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Photo credit: Pantxix Bidart Pla.
Anybody who visits us in winter will see the uplands of Iparralde (Northern Basque Country) ablaze. The fires are used to manage and clear the pastures and meadows for the livestock. Given the small size of the farms in Iparralde, they need to graze their animals on the surrounding uplands. Accordingly, the farmers care for and attend to the uplands in the same way as they do with their farmsteads. In general, they use fire to clear those areas which cannot be reached with machines.
Eleuterio Goikoetxea with his family. Photographer: Felipe Manterola.
The 9th of July 2022 was the centenary of the opening of the Igiriñao mountain refuge (Gorbeia) and Zeanuri Council organised a ceremony at the hut to commemorate that fact and pay tribute to the man behind it, Eleuterio Goikoetxea. At 6.30 p.m. on 30 December, the presentation of the book entitled Eleuterio Goikoetxea y el refugio de Igiriñao. 1922-2022 [Eleuterio Goikoetxea and the Igiriñao Refuge] will take place at the Arkotxa building in Zeanuri.
Eleuterio Goikoetxea Goikouria was born in Zeanuri on 6 September 1888, at the Zubiate house, the property of the Rotaetxe family. His father, Felipe Goikoetxea, was the estate manager of the Rotaetxe, a post in which Eleuterio succeeded him. He mainly worked as a builder and property surveyor. He was a well-respected figure and his good offices were often sought to act as the mediator in neighbourhood disputes.
Slopes of Eneabe. Ubide (Bizkaia), December 1996. José Ignacio García Muñoz. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.
Spring-summer transhumance and transterminance, both implying movement of flocks to high pastures, were defined and dealt with in a previous post published on 17 May 2019.
With winter approaching, herds are brought down from the highlands, since adverse weather hamper the stay. And as the vegetative growth of grass stops or slows down due to cold winter temperatures, and there is not enough pasture in the lower valleys, herds are moved towards coastal areas, where milder temperatures prevail, or to warmer innermost regions of the country, such as the Royal Bardenas, frequented by most Pyrenean flocks, or even as far as Ebro Valley. (more…)
Group of hunters. Felipe Manterola Collection. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.
The Urdaibai estuary, formerly known as the Mundaka or Gernika estuary, is a natural reserve at the mouth of the river Oka, which originates in the neighbourhood of Zugastieta in the municipality of Muxika in Bizkaia, where several springs converge. It was named after the now ruined tower of Urdaibai (urde ‘pig’ and ibai ‘river’) back in the 1970s. (more…)
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