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Mari (goddess)
Encyclopedia
Anboto
Anboto is a limestone mountain of the Western Basque Country, the highest peak of the Urkiola range and not far from the pass of Urkiolamendi between Durango and Vitoria-Gasteiz.- Description :...
") and the possibly distinct Murumendiko Dama ("lady of Murumendi") was a goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
— a lamia — of the Basques
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
. She was married to the god
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
Sugaar
Sugaar
In Basque mythology, Sugaar is the male half of a pre-Christian Basque deity associated with storms and thunder. He is normally imagined as a dragon or serpent. Unlike his female consort, Mari, there are very few remaining legends about Sugaar...
(also known as Sugoi or Majue). Legends connect her to the weather: that when she and Majue travelled together hail
Hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone. Hail stones on Earth consist mostly of water ice and measure between and in diameter, with the larger stones coming from severe thunderstorms...
would fall, that her departures from her cave would be accompanied by storms or droughts, that which cave she lived in at different times would determine dry or wet weather: wet when she was in Anboto
Anboto
Anboto is a limestone mountain of the Western Basque Country, the highest peak of the Urkiola range and not far from the pass of Urkiolamendi between Durango and Vitoria-Gasteiz.- Description :...
, dry when she was elsewhere (the details vary). Other places with where she was said to dwell include the chasm of Murumendi, the cave of Gurutzegorri (Ataun
Ataun
Ataun is a town located at the foot of the Aralar Range in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, northern Spain.-External links:* *...
), Aizkorri and Aralar
Aralar Range
Aralar aran'+'larre', meaning 'valley field') is the Basque name for a mountain range, which broadly speaking separates the province of Gipuzkoa from Navarre in the North of Spain...
, although it is not always possible to be certain which Basque legends should be considered to pertain to the same lamia.
Etymology
There is much confusion over the origin of the name Mari. For some it is just the transposition of the ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
name of the mother of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, Mary, but others prefer to believe that it is a modification of Emari (gift) or Amari (mother + the suffix of profession) by losing the first vowel. The closeness in names may have helped turn the Pagan worship of the goddess Mari into a Christian veneration of the Virgin Mary. The first known written citation of the Dame of Amboto was made by Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
's chronicler Esteban de Garibay Zamalloa in his Memorial histórico español.
Beliefs associated with Mari
Sugaar
In Basque mythology, Sugaar is the male half of a pre-Christian Basque deity associated with storms and thunder. He is normally imagined as a dragon or serpent. Unlike his female consort, Mari, there are very few remaining legends about Sugaar...
meet every Friday (the night of the Akelarre or witch-meeting) to conceive then the storms that will bring fertility (and sometimes disgrace) to the land and the people. Mari is served by a court of sorginak
Sorginak
Sorginak are the assistants of the goddess Mari in Basque mythology. It is also the Basque name for witches or pagan priestesses , being difficult to discern between the mythological and real ones.Sometimes sorginak are confused with lamiak...
(witches), and is said to feed on the negation and affirmation (that is on falsehood).
Occasionally the figure of Mari is linked to the kidnapping or theft of cows, but the presence of Christian priests in those myths may indicate that they are actually Christian fabrications or distortions. In fact it doesn't seem that any kind of sacrifices were offered, at least normally, to Mari, in contrast to what happened with lesser spirits (lamiak, jentilak, etc.), who were given food as payment for their work in the fields.
In various legends Mari is said to have sons or daughters, but their number and character fluctuates. Maybe the most famous were her two sons, Atxular and Mikelatz. Atxular represents largely the Christianized Basque soul, becoming a priest after having learned from the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
himself in a church in Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
and then having escaped. Mikelatz instead seems to have a more negative or wild character and is sometimes assimilated into the spirit of storms, Hodei or embodied as young red bull.
Another legend presents Mari as wife to the Lord of Biscay
Biscay
Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao...
, Diego López de Haro. This marriage may symbolize the legitimacy of the dynasty, much in the style of the Irish goddess marrying the kings of that island as a religious act of legitimacy. In any case, the condition that Mari imposes to her husband is that, while he could keep his Christian faith, he was obliged to keep it outside the home. Nevertheless, once, apparently after discovering that his wife had a goat leg instead of a normal human foot, he couldn't avoid making the sign of the cross. Immediately after that sacrilegious act, Mari took her daughter, jumped through the window and disappeared, never to ever come back. This outcome can obviously be seen as delegitimizing the de Haro family, who, after all, had been placed as lords by the Castilian conquerors not long before.
Other legends are much simpler. For example, there is a legend that when one is lost in the wild, one only has to cry her name loudly three times to have her to appear over one's head and so find the right way.
The belief in Oñate
Oñate
Oñate is an older spelling of Oñati, a town in Gipuzkoa, SpainIt is also a Basque surname and may refer to:* Juan de Oñate, an explorer and early governor of the New Spain province of New Mexico* Cristóbal de Oñate, a conquistador and father of Juan de Oñate...
was that the weather would be wet when she was in Anboto, dry when she was in Aloña
Alona
Alona is a genus of cladocerans in the family Chydoridae. It is one of the largest genera of Cladocera, and is widely believed to be an artificial group which is in need of systematic revision; the type species is Alona quadrangularis...
. In Zeanuri
Zeanuri
Zeanuri is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain.-External links:*...
, Biscay
Biscay
Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao...
, they say that she would stay seven years in Anboto, then the next seven in a cave in Oiz
Oiz
Mount Oiz , is one of the most popular summits of Biscay in the Basque Country . Its summits form part of a long range that feeds several rivers: Ibaizabal, Artibai, Lea, Oka and Deva in Gipuzkoa all of them running to the Bay of Biscay....
called Supelegor. A similar legend in Olaeta, Biscay substitutes Gorbea
Gorbea
Gorbea or Gorbeia is a mountain and massif, the highest in Biscay and Alava , with a height of 1,481 m AMSL. The massif covers a wide area between the two provinces. The main mountain is a round grass-covered summit where a 20-metre-tall metallic cross has been constructed to reach the altitude of...
for Supelegor.
Another legend from Otxandio
Otxandio
Otxandio is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain.Athletic Bilbao left-back Koikili Lertxundi was born in Otxandio.-External links:*...
, Biscay has it that she was born in Lazkao
Lazkao
Lazkao is a town and municipality located in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Autonomous Community in Northern Spain.-Location:...
, Gipuzkoa, and that she was the evil sister of a Roman Catholic priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
. In other legends, the priest is her cousin Juanito Chistu, rather than a brother, and is a great hunter. She was said to take a distaff
Distaff
As a noun, a distaff is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly used to hold flax, and sometimes wool, but can be used for any type of fiber. Fiber is wrapped around the distaff, and tied in...
by the middle and walk along spinning, and leaving storms in her wake.
In Elorrieta, Biscay, it was said that she would be in her cave, combing her hair, and not even a shepherd could draw near to her. It was also said that her malign power did not extend to those who were innocent of sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
.
Folklorist Resurrección María de Azkue
Resurrección María de Azkue
Resurrección María de Azkue was an influential Basque priest, musician, poet, writer, sailor and academic. He made several made several major contributions to the study of the Basque language and was the first head of the Euskaltzaindia, the Academy of the Basque Language...
ties Mari Urraca to a legend about a princess of the Kingdom of Navarre
Kingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
, widow of a 12th-century nobleman who lived in the Tower of Muncharaz in the valley known as the Merindad de Durango. She vanished at the time of his death and was said to have headed for the cave of Anboto. According to Azkue, Iturriza tells this story in his Historia de Vizcaya; Labayru in her Historia de Vizcaya doubts it.
Legends attached to the Lady of Murumendi, according to Azkue, include that she had seven brothers and was changed into a witch for her disobedience, that the weather would be warm (or that it would be turbulent) when she walked about. In Beizama, Gipuzkoa, they say that if she stays in her cave and if on the day of the Holy Cross appropriate spells are cast, hail can be prevented. They also say that she and her husband once went to church in a cart and that upon leaving church she rose into the air saying "Domingo, Domingo el de Murua, siete hijos para el mundo, ninguno para el cielo" ("Domingo, Domingo of Murua
Murua
Murua or Murúa is a Basque surname and may refer to:*Ainhoa Murua*Fray Martin de Murua , Mercedarian missionary to colonial Peru and author of Historia general del Piru *Lautaro Murúa - Chilean film actor....
, seven children for the world, none for the sky").
Mari was associated with various forces of nature, including thunder
Thunder
Thunder is the sound made by lightning. Depending on the nature of the lightning and distance of the listener, thunder can range from a sharp, loud crack to a long, low rumble . The sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning produces rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within...
and wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
. As the personification of the Earth her worship may have been associated with that of Lurbira
Lurbira
Lurbira was the goddess of the earth in the religion of the ancient Basques. She was the mother of Ekhi and Ilazki.-Sources:*: A translation of the Spanish-language article at the Auñamendi Encyclopedia....
. Mari's consort was Maju; their children included the benign spirit Atarrabi and the evil spirit Mikelats.
Mari was regarded as the protectoress of senators and the executive branch. She is depicted as riding through the sky in a chariot pulled by horses or rams. Her idols
Cult image
In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents...
usually feature a full moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
behind her head.
Mari is the main character of Basque mythology
Basque mythology
The mythology of the ancient Basques largely did not survive the, albeit late, arrival of Christianity in the Basque Country between the 4th and 12th century AD...
, having, unlike other creatures that share the same spiritual environment, a god-like nature. Mari is often witnessed as a woman dressed in red. She is also seen as woman of fire, woman-tree and as thunderbolt. Additionally she is identified with red animals (cow, ram, horse) and with the black he-goat.
Christianization
According to some anthropologists, Santa MarinaSaint Marina
Saint Marina may refer to:*Saint Margaret of Antioch, also known as Saint Margaret the Virgin, Saint Marina the Martyr or Agia Marina by the Orthodox Church...
, a saint revered in the Basque Country
Basque Country (historical territory)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....
, is in actuality a Christianized version of Mari. Basque women still invoke Santa Marina's protection against curses and for aid in childbirth. http://www.pantheon.org/
Nevertheless the most accepted synchretism is that with Virgin Mary, which is widely venerated by modern Christian Basques.