Gure Akelarre - Colorado's version of Halloween

The Colorado Eusko Etxea is a fairly new club that is offering new and refreshing ways to celebrate Eusko culture.  The club members meet for Basque history and Euskara classes every week.  They decided to take a spin on the American Halloween party and make it not only an educational event but had a lot of fun doing it.  One of the club members Mary Anne Karrikaburu Matassa  tells us about their Akelarre.

"Ongi Etorri Gure Akelarre'ra" (Welcome to our Akelarre) greeted guests as they arrived October 18,2008 for the Colorado Euskal Etxea's fall party. "Izan duen guztia omen da" (All that has a name exists) was the theme of the party and guests were asked to dress as a characters from Basque mythology and to tell the story of their chosen character.  The idea of an Akelarre was chosen because of the history of the Akelarre in Basque culture.  An Akelarre is the meeting place of Mari and the sorginak (witches).  The Akerbeltz is close by in a cave with the other characters coming and going as needed.  Origins of both stories and legends start with man's desire to explain phenomena and actions that take place in the world around him.  The basque mind was rich with imagination when it came to creating different figures to explain the events that occurred in their natural world. Basque mythology is closely related to our Native American mythology in that it is chthonic (earth based) as opposed to pantheonic as is Greek mythology. The principal figure of Basque mythology is Mari.

Our Akelarre was attended by two Mari's, her two sons; Atarrabi and Mikleats, Amalur with her two daugthers; Ilargi and Eguzki, Akerbeltz,Akerzuria, Beigorri, Basajaun, Jaun Zuria, Gaueko, Mamurrak, Idinarru, and several sorginak. Also present at the Akelarre was Txatxoa, a character from the Carnival de Lantz, Nafarroa, Yoalduna from Zubieta and Ituren, Nafarroa, a pottok, and bipera espeletteko (espelette pepper). As each character shared his/her story we all learned a lot about this part of our basque culture that was replaced with Christianity almost entirely in the 15th-17th centuries with the Inquisition and the trials and burnings of the accused and suspected witches throughout the Basque country that were part of this Inquisition.

Newcomers to Euskal Etxea, Irene Lopez Wessel and Bill Wessel were dressed as Mari And Akerzuria.  Irene's basque ancestry goes back to the 1800's when her grandfather came from the spanish basque country as a vinter to the eastern United States. Her story adds still more richness to our existing club members.  We then shared a very delicious (goxo-goxoa) meal and ended the evening with a basque children's song "Sorgina Pirulina".