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Saint John’s day in Gaztelugatxe, 2023. Labayru Foundation Photographic Archive.
With the arrival of summer, festivals are celebrated in all corners of our geography. During this time, apart from patron saint festivals of towns and cities, numerous festivals are also celebrated in the neighbourhood hermitages. In Bizkaia there are around 800 classified hermitages. It is true that not all of those that existed back in the day are preserved, and in many others, the celebrations have varied considerably. Ecclesiastical celebrations are maintained in 459 hermitages, 30 are deteriorated, another 7 are used for civil tasks, and the rest have disappeared. In the last century, society underwent profound changes and transformations that forced the hermitages themselves to adapt to the new needs of society.
St John’s hermitage in Murgoitio. Berriz (Bizkaia). José Ignacio García Muñoz. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.
Between dawn and sunrise on St John’s Day, it is customary to place an oak or ash branch decorated with a bunch of herbs and flowers on front doors of houses and hermitages dedicated to the saint. Ears of wheat would also be added to the arrangement in earlier times, and a peeled splinter inserted in the wood of the branch to make a rustic cross. St John’s oak bouquet (sanjuan-haretxa, in Basque) is in point of fact a traditional symbol of the summer solstice.
Holy Cross of Bizkargi, 2019. Leire Zaldibar.
Along with traditional weekend dancing, celebrations held at hermitages were hugely popular in times gone by. Such occasions were for the vast majority a great escape from daily routine, a longed-for chance to move away from everyday life, and of course, a once-in-the-year opportunity to meet with friends from the surrounding villages which you would hardly see otherwise. (more…)
Loyola (Gipuzkoa). José Ignacio García Muñoz. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.
In a previous post we revisited sacred places popular with pilgrims as prevention and cure for sickness. On this occasion we focus on pilgrimage destinations for infertile women and children with disorders. These are old-time practices that have gradually been abandoned over the years.
Infertility was almost considered a disgrace in traditional society, and primarily, if not exclusively, attributed to women. Children were a blessing for the continuity of the family line, while providing a helping hand with domestic chores. Not surprisingly, married women eagerly yearned for a family of their own, and those who could not bear children sought the intercession of the Virgin and the saints. (more…)
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