THE BASQUES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 November 1938, Page 9

THE BASQUES

OLDEST PEOPLE OF EUROPE. RUGBY A FAVOURITE PASTIME. Recent discoveries of skeletons of unusual size have once more called attention to the curious' country of the Basques, a land which lies along the western extremity of the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. The Basques, numbering about 500.000, are the oldest inhabitants of Europe, with a language out of all relation to every other European tongue. It is so difficult for a foreigner to acquire a smattering of it that there is a local legend still extant to the effect that the Devil one day set himself unsuccessfully to learn it. Strong of limb, tall, with regular f&atures, oval faced, frequently fair in complexion, with liquid blue eyes, their women coquettish and yet shy, the Basques are a handsome race, inordinately hospitable to the strangers who go to visit their villages in the uplands r of the Pyrenees. Like most mountaineers, they have a passion for singing, and they possess a repertoire of local songs which, curiously enough, belong to their separate metiers and trades. Apart from these they have, in addition to a peculiarly stirring national anthem, a range of love sonnets set to music as haunting as they are romantic. The weirdest, perhaps, of all their customs is the habit of talking to the bees. They stand in front of the hives and tell the bees all that has taken place in the home, for among the peasants there persists a strong belief that if they do not communicate to the bees, and thus make them an integral part of the domestic life, they will desert the hive and leave them bereft of honey. When death visits a Basque home not only is everyone in the house awakened, but the animals in the farm are also aroused. No one knows why. Then, after the funeral, the burning embers are raked out from the extraordinarily large hearths still to be found in this part of the country and scattered in front of the doors. Then the new fires'-are ignited. The reason for this symbolic custom is also a complete mystery to the Basques themselves. It is just one of the customs handed down to them from the ages. Fairies, good and bad, are as intensely a part of the villagers in the remoter parts as they are of the Celts in Brittany and Wales. Basa-Yauna, , with man-like face, is most to be avoided, while Mamou, less dangerous, still delights in terrifying children. As the Irish have their Leprechauns, so the Basques have their Laminacs, little people who are ready to do a good turn, .but almost as ready to do a bad one should they be in any way offended. They work at night and disappear when the cock crows at dawn. According to legend, the church at Mauleon was built by them in a single night, and one wall of it, which slants badly, is due to their hurry to get the job completed before the cock could crow! The greatest fault of these little people is alleged to be the vice of gluttony.

Proud and independent, the Basques have given many sailors to Spain, and many of them in France have risen to the highest places in the State. They are an athletic people, too, and if in summer they play their native game of pelota, in winter Rugby is their favourite pastime. *