#agate deuna

[beautiful-basque-country]

Today's Saint Agatha's - Agate Deuna in Basque - Day eve, time to sing!! Tradition asks the singers to mark the rhythm with sticks called makilak; and that’s exactly is the most interesting part.

Agate Deuna is nothing but a remain of the ancient pagan tradition of waking the earth up after winter. That’s it: we literally hit the ground with sticks. Christianism couldn’t get rid off this tradition and came up with the idea of singing to Saint Agatha instead of to Amalurra (Mother Earth), but the tradition survived.

The song is very powerful and these male choirs - very popular in EH - are always a complete delight to listen to.

[pintxotapote]

Agate deuna eguna behar bezalakoa ospatzen. 21. Gildotxa #Euskalherria #Basquecountry #Barakaldo #Gildotxa #Piparra #Oliba #Antxoak #Guindilla (en Cafetería Lagos) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoPMZQTtmTJ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[alderlyncurium]

Yesterday we celebrated St. Agatha's eve in the Basque Country. Small groups of men would sing that song, dressed with traditional clothes, to rhe rhythm of their sticks - quickening the earth. St. Agatha is one of the Basque festivities that forms the tandem before the Ihauteriak (Basque Carnivals), culimnating in May Eve. I have written an article on this which I will publish soon.

[beautiful-basque-country]

Yesterday evening, many groups came out to the streets to sing to Agate Deuna (St. Agatha). As you can see, the beat is just some sticks hitting the ground and, according to folklorists, this too is believed to come from pagan waking of the earth after winter.

The song is very powerful and these male choirs - very popular in EH - are a complete delight.

[beautiful-basque-country]

Agate Deuna - Saint Agatha

Today’s Saint Agatha’s day eve [Agate Deuna in Basque], and today we celebrate a unique Basque tradition. At dusk, groups of singers go house by house in the little villages or square by square in the big towns chanting some blessings from the saint to the listeners - if they give some money or food to the choir, that is!

Tradition asks the singers to carry a lantern - you can see it on the floor in the video - and to mark the rhythm with sticks called makilak in Euskara; and that’s exactly is the most interesting part.

Agate Deuna is nothing but a remain of the ancient pagan tradition of waking the earth up after winter. That’s it: we literally hit the ground with sticks. Christianism couldn’t get rid off this tradition and came up with the idea of singing to Saint Agatha instead of to Amalurra (Mother Earth), but the tradition survived.

This practice of waking the hibernating earth up can be found also in Joaldunak - characters of the traditional Mardi Gras of the Ituren & Zubieta towns:

The carry giant cowbells on their back and march moving their body to make them sound: an alarm clock for Amalurra.

[beautiful-basque-country]

This chant always gives us goosebumps. ALWAYS. Hit the play button, don’t be shy!

It’s a hymn to Saint Agatha of Sicily - Agate Deuna in Euskara - and is sung on the eve of her day, Feb. 5th, so, today at night! Several professional and amateur choirs will walk the streets of towns and villages singing. The song’s rhythm is set by hitting the ground with a thick stick called makila, and this fact is believed to have a pagan meaning: experts think that this hitting was, in ancient times, a ritual to wake earth up after winter.

It’s a tradition spread all over Euskal Herria.