Join us as we go on a mythological exploration of the history of the Basque region, its football and Freddie Pentalnd’s Athletic Bilbao side which felled the largest giants.
Mythologists studying the lost pantheon of the Basques will tell you that the euskaldunak – or the Basque speakers – believed in the duality of the world and of its beings. Their concept mentions the mutual existence of two worlds: Berezko, the natural world, and Aideko, the supernatural one. The transition of a being from the natural realms of Berezko to the occult side of Aideko is a process that requires an element of magic, which the ancient Basques called Adur. It is through the fulfilment of Adur – the magical virtue that connects an entity with its representation – that every element in this world begins to make sense.
The mythologists will then tell you about how Christianity came trotting along and how its propagators took care of these ancient traditions and beliefs, burying every bit of such “paganism” under their churches and cathedrals. Well, not every bit, apparently. But they did take care of almost everything that they could get their hands and crucifixes on.
However, what these scholars won’t tell you is that the ancient belief of the duality of our world and of its beings still exists among the euskaldunak who inhabit the autonomous Basque Country in northern Spain. It might be just subconscious thought, but one can tell it is there. Although in a context quite different from the one discussed so far.
