Basque Mythology

Center for Basque Studies Basque Classics Series, No. 3 Selected Writings of José Miguel de Barandiarán: Basque Prehistory and Ethnography Compiled and with an Introduction by Jesús Altuna Translated by Frederick H. Fornoff, Linda White, and Carys Evans-Corrales Center for Basque Studies University of Nevada, Reno Reno, Nevada This book was published with generous financial support obtained by the Association of Friends of the Center for Basque Studies from the Provincial Government of Bizkaia. Basque Classics Series, No. Series Editors: William A. Douglass, Gregorio Monreal, and Pello Salaburu Center for Basque Studies University of Nevada, Reno Reno, Nevada 89557 http://basque.unr.edu Copyright © by the Center for Basque Studies All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Cover and series design © by Jose Luis Agote. Cover illustration: Josetxo Marin Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Barandiarán, José Miguel de. [Selections. English. ] Selected writings of Jose Miguel de Barandiaran : Basque prehistory and ethnography / compiled and with an introduction by Jesus Altuna ; transla- tion by Frederick H. Fornoff, Linda White, and Carys Evans-Corrales. p. cm. -- (Basque classics series / Center for Basque Studies ; no. ) Summary: “Extracts from works by Basque ethnographer Barandiaran on Basque prehistory, mythology, magical beliefs, rural life, gender roles, and life events such as birth, marriage, and death, gleaned from interviews and excavations conducted in the rural Basque Country in the early to mid-twentieth century. Introduction includes biographical information on Barandiaran”--Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN ---- (pbk.) -- ISBN ---- (hardcover) . Basques--Folklore. Mythology, Basque. Basques--Social life and customs. I. Altuna, Jesús. II. University of Nevada, Reno. Center for Basque Studies. III. Title. IV. Series. GR..B .’--dc The Center for Basque Studies wishes to gratefully acknowledge the generous financial support of the Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia / Provincial Government of Bizkaia for the publication of this book. Selected Writings of José Miguel de Barandiarán: Basque Prehistory and Ethnography Table of Contents Acknowledgments ............................................... INTRODUCTION by Jesús Altuna The Beginnings: Birth of a Vocation .......................... Maturity and Lines of Investigation (–) . Investigations Conducted during Exile........................ Return from Exile ............................................ Plan of the Present Work ..................................... Basque Mythology............................................ Prehistoric Man in the Basque Country....................... An Ethnographic Sketch of Sara .............................. Epilogue ...................................................... Notes ......................................................... Bibliography.................................................. SELECTED WRITINGS OF JOSÉ MIGUEL DE BARANDIARÁN Basque Mythology............................................... To the Reader ................................................ Introduction by José Miguel de Barandiarán.................. Magic ........................................................ The Myths.................................................... Epilogue: Kixmi, or The Twilight of the Gods ................ Notes ......................................................... Selections from Prehistoric Man in the Basque Country ......... Mesolithic .................................................... Neolithic ..................................................... Eneolithic..................................................... The Bronze Age .............................................. The Iron Age ................................................. Notes ......................................................... Selections from An Ethnographic Sketch of Sara . Human Establishments and the Rural House ................. The Household ............................................... Hunting ...................................................... Notes ......................................................... Bibliography ..................................................... Index ............................................................ Acknowledgments To my wife, Koro Mariezkurrena, with whom I visited several times at the home of D. José Miguel de Barandiarán. For this work, as with many other projects, she assisted with careful research of the bibliographical citations included in the introduction. Introduction by Jesús Altuna N.B. It was only during the late twentieth century that the Basque Academy developed a standard orthography for the language designed to substitute Euskara Batua (Unified Basque) for its several dialects. Prior to then it was common practice for Basque writers to employ Spanish for place and personal names (including their own). Such was the case with José Miguel de Barandiarán (Barandiarango Jose Migel). In this work, we have utilized modern Basque orthography for the names of Basque provinces: Araba (Alava), Bizkaia (Vizcaya), and Gipuzkoa (Guipúzcoa), while employing the commonly used English variants of Navarre (Navarra) and Lower Navarre (Basse Navarre). For cities and towns, we retained Barandiarán’s usage, which was in many cases the Spanish form, but have added modern Basque orthography in parentheses after the names. The Beginnings: Birth of a Vocation José Miguel de Barandiarán is an exceptional witness to an entire century of the history of the Basque Country. He was born on December , , and remained active until one year before his death, for in he was still writing a prologue to a book on ethnography. He died on December , , ten days before his nd birthday. Barandiarán was the youngest of nine children born to Francisco Antonio de Barandiarán and María Antonia de Ayerbe. They were farmers and lived on the farmstead called Perunezarra located in the neighborhood of Murkondoa in the town of Ataun, a rural village in Gipuzkoa. Murkondoa consisted of a dozen houses, and together with three other analogous neighborhoods formed the parish of San Grego- rio, one of three in the town of Ataun. There were scarcely a thousand inhabitants in the parish of San Gregorio when José Miguel was born (photo ). Photo . San Gregorio de Ataun. Selected Writings of José Miguel de Barandiarán Photo . Perunezarra. Birthplace of José Miguel de Barandiarán. The birth took place in the house called Perunezarra (photo ). In and around it, during his childhood and adolescence, Barandiarán acquired intimate knowledge of lifestyles, traditions, customs, and myths that have since completely disappeared. His maternal language was Basque, or Euskara, and he began to learn Spanish (Castilian) only after attending the local school. Despite the students’ complete igno- rance of Spanish, the courses were taught in it as official policy. How- ever, Barandiarán recalled that the teacher, who was an Euskaldun (that is, a fluent speaker of the Basque language), would frequently help them understand certain subjects with explanations in Euskara. He himself wrote that during those years in Ataun only the priests and a few rich people knew Spanish, and for that reason “it was considered by every- one to be a language for the rich and learned.” Basque, in contrast, was considered a language of the villagers. The writer of these lines experienced this phenomenon, though under even worse circumstances. I refer to the years of the military uprising by General Franco when, as we will see later, Barandiarán had to flee into exile in Iparralde, or the Northern Basque Country in the French state. My first schooling took place in Berastegi, a town situated thirty-five kilometers from Ataun. The teacher who ran our school was sent away and another, completely ignorant of Euskara, was brought Introduction by Jesús Altuna in from outside. As was the custom, we learned the four functions of arithmetic by singing, but the difficulties began when we attempted to solve mathematical problems. In the text, which we did not understand, we would see two num- bers. First we would add them together. We would then approach the teacher’s desk, and he would pronounce our answer “good” or “bad.” If the former, we would return to our places happy, as if we had accomplished something greater than a mere correct answer. If he said “bad” we retreated, saying, “Erresta in beharko yu” (We will have to subtract). We would subtract the smaller number from the larger and try the problem again. A second “bad,” if that were his judgment, was more emphatic: “Mul-ti-pli-car izango dek” (It must be multiplication) and I remember that we would say the word “multiply” slowly, since it was new to us and we had to pronounce it carefully. If that was not the solution, we would return unhappily, saying “Maixu onekin etzeok asmatzeik. Dibidir dek” (With this teacher there’s no getting it right. It’s division). At times we were right the first time, sometimes on the second try, but maybe not until the fourth. José Miguel, who lived in gentler times in this regard, had the good fortune that his teacher, though obliged by law to only use Spanish in his classroom, helped the students in Euskara, as needed. In Barandiarán moved to Baliarrain, a small town of inhabitants, near Ataun, where there was a preceptory or preseminary for students to begin their preparation for the priesthood. A priest,

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