#zugarramurdi

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

FIRST 2, Sculpture Dpt. of St. Martin's School of Art, London, 1960 (on cover The Venus of Willendorf, possibly in the hand of her finder, Johann Veran or Josef Veram, 1908)

[archivist-crow]

Zugarramurdi witches (1610) - Witches in the Basque village of Zugarramurdi, some of whom were accused of vampiric behavior.

The trials of the witches from June 10 to November 8, 1610, were an attempt by the Spanish Supreme Inquisition to stem public hysteria over witches and sorcerers. Six persons were executed by burning.

Zugarramurdi, a Navarre town on the borders of the Labour region, was steeped in superstition about witchcraft. Nearby was a large subterranean cave, cut through by a river called the Infernukeorreka, or "stream of Hell," where villagers believed witches gathered and practiced their abominations.

Inquisitor Don Juan Valle Alvarado spent several months gathering testimony, which cast suspicion of witchcraft crimes upon nearly 300 adults and also on some children. Testimony of wild diabolical activities was accepted without question. Alvarado determined that 40 of the suspects were guilty and had them arrested and taken to Logrono for trial before three judges.

According to the testimony given at the trials, the Zugarramurdi witches were organized in a hierarchy. At the top were senior sorcerers and witches, followed by second-grade initiates who served as tutors of novices. First-grade initiates were responsible for making poisons and casting spells. Children were recruited. They all worshiped an ugly, gargoyle like devil.

The witches were accused of shape-shifting into animal forms; casting evil spells upon humans, animals, and crops; poisoning humans and animals; and vampirism and cannibalism.

They allegedly poisoned animals and murdered human beings by administering poisonous powder or ointments that caused people to become ill and die. Villagers claimed the witches stole children out of their beds at night, carried them off, and drank their blood and ate them. Some cases of vampirism of adults were given at court.

Of the 40 accused witches, 18 confessed and begged for mercy. They were reconciled with the church. Six were burned at the stake. Five of the accused died during the trials; effigies of them were burned along with the six who were executed. The remaining 11 presumably were not convicted.

Text from The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters (Checkmark Books, 2005) by Rosemary Guiley

[mattievictoria]

Happy Summer Solstice to those in the Northern Hemisphere! This year I did some art inspired by the Akelarre celebrations held in the Cave of Zugarramurdi in Northern Spain!

[soulsanitarium]

Spain🇪🇸 Here's everything I found, organized by my favorites…

No 1. Netflix movie Akelarre - Coven (2020) Great and beautiful film, loads of history here⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (see my previous post about the real history behind this film)

No 2. Witches Mountain🏔El Monte de las Brujas (1972) could be a great movie, but the execution is so poor that it ruins the experience. A photographer takes an assignment in the Pyrenees just across the Spanish border, but soon has supernatural encounters (witches). Waiting for the re-make!

No 3. Witching & Bitching - Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi (2013) has received a controversial reception, I think it was fun and entertaining. The Caves of Zugarramurdi have a historical connection to the Basque witch trials in Navarra. Zugarramurdi is near what is now the French-Spanish border, where there is also a water stream (Olabidea or Infernuko erreka, "Hell's stream") was said to be the meeting place of the witches.

Perhaps here the most interesting seems to be the story of LaCelestina (1499) and I noticed that it was translated into Finnish in 2019 (going to get the book) 📖 The trials of the Basque witches conducted during the 16th and early 17th centuries had a significant effect on the development of Golden Age Spanish Literature.

Often considered the first European novel, La Celestina was profoundly influential in the development of European prose fiction and is valued by critics today as much for its greatness as literature as for its historical significance. No 4. La Celestina (1996) with Penelope Cruz is good - and very romantic- but not a great movie. I haven’t seen the older versions ( poster below).

No 5. I tried to watch 1984 film Akelarre- mixed documentary & fiction - but I found only few parts with translation, its content did not seem very science-based, but otherwise interesting.

Few witch trials facts from the area of 🇪🇸 :

TheSpanish inquisition rescued countless of ’witches’ from local legal witch processes (Henningsen 1980; Ankarloo & Clark 2002).

Yes, burning at the stake was used as a method of execution in Spain, unlike in most other countries (Levack 1987).

In Catalonia, the Inquisition was less respected and more people died (Ankarloo & Clark 2002).

The general discourse emphasizes the number of women as victims, but there are large regional differences. In Castile 70 % was women, but in in Aragón 70 % was men. (Schulte 2009)

Navarra is famous for the huge number of defendants, but the number of victims sentenced to death remained low due to the Inquisition.

From Zugarramurdi 6 people were burned alive, 4 women & 2 men, 13 died in prison during The Basque Witch Trials (Henningsen 1980)

*Places to see in Zugarramurdi: River Infernuko Erreka, Caves, Museum

[elyangelofdeath]

[canis-infernalis]

I think, now that it’s halloween, that it is important to remember the real witches: the herbalists and healers that got turned into evil creatures by christianism, and the people that suffered and got murdered after being accused of witchcraft.

A case that I hold very dear to my heart is that of the Witches of Zugarramurdi

In 1609 Henry IV of France commissioned judge Pierre de Lancre to put an end to the "witch plague" in the french side of the Basque Country.

Since he didn't understand basque,after interrogating locals, he reached the conclusion that there was over 3000 witches in the area.

The panic of the accusations spread and reached the spanish side of the basque country,  and a new hotspot for witchcraft was supposedly in the little village of Zugarramurdi, where hundreds of women, men and children were accused of being witches.  Many people were tortured and jail for years, some without even knowing why.

In the Auto-da-fé of 1610 carried on by the Spanish Inquisition, 6 women were burned alive, 5 were burned in effigy because they died during the tortures, and 18  got spared after confessing. 

Basque "sorginak" weren't treated as witches until the arrival of christianism to the basque country. The first clear documentation of basque "witches" is from 1415, where two women were were accused as "sorginas erboleras et faytilleras" (herbalist and witch sorginak).

The sterotype of "witch" was however set after the publication of Malleus Malleficarum in 1484, after which they were accused of having done pacts with the devil,being able to fly, and having evil powers. The Inquisition decided they were dangerous and should be eliminated.

"...if during the torture the accused died or was wounded, or if blood was shed or he was mutilated, it is his fault, and not ours, for not wanting to tell the truth"

[lobato-estepario]

“A mí las brujas no me dan miedo, lo que me dan miedo son los hijos de puta.” (Maritxu - Terele Pávez)

Las brujas de Zugarramurdi (2003) - Dir. Álex de la Iglesia

[neirahda]

ENG ~ The witch's kitchen at Zugarramurdiko Sorginen Lezea (Museum of Zugarramurdi's Witches). ESP ~ La cocina de la bruja en el Zugarramurdiko Sorginen Lezea (Museo de las brujas de Zugarramurdi).