Basque ethnography at a glance
The daily rhythm of the bells. Author: Josu Larrinaga Zugadi.
Bells or other subsidiary sound elements and their ringing have traditionally marked the times of day (canonical or astral hours), historical celebrations, or specific events, news occurring, or imminent dangers. This has been the case for centuries, in both in civil, and in religious communities.
Thus, in the Jerte valley or Las Hurdes (Cáceres) and in some town in Salamanca, around Sierra de Francia (La Alberca or Mogarraz), for example, there is a daily ritual that is repeated at dusk and is known as the ringing of the souls. It consists of a journey at dusk made by a woman (moza de ánimas, meaning woman of the souls) to the sound of a bell going down Real Street. She goes without speaking or greeting anyone and does not stop along her route, reciting or murmuring a prayer for the souls in Purgatory, stopping to ring at crossroads or squares; and people uncover and sanctify themselves as she passes. Its origin is associated with the Brotherhood of Souls (Cofradía de Ánimas) established around the 16th century, so widespread throughout the Peninsula. (more…)
Classical giants danced by the Zubira troupe together with the txikis (Portugalete, 07/09/2024) (Author: E. X. Dueñas).
The sound of the dulzainas-gaitas, the txistus… a group of adults, and little ones with captivating looks, swirl around and surround some figures with human but caricatured features… As the procession of these gigantic images, which sway in an exercise of singular balance, advances, the crowd accompanies them… Nobody wants to lose their place and proximity to such distinguished characters…
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Joaquín Donezar – Last waxworker in the Basque Country and Navarre. Source: Fernando Uhalde.
I would ask anyone who reads these lines to try to disconnect mentally from the 21st century and to go back two or three centuries. We have to go back to those times when there was no electric light and people lit up with candles, when most of the floors were wooden and had to be cleaned and gleamed, when the souls of the dead worried them to the point of offering them light to pass from one life to “the other”, when wax was often used as money, paying for the light of public spaces and the church with it… It was then, and it has remained so until a few decades ago, when wax had the importance and value that we find difficult to imagine today.
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José Arteta, the last of the taloaska makers. Author: Felix Mugurutza.
Until about four decades ago, before the disappearance of traditional shepherding, one of the most prized possessions of the shepherds from Gorbeia was the taloaska. It was, together with the makila (walking stick), the element that shepherds were most proud to show off in their huts, the most highly valued asset.
The taloaska is basically a kind of rectangular kneading trough, with a handle at one end, and it was used to knead the talo (similar to a Mexican corn tortilla) that was eaten during those endless stays in the sheepfold, as a substitute for bread, as it was only eaten when strictly necessary. Bread could not be made in the mountains, but the versatile talo could.
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