The first neighbour was notified and he would, in turn, be entrusted with informing the local council and the parish priest. The nun sacristan would usually hand the first neighbour the funeral cross and he would respectfully carry it to the room of his neighbour; meanwhile she would toll the bell to tell the village and surrounding areas. A certain “code” was often followed depending on whether the deceased was a man, woman or child.
El primer vecino, así como el segundo a vecesThe first neighbour, sometimes along with the second (estos vecinos se encuentran definidos en función de criterios que hemos intentado especificarthose neighbours are defined according to criteria that we have sought to specify) se reúne con la familia y confecciona la lista de parientes que hay que avisar, would meet with the family and draw up the list of relatives to be told. El primer vecino distribuye esta tarea entre sus vecinos cercanos y otros en caso de necesidadThe first neighbour distributed this task among his neighbours and other locals if needed, así investidos de la función de mensajeros de la muertewho thus became death’s harbingers, ''hil mezukari''; por su parte, se reserva para él la distancia más largahe would undertake the longest journey. El anuncioThe announcement, ''hil abertitzia, '', tiene como finalidad informar del fallecimiento e indicar la fecha del would let people know about the death and indicate the date of the funeral. También se les avisa a algunos animales Some animals (vacascows, ovejassheep, abejasbees, perrosdogs) y de ello se encarga algún miembro de la familiawould also be told of the death and that would be left up to a member of the family. Algunos de estos animales podían estar de luto durante un tiempo más o menos largoSome of those animals could mourn for a considerable length of time, especialmente las abejas y las ovejasparticularly the bees and ewes: se las guardaba encerradasthey were kept in the burn, se impedía el sonido de las esquilas o se les colocaba un trapotheir bells were kept silent or a cloth was placed over them.
Existe finalmente como una especie de eco al anuncio con el toque a muerto que resuena tres veces al día, al amanecer, al mediodía, y al anochecer: ''argitzian, eguerdian eta ilhuntzian''.
