BASQUE MATRIARCHY

Short time ago I listen some comments about the Basque matriarchy and thus I decided to write something about it. As a matter of fact it is not and it was not a matriarchy equivalent to what is the patriarchal system as we know it, is something different, it affects customs, it is something useful to adapt to a complicated life as it was in the Neolithic yet it might be useful and positive even in nowadays. Before talking about matriarchy, I'm going to put you in the background and I'm going to tell you about Mari. Mari is the most important Basque goddess, she is a woman and all other gods are subordinate to her. She is the lover of Suugar, the snake and mother of the brothers Mikelats and Atarrabi. Mikelats represents good and atarabi represents evil. According to a more modern tradition already mixed with Christianity Mikelats became a priest and Atarrabi works with the devil in akelarres ( witches meetings). This Mari has no relation whatsoever with christian Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, it is prior to Christianity and this name is related to other names.

It is quite normal for a non-patriarchal culture to have a woman as its main deity. Mari has not been totally forgotten and part of the mentality of the time and the customs survive our days. Sometimes I realize that things that are here understood in one way are seen quite differently by the rest of the world. Mary lived 7 years in a cave on Mount Amboto and another 7 in a cave in Txindoki. When she moved she produced great storms and when she did it, was usually mounted on a ram and a fine charriot, depending on what the seer has smoked. When someone visited her, one could not sit in her presence, even if she asks, and She had to be addressed by Thou and one should leave the cave in the same way it entered. She control time, life, everything ... but has nothing to do with the afterlife of eternal life, being a goddess of a Pre-Christian times. Since she is Basque the position of respect to adopt is standing; to the Basques to worship in sacred places has to be standing, never sitting or kneeling. Although I tried to find information in English it was not possible only in Spanish and Euskera, the Basque language, yet I found this one at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_(goddess) Mary the goddess is the Earth and she is much more positive and much more powerful than Suugar, the snake, that is the sky. They are not in love and do not live together, just join occasionally and play as friends. Note that for our ancestors Earth was most important than Sky.

One of the things that most puzzled Romans when they arrived in Basque territory was that the women kept the house - the cabin, four gates and the orchard - and that they gave dowry to their brothers to marry. That, for a culture like the Roman was quite a scandal. They could not understand that a property remained in the hands of a woman and even more so that she had the power to distribute it This happened because when the men were hunting, fishing or at war, it was them who "defended" the family legacy, and who stayed home, preserving it. Another things also catching Romans attention, according to the writings, were the headdresses worn by women at that time. When Martínez de Lezea considered the challenge of finding remains of Basque history, he discovered that the first verses written in Basque were written by women. She also found that in the hamlets, the women's job was to take care of the care but also to work in the fields and take care of everyone who lived there. And in those farmhouses there was a chair with armrests, the only one of all the chairs in the house that had armrests and always belonged to the etxekoandre (the woman of the house), she was the real owner, and children were to stay with her,not her with the children. When the "etxekoandre" died, she passed the chair - a metaphor for power - to the next woman, either her daughter or daughter-in-law, the one she considered most important. The "etxekoandre" was also the one who had the keys for the whole house, the rooms, the pantry and without her consent nothing was opened. In addition, she was in charge of keeping the healing jars and the healing herbs. Etxekoandre is then a common word used in Basque country for the "pater familias" concept applied to women - mater familias. (etxe means home, ko means of, and andre means woman) All other men included were supposed to handle all their money to the women all women decided how it would be spent. It is still the usual system used today at basque country by its autochthonous. And if a man do not do it then he is not considered as a good man, not only by women but also by other men too. I have seen that most families from out of Basque Country do not follow that system resulting in more trouble and much more violence. Nowadays this is changing and the roles are equalizing, and yet I don't know if it's the best.