The Basques by Julio Caro Baroja

Center for Basque Studies Basque Classics Series, No. 5 The Basques by Julio Caro Baroja Translated by Kristin Addis 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. 5 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 © 2009 by the Center for Basque Studies All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Cover and series design © 2009 by Jose Luis Agote. Cover illustration: Fue painting by Julio Caro Baroja Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Caro Baroja, Julio. [Vascos. English] The Basques / by Julio Caro Baroja ; translated by Kristin Addis. p. cm. -- (Basque classics series ; no. 5) Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: “The first English edition of the author’s 1949 classic on the Basque people, customs, and culture. Translation of the 1971 edition”-- Provided by publisher. *4#/ QCL ISBN 978-1-877802-92-8 (hardcover) 1. Basques--History. 2. Basques--Social life and customs. i. Title. ii. Series. GN549.B3C3713 2009 305.89’992--dc22 2009045828 Table of Contents Note on Basque Orthography.................................... vii Introduction to the First English Edition by William A. Douglass....................................... ix Preface .......................................................... 5 Introduction..................................................... 7 Part I 1. Types of Town Typical of the Basque Country: Structure of the Settlements of the Basque-Speaking Region and of the Central and Southern Areas of Araba and Navarre........ 19 2. Roots of the Present Types of Town: Ancient Times . 41 3. Roots of the Present Types of Town: The Middle Ages in Araba and Navarre ....................................... 53 4. Roots of the Present Types of Town: The Middle Ages in Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, and the French Basque Country ........ 73 5. The Development of the Basque Town in the Modern Age .... 83 6. Internal Analysis of Basque Towns: Types of Houses and Types of Settlement ..................................... 95 7. Internal Analysis of Basque Towns: Names and Functions of Houses .................................... 109 8. The Agricultural Sector: Types of Crops ..................... 119 9. The Agricultural Sector: Implements and Ergology . 127 10. The Agricultural Sector: Draft Animals and Special Crops..... 137 11. The Pastoral Sector: Types of Shepherding Typical of the Basque Country. Woodcutters and Charcoal Burners...... 145 12. The Nautical and Fishing Sector ............................. 159 13. Miners and Ironmongers .................................... 167 14. Navigation, Commerce, and Industry ........................ 179 Part II 15. Family and Family Relations: Social Strata ................... 189 16. The Neighborhood: Higher Social Entities and Their Relationship to Road Communications . 205 17. Aspects of Social Life: From Childhood to Marriage.......... 215 18. Aspects of Social Life: From Marriage to Death . 227 19. Observations on the Mentality of the Basque Peasant......... 241 20. Religiosity .................................................. 249 21. The Mythical World......................................... 273 22. The Ritual World ........................................... 283 23. The Problem of Witchcraft .................................. 305 24. Fine Arts.................................................... 317 25. Music, Poetry, Dance, Theater, Sports........................ 335 26. Conclusion and Summary ................................... 355 Notes ........................................................... 371 Further Readings ................................................ 439 Index ........................................................... 445 Note on Basque Orthography Julio Caroja Baroja first wrote Los Vascos at a time when the Basque language had not been standardized and its use was restricted by the Franco dictatorship. Since that time, however, Euskaltzaindia (the Basque Language Academy, www.euskaltzaindia.net) has developed a preferred orthography for the language and Basque has been granted co- ofcial status within the Basque Autonomous Community. As a result, the original text has been modified according to the orthography of modern Unified Basque (Euskara Batua) for most place names. Spanish- and French-language variants of these same place names will also be included in parenthesis upon their first mention in the text. However, there are several exceptions to this basic rule: While most of the provinces take their modern Basque form—Araba (Álava), Biz- kaia (Vizcaya), Gipuzkoa (Guipúzcoa), Lapurdi (Labourd), and Zuberoa (Soule)—we have preferred to render Nafarroa (Basque) or Navarra (Spanish) as Navarre and Nafarroa Beherea (Basse Navarre in French) as Lower Navarre because these terms are consistent with modern usage (Navarre appears to be the preferred term in medieval and early modern English-language historiography on the former kingdom). A similar choice has been made regarding the common English-language variant for Catalonia (Catalunya in Catalan, Cataluña in Spanish). Bilbao has been maintained, being a recognized Basque-language variant, despite the use of Bilbo in certain other contexts. Although not generally recognized in many walks of life outside the Basque Country, the compound Vitoria-Gasteiz is, in fact, the ofcial title of the capital of Araba; and Donostia (San Sebastián) will be used to refer to the capital of Gipuzkoa. Elsewhere, it seems redundant to use two terms where the diference is that of an accent alone: for example, in the case of Irun (Irún in Spanish) or Zumarraga (Zumárraga). This does not mean that the Spanish- or French-language variants of place names have disappeared altogether. Occasionally these form a central part of the discussion: for example, where Caro Baroja seeks to emphasize the importance of the word villa in Villafranca de Ordicia (Ordizia, in Basque), Villareal de Urrechua (Urretxu), Villareal de Álava (Legutio), or Villagrana de Zumaya (Zumaia). On such occasions, we retain the Spanish spelling of the town in question, but add a note to acknowledge its Basque place name: for example, Villareal de Álava (today, Legutio). Elsewhere, however, Caro Baroja underscores the importance of Basque place names: for example, in the Latin influence of don/dona (saint) in Donibane, Donamaria, Donostia, and Doneztebe. We have also rendered surnames and other terms in their original orthography to underscore what has been termed most accurately elsewhere as linguistic flexibility, rather than inconsistency. We have angli- cized certain Basque, Spanish, and French terms to fit the context of the work. For example, the inhabitants of Bizkaia are Bizkaians and those of La Rioja, Riojans. Finally, we would remind readers that Caro Baroja also uses terms in Basque that existed prior to the standardization of the language. It would be impossible to amend all the terms used, but it is worth men- tioning in passing that modern spellings of many of the words used in the current text exist: for example, jauncho is now spelled jauntxo, machinada is now matxinada, sorguin is sorgin, guizon is gizon, berso is bertso, and aquelarre is akelarre. Introduction to the First English Edition I first met Julio Caro Baroja in September of 1963. It was with trepi- dation that I knocked on the door of his house “Itzea” in the town of Vera de Bidasoa (Bera). I was a twenty-four-year-old graduate student preparing to do field research on some aspect of Basque rural life for my doctoral dissertation in social anthropology at the University of Chicago. My wife and one-year-old son awaited me in our car while I ofered the somewhat startled Caro a letter of introduction from his dear friend Julian Pitt Rivers (my mentor at Chicago). In it Julian asked Julio to help situate and orient us, and he rose to the challenge immediately. My initial awe was soon swept away by a budding comradeship that would result in my frequent visits to Itzea for the following two years and infrequent ones over the next ten. I would even say that we developed a certain special intimacy during conversations that frequently consumed an entire afternoon and despite our generation gap—albeit if for his contempo- raries he remained “Julio” and for many of his elders “Julito,” for me he was always “Don Julio.” In many respects my intellectual debt to Julio Caro Baroja tran- scends our many hours together, not to mention his generous biblio- graphic and avuncular advice. For in a very real sense I entered Basque Studies through him, an influence that would prove to configure my sub- sequent professional life. As I first stood at the portal of Itzea the entire corpus of my knowledge regarding the Basques derived from my readings of La vida rural en Vera de Bidasoa (Rural Life in Bera, 1944), Los pueblos de España (The Peoples of Spain, 1946) and, above all, Los vascos (The Basques, 1949)—the work that I am presently introducing in translation to the English reading public. I had been so inspired by these texts as to become determined to conduct anthropological fieldwork in the Basque Country. The following observations are drawn partly from my personal experience and recollections and those of others; in part

Load more