The piece of the month of March 2025

THE FLAG OF SANTESTEBAN DE LERÍN

María Isabel Ostolaza Elizondo
Retired Professor of Historiographic Sciences and Techniques of the UPNA

After the times in which Mr. de Agorreta was in charge of the defense of the territory corresponding to the district of the valley of Lerín, due to the extinction of the main branch of the dynasty whose rights had fallen on the Arce-Agorreta family who did not live in the town, military matters were the skill of the municipal authorities.

The first news that we have of the ensign of the town, corresponds to the year 1579, when on August 30 before the mayor, admiral and aldermen of the same one, it was made boast of men ready for the defense. Because through the viceregal channel news had arrived that "French people and cavalry were on the borders, ready to entrance the kingdom". In the context of the French wars of religion, it was probably feared that troops from that country would cross the Pyrenees.

Therefore, before the municipal regiment of Santesteban, the available men were review , with their "flag and atabal" in order of review. A total of 38 neighbors showed up with their weapons (19 arquebusiers, and the rest crossbowmen and men with spears and bucklers). The notary of the town, Tomás de Mayora, gave an account of all this. Nothing is said about the typology of the municipal flag, although it probably had to do with the old one of the house of Agorreta (i.e. the wild boar passing through the trunk of an oak tree).

Unfurled flag of Santesteban de Lerín

The problems with France continued intermittently in the following years, and more virulently after the war declared by that country in 1635. The state of alarm was statement by viceregal order, and on September 19, 1636, the armed troops of the valley of Lerín (180 men in total, with 26 muskets, 140 arquebuses and 29 pikes) were paraded. Weapons were paid for out of the municipal resources, while awaiting the ammunition that would be supplied by the king. 

For the first time we have documented the typology of the new flag of Santesteban elaborated in 1637, that describes us that it was of silk taffeta embedded in silver jineta (doc. nº 178 of the inventory of the old municipal file ). That is to say, it was placed around a short jineta or spear that served as a pole, with a harness or loop at the top. It is preserved in the Town Hall as a relic in its corresponding crimson leather case, although very deteriorated by its use throughout the centuries. 

The French danger forced in the middle of 1638 the reinforcement of the castle of Maya, and the walling of Burguete in anticipation of a possible attack by way of Valcarlos-Roncesvalles. Finally the bulk of the French troops went towards Fuenterrabía encircling it, and the army of Philip IV had to mobilize with a significant number of troops, which placed the French troops between two fires, that of the besieged fortress and that of the relief troops, which finally forced the French to lift the siege on September 8, 1638.

Flag shield that also appears on the façade of the City Hall.

The troops from Aragon and Navarre, under the command of the Viceroy Marquis de los Vélez, headed for the coast, used the Velate-Bidasoa road. And Santesteban de Lerín was converted into a place of arms through which 6,000 men of infantry and cavalry passed, who made a display in the fields and crops, leaving them destroyed so that no crops could be harvested that year. During the time that the town was a place of arms, the royal army's foreman ordered the baking of the ammunition bread there, which was effectively done in the ovens of private homes, since there was no municipal oven.

In December 1638, the military commanders, the Marquis of Los Vélez (Pedro Fernando de Zúñiga y Requesens), Martín de Redín Grand Prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem who commanded the Navarrese troops, and the Marquis of Torrescuso (Carlos Andrea Caracciolo), issued letters in which they recognized the partnership of the residents of Santesteban, recommending to the political authorities that some mercy be given to the town to reward the effort. That continued to be carried out for several months (20 in total since the mobilization of troops), because following orders of the royal engineer Antonio Gandolfo, the neighbors built stone trenches at their own expense, in addition to guarding the bridges, and the houses where the ammunition, weapons and supplies were kept.

It must be said that once the danger had passed, the town of Santesteban requested the grace of being able to hold an annual livestock fair, exhibiting before the authorities of the kingdom the aforementioned letters of recommendation. But due to the fact that the public coffers were exhausted, and that the transactions carried out in fairs did not pay taxes, the request was delayed. The patrimonial procurator excused himself on the grounds that the accommodation of troops for the relief of Fuenterrabía was not only in Santesteban but in other towns along the route. On the other hand, the town of Lesaca, which had the privilege of holding a fair since the end of the E. average, opposed the concession, fearing a skill that would be detrimental to them. 

Corpus Christi procession in the mid-fifties of the last century. Photo Iglesias. Private collection

Certainly the possibility of holding a fair had to wait until 1841, when the new governmental authorities after the disappearance of the kingdom of Navarre, gave the corresponding permission. And it continues to be held in November, the Friday following the feast of St. Martin. The town arranged the accesses so that the people of Sumbilla and Bertizarana valley could bring their cattle, calling the street that from the Baztán bridge reached the bridge of Elgorriaga, degree program del Mercado.

With the passing of time, the municipal flag, which was originally a war ensign, became something symbolic that represents the town and the municipal authorities. Like all those of the Pyrenean valleys, it has a colorful background of triangles that contrast harmoniously, in the case of Santesteban with yellow and pastel blue colors. The cross of Burgundy (or of St. Andrew), symbol of the Spanish infantry since the times of Charles V, crosses in a cross. And in the center of the blades, a medallion with the municipal coat of arms (the wild boar crossed over the trunk of an oak tree), and at the top, illuminating the terrain, the morning star or Goizeko izarra (actually the planet Venus, visible at dusk in the west and at dawn in the east).

It is therefore a flag in which, as with those of the other Pyrenean valleys, the local heraldic symbols are combined with the arms of the monarchy. As if it were a reminder of the continuous contribution of the people of these valleys in the surveillance and defense of the borders against the French enemy.

Santesteban flag dance. 2013. Photo J. Garzarón. Newspaper of Navarra

The current flag, larger than the previous one but with the same motifs, colors and coat of arms as the seventeenth century, was made in the 40s of last century, when due to the hardships of the postwar period, it was necessary to order the silk fabric in the city of Ceuta because in the peninsula there was no possibility of getting this subject of luxurious fabric. It fulfills symbolic functions, leaving the town hall and danced by the municipal flag bearer on special occasions, related to the protocol of solemn ceremonies (patron saint festivals in which it is danced at the door of the church in honor of the mayor, and religious festivals such as Corpus Christi in which it is danced in the Bearzana pediment in honor of the Blessed Sacrament, or simply paraded in the procession of the Sacred Heart with which the cycle of Corpus closes).

The music that modulates the different steps of the dance of the flag, is of military origin and dates back to the XVII century, but it is interpreted by the txistu and the tamboril as a substitute for the fifes and drums of the royal army. This music, transmitted by the tradition of the txuntxuneros, was turned into musical score in the 30's of the last century, by Anastasio Ostiz, director of the music band of those years. 

Collected by Father Donostia in the Basque Songbook, it has acquired the category of intangible heritage. The dance of the flag has an initial and final part of solemn and majestic rhythm, suitable for the salutatory protocol to the authority or religious symbol to which the dance is dedicated, with three bows forward and backward, to position itself at the right point for the revoleo. This is the central and most spectacular part of the dance, with a more accelerated rhythm, with three passes of the flag at ground level from right to left, 3 passes over the head of the flag bearer in the right direction and another three in the opposite direction, ending the revoleo with another 3 passes at ground level. It ends with the final salute.

bibliography 

Ostolaza Elizondo, Mª I., Historia de la villa y valle de Santesteban de Lerín, Pamplona, Liber Edics, 2022.
Ostolaza Elizondo, Mª I., "El escudo de armas de Santesteban de Lerín", Príncipe de Viana, nº 284, (2022), pp. 639-668.