The lauburu (from Basque lau, "four" + buru, "head") is an ancient hooked cross with four comma-shaped heads and the most widely known traditional symbol of the Basque Country and the Basque people. [1] In the past, it has also been associated with the Galicians, Illyrians and Asturians. [ citation needed ]
A variant of lauburu consisting of geometrically curved lines can be constructed with a compass and straightedge, beginning with the formation of a square template; each head can be drawn from a neighboring vertex of this template with two compass settings, with one radius half the length of the other.
Historians and authorities have attempted to apply allegorical meaning to the ancient symbol of lauburu. Augustin Chaho [2] said it signifies the "four heads or regions" of the Basque Country. The lauburu does not appear in any of the seven historical provinces' coats-of-arms that have been combined in the arms of the Basque Country: Biscay, Gipuzkoa, Araba, Upper Navarre, Lower Navarre, Labourd, and Soule. While some authors have suggested that the four heads of lauburu could signify, e.g., form, life, sensibility, and conscience, [3] lauburu is more generally considered just a symbol of prosperity and good fortune.
After the time of the Antonines, Camille Jullian [4] finds no specimen of hooked crosses, round or straight, in the Basque areas until modern times.
Louis Colas [5] considers that the lauburu is not related to the swastika but comes from Paracelsus and marks the tombs of healers of animals and healers of souls (i.e., priests). Around the end of the 16th century, the lauburu appears abundantly as a Basque decorative element, in wooden chests or tombs, perhaps as another form of the cross. [6] Straight swastikas are not found until the 19th century.
Many Basque homes and shops display the symbol over the doorway as a sort of talisman. Sabino Arana interpreted it as a solar symbol, to support his own theory of a hypothetical Basque solar cult (based on etymologies that have later been shown to be incorrect) in the first issue of the daily newspaper Euzkadi in 1913.
The lauburu has been featured on flags and emblems of various Basque political organisations including Eusko Abertzale Ekintza (EAE-ANV).
The use of the lauburu as a cultural icon fell into some disuse during the Francoist regime in Spain (1939-1975), which repressed many elements of Basque culture.
Lau buru means "four heads", "four ends" or "four summits" in modern Basque. In some sources it has been argued that this might be a folk etymology applied to the Latin labarum . [7]
However, Father Fidel Fita thought the relation reversed, labarum being adapted from Basque, under Augustus Caesar's rule. [8]
The labarum was a vexillum that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol ☧, a christogram formed from the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" – Chi (χ) and Rho (ρ). It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great.
The swastika is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly found in various Eurasian cultures, as well as some African and American ones. In the West it is more widely recognized as a symbol of the German Nazi Party who appropriated it from Asian cultures starting in the early 20th century. The appropriation continues with its use by neo-Nazis around the world. The swastika never stopped being used as a symbol of divinity and spirituality in Indian religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It generally takes the form of a cross, the arms of which are of equal length and perpendicular to the adjacent arms, each bent midway at a right angle.
The Basque Nationalist Party, officially Basque National Party in English, is a Basque nationalist and regionalist political party. The party is located in the centre of the political spectrum.
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people. The Basque Country is located in the western Pyrenees, straddling the border between France and Spain on the coast of the Bay of Biscay.
Hilarri is the name given to disk-shaped funerary steles that are typical of the Basque Country.
The Basque Government is the governing body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain. The head of the Basque government is known as the Lehendakari. The Lehendakari is appointed by the Basque Parliament every four years, after a regional election. Its headquarters are located in the Lakua district of Vitoria-Gasteiz in Álava.
Augustin Chaho in French or Agosti Xaho in Basque was an important Romantic Basque writer. He was born in Tardets, Soule, French Basqueland on 10 October 1811 and died in Bayonne, Labourd 23 October 1858. He is considered a precursor of left-wing Basque patriotism.
The swastika is an ancient Eurasian religious symbol that generally takes the form of an equilateral cross with four legs each bent at 90 degrees in either right-facing (卐) form or left-facing (卍) form. It is considered to be a sacred and auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism and dates back at least 11,000 years.
The Basques are an indigenous ethno-linguistic group mainly inhabiting Basque Country. Their history is therefore interconnected with Spanish and French history and also with the history of many other past and present countries, particularly in Europe and the Americas, where a large number of their descendants keep attached to their roots, clustering around Basque clubs which are centers for Basque people.
Etxeberria (Basque pronunciation:[etʃeβeri.a], modern Basque spelling) is a Basque language placename and surname from the Basque Country in Spain and France, meaning 'the new house'. It shows one meaningful variant, Etxeberri (no Basque article –a, 'the'), and a number of later spelling variants produced in Spanish and other languages. Etxebarri(a) is a western Basque dialectal variant, with the same etymology. Etxarri (Echarri) is attested as stemming from Etxaberri.
The Southern Basque Country is a term used to refer to the Basque territories within Spain as a unified whole.
The current Basque coat of arms is the official coat of arms of the Basque Country, Autonomous community of Spain. It consists of a party per cross representing the three historical territories of Álava, Gipuzkoa and Biscay, as well as a fourth, void quarter. The arms are ringed by a regal wreath of oak leaves, symbolic of the Gernikako Arbola. The fourth quarter constituted since the late 19th century the linked chains of Navarre; however, following a legal suit by the Navarre Government claiming that the usage of the arms of a region on the flag of another was illegal, the Constitutional Court of Spain ordered the removal of the chains of Navarre in a judgement of 1986.
Basque surnames are surnames with Basque-language origins or a long, identifiable tradition in the Basque Country. They can be divided into two main types, patronymic and non-patronymic.
José Luis Álvarez Enparantza, better known by his pseudonym Txillardegi, was a Basque linguist, politician, and writer. He was born and raised in the Basque Country, and although he did not learn the Basque language until the age of 17, he later came to be considered one of the most influential figures in Basque nationalism and culture in the second half of the 20th century. He was one of the founders of ETA, but in 1967 he left because he did not agree with its political line.
A baserri is a traditional half-timbered or stone-built type of housebarn farmhouse found in the Basque Country in northern Spain and Southwestern France. The baserris, with their gently sloping roofs and entrance portals, are highly characteristic of the region and form a vital part in traditional Basque societal structures. They are also seen to have played an important role in protecting the Basque language in periods of persecution by providing the language with a very dispersed but substantial speaker base.
Manuel de Irujo Ollo was a lawyer and politician from Navarre, Spain, who became the leader of the Basque Nationalist Party during the Second Spanish Republic. He was a liberal democrat with a profound faith in Christianity. He was Minister of Justice in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). He went into exile after the Republican defeat. He returned from exile in 1977 and was elected to the Senate.
Juan Domingo Astigarrabía Andonegui was a Basque communist politician, one of the founders of the Communist Party of the Basque Country and its first secretary-general. He was made a scapegoat for the fall of the North during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). He was expelled from the party and went into exile in Panama. Later he was rehabilitated and returned to Spain.
Amadeo Marco Ilincheta (1900-1987) was a Spanish Traditionalist politician, until 1942 active within the Carlist movement and afterwards in the Francoist structures. He is best known as the iconic Navarrese personality of the Franco era, principally as a longtime member of the regional self-government, Diputación Foral. He served as representative of the Aoiz-Sangüesa district in 1931 and then continuously during 6 successive terms in 1940–1979; during a few strings he was acting president of the Diputation. In 1943-1954 and in 1967-1977 he held a seat in the Francoist Cortes. In 1942-1954 he was a member of the Falange Española Tradicionalista executive, Consejo Nacional. Since 1927 he intermittently served as the mayor of Navascués.
Joaquín Beunza Redín (1872-1936) was a Spanish Carlist politician. His career climaxed in 1931–1933, when during one term he served as deputy to the Cortes; in 1909-1917 he was also member of Diputación Foral, the Navarrese self-government, and in 1901-1906 he formed part of the Pamplonese city council. He is best known for long-time efforts to preserve and broaden separate Navarrese legal establishments; he represented Pamplona in talks with Madrid during 1917-1919 negotiations on so-called reintegración foral, in 1924–1927 on so-called cupo and Convenio Económico, in 1930–1931 on Basque-Navarrese autonomy and in 1936 on separate Navarrese Carta Foral.