Basque Fact of the Week, Folklore

Basque Fact of the Week: Intxisua, Goblins of the Basque Country

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Every culture has their goblins – little creatures that make mischief. The Basques are no different. They have a variety of such creatures that can both help people but also cause problems. At the same time, there are humans that can also be forces for good and evil, using their powers to help or harm others. In some stories and across different places, these characters can mix. The intxisua are one example, where in some places they are goblins and others they are warlocks or male witches.

A group of intxisuak roaming the streets of Oiartzun during their fiesta. Photo from Wikimedia.
  • Intxisua (or intxisu, intxiso, intxixu, intxitxu, intxusi, itxiso) are mythological creatures that form part of the local folklore of Oiartzun and Ataun, in Gipuzkoa, where the creatures were said to live. Depending on the story, the intxisua was either a male witch or warlock, an elf, or a goblin. They can also take the form of animals, depending on the story.
  • In the stories from Ataun, it seems the intxisua was the husband of a witch – a witch himself, but always connected to his wife. Like most witches, he could make predictions, perform healing practices, and act as a counselor to his neighbors.
  • On the other hand, the intxisuak of Oiartzun were more like elves or goblins. These intxisuak hid in caves, living in holes in the rock surrounded by their wealth. They were said to have built some of the cromlechs and megaliths of the area, a feat also often attributed to the Jentilak. They spent the whole year in the mountains, except for carnival when they would descend and take over the town.
  • These Oiartzun intxisuak were short, barely a meter or yard tall. They were thin, dark-skinned, and covered in body hair, including a thick beard. As builders of the cromlechs, they were very strong, though in some accounts their strength only came at night.
  • The intxisuak are still evoked even today. When a dog barks for no reason or a strange sound is heard at night, people blame the intxisuak. When a kid is being bad, they say “Intxisua baino bihurriagoa zara” – you are naughtier than the intxisua.
  • The intxisuak live on today, as part of the Ihotik fiestas of Oiartzun that happen the week before carnival. Along with many other colorful characters, people dress up as intxisuak, one for each neighborhood of the town, and take over the town hall.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Intxisua, Wikipedia; Oiartzungo Ihotik, Wikipedia

Basque Fact of the Week, People

Basque Fact of the Week: Martija de Jauregui, Healer and Trailblazer of the 16th Century

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Women enjoy more opportunity now than they have for quite some time. With the rise of the Church and capitalism, women were marginalized, but before that, they held important role in professions such as health care. Martija de Jauregui wasn’t necessarily a pioneer – she just practiced her craft as she knew it. However, she was eventually forced aside despite the renown she had gained for her skills. Today she is viewed as an icon of women’s rights.

A mural of Martija de Jauregui in the Iruñeko Aitzindarien Parkea. Photo from Wikidata.
  • Martija de Jauregui was born sometime in the mid 1500s, likely in Nafarroa, though next to nothing is known about her early life. Her grandfather, Dr. Cartajena, had been a doctor in Lekeitio, so possibly she was born in Bizkaia. In any case, by 1570 she is known to have been practicing medicine in Nafarroa, specifically in Estella and Pamplona/Iruña. By 1580, she was in Uharte-Arakile, having moved there with her husband, where she continued to practice medicine.
  • Though she didn’t know how to read nor write, she had learned much about the practice of medicine from her grandfather and she specialized in women’s health. By special dispensation from the chief doctor of Pamplona, she was given permission to practice medicine in the region.
  • Her remedies were primarily plasters and concoctions she made with local plants she gathered in places like the mountains of Aralar and had blessed in one of the churches during special fiestas such as San Juan. She also recommended masses and prayers to help alleviate symptoms and cure her patients.
  • It was about this time that the Renaissance changed everything. Medicine became more professionalized and dominated by men. Women such as Martija were marginalized. Though she was well regarded for her medical prowess, she was eventually prosecuted by the Inquisition and medical professionals for effectively practicing medicine without a license or title and forced to abandon her profession.
  • Today, as a woman who was cutoff from opportunities for schooling and practicing her profession, Martija is recognized as an icon of women’s rights. One of the giants in the festival of Uharte-Arakile is dedicated to her and she is featured in the Parque de las Pioneras in Pamplona.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Martija de Jauregui, Wikipedia; Martija de Jauregui, Wikipedia; Arozamena Ayala, Ainhoa. Jauregui, Martija de. Enciclopedia Auñamendi, 2024. Available at: https://aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus/es/jauregui-martija-de/ar-63803/; Martija de Jauregui, Mujeres que hicieron historia

Basque Fact of the Week, Euskadi

Basque Fact of the Week: The Laia, or Basque Spade

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If there is a defining trait of the Basques, it might be their work ethic, their willingness to do the hard jobs. That’s one reason they were such great sheepherders – they would go into the hills for months at a time, often with little experience, and just get the job done. Their propensity for hard work is even more remarkable when you consider the rough land they had to work at home, tilling the rugged earth almost by hand. Their primary tool – the laia – has become a defining symbol of that hard working life.

A group of men and women turning the soil with their laiak. Photo from the Atlas Etnográfico de Vasconia.
  • The laia is a type of spade consisting of a long wooden handle and two prongs or teeth made out of metal, usually iron or steel. The handle effectively extends from one of the teeth, forming an ‘h’ shape. A person would first raise the laia above their head and then drive it into the ground. He or she would then push on the ledge of the ‘h’ to drive it further into the ground and then the push the handle down to turn the soil. One person would use two laia in this way, to more effectively work the land. A team of people would work together to till a complete a field. Neighbors would help neighbors, trading turns to till each other’s fields.
  • The laia had an advantage over the plow for some areas in that it can be used to turn the soil deeper than a plow and is easier to use in places with an appreciable slope.
  • In vineyards, they would also be used to make holes in which to plant vines.
  • There are two main types of laia, adapted to the local land, though a near infinite variety exists. In Nafarroa, the handle is longer but the teeth are shorter (about one foot long) while in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, the laia tends to have longer prongs or teeth (about 2.5 feet long). This is because the ground is softer in the coastal provinces and thus longer teeth can penetrate the earth and aerate it better.
  • In Olite, the entrance to the church, which was built in the 13th century, has an image of a man using the laia to till the soil. While we don’t know when the laia was first developed, this highlights that it isn’t a new tool.
  • In the towns of Artajona and Puente la Reina, in Nafarroa, one way they are keeping the traditions of the laia are to hold races. The laia are used like mini-stilts – people step up on two laia and then, holding the relatively short handles in their hands, they race down the streets.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Garmendia Larrañaga, Juan. laia. Auñamendi Encyclopedia, 2024. Available at: https://aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus/en/laia/ar-151115/; Laya (herramienta), Wikipedia; Laia (nekazaritza), Wikipedia; Layas, Laiak, Atlas Etnográfico de Vasconia

Basque Fact of the Week, Diaspora, People

Basque Fact of the Week: Lope Agirre, the Madman, the Wrath of God

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Basques played a significant role in the exploration and conquest of the Americas. Lope Agirre is perhaps one of the most notorious of those Basques. Originally from the province of Gipuzkoa, he was enticed by the potential riches the Americas promised. He rose to power and even tried to declare war with and independence from the crown. A violent man himself, he met a violent end at the age of 50.

A portrait of Lope Agirre, found on All That’s Interesting.
  • Lope Agirre was born in the town of Oñati, Gipuzkoa on November 8, 1510. He was the son of a nobleman, but not much else is known. In fact, there are debates as to both his birthplace and birth year. What is clear, however, is that he found himself in Sevilla when Hernando (or Francisco) Pizarro returned from Peru with stories of vast wealth. Agirre signed up for an expedition and arrived in Peru around 1536.
  • He began his time in the Americas as a horse tamer in Cuzco, where he was an alderman, and was part of the founding of La Plata.
  • In 1544, viceroy Blasco Núñez Vela was sent from Spain to implement the New Laws and to free the native slaves. However, many conquistadors resisted these changes, going so far as to imprison Núñez Vela. Agirre allied himself with Núñez Vela, taking part in an effort to free the viceroy.
  • The viceroy was eventually defeated and Agirre traveled across the region, to Nicaragua and back to Peru. There he was arrested and tried for breaking the laws that protected the natives. He was sentenced to a public flogging. Once the presiding judge’s term ended, Agirre tracked him for three years as he fled, walking some 3,700 miles barefoot. Finally, Agirre found him in Cuzco where Agirre stabbed him with his dagger.
  • In 1560, Agirre joined the expedition of Pedro de Ursúa to look for El Dorado, the City of Gold. He took part in the overthrow and killing of Ursúa, taking over the expedition. He carried out several more assassinations to keep his power. When they reached the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the native populations in their wake, he had his men declare that he was prince of Peru. This is considered the first act of independence in the Americas. He took island of Margarita and tried to take Panama. When his rebellion against the Spanish Crown failed, he killed his own daughter Elvira, who had accompanied him on the expedition, as he couldn’t bear to see someone he so loved fall into the hands of such vile people.
  • Agirre was captured by Spanish forces and shot by his own soldier. His body was beheaded and cut into quarters and sent to neighboring towns as a warning against revolt.
  • Agirre was known for his cruelty and harshness. He called himself the “Wrath of God, Prince of Freedom.” Others called him the “Madman of Onate.”

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Estornés Lasa, Mariano. Agirre, Lope (1511-1561). Auñamendi Encyclopedia, 2024. Available at: https://aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus/en/agirre-lope-1511-1561/ar-6962/; Lope de Aguirre, Wikipedia; Lope de Aguirre, Wikipedia

Basque Fact of the Week, Euskadi

Basque Fact of the Week: Birds of the Basque Country

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What is it about getting a little older where we suddenly notice the birds around us? Where we more than notice them, we become fascinated with them and we watch them? If you are an avid bird watcher, or even if you aren’t but you just like to see the multicolored plumage once in a while, the Basque Country is a great place to set up camp. While it is harder to say that there are any birds unique to the Basque Country (birds, unlike humans, don’t care about nor are constrained by borders), the Basque Country offers amazing opportunities to see some unique feathered friends.

An argi-oilarra, or Eurasian Hoopoe, from the website Txoriak.eus. It spends the winters in Africa and can be found in the driest parts of the Basque Country.
  • Basque has two principal words for bird: txoria and hegaztia. I’ll admit, I’m not quite sure what the difference is, but txoria seems to be similar to Spanish pájaro, which is a smaller flying bird, and hegaztia to Spanish ave, meaning any bird, even those that don’t fly like a penguin. Though hega means to fly, so this might be completely wrong…
  • For its size, the Basque Country has a diverse set of bioclimatic zones that host different types of birds. On the immediate coast is the Atlantic zone, more inland the Mediterranean zone, and there is the transition zone in between. These different zones offer distinct habitats for different types of birds.
  • When we speak of birds from the Basque Country, we have to remember that birds are very mobile animals and aren’t confined to any one specific region. They migrate. However, the Basque Country, by virtue of its location and varied climates, offers a wide variety of birds that do call the Basque Country home for some part of the year.
  • Thus, there are a multitude of birds that pass through the Basque Country. One guide of some of the birds of Euskadi can be found here; it includes pictures, names, times of year to see each bird, and their sizes. A similar guide for the birds found just in the Urdaibai Reserve can be found here. eBird lists all of the birds that have been spotted this year.
  • Txoriak.eus is worth mentioning separately. It lists all of the birds found in the Basque Country and they provide recordings of the songs of each bird. However, one of the goals is to preserve the Basque names for these birds, which are being lost amongst the younger generations of Basque speakers. For example, for the common kestrel, they give nearly 20 different names in Basque, with a map that tells you what region called the bird by each name. For the common swift, there are nearly 40 names!
  • There are several sites one can visit to observe birds in the Basque Country. I’ve written about Urdaibai before, but there are many more. Txingudi, which sits at the border between Spain and France, is a great place to see both continental birds as well as sea birds that travel along the coast. In Araba there is the Lagunas de Laguardia which consists of four wetlands that are the breeding grounds for several species. Araba also boasts Valderejo National Park, which is home to many rock-dwelling birds. These are only a few, and more can be found here. And a detailed guide with maps can be found here, though the birdingeuskadi.net website they point to is dead.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Avistamiento de aves, otro atractivo turístico, Basque Magazine

Thanks to Felip Holbrook and Lisa Van De Graaff for inspiring this Fact of the Week.

Diaspora, People

My Great-Grandparents – Nire Birraitona-Amonak – Blas and Ines

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My mom’s dad’s parents were both from the Basque Country. Blas Telleria was from Mutiloa, Gipuzkoa while Ines Eiguren was from Lekeitio, Bizkaia. They met in Jordan Valley, Oregon, where they had both made their way to find a better life.

Blas and Ines from Sol Silen’s book La Historia de los Vascongados en el Oeste.

Blas was born in 1877. Mutiloa is a very small town, even smaller than Jordan Valley – its population is about 250 people. Despite its size, it still hosts the three elements of every Basque town – the church, the fronton, and the bar. I’ve driven through a few times, though never really stopped to explore. At one time, outside of town, there were three Telleria baserriak. My friend Joseba Etxarri helped me find them and I took my mom there once. All three have collapsed and are overrun with weeds.

I’d heard stories that Blas was a merchant marine and that, during one of his voyages, he jumped ship somewhere in South America and made his way north to the United States. However, he also appears in the records on Ellis Island, meaning he came the more typical way. Whatever the story, after arriving in the United States in 1900, he made his way to Idaho and then Oregon. He first herded sheep until he earned enough money to buy his own flock, which at one point numbered some 8,000. In 1911, he married Ines Eiguren, who had also made her way to that same small town in Oregon. Blas had a number of siblings back in Mutiloa, but if he kept any kind of contact with them, I have no idea. All connections to that side of the family have been lost. Interestingly, there is a Telleria family in Mutiloa that makes cheese. I’ve tried to reach out to them to see if they might be related, but have not had any response…

While it doesn’t seem Blas had any specific draw to Jordan Valley – there was no one there that encouraged him to come – Ines had her uncle, Jose Navarro. Along with his partner Antonio Azcuenaga, Jose was possibly the first Basque to reach Jordan Valley and the US northwest. Jose encouraged a number of his nephews and nieces to come to Oregon, and Ines was one of them. Ines came from an extremely large family – in all, she had 13 siblings. I had the fortune to meet two of the youngest girls – Filomena and Josefa – in Lekeitio when I went there for the first time in 1991-92. They had never married, instead taking on the task of caring for their elderly mother. By the time I met them, they were quite old themselves, their mother having long passed. It seems they hadn’t approved of their brother-in-law Blas, though exactly why, I cannot say.

Three Telleria baserriak, now in ruins. It’s been a while, but I believe these photos were taken by Joseba Etxarri. Thanks to Lisa Van De Graaff for scanning them for me.

Ines was born in 1892 and her parents, Jose Eiguren and Jacoba Navarro (Jose’s older sister), lived in a small house on the estate of the Adán de Yarza family, a wealthy family who had gained even more wealth by bringing pine trees from the United States to the Basque Country. (All those pines that cover the Basque Country? They aren’t native…) Jose and Jacoba worked as the groundskeepers for the Adán de Yarza family and their house sat on the banks of the river. The Adán de Yarza’s palace has now been turned into a hotel and I believe that Jose and Jacoba’s place still sits behind it.

Blas’s second surname was Goya. Yeah, the same as that Goya. The famous Goya’s great-great grandfather was from Zerain, which is not far from Mutiloa. I’ve always wondered if there was a connection but I have yet to demonstrate one.

Blas died long before I was born – he died before my mom was born – in 1943. Ines was much younger and lived a longer life. She died in 1979, after I was born so I’m sure I met her, but I have no memories of her. Of course, I got my name from Blas.

Basque Fact of the Week, Diaspora, People

Basque Fact of the Week: Domingo Bastanchury, the “Father of Fullerton”

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So many of the Basques that immigrated to the United States made a huge and lasting mark on their local communities. We are all familiar with the Basque communities of Boise and San Francisco, and the men and women who built them. However, the Basque influence reaches so much further. Domingo Bastanchury, sometimes called the Father of Fullerton, was one such pioneer. At one point, the ranch he started held the largest citrus grove in the world.

Portrait of Domingo Bastanchury. Photo from Fullerton History.
  • Domingo Bastanchury was born in Aldudes, Nafarroa Beherea in 1838 or 1839. His father was Gracian Bastanchury. At the age of 21, Domingo left Europe, sailing around the cape of South America to reach California after six months. He set foot in San Francisco on October 12, 1859. There, he began his career as a sheep and cattle herder.
  • In 1874, he married Maria Oxarat (written as Oxarart in some texts), who was also from Aldudes. While Domingo was herding sheep, Maria was at home, raising their family in a small house miles from anyone else. They had four sons – Gaston, Joseph, John, and Dominic.
  • As a herder, Bastanchury saved his money and soon acquired his own land and sheep. At one point, he was the largest sheep herder in what was then Los Angeles Country (now Orange County), owning between 15 and 20,000 sheep. He also owned some 8000-10000 acres of land near present-day Fullerton that he originally herded on. He was the first Basque sheepman to raise sheep in the area. The first laborers on his ranch were Native Americans.
  • After his death in 1909, his sons eventually shifted to growing citrus trees – at one time they had the largest citrus grove in the world. Particularly after World War I, their production of fruit became prolific and was known across the world. However, during the Great Depression, much of the family’s holdings had to be sold off.
  • Bastanchury’s impact on the economics of the area were so profound that he was sometimes called the “father of Fullerton.” Some accounts call him the first non-native person to settle in the area.
  • As many Basque immigrants, Bastanchury didn’t speak English when he arrived in the United States. In fact, he never learned to read or write the language, instead relying upon Maria to do the books for the business. In fact, not long after getting married, Bastanchury had sent his new bride to the Sisters of Charity Catholic School in Los Angeles to learn English and accounting.
  • On their ranch, the Bastanchurys had a fronton where other Basques, several recruited from the old country to work on the ranch, would gather and play pelota.

A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.

Primary sources: Fame for Immigrant Boy Started Bastanchury Ranch, Roch Bradshaw, Orange County Historical Society; Fullerton History; Various newspaper clippings about Basques, including Bastanchury