Table of contents

HOUSE AND TERRITORY

I. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY

Historical and geographical factors

• The Luzaide/ Valcarlos (N) case

• La barranca (N)

Dispersed settlements

• Distant past

• Historical background

• Examples of dispersed settlements

• Establishing new homesteads

Establishing new homesteads

• Background

 

II. RELATIONSHIP OF THE HOUSE WITH THE SOIL, CLIMATE AND ACTIVITY

The house and its setting

The relationship of the house with the soil

• • Influence of the substrate
  • Presence of water in the subsoil
  • Use of the soil materials
  • Influence of the terrain

The relationship of the house with the climate

• • Walls, openings and orientation
  • The roof and adjoining buildings
  • The southern area with lower rainfall
  • Examples and current situation

The house and the activity of its dwellers

Commercial

• Current adaptations

 

III. NAME, ORIENTATION AND LOCATION OF THE HOUSES

Name of the house

Name, surname and nickname of the owner

• Trade and activity of the owner

Location of houses in concentrated arrangements

• Houses separated by party walls

 

STRUCTURE OF THE HOUSE

IV. REGIONAL HOUSE MODELS

Bizkaia house models

The typical Busturialdea house (Gautegiz-Arteaga)

• The typical house of El Duranguesado (Abadiño)

The typical house of the Arratia Valley and Estribaciones del Gorbeia (Zeanuri)

• The typical house of Durango old town

Gipuzkoa house models

The typical Beasain house

• The typical Zerain house

• The Alto Deba house (Elosua)

Navarra house models

The typical arrabal or popular house (Viana)

• The typical Valdorba house

Northern Basque Country house models

The typical Lapurdi house (Sara)

• The typical Ainhoa house (L)

 

V. ROOFING

Types of roof

Roof pitch

• • Historical evolution of roofing in Roncesvalles (N)

Shape and number of slopes

• • The climate factor
  • Grouped houses
  • The shape of the dwelling
  • Relationship between the number of slopes and the status
  • Different reasons
  • Geographical distribution of the number of slopes

Roofing materials

Roof tile, teila

• • The origin of the roof tiles
  • The curved tile
  • The flat tile

Wooden roof: shingles

• Stone roof: slates

• New materials

Roof structure

• General points. Gailurra (peak), kapirioak (rafters), latak (plank)

Shear beam structures

• Thatched and plaster vaults

 

VI. FOUNDATIONS AND WALLS

Foundations, oinarriak

Foundations on hard substrates

• Foundations on less solid substrates

Outside walls

Construction materials

• • Stone.
  • Timber.
  • Earth, brick, adobe and rammed earth

• Walls with timber latticework

• Masonry walls

Plastering of the walls

• Walls today

Timber internal structure

• Widespread use of timber

Types of timber

• Bench base

• Structure

Floors

• Floor in the entrance and stable

• Floor in the dwelling

Roofs

• Plank roofs

Origin of the construction materials

Lime and plaster

• Timber

 

VII. DOORS AND WINDOWS

Openings

Main door

• • Álava
  • Bizkaia
  • Gipuzkoa
  • Navarra
  • Northern Basque Country

• Windows

• • Álava
  • Bizkaia
  • Gipuzkoa
  • Navarra
  • Northern Basque Country

Door and window closing mechanisms

Closing the main or entrance door

• • Bars
  • Latches
  • Other locks

• Closing inside doors

Closing windows. Latches, bolts

• Grilles

 

VIII. INTERNAL LAYOUT OF THE HOUSE

Rural houses

Bizkaia

• • Livestock homesteads. Encartaciones and Arratia-Orozko
  • Agricultural homesteads. Uribe, Busturialdea and Durangaldea

Gipuzkoa

• • Goierri
  • Alto and Medio Deba
  • Oria Medio
  • Donostia and Bajo Bidasoa

Álava

• • Estribaciones del Gorbeia
  • Occidente alavés
  • La Llanada
  • La Montaña
  • Rioja alavesa

Navarra

• • Northern Sub-Pyrenean and Pyrenean area. La Montaña
  • Southern Sub-Pyrenean area. Mid zone.
  • Southern zone. La Ribera

 

IX. HOUSE DECORATION

Outside walls. Frontage

• Bare stone and plastered frontages

Timber latticework

• Elaborate decorations

• Plant decorations

Doors and windows

Carvings on lintels

• Decorative grilles

 

HOME AND HOME FURNISHINGS

X. FIREPLACE, LIGHTING AND KITCHEN

Fireplace

• Names

• Location of the fireplace

• • Central fireplace
  • Side fireplace
  • Description

Fuel used in the fireplace

• • Most common fuels
  • Mediterranean side of the watershed

Lighting or rekindling the fire

• • The flint. New lighting systems
  • Rekindling fire
  • Initially stocking the fire

Types of firewood

• Base and back of the stove

• • Cast-iron plate

• • • Decorative motifs

• The hearth

• Chimney and vent

• • Low heat chimney
  • Energy-saving stove chimney
  • Cleaning the chimney

Bread oven

• Oven location and type

• • Ovens in the kitchen or attached to the house
  • Exempted ovens

Oven construction materials

• Use of the oven

House lighting

• Old lighting systems

• Oil lamp

• Candles

• Petrol lamp

 

XI. KITCHEN AND HEARTH FURNITURE AND FIXTURES

Hearth tools

• Archetypical of two places

• • Beasain (G)
  • Sangüesa (N)

Names and description

• • Firedogs
  • Pincers
  • Tongs
  • Stove shovel
  • Trivet
  • Drum
  • Griddle
  • Spits
  • Ash shovel
  • Bellows
  • Boilers
  • Copper heater

Kitchen furniture and furnishings

• Seats and other seating

Haustegia, ashtray

• Pottery

Tables and other items

• • Tables
  • Troughs
  • Cans

Cupboards, cabinets and kitchen rack

• • Dressers
  • Plate rack
  • Kitchen rack

Kitchen fittings

• Decorating the fireplace

Items placed on the mantelpiece, on the hood or on the hearth

• General points about the fittings

• Descriptions of the fittings

• • Northern Basque Country
  • Bizkaia
  • Álava
  • Gipuzkoa
  • Navarra

Artisan production of the kitchen furniture

• • Domestic production
  • Non-domestic production

 

XII. FURNITURE AND FIXTURES: LIVING ROOM, BEDROOMS AND PERSONAL HYGIENE

Living room or dining room fittings

• Furniture

Religious images

• Family photographs on display

Bedroom fittings

• The bedroom as a room

• General points

• Beds

• Trunks, chests of drawers and wardrobes

• Occasional furniture

• • Wash stand and basin

Wash stand and basin

• Religious images

• • Crucifix
  • Religious paintings or laminates
  • Photographs
  • Holy water font

Washing facilities and fittings

• Outhouse or toilet

Washing facilities

• Transitions of the bathroom and its fittings

Musical instruments. Radio, television and new technologies

• Musical instruments

• Radio, television and new technologies

 

XIII. CLEANING THE HOUSE, CLOTHES AND DISHES

Cleaning the house

Cleaning the house, thoroughly

• • Cleaning products and utensils
  • Daily and weekly cleaning
  • Spring-cleaning and cleaning on set dates
  • Insect extermination

• Cleaning floors

• • Sweeping
  • Mopping and sandblasting
  • Waxing

• Whitewashing and painting frontages and inside

Washing clothes

The laundry

• • Names
  • Transitions

Drying and ironing the clothes

• Hanging out the clothes at home

Washing dishes

• Washers and dishwashers

 

OUTBUILDINGS ADJOINING THE HOUSE

XIV. SPACES FOR FARMING WORK AND COMPLEMENTARY BUILDINGS

Complementary buildings

• General points

Chicken house

• Pigsty

• Shelter for sheep

• Beehives

Domestic animals that guard the house

• Lakes and cellars

• Wells

 

DOMESTIC BELIEFS AND RITES

XV. RITES AROUND THE HOUSEHOLD FIRE

Lighting the hearth on set days

• The Christmas log

• The new fire at Easter

 

XVI. SYMBOLS TO PROTECT THE HOUSE

Rites against thunderstorms and lighting

• An axe with the edge pointing to the thunderstorm

• Stones against the thunderstorm

• Sanjuan haritza, St. John's oak

• Burning herbs on St. John's Day

• Arantza zuria, hawthorn

• Blessed bay leaves

• Burning the blessed bay leaves

Religious rites to protect the house

Holy Water

• Blessed candles

Praying to Saint Barbara

• Spells. Chimes

Religious symbols and images

• Crosses

• Sacred Heart plaques

 

FAMILY

XVII. FAMILY AND KINSHIP

Family. Kinship. Parentage

• In Basque-speaking locations

• • Etxekoak
  • Family/sendia
  • Senitartekoak/ahaideak

• In Spanish-speaking locations

• • Family
  • Kinship
  • Parentage
  • Other relations

• Extended family community

Names and degree of kinship

• Basque categories

• Spanish categories

Family names

• Family name or surname

• Most common first names

• How people are called

• • Nicknames

• A married woman's surname

Names and forms of address between relatives

• By children to parents

• Between spouses

• By parents to children

• Forms of address

• • Berori/berorika (usted - formal you)
  • Zu/zuka (usted formal you-tú informal you)
  • Hitanoa/hika (colloquial use of informal you)
  • Change to the form of address
  • Other forms of address. Lost souls

 

XVIII. FAMILY ASSETS AND ITS TRANSFER

Family assets

• Family assets concept

• Safeguarding and indivisum of the family assets

• Disposal of the core assets

Co-ownership of assets contributed to the marriage, Dana biona

• Consent of the wife to dispose of assets

• Transitions

Marital property agreements or settlements

• Marital property agreements

• Marital settlements

• Transformations

Freedom to bequeath and core assets in the charter system

• Choice of heir

• Cohabitation of young and older married couples

• The heir and other children

• Joint will

Wills in territory of the common law system

• Hereditary system

• Cohabitation of young and older married couples

• The heir and other children

• Situation of the surviving spouse

 

XIX. LIFE AND DUTIES OF THE SPOUSES

Communal life of the spouses

• Communal life in the workplace

• Communal life on official holidays

• Seating arrangement of the wife at the table

Duties and occupations of the husband and the wife

• Duties and occupations of the husband

• Duties and occupations of the wife

Authority in the marital partnership

• Nearly equal rights

• How the husband is called by the wife

• Marital rifts

• • Causes of the rifts or disagreements
  • Marital separations

• Civility and etiquette

Social life of the spouses

• Social life together

• Relations of the married women

• Relations of the married men

• Current situation

Authority of parents over the children

• Shared authority or nearly absolute authority

• Transfer of the authority

• Parental authority and emancipation

• Showing respect to older people

• Uncle-nephew relationship

Educating the children

• Main role of the women

• Division of responsibilities between the parents

• Setting up personal wherewithal

Role of the woman in the passing on of values and beliefs

• Role of the man in passing on the cultural heritage

Adoption

• Frequency and names

• General points

• Reasons

• • Replacing a dead child
  • Economic grounds or charitable reasons
  • Childless couples
  • Fostering

• Adopting relatives

Changes in the family and to customs

• Decline in farming activity

• Assets and inheritance

• Women working outside the home

• Generation overlap and family structure

• Relations between parents and children Parental authority

• Rites of passage nowadays

• Religious belief today

• Oral tradition, education and school

• Changes in customs

 

XX. RELATIONS WITH THE FAMILY AND RELATIVES

Relations with the family

• Intervention of the padres of the spouses

• • Rifts

• Treatment and care of the in-laws

Gatherings of relatives

• Calendar of festivities

• Gatherings to mark rites of passage

• • Funeral ceremonies

Order of relatives at the ceremonies

• Order of relatives at weddings

• Order of relatives at baptisms. God-parents

• Order of relatives in the funeral corteges

• Signs of mourning and its length

Historical memories of the house and the family

• Recollections of the ancestors

• Memories of unusual houses in the neighbourhood

• Legends relating to the house and its former dwellers

• • The oldest local house

• Remembering the ancestors of the house

• Obligations regarding one's ancestors

• The burial place of the homestead

• Anniversaries

• Offerings

• • Bread offerings
  • Alms and offering light

• Worshipping the family's dead nowadays

Family memories

• Photographs and diplomas

• Clothes, crockery and belongings

• Significant items and garments

• • Jewels

• Funeral and religious items

 

XXI. FAMILY HONOUR

Honour of the house and of the family

• Feeling the honour of the house and of the family

• Solidarity between relatives

• • Agricultural jobs and urgent work
  • Misfortune, serious illness or death
  • Orphanhood
  • Financial help

• Rich relatives and poor relatives

• • Providing help
  • Indifference

• Relatives who emigrated

• • Returning to the family home

• Observance and visits

• Quarrels and reconciliation

• • Reasons for rifts
  • Consequences of the rifts
  • Settling the rifts
  • Grievances

• The Family Council

Effects of the kinship

• Hospitality

• • Ordinary visits
  • Patron saint festivities and Christmas
  • Studies

• Settling debts

• Value of evidence between parents

• Status of the elderly and ill

• • Transitions

• Servants

• • Relations between masters and servants
  • Contracting servants

• Maids

• Contracting temporary workers

• Contracting craftspeople