Archives

Drinks and a good old chat. Zeanuri (Bizkaia), c. 1920. Felipe Manterola Collection. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.

“A big question is whether we could live outside of society”, said the author of an autobiographical novel I have recently read and very much enjoyed. “The esteem of others is ultimately the only testimony of our existence”, he added. The thought set me thinking and brought to mind an extensive interview to Koldo Mitxelena, where he admitted attending high mass in Errenteria, his hometown, because he loved talking to friends and acquaintances before and especially after the religious celebration. I remember my father using the same reasoning to justify his preference for the Sunday solemn mass at St Mary’s Parish Church in Gernika. (more…)