Basque ethnography at a glance

Saint Nicholas, the little bishop from Muruzabal. Source: Fernando Hualde.

A dozen villages in the Foral Community of Navarre have managed to preserve a jewel of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In other regions, it is beginning to decline, and in most communities along the Iberian Peninsula, it does not even exist. However, we do not give it the importance it deserves, precisely because we are used to seeing it among us. Of course, being uncommon, this jewel has ever-increasing value.

December 6, Saint Nicholas^[1] Day, is a children’s festival that was once very popular in Navarre. Today, it is still alive, with great enthusiasm (and less in others), in places such as Burgi, Barasoain, Eneriz, Garinoaine, Lesaka, Monreal, Murillo el Fruto, Muruzabal… and not in many others. Just as with the Rey de la Faba Festival [1], where children dress up as adults or in costumes, a child dresses as a bishop in honour of Saint Nicholas. A large procession of children goes from house to house singing and collecting money, followed by a good meal.

This time, we find ourselves in the Navarrese village of Muruzabal, in Izarbeibar. There, this tradition continues to this day, and during recent years, it has also been revived; let us see if these lines can contribute to this effort and its revival. Unlike in other Navarrese villages, four ethnologists have described the Saint Nicholas festival in Muruzabal in detail on four occasions: in 1977, 1998, 2015, and 2018. Thanks to this, by comparing one description with another, we can observe that the festival is constantly evolving, trying to adapt to the times. It is therefore a living festival, but sometimes it needs a boost to recover from the decline it suffered a few years ago. Thanks to the unwavering determination of some, it is slowly emerging back.

Saint Nicholas, the little bishop from Muruzabal. Source: Fernando Hualde.

The one playing the bishop wears a white tunic (without a cincture), a red patterned cape (the lower part is decorated with lace all around and finished with a small black cape at the neck), and a red mitre with gold stripes on his head. Altar servers of both sexes, who stop at each house in the village, singing the words that have been passed down from generation to generation, accompany him. In Muruzabal, the song goes like this:

San Nicolás coronado,
Arzobispo muy honrado,
si no nos dan, no nos den,
aquí no nos detendrán,
porque somos escolanos,
del santo San Nicolás.

Bendita el agua traemos
y venimos a rezar,
y al mismo tiempo pedimos,
lo que ustedes quieran dar,
y si de agrado nos dan,
el Santo bendecirá.

Aleluya, aleluya,
celebremos todo el día,
y en honra a San Nicolás
la meriendica caerá.

At the end of the song, they receive the corresponding mite and, as a token of gratitude, they give a blessing. The procession concludes at the Betania Residence, where the elderly residents are transported back to their childhoods for a while, through memories of what they once knew. In this way, we demonstrate that the memory of Saint Nicholas still lives on December 6^th, and may it continue to do so.

Fernando Hualde – Ethnographer

^[1] On Epiphany Day, the monarchs would gather a group of poor children and invite them to eat a cake or ring-shaped pastry in which they would find a hidden bean. The earliest compilations of this tradition date from the 14^th century.