Basque ethnography at a glance

Fundraising by the Joaldunak of Ituren. Author: Josu Larrinaga Zugadi.

Until 1936, during Carnival Tuesday in Lazkao, the town council attended mass, preceded by a procession of dantzaris (dancers) dressed in white. Each of them carried a broom, pretending to sweep the path. Upon arriving at the town hall, they formed a traditional bridge dedicated to the authorities with these unique implements. This same act of clearing the path can be observed in the Zuberoa masquerades, specifically in the action performed by the Txerrero (pig keeper), at the head of the aitzindariak (5 best dancers of the Masquerade); he leads the procession, walking from one side to the other, while shaking a strange horsehair broom on the ground. However, in the begging or the collection of remains carried out by the txantxoak (dancers from the red team) from Abaltzisketa, the image of a sweeper mozorro also appears, a character who goes before the group and cleans the space where the makil dantza (basque traditional dance) will be danced.

Likewise, in some European carnivals, similar actions are repeated (weddings, copulations, ridiculous pregnancies and births, performances of plays or other pantomimes) and masks of the same type are created (punitive, noisy, with grotesque shapes and movements, savages, etc.). Nor should we forget the obsessive act of sweeping or collecting dust, mud, or snow as the procession advances, with a physical broom (made of horns, millet, straw, or synthetic material) or with a symbolic broom made of bristles or tusks of four-legged animals.

Txerrero. Old postcard. Source: Josu Larrinaga Zugadi.

These brooms are common in our festive dances (isats dantzak or sorgin dantzak), and thus appear during Carnival in the hands of costumed people who wave them to frighten or smear passersby (txatxoak in Lantz, porreroak in Zalduondo, txatarrak in Arbizun, etc.). They are also used with particular flair by the goitiarrak from Lesaka and Irun, where they use brooms similar to isipus in the hands of certain characters (the joaldunak of Ituren and Zubieta or the kotilun gorriak of Lapurdi).

Although sweeping the entrance to a residential area has been a daily activity (farms, shepherds’ huts, traditional work areas, etc.), it has also had ritual significance. In the past, new wives (with a broom, candle, argizaiolak [Basque traditional candles], or broom in hand) took possession of the house, sweeping the kitchen each night with a broom to attract benevolent beings or ward off evil spirits. Likewise, it was common practice to place a broomstick outside the house (with a cross-shaped hook for picking up scissors or scythes) to ward off bad weather or avoid unwanted visitors.

We cannot fail to mention the countless stories about the supposed escape of witches, who travelled on broomsticks to celebrate the akelarre or witches’ Sabbath. Strange and numerous rites of passage (birth, marriage, death, or communal meals), reflected in magical-religious acts, were directed toward any event (private or social) that required the physical or symbolic cleansing of a space, in order to then allow for an action that the entire community considered important or significant without risk.

Josu Larrinaga Zugadi — Sociologist