“And it harm ye none, do what thou wilt”
Healing and superstition have played an important role in the lives of the Basque people – and the witch hunts of the Spanish inquisition in the 17th century are perhaps the most dramatic example. Many women in these misty Basque mountain villages, with their strange attire and odd sounding language, skilled in the use of natural remedies, herbs and ointments, were considered direct enemies of the so-called omnipotent powers of the church. Even today there is still a strong tradition among the Basques people to make home-made potions and creams for a variety of maladies. I like one that Pello (a historian friend from Irurita) mentions that his grandmother used for burns. She would use a mixture of olive oil and spring snow. Why spring snow and not winter snow we all thought?
Apparently there are more pollens in spring snow than in winter snow, and these also have their own curative properties.
Before the advance of the scientific age, healing was performed by the village witch or wizard as a matter of course, often called the wise man or woman and these pagan healing rituals comprised a mixture of magic, herbal and folk remedies. As diabolism penetrated into popular culture these healing techniques also involved the changing of the body’s energy field by directing energy to them as a form of absent healing.
This is the case of the magic healing effect of the three springs of San Juan Xar. Here on the outskirts of the village of Igantzi, on the dark and windy road up towards the village of Arantza, along the Bidasoa river valley, lies the cave of San Juan Xar.
According to anthropologist Father Barandiaran, patriarch of the Basque culture, it was Basajaun, (the mythological large, hairy guardian of the woods) who first presided over the cave and curiously enough, not far away, there is a place near the mill named after him; Basajaun Elutsa. However, the true fame of the cave (and chapel) of San Juan Xar is due to the faith in the properties of the water gushing from its three springs – a faith still held today and noticeable by the constant stream of people who make their way out to this isolated cave in the hills.
At the entrance to the cave and chapel abundant water flows through three limestone pipes. Legend has it that the water is holy with curative properties mainly for skin diseases. In order for the curative powers of the water to take effect, the most common ritual is to drink from each of the three springs and then, dampening a soft cloth in the water, to wipe the feet, legs and arms (and any other affected parts of the body). The final, and equally important part of the ritual, is to then extend the cloth over a bush near the springs and leave it there.
As you will see from these photos, and the number of cloths extended on the undergrowth, these rituals and traditions are still in common practice today.
Within the cave is a large sculpture of Basajaun but due to the mania of the Christian faith to stamp out any sign of paganism, today Basajaun is accompanied by a sculpture of a Saint Juan (St John) bearing a cross, turning the cave into a chapel. Every San Juan (23rd June), midsummer’s night, locals gather here for an evening ceremony. Nevertheless the presence of the pagan faith in the curative properties of the springs, deep within the forest, and under the auspices of Basajaun, leaves by far the dominating impression.
During the last years, San Juan Xar has enjoyed substantial improvements and some measures to improve public safety, but with full respect to its cultural and natural heritage – in particular to the indigenous population of the Carpinus Betulus trees that circle the fountains. The Carpinus Betulus, Pagalizarra in Euskera, are commonly known as the hornbeam in English. Oddly enough this tiny circle of hornbeams around the cave of San Juan Xar constitutes the only grove of hornbeams in the whole of the Iberian Peninsula! How on earth they arrived there adds yet another mystery to the cave’s history!
Today practitioners of different faiths and established traditional cults – even atheists -still come for the curative properties of the San Juan Xar springs. Considered a class by itself, it comes with no holy texts, no creed or clergy: “And it harm ye none, do what thou wilt” is perhaps one of the few philosophies to cut across religious and cultural divides.
Thanks to Oskar Txoperena and Nafaa Salem