Jump to content

Basajaun

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Artist's depiction of a basajaun and his female companion, a basandere.

In Basque mythology, Basajaun (Basque: [bas̺ajaun], "Lord of the forest", plural: basajaunak, female basandere) is a huge, hairy hominid dwelling in the woods. They were thought to protect flocks of livestock, and teach skills such as agriculture and ironworking to humans.[1]

Nomenclature

[edit]

Basajaun is glossed "Lord of the forest"[1][3][5] The female counterpart is the Basandere[6] (var. "Basa Andre",[7] "Basa-Andre",[8]) probably created during a later period, by analogy.[9]

The creature is called Basajun in the Basque-Navarre valleys as well as the Aragonese Pyrenees, to where the name may have been transmitted,[2] while in the valleys of Tena, Anso and Broto, places that preserve Basque toponymy. the creature is called Basajarau, Bonjarau[2] or Bosnerau. Thus the creature also known in the neighboring regions as part of Aragonese mythology.

Basajaun is also called Ancho.[10] Thus in the tale retitled "Basajaun captured" by Vinson, Ancho is identified as equivalent to the Basajaun at the beginning of the tex.[11][12]}}

General description

[edit]

The Basajaun is said to have a tall, human form, with his face and body covered in hair, with the strands reaching the knees, walking upright like a man.[13][15] He is more agile than a stag.[15]

His two feet are differently shaped, thus leaving an odd set of foot tracks. While one foot is normal, the other one (left foot[16]) is rounded like the tree stump (base of a tree trunk[2]), and leaves circular footprints.[2][16]

He may have a single eye in the middle of the forehead,[17] though this is also the attribute of the Tartalo[18] with which the Basajaun is often confounded,[9] that is to say, the role of the giant in a certain tale type can be replaced by the "Tartaro" or "Basa Jaun", depending on the telling.[19]

The basajaunak dwells in the forests and caverns at higher altitudes.[13][9] More specifically, it is said to inhabit the mountainside of the Gorbea in Biscay Province (or the forests of Zeanuri town nearby[17]), around Ataun town which is the backwoods of neighboring Gipuzkoa Province, and the Irati Forest of the Pyrenees in Navarre Province.[20]

Far from being aggressive, the Basajaun is protective of sheep flocks from wild beasts (wolves[13]) and storms,[2][9][1] An indication of his presence is that the sheep will all start shaking their bells simultaneously, and the shepherd can go to sleep, delegating the nightwatch to the Basajaun.[13][9] When a storm (or a pack of wolves[20]) is approaching, the Basajaun makes a howling cry in the mountains to warn shepherds.[13][9] In exchange, the Basajaunak receive a piece of bread as tribute, which they collected while the shepherds were asleep.[citation needed] Naturally, the beginnings of Christianity (Kixmi) and the spread of technology coincide with the period when the Romans came to the Basque Country.[citation needed]

The Basajaun sometimes appears in the stories as terrifying man of the forest, of prodigious strength with whom it was better not to run into.[13][21]

However, Basajaun is also said to have been the world's first farmer who taught mankind how to cultivate cereals. Basajaun was also the world's first blacksmith, and miller, from whom mankind stole the secrets of making the saw, the mill axle, and the art of welding.[13] Alternatively, it was the trickster San Martin Txiki acquired these various skills from them, which he subsequently taught to humans.[21]

They were also thought to build megaliths.[citation needed]

Some scholars[22][23] have suggested that the Basajaun myth might be a folk memory of early human contact with Neanderthal populations in the Iberian Peninsula.

Folktales

[edit]

In one tale, billed as the only depiction of the Basajaun as a "vampire",[25] the wild man (Basa-Jaun) accepts three boys and a girl as servants, but the girl grows thin because he comes each evening demanding her to poke her finger through the door, and he has been sucking on the finger, which has been the cause of her languor. The children push the wild man down the ravine. But the wild woman (Basa-Andre) instructs the girl to place three large teeth in the warm water she uses to wash her brother's feet, and the boys turn into oxen. But the girl eventually finds opportunity to threaten the wild woman and learn how to undo the spell with three hazel rods.[26][24]

The candlestick of the St. Saviour

[edit]

The tale "Le Chandelier de Saint-Saveur (The candlestick of the St. Saviour)" is given in two versions. In the Mendive version, a farmhand named Hacherihargaix (fox-hard-to-catch) steals the candlestick of the Basa Andere, and is pursued by her father, the Basa Jaun. When the thief reaches the (chapel of) Saint-Saveur, the bell rings, and this somehow causes the wild man from sparing the thief and not devour him until the next opportunity, which will be when the man is fasting. One day the thief is doing farmwork without having eaten, and spots the lord of the wilderness coming. He manages to find four grains of wheat in his hair and starts chewing, which makes the Basa Jaun go away.[27][a][28] The notion that the act of eating should have certain mystical powers is characterized as rather peculiar.[29]

Three truths

[edit]

In the tale "Three Truths" published in French by Julien Vinson (1883), the shepherds move their encampment to low altitude, they forget to bring their grill to cook dough on, and 5 sous is offered to whoever volunteers to retrieve it. The shepherd who goes encounters the Basa-Jaun baking bread on it. The wild man will return the implement if the shepherd tells three truths, which he does (full moon is not really as bright as day, a well-made meturé [fr] (sort of a corn bread[b]) (or in the Basque text, good maize[c]) is not really as good as bread, and the shepherd would not have come if he knew the Basa-Jaun would be there). The Basa-Jaun admits the bargain is met, and offers the advice: never take a night job for pay, one would sooner do it for free.[32][33][d] Taboo against working nights for pay is part of Basque tradition (remarked as being "another strange idea"), and the theme occurs in a different tale where the girl who breaches the prohibition by taking a night job for 5 sous and loses her life.[7]

One-eyed basajaun blinded

[edit]

In the tale "Basajaun Blinded", two soldiers on furlough encounter a one-eyed Basa-Jaun, and one of them skewered on a spit, roasted, and eaten straightaway. The survivor, who is saved for later, sneaks up to the sleeping Basa-Jaun and drives the red hot spit through the giant's eye. Although the soldier now has a sporting chance to escape, he is tricked by the giant's gift of a ring, which starts screaming "Here I am", and which cannot be removed. The soldier cuts off the ring with his finger and throws it in a stream. Basa-Jaun dives in after and drowns.[36][37] One-eyedness is actually the typical feature of the Tartalo (Tartaro),[18] and the lore of the Tartalo and Basajaun are often mixed up,[9] as already noted. In fact, there is another version of this tale where a Tartaro is the blinded enemy, and the same talking ring motif occurs.[38][39] The narrative resembles the Greek story concerning Ulysses and the cyclops Polyphemus of the Odyssey.[37][19][e]

External soul

[edit]
See also: Sword of Light § External soul motif

There is a story entitled "Malbrouk" in the version edited by Webster, which is thought not to be a native Basque tale, but borrowed from Celtic tradition, just one of many such borrowings[42][40] involving "external soul" and "animal helpers" motifs, though similar stories are found in other cultures, e.g. Magyars (Hungary).[43]

Here Malbrouk is the name of both hero and the villain, his godfather and kidnapper. In this version, the hero escapes and later must defeat a "body without a soul", by going on a side-quest to find the egg (presumably the monster's external soul) inside the pigeon inside the fox, nested within the wolf, and to strike that egg on the "body without a soul", which is the only way to kill it. The hero is aided by the ability to transform into a wolf, dog, hawk, etc. a power conferred by his helper animals.[44][43]

There is a version of this legend featuring a "wild Tartaro" as the villain, according to Antoine d'Abbadie.[41]

An obvious cognate tale was edited with French translation by Cerquand (1882), "Les animaux secourables, et le corps sans ame (Helper animals and the body without a soul)", categorized as Aarne-Thompson type 302 "The Giant Whose Heart Was In an Egg"{{Refn|Or ATU 302 "Ogre's (Devil's) Heart in the Egg". "Conte-type 302: Les animaux secourables et le Corps sans âme".[45] The hero (here a fisherman) unknowingly enters the service of Basa Jaun in danger of being eaten. Alerted by a captured maiden, goes on his side quest defeating the dragon (Eren-Sugué, Heren-Suge, because nested inside it are the hare containing the dove containing the two eggs that are the Basa Jaun's soul. The hero here also can transform into a bear to kill the dragon, grayhound to chase the hare, the crow to snatch the dove, to accomplish his quest.[46] Cerquand notes similarity to the Scottish tale "The Young King of Easaidh Ruadh" as well as other cognates.[47] Similarity to the Norwegian tale "The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body" edited by Dasent is also mentioned as resembling a variant version.[48]

Kidnapping and failed rescue

[edit]

In the tale "Basa Jaun the kidnapper, disappointed", the basajaun abducts a shepherdess and keeps her at his hole (Ancho's Hole). The people of Béhorléguy attempt a rescue armed with crosses and holy objects, and successfully liberates her, but when the lord of the wilderness tells her to turn around, she drops dead.[49][f] This clearly parallels the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.[7]

Comparative mythology

[edit]
Further information: Wild man

The Basajaun (var. basojaun, basayaun) is considered a variety of "wild man",[50] or the Basa Andre with "wild woman", each comparable with the ogre and ogress.[7] Various cultures across Europe have their own unique concept of the "wild man", with distinct names and folklore.[51]

A comparison has been made between Basajaun and the Roman god Silvanus,[53] although it is the salvan or salvang the wild man of Lombardy which is linguistically derived from Silvanus.[51] Silvanus was more fully known as "Silvanus sylvestris deus", protector of forests and plantations, and "Silvanus agrestis", who safeguarded shepherds from harm. This pattern is also common among the different variations of the wild man myth.[citation needed]

Like the Jentil, the Basajaun is a large, hairy, wild man who lived in dark jungles and deep caves, but unlike them, he is very wise. The Basajaun is said to have been among the last of the surviving Jentilak during the arrival of Christianity. He is presented as the protective genius of the flocks, and when a storm approaches, he roars for the shepherds to protect the flock. He also prevents wolves from getting close to the herd. He has also been depicted as a fearsome and evil man of great strength.[citation needed]

Similarity between the Brazilian legendary creature pé de garrafa ("bottle foot") which leaves footprints like the bottom of a bottle, and the round footprinted (as described by Vison[16]) has also been noted by Luís da Câmara Cascudo.[54]

Iconography

[edit]

Late medieval carving depicts the basajaun at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Burgos.[6]

Explanatory notes

[edit]
  1. ^ The orally told versions redacted in Basque language are appended, Cerquand (1875a), pp. 279–280. The second "Camou-Suhast" version has lamiñac (sing.lamiña, fairy) instead of the Basa Andere.
  2. ^ meturé is also glossed as a galette made of corn.
  3. ^ Basque: "arto on".[30]
  4. ^ A Basque version from Gipuzkoa province, with Spanish translation has also been printed (together with Vinson's French text).[34]
  5. ^ Archibald H. Sayce writes that according to Antoine d'Abbadie, there is a version of this story where the hero fights with a "soul without a body", and that Webster has alludes to this also.[40] However, Webster is presumably referring to a variant (not of the blinding/ring legend ) but of the "soul without a body" and "animal helpers" motived tale which he edits under the title "Malbrouk", under which a footnote indicates that d'Abbadie knows a version involving a "wild Tartoro".[41] (Cf. § External soul below).
  6. ^ The variant "71. Le Basa Jaun ravisseur et déçu (2e Version Mendive)" was later appended Cerquand (1877), p. 494.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Lurker, Manfred [in German] (1987). "Basajaun". The Routledge Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons. Routledge. p. 30. ISBN 0-415-34018-7.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Basajarau/ Bonjarau". Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa Online (in Spanish). DiCom Medios SL. Archived from the original on 2020-07-28. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  3. ^ Spanish: "Señor de los Bosques".[2]
  4. ^ Azkue, Resurrección María de (1905). "Basajaun". Diccionario vasco-español-francés. Vol. 1. Alfred Mame et fils. pp. 135–136.
  5. ^ Spanish: "Señor de las selvas", French: "Seigneur des bois".[4]
  6. ^ a b Sherman, Josepha (2015). "Basque Folklore and Mythology". Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore. Routledge. ISBN 1317459377.
  7. ^ a b c d e Ralston, W. R. S. (17 February 1877). "Literature: Basque legends". Archéologia. 11 (250): 129–130.
  8. ^ Webster (1877), p. 50.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Estornés Lasa, Bernardo (1959). Orígenes de los vascos: Mensajes orales de las generaciones pasadas. Conclusiones particulares y generales. Vol. 4. Editorial Icharopena. p. 57. citing Barandiaran (1960), p. 75
  10. ^ Webster (1877), p. 47.
  11. ^ "IX. Basa-Jaun attrapé" Told by Marie Martirene of Mendive, aged 74. Cerquand (1876b), "29. Ancho et le Clerc", 2: 27–28, reprinted from Cerquand (1876a), pp. 201–202, Basque text: Cerquand (1876a), p. 244
  12. ^ Vinson (1883), pp. 42–43.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Martín de Retana, José María, ed. (1974). "Basajaun". Gran Enciclopedia Vasca (in Spanish). Vol. VII. Editorial La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca. p. 381.
  14. ^ Carr, Matthew (2018). "Wild Things". The Savage Frontier: The Pyrenees in History and the Imagination. Brasília: The New Press. pp. 244–269. ISBN 9781620974285. Joseph Augustin Chaho (1811–58) once described the basa-jaun as 'tall and of prodigious strength: his whole body is covered with a long smooth coat resembling hair: he walks upright like a man, surpassing the stag in agility'
  15. ^ a b Joseph Augustin Chaho quoted in translation by Carr (2018).[14]
  16. ^ a b c d Vinson (1883), p. xiii.
  17. ^ a b Barandiaran (1973), p. 44.
  18. ^ a b Carr (2018): "the one-eyed and sometimes cannibalistic giant known as the tartalo"
  19. ^ a b Webster (1877), pp. 1–2.
  20. ^ a b Walton, John K. (2017). "8. The Parque de Atracciones de Vizcaya, Artxanda, Bilbao: Provincial identity, paternalistic optimism and economic collapse, 1972–1990". In Wood, Jason (ed.). The Amusement Park: History, Culture and the Heritage of Pleasure. Routledge. p. 104. ISBN 9781317045137.
  21. ^ a b Lezama Perier, Patxi Xabier [in Basque] (2018). Mitología Vasca: Historia de los mitos y deidades del universo mitológico vasco (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  22. ^ Le Quellec, Jean-Loïc [in French] (2020). "Néandertal a été déshumanisé au prétexte de sa différence". Archéologia (585): 17. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  23. ^ Čović, Kristina (2020). Izumiranje neandertalaca: glavne teorije o nestanku interpretirane kroz prizmu prasvijesti i uz pomoć paleofikcije paleontologa Björna Kurténa pri modeliranju prapovijesnih scenarija (Master's thesis) (in Croatian). University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. p. 44. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  24. ^ a b Vaz Da Silva, Francisco (2014). "Fairy-tale symbolism". In Tatar, Maria (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Fairy Tales. Cambridge University Press. p. 104. ISBN 0-415-34018-7.
  25. ^ Vaz Da Silva,[24] after Webster (1877), p. 52n.
  26. ^ Webster (1877) "IV. Basa-jaun, Basa-Andre, and Lamiñak", pp. 47–53
  27. ^ Cerquand (1875a), pp. 247–251; Cerquand (1875b), 1: 22–27
  28. ^ Martínez de Lezea, Toti (2023) [2002]. "El Candelabro de Salbatore". Leyendas de Euskal Herria (PDF) (2 ed.). Madrid: Erein. pp. 84–88. ISBN 978-84-9109-736-5.
  29. ^ Ralston doen't explicitly say this is peculiar or "strange", but he follows this comment with another, prefaced as "another strange idea.." (taboo against night work, see below)[7]
  30. ^ Cerquand (1875b), p. 29n
  31. ^ Vinson (1883), pp. 10–11.
  32. ^ "I. Les trois Vérités" Told by Mr. Barhendi of Musculdy. Cerquand (1876b), "31. [Les Trois Vérités (version de Musculdy)]", 2: 29, note (1), reprinted from Cerquand (1876a), p. 203, n (1); Basque text: Cerquand (1876a), pp. 245–246[31]
  33. ^ Cerquand (1875b), pp. 28–29 (footnote)
  34. ^ Manterola, José (1883). "Iru Egiyak; Las Tres Verdades". Euskel-erria：Revista bascongada (in Basque and Spanish). IX: 402, 403.
  35. ^ Vinson (1883), pp. 43–45.
  36. ^ "X. Basa-Jaun aveuglé" Told by Jean Sallaber of Aussurucq. Cerquand (1878), "52. Le Tartare et Les Deux Soldats (Version d'Aussurueq.) A." Volume 3, pp. ??, reprinted after Cerquand (1877), pp. 452–453; Basque text: Cerquand (1877), pp. 502–504.[35]
  37. ^ a b Apollodorus (1921). Frazer, James George (ed.). The Library. Vol. 2. W. Heinemann. pp. 414–415.
  38. ^ Frazer ed. (1921), pp. 413–414.
  39. ^ Cerquand (1877), pp. 454–455: "53. Le Tartare aveuglé (version d'Esquiule). B."; Basque text: Cerquand (1877), pp. 504–505
  40. ^ a b Sayce, Archibald H. (8 March 1877). "The Basques". Nature. 15: 394–396.
  41. ^ a b Webster (1877), p. 82, note ‡
  42. ^ & Webster (1877). "Tales like the Keltic", pp. 77–157.
  43. ^ a b Frazer, James George (1913). "The External Soul in Folk-Tales". The Golden Bough. Vol. 11. London: Macmillan. p. 139.
  44. ^ & Webster (1877), pp. 77–87.
  45. ^ Bozóky, Edina (1883). "Roman médiéval et conte populaire : le château désert". Ethnologie française, nouvelle serie (in French). 4 (4): 355. JSTOR 40988317.
  46. ^ Cerquand (1882b). "98.[→96a, followed by 97] Les animaux secourables, et le corps sans ame", 4: 62–67, reprinted from Cerquand (1882a), pp. 162–167
  47. ^ Cerquand (1882b), p. 62.
  48. ^ Cerquand (1882b), p. 76.
  49. ^ Cerquand (1876b) "33. Le Basa Jaun ravisseur et déçu", pp. 34–36, Basque text: Cerquand (1876a), p. 247
  50. ^ French: homme sauvage.[16]
  51. ^ a b Bernheimer, Richard (1952). Wild men in the Middle Ages: A Study in Art, Sentiment and Demonology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 42. ISBN 0-374-90616-5. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  52. ^ Leeming, David (2003). From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology. Oxford University Press. p. 134. ISBN 9780190286712.
  53. ^ Leeming[52] citing Blazquiez [es], "Basque Religion" Translated by Erica Melzer, in The Encyclopedia of Religion. 2:80
  54. ^ Cascudo, Luís da Câmara (1962) [1954]. "Pé-de-garrafa". Dicionário do folclore brasileiro (in Portuguese). Vol. 2 (J–Z) (2 ed.). Brasília: Instituto Nacional do Livro. p. 583; Vol. 1 (A–I)

Bibliography

[edit]

See also

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Basajaun&oldid=1287585415"