Basque ethnography at a glance

Infant burial. Berastegi cementery. Source: Photographic Archive of Labayru Fundazioa.

In popular belief, the burial of a child has always been considered special because it involves the death of an innocent being who, for believers, goes straight to heaven. Consequently, the usual signs of mourning and grief are not displayed, white is the dominant colour, including on the coffin and its inner lining, and the mass is a Gloria. In the past, the infant mortality rate was very high within the first year of a child’s life, especially in the first few days after birth. In Basque, this situation was known as urtemina, the sickness of the first year.

The death of the child was announced by ringing bells known as ‘toques a gloria’ or ‘aingeru-kanpaiak’, and burials took place in designated areas of the house or cemetery. The funeral procession was usually smaller than for an adult, the pallbearers were children, and in some places they corresponded to the sex of the deceased child.

Until the mid-20th century, cemeteries had an area adjacent to the graveyard dedicated to unbaptized children known as limbo, which was also the place where these children went according to popular belief induced by the Church. Almost all of the unbaptized children buried in limbo were stillborn, as they were baptized immediately after birth, especially if they were in danger of dying.

Brochure for emergency baptism (Etxe-bataioa). Source: Photographic Archive of Labayru Fundazioa.

In some places, even into the 1940s and 1950s, the custom persisted of burying stillborn children or those who died without being baptized under the eaves of the house, ituxurapean, or in an orchard adjacent to it, baratza, and sometimes on the grounds of the house itself.

In the past, in rural areas, there were occasions when women gave birth at home alone without the help of a midwife, relatives, or neighbours. In such cases, the placenta, also known as segundinas or secundinas, was usually buried in the garden or among the manure piled up in the stable. There are even accounts of burying them under the eaves of the house in memory of the aforementioned custom of burying stillborn or unbaptized children under the protection of the house.

Segundo Oar-Arteta — Etniker Bizkaia — Labayru Fundazioa

Bibliography:

Ritos del nacimiento al matrimonio. Ritos funerarios y Casa y Familia. Ethnographic Atlas of the Basque Country.