Over 100 years ago, in 1921, José Miguel de Barandiaran began publishing a series of articles under the banner of Eusko-Folklore. His work was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War but in 1954 he resumed publishing what he then called his third series of articles. These appeared in the journal Munibre, Natural Sciences Supplement of the Bulletin of the Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country. While various writings of Barandiaran have been translated to English, I don’t believe these articles have. As I find this topic so fascinating, I have decided to translate them to English (with the help of Google Translate). The original version of this article can be found here.

Traditions and Legends: Lurpeko Eremuetan (In the Subterranean Regions)

Gerhard Bähr, who visited forty or fifty towns in Guipúzcoa for the purpose of conducting linguistic research, sent me some ethnographic materials from Hanover in February 1936, which were included among his notes. Here are the ones referring to the genius Mari, accompanied by my translation and some comments and additions:

IN ORMAIZTEGUI

The Lady of Murumendi was from the village of Beasain and had ten children, and she was not a churchgoer. Under the pretext of always being ill, she usually refused to enter church. And [it is said] that later her husband, after having the last child, complained, that is, that he would not allow her to miss going to church, and he took her in a cart and took her to church. But at the moment she entered the church, at the door of the church, with fire and flame (wrapped in fire), she disappeared from sight, and from then on she can be seen passing from one mountain to the other.

(Told by the "Blind Man" (Itxue) in Ormaiztegui on 29-III-1926).

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IN ASTEASU

When it thundered, the lady of Semeola asked the Lady of Burumendi: “Charge at Izarraitz (mountain above Azpeitia) and unload at Ernio (mountain above Asteasu and Bidania) and protect Alzola, particularly Semeola (hamlet of Aya).”

(April 1926 in Asteasu).

I published variations of this spell in "Mari o el genio de las montañas" (Tribute to Don Carmelo de Echegaray. San Sebastián, 1923).

In the Barranca de Navarra, a spell of the following formula is attributed to a priest from Ergoyena: "Unanoa and Torrano; guard my vineyards and my brother’s garden! The others, kirrisk and marrask."

IN URRESTILLA

Am Tage von Santa Cruz wird die hexe "Moruko damia" von einen Geistlichen beschworen. Ist sie gerade in ihrer Höhle, so kann sie das ganze Jahr nicht wieder heraus, ist sie aber draussen, kann sie nicht mehr hinein.

(mitgeteilt im März 1926 von Josefa Echeverria, 77 Jahr, Urrestilla).

The custom of conjuring Mari in her cave is recognized in beliefs in Ataun, Villafranca, Oñate, Cegama, Aya, Muguiro, Gorriti, and Udabe, as can be seen in "Mari o el genio de las montañas and in issues of the 1st Series of EUSKO FOLKLORE.

IN LEGAZPIA

Auf dem Aizkorri ist eine Höhle, wenn die Sonne darauf scheint, so komme starker Dampf heraus. Sie heisst Gaiztozulo. Von einer anderen wird erzählt, dass manchmal "labasue" herauskäme. In der Näbe gibt es Eiben (agiñek).

The fog that sometimes forms at the entrance to certain caves is the smoke rising from the oven where Mari bakes her bread (labasu = oven fire), according to the beliefs of Cegama and Ispaster. “Marie Labakok labakoa dauko da euria eingo du laister” (Mari, of the oven, bakes bread in the oven and then it must rain), they say in Ispaster, when they see the summit of Mount Otoyo crowned with clouds.

IN OÑATE

The Lady of Amboto was born in Aramayona. Her mother (or father) told her in their anger that the devil should take her to the air. That’s why she was given the name of the Lady of Amboto. We hadn’t heard that before, but now we have.

(erzählt von Ambrosio Errasti, wohnaft in Zubillaga. Oñate, 3.8.1930).

IN ABALCISQUETA

Irari’s daughter was herding the cows and then returned missing one cow, and her mother cursed her, telling her that she would never enter the house again without the cow. Later, at dusk, she went to look for the cow and found the figure of her cow and grabbed its tail; then she entered the cave with it.

Afterward, the girl didn’t appear for some time, and the shepherds saw her in front of that cave combing her hair, and then they told her parents where she was. Her parents told her to come out, and (the girl, in turn, told them) that a little red dog was there. If it woke up, she would lose them... She told them to move away.

Afterward, they inquired carefully and were, apparently, prepared to get her out of the cave. But they lacked the missal stand to celebrate Mass... And the girl remained right there.

They say that from then on, there will always be a lame or a one-handed person in that house.

(erzählt von José Prantzisko Ipentza, Sasiain, Abalzisketa. Irari ist ein Bauernhaus in der Nähe).

Dieselbe Geschichte wurde ähnlich von Ramona Sagastume (75 Jahre alt) in Irari selbst erzählt. Aber die "Stiefmutter fluchte der Tochter, und diese ritt fort auf einem weissen Pferde (zaldi zuriren gaiñeen)". (Ebenfalls 1923-24). Siehe RIEV 1931, Seite 121.

In 1923, this same legend was told to me in Igaratza (Aralar) by the shepherd José Francisco Ipentza, the same man who told it to Bähr, as can be seen in my “Mari o el genio de las montañas,” which also includes other variations of this story.

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IN ATAUN

In Ataun, there are three caverns where the deity Mari is supposed to spend time. These are: Gutzeberri on the rock above the Artzate gorge; Sagaarzulo on the Agerre rock above the Arrateta gorge; and Agamunda above the Ergoone neighborhood.

A young woman disappeared in Agamunda’s cavern, according to the following popular Ataun legend:

In a house in Aia (1), a young woman from Saint Gregory (2) was serving.

(1) Aya is a neighborhood of Ataun.
(2) San Gregorio is a neighborhood of Ataun.

Every feast day, she would go down to her parents’ house, and then, at dusk on the feast day, she would be lazy, very lazy, in returning to Aia. She, too, preferred her home to the house where she was serving. Because of this, she often bothered her mother.

Once, on a feast day evening, her mother cursed her because she was late, as usual, returning to Aia. Then the girl went out, weeping, and headed up the slope of Agamunda (3) to Aia.

(3) Agamunda is a mountain in the Aya neighborhood, located to the east of the Ergoone neighborhood, part of the parish of San Gregorio.

When she approached the Agamunda chasm, she saw hazelnuts in a hazelnut tree that was there at the mouth of the chasm, and, trying to reach them, she climbed up the hazelnut tree. But unfortunately, her foot slipped from the branch of the hazel tree and she fell to the bottom of the chasm. For days, her relatives and neighbors searched for her; but in vain: they found no trace of her footprints.

Later, a finger of the girl appeared under the Arbeldi Bridge (4) with her ring.

(4) Arbeldi is an old house located in the Ergoone neighborhood of Ataun.

(Recounted in 1925 by Juan Miguel de Aguirre, 63, from the Mendiurkullu baserri, Ataun).

I published a variant of this legend, told by my late mother, in EUSKO-FOLKLORE in 1921.

The last theme of the preceding legend also appears in the following story from Cegama.

Inside the Santatri (San Adrián) cave, next to the natural tunnel of the same name, located in Aizkorri, there is a spring of fresh water and a small well. A woman was cleaning her clothes in this well when, according to legend in Cegama, she slipped on the edge and fell into the water. However, no news of her was heard until, much later, one of her arms appeared in the Iturrutxaran spring, near Araya (5).

(5) Two Roman altars dedicated to the Nymphs were discovered 40 years ago next to the Iturtxarán fountain.

IN VERGARA

A blacksmith’s foundry stopped working in Zubillaga (Oñate). And he thought of presenting himself to the lady of Amboto, because he didn’t know what was happening. A friar blessed him and taught him how to behave, and the blacksmith went and entered the cave.

The lady was combing her hair in a beautiful room.

The blacksmith told her that the forge was stopped; that he didn’t know the remedy. He also asked to see where the owner of the cave was.

The lady returned saying that the master was in Zubillaga, distributing what he hadn’t received (unloading the hail). She told him to force a friar to bless the forge [which was at a standstill] because it had a small snake. The blacksmith left without following the lady’s other advice (6) and went to Zubillaga. That afternoon, the hail fell in Zubillaga (7). The blacksmith carried out the lady’s order, and the forge began to work.

(6) This refers to the advice to sit in the cave and to leave the cave facing forward.
(7) Hail is also called “esartuak” (those not received) in this legend, undoubtedly alluding to the undeclared goods that in other legends are called ezari_emanak (those given to no), whose counterpart is hail, which represents what was not received or the response of the Lady of Amboto.

Many men have seen that lady in the air with fire in the form of a pile of straw. And when she entered the Amboto cave, she left a cloud and produced a dull thunderclap. That cave is on the Elorrio side and is as large as the door of a house.

That woman was very wicked: her mother announced to her, in the form of a curse, what would happen to her.

(Written by a resident of Vergara at the request of Don Fermín Garbayo, who passed it on to me in 1927.)

The master of the cave referred to in this legend must be Mari’s husband, who, in certain tales from Azkoitia, is called Maju, sometimes represented in the form of a serpent or a dragon. This Maju visits Mari every Friday to “comb her hair” (orraztu), according to a legend from Zumaya. (EUSKO-FOLKLORE, third series, page 15).

IN ALOÑA

In Oñate, among the indigenous shepherds, there is a custom of taking a lamb to the Virgin Mother of Aránzazu every year in spring. And on their return, the friars give them a banquet.

According to custom, a shepherd who had his flock on Mount Aloña was carrying his lamb on his shoulder, and as he passed by Geiztozulo, the lamb was snatched from his shoulder, without him realizing who. Frightened, he looked around to see who had taken it, and where he saw the Lady of Amboto, lamb and all, hiding in Geiztozulo! The poor shepherd, almost in tears, went to Aránzazu and told the friars what had happened to him. And they, assuming he was up to tricks, said to him jokingly: “Ah! Ah! What you want is to eat the banquet without bringing the lamb.” “No, sir; if you don’t want to, don’t believe me; but what I told you is truly true.”

Seeing that this shepherd was so steadfast in his pursuit, those friars said: “Is there anyone here who has the courage to enter the chasm and see if this one is telling the truth or not?”

“Yes,” one replied, “if you go to a village and bring from there a good cart rope of the kind they usually keep in the villages; I will go in, dressed in a rochet and stole, holding the hyssop in my hand, if they tie me tightly around the waist and armpits.”

No sooner said than done: they bring some strong, thick cart ropes, and off they go, half-joking, those friars and those villagers, to Geiztozulo.

That friar dresses in a rochet and stole, takes the hyssop well soaked in holy water, ties himself tightly, as previously mentioned, and then slowly goes down the chasm.

At this point, those above hear: “Stop! Don’t let out the rope any further,” and upon hearing this, they feel a gust of wind coming from the chasm. “Up!” says the one below, and little by little they bring that friar back to him. They are amazed to see that he is carrying the lamb under his arm. And they say to him: “So what this man told us is true?”

“Yes,” said the other, “when I descended below, I found the Lady, astride the lamb and combing her hair with a golden comb. Seeing this, I sprinkled every corner with holy water, and there she goes, that lady, caught by lightning, fleeing! Didn’t you see her when she left?”

“We didn’t see her; but yes, when you said ‘Stop!’ we felt a strong gust of wind.”

“Indeed, that’s when she left, and the proof that this shepherd has told the truth I bring here, and now he is owed food.”

(Communicated in 1955 by Don Félix Arrazola, who picked it up in Oñate).

In the time of our ancient grandparents, this Lady of Amboto stayed for a while in Amboto and for another time in Gaisto-sulo de Aloña.

On one occasion, she stole a sheep from a shepherd from Urbía and took it to Gaisto-sulo de Aloña. The shepherd thought that this Lady had stolen it, and armed with a stick, he went to Gaisto-sulo. No sooner said than done, there he found this Lady, spinning while mounted on the sheep. The shepherd kicked her in the rear and sent her somersaulting. Then the shepherd grabbed the ram by the horn and led it outside.

From further inside, that Lady’s maid shouted to him, “Grab it, then, if you can.”

“Yes, if I didn’t have rue and celery,” the Lady replied. She also said: “If those who are in Zubillaga collecting undeclared tithes had been here, I wouldn’t have taken it.”

And the shepherd took the ram.

That Lady traveled from Koroso Mountain to Amboto and from Amboto to Aloña. And one of the times she passed by, she broke her wrist while running and jumping. At that time, on that Koroso Mountain, there was an old man who mended broken sheep legs with straps and cheesecloth, and that Lady knew this, and that old man mended her wrist. There is no news of this lady since then.

(Reported by Rufino de Elortondo, from the Arriaga farmhouse, and reported in 1928 by Father Benito Juan de Larrakoetxea.)

José Miguel de Barandiaran

Begiak noraino, nahia haraino.

As far as the eyes can see, that’s how far one’s desires go.

Even as recently as the early 1990s, when I lived in Donostia for a year, Bilbao seemed this dirty place that wasn’t really worth a visit. I think in that whole year, I only visited a couple of times at most. However, the city transformed itself from a relic of industry to a modern and vibrant destination. Now, I can’t imagine a visit to the Basque Country without a stop in Bilbao. Though there are many factors that, together, led to this transformation, the symbolic heart of it all has to be Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum.

• Frank Owen Gehry was born in Toronto, Canada, on February 28, 1929. His mother, Sadie Thelma, had immigrated from Poland while his father, Irving Goldberg who was born in New York City, was the son of an immigrant from Russia. Both of his parents were Jewish. Gehry’s grandfather owned a hardware store and he often played with scraps of materials, building cities with his grandmother. In 1954, urged by his wife and fears of rising antisemitism, Frank changed his surname from Goldberg to Gehry.
• The family moved to California in 1947 and after some aborted attempts at various pursuits including chemical engineering, Gehry settled on architecture, graduating from the University of Southern California in 1954. After a stint in the Army, he attended Harvard on the GI Bill, but became disillusioned and dropped out, returning to California. In 1957, he designed his first building – a private home. From there, his career took off.
• In 1997, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao opened. At the time, it faced significant criticism, particularly as an example of architectural imperialism. However, the building itself was hailed as a masterpiece of architecture, called “the greatest building of our time.” The curves of the building were intentionally designed to capture the light and the central atrium was designed with views of the estuary and the surrounding hills.
• The museum has been credited with helping revitalize the city. Other cities have tried to replicate the “Bilbao effect” with unique architecture. However, Gehry himself downplayed the role of the museum, instead saying it was a collective effort and crediting the overall urban plan of the city and Basque government that his building was only one part of.
• The Guggenheim isn’t the only building in the Basque Country that Gehry designed. He also designed the Marqués de Riscal Hotel, situated in the wine country of Araba, in the town of Elciego. Built between 2003-2006, the hotel’s design employs similar methods and elements that Gehry used in the Guggenheim. In both buildings, Gehry used flowing structures of titanium to capture the light and to give the buildings their unique flowing forms.
• Gehry fell in love with the Basque Country. In 2014, the city of Bilbao built a bridge connecting Deusto and Zorrotzaurre which they named after Gehry. He was in the city for laying the cornerstone and during his visit he said “I fell in love with patxaran, txakoli, hake, and pil-pil. I love you all, I love Bilbao, and I will be back.” He felt that the Basques he worked with were particularly trustworthy, saying “When the Basques say something, you don’t have to get it in writing. They keep their word in a way that I’d never seen before.”
• Gehry died on December 5, 2025, at his home in Santa Monica, California. He was 96.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Frank Gehry , Wikipedia; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao , Wikipedia; Marqués de Riscal Hotel , Wikipedia

Happy Holidays to all of the readers of Buber’s Basque Page!

Begi bat aski du saldunak, ehun ez ditu sobera erostunak.

The seller needs but one eye, whereas for the buyer a hundred eyes are never
too many.

Singing is such a part of Basque culture. More than once, I’ve been in a restaurant where everyone broke into song. Christmas is a time when singing abounds. Leave it to the Basques to then create unique traditions around songs and Christmas. The Marijesiak is a group of singers that roam the streets of primarily but not exclusively Gernika in the early mornings of the days leading up to Christmas.

• The Marijesiak is a Christmas tradition that takes place over the nine days before Christmas. Early each morning, starting at 4am, a group of men and women kneel in front of the main church of Gernika, the Church of Andra Mari. They begin singing their verses, with a lead soloist leading the procession through town while the rest of the singers accompanying the lead. There are some 28 verses that the soloist must recite from memory, of course in Basque. The group walks through the streets of Gernika, hitting as many parts as they can. They stop in front of every church, the houses of former members, and even shelters where people hid from the 1936 bombing. In all, the route takes about one-and-a-half hours to complete.
• Each of the nine days, a different part of the Christmas story is told, from the Creation to the birth of Jesus. However, in recent times, some secular verses have also been added, including some that recognize the 1936 bombing of the town and the political reality of the Basque Country:

• The Marijesiak is part of a larger tradition of Christmas carolers. In many parts of the Basque Country, it is common to see carolers on Christmas Eve. In some places they are known as the Joenikuek, “those of Saint Joseph,” or Abenduko umiek, “the Children of the Advent.” However, the Marijesiak, which are most prevalent in Gernika, have maintained the strongest tradition, one that was revived in the 1970s.
• The name Marijesiak comes from the repeated verse of “Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Mary” which over time was combined and shortened into Marijesiak.
• The origin of the Marijesiak tradition is not completely clear. Some theories postulate it arose from medieval religious theater while others state that it came from the local convents, perhaps the Franciscan monastery of Bermeo. The earliest mention we have of this tradition comes from the 17th century.
• In 2018, Ane Miren Arejita became the first woman to be the lead soloist for the Marijesiak.

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A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Rementeria Arruza, Daniel. Marijeses de Gernika. Auñamendi Encyclopedia, 2025. Available at: https://aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus/en/marijeses-de-gernika/ar-154039/; Marijesiak , Wikipedia; Marijesiak , Disfruta Bizkaia; The Marijesiak tradition in Gernika-Lumo (Bizkaia) , Labayru; Gernikako Marjiesiak , Urdaibai; marijesiak.eus

Bat izatea hobe, bi itxo egitea baino.

It’s better to have one than be waiting for two.

We don’t know much about the early history of the Basques. While discoveries such as the Hand of Irulegi reveal more than ever, there is still a lot that is shadowed in the mists of time. The Basques have never recorded their own history – what we know is typically from the pens of neighbors or other observers. This includes the Romans. The Romans certainly conquered much of the Iberian peninsula, including parts of the modern day Basque Country. Indeed, Pamplona is named after the Roman general Pompey. Much of what was written back then is through the lens of the conqueror and, even worse, by people who had only heard of the Basques but never visited the region.

• The website Itiner-e has put together a map of all of the roads of the Roman Empire. Nature calls it a “Google Maps” for Ancient Rome. It is quite interesting. If you zoom in on what is today the Basque Country, you can see a few roads around the periphery, but the interior is completely devoid of any Roman roads. This highlights how the Romans had very little activity in the region.
• A lot of what we know about the Basques during the time of the Romans comes from Roman historians. Strabo, in particular, wrote about the Basques in his Geographica , an atlas of the world known to the Romans. Though, many of the places he wrote about he never visited, he was just repeating what others had said.
• To Strabo and the Greek and Roman worlds, people in the far regions, particularly those in the mountains, were barbarous: “All the mountain dwellers are austere, they usually drink water, sleep on the ground and let their hair reach very low, like women, but they fight by girding their foreheads with a band. They eat mainly goats, and they sacrifice a goat to Ares. They also make hecatombs of every kind in the Greek way, as Pindar says: they sacrifice a hundred of everything.”
• He goes on: “They also have gymnastic, hoplite and equestrian competitions, with boxing, running, skirmishing and combat in formation. The mountaineers, for two thirds of the year, feed on oak acorns, letting them dry, grinding them and making bread with them that keeps for a while. They also know beer. They drink wine on rare occasions, but what they have is quickly consumed at feasts with relatives. They use butter instead of oil. They eat sitting on benches built against the wall and they sit in order of age and rank. The food is passed around in a circle, and at the time of drinking they dance in a circle to the sound of flute and trumpet, but also jumping and crouching, and… women also dance together with men holding hands.”
• “…those who live far inland use the barter of goods, or cut off a silver flake and give it. Those condemned to death are thrown off a cliff and parricides are stoned beyond the mountains or rivers. They marry just like the Greeks. The sick, like the Egyptians of old, are exposed on the roads so that those who have suffered from it can give them advice about their illness.....”
• “This, as I have explained, is the way of life of the mountaineers, and I am referring to those who mark the northern flank of Iberia: Calaic, Asturians and Cantabrians up to the Basques and the Pyrenees; because the way of life of all of them is similar.”

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Estrabón y su mención a los pueblos del norte de la Península Ibérica by María Cruz González Rodríguez, Euskonews; Brughmans, T., de Soto, P., Pažout, A. and Bjerregaard Vahlstrup, P. (2024) Itiner-e: the digital atlas of ancient roads. https://itiner-e.org/

Every once in a while, I’m going to try to highlight a different Basque music group. A mix of some of my favorite Basque songs can be found on YouTube: Buber’s Basque Mix.

Today’s band is Sua – thanks to Eneko Ennekõike for pointing me to them. Hailing from the Bizkaian town of Maruri, a small village of about 1000 people just a bit north of Bilbao, Sua is an alternative rock band known that blends “raw post-punk energy with dreamy melodies and powerful female vocals. Singing in both Basque and English, they channel themes of rebellion, inner strength, and vulnerability into a sound that is both intimate and explosive (Spotify).”

The group has released three albums – a self-titled EP in 2019, Ordu beltzak also in 2019, and Gorde genituen beldurrak in 2022. Sua, meaning “fire” in Basque, consists of Ane Barrenetxea on vocals, Janire Lopez on bass, Julen Gilbert Wright on guitar, and Esteban Gaviria on drums (Wikipedia).

They just dropped their newest single, entitled “Rollercoaster,” with lyrics in English. The song is about the emotional ups and downs of dealing with people full of doubt and features Cecilia Boström from The Baboon Show. Check it out:

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Nearly none of the young men and women who immigrated to the United States from the Basque County to herd sheep in the American West had any knowledge of English. This wasn’t much of a problem as they typically worked with other Basques. However, encounters with the dominant language of their new home were unavoidable and sometimes represented concepts that they didn’t have a Basque word for, so they simply transliterated the English word into Basque spelling. This leads to an interesting collection of “Basqlish” words.

• Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe, who has done extensive research on Basque arboglyphs, has uncovered a number of transliterations of English words to Basque. Some of these will be familiar to those who had a Basque parent – you can almost hear their accent coming through. He shared these with me after I wished him Happy Thanksgiving.
• Here are a few of Joxe’s favorites. The English equivalent is hidden in white text next to each Basqlish word – just highlight the text to reveal the English word. But, before you do, can you guess what the word is? I only got about half of them…

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Joxe Male-Olaetxe, private communication.