Witches in Biscay
Here are several stories of witches in Biscay: sorcerer of Zeanuri, the peak of Morga, a small glass of wine, five towers, hue horse, the fisherman and the little dog, two witches friends of wine, maria minez, a mysterious whistle, the witches of askondo, wind of witches.
The sorcerer of Zeanuri
One day in the year of our Lord 1572, someone tersely stated "that in the church of Cenauri and its surroundings there are many wizards and witches who do a lot of mischief." A certain Pedro de Aranguren went further by denouncing Juan De Goitia and his eldest daughter for having practiced acts of witchcraft, superstition and exorcism. Obviously, his specialty was to prevent newlywed couples from having successful carnal intercourse.
The accuser assured that the famous witch, without him realizing it, had left him awkward for coitus by hanging on his clothes.
El denunciante aseguré that the mentada bruja, y sin que el se percatase, lo habia dejado inhâbil para el coito colo: candole en la ropa un saquito de lienzo, que contenia “el; euero de una culebra, y como una hebra de hilo negro, y otra hebra de hilo nuevo de la tierra, y otra hebra de hilo blanco, y un poquito de cera colorada con su pabilo, y un poco de estopa, y un pedazo de insignia de bula con otro pedazo de lienzo, in which estaba the bula con sus cabos de hilo blanco ”.
Mayora traté de defenderse alegando que todos los dichos objectos "eran cosas benditas, porque de un modo u otro habfan sido bendecidos en la iglesia". Ademâs, nego que, si por descuido se los habia puesto ella, no se los puso a sabiendas.
Finally, Juan de Goitia hopes to satisfy a multitude of six thousand maravedfs, and to fulfill a duty of destierro of Zeanuri. In Mayora it is condensed to “that fuese sacada de la carcel donde estaba en bestia de albarda, atadas las manos y colgadas del pescuezo las cosas de hechicerfa, y que fuese trafda a la vergiienza publica con voz de prego-nero”, amén de very mil maravedfs de multa y dos afios de destierro de todo el Sefiorfo de Bizkaia. Therefore, the vfc-tima of tan “terrible” hechizos logro curarse of its impo-tencia, sf, but porque se gasté sus buenos dineros en misas y acudiendo a curandero de Urdufia, que si no….
The summit of Morga
It was said that witches lived in the sorginzilo (witches' hole in Basque), on a hill located near the parish church of Morga. For this, the neighbors of this village avoided coming to this place after dark.
However, a brave girl from the village made a bet with her friends that she was capable of going alone to the disturbing cave at this summit and uttering some impertinence against the inhabitants of the place which she obviously did not believe.
Certainly she did but we cannot confirm it because of the carelessness, the only thing that we found was an intimate item of clothing that she wore that evening. It was hanging on some brambles at the entrance to the cave, completely torn and with bloodstains.
A small glass of wine
One night, a man from Murueta was returning home from the tavern. He was walking bumpily, the result of a very dewy evening when, passing through the Etxebartxukolanda esplanade, he suddenly found himself in the middle of a circle of women. These women were lightly dressed and our man, despite his confusion, thinking of wanton people, stood in front of them and began to look at them insolently.
The women did not seem bothered by the night owl's impertinence, nor did they cover their nudity. On the contrary, some of them approached the drunk casually, looking at him insolently in turn, said to him:
– Ask us what you want, this night we are in a good mood, we will give it to you!
- What I want ? what I want ? the man asked, looking at them with greedy eyes and repeated winks.
- Yes! What you want! They confirmed.
The man remained thoughtful for a moment, cleared his throat and said:
– So, in that case, I want a glass of wine!
Amidst the laughter, other women approached the drunkard with a small glass of wine in their hand and handed it to him very affectionately.
The man took the glass, raised it for a moment, as if to toast with them, and drank it dry. After a few belches and drying his lips with the back of his sleeve, he exclaimed:
- God ! what a delicious wine!
With these words the women began to scream like crazy at the same time as they left the place, running desperately. Finally, opening and closing his eyes, the drunkard found himself on the esplanade all alone, his glass in his hand. It wasn't long before he was running home like crazy despite his condition. And for good reason, he had just looked in his glass and saw with horror and disgust that it was full of filthy creatures.
Five rounds
One night, a heated discussion animated a group of spinners from Elorrio on the merits or not of doing a few laps around the church.
– If you walk around the church nothing happens, said one of them.
– If you do three tricks you turn into a witch insisted another.
– If you do five tricks, the evil spirits of the night will delight you with a third.
In short, all these women gave their opinions on these thoughts with more or less conviction.
Well, not exactly all of them, no, because there was one silent breastfeeding her baby while the others were discussing. But the latter, when the baby in her arms had finished, entered into the discussion with her neighbors, saying in a decided tone:
– I bet you that I can walk around the church five times right now to prove to you that you are all wrong!
The girls first looked at her with their mouths open, very surprised.
But as the girl insisted on her proposal, finally all agreed to participate with small coins on this improvised bet.
Finally the gambling spinner left the house a few moments later, with her little one in her arms, taking the path to the parish church, followed with some fear by the other spinners.
And, without realizing it, she made a complete turn around the temple. Then she made another, and another, and yet another. But at the time of concluding the last one, in the silence of the night, a strange voice, disagreeable and demonic, sprang up which says in Basque:
– Ezkerrak besuan darojazun umetxu orri bestela etziñien luzaruan bizi izango!
Which means:
– Thank the little one you carry in your arms because otherwise you would not have lived long!
Never again did these spinners make bets, and the bettor had no desire to continue to persist in this very worrying matter.
Never again!
Hue horse!
Returning one night from Amoroto's tavern to his house, Pedro de Otxabio found himself facing a horse standing in the middle of the path to Arbifie. The latter not moving, our night owl shouted to him:
– Boo! horse !
The animal did not make the slightest movement to move away or let him pass, so the man repeated:
– boo! horse ! but the animal remained in its positions.
The night owl was about to shout a third time when he saw the horse snort threateningly. He got goosebumps.
Then, when the man slowly tried to retrace his steps to move away, he felt that the horse, in addition to snorting again, had begun to advance towards him, not without concealing bad intentions.
It was at this moment that the man began to run like crazy towards the tavern, arriving there in an instant, feeling on his neck the breath of the horse which was about to reach him. Luckily, in front of this inn there was a cross and as he passed it, the man crossed himself. At the same moment, he discovered that the horse had disappeared and, in its place, a horrifying old woman who was running in disappointment, fleeing the scene.
There was no doubt for Pedro de Otxabio that that night he had met a witch.
The fisherman and the little dog
A fisherman from Bermeo who was returning home one night from the quay, carrying an oar and a basket full of fish on his shoulder, came across a small dog on his way who stood in front of him, barking like crazy. The man was not afraid but shouted at him to make him leave. As he did not seem to obey him, the sailor kicked the ground several times, even pretending to kick him.
Better, instead of fleeing, the dog redoubled its barking, still standing threateningly in front of the man. Finally, tired of so many cries, the fisherman grabbed his oar and dealt him a terrible blow which ended up making the animal flee with its tail between its legs until he lost sight of it.
The next day, an old woman from the village, hobbling with her foot gashed, came to the fisherman's house, shouting:
– Murderer, criminal, I am going to report you to justice because last night you hit me with an oar!
The man remained silent as he saw and listened to this old woman, rubbed his chin, finally shrugged his shoulders with a gesture of indifference and replied:
– If you report me for assault, I will report you for witchcraft, what do you think?
The old woman looked at him intensely with eyes full of hatred, but not only did she not respond but turned around and left where she came from muttering a few imprecations.
Naturally there was no denunciation.
Two wine-friendly witches
It is said that somewhere in Bizkaia, transformed into ants, witches entered a hall where barrels of wine were kept through the keyhole and spent their time drinking good wine. Shortly before dawn, they took the opposite route, quietly slipping away. So, one night, then another and another... until one night, while they were having their fill of this particularly delicious good wine, one of them could not help but exclaim :
– God, this wine is good!
Immediately she regained the appearance of a normal woman. The other witch proclaimed:
- What a stupid thing! How could you say such a thing?
Finally, as it was getting light, the one with the ant appearance quietly slipped away but the other remained trapped, unable to escape. When day broke, the young man from the market found himself among the barrels with a completely naked woman, half drunk, trembling with cold and fear, almost falling backwards. But quickly recovered and as soon as the surprise passed he gave him a blanket to cover himself with. This is how, not without forcing her to tell her story, the boy learned her story.
We thus learned of the adventure of the two witches in love with good wine.
Maria Minez, witch
During her first pregnancy, Maria Minez frequently thought she was pregnant by the devil. In addition, she often repeated to her neighbors:
– If the pregnancy is to succeed, I must give birth to the antiChrist! If it's the devil, I must also give birth to an antiChrist!
Those who heard it hastily moved away, crossing themselves, terrified, and a bigot blurted out:
– So little fear of God!
Maria's pregnancy came to term and she gave birth to a wonderful little girl whom they named Catalina (Katalintxe for friends).
Maria found herself pregnant again and for the second time she spent days repeating:
– This time, yes, it’s the demon and I’m going to give birth to an anti-Christ… where I will die when the day comes!
Her prognosis was confirmed not that she had given birth to an anti-Christ but after several dizziness, flatulence and farts of very varying intensity, Maria died suddenly during her second childbirth.
– She died as she wished: broken down, exhausted and without giving birth! exclaimed a few relieved neighbors signing up again.
– And without confession! added the bigot.
But if Maria did not give birth to an anti-Christ, it is certain that she had given birth to a witch. This is what was said about Catalina, his daughter, during the trial which took place in Bilbao around the middle of the 16th century. If the mother was saved from this trial it was because she was already dead. These are the things of history.
A mysterious whistle
One night, returning from his work and absorbed in his thoughts, Prasku the charcoal burner passed over Arkiola. He heard a continuous whistle which made him look around but as he saw no one, he continued walking.
The next night, passing the same place, Prasku was again surprised by the same continuous whistle, and, again, looked around him. As he still saw no one, he shouted an imprecation, thinking he was the victim of a prankster, and continued his walk even more upset.
But on the third night, still passing the same place and still hearing this whistle, Prasku decided to conscientiously inspect the area, convinced that there was someone stationed there, certainly a prankster. However, he saw no one this time either on this esplanade surrounded by rocks except for a single tree with twisted and bare branches and a very stylized trunk.
The following day, Prasku, who could not get this strange whistle out of his thoughts and willing to solve this riddle, decided to go to the place before sunset, determined to surprise the one who whistled him like this every evening. He had planned everything well. He would go to the esplanade and hide behind the only tree. He would be armed with a thick and solid club.
“Let's see if the funny guy would still want to whistle after meeting him! »
But Prasku could not hide behind the tree that evening, no, because he discovered with indescribable astonishment and panic, that in this place there was no tree nor the slightest trace that there had been one. , A day.
Prasku, the charcoal burner, ran away from this esplanade at the top of Urkiola, which seemed to him the most sinister place, and never passed that way again.
Never again, not even once, never did he see this place again in all of his remaining life.
The Witches of Askondo
One evening, a young spinner from the Inzunza farm returned home from work. Passing in front of the entrance to a cave in Azkondo, which is opposite the cave of San Lorenzo, an old woman with a very disturbing face came out onto the path and recriminated:
– If you decide to stop by here next time, we will teach you a lesson!
The young girl continued on her way, furious at the insolence of an old stranger, and arrived home without incident. The following night, returning home after her work as a spinner and remembering the old woman's words, not only did she not take them into consideration to change route but arrived in front of the entrance to the cave and remained there, her arms crossed, defiant.
Nothing more was known about this young spinner. Having never returned to the farm and never been traced, it is believed that she was captured by the witches living at Azkondo Cave.
Witches Wind
It used to be said that the owner of the Gonzogarai farm in Ziortza was very prone to gossip. So much and so much backbiting about anything that upset him that he ended up worrying his own family and even his neighbors.
– This habit you have of cursing all the time, one day you will have disappointments! his best friends often told him.
Yet he took no notice of it.
– Cursed be! what inconvenience are you bringing me? What an inconvenience! he got annoyed when he heard these things.
And indeed he had a setback, a big setback. One evening, when as usual he was launching one of the worst slanders in the world, a violent swirling wind arose around him, the one we call "sorginhaize" (wind of witches), engulfed him and lifted him several times. meters of altitude in front of the fright of the witnesses. Then, as suddenly as he had risen, the wind ceased and the backbiter fell to the ground and remained helpless forever. From that day on, the owner of Gonzogarai never thought to curse again.
