Basque ethnography at a glance

This is a collection of small stones from the Valley of Carranza (Bizkaia) credited formerly with healing powers.

Nicolás Vicario, in his work El Noble y Leal Valle de Carranza [The Noble and Loyal Valley of Carranza] wrote about them: “Simple folk give credulity to the curative virtue of some stones or miraculous beads that belong to a resident from Ahedo named Manuel María Garay, one of which is used by involuntary childless women to conceive, and to prevent miscarriage and a difficult delivery; another of such stones helps make abundant breast milk and ward off breast conditions; and there is another stone against eye and infant disease. The owner of the mentioned stones relates a host of cures and surprising results obtained by diverse people who borrowed them from him and others who still keep them”. (more…)