia' an ©xeellent sparkling %im mad© in fisaeaya© The.

femous Bioja wines^ made •in the southern portions of ilw n and.

Navarra do not belong to Eskual4erriao

III <=» HE; P0HT1GIL UIGT

\ The etehe is today polSSoally insignificanf 0 In France the.

etehekojaun and the ©tchekoaader® possess the same rights and duties

o f aay other married. property owner in that nation? In % ain9 the

situation is much the sames although somewhat confusedg seme privileges

may h&v® been retained from those granted by the ancient fueros

•provincial' Isears—=> which ®r® s till ps^tially ^eogniaed.by each ;

proviheeo • .■ " . f

The only statement' of a general nature that could be made

' ©a this subject is that since the latter part of the Kiddie Sges

landowning etchekojammk wore ^fro®1* individuals tfh© could vote in their loeal a-sseiablies snd who were essempt from any servitudes

including m ilitary serMeeo This statement applies pg^tieularly t©

the French, proriaeea3 Gniprae.oaa. and certain 5^ren©m valleys ©f •’V"'- ' . ' : . , - ' * ■ ’l@rar#arb In the other areas 'tills- distinction is not so . clear heesase

; of the greater influence and power of the local lords (Feyriua

105-10?g Baroja 19k9i 28^=286), . ; . .

I ? » ■QfflER « E @ f S OF ETGHE H F 1

A -■ OSSTMim - '■ ' .

Barely a -century ago the dress, of the Basgmes urns ehar®©t©sised

by the richness and the variety of its colors| todays on the contrarys

it is remarkable for its sobriety sad absence - of colorss for men and iwomen alike wear dark er black elotheSb : ■ • , , - -

The-. b@st=-knoTO part of Basque, dress is probably that headgear

■. ■ ' ...... ' .•"■...... ^ " : ' ' " ' - . - ...... worn -by the- men called beret (F) or boina. (S)o A large number of rural, .

. people of Bteope. wear, the berets in the ,n@rth#a:,p@#,(\df-w®r

' most o f. the P^eneesj, in the French Landes and Beam3 and even in ; . " i,.. ■ - - ; ' " ' ' ' ; ; . ■ - " ..... ". ' ' " - some .parts of the IlpSo Ihe origin of the beret, is uncertain and

-has .been the object .of many;a cpsrrel :moag historians^ some of whom ' ‘ - 1 A. .» ; -kL mAintaim that it is an' adaptation of the blrrhiuma worn by Car&haginiaas

of 1ii® third century of thj,s .@ra0 In- lii^S a trsreler -reported noticing .

- it in 'a region adjoining the "B##.® ©euntry (Headissbal 19k$% 162)» ■ ■ --

. I t is certain (Baroja. 19k9s SlU) “ihat the beretg borrowed from a ; ■ widely accepted toy th© fyisach Basques dazing the eighteenth eentazy

$md toy the %an±sh at atoeat the time of the first Gsrlist

War-o Galled toy various nsMes °°toQn©tafl gapeilma tchapela^^. the toeret

is worn toy the EskuaMun in such a way as to egress each individual8 s

persomlltyo It seems to adhere with a definite etostins^r on the 'head* •

- of every male Basque| it. is. removed qn, only two ©ceasiohig when its ; ■

owner enters church ©r when he goes t© to@

the grsr@o fhis bMeh ©r dark tolu® hssdgear was made In the horn©

u n til: la # century when i t began.. to to® manufactured in Bemho

toother distinctive part of Basque 'dress is the espadrill®; (F)

a lp a rg a ta (S )2 o r © gogatina CEIa tf©m toy men. and women o f th e Basque

country^ the .Pyreneesj AquitWlneg and northern %aino I t is a rope-

shoe, whose sole is made of hem,. and: top part of heasy d ^k tolu© -

or white elotho SbBe of them are s till .being made toy local artisans

in the. villages of Eskua,l=S®rria0 The @sp@rtina is worn at all tim is .

eaeeept in wet weather -or for work in the fields^ it is then replaced

toy heavy leather shoes for the mend ©r l@ather^eov©red. chestnut

s#ots for th© womeno ' 1 '

Since the. beginning of this century the d®rk blue or black - ''

smock and the -cost ««chamarra°^ of the men have been steadily

disappearing! only the purple a blue9 or black w@ol«toelt called germk©

is worm toy the' p ilo ta ri «'=>®i(J«!i^a1jd“ player#« to undergarment of

;'flsra®l ^°larru arraseko^^s irhidi th© Bas^e wears at any age and my

s©|.s©% topped toy the *it@ shirt «=athorra^» and l©os©ly=fitting „

pants ©onstitut© the men8s dress* I© this should be added-a dark eoata the inseparable irateell&s and the weighted ean© °°aiakMlao

. W©m©n were th e ®b@s te iiaitiat® the. ehasige from brightly colored ©lothes to dark bn®s» fheir drees has been ©hanging constantly to the point that it is not rare nowadays to find some members of; the yonager generatiom in the marginal: regions ©f the French

' ' ■ . ' / "" ■ - . " - provinces wearing dresses staoh similar, to those slipover France0

The [email protected] ==bnrmco&^-=» of the la st century has been progressively replaced, by the m ail motto a covering only the knot or the -chlgnbaS' it is at present worm only by women of the older genergationo The . .black, kaputelm or mantaleta which envelops the , entire body from head to te©a s till used by some older women,tt@:g@:: to ehurehg is new finding mew. favor t© •.indicate mouming® Otherwis® - the ;wotoenis. dress consists of an. undergarment Shirt °°iaanthagra°° "•-* and .a very plain dress of gr8ya blues or black materialo The hair is combed straight' and is • often gathered to form a. chignon At the ■ back, ©f th e h@ad| no cosm etics a re used, ©smept among some y o u n g e r.,

@M.ldr@n6 @ .dr@ss‘'zis ''i o t sv®ry d if f e r e n t from t h a t of" th e adults the same dark colors; pmdoMhateo Boys wear the.:, beret? short

ess the espartina. ©r. hssssy leath er. sh©@s9 and.when going to sshool often & black mock® Girls® dresses may. be of various colors when they have been bought at a storej they are usually eoverei 'and 35Q^35l)| tsro plates ef the more modem, types of 'dreap^are in serted ,

in Bernoulli© et al© (19l«.6s 33 and ij.7)o In forsaer times dress m s

&a..iaportaart means of ©pressing the status of the individual! the

tiidotfs8 drass was parti©riw]!^ iaterBstiago In the tro lfth o®ntur^: ■

Ajmerio Meamd found some analogies between the Basque, gmd Ssottish

e@@tum@@o • , Vv v ,

B-^ MYSEM& OF M M ■ ; ... . . v

daily activities which take plaee at the etehe are in many

respeets sim ilar to those ©f any [email protected] farm the world ©v®r0

Men get mp at daybresdc! soon followed by the womeno A fter ©aeh has

dipped M s fingers in the holy waster of the font by the .kitchen deer,

he starts with the firs t. chores'-while- reciting his prayerss the

cattle are: fed and e^red for by. the .men9 the ww@a build up the fire .

from the hot @u ha@l ^^firs^aeed88^ of the h@@rth0 S preliminary .

brsssMsast is hastily prepareds ©off®® with milk, toasts of wheat or

@om breado The men are ready t# leave with, the ©art - or other /

implements to -be used for the day*# work in. the fi^ldso ' I n the '

.aesntinft, the children are up and are taking their c m .-'breakfast -..

apart from the women* Shen'it is time for the women to feed the hogs,

poult^’, and other smaller .animals! to send the children to the

v illa g e school, sometimes two or three miles mf&y$ and to cursorily

perform the tasks ©f horns®©leaniago fh® @tdi®k©aad@r@ may go down to ..

the stream to wash the family4 s clothes, or she may d© some gardening

or gather, the vegetables which the older woman w ill ©lean and cook ■

for the noon mealo fhe younger g irl may fee the one designated to

fetch the water from the spring with the prosaiG pail instead of the traditional pegarra and at the same time avidly gather the news and,. _

gossip from the other women, assembled ‘therec At about ten ©’clock the

men com® back for the -second p a rt, of their .breakfast9 nsnally exposed

of either the phipherrada =<=a aisfenr© of breed, egg@a. ^ d , c h ile s .

. beaten together^ or eggs fried in lard with a slice of ba©oaa hams.

.salami, or..sausage taken from ,those hanging from the beams of the .

Mtehen, all this being accoBparied M th ipantities of bread and :

. copiously WaAed dow with white wine ©r plgmette (F)® The men

return: to th eir works the women t© th eir chores® • Between noon and

one o’clock the main meal is served^ it consist® of the preaerred meat

o f one o f th e hogs ©r ©f one o f th e -g e e s e : w ith some v e g e ta b le s from

the garden, then s©m® ®w®=>ch@ese =caardiga@ma^«s sometimes an apple,

from the attic, and red or, whit© wine® ©nring harvest time, when

they are ©specially busy, the men eat ip the fields where they remain

a ll day, food and drink, beixig. taken to them by the etehekoandere,

and th e young girls® &t the farmhettse during the afternoon women

finish their work bmt in, a. more leisure/manner a the younger girl

w ill fetch water and some' wood, the etehekoandere may iron or mend '".-

clothe®, do some gardening, feed her animal®, ©r even sun to a

neighbor’s for a bit of gossiping^ the older woman prepares the

evening meal®. The children com® back from school, probably bringing

along , some item that the mother asked them to get at the village 0 -.

By ■ the ;tim@ the Sigetos b ell ■ is heasd from' the village church the ‘

men have left their fields| back home,' they feed the - cattle and

.replace the implements and instruments they used during the day® The etehekojam sits first at one end of the long table in the kitehen

then the other males of the homsehold inolmding ehildren =>=in Soule

.and in certain parts of lower lairarre he m&j s it on the auzmlms ■ double

seat ©f a ^eeial design whem.he is .served his m eal^i the ettiheke-

ander® serves their meal while the other women and girls east- standing-

up o r s i t t i n g on'low c h a irs n e ar th e fire p la c e o The meal i s composed,

of a comforting soup of salted side porka ©abbage^ . potatoesg .aad some other vegetable in s®ason9 then- ardigaza&». and

possibly .a frd it| everybody ©zeept the small ehildren drtnk wine| ,the

br@ads whieh is out and distributed by the. etehek©jams .is eaten in.

abundano® and used to mop up the pMt©s| few words are. spok@a0 Them-.

comes the relazing, time of the day wh©n9 especially during the id,n|ers

everybody gathers around the firepla.e©s the grandparents te ll stories

to their grandehildrea while, others ^aell..com by' rubbing the . ears ' ' bn the handle of a frying pms and everybody feels free to talks This

part of the day is particularly important,, for it is then that in this;

sp irit of fam ilial ©ommunion many of the aon«=mat@rial aspects of

Basque culture are transmitted from the;older generation to the <

younger* Bedrtime is between, nine' and ten ©block depending on the .

season* : v ■ . . ■ , . .

Except on Sundays 9 little happens-to disrupt the regularity

of the daily rhythm of life* ,fb©ut twice a week the baker6 s and the

grocer's truck stops by along the more accessible roads*- The. @teheko= ■ 1 v . .andere buys in this way most of the bread and the all-important f l# u ? for the Friday menu and at the same time gatiiers some gossip- and loes,l newsc' 0a@ or tiro days are devoted to wasMag either at the eoawmal place or In the nearby stream if the cashing place Is too far0 In the most Isolated etehesk the etehekoandere still has to bake her am brerio Some n@ighborss godpareBtSs the priest may; drop in for & visits in saeh a, ease she w ill generally serve breads eh@®s@s and wine, for

she reserve® coffee and, cocoa fo r 8tspecial, oeeasionso61 Probably , one®

Or twice a week, depending, on the distances she w ill go to the village - ■ X to do part of'her shopping! her favorite day-is market d&y at, the'

"tillage* Her hnsband may go on that day too trith the ®3£emse of having

some personal business to dog but ©ace there he rarely misses the opportunity to meet some, of his croaie® at the bar and to collect seas and gossipo - . : '

* la their separate ways, a ll members of the household, dressed in their better clothes, attend mass on Sunday! the women rill be more likely to go to the first serviee, after which they buy beef to

after which they rill go drink at the bar, or watch a game of pelota •

on the square or at the trinquete0 Back at the etch®, dinner is served! the daily monotony of the menu is changed on that , days there is no soup, beef replaces preserved pork- or. goose, a f®» fancier dishes are generally served, cognac or anisette:of a local,.. _ type is primed after desserto Should this be a rainy day, much eating - is dome and is accompanied with drinking.^ loud singing, a lot of noise, andT even arguments leading to ' quarrels (Baroja - 19hk8 3$7)o I© work ■: ■ : other than the feeding of the salm is Is performed on. Sunday0

' It is Interesting to mote th#t the names of months im BMqmra , .

usmally describe the: traditional actiirities; oecnrrlng during that period .

(B areja 19k9s 186=18?) 0 It was mentioned in a previous chapter that the

paradigm 11, denoting maiooa$,w is enployed in the formation of the name' '

of monthso The word i:%»its@lf;.:is rendered by llabeth®9 which- .

might mean “fu ll moon® or “lunation® (Veyrln l$k7z 20?) o November is

aailla ==“month of the sowl%“ (of wheat)==■ or gorotailla ==“month

for fertilising® or spreading manure| it is also during this month -

that a great many Basques w ill go dove hmtingo December is lotasilla

==“month of germiamtion!I== or nsgu illa ==“month of w inter| “ during ■

this period farmers usually repair the house and their implements^

January is ilbetsa =«fflblack.month“== .or. u rta rilla ==“month of the .yea:rw==

during which wood is gath@red0 February is otzailla ==“month of the

eoidM-= or aegeilla ==probably “month of the b u llsM a rc h is epailla

==K'month ©f pruning® == during which potatoes are planted^ April is'----' ,'

jo rrallla ==“month, of w@eding“=» when corn, this “newly. introduced®-

plant, is sowedo May is ostoilla == “month of the leaf“~~a- when early

vegetables are sowed or planted & June is . garagarllla ==“month of

barley®«= during whlda oats and barley are harvestedo July is

u atailla.==“month of the harvest“== or garilla ==”month of the wheatBo= -

when grasses are,, also ; sowedo August, is agoffilla ==“month of -

dryness18==■ when - wheat is harvested in the .French provinces0 September

is urriaj, ira illa fl or garoilla =■= “month of the ferry “ or burailla .

==“month of the heade8== WMeh indicates the beginning of the year. iv

121 as it is still eonsidered in certain regions 3 it is then .that:,turnips are glantedo ZlnaUyg Oetober is bildilla which means that it is time for fruit gatherings wheat is sowed during this montho CHAPTER SEX'.. . :

BiE mME-GQMMUNXTT "

A large nmiber of the etehekoak8 s' social relations @3efcends beyond the narroer bounds of this eompaet soeio«eeonorie u n it/ the eteheQ They take place id.thin a considerably larger eo-=-resid@ne@ unit %hich id .ll be termed the. 86villag@=6oamunityo16

It was mentioned in the previous chapter that the villages of Eskual^Herrla generally consist of a small group of buildings of a nomM@gricultural character and thats for this feasens it was better to consider them as E!village=ma.eleiet rather than, “true68 village So This type of village<=nuol@us is called in Eskaara ir is

Mrio or uzio .

/ The ir i j , a word which- w ill be used in our terminology,. i s . usually situated near a streams or a riv@rd and along a main road of aoeesss or at a crossroad (Basroja 19k9% 23=31) => The population siae of the iri is smalls in the French provinces more than half of them possess fewer than five hundred people (Y ejrln 191,7 § li-S) 0 I t s buildings may be tightly aggregated or they may be dispersed sometimes over half a mile in length (Feyrin 19hl& U9)® It is around this central population nucleus that the viU@ge=coimmnity is located . •:

(See Diagram FI)o

Thus, the village«eoiW8unity can be defined as being the area

122 embracing all. those eteheak whose inhabitants possess permanent

social relations of a, definite nature with the people lining in the

irt itselfo As a rale its territory covers an area forming a definite

physiographies!, or topographical entityy and it often corresponds

to a small - political,' administrative, and/or religious division, either

ancient or still in erist©nc@o . v - .

The villige^eommunity is a complex and eoaspdkLte unit, for,

it contains within itself other eo»rssidenee units which are not > , '

always; clearly recognigables the (S) and the “neighborhoois'o1811

The unit which in our terminology is called often "

possesses features variable as to their number and character= At

. times it may form a eompaet little community tightly organized^ at

other times its organisation, may be so loose that it becomes hardly..

id e n tif ia b le :.SBS-.a;=@^;^at@'.UB£t<> 3I t i ;be s r s :'in Isktiss^a a - v a r ie ty ’, o f ..,.

namess ballaras amarrekofl ausune, soskera, alderri, etOo (Baroja IShS*

31) which-correspond somewhat to the French term quar°ti©r0 All these .

. Eskuara terns might, well, denote different types of barrio, but such

a. distinction is not made clear in the literature ® too main types

should be recognized a (1) the barrio composed of a group of houses

which form an integral'part of the iri itselfg (2) the barrio which

consists of a group of dispersed eteheak surrounding a tiny nucleus

of a few buildings usually located near a spring or at the crossing-

of a road and a path0 The inhabitants of this latter type maintain

social relations with the people of the smaU. population nucleus

as well as with those of the .iri* Some. village^eommanities appear to 121}

haire no barxi.os at #0.% ^

' . • i Soeial relatioas _ef a © ertaia' natay® take,: plaoe ^b©te@®nthe

inhabitants of each etehe aad those of the surrounding eteheako This

group of etcheak xd.ll fora in our terminology the etehe6 s> "neighbor-

•hood." The aise# boundaries^ and. number ©f .etcheak of each neighbor^

hood yary with each parbieular,@ tehe|,in this sense the neighborhood

can be considered as a ^fluid81 rath®^ than MfixedK co^residence ; r rad to r ML .i v Beferring to Diagrim W . ideal. rillage-commnnity can be.

cbr#ared to a nebula of dispersed faiiSaouses. whose area. is lim ited

by the physiographic features of “the enviromenti xdthin this nebula

exist a heavier condensation of houses —forming the ir i— and at -

times lighter condensations.‘of''houses’.^“f orming the center o f each

b a r r io o The. ixixabitaats of each etehe maintain their social relations si .si'"' within the # re e following. - eireiess:' (i) ..their oi-m neighborhood.,

'the barrio and its small population, center —if they happen' to

belong to a b a r r io — s ' (3) th e vill@ge«=>eommunity and above a ll. i t s .

irio The.data furnished by the literature about the nature of these

■ - ' . , ■ . • - ' social relations g^e ineoa^lete and often confusing as .a result the

analysis which follows may reflect these deficiencies o

I i. .BiE . 1EI6EB0HH90B

Some of the social relarbions whieh are involved between the

people of one etehe and those of the etcheak in the immediate vicinity 12!

***" Village-community lim its —■" Barrio lim its w Paved Road Secondary Road ■w River ■*— Stream O Farmhouse * Non-farm Building EQ Church

DIAGRAM VI

COMPONENT PARTS OF THE VILLAGE-COMMUNITY are difficult .to dlstingtiish from-'some others tahich take plaee m thin rthe harzd-o Itse lf ==-when there is ;a barrioo The llteratm re makes me

clear distinction between these two eo=residenee units0

A ° jEHEH AUZO

The most distinctive tra it in the social pKgaaissstion of the

neighborhood is that of the lehen auaofl or “firs t neighbor0 85 Each

etehe has its' own lehen ausos who is generally the closest neighbor in

the direction of the chureho A study in the field would determine.

. whether th is tjp® of relationship could be termed as “fictive18 kinshipQ

It seems to be established on the basis of the relative topographic

position of the two eteheaka for should the occupants of the lehen

auso etehe move out3 the lehen auso relationship continues with the :

new. occupants o Social relations between lehen auso and recipient

involve a large number. of Mutual but non~reciprocail obligations

(B aroja 19k9° 300} | th e y move only i n o n e. d ir e c tio n s : if etohe A i s

lehen auso to .etehe Bs etehe B cannot be lehen auso. to A but to etehe o' ' : ' ; ' . ;

Depending on the oeeasions this relationship necessitates the

participation of either some or all the members of the lehen auso8s

etehekoako Tt® role of the lehen auso etehekojaun becomes especially-

'important' upon the death of the recipient- etehek©jaung i t is hea as.

shall be described under the EL£e Cycle at the end of this chapter^ -•

who is to take charge of a variety of duties pertaining to the

funeral of his neighbor® Mo data are available about the lehen auao's

duties regarding the death of other members in the recipient

family® Should there "be a wedding in the recipient familys the-"best 4

Ban and the. first brdde^rsid w ill be chosen from the lehen- auzo6s

V family, Should: there be death in the reeipieht' etehe^, the lehen aozo

' family furnishes a ll material help in the form of labor to the

strioken family» It is the lehen aMo and his family who are the

most oommon guests at the recipient etche during the long winter ,

evening i&Ebches® There seems to be a great deal of individual

: variation as to the number and types of obligations involved in this

in te r e s t in g 2 b u t l i t t l e .studi@ds:.i®[email protected]@o.vre3ationsM,po

B » SODilUTIES :iMt) GUQUES

4t times some of the members of the etcheak of the neighborhood

may constitute more or less formal groups for the purpose of either

performing certain labors oolle#ively'#r for entertaining®

In the western part of Bskual^Herria the auaolan consists, .

in assisting a neighboring etche in need of urgent help at the time

of laya=plougMng or of harve stingo The neighbors who are able to do

.so join the family ia need and furnish the estra helpo. ffiis sort of

\ emergency';eoM®&Mvdllabbr As or.'th®/ .f@e#%pw;.

of # e helping n@i#bor@g it is free® Boseverj,. should the recipient ;

. be. incapacitated by the..death. of .a relative or by old. age (this ' ';

being a ease for charity) s all work is performed unilaterally and .

freely (Baroja 190^ 30Q)o ' •

Oolleotive labor may at'tim es take . the form of regular "and

- actual interchange^ fully; reciprocal and mutuals this is called ordea®.

't. "■ The lorra seems t© Be another form of emergency collective laboro The glmaar^lorra occurs in behalf, of the etehe wMehs. for some

unusual reason finds itself"short or devoid of manure» The head of

the house requests gim&ur^lorra from his neighbors^ and for'each

cartload of manure ttot:'',each neighbor promises to bring .he c u ts a ■

lime on a stick ^rtarja (Ej@ After each load has been delivered to

his house he regards Ms neighbors with a meal called lorra or . %

totmenao There are various types of lorraka bildoteh°lorraa for the

sheepg aur^lorrap for wood5 e t e 0 All work and material is subject to

reciprocity (Baroja iPi&Ps 301) o

- : Women form m thin the neighborhood a variety of cliques

generally based on age-groups, for gossiping^, ©ard-=playiag3 helping

a sick ones ete0 They spend a '.large part of the Sunday afternoon ;

and evening visiting' one anothero These Informal groups provide

" reciprocal help for ■ the one' who is in child-birth o r. whose etehe is

struck by illness* ■

II - THE BAmO ■ ‘ 1 _ - '

Whenever a barrio erists within any part of the ‘village-

comunity9 a number of sodalities^ cliques., and sometimes clienteles

of various. sorts exists among ' some of the members of the eteheak -

which compose it* .Because of the lack ©f clear data on the subject

it is difficult to ascertain the exact nature of these associations.)

Sodalities of an economic character exist in' the barrioj they

are probably similar as to their names and. functions as those already mentioned about the neighborheodo These sodalities become partieulerly

strengthened wheheYef’ the pastures and/er the moor-of th® etehealc Ire

eraed in common by the- barrio it®@lf| in this case the eomnunal ^'

character of labor td-th regard to aheep=rai sing9 fern and wood™ .: -

gathering' becomes greatly esphasi^edo U ntil recently many a barrio-

possessed a communal kila which m s need for the calcination of the,., . .

on th e ,

The small group of buildings. located about the center of the

barrio, consists of a few shops, and a bar, occasionally a fronton for '

the game of pelota ™«66 jti~alai»™™s. pnd rarely a small church and its

' cemeteryi People of the dispersed ©teheak maintain regular contacts' l' " ■- '■ ' ‘ ' 1 ' /' t i: /'* \ ' with this..tiny population nucleus ' of their barrioo

I l l ™ 'THB IK "'

thorough stu^r of the "various types of population : : ■ . ^ ;; ■ ■ ' ' settlements' and their Msiori-eal evolution can be found in Baroja f ' ' ' ' I : ' ' . ' ' ' . U -L,,::" - ^ • - . '' " (19!&9: 21™lk2)o ilihou^x its aspect, changes notably from one province

to another9. the izi always contains the same cultural elements® the .

church and its cemetery, .the square ..and, its fronton de pelota., its

shops and. barso- The .ird- of labourd. or. ©£ .lower lavarr© is particularly

picturesque .and colorfuls frpra. its ccluster of., white and red houses

emerge .the steeple, of slate o r tile . which tops the square and chubby

church tower and the dark, expresses or y@w=tr@@s which surround the

cemetery o .; , : ■ ; ■. *Ehe ir t is the center of a imraber of activities wMeh can be

classified as follotfSb ......

.. . jj ~ BEHaiOPS CEMfER : ' ■ ■

1 = SHUBCH ' ■■ - ' - ' '■ . . . " ■ V ...... ■ . ... ■ . .. . - . The building has no speeial .styleo Except for, the trinitarian

towers, of the Soule tin churches j> the exterior consists of an insipid

version of the common tjipes^of church architecture found in the rural

, part® :iof-either .France or Spaiao.,: However^ the interior of the Basque

church is distinct from that of ■ other^Roman Catholic churcheso She,

walls ©f its unique nave are lined on,' three sides with wooden galleries9

sometimes two or three superposed^ these galleries are exclusively ,.

reserved, for the men du3d.ag, the c'eremqniesp and-they are often ' ' '

accessible through a special:- gate<, Behind the Mgh altar is a gilded

ratable. o f'%anish style0 The floor of the nave, reserved.only for. -

/[email protected] is made of flagstones and of seme large gravestones '

bearing the names of the eteheak of the communityo I t was under these

s la b s , which a re sometime® d:ec.orat@d w ith b e a u tifu l b a s - r e l i e f s , th a t : 1 , " ■ ■■''' ■" y. - .■ !y: ■ " y up to the eighteenth century,, the people of each etehe were buried| ,

until that time each of these, stones constituted the hiX~harri

==tlid©ath=stonen=» of each etehe, but how that the. custom of burying- -

' people inside the church-has been abandoned, it represents the yar -

leku of th@ '.@tehes trad itio n ii ‘place-''ihsre the etchekoandere kneels •

and worshipso This original stone floor is now often covered, with a

wooden floor, and as a result ihe yar" leku .is indicated by a praying'

desk bearing the initials of the etche' it represents amd b y the blaek el©th ea whleh is placed a small basket eontaiaiag

' the was: candles which are lighted fey the, dead (Bernoulli® @t alo

19li.6s 106| B arb ja 19k9z 2L&~2k6 and 3h6)o 2 ° 0EI4ET ERI

th e cem©t@rys irhieh usm ally a d jo in s th e chmrehs i s p ro te c te d

by a lew wall .and a esttl@<=guard across its gates* though cevered, by

grass and a quantity of weeds among which emerge some gladioli and

seabiosas in seasons the Basque cemetery is more an image of peaceful ■

■ aloofness than of negleeto thex®9 indicated by a funeral etele^ is

the hil<=barris the traditional burial spot of each etehe0 ... ; •

Various types of steles can be found in Basque cemeteries^

especially in those of the. French provinces* the oldest steles have -

a discoidal shape which may suggest an anthropomorphic .character^

they are also found in some parts ©f .Spaln5 Portugal^, Aquitaine^ and

the Pyremesy and for this reason it has been proposed that they might

be of Iberian origin (Bernoville et al9 lpls6g 10k) * their bas-reliefs

:: are many and interesting (Bareja 19^92 k9$) $ the oldest discoidal

stele a 9 which bear no inscriptions^ are supposed to be as. many as •

seven or eight centuries eld| a few dates appear on those of the

s ix te e n th c en tu ry 9 and l a t e r th e name o f a few. eteheak* I f te r an

appreciable Increase in si®® , toward the end of the seventeenth century9

they no longer appear* the. smallest discoidal steles are probably the.-

oldestg barely emerging from the ever rising ground^ they are highly

eroded, and they are believed to hesr some resemblance, to the towheel=

■ cross® Of th e.Celts which are found in England (Gallop 193©)o On.one side is the name of the etch© and sometimes an individual epitaph; and ®n the other side are carved crude and often strange figure So This types probably inspired by the Soman eippusfl was made

only during the Senaissanee: (Bemovill© @t a l0 19h&s 1 0 6 )o

Ston@”erosses are subsequent to the seventeenth centuryo This t^pe became very popular during the eighteenth century* The most

curious ones are found in Lower l»arrss they mm. large in siaej the portion immediately below the cross is widened fend' its edges

cut by deep round..Botches^ ornaments, and ..inscriptions of a

characteristic style are painted'in. black on whit©0

All these tombstones belong to the paste Since the nineteenth

century the trend has been to copy the. unoriginal baroque styles which are commonly found in 'France and in Spain0 . . ' : ■

1 <*• SOCIO^ECOMOMC CEMTER..

1 - BTOET

, The market is held in the.iri squaM which is usually located

in front ,of the church* It occurs regularly on certain days9 .rangiag . ' V 1 ' UTb: ■■■ "ui-; " - from once a week, to once a; month* Qn;.such days5 open a ir tradesmen '

.from, .the outside world come }in contact, with: the local population* The

farmer takes Ms eattles sheepa gottokaka and occasionally some "pigs

or poultry! these products are "bought"by. the butchers to be taken , ,

away tb'She urban centers* fie "farmer or his t-3lf® buy manufactured

prbductg-'such as shoes® mateMais’-bariware. of the. infafeior 'sort and

quality which are generally -found in apy open air market or fair In. Franee or ia Spain0 , . - \

'2 - SHOPS ilB SPECmZJSTg • .

The iri possesses St least ©ae lm s located in one of '&e larger buildings o It may have as mai^r .as a dozen bedroomss a dining- rooBs s. b a rs a ball=-r©Qto9 and sometimes th e irdncpaet© 3, th e l a t t e r u«ed for. indoor pelota0 Although in summertime the French ina becomes - the focus of intense eross-enliuml contacts (for it is there that the tourists stay) 9 during: that season the local people try to - - sroid it as much as possible = ■ v

According to its sizes the iri m ill have a variety of small shopss tiro to five bars9 two. to three grocery stores9 one or two butcher shops® one blacksmith® and sometimes a bakery and a garages'

A, number of specialists® •.some: part-time famers® live in or around the immediate vicinity of the irio Usually there w ill be one to three of the following specialists! carpenters® cabinet-makers®. seamstresses® euranderos. (S)s and smugglers, if. the international , : border is closho Eany of the small artisans are disappearing® such as the stone-carver®, tile-maker® weaver® and pottery-makers yet the ir i might s till have on© ■ pelota-ball-maker® chistera,-maker® espartina-. maker® bell-maker (for sheep and.cattle)® or makhila-maker (especially for tourist trade)0

, C - IBGlEiTlQMSI. 0EHSE1. ■ . . ■

1 - PBLOm ' ;

fhe game of pelota is played either st the fronton or inside the. trinquet@o The fronton® often located at one end of the i r i 11 s ' square® consists of a smooth wall of definite sis®® some thirty feet' high and forty^fire to fifty feet longs against which the players

°~pilotarlg~” bounce the ball °=»pelotag the space where the pilotaris

play is seme 250 feet long by 60 md@0 The txinquefe can be briefly

■described as an enclosed and covered playing ares where the ball is

allowed to bounce against a smaller frontong one side wall9 and the

back w a ll o' - " ' ••

Today pelota'is the game or sport of the Basques par

excellenceo In lorth imerica it i s ' known under the name" of one of •

the most faraoms-frontons of ..the city of San Sebastians Ja±<=alai s g *

-meaning in Esknara ®happy festivale® This game did not originate in

the Basque country:' it is an adaptation of the jeu de paaaaes so -

popular in France from the Middle I-ges to the nineteenth eenturya

wMeh was introduced in Saul by the Bomans0 - Our present-day tennis '

-derives ■ from the type of jeu de pausa® called court® paumec

, The word pelota is applied to a variety of game a a most of

which stem from the French grand® paum®0 i t the fronton^ pelota mdy.

be played withs the bare hands’! a pal@a smlllwooden .r#@ket^ which

IS very ^% ular on the Spanish si deg a large chistera@ or. ^basket!68"

yoke garbia a small chisterai and r®bot®9 in which are ..used leather

gloves and a . snail eMsterao Insid®. the trintu®te9 pelota is played

with bar® hands or with pala0 It would be impossible to explain her®

each of the different games . of pelotag the literature on the.subject

is excellent and quite complete (lamare' 19$k$ 50-58| Ifyxin X9h7t

275-281) o ; . . : - ,

. , ,; Bi® first mention of pelota courts dates from 1528 and is applied t© laboimig the game m s then similar t@ that of the eourte' pam© and m s. played m th rackets 0 Modem pelota results from a long series of modifications of .the longae pawa® games the-itiMMaaMen of the fronton and the coming into use of the rubber ball, in the nineteenth century changed completely the older forms of the gamer'- l a 1850 a leather glow was. designed to. catch the lighter and faster ^ ballg theng about ©me hundred years ago a. Bas^e from labourd invented a' racket in the f© a of a basket mad® of chestmt»tree strips5 the ehist®ra0 The modem ohisiera is made of osier fibers^ and its curved shape permits the throwing of . the ball at a very high speed =>=it can rebound one hundred yards from, the fr©nt©n0 The modem ballg n#' longer made ©£ wool strips wrapped in eott©n9 consists of a core of compressed rubber wrapped in wool and eovered with leatherc

Games are played by professionals and s@mi=prp£®ssipuals as well as am ateurs o ; , : - - ' ~ - ,

The [email protected] that the Basques of a ll ages sfam for pelota rasuit©ds especially in .the French provinces^ , in th©..’almost coBplft® di sappearanee of other traditional gsmeso The games of perratch®

(similar to golfsutitet® .(a type, of cricket)s palaaka (throwing |-' of an iron bar)3 kanikak (open a ir bowMng) 3 prmeba de bmeye® (S)

(pulling of heaty stones, .-by oz®m)3 aiskola.ri8s competition (cutting of a tree^tnm k with ax®s)9 and mai^ others are today seldom performed, or only on the ©oeasion of some special festivelo . g ^ micro - ; ; ; : :

. Dancing used to be on® of the favorite pastimes of the Eskualdwij it is s till popular in many regions e liuch of the traditional

m sieal heritage has "been replaeed in the last decades by the aore:: -v"v •

modern ausie and dances found in France or in SpaiBo In some parts'

of the Spanish provinces^ traditional dances are s till accompanied

with the musie of the tehistmo This instrument is essentially a

bowood or ebony flute about a foot md half in length, and bemlng

two holes in its upper portion and one hole in the ]##er<, The

tshistulari plays his instrument with the left hand while he beats -; •

rhythmically with a stick in Ms r i^ t hand "a dna which is suspended

from Ms left shoulder© In Soul@s a very siM M r instrument eristsi

it is called tohirul&a but the drum is replaced by a psaltery with

six strings called ttun^ttan (FeyMa 19^.7* ^aar® 1954s 48 ) o

Except on festival days or for weddings^ most of the dancing

is reserved to the younger' generationo Kegalar dances aape- generally

held at the inn8 s ballroom on Saturdays and Sundays c There 3 the

pas© dobles rumbag and fox=tr@t replace, increasingly Cider dancesr,,,,,

Ilk® the fandangoa which is actually a derivation of the Aragonese

Joteo . ■ •

1 - COMMUmiOATlOES AI© GROSS-CUITUBJIL CE1TEB

1 = OOMMDMIOmTIQWS: ' , ,

The ir i is the main center of cammumication for the whole

eommunityi:it is built along ©n® of the ancient roads' of access or

, at a crossroad. (Feyria 1947& - Iskual^Eferria is such a rugged

country that only a few iz4ss those located, in the most accessible

valleys$,. are. served, by train 0 Thusg ihe r©ad9 wMeh is often paveds- is the chief link of eoiwumeation ■with the outside mrldo Most of the economic distriM tion is done by traeksi a bus stops at the inn or at th® iri.8s @gum°e about onee or tme® a week® -

felegraphs telephoneg and post of floe, are located in one reomo Mail is distributed within th© iri and its immediate periphery by & p©stmna but the rare mail destined for the ©teheak isolated in the valley is usually ealied for by the people themselres0

The most common means of travel is s till by foot-and part; b ic y c le 5 mot or cycle s and motorcar are-now. becoming increasingly popularg especially in the French provineeso little traveling is done by adultsy but the youth is very eager to attend gay and, a ll events" in the neighboring eosmaanitiess festivals^ daneess pelota gmmeSg moving p ic tu r e s 9 e tc 0. - . ' .

2 « FOBEIGI E1EMEMT8

The iri is not always a political or administrative center® ,

It may be the seat' of a concejo or ayuatamiento (S) or of a mairie (f) a each heroiag, its appointed or elected representatives {council and _ mayor)® The function of these institutions is to apply and to enforce in the whole community the laws of the Spanish or French nationso The iri may have its own notaire (F) and luge de pate (F) and their

Spanish counterparts® ,

If the international border is close a a group of mrabineres

' (S) tfiU be stationed in the Spanish 'iris or of douanlers (F) in the feench irio. These groups are much disliked and derided by the lo cal: ; population® The reasons are meays they are'usually strangers =«most are noa=Basques==-9 they represent flagrant intervention from the " •-

outside worlds and they probably hurt the pride of the traditional- :

spirit of freedom of aotiom* of the natives^ furthermore^ their

enforcement of m tional'laws with regard to . smuggling activities^ a ''

rather important aspect- of the economies of these communitiess brings

upon.them the constant wrath of the mmgglerso . '

. In mazy a Spanish iri is also quartered a platoon of the "\"

Guardia Civila whose function is to represent and reinforce the central

authority of the Caudllloo On the French sides...gendarmes and Guardeo

i^pubUcains stationed in the larger urban centers»

3 - SCHOOL .

, In each French iri is .located the public sehoqlp fhis - sdiool - ' - "v ' - ’Si - ... ■ - is., an integral part of the French national system of educationo It is

strictly a laic school Where; the. children are separated according to

sex and where the curriculum^is the, standard curzioulum adopted ■ . ■ ' , throughout the nationo Its teachers' are French (few EslcuaMun ever

enter1 .the' teaeMng professiqn^ ’ and are appointed by the M inistry. of

Muca*ibn0, In this school only'‘the French language 'is spoken* r e lig io n £h' 'proM.Sltedo Children are compelled by 1 » to enter school at the =

age of sissg and at thirteen or fourteen .those who hme' suecessfully- - r-.4 •- , ; - • . passed, the standard examination are " sfgarded the £6G@ rtifieat d6Etudes

Primai-res0 88 Despite the .distance,, which is sometimes considerable^1

. between the isolated etchealc and the school,, attendance is generally

•1-.:'.- - lj' ' ' ' ■ / ''3.-..- ' - ' - - . . goodo I^ohool the EslmaldmtqiSldrmj are directly exposed- to a strange

new. language and' to a different,;, euitnr© and cultural valueso Few of 239'' these children ever go to the technical or to the seeondazy schools^,

£or parents and children alike show a marked'-indifference towards ediaeationo ; ; ' " ..

4b©ttt twie® a week catechism and religious education are. given @t church by the pri©st|. the language generally used is Esknarao

Some circles in French system of education of the Fifth

Republic ®re now re

Baccalaureat of the secondary schools 0.

little information could be obtained, regarding the matter of schooling in the Spanish provinces<> It seems that in the rural areas schools are" fewer in numberg that many of them are paroehialg and that a determined- effort is made to. supplant Eskuara with Spanish«

■ n - social o m i n a n o i of b ie HmaE-GomuiETi

The people of the village=eoMfflmity form a group socially homogeneous of which they are eonseieuso Most of the social relations of each .msa&er of this society are likely to be. contained miM n the well-defined boundaries of this important eo=resid@nee unito

& -> KINSHIP

Brery Basque has his godparents6 This Important form of ritual kinship is of-the cbmpadraggo type0:. The number of godparents for each individual is lim ited. to one godfather -«ait#itchi-= and one godmother •

°°amabitchig-The godchild ^th e term for godson is semebitohii no.

x - - . ;- ' ' ' - ’ -s ::vr :"-g: :: -v-! term. e©uld te found for goddaughter”” receives its Christian names from

the godparentss usually the same &s theirs 0 The literature furnishes

no data as to the nature of the relationship between godparents and

godehild except for a few instaaeesg (l) should the godehild die, th e

godfather has the duty of earryiz^ the eoffin during the funeral

processions (2) the godparents, are., to participate in some rituals

during the baptism and wedding preparations of their godehild0 . .

B ” SQDjXITIBS ;

1 ° HEUGIOUS -SODAHTIBS :

Practically a ll the Eskualdm belong to the Roman Catholic-

Ghurchg and a high proportion of . them participates actively and

assiduously* 0f all the inhabitants of the village^emmunity one

individual ean be qualified as being .the undisputed leader;' i t i s

the priest ^© r eumte"", head of. the local church and parisho Mg

advice am# authority carry moh an enormous weight that" M s overall-*-

rol® could be termed as being socially omnipotent * He is a member of

the Eskualdum, he is a ^m@n of God,8* and he is one of the few educated

in d iv id u a ls i n th e b a re ly l i t e r a t e conmraaaity* ....

. It may be reasonable to assume that in the minds of some'

Basques, especially '#LO@e of ..labourd, the. social personality of the

. curate is enhanced by some of the former duties which in times past

he used to assume (Baroja 19h9s 376) 0 In certain communities he was

the tesporal as well as the spiritual leader; even after the transfer

of'his temporal duties to the laity, the term, ^abbot™ was applied to

designate the municipal officer, and about one handled years ago the mayor @f some eommurities was ©ailed boldar°aphea or

°°aphez me#lmg "abbot* (Elb'ee 19508 76) © In some ehurebes a room ^ '

situated #)o% the poreh eatranee Is still used as a malrle and

eontains the" eorammity8 s archives (Veyria 19&78 22|Us Bemoville et sl«

l9li.68.,ll6)oMentlon is mMe. that even during the "aBti^elezdeal111

minded Third Bepubli© of Frame® one abbot had managed to became th e

head, of three small parishes % _ seoret^y of the local ma$ri#g juge de

paixa and notaire (Elbee 19^0g 88)o On the other band, some.of the

younger., members of the clergy<, dressed in their eassoekss do not

hesitate to compete on equal grounds at the fronton of the pelota

'b'otift @lth .secular, terns©...In'fdM er "lim@@: the .parish .priest m s

.b u ried in s id e M s ehurefoy- l a t e r u nder' th e church poroha b u t today -

M'is'generally buried in thS' eemeteryo ":

' " Smother individual who enjoys grsat prestige and reject

in the community is the segogaa or benbite' (F) 0 Prob^ly a survival

of # e "deaconess® of the primitive Christian ehurdis she is always

m old maid ©r a xfidow who. has taken the . obligation to clean the

ehurchg to help perform certain, rltes^during baptisms5, weddingsa .and

funeralss to wash the sacred vestmentss and to keep the. keys to the

ehureho She receives in return free lodging in a house; often .. '

'adjoining the churchy part of the proceeds of collectionss and some

products in kind (¥eyrin 19kl& Baroja. 19^8 172) 0

... Sunday mass is attended with great:regularity by .the majority

of the community8 @ populations Indeedy few people^ at least on the

French sidea would dare to mis® one of the Sunday services! mention is md© that during the d®ve=$mnting season the hunters ©f one Labourd village have mass said especially for them, at three ©8 clock on Sunday mornimgg the officiating priest receiving in return half a hunter8 £ share (Veytia 19478 240)» $he frequency ©f church attendance varies according to the sex and %e for serriees other than Sunday masss . women are more prone to attend vespers on Sundays and weekdays^ and older women ^especially widows and old maids~ attend most of the everyday serviceso

' ' Some ,s o d a litie s ' of'a strictly religious character are merely mentioned in the literature (Yeyrin 19478 -242)© These confreries' (F) or -cofradias (S)» each devoted to a @peei£ia„saint9 are said to be'

^numerous©88 Same of them are mad® of groups of either young men or girls (Baroja 1949s 319)» Bi®y participate' actively in.the festival- given in behalf of the patron saint of the irio Unfortunately^ lack v of documentation prevents saying.anything more about, their present

©xistene© and functionso ■ • ■ ■ . ' . \

2 - SO01CNEGOMOMO:.S0BjgJ:fIES

Some c o n fre rie s have a sem i^ re lig io u s and semi=@conomio. ' : elpraetero Mach like the medieval corporationsthey group artisan® of the same tradej farmers also form sueh groups for the purpose of mutual insurance against the disease and death of their cattle0 Some of these associations' seem to exist at the barrio level (Baroj® 19498

301) © Their importance becomes particularly noticeable in the larger townsg- one such Labourd community o f :3a000.people i s s a id to p o ssess at present seven sodalities of this type (Yeyrin 1947s 242)© But the information, on this subject stop® at this point0 ' •

3 = POnTICAh SODAMTIBS ' ' , he Politioss even. mb the local seem to the least ecmeem of the Basqaib farmer ©f Praaeei this situation is rather different on the Spanish sideo No formal political orga^i»ti©a exists' .in th e r a r a l areas of French Iskual^Uerria® CouneiMea and mayor are usually elected. on the basis of their personal capabilities and prestige rather than on that of their party affiliations<> Ihe general political trend • seems to be conservatives probably because of the Church8 s influencej, and at the same time slightly left of center and loaning toward some"' -

“mild® form of sociaMsmj such an attitude does not clash with the'- - many nuances o f'F re n c h pollti@@<, ‘ ■

, The situation in the Spanish provinces is different and far more complexo I t is reasonable to assume that many an ir i w ill possess at least one political sodality:. the local chapter of. the falang®e, . .

G - CHQJES Am GUBNTBESS

The Basque vUlage-eomunityr, much like other rural communities the world ov®r9 possesses a large 'Homber of these informal and loose types of voluntary associations usually caMed. cliques and clienteles®

Bieir purpose is to trade2 to exchange. new® and gossipa and/or to be ■ entertainedo' These groupings are often governed by s©x2 .ag©2 and ' social statuso Outside those already mentioned about the ©tch©s - . - .. neighborhood^ and barriog the likely centers for such cliques can be enumerated as follows: -

£ woman1 s circle includes in the iri the various shopkeepers with whom she .deals regularly <, the group of other women she usually

meets at ehureh9 and the friends she happens to meet at the market or

©a o th e r . s p e c ia l oeeasdLons'® , -

The man’s eirel© is more eomplexo If includes some of the , . . . . , . .. ; 1 " ■ . • . : :;":r . merchants he deals with at the marketa the. other men he meets at

©hurehs the friends with whom he watches a; game' of pelofs on Sunday

after m ss0 But it is .especially at tos predileeted bar that he finds

his “steady88 eirel© of acquaintances and cronies i^th whom he likes '

to play -cards and.? once inebriatedj, - he .-is net afraid t© , divulge soM®

a sp e c ts o f M s in n e r self® Many men rank b a rs i n o rd e r o f p referen ces

this order being governed by their appreciation of the company they

know they are likely to findo ' '

Vlbeeept for. the professional pelotaplayerss whose teams are

composed of a number of individuals from various communitiess the

local teams are composed of informal groups.of younger.men or boys . ■ ■ " . ' ' " according to age=-grading lines® . . .

Youth cliques are divided according to sexs each forming

its own walking or cycling groups and intermingling on Saturdays

and Sundays'&f the dance hallo . . .

-' One group , of younger m@ns lAich seems to be so w ell organised

that it could, hardly be. called a cliquea offers a particularly

interesting characters it .-is th®. group, of smugglerss found'in.any ,

community located in the vicinity of th©. Franeo=Spanish bord@r0 These

small groups of men seem to embody in the minds of the Eskualdun

on©.of their most Important cultural valuess their im plicit refusal to eseept interference from the outside worlds Far from disapproving^

the majority of the population partieipates passively in smuggling

operationsi « fairly large seetion of the male inhabitants knows the identity of at least a few of the smugglers and is ready to help

and protect thems should the oecasion or need arise@ Indeed, without

the passive attitude of the population these operations would be quasi impossibl©0 SLnm: the' literature provides:no objective data on the matter, some information w ill be furnished on the basis of the w riter8 s personal escperieneeo ; ■':

Messengers sent across the international border maintain

-.contact between.samggHag groups0 Merchandise is gathered' at eertain - points^, sometimes right under the very noses of the custom offiserso

On the given day or night "“preferably^,. in the matter, of a few hours

it is swiftly carried over some of the roughest terrain , and across- -

the much patrolled frontier o Speed may b© increased by .using relaying

teams of mem at points previously determined0 Moat of the time the. merchandise is carried on the smugglers9 .backs! mules may be used on

occasions® The path to be taken has been previously arranged and

.planned by spies who gather mnfdrmatiom about the likely positions •

of the patrols, but this path is subject to any possible change

should an unexpected cianger suddenly^ threaten® The column- of mugglers

is protected by decoy men ahead and on the sidesj contact is mintained between the column and its escort by making certain noises or sounds warning of what lies ahead® Smugglers are never armed, and shooting

rarely occurso Shey are seldom"caught, for once they have been ' compelled to abandon their loads these young men can easily outrun the heavily equipped earabineros or douaniergo

The smugglers8 feelings towards the government mentis not hatred but rather contempt and dezisiono Their mere presenc© in the

community constitutes a challengeg they are “stupid asses .1* 0.. h a w to be fooledo?: D . STEATIFIG&TIOM

• It is difficult to dihtiLngaish the various social classes .-r

of the people of the village^eommuzdty on the basis of the scant .. inforsHation given.by the literatureP The field study of a Basque •

community would definitely clarify the matter*. Consequently^, the

classification .which follows applies to the EskuaMim of Franc© and- should be considered as a mere attempts

lo The leading class is represented by a few “educated1®

specialists ^ or wealthy people .living in the.-'irig the priest^ the

teachersg probably the eurandereh* a few landowners living from. their

rentals, and some, r e t i r e d imerikanoafeo ills© , if-the community i#

large enough, others in this class would- includes the mayor, the

couneiliaeno the judge, the aotaire, the doctor, the phamaeist,

and probably a few minor officials like: the mairde6 s secretary, the postmaster, and a few ©tterso . "

20 i ll the people %d.th the status of etehekojaunak and

etehek©ander@ak| they are the farmers =»©wners. probably ranking higher than tenantand also a few members of the ir i population,

like- seme shopkeepers and specialists! 3-0 The too groups of collateral relatives § those who are unmarried =>=mutilsarra,k and neskazarrak=« sad live ©n the eteheaki those who 11W with their families as specialists or shopkeepers in. the irio: - : i ' . - - , .

. Ue. Unally# the hired farm hands and servants and the hired shepherdso ... ' ' 1 ' : - .. ■

Actually a except for' those few individuals of the top.stratum toward whom the remainder of the population behaves in a highly formalized mannersj, the society Of the Basque community is rather homogeneouso Its , division into, two roughly @^ual. social groups. :f,:-

==the farmers on their eteheak and the non^famers in the iri<==> is established on the hasis of a difference in occupations and co=r®sidene®o Wealth being a criterioa of msimal importance^- these two groups are split along.the ranking.lines previously mentioned ■ about the' ©tehekoak in the last'chapter0

...... % to . about one hundred ye®rs ago there existed' 'a social caste among the Eskualdun of Franc® and Spain0 The people of this • east® were called feotak .^apparently an adaptation of the south- western French words gagotss eapotss or gaffotSa They were9 especially in the French.provincess subject to a strict:segregation and often submitted to cruel husaHstlons! their endogamy was severely enforced and their economic activities rigorously lim ited0 Forbidden to @611 their products —except fish—S ’they were automatically barred from . agricultures • and as a result they became artisanss carpenters^ cabinet“makerss lumbermens weav@rss bricklayer®s ausieianss etc0 Their religious practices in the church were restricted^ they could

enter the church only through & side doors had their own holy water

fontg rem ised near the ehdirs were sot allowed to kiss the-- er©ssa ■

etCo For a long time in Labourd and Soule they were - compelled to wear

a piece of red elotha representing the foot of a go©@e8. sewed on their

hack and chest0 Despite th© mmerons interventions of the Homan Church

and of the jarido^political institutions9 . th© SgoiSk were, persecuted-' ^ ' ’ - i - - 1 ' ' - ' • 1 for. several, centmriesc,,' . : : .; ' ' ,

The '-most lik e ly h y p o th esis about th© o r ig in o f this caste,

which i s supported by some h i s t o r i c a l evidence,. is .that the Sgotak - -

were lepers ■ (Veyzin 19k7 s . 112| Bareja 194W 12$?126). In Medieval r.- -. ■

Europe, lepers were considered as pariahs and subject to-the strictest

social isolation.=-this situation is little changed today; in Italy©

M,a centuries rolled by, the Esknaldun attached the same social stigpa

to the - descendants of .the original lepers©. At th®' end of the .. .

'sissteeath century, «gfter ; their expulsion from Spain, large numbers -

of Gypsies settled in the French, provine®s|.. called Kaehkar® by the ■

Eskualdua, this ethnic grodp soon fused to some extent with the

' Agotak and came to form a east® hardly distinguishable from the '

other© ■ ' . . '

Gertaia barrios (Feyria l^tes 71^72). s t i l l -show the evidence

of the Jigotak's former presence, and at present they, are. inhabited

by Kaehkarotso These Gypsies have become today aeculturated to a

l^g e extent© They are usually basket-makers, Copper-Smiths, coal-

merchants, fishermen,- and especially shrewd cattle-dealers© They iatersdx w ith the loeal. EskaalduSj, bet" some, of them have still kept a few words of th e ir mm lamgm&g® which, they hs®' wkea,' theyv domot wish to be understood by strangers (feyrin 19k7t 73) °

la some parts of the Spanish provinces^ as in Santesteban and Vera de Bidasoa. (See Eap l) 9 in lairarra^ the %otak ean yet be • recognised and identifiedo The barrio of Borate $, near in the

Bsstan valleyg Isvarra-g contains a nucleus of Agotalc which in 1920 numbered- 270 people (B&roja IpWts 12li)o Mach of “fee stigma fo rm erly attached to them has vanished® ia the - Irtiem r church the holy water font and the men's galleries ©nee reserved exclusively for the Sgotete have disappeared^ and the place reserved for their.women in front and at the left of the choir is s till used by them but ®mor@ so as to keep the tradition” (Baro|;a ;lL9ijii.s 128) o ' . .

V - HPE GIGlSg BEHBFBg S© SOME GULTUHL VSHES

The rhythm of life at the etch© is regular to the point of • being rather monotonous^ the only events which come to perturb this regularity are the births the weddingg the sieknessg or the death of' some member of the family o There is aiaong the Eskualdun such a great variety of now rapidly disappearing, or changing practices and beliefs about these events that only a few, these which to the w riter deem#© be the most pertinent or widespresdg w ill be mentioned in the following pageso

It seems reasonable to assume that .in the past the Basques and protefo3y: some ©£ their neigtoops. praetieed at one time the eotiwde

Strabo reports the faet about the Ibezdaas and the Cantabrianss a few

w riters of the Rensiissanee mention It about the Beamese s and finally 1 ' - ' . ' - y ; - . at the beginning of the nineteenth century 2smedXa affirms that only

a few decades earlier the eowade was still being practiced in - \

certain parts .of Tizeayao. Despite the nmaerous investigations made

sine© then no evidence of. that praetic© was. uneoveredo

■ The birth of a male child is 1 preferred to that of a femalei •.

most of the boyless couples in the French provinces make a special

pilgrimage to Lourdes to request a b©y0 In Giaipuzcoa the church bell

rings three, times to "announce the birth of a b@y9 but only twice for

that of a girlo Until recently a variety of taboos were to be .

observed by the pregnant mother in order to insure the birth of a

boy (Barrdola 1952'S Chapter ll&) o -

. & custom seldom practiced today but very, common a few decades

ago was that the mother who wanted to protect her newborn baby from

evil or injury could .not leave the house until she was ready to make

her first trip to the church®' Sine© her duties often compelled her

to go outside the house before she was .able to make the trip to the

. ehurehg she would remedy, this situation by wearing on her head a l'.;;.

piece of cloth ==in Guipuzeoa and lavarra=-= or a tile from the roof:"

==in. Isb o u rd and lower-:la,varr@<=-=a th e se o b je c ts sym bolising th e 4- -

roof of the house and #u@ providing the necessary proteetiono • On ,

the Spanishside most of the babies are protected by weeing a

kutun ^evangeHo (S )^ which consists pf a, page with a few verses of one of the gospels wrapped in a bag attached to the meek with a-.

ribbon0 If the child.dies before he has been baptized.*, in some parts

of .the Spanish prorinees it is advisable*, instead of burying him in

the sacred ground of the cemetery^ to bury him alongside one of

the walls of the farmhouse where he w ill be sheltered by the half-

sacred gable of the roof —itehasurao

The names given the baby during the baptismal ceremony by1 '

the godparents are the ones of a few favorite saints*, imoag the most

©opaoa areg la ttin —Jfertin—s Bemt —Bernard—.^ Suanes or Manech

—John—| jfeyi —Mary—s Kochepa —Josephine—s Gsna —Jane—s

KataMm —Catherineo. . ^ , v . ,

Die first language that the child learns at the etehe is ''

Eskuarag for it is the only -language used at all times between the -

varioms members' of the family group» /

The form of address to children varies as to their sex

(B afoja 19k9% 316) o As they grow older status differenceSj, based

on rsex and ag@g soon make their appearance0 like many of the. children

of France and Spains Basque children play seasonal games s,"for no

seemingly apparent reason certain play activities and toys show up

in a recurrent ..manner at certain, times .of- the yew (Baroja 19kh%

. 13^=136)0 Of course =, pelota is always “in season88 for boys* Children

learn"‘o f' certain taboos, whieh hive to" b©. observed on certain dayss-

on San Juan's Bay —June 2!&— they are forbidden to climb tre@ss to

play with fir@s etc* Between the ages of six and about fourteen they

are exposed at school to either French or Spanish speech^ which they. learn to rw d and writes and to the non=Basqpa@ world of culture 0

Mboat the age of ten the hoy begins to leave the ^maternal iapron® and the world. ■of female domlmatlomg he besomes closer to the . males of the household smd is accepted in their companyo Under Ms fath ers supervision:he begins to leara about the ®man2y labor®

««gigon lam^» of eattle-^zaisings sheep^raisings and care 'of the

erepatt. Siould his family be poor or endowed with too many eMldrens

as soon as he reaches about twelve or fourteen he w ill be ©alloyed;

.#s a shepherd in the mountains or hired .as a servant on another .

etcheo . .

&■ change in status' soon occurs after puberbye,' Boys are

called aaatillMe and girls n®#k&tlllgk or neskachakg these terns

correspond to muehaohos and muchadia# in Spanish0 Batween fourteen

and about eighteen the young matil enters the crisis of adultho©ds'

and in .Ms efforts to' ascertain his male status he becomes a rather

obnecdons individuals Insolentg violent^ destructive g cruel with

animalss using coarm language M th'girls because • he does not know how to. be gallant with them9, sad generally- rebelliouso This critical period tapers off when he begins to compete with others of the same sg@=»group at pelotaa huntingdancingg fiesta. participatioag drinkingg

courtingg and even worko ; ' '

long before she can thinle of marriage a the young g irl is

encouraged to start a %op©«®h®st® f©r her' future marriageo .In times past her father would put at her disposal a piece. of land to grow

the flax that would be spun and woven to make the sheets s shirt@g and other clothes constituting her trousseaus on certain occasio n s these

Objects were displayed to friends and neighbors according to a

rigid set ■ of rales (Baroja 19k9 s 323‘=>3§k) o f b^ay most of the hop©- '

chest consists of clothes made. by a seamstress or bought at the

store and ornamented at home/ and the manner in which i t is displayed

is rather informal^

In their hope to find the husband of their dreams s girls

of marriageabl® age like to invoke some famous saints Saint Jhthony

being the most popular in that respeeto In Vizcaya they frequently;

address San Jntonie de Drqpiolas if they wish for a dark-haired

husband they w ill thow in the sanotuary black-headed pinss but if

■ he is t@ fee blond or red-haired they w ill throw in it white-headed"

pins instead (Baroja 320) 0 In Isqueit®s they keep turning a ■

certain number of times around a crosso {During San Juan' s night,

an: egg thrown on a glass filled with raster will provide the i^uirer

ifith a large portion ©f;his;:’ltromantiett futureo

Courting is usually done on Saturdays and .Sundays o In the ■

mountainous parts of lavarra and. Soule Saturday is called neskeneguna

whiehg according to most philologists^ means., “g irls5 day® (Baroja "r - "

19k9s 321) o iihen courting the young man is often allowed to walk .

the g irl to her h©me0 In the few parts of the Spanish provinees

where spinning is s till done by the women of the etche during the

evening gatherings of winter^, the young man is allowed to v isit and

court according to traditional rules (Baroja 19k9% 320-321)© The

m a tte r o f e%%agement f o r a young couple i:s a p riv a te a f f a i r which takes place m th no ceremony^ each Is given adwiee by M s respective family and by the priesta Courting and engagements may last several ; yearsj, and great freedom is allowed to the young couple 0 In the past9 citing an eighteenth century w riter (Yeyrin 19W 2 265)9 a couple could live together for a number of years and often not marry u n til' having started to raise a family of several .tidldraao . to® Catholic'''

Church has been in open conflict with such practices c, but despite ' - its efforts even today the engagement period can s till be considered' as .seme sort of tria l marriage^ & situation approaeM^ promiscuity exists among the unmarried people of. Eskual^Herriai th is might be , • understandable considering the number of people who must remain unmarried

^m m tilsarrak and neskaaarrak=>= while -liv i% dm the.farms© Ho negariv®-- sanctions^ except those .of the Church,, seem to function in tM s ^ respeeto This is reflected. in the fast that the incidence of , •

“illegitim ate” births is said to be high =.=no figures given~~9 and. that an unmarried woman who may. hare had a tiiild or ohildren by one man has an even ehanee to marsy smokier man 0 On the other handy1 adultery. among married people is rare, to the point of being non- exisfento toe proverb ttesk©nt eguna ais® iaanaren biharamnna^—Hhe^' wedding day is the day after good tlme#-=g which could be freely - translated by %hen you get aaarriedg i t Is good-bye . to go©d,timessE-

"sumarise's accurately the situation (Veyrin 19k7s 26$)0

ferriage seldom occurs before the couple has reached the age of twenty-fiveo Sledding ceremonies vary considerably from province to province | they also vary with the status —eteheko prim or non-heir— of the interested parties Q Furthermores many of its older traits are - no$f rapidly disappearing o Bar©ja offers'& .'good digest of'some of ttese eeremonies (19toS 'Ilt7=-l50 and and a good bibUograpMeal raelens on the subject { IS l’&t 3 2 9 ) o For the sake of simplicity^ a summarised account of the wedding ceremony which

presented in.the following paragraph (Veyria 1947& 265=267)o

4 procession “=hatl!ka=== is organised two days before the church eeremonyo Its purpose is to carry to the house of the future a®©3y#w©d the trousseau and furniture which the consort is bri^ingo

The first dart, ©specially chosen to-squeak loudly^ is leffilby the; ' . ' . ‘ ' ' 5 consort’s father^ it contains the displayed trousseau towards.the; front and3 in the baeks a broom3 a rake9. a piek^aasSj, and on a chair a ,pair of decorated sabotsi the coas pulling the cart wear bells ' " » -• „ - v 1 - - - - •• • " -- ■=■■- - - - - » ' - ' ' --•*-•** *- and are eoyered with m. initialed cloth with red and blue stripes 0

Behind3; follow other carts which- contain the pieces of furniture^ ' ' laattressesa and other objects» The seamstress.and- the carpenter .who. were hired t© make the trousseau-' and the furniture^take .;#i i% iort#rti part in this procession's for one# arrived at the house they; are the ones ih p w i l l arran g e m d d i ^ l a y in:-tW -b© df,@effl;;rea®ryM f o r th e •

godparents participates in the procession^ leading a fat she^p with - gilded. horns and multicolored ribbons" at the head of the flock which follows' amid the emalsting 'iduncl' of the bells ^tgintaajg^da°^-'; "

. attached, to the neck of .@aeM'!'Mi&g3,K ’tn the past9 girls Would end the . profession carryix^ ©a their heads large baskets filled uith a rich

variety of foods chickensg breads2 ■ ©akess >ell@9 bottles of Mae and

:gB@et liquorss pastries^ eto0 § all this food eonsfitufing the.guests5

contribution to the wedding banquet® On the ,»dding day the erotfd

g a th e rs on th e church ®quar®|. th e b rid e a rriv e sa aecoirpanied by th e

best man and male attendants^ smd to each she gives a fine handkerchief0

Inside the church the usual Catholic ■ ritual takes pl@©@o Back a t the

houses all the guests and relatives celebrate by eating9 drinkingg

and sl%ingo Altogether the festivities last three days® ' ...... - ...... One® m&rriedg the couple follows the rigid mode of behavior

tfhieh is. expected of mariied people.® - Effeetiy© prim ary sanctions ©f a

negative nature prevent any. possible deviation,, Should the etehekojaunr

be ""bossed55 by his wifeg should a spouse commit adulterya these ■

sanctions come into effect® The best knorn9 called charivari’ ==whieh .,.’

gave #ie English word shivaree^g egresses the general indignation

of society® The intervention .of ecclesiastical, authorities sad of

.the French and Spanish legal authorities (.Baroja I9h$z 336) has d#%@

much to attenuate the . cruel aspect of charivari^ whose excesses

resulted at times in the death of.some participants® The decadent

diarivari of .today (Veyrin 19k7s 268) consists of ""serenading® the

deviating individuals by singing j oily or loos® songs ■ accompanied

with a hellish uproar ©f noises. ««galeirrot%a or taln.tgargatao»°° made

with bellSg h©m@9 potsgveauldrsms9 and axij other noise^making.

object® TMs ■ sanction is- also applied should an old man marry a

young. girl or a widow =«or widower^ remarry with a person never m arried. before<, Oa "yie Spanish side g' amo%er eastern, nm disappearing^

yras to have the relatives^ friends9 and' servants invade the house where

the guilty ones could be found and to eompel them to drink a bitter

beverage XBaroja lptos 32.6) c ,. 11:

It is very seldom that • there is m§r reason for a charivari o

M ultery is nbn=®rist@nt not only beeause of the fear of scandal but *•

. : ^ - ...... '...... " , , """ " " ' ...... because in the community am adulterous person ^especially a Moms®-==>

cannot escape bein g dis@©v@red0 The m arried Homan rem ains a t horn® m ost

of the timeo.Her. social relations outside the home are limited to

visits in the .neighborhood,* and to trip s to th# iri f©r„her shoppings ■

for mass, on market days, and sometimes for a festivals. In some . ;

parts of the Spanish provincess a few days of the year are reserved

in behalf of married'women during which they are allowed to dance;

this custom, is subject to many a. local variation (Bareja 19k9s 337) o

On® of the most common diversions for married women is. to play cardss

. usM lly'at a-game called true (F)9. with the other women or older'

" ■ . . ■?; ' . . ' ' - plopl® ©f the neighboxhoodo.

Ideally the same mj.es of behavior apply to married m@n,9, but

men are allowed a greater freedom of action outside %e etcheo Unlike

their- wives, they" [email protected] '.restrained from, going' to the inn, bars,

fairs, dances, and hunting 0 In fact, they are most - w illing to' find

many an esmus® to eelebrst® any occasion with liberal drinking,

generous eating, loud and. loose - singing, often followed., by violent . *■ 11 j % , 7 - - .jr< - « - - • - - • ' . ^ * y .. * -- - » - ' *- *•- ■ * - . , - . * - ' • - * • " ' ■ ; ■’ " 1 - ^ ■' : . argnmemts amidst the narrmr of, for

drlnklmg has imereased shaBzply im the pa^b deeades^ amd. so has the , am ber of bars la each eoamttmlty (Baroja 338=339) @ I t is frequent _ih

, the Basque country to find noisy drunks -staggering in publieo.. There'

is among the Esku&ldua a problem of generalised drunkenness sad -'

probably of alcohol! as which may be caused by a matter of inhibited

cultural ©©nfliotj, this^wouM ;©©rtainly des©rre_ some study0 The Basque

farmer may. be as boisterous outside his home as he is silent w ith.

his' familyc, and as m m and 'strSightfoward. with those elos® to him

as h® .is shy and diffident with'strangerso; ' ■ ' •-

. Disease may result irdm'a number of causes? from the

aize^tcharra =«aires or aires males (S)-=>5 from the evil eye —begisko

A so-ealled “red^eys85 ««begl g@rzi=«9 which may e a s t a. ris e M e v lo u s

spell on the whole etche and, its cattle (Barr-iola 1958 s 71=7# g from

the elusive tropesiak ^derived from hydropisi® (?) or hidropesia

; i$)±*9:. somewhat, sim ilar - to the evil, eye (Barriola 1952s Chapter 16) g

from the sins that the individual may have committed! and from a •

few.other causes9 Some specific, diseases are the direct result of

; specific cause @§ the rimgi%%, in one * S ear ernes from at th irsty worn

located inside the ear itselfg one is likely to become insane should he swallow somebody els®8s nail, clippings (Baroja 19h9& 339)g and

-Disease is dealt with'by m gical or religious means or by

empirical practices 0 Ifeny reflect the beliefs and practices formerly

or presently observed in Eur©p®o Documentation on this subject is

abundant and varied (Bar©ja iplihs l6ii.»169g Baroja -19h9§ 339=3hl

and 35l“35?l feyrin 19lf7« 256) g the most important and comprehensive ■ study about the Spanish Basques oa th is aubjeet ras ■EsM-ttea. recently '

by Barriolsi (19$2)0 An example of each method w ill be #Ven at this :

. p o in to

1 . eMM suffering from heznia w ill'be onred if at snidBight -

on Ju@n»s Daytw® of Ms brothers pass .Mm three times through

the split trunk. ©f an oak-tree® Bilgriasges t© various sanetuaries

and prayers based on the Catholie ritu^,: aye commonly us®ds fgr

• instaae© a pilgrimage to w ill cure stutteriago The'third

■method, ©f curing consists of, using some e^iricaOL remedies such as

tisaies and infusions of a variety of herbs 5, or plasters, of many

kinds^,' etOo i some of these remedies .my be peculiar to each etch @0

Most generally disease is treated.with the help of. ■

"speeialistsg the curanderos or @aludadoresfl whose numbers are

increasing constaniljo The Eskualdm 3 like many people in Spai%.

put much more faith and trust in the manners of these medicine-men

than in the rather distant and stern accredited medical doctors

\ (Bsroja 19Wt& 164) o According to each disease these curamderoSg or

curanderas ss the ease may be* employ magical means such a# incantations^ ■ . , . ' ' ' - ' > . ■ ■ ' . formulass amulets —like the kutun worn by •babies—,s as well as . .

empirical means* Some curaaderos specialise in their arts some r ill

cure only human disease®s others only animls^ others s till only,

certain"; diseases = ' . ■ -

The Basque farmer is not afraid of death —©rhoity eriotsa*

He considers it calmly as being inevitable;; it is fairly frequent to

find the following inscription on a number of houses of Lower Havarre and Labotigdg 'Melaka orheit hil©iaa °°n'live- ones^ remeaiber deatho®

la Ms-worid of beliefs5 am im m erabie quantity of omens are. likely

to bring deaths if the floor or the, walls, of the house eraeklej if

the ©rows fly low or around, the house | if the owl hoots in the nightj

if the dogs bark at mights etc* Some of, the se. sinister omens estn be

“neutralised^ by throwing g for instance s a handful of salt in the

fir® (Barojs. 1 9 ^ l68)o i t ti®©ss tiie.se omens may determine the

future of the dead on®§ aagrom dying when i t “pours eats and dogs8. ,

w i l l go d ir e c tly to .beesmsa, b u t th e o p p o site i s lik e ly t o happen

if a thunderstorm occurs at the time of the burialo '

..' ; ■ It m s the. custom in lower lavarre to remove a. tile from the

roof when someone was. dying in the house3 this in order to permit the

soulf- to escapeq Today th e bedroom' window" i s opened ia s te a d 3 and

probably for the same reason the church; bell tolls (Veyrin 19i$7s 2?1|

B aro ja 19k9& 3k$)° There is sueh"-a,:quantity of. beliefs and practices

about dessfeh that i t would be-impossible to even enumerate- aH those

which have been recorded- (Baroja. X9k9% 358) o .; ■

. Qnee .death has :epm©g mirrors^ portraits^, and framed pictures

are veiled <=»so is the coat of arms on the fegsde of the Hawarra

. houses» The sindews are elosedo The lehen auzo ^ “first neighbor66^

is personally notified by the closest relatives of the deceased^ for

it wouM-.be a serious offense, if he were to learn of the death

indirectly or by hearing the knello He and his family arrive at the

house to take charge, of a ll preparations for the funeral and to do

a ll the essential, house and fana work ji n this manner 3 the stricken family is left entirely to its griefo The neefs is amouneed to all the

.relative's-^ neighborsg friends^1 and them to the ©ommaity by the tolMa®

of .the ehureh bells 0 In sm y plaoes, the knell lasts •longer if the

deceased is a male rather than a femalefl. or a special" chime of faster and lifte r strokes ia nsed if it is a eMMo Once the ness has been announced it is neeessszy in the ease of the death of an etchekojara. - or his id,f@ to adtify the .cattle..and especially the bees of the;:d#ath

of their master or m istress by means of a rhymed' formulaj, otherwise these animals would die ’ or desert the eteheo Baroga (1949s 344) reports such a fosaauM used^in.iera de Bida,sga9 in M&varras ftM ttl© beegj, little" be@s9 make w@%g the master _is dead9 and we need light in the church,". Until a few. years ago, i t was important to burn., the mattress of the deceased one, .

te the eve of the funeral two neighbors go to the ehureh to - ■ w . ■ ■... .■ ■ ■,■: - fetch, the pari#, cross, and as they take it to the., house the bells,’

to ll. The cross: stays in the room during the death- watch, )’ ' ■ i ' ■ ' ■ • If the house is isolated, the funeral.-procession, w ill follow

the funeral, path. °°hi3M,dea gorputg bid©, elimblde, @mdabide9 etCo=« which l#ads to the iri entrance. The procession foms a iMiagle line#

Ahead are ..the singers, the ©r©es~b@ar®rs9 -the. priest -if - . the

coffin "which is usually carried by the sons of the iehen auao and other neighbors^ -tixey-v^e': -followed- b y -'&e- l@hen>.saiso--:.®n,d'^e. el@i@st:

relative, then the o#er male relativethe- friendsi and at the end, the women form a ..group apart<> The close female relatives, wrapped- in their long black mantalftak, may be writing in the ehureh for the - arrival of the procession (Baroja 1949s 344=345, feyrin 1947a 272), ' After, tiie ehuKeh ©e.remoBys w h ile th@ «omen remalB praying

Inside the ehurehg the coffin Is carried t© the etehe' s hll^harri^

the. men generally a fistful of earth in the grave 0 Bie fmaeral

is then follwed by'a ban^iet either at the house ©r at the izmg.ln' -

this manner the relstiires from-fah.awaj are ’timnked and at.the same '

time ties are renewed with them0 Before leaving9 everybody stands up

and prayso

. I t is considered poor taste to speak ill of the dead in

spite of the possible sins,or bad astions they might have committed .

■ during their Hveso It seems that •&© powerful-influenee of the

Roman. Church on the Bsknaldun has not eoss^lefely eradioated. some of

the older beliefs concerning, the Whereabouts of the soul (Baroja 19k9 s

3^8)|. for instance^ in ©ertain parts of fiacaya it is. believed that

the soul of the dead does not climb to heaven but rather Banders by

the reads and remains' either in the bedroom or under the eases, of the

roof of the h©u@e0 . ' ... '

Immediately after the funeral the novena period startse For

nine .eonsdcutive days the ©lose ones , attend a daily mass in the ehureh|

the small, group is placed in two files facing the yar lelcus indicated,

by a black rag in front of which bums a candle 0 Ihena for the next

thirteen months a member of the family ==or a woman paid for th is;'

f£meti©n== every morning w ill. occupy the yar [email protected] display the rags

and light the candle. (?eyrin 19k7s 27k)»- Biis attentive devotion

tew«d th® dead may be partly explained by the fact that9 according

to numerous accounts; the dead one may make known at times special requests eoaeeralng. M s meeds for himself er for masse@s or regarding

the welfare of the etehe (Baroja 2$h9z 3k9)o In homer Navarre^ the

servants of an etehe would go to the grave ©f the former master on

■ certain ©eeasions and5 using a rhymed formula@ would ask fo r his

advice o

It is s till fairly common for a. widow to weso* the black mourning dress a ll her. lif@o Masses are offered for each anniversary

of the deads and whenever an important event is going to-.affect the

future of the etehe =-s>sueh as a marriag®>===>. the dead w ill be offered a

special mass called obliga%i©n@2kg,.»m®ga (Y eyria 19U?8 27k) o On i l l

Saints” Bay a ceremony is performed for the dead of the whole communitys

.and, inside; the church each yar leku is lighted by its candleo ' , ■ CHAPTER SEFE1

: THE PROVINCE

Thev three Basque pro'cinees to the north have lost today a ll theiy former political .sigaifiea®®®| they have been .merged into the

French polities! system of arbitrary administrative divisions.) the de-partements/, Although the other four provinces have maintained their politieal identity within the frssiie of the Spanish govermaental : . systems they, have s aeverthel© ss^ been deprived of much of their original character and partial independence of the paste Up to the ei^ateentli and' nineteenth eeaturi'es a ll seven provinces enjoyed a • large degree of political independence© ih eir motto, K©n@ Caesar %ith fueros® expressed clearly that they recognised the royal authority of

% ain or of France as long as it' was net directly involved td-tb ."feat of their local assemblies^ the fueros (S) ©srfOrs (F)0 '

' Howevers the province should not be considered solely as a political tm its for within its physiographic borders (See Map I) it groups eerksdn common cultural and linguistic. elements© If today it has lost much of its political raison d^ftre of former timeSs its territory eoineidegrou^ily with an,'area of cultural sigrdfic^ieeo

Furthermore g oxdng to the extreme mevenness and irregularity of the orography and hydrography^ especially in the mountainous areass each o&e of these assess is broken Into, smaller geographical suits* each containing a sub^cnltmre of some distinetive- charactero Ihns*

Bskuri^lerria could he compared to some sort of a checkerboard of .

sub»Gultural foci* the “valleys*88 whieh in turn are grouped into

cultural areas* the ffiprovineeSoM •

i - m im M i ■ ■

Recording to historieal documents dating from the early part of the Mddle Ages* ®th@ valley m s already considered not only

as a topographic reality* hut as well .an ethnic and social reality®

(Barova 19^98 .302) o In the 'regions of high mountains* for instance in

' the -eastern portion : of'Estaial=H@rriBa the valley® are narrow and are

contained within the steep ■ slopes of th® mountainsj they hear the

■ , : ■ ' ; " ' ' ' ' ' V. . ' ' ' ' ' ' ...... name aran* or ®mountain=#alleyo ® On the other hand* in the hilly or

foothill regions* the Talleys are characterised- acre' by the pxesenee

of a river than by orographic feature a j such valleys are called ibarra9 or ^river-valley* ® a word which can be best translated by vega in gpanisho

Ih .Bskual^Herria*. #ie oourse of a river is often divided

into several “valleys® of the arm or ibarr&.typej each of these

‘“valleys® represents a.idlfferentr'W WW ltdra.r'Breai^iGh i@ separated from th© other ■ by strM ts> the confluence W,th another river* or any

other pbysiographie feature- which might break the continuity of the

course of the river<> thus* the geographical valley of a river w ill cent&iay according to onr tersdnoloy» a n##er of sab-coltoral'

©ftezi, bearixig @jp@©i£i4lna*ea = F or in s ta n c e s earfco>=.

gr&phers call .Uramea riverg by the EslmaMnn is named Bederan in its upper course^, OUin after its first major confluent9 and then

Uramea in its lower course; each of these Bsknara terms refers to

a specific tovalley,l! along the course of the Uramea riv er0 -Similarly9

the geograpMeal vaUey of the Bidas'os. river is divided into several

^vslleyss® the one in .its upper course being ©ailed Baatan* ■

Ideally# the valley contains a number of village^

eomraunitieso -Frequently it possesses -a populatida center of some

importamce# the “tem o88 i&e town m y be . a political center of some historic significance ==llke Baigorri# in fcwer,Iavarr®| or lardeta#

in S©ul@=<=> or i t may be nothing but a former ir i enlarged because of

favorable economic conditions ==like Gamb©# in labourdo

Outside the immediate lim its of the viHage^community# the valley represents to the Basque faraer a co=r@sidenee "unit

to wMeh he feels attached in a rather loose manner» Especially if.. >

the valley is of the araa type#, it is for him a definite geographical

u n it tfhida c o n tain s people much lik e h im se lf as tb- t h e i r ®eohosn,c

activities# social life# and cultural values#, but id.th whom his '

vague feelings of consciousness of kind would deserve some attention

in a field study0 ' '

In the French provinces# farmers lim it their contacts with

the people of the valley to 'occasional visits; in some Of its iris or in ’.fcbs: tq®a»..-for fairs, festivals^ special market days5 sad other special oecasionso. Of a ll the peopleg the youth is the most active in this sort of relationships especially in the tora where, a greater variety ©£ ■ entertaimaent may be found.o . '

In former timesg and particularly under the feodal system^ the valley was -a p o l i t i c a l u n it o f some im portance g for in its ; territory was. exercised, the authority of a local lord ~»sueh as the barony ©f lrbom es or the viscounty of laeayes in labourd-= or ©f a civil '8dmihistrBtors gobemador CS}5 in the type of political unit csUed hermaadad (S)o todays'; the valley s till constitutes an elemental political unitg but . its organisation has been changed®

On the French side most of the valleys correspond to the smallest political eireumseripiions of the French leptib'liea the eowi#@@s whose administrative e@ntera # e mairiea is usually located in the tamo Similar3ya in the Spanish provincee the valley forms a political unita generally under the form of a community of eonsejosg

■eaUed ayrotamientoo

The more isolated'vSlleysg those located in the mountainous, regions where pastoralis® is importanta often form an economic im it which groups and protects the pastoral associations existing at the barrio or village-eonmUnity level ® TerA torial integritys based on ' local topography^ is jealously kept between these various umitsj for instances the trespassing of livestock is heavily fined® Tkms$ th e nature of the social relations among the people living in these pastoral valleys involves a certain amount" of cooperation based on common, Interests and eonseiousBess of .kind as. well as on a large degree

of hostility,, jealousy9 and even aloofness (Baroja. 19h9s 303)®

The network of roads linking the population centers and

is ■& definite evidenee (Baroja .35^98 30li. and 308) that the local

populations have always been jealous of their independence and .

reluctant to losd - their isolation^.this, attitude still exists,

stronger In Spain than in Frsnceo 4s late as-the eighteenth century,

only three roads were running through the valleys and across the

Pyrenees § one close .to the' coast, thr@%h Irung another through the

Bastan valleyi and the other through the Ibaneta Pass,, where

Bqneesvalles is located (Teyrin 19478, 52)0 On the Danish side, *: • - - * * - - - ' ’ -■ ' • £ r . - h : i ‘ ' t- --W - ^ „ -V- .u .. ' • , - ' ■' ' i / i ' " ::':i . . - paly two .other reads plus the. one. through the Bidasoa,valley and

connecting the rocince villas^, of Roman times, seem to have esdsted

at that time® Most of. these roads were opened during the Roman

penetration (Baroja. 19498 58)g and were used later in spite, of the a- open hostility of the local . populations by the- numerous pilgrims

going to Santiago- de Compostela0

.Sithough the Eskualdun.had been adopting a new type of . - - . ’ 1 • • > I f . : . i t ' 1 eecsMaay, a g r ic u ltu r e , and were s e t t l i n g i n th e v a lle y s , th e y p e r s is te d

until recently in using in their communications the ancient network

of pastoral paths® These paths, often not passable for carts, follow

the upper parts of the h ills and mountains and carefully avoid crossing

the bottom of the valleys! they are. nothing but the ancient transhumnee

paths along which lies some evidence of the Iron Ag& ““dolmens. ©ratiUsdags twflio . : .

Although at present the road winds through every valley and

readies most of the iris s ii has, failed in bringing about much change-

in the culture of the Eskualdimo The reason may be ascribed to the

fact that most of these roM i are “seeondaiy® md often @adlin-‘iac@ial“‘

d@=sa@| they are^ therefores chiefly used by the local people5 and5 •

furthermore$, they reach only,indirectly the majority of the population

which;r|$na±ns disseminated and isolated 'in the valley =.- As. a result^,

many.a; valley has maintained even to this date its own distinctive

raltural characteristics^ certain cultural, traits^ some cultural

v alu es 9 dr a .few linguistic'formso Hoifevers in the past two decades

.deep'changes have begun to iS e-place| these, are induced .not so much

- ,. ■ - : " - . * , ■ ■ " ^ ■ ' - ' - - • by the presence 'of the road as by the increasing use of the motorized

means‘ df transportation 0 '' " ; ’ . " " " ' '

' :"v'; ' ir =: tiE; pAowmos v ' ’

The political organisation of the Basque provinces was

established in a large measure on the loose coalition of the various

types of local institutions @t, the valley and village=eom©snity

levels ®. Although the province ^had a, feodal origin3 i t seems from the

abundant historical data which, hwe been gathered, th a t. it constituted • * « « ' ■ ‘ - r « »- • ‘ • - * i * * - !-'<■•< til * « r - -- - *‘x- n ...... g , „ . - -wr ^ * > at all times a weak political unit9 grouping in its territory people

o f a generally similar culture whose purpose was to unite and to

preserve! the traditional rights and duties of its inhabitants0 • The authority.of the local ruler ©r.lorSs whem there m s ©n©s m s

rather limited,,; especially from the later period, of the liddle Igess

■ the utterly diversified character of Basque topography aud culture

prevented to a large extent m y actual unification^ the province was

■ th e f u r th e s t extension'•© f;/'.smeh’;'0hifioat±©no ■ " '

It would be i^ossible to include in this rapid survey the

political development of eW i of the Basque province So -Some excellent

work has been done' on the subjeetg Berhoville et alo (19&6&

provides a very concise .resume of the evolution of the political

institutions in the French provinces9 Y eyrin (19hlo 93^191) develops

the political histoEy o f' the French provinces^ and historical

allusions' pervade most: of tefodd 0 s work /(191*9) 9 . ©sp ec ia lly about

the institutions of the.Spanish provinceSo ; . .

The modern Eskualdun are awwe of the existence of the •

“province® as ® culture area and as a vague ©©^residence unit 0 For

the Basque farmer this awareness .is not clearly ©pressed or

o v e rtly 'form ulated^ Though p ro b ab ly ao%Lou%mrdly.:.'G©n@clous, - c '

of tiie existence of the ■ province ^except, on the .Spanish, sides, where

. .the province s till - functions as a political unit-? he shares with the.

people of Ms province, a certain number of traltss a dialect which

he understands more readily^ norms, of soM al. behavior which fit M s

dm? eeonoMe activities much similar t© hi% and cultural values ■

wMoh befit his. way of life o". " . ' ; r ‘ ". ' • ■

‘ ■ ' it this pointj, Diagram Yir'might be of help in illustrating

' tiie 'rtlatlve importance of the " various oo-residehoe units which can be

••••• r 1

Etche

Neighborhood

Barrio and its Center

Village-community and ir i

Valley i Province L French or Spanish Nation

Eskual-Herria (?)

DIAGRAM VII

CO-RESIDENCE UNITS AND THEIR RELATIVE IMPORTANCE ftiraad asi.©&g the Eskaadduno Solid red lin es indiea&© the m i t s tshi.eh,

in the w riter’s opinion^ are the most important | broken, black lines $

the least important^

Some of the -cultural differences'between the provinces have

already been mentioned in the preceding chaptersofhey are most clearly

expressed in the folklore of each province& as the following pages

will illnstrateo ,

SOUEE :

This province is particularly known for its celebration of

the Carnival ^ih au tiri”^ which is observed in most communities any

time from January to. &sh. Wednesdayo This, celebration is called in

French masearadess a plural form which indicates the participation

of two different. groups@: the red-ones ^^o rriak ^ and the blaek-=ones

.”°beltBak0 It consists of a procession Intermingled with dances®

The number, of participants depends on the sis@ of the community in

which the magearades occuro It should be Mentioned that at present

the tendency toward, the eoMiaereialis&tion of such ceremonies in the

larger communities^.especially designed for the exclusive, enjoyment

of touristss is. altering some of the feature's of this celebration®

The red group walks with .a special step ^-called the “Basque step*W

and. includes traditional personagees some of whom have either

disappeared "“like the %@aro “ the “lambssiE etco-^ or have been

replaced- by otherso First comes the group of dancers “-kukullero" ^ - -

then the .five usual figure ss the toherrarog holding a stick to which

is tied, the mane of a horse and wearing a belt with bellsi the .

'gathuzais-a o r oat-mans. th e , k&ntimier&n. ".a man d isg u ise d # s a fem ale , sutler! the enseignariU bearing the flag! the aalmazaln, symbolizing . the horse and its ridero Behind are ihe mardchalakg or. farrlerss the

Jam and the MaMm*- the- famerso Th@% comes the band which includes the tehirulari tilth his tchirula and drum °°soinua or ttun^ttuBo The black group follows^ but today it does not contain any more the corresponding personages found in the red group! it consists merely o f th e “gypsies'® ==#Qhami@k==^ ^coppersm iths»n "knife-grinders^66 and

”ge3,derso8 This colorfully dressed procession advances noisily through the streetSb At certain poiatSi, barri.cades built by . the spectators serve for a rigid display of dane@ss. peculiar to each personage, and after the kukuller©kis assault the red group proceeds in sn orderly ■ manner while the blacks follow in disarrayo Once the procession has arrived os. the square, the reds dance the quadrilles or tbs brawl

—bralia—i the main .element of these dances are the famous “Basque juries® —iauzlak— which are nothing but a variety of entrechats executed with esrferaordina^- lightness and eleganceo . These dances usually end with the godalet dantza, or ""dance of the glass,K which is performed by the main personages Jawing over a glass of win®! frequently the glass. is used as a springboard by the galmasaim without spilling a drop (Veyxin 19%7g 28^-290) o '

During the mascarad.es, "as w ell as in otiaer ceremonies involving large numbers of participants, the irrintalxia —or Basque • yell— is often heardo Today the irrintsina is more often produced' .; , by a few over-excited individuals in a large crowd than, as some of the older literature would like us to believe, as a means, of eommuhfcatioa among the shepherds in the mouniainso I t may he a derivative of the war ery .of the Basques which SymesAc Pieaud deserihes in the twelfth century© This highly shrilled yell produces a definitely frightening fascination© Biande (192$g 132) suggests that it might he similar to the nahara of the Jewss mentioned in several verses of the Old

Testaments which would mean^/Mke the,irsihtsina2 the ^neighing of a ho rse o6e

in adaptation of popular theatrical playss called mpastorals16 or ^trageriess111 sim ilar to the medieval ■ aystexi© s 9 h as. survived in

Soule © ""These plays, are .not performed‘in any other Basque- province, today® Although the earliest record of-a pastoral performance dates from o nly 1750# i t seems ee2?ti3S that “ pastorals were, played several : centuries before that date® Because of their isolation^ the people ef the upper valleys ©£ Soul® were the only ones able to continue"

- • •, , performing these plays after they had" been forbidden by royal decree in' 15W« Whatever the subject of the:p a sto ra lits composition remains always the same as that of the■old raysferyg there are no divisions into acts and scenes^ no- unity of time0 They are merely “lives* or

®stories86 with a prologue =»lehen ph®redikia°^ e^gplaining the plots and an epilogue =«abken pheredikia-«.presenting the moral of the play© The subject matter is provided by some historical figure ranging .from Abraham or. lebuehadnemar to Napoleon , ©r Kaiser Mlhelm

III but the life of Christ is never depicted© Its theme is to represent the conflict between the good^ones <=»th© Christians=“ and th e bad^on©® ra=»th@ Turksji . Mor©@s or lafidels© They w e represented w ith sim ple t r a d i t i o n a l eesttm eso' to e goocU-ones a re d re sse d in red, the bad.=ones in bln©! another group, called the Satans, performs dances

©nlyo The performers merely recite' their lines with no personal intonations or a tte s t at declasiationo The audiene®, which knows th®

story of the play, ricarionsly Hires and participates as the story nw indSo The m s ie ia n s who ae_edmpmyr the play are usually a tchirulari and a player of tabala drum! vocal music includes some solos, and the

chorus often sings some of the most popular French songs© These pastorals are played on certain holy days such as Easter Monday,

MhitsUnday, the V irgin8© Day, ®te©| they may last six to ten hours©

It is regrettable that recent attempts at turning this old form

of theater into some form of the modern type =*=with acting instead of

reciting, rented costumes instead of the traditional ©nes^ is in

the Iwger eommmitles depriving the pastoral of its very soul and ■' / meaning© Some e x c e lle n t surveys cam be found ©a t h i s s u b je c t -

(Bernoville e t al© 19l$6g 157=162! Veyria 19ii7» 2,91=293! Baroja 19ii9s

525=527) - :

; ' , B - LOWER M M i S M , : ■ '

Th@ Tobera Mastra, or charivari parades, ^ occur in Lower Havsrre as well as in the live valley of labourd© H,k@ the nocturnal:. oh&niy%±, they have now practically disappeared! they are used as a negative '

sanction toward some individual involved in a scandal, usually of a . m arital nature© The parade is composed of three groups of dancers8 the Kacfakarots and “giants,m the Basa Andere, and the Volants and ■ dantz3.riso ©rice arrived on the square, some sort of a .mock judgment- '

, " ' .. . takes place tilth local'motors being disguised ss judgess 3ai3rerss and

. the earieatm ral copy ©£ the 'aeousad ones (BemevlXle ®t alo ;19it6g. 166)

In the foothills of the day of Corpns^Chrisfi

is eelebmted in the most elaborate mamaco-A, colorful proe@ssions

coreposed of the young men of the village dressed in the uniforms of

th e French army o f th e s ia e te e n th ■eeatury.p such aa, s a p p e rs . w ith t h e i r

bearskins and piQk=>@xess enters the church and stands in. the; central

aisleo On®tof the soldiers remains at attention on the highest step

of the ti.tar6 4,s the religious ceremony .um:finds9 the group of soldiers

©sceeuteB a s e r ie s o f maneuvers, such a s ' p re s e n tin g a m s s w w in g -f la g s

over the heads of the sitting cr©wd9 while a trra^et and drums are

being playedo '

In some communities of this province^ a procession called

Santibat®'takes place to celebrate,the Carnivalo. This procession

differs..from-the maseeredes of - Soule as to the number and types, of

figures which participate and as to the dances which are performed

on the squareo imong these dances,, some called morispues are probably

a derivation of the dances known over most of Europe at the end of

the Medieval period under the name of • “stirord*: danceso “ The .

Santibat® procession is now becoming increasingly rare (Veyrin 19h7 2

287” 288)6

0 ^ LtBOUBD : :

This province has today lost siach of its folklore^ in

particular the custom of the colorful 'Carnival proeessionso

. The most mdely Imom dance is the fandango 9 an. adaptation of the iragonese gotos which in .turn may derive from, another dance executed in' jkndalneiao The fandango is danced a ll over the Basque countrys but for some reason i t is most popular in Labourdo The dantaa^Miortaa which is performed by girls and boys holding the . comer of a kerchief s is s till common during the celebration of a weddingo Other dances are peculiar to certain communities^ such as the thebizar°dantsa. of Bidart and the aapatain^daataa of iinhos :■ V which im itate respeotively th® gestures.of a barber-and of a shoemaker at works and the lively arin°arin of Saint=Jean=de=lus0 /

Although it may be encountered in all the French provinces and in Guipweoas it is in labourd that the art of lyric improvisation is the most popular<, This improvisation.is made by.the bertsolaris or koblakaris on certain occasionso The. bertsolaris improvise on the music of a known song the words presenting, one side of a controversial subject3. for instance the length of ladies8' dresses* During a wedding/ or at. a festival^ the two bertsolaris face each other^ and according to a rigid set of rules they compete with each other for as long as two hours# throwing at' each other arguments and replies» The wits are quick/the m wers immediate# #arp# light# and deridingo The audience follows the pro and eon arguments with passionate and amused attention# and does not hesitate to snanifest ppealy its enthusiasra for a particularly clever rep@rfce@0 One type’ of improvisation is called berso-=b@rri| it is from this type that was created Oaemikako Arbolas which is considered by some as the ienationalM anthem of the Basques,

'.(Veyria -19I&7& 221=222) * Another form of improvisation consists in singing WiSes on some forlorn sentimental; subgecto finallys the d iik it© im p ro v isa tio n 1$ composed, o f verses# usually qpatrains ending . with the word fi'eMM&oS" which are exchanged between the riv al bertsolar!So The .subject matter of this form of improvisation consists of a clever exchange of insults which in our culture might be term ed as being vulgar and crude in tasieo

p ~ .euipuzcor . . .

This province is some sort of a cultural paradoxg it is the most extensively industrialized province and yet it has managed to maintain some of the oldest traits of Basque culture.

I t is there that the palankaris throw what resembles.the javelin of former timesa and that, -the aizkolaris compete at cutting tree trunks.

The ceremonious and beautiful aurrescu is s till danced in a. modified maimer, Fomerly this dance would, involve only one pair of performers whoa after having danced the aurrescu proper# would then . / dance with a lady chosen from the spectators the andere°dantaa and the characteristic zortziko with its 5/8 tempo. Today# it consists of a large number of dancers forming a chain linked by handkerchiefs where men and women, perform alternately (Baroja lbWLW>),

The ezpata^dantza ^«*sword dane®K== and the makil^dantsa

-==“dance of the eanes!!“= are s till popular . in this province. Mss

Violet Alford (1926) suggests that the ®gpata~dantza<> whose general type Is called ttmorresqueM in many parts of Europe# was adopted during .the long B ritish occupation of the French .side during the Hundred I@ars Ifar said was adapted in England under the nga© of

Morris dane^o , . ■ .

E - fIZGAm ■

Few. speeifio data ar® available about this promneeo The

e^pata=dant2a is performed but with different figures in a number of

communities (Bares W*2)<, In Oehandiano a curious pantomime, the

■the

power of soreerers. (Baroja 19h9°° 52$) o

¥ ** MMBMk ■

The Basque part of this prtiuinee Is composed of valleys which

are separated from each other by high mountains,, As a result, i^ ' isbin

t h i s p a r t ©f Eskual»H®rria that erists the greatest diversity * of. traits

peculiar to each failleyo ' ' . ■

For the. sake of brevity only the best known dances and

ceremonies w ill be ©numerated here8 the, curious dance: of Wbh®..fez: and

the pottt”°atch© ta tupia°° which occurs in Yalearlos during the

Casenival (B aroja 19lt98N&3Seh33) and, i n th e same tow n, th e k o rre a -

dantaag in the Baatan valley the aart@im=dantaa, itsas°dantaa9

ipurdi°daataa (Baroja 19k9% $23), and th e. mutil«damta& or “dance of

the young men® which is composed of numerous figures or which may be '

improvised (laroja Igtjgs W&l)g in Oehagairia,. where Eskuara is n©

longer spoken, the peculiar dance performed on the patron day of

that community (Baroja 19h9 § ) 0 Ill - THE WOKED OF EEHGIOI #D MOT

It seems reasonable t© say'#at the emliural eon^lex ehieh Ms had the greatest effeot oa the 'Eskoaldem sin ee Bcsaan times s aside from, their progressive change of economy from pastoral!sm to agriculturea was the Introduction of 'the Bman Catholic religien 0 This progress of Ohristianisation ocetis*®d. over a period of several e©nturiess spreading from the peripheral areas into the more central and isolated regionso .Most of the new tra its which were introduced were accepted^, but others were adapted =“tte t is s modified and fused, with some n©n«

Christian traitso Th© .number of. these, adapted, tra its has been noted to increase with the degre© of isolation of each region. (Baroja 19^,92

371=372)o Most authors see. in these modifiescfcions a survival of pre-Christian traitsg such am assumption is. difficult to.admit# f o r i t is qu^si impossible, to separate the tra its . which were of pre-Christian origin from those which developed later under the form of innovationso

The penetration of Christian traits started from the centers of Soman colonisations from the southern portions of Aleva and lavarra and from Aquitaine^, This penetration spread along the few roads and zones of passage where'small population nuelei'eristedo In the first half of the twelfth century^ Aymerie Pieaud relates# in the

Codex of Compostela# that “when he goes to. church# the Mavarrese offers .God bread# win®# wheat# or some other things.n . (ieyrin 2$kli

2h0 )a but he also mentions the fact that in th® not too distant past;, the Basques were “true pagans® tdio were greatly feared by the pilgrims passing through their country (Weyrin 19k?& 101) 0 Consequentljs

it seems reasonable io^Mssmae that by the eleventh century most of

Eskaal-=Herria was under the influenee of some, sort of generalised

Ghristianj.gation 0 Good studies on that period can be found in Mendi^abal

(19ii5s and Yeyrin (I81i7g m ^llf)t

In the oentr^. portion ®f Eskual«-H@rria$ and especially in the

: more remote places 5 people still believe in the 11 ge n tile s 15 entillak^

(B aroja 19U93 37k°37$)o These gentiles^ who were human beingss called

Jesus Christ by the name of “kichrai111 , ^ aiaonkey>1°° s and they, p ossessed

extraordinary "malefic power®0 Uiis notion of gentiles^ according to

Baro3as. goes back to the times when only a portion of the Eskualdun

■. ' \ .. . . . : ■ ■ ’ _ were Christianiaeds especially those Muing in the population nuclei^

the term was applied to those who had not yet accepted the new '' ; ■ . v ■ : - c ■" ' " : ' r e lig io n 0 Todays the meaning.of jentillak connotes some supernatural ' ■ . ; ■ '■. ■. ■ ' " : ■' f ' ■ ■.;.. ■■ ■ , and ayttocal characters or people who in former., times were much - i;.:. stronger and more vigorous that the people, of .today who. are bora. in . K times of decadencec

In certain regions the term ^entillak is confused with the one

meaning Moors °°aiairmako In fhe regions rich in.megalithie remainss .

people have established a relationship between these remains„and the

jentiXlako In Arano9 south of San Sebastian^ cromlechs are called

jentlllabataak or Jentillabaratgaki in certain parts of Guipuscoas

dolmens.are,called Hentilleche -“"house of the gentiles"“-| in Aralar^

one dolmen is called jen tillari ““"gentile stone0® This might esglain

in part why a large number of chapels or hermitages were built near many of these isegaUthie. remains even before the eonstruetion of the

v illa g e ohurehes (B aro ja 382)<, .

Some. Christian spirits ares in the minds of the Eskualdms

essentially Basques they have lived in Eeknsl=Eerria where they have

left a great many tracks 3 especially in # e reeky and deserted parts

of the cguntryo' Saints of a ll sorbs: are attributed with a ll Mads of

specifie powers0 Some are regarded as a Mad of ESculture herog * for

instanceg Saint itortin is eonsMered- in'.;vssiou®--paits of QMpuseoa :ss having given man seienee and several types of technical knowledge^,

like the art of growing wheat o In Savarrag an image of Saint M ehel

■is used to protect several villages from droughts; for this purpose i t has to be carried by a priest on horseback (Baroja 19k9s 386)0

A nmWer of Virgins9 like those of issanaasu. and of Guadalupe in „f.

Guipuadoag of Eegona in Tiasay^g of . Istib aliatin Aleera? and othersg ■

are the object of local attention for their power to cure certain

d is e a s e s o '

. ' Other deities ©r saints are: considered as patrons over most

of lskual=Berria and enjoy great reputations dlher than as local

cultso Among these could be mentioned^ Santa Aguedas patroness of

, pregnant and nursing women; Saint Antons protector of domestic

animals; Saint lla,ss protector of throat diseases In man and amimals;

San. Jus% a most influential deity subject to a great variety of

rites; Saint Earcg protector of shepherds and boys0 The listing could

be very long and dullo The worship of these deities follows a regular

pattern or cycle whiehs as Baroja suggests (19l!.9s 387) 9 may wen be the surfiv&l of some pre-Chxdsiian practieeso M&ny of these saints are also the ohjeet of pilgrimages at segmlar times during the yeari if the distance to eowr is greats these pilgrimages my involw earefnl preparations and are often the ©eeasion for a festival of religious as reell as profane eharaotero

Until the Council of Tr@ntg the Catholic Church had tolerated an attitude of Isod-ty as to religious practices.? All over Europe the local authoritiess ecclesiastic as well as lays allowed certain practices which would seem anandalons to the e^es of present-day .

CathoHeso This might h© in part responsible for the number of strictly non«conformlst practices which s till exist today in the more isolated parts of Bskual=H@rriao A state of sem-proai seulty prevailed at least in the French provinces up to the end of the seventeenth century (Veyrin 19kl s 6lt=65)o The number of children fathered by members of the Homan Church during the first half of the sixteenth century created many a problem on the Spanish side (Baroja 19h9° 393)o

In the seventeenth centuryg the Basques of France^ accused of possessing in their midst large numbers of sorcerers and witehesg were ruthlessly repressed, by de Ianeres councillor to the Parliament of Bordeaux0 Up to the beginning of the eighteenth century, the upper ecclesiastical authorities tightened the freedom of its priests in Eskaal-Herria and forbade them to participate actively in local daneeso Meverth@lessg such deviations from the standpoint of the Church8 s tenets did not keep the Eskualdun from producing through the centuries large numbers of sealous pri@ stsa among whom were such outstanding ones as Ignacio d® Loyola., Saint Francis Xatiers and many other J e su its* Juan de Zinaarraga* first bishop of Mexico* and many othersQ

The word uhieh today designates God in Eskuara is Jatm«goikoa or its contractions* Jainkoa and Jinkea* meaning "the Lord from aboveo"

The hypothesis form lated by Princ® Lueien Bonapsrt® im the last century that Jatm=goikoa meant "moon^lord15 «^from goiko* meaning "moon" in. Bonesdese dia,3:eet=*=> seems unfounded (Veyrin 19kl°° 239) o According to the Codex of Compostela* God was called Urcia in the Middle Ages®

This word is derived from the paradigm ortz* which could be translated as ^heavenly*" and is found in such words as ortaadar —"rainbow®*-^* ortganz or ohortiuri ^^thunderow This might in#mate that at one time the Basques associated the idea of God with that of s k js heaven* and thunder (Barova 2$k9t l|06)* and that they might have worshipped various .aspects of natural forces (¥eyrin l9fe7s 239)o

It seems rather dubious that .the sun would have been worshipped at one tim©o This star is generally designated by the word, egumki* in which the para#ga egu. suggests the idea of "dayp-ghto11 S e v e ra l relationships among Eskuara words seem to in # cate a semantic affinity between the ideas of sun* light* and |‘ir® which* aeeor#ng to . .

B aroja (19k9 = ij.07) $, might connote some religious feelings now lost® .

This hypothesis is supported by the fact that even at present.in certain regions it is. customary for children and some adults to greet . the sun ««=@s w ell 6s. the modm=«y when i t rises and when" i t ; sets by calling At “grandmother™ or "female ancestor*" terms which are best rendered by the Spanish word .abuela® . The moon bears three nsasss lllaggai and its dialectical variations a arguigari or aSjgtdsagttia and goiko in Bonealese dialect»

The first is particularly interesting^, feS? it is edaposed of ttro parading haviBg opposit© meaningss (l) which, is the eontraiy of

®gu9 means tode@th| 68 i t is found in ilium ==awdsrkn@ssm<=» and ilia ;

=~88month8<='‘=| (2 ) a r g u i0 which means Mlig h t0re Thus^, the word illargui has been- translated by aiHght of the deadc,® ®light of deaths ® ®Hght of darkne®ssK :and “li^ t.o f the moatho65 fh© word aafguiaari- implies

^indirect lig h t,“ or %hat is not daylighto® The word goiko means *th# on© from aboveo® The moon is also called abuela (S) and is associated with almost every event in life (Baroja 19h9o UO 7^ 08)0

Folk tales and legends abound and vary from region to region<,

Many of them make allusion to a series of mythical beings or spirits^ of whom the Basques seem to be aware» To what extent the Basques believe; .in. or fear these b e i% s i s -impossiblete'..say$ it certainly varies with the personality... ©£ each., individual and. probably more so with the degree of Ms cultural isolation 0 Many of these' stories are told at night, by the fire, and t©; a .certain extent they must inflmenoe the personality of childreno The writer"s informants persisted in denying any beliefs in such myths, but it would be difficult to ascertain whether they Were telling th e. truth o t wer© a f r a id o f being ridieuledo : . ; ■ .

The most comprehensive study on this subject was found in

Baroja (I9k9& ^08=lil6)o The ImzLmk are small beings which appear under different forms according to the. region^ they are usually n o e ttirn a l9 and rather well-disposed toward htanangj they se«6 to derive from the Greeo-Eomaa lamia0 The Earl —the the: “sitcdi,*. eteow inhabits mountain tops and eaves| she appears under different forms, usually as a beautiful lady, and her husband is sometimes nothing but the devil himselfo The ei^tarle, eigtari beltaa@ &lom@n erreg®,, @te0 .

—the ^hunter, E,1E%laek hunter,6t %ing Solomon,18 cs6 be heard with his pack of dogs during windy nightso The [email protected] or the Basaader©

- - th e “w ild man*1 o r “w ild woman16—, a re b e t t e r known in. th e Freneh provincethey are large and. powerful hairy humans, and they inhabit woods and forestso Tartaro or Tartalo is a giant, often a eye lops, whose b ru tality and sometimes .'anthropophagy #r©. m6t.bh©& 'ohly<#': _hi@ stupidityi Tartar©8s stories are. used to frighten ehildren 0 The

Eairmak ©rxMairiak —the “Moors1*— are great builders of bridges and castles, and they are often confused with ■ th® Jentill^o The guiaotso

—“werewolf ®—,'S ie dragon, the elves or hobgoblias make up a multitude nf Bythieal beings of various names participating in numerous stories and legends <> ' ' ' ■• ■ OHSPra EIGHT

COHGIUSIONS .

The Eskualdun are in many mys a, socially and culturally paradoxical peoplec They have never heen politically nnified. to form

one independent state or nati©n0 They have lived for eentiarisis in a most- important zone of passage hetwen the ffispaaie peainsttl»: and the

rest of Europe which was used by countless hordes of invaderso Their

consciousness of kind has been so limited that history does not

record the eristehce of A single ^l®M@r^ of th e. Basque people 0 T h eir

language and culture are so diversified in area that i t is almost . impossible to choose one single predominant type# The majority of. their cultural traits and trait complexes is shared by other

European groupso Yets the Eslmaldun stand today as a distinct and

separate people =,

The purpose of this final chapter is to present<, under the

form o f a synthesis^ the various aspects of this paradox, and to

determine which factors have. enabled the'. Iskualdtm to maintain their

distinctive charaetero r . ' . . ;

A ° MST0EIGA1 SURTOY " .

The Basque country has never formed a stat@s not even a loose

federation of.its socio-political units 9 ,th© .provinees0 lot. a single

Basque or outsider has ever seriously attested to. create the political

. : 187 unification of the Eskaaldiin0 the following historical summary m il reveal that Esjmal^Herria has been at aU times either under the influence of or divided by outside political powers <>

■ ■ Recording to th© evidenee given by the Eoman historians and local t©pozyrriiys the territory covered by the Vaseones ==the likely ancestors of the Basques=>=* embraced not only most of the 'area covered by today^ s lavarra but also the somthera side of the Pyrene* area from High Aragon to as far as the present port of Pasajes bn the

Bay of Biscay 6 The higher portions of .what are. today' Soule and lower

Mavasrre a re presumed (V eyrin 19UY s 95) to have been sparsely inhabited by “Eskuarian® people<, It is certain# however# that the- foothills and the lower regions.of.labourd and lower Havarre belonged to the territory of the Tarbelli# a Geltiberian people of

A quitaineo

A fter Crassus* ss conquest- in :5B BoGo.# the Vase ones must have

remained peacefully subjected t© the Roman®# judging from the

Latin!nation of Eskuara vocabulary and the numerous remains of villas

Romm colonisation took place, in the less mountainous areast .in th® northern portion of the, present French provinces# where a number

of towns' developed# like Lapufdum ==the Bayonne of today=» which

later gave its m m to the surrounding, region&amd H®sparr©a| and, in the southern regions of lavarra and Hava# where the names of a

'number of'villages were partly XsSiaised (Baroja 19i*9s 60^6k)o Hear the coast# Giasso ^th e area around Gyarzun and Pasajes of todays® was intensively exploited for its iron ores and probably the gold is its cinl‘fej,» Gommaieatioas between ;^ese foei of ©©Ionisation were made possible by a system of roads running through the mountainous5 woodedy and Mw±ldR area of the Pyrenees and eastern Cantabrians^

Boads. erossed the Pyrenees through, the passes ■ of Ibardln and

Id. Harriet a s where a group of .villages called "Cineo V illas 18 was locatedg and through a pass near present<=day [email protected] where the oppidum (L) of Imms I^renaeus ~=4Mnt~J@m~Iied<=d@==Por^~ was establishedo It tiiould be noted that • eoBBRnti-eations along the coast mid across the muddy mouth of the Bidssoa were not made possible before the twelfth centuryo Toward the end of the third century,/ the lower regions, of the Freneh side formed a separate province called

SoveimepulaniSo . , ' . 1 '

With the fifth century the country became the passing zone for the succeeding invading tides coming from central and eastern

Europeo The Vandaleas the Snevis and then.the Wisigoths passed through to settle in the Hispanic peninsul&o Following the end of Roman colonization was a little known period of several centuries of wars9 disorders g and mi eery« Between the sixtii, and tenth centariesg the

VasooneSg who were probably pushed by the Wisigoths. in the east and the Moors in the southg moved toward the west.and the north* They entered the territory occupied since Roman times by the hostile lardnlesg. Garist©ss and £utrigoness whose names disappeared and were replaced by that of W&seongadoso81 Centuries laterg this territory became the three provinces of Guipuacoa9 Tizcayas and Alavai today they are s till called Provinei&g faseongadasg or lf¥aseonized Provinces*, The northern expansion reached considerable proportions o The

Fascones occupied not only the northern slopes of the western Pyrenees but in the sixth and seven^1 centuriesg in spite of the Franks” opposition most of the plain of Aquitaine' as far. as■ the Garonne rivero in this latter region they fused with the local populations and became assimilated and galHeigedj this region was called Faseonia and9 l a t e r ,

Gascony o' However, the Fascones who had - remained in the Pyrenees were not assimiXatedj sometime after the eleventh century their name was

changed to that of Baseuli (Feyrim 19h7& 98=99! Mendisabal 19h$s 52=5k)»

This rapid expansion, of the Fascones was probably the result

of a variety of faetorso I t is generally assumed that at the time of

Roman colonisation the economy of the Fascones began its progressive

change from pastoral!sm to agriculture, that at the same tim® these people started to settle inside the valleys, and that their first population nuclei were formed (Baroja 191*98 56) 0 The result of this

change in economy and cultural patterns produced, in aU' likelihood, an explosion of the population 0 The rugged nature of the terrain and the complex network of shepherds ” paths through the mountains prevented them from being conquered by the invaders^ Finally, their openly hostile attitude towards all foreigners, especially the Visigoths, the Franks, and the Moors'=^§8 demonstrated by the massabre of

Charlemagne ” s rear ■ guard and nephew at Boncesvalles in 778=-= probably-

spurred their short-lived conquest of AquitaineQ

Sometime before the ninth century, the political parcelling- out of the territory among,local lords began to take place in each physiographicaUy-detemined r@gion0 The Visigoths created the , kingdom of Pamplona,^ which became later the kingdom of Nararra0 I t seems

■ • that In the eleventh eenturgr one of its kingss Saneho-^the-Oreats

• dominated most of the territory ocovered by the present=day provinces

except th e P ro v in c ia s yascongadas (¥ e y rin .19^78 130 and 132) e The

mountainous portion of Loser Havarre* called Merindad de- Ultra-Puertos#

• remained an integral part of lavarra until the sisebeenth century

. shen it was turned over to the tongdom of France o. '

The division of the territory of the Taseongados occurred

during, the ninth and tenth centuries 0 One lo r d 9 who dom inated

Vigeaya in the eleventh centurys attached his domain to the Castilian

ero$ra| Alara and Guipuseoa joined that kingdom later (Mendiaabal ±9k$s

and 69«7Q) o Each of these Provineias Vaseongsdas was granted more

independence that any other- province in the. future kingdom of iSpain<» .

Horfch of th e P yrenees9 the viscounty of Soule became part of

the duchy of Gascony9 smd the viscounty of Labourd was attached first

to the kingdom of EaVarrag thbn in the twelfth century to

which later became known as the duchy of Aquitaineo Wien this duchy

was incorporated into the kingdom of Englandj, through the marriage

of Elinor of Aquitaine with Henry II Plantagenetp Labourds Soule9

and p a r t o f t@d@y.* 8 Lower lavarre were placed under direct British

rulQo The local population resisted at firs ts and Bichard-Coeur-^de"

Mon was compelled to besiege and defeat Bayonne^ to make Ustaritg

capital of Lgsbourds and to destroy a large number of farms and

houses in order to subdue the local lords» It is believed that it

was at this time that the prototype of houses found today in the arm ©ri.gimted 0 -Losjer lavarrs did not remain long in the hands of the Britishg for it was returned to Msararra when Mehard married the dSB^ater of the king of that kingdomo Soon afters the British adopted a liberal policy by granting the local people numerous franchises destined to, weaken the power of the anti^British local lords o This territory remained under British rule for almost three eenturiesp until IliJWo Eabourd kept its franchises by paying a yearly tribute to the kingdom of Frances Soul© became part of the county of Foix and viscounty of Bearao

Divided between the two crowns of France and Spain9 th e

Basque;(country was indirectly involved during the long series of eonfHots between those two nations which lasted until the Napoleonic

Warso Although the territo ries of Labourds Guipuseoas Lower Navarre3 and Navarra were' invaded on several oeeasibnSj, the local populations generally remained unconcerned , and aloof o

It should be mentioned that from the eleventh century the

Eskualdun had begun their emancipation from the feodal system (Veyrim

1947s 106^111)o

B => CONSCIOUSNESS OF KIND

lot even Saneh0-=-the<=6 r©at of Navarrag who in the eleventh century dominated most of the Basque provinces for some thirty yearss

succeeded in unifying the Basquesj theys and especially those of

Q uipm eoa9 kept fighting among themselves to maintain, their own independence,, Bms3 it seems reasonable to conceive that the

Eskualdun have never been aware that they form one- sole people with on© and the same cultural community^ If this assumption wore to be tru@s due to the forbidding nature of the country^ the EsMaldum would regard themselves only as part of spall?, separates uneohesiv@s and sometimes hostile groups? each living in its ora geographical pocket o

. A study in the field would determine what the concept of i$E8ktial=-Herria® represents in the eyes of the Eskualdun0 C asual and scattered observation by the w riter would point out that? outwardly at least? the'. attachment of the Eskoaldon to either nation?

France or Spain? . is stronger than their attachment to Eskual^Herriao

This is especially true of the French Basques0 On several occasions the writer had the opportunity to inquire of some.of his informants about the presence of a Spanish Basque individual.la the community by askings. is this new ma@?B The usual reply was? “He is- a

Spaniard?Bf to which the w riter would retort? "You mean that he is a Basque from the Spanish side? don't you?" ted the answer was?

"Yes? of courseiH The feeling of loyalty of the French Basques

.to the French nation.is strong and sincere 0 Although? at the time? they opposed vehemently the French devolution? the French Basques do not seem to resent the teaching of the French language to their children?. the loss of their provincial fors? nor the application of the French inheritance law 0 Drafted in the French array? the Basque becomes & valiant and loyal soldier who feels he is a part of the

French nation* " .

- The political, instability of Spain has created a social and political' turmoil among the Eskualdm of that nation© As a rule? they are genuinely attached to Spainj, but with some reservations! actuallyj, the present situation is rather confused,, for it stems from a number of historical causes ifMoh involve the whole Spanish m tio n o k& a result of the lapoleonie Warss the reestablishment by Ferdinand H I in 1823 of the Pragmatic Sanction =*»whieh abolished

. the Salic law«==> generated the bloody G arlist Wars0 - This divided

Spain into two hostile factions 0 One faction,, the “liberal® or

“centralistadvocated a centralized government. of democratic character on the basis of liberties to be given each. individuals ■ the other factions called “absolutists” championed a conservative government granting and recognising the liberties of each provincial governmento These two factions^ which have dominated the nation

' alternatelys have never been able to reconcile their basic .ideologies®

This tragic situation has been chiefly responsible for leading the one© great nation of Spain into a nation of secondary ranko During the nineteenth centuryj, the people of the Basque. provinces^.. probably . under the ifconserrgybive influence of the Reman Churchy espoused th e a b s o lu tis t caus@o But sin ce th e n s th e l i b e r a l movement made some inroads and split the Basque population! in the ensuing confusion^ sprang a new movementg strictly Basque0 This movement advocated the separation and indepeadeno® of a ll former Basque provineeSg but i t soon appeared that this “separatist® movement split along the old faction lin@ss one side demanding the return to the old fueross and the other,crying for a democratic government0

In 1891$. the Basque N ationalist Party was created in Bilbao by iraiia Goir±a and at first it %~ms primarily concerned with the independence of ¥isc4ya (Veyrin 19U7s 197)o This nationalist or separatist movement gained greater importance and influence among the urban, populations than among, the more . traditionalistic and. conservative rural people» During the .Civil War of 1936s an< autonomist Government of Euakadi m s fomed§ it is not clear whether th® term 88Biaiad±® embraces the total territory of the provinces ' or only that portion where Eskuara is spoken® After the fa ll of

Bilbaog .this 8$&|»ublieaBH government fled into exile, followed by thousands of iiaoayans and Gtaipuaeoans (Veyrin 19ii.7s: 196) = Today it is located in Paris, and at its head is President Aguirre®

The rallying cry of the separatist movement is Zaapiak

Bat -~®the seven .(provinces) .in one®* This expression is widely displayed on a variety of objects and curios for touristconsumption oh the French side, where i t seems to " carry n© political eamiotationo

The French Basques/ in tixe majority rural people, are apparently unconcemed| the Spanish Basques of the rural area appear to be quiescent or indifferent| but a number of the Spanish Basques of the urban and industrial centers s till keeps alive the spirit, of independence and separatism, though their rallying cry has been reduced to Irurak Bat -°Kthe three in one68—, . referring only to the t$?asconiaed provinces® of Alaya, Guipuscoa, and Fizeayao "•

Thus, in Eskual=Herria the consciousness of kind of the

Basque farmer is limited to the group of people who live in the most immediate eo=residenee units around himj it probably does not extend beyond the valley unit (See Diagram H I),

The term Estoa2duns which as mentioned ealier means "the ones who possess Eskuara211 is applied to anyone who^ indeed^ ©an speak the language regardless of his origins^ of his rae @9 o r o f his membership in Basque: soeieiyo Coasequ@ntlys any outsider can be one of the Eskualdra if he ©an speak Eskuara0 On the other hand5 all those who cannot speak it are called Endeldunak (Baroja 19^9« .

$k2~$k3)° . C ° BISTIMCTIVE CB/iBACTERS OF THE OULTUBE '

Although the study of.many,aspects of Basque culture has been much neglectedj, especially as to the social organization^ :lt:is clear that only a few of its elements possess a distinctively Basque character-o Among these could-be^citeds the population dispersion

In the rural area,., the eompleiity of the etehe unitg probably the former kinship system «#whlch has not been retraced—s the lehen atizo relationships the eharit-aris and: a few others o Cohsequentlys most of the other traits have been shared at one time or another by some populations of Europej a number of them are s till shared by some people living in the more remote areas of the Hispanic peninsula® Throughout his works. Baroja (±9k9) has been careful; to, note ma^ of such analogies o

Howevers what - characterises the culture of the Eskualdun when compared with that of other rural peoples of Europe is its remarkable degree of archaism® Although Eskual^Herria has been split for centuries by outside political powers and has been at all times a most important zone of passage which was crossed by large numbers

of invaderss its people haw remained safely isolated in their valleys 0

With the exception of a few Gypsies^ none of the invaders were tempted

: to., settle among the Eskualduins and most of them avoided, any contact

with these people so hostile to strangerso Ss a results little of the

cultural change which occurred over-most of Europe has.taken place

in Eskaal»H@rriSo - .

This isolation^ however; has already seriously begun to break

down in the last few decades| cultural changes are rapidly taking

place in every region in different ways<, This is the reason, for which;

in the w riter’s ®piniona: there is a critical need.for a systematic

study in the fieldo Such a study might prove to be most important

from the point of view of historical reconstruction; it might also

provide interesting data: eoneerring certain.aspects, of culture change

which could be collared with those induced.by a different cultural

conditioning in the Basque communities .of. Month and South Imeriea®

it least one serious eomEimiiy study should b© made to learn ©specially

about the cultural Values of this most archaic peasant society of-

Europeo . ;

D = GGHESI¥E F>ORS OF THE CULTUBE

The cohesive force which has enabled the Basques to maintain

a few of the distinetiv® traits of their culture and which has

contributed most in repelling cultural changes is 9 in conclusion;

Eskuarao Without Eskuaras Basque culture would be reduced to such

an undifferentiated whole that it would form only one of the many srib-cttlfcares wMch fowxd is the Pyrenees and the Hispaaie peninsnla,® The eomrmmities in Spain whieh have been losing Eskusra. are rapidly changing and becoming assimilated with the rest of the

Spanish'natioso Many of the Basques who have migrated abroad have understood^ probably because of their diffidence toward strangers^ the cultural significance of their language| as soon as he finds himself among the. Erdeldunskj, the Basque individual tends to aggregatew^throther Sskualdm.to form colonieso

The nature of the terrain of Eskusl=Herri& is chiefly responsible for the persistence ©f Eskuarae &. clever hypothesis formulated by the geologist Pierre Lamar© (195»W 59=60). should be mentionedo Unlike the wide-open valleys idiieh descend from the central .and eastern portions of the Pyrenean ®hais9 the. valleys of the western Pyrenees and ..eastern, Cantabrians form a mas® o f. narrow and erratic corridors (See Map 1) <, The people of the former area have been exposed to cross-cultural 'contacts# while the people of the latter have remained relatively culturally isolated* In fact# it is in these few open valleys of the Basque country that acculturation has ' taken place and s till is taking-'place# as in the Boncal and

Salasar valleys 0 The lew and fo©thill?:regions of the French side were protected from intensive cultural contact by the marshy area south of the Landes which s till existed a few decades ago*

The other reason-which# in the w riter's opinion# contributed to the cultural isolation of the Esktialdun is the marked hostility and mistrust of these people toward strangersa Many are the historical . account® which relate the killing and robbing of the pilgrims on their way to Santiago d@ Compostela in the M.ddle Igeso This hostility was demonstrated by the manner in which they dealt with Charlemagne and by the liberal policy which the British had to adopt towards the

Basques of Labourd whom they could newer conquero Bren todays though the yisitor might first be surprised by some outward signs of hospitality among the Eskualdun he meets3 he Soon realises that behind this facade remains much diffidence and suspire!©n<> BimzmmmY

iLLBERDIg- Vo a VoOo AXHSOls Bo So BLtWEBG3 EoWo i m , and E=So MODRMT ' 1 ^ 7 ■ "‘She Blood Groups of the Bagqaesg * Jomrmal of the lo jal AnthyoDologi eal Instltmt® of Great Britain. and Ireland (l©ndon)I. ?blmae s 317=221 o

ILFOH); Violet 1926 "English and Basque folk Daaees .: .. (Xondon) 9 itogust 19269 259=266o

1937 Pyrenean Festiyals ^ Calendar Customs g Mnsie and Magi eg Drama and' .Dan#»o. - Xondoma Ghetto and MndnSo . i m S 0 1 g 4o0oS Bo S= BLUSBEKlj ap EEES' 1958 .“BaptogloMn.fypes;.in. Britishg Spanish Basque$, and ...... Migerlan African Populations" Mature {London) a Volume l 8l a 82W 25o

JMGOlOUBi, M artin de " 194k En el Pirened' Vasoo = '^aisajesg. Ooatmibresg Cmd-osldadesc . , : Bttenos iiresg' Bihlioteea de Cultnr^^Vapeao ' mJSmSL, Telesforo de : . 1889 El Pnehlo lagfeldmiao Ban Sehastllno '

. 1919 E l Tipo y Bag&i## l@s', ;Va0oo@:o B ilb ao , . . iB0$GilEM&9 »b@ I V : - 1 ;; 1951 Gremmaire Basqaeg M al8e te« iS fa ^ 2TO«l^oiopdlago fours g :

BiESGHHNs A lfredo .1930 la Arquiteotuga del Cagega.o Vaaooo Barcelona? Editorial Canosa,o

'BMBMBIMMs Jose-Jferfa de y ^ 193k El Homtee PriBiitiYQ ea el Pals Vmsoo, San Sebastitsis Coleeeion Zabalkundea,

19k6 S8Gatalbgue des Stations PreMstoriques des Pyrenees ; . Basques-,86 I to. sk a: (Bayohne)^ 2ii,-=40o

.200. X$U! BExplor&eion de la Gmeva de Urtiag®,^ en Xtaiar=GtdpsaeQas ® E usko^Jaklnisa (Bayonne) s 1X=X26S 265=27XS It3;7~li56a 679= %96 U9U7)S 285=330 (X9W)o

BStOJ&9; JuXXo GSB6 X9i*3 ’ ' ■ Los Pueblos deX Horba de Xa Pemns'ala Iberlea 0 M adridc

±9hk La Vife RuraX ea Vera de Bidasoa (Ma-ragra) e Madrids BibHoteea de' Irsdieiones PcpuXareSo '

19k9 Los Vascos =' EtHolog£a0 San Sebastians- BibXioteea ■ Tssseong&da de Xos iiti.gos deX Pa£®G -.

:X95k •" “ La Escritmra en Xa Espma Prerromasa (Epigrafla j MmasBatica) 0 w B istoria de Bspmm (Madrids Espasa= CaXpe9 SoAo) 5 YoXtame 3 5 679=812 o

BSemOB,9 Ignaeio te£a . . 1958 : La Medicina Fop-alar ;®n el Pals fasQQo San Sebastians BibXioteea ?aa®ongada de Xos Sfdgos del f s d s 0 . ■

BEfflOYlLLEj G./M. ETGHEiERBZ, LTHUEBLmUE3 Pho YEIRIH . ' : ' X9&6 - 7is%@s dm Pays BaaqinsoBarisg . Hdrisons de Eramo®.

BOlSSELs ¥o X929 L® Pays Basques Sjtesa fetsa et Goatmeso Pariss M brairie des jits Beeoratenrso ' " ■ " ' '

BOSH^XM^EB&s Pedro ^ 1923 Problems, Etnologieo Yaseo9w Beime International® ' . des-Etudes Basques (Paris ) 9 589=660o

1925 $eLa Prehistoria de Xos Iberos j Xa Etnologia Vaseas 18 Revue International® des Etudes Basques (Paris)s , ^ 2^ 23^

1932 : t8Los Geltas j e l Ps£s Yaseos 1,1 Revue Internationale des .Etudes Basques (Paris)s h$B<=k8&7 ~ .... ' ' .

BG1£B9 W illiam Go 1952 Genetics and the Races of Man* Bostons little s Broim and .' Cospanyo -

CHDRRUGA5 A lfonso de 1952 Minerfag Industrial j Coaerclo del Pafa Vascoo San Sebastians BibXioteea, Yascongada de Xos Amigos del Paaso eOLHGHOWy. Br0 So ' ; ' - X895 . ^Anthropologie du Sud<=Ouesfc de Xa France Lee Basques (Partie l) i,,r lemoires de la Soeiete d8 Anthropoiogie (P a r is ) s X^Sli-o . . GOE&Ss Louis 1923 La Tombe Basque. gayoxme g Publication faite a 1 8 occasion du Centenalre -dCfonda&lon de la Seeiite des Sciences* ikrtss ©t Etudes Regionales de Bayonneo

1925 L^abitssfeion Basqueo Pajisg -Cho Masson0

OOOZ3 Garleton So ;: • 19W The Races of Europe o New Yorks Haemillaa &hGoo

Slberfc . ; ; : . '■ ' 19&0 L8Europe Xdnguistique0 Paziss Payot0 /

EGHBSiBilYS; B orif® eio de : ’ 1932 MLa Veeindad => Relaeiones que Engendra en el Pais ¥ascos & Bswe Internationale des Etudes Basques' (Paris ) 9 it=26 ■'. 3T63i®73lK5iio 1 ^ : : ..

ELBEEj Jean d ” 1950 - Le Pays Basque-;Fyanqalts 0 Bordeaux: Raymond Piequoto

GAIiOPa Bodney &.<, - - , . . 1930 A Book ©f Jdi®. Basques a. Londons lifecmillan & Go0, •

GBEmgiGl3Es So. . . 1953 , ^Probldmes Beonomiques e t Soelaux du 'Pajsv Basque ...... " ' Continental,)M Gure^llerria (Bayonne) s 129=»lU&o

JAMJUIBE1BY, Bro Pierre . 3 ; ' ' . ' 19ii7 Considerations sur la Raoe Basque 0 Bordeaugsg B ro u illard o

LffiElTTEj' ilbbe Pb 19iiU Grammalre Basque 0 Bayonne: H brairie MLe Livreo 88

WONs Rene ‘ " 1933 ^Basque et Langnes KartyeleSs).11 Revue Internationale ' ■ ■ des Etudes Basques (Paris ) 3 15Q”172q

19^7 “L^Etat Aetuel des Origines d©:.la Langue Basquej*’ Busko^Jaklntza (Bayonne)* 35“i7* 151“163ji

19h$ MGorrespondaneea Basques^Caueasiques*86 EuskO”Jakintaa (Bayonne)* 339=370 (19^8)* lijl»l53 (l9bF$T~~~~~

1932 Etudes. Basques et Gaucasiqueso.. Universidad de Salamanca0

LUtt® * Pierre 1930 ^La/iStrueture Physique dm Pays Basque: son: Retentissement sur la Geographie Humine et l ;8Slstoire BegionalesB Eusko^JMclatsa (Bayonne)* 3=18* 279=301 (1930)* 1=36 (1951)* 8. suivre® 19$h ' Wwa Basque Fraagais ®t .Espagnolo Pariss les Guides Bleus H aeh ette0

IBEEB7BB, 2ho , , 193S ^®s Modes de f ie dang le s Piyremeea A tla a tiq u e s OrientaleSo ParissAo Go1±b 0

BB]®ES Pierae . 1925 Le Pays Basque a Vojxd^Ciseauo Pariss G0 Beaueheaneo

HlifTOHs Ealpli 1936 The .Study ©f Masie Mew York: ippleton-Gentury-Crofts=

EEIHST & aad & CGHEE 1952 Les leagues du MoBdeo Paris«,

MEmXZm&ls Xs&ms LOPEZ .. I 9I1.5 . ; Breve Historia del Pais ?ascoo Buenos M t@bs ., -Biblieteca' de Ctitoum ?asea9 Ed„ Fasea-Ekino- ' ,

M0mMTs GoMo .1929, Biometrika3 Volume 213 67=8^0

HOUlSTg McEo . 19% The Distribution of the Biman Blood Groups* Springfields 111® 8 C harles C0 Hiomso

OMOMB/Patrick So ..I926 The Basques and their Coimtry0 London: Sizi^kias Marshallc, & Coo . •

PA^B3!#®S Eamamtel 1 9 2 & .las Stations Paleelithiques du Pays Basque3 et leurs Belatlons aTOe les Terrasses d^UJuvionSo Bayonneg BodioQo ■ ' ......

19lt% , " te Caverne d^Istarita en. Pays Basque 9" Prehistoire - . (Parieg Presses Uriversltaires de France)s Tom® !%» mPEBY/miliarn 1931 The Races df Europeo Mew Yorks Bo Appleton & Goo

BDBIE, Morton 19b7 “P a tte rn s o f C ulture i n a Basque Communityc,es Unpublished Master’s Th@siss University of North Carolina0

SAniT-PEKEERs Ro de ■ 1932=1936 Xa Grotte d9Istu ritg 0 Paris § tesm n0 SOQFHB Jo & Jo 1928 felaons d% Pays Basque (Bavarrsa Biseaye^, Gtiipmacoas • - A lav ajo. -PaariLsg- A lex is S in jo n

¥iL101S5 H enrico . 19W Mthropologie de la Population Fraagaigeo Partso 1

VEIBIIs PMUppe ISkl , Ib s Bagg'geg de; XAopgds de Soalea. e t de - Basse°Havaggei letar H istoira et lenrs Traditionso Grenoble § B» ilrthaud

Wentworth • . 18?8 Basque Legends 0 Londong G r if f ith & Farran® 3 ' V r

BAY o

MAPI

GENERAL

BASQUE AREA

ELEVATIONS 3 ,1 5 0 ' 'to 1,000' to Sea Level

SCALE

O 5 K 10 r