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St John’s hermitage in Murgoitio. Berriz (Bizkaia). José Ignacio García Muñoz. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.
Between dawn and sunrise on St John’s Day, it is customary to place an oak or ash branch decorated with a bunch of herbs and flowers on front doors of houses and hermitages dedicated to the saint. Ears of wheat would also be added to the arrangement in earlier times, and a peeled splinter inserted in the wood of the branch to make a rustic cross. St John’s oak bouquet (sanjuan-haretxa, in Basque) is in point of fact a traditional symbol of the summer solstice.
Parhelion. Josu Larrinaga Zugadi.
The eve and the feast day of St John (24 June) are well known to encompass a large amalgam of symbolic rituals associated to earth (people, animals, harvests and protective vegetables), water (beliefs about cleansing, regeneration and healing), air (magic moment for purging from nocturnal and malignant beings) or fire (purifying or renewing element). As regards the latter, we are familiar with the custom of climbing certain highlands in the early hours of St John’s Day to observe the dance performed by the king star or dancing sun (optical effect of the scientifically so-called sun dog, parhelion or fake sun). (more…)
St John of Gaztelugatxe. Bermeo (Bizkaia), 1994. José Ignacio García Muñoz. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.
This maritime sanctuary dedicated to the martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist has over the centuries been one of the most important pilgrimage destinations on the coast of Bizkaia. Pilgrims flocked here to pray, make a wish, promise, express their gratitude…, but also in search of unparalleled aesthetic and landscape experiences. The chapel and an old hermit’s house stand on the island, connected to mainland by a two-arched bridge. 232 stone steps along a narrow path lead to the hermitage, although tradition has it that there once were as many as there are days in a year. The quite inaccessible islet of Aketxe lies close. (more…)
Cachimorro and his troop of dancers, 2016. José Ángel Chasco.
Laguardia is an ancient fortress city erected on a hill facing Toloño Mountains. An extremely rich cultural and winemaking tradition turns it into the major attractive tourist destination in Álava after Vitoria-Gasteiz. Churches, mighty walls, narrow streets, heraldic mansions, dolmens, the nearby Celtiberian settlement of La Hoya, wineries and the lively St John’s festival are part of the city’s identity. (more…)
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