Basque ethnography at a glance

“Mingorri” (Lekeitio, 19/04/2019). Photo: E. X. Dueñas.

Lent and its peak, Easter, strict and solemn regarding ancient celebrations in Catholicism for a long time, are witnesses to the changes that are taking place in society. Acclimatization to each historical moment is a constant, but that does not stop us from being amazed by the diversity of ways of celebrating according to geographical origin.

Equal parts of enthusiasm and passion in many celebrations. In our land, we can witness live passions, processions and various events around these dates: from Bilbao to Hondarribia, from Tudela to Balmaseda.

“Saint Michael” (Azkoitia, 21/04/2000). Photo: E. X. Dueñas.

But in this short article we will not talk about what is supposedly known, but about what escapes the usual, and to begin with, we will do so with a character as strange as it is inanimate, “Mingorri” (red tongue). He is the companion of “Death” in one of the floats of the Good Friday procession in Lekeitio. He is classified as a dragon, but he resembles an animal that escaped from a tale. His long red tongue, reshaped after the 1936 Civil War, has become the laughing stock of the boys and girls who, after buying gomazkoak (chewing gum) or sweets in a pastry shop near the Basilica of Saint Mary, they deposit them in this eloquent and striking organ after previously sucking on them. The image of the place is somewhere between cartoonish, tacky and almost disgusting.

From a wooden figure to a character that simulates Saint Michael the Archangel. In both Segura and Azkoitia, a boy or an adult, wearing a jacket, carrying a shield and a sword, parades in the procession on Good Friday afternoon. What is different, so to speak, is not the costume that has the greatest impact on the characters themselves in the Corpus Christi procession in Oñati, but their representation: with a martial and rhythmic step, they perform a somewhat military choreography every few minutes. Several small angels accompany “Saint Michael” from Segura: a contradictory image between his defiant sword and the “angelic” gaze of the little ones.

“Judas” (Añana, 19/04/1992). Photo: E. X. Dueñas.

Finally, and leaving aside the processions and encounters between Jesus and Mary on Easter Sunday, an element that has been underestimated for centuries as a traitor appears on that day: Judas.

“Killing Judas” is widespread throughout the peninsula. Sometimes “Judas” is paraded and punished, by being stoned, shot or burned. In the Basque Country, in some towns in Araba, such as Añana or Moreda, and in Navarre (Los Arcos, Murieta, Viana…), it is burned in a stake. Curiously, why not say, “Judas” and “Judesa”, the couple, are thrown into the air, while the flames turn them to ashes. Perhaps gender equality reached Moreda centuries ago without realizing it.

Emilio Xabier Dueñas — Folklorist and ethnographer