Akelarre (witchcraft)

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Akelarre is the Basque term meaning sabbat or ritual meeting of witches. It is also found in Spanish with the spelling aquelarre.

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[edit] Etymology

The most common etymology is that meaning meadow (larre) of the he-goat (aker). An alternative explanation could be that it originally was alkelarre, alka being a local name for the herb Dactilis hispanica. In this case, the first etymology would have been a manipulation of the Inquisition[1].

Nevertheless the black he-Goat or Akerbeltz is known in Basque mythology to be an attribute of goddess Mari and is found in a Roman age slab as a votive dedication: Aherbelts Deo (to the god Aherbelts) (see: Aquitanian language).


[edit] Places called Akelarre

  • Akelarre: a field of Mañaria (Biscay).
  • Akelarrenlezea: a large cave of Zugarramurdi (Navarre). Actually the witches met outside the cave in the place of Berroskoberro.

Other expressive names used for sabbat meeting places in Basque culture include:

  • Eperlanda: partridges' field (in Muxika, Biscay)
  • Bekatu-larre: sinful meadow (in Ziordi, Navarre)
  • Sorgintxulo: witches hole, a cave in Hernani (Guipuscoa). There is another Sorginzulo in Zegama and still another one in Ataun, both in Guipuscoa.
  • Dantzaleku: dancing place, in Ataun.
  • Atsegin Soro: pleasure orchard. This was the name by which witches themselves called the field of Matxarena in Errenteria (Guipuscoa), according to inquisitorial records.
  • Basajaunberro: site of Basajaun (the wild man of the woods), in Auritz (Navarre).
  • Sorginerreka: witches' creek, in Tolosa (Guipuscoa).
  • Edar Iturri: Beautiful Spring, also in Tolosa.

[edit] Zugarramurdi witch-hunt

In 1610, the Spanish Inquisition tribunal of Logroño initiated a large witch-hunt in Navarre that ended with 12 supposed witches burnt at the stake (5 of them symbolically, as they had been killed by torture earlier). It was possibly as a result of these major trials that the term akelarre became synonymous with the word "sabbat" and spread into common parlance in both Basque and Spanish.

[edit] See also

Basque Portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ J. Dueso, Brujería en el País Vasco. Orain, 1996. ISBN 84-89077-55-X