11 December 2012

Conferences

CHRISTMAS CYCLE

Christmas traditions in Navarre

Ms. Susana Irigaray Soto

Christmas is part of the Winter Festive Cycle, a long period of time characterized by being the coldest season of the year, with the shortest days. Winter is a time of lethargy for nature, plants and animals and, in traditional society, a time of hardship for the vast majority of the population, essentially peasants, since there was no work in the field and, consequently, no wages to take home. On the other hand, it was the slaughtering season because the cold weather guaranteed the best conditions for preserving the meat. These circumstances undoubtedly favored the customs of demanding food (cuestación or "puska biltzea") that children and young people especially carried out during this period.

Many programs of study have revealed the relationship of the whole winter festive cycle with the carnival (broad carnival versus strict carnival, according to anthropologists). All winter festivals have elements of carnival: subversion of the social order, excess, disguise, impersonation, noise, etc. It has also been highlighted that many rites have resonances of ancient traditions, even before Christianity: winter solstice (feast of the Unconquered Sun), Saturnalia (December 17), January Kalends (January 1), February lupercalia and March matronalia.

Although the feast of St. Nicholas (December 6) can be considered as the starting point of the Christmas Cycle, it really begins on December 24. In this lecture a review was made of some of the rites already disappeared or very transformed of this period, such as the burning of the log in the family home on Christmas Eve, the rite of the "new water" on New Year's Eve, the cencerradas and election of kings on the eve of Epiphany or the curious parodies of bride and groom of the Epiphany.

It is also worth mentioning the evolution of some celebrations that continue to have great popular roots and that have even increased their importance in the Christmas context, such as Olentzero, the Three Kings' parades, the gifts or the King of the Faba.

Mystery of Kings. Sangüesa

Celebration of the Three Wise Men in Vidángoz. 1962