Basque ethnography at a glance
![Image taken from Bidegileak [Forerunners], 4.](https://www.labayru.eus/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/bidegileak-portada-bizentamogel-b.jpg)
Bidegileak [Forerunners], 4. Euskal Biblioteka. Labayru Fundazioa.
Vicenta Antonia Moguel (1782–1854) is the first known woman to write in Basque. She was the youngest sister of Juan José Moguel (1781–1782), also a writer. A number of circumstances are essential for a person to become a writer, among others, writing skills, enjoyment of writing, creative talent, and intelligence. In the case of Vicenta Moguel, family circumstances, specifically her father’s early death, prompted her uncle, the famed writer Juan Antonio Moguel (1745–1805), to take care of the education of his niece and nephew. (more…)
Marzas singers from the neighbourhood of Matienzo in the Valley of Carranza (Bizkaia) in the mid-1960s. Courtesy of Miguel Sabino Díaz.
Located in the westernmost end of the district of Encartaciones in Bizkaia, the wedge-shaped Valley of Carranza is bounded by the autonomous community of Cantabria and the Merindades of Castile. It is the last tract of Basque land to see the sun set and the first to feel the rain fall when storms arrive. The vastness of the Valley together with its centuries-old isolation might perhaps have contributed to the development of a strong cultural identity. (more…)
Basokoipetsu. Berrizburu (Bizkaia), c. 1940. Courtesy of Aurora Agirresakona.
Carnival is the main and most deeply-rooted celebration of the carnival cycle and does not have a fixed date. Depending on location, the cycle also encompasses several pre-carnival traditions.
Here we shall focus on the custom preserved in Bizkaia on the Sunday previous to Shrove Sunday, marking the start of the carnival season before the run-up to Fat Thursday and culminating in celebrations on Shrove Tuesday. (more…)
Rebuilt dwelling for herders in Gumadernia. Carranza (Bizkaia), 2018. Miguel Sabino Díaz.
Since ancient times shepherds from the valley who grazed their flocks on hillocks and heights of the Ordunte Mountains belonging to the municipality of Carranza (Bizkaia) have used caves and rocky outcrops in the range, along with improvised shanty constructions for temporary shelter from inclement weather and protection against the presence of wolves and the grave danger they posed to the sheep. (more…)
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