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Since the 1950s, the traditional funeral rite has undergone far-reaching changes in Iparralde and continues to do so at an ever-increasing rate. Some of them, already irreversible, are above all testament to a social order and a view of the world that are very alien to the new generations. However, a significant part of the rituals survives, but they are often mere “points of reference” and “organisational frames” lingering in people's memory. But for how long?
Since the 1950s, the traditional funeral rite has undergone far-reaching changes in Iparralde (the part of the Basque Country within France) and continues to do so at an ever-increasing rate. Some of them, already irreversible, are above all testament to a social order and a view of the world that are very alien to the new generations. However, a significant part of the rituals survives, but they are often mere “points of reference” and “organisational frames” lingering in people’s people's memory. But for how long?
The coastal strip can be seen to have totally broken away from the inland area. There, death is dealt with outside the context of the home, ''etxe'', and of the framework that forms a neighbour-based society. As regards Christians, here more than anywhere else, they have to embrace their faith in the midst of indifference, in the best of cases.
== Christian care ==
There is nothing original in this regard as the viaticum and extreme unction are practices defined by the Church. Both mark the start for the dying person of the time where he will unite with the Mystical Body of Christ, that uninterrupted solidarity that will last for eternity and be continuously revived by worshipping one’s one's ancestors.
That care also clearly means that that the time has come for each of us to put our deepest thoughts in order and to attune with other realities. Therefore, it was a dreaded moment and the priest was often called too late, as they did not want to “scare” the person who was dying by making him face that terrible end awaiting everyone.
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.
The first neighbour, sometimes along with the second (those neighbours are defined according to criteria that we have sought to specify), would meet with the family and draw up the list of relatives to be told. The first neighbour distributed this task among his neighbours and other locals if needed, who thus became death’s death's harbingers, ''hil mezukari''; he would undertake the longest journey. The announcement, ''hil abertitzia'', would let people know about the death and indicate the date of the funeral. Some animals (cows, sheep, bees, dogs) would also be told of the death and that would be left up to a member of the family. Some of those animals could mourn for a considerable length of time, particularly the bees and ewes: they were kept in the burn, their bells were kept silent or a cloth was placed over them.
And finally, the announcement was echoed with the death knell tolled three times a day, at dawn, at midday and at night: ''argitzian, eguerdian, ilhuntzian''.
A new character, the carpenter, would then be involved and was in charge of organising the funeral in many places. He would place the deceased with the help of one of his helpers or of the first neighbour in the quickly fashioned coffin. As custom would have it, the family did not handle the body or be present as the body left. The deceased was usually wrapped in a shroud, sometimes with its head on a small cushion; the corpse would be dressed in its best suit or dress. With shoes on its feet and a beret on its head, it was ready to set off. It was then the eve or the morning of the funeral.
The coffin was an aedicula made up of canvases decorated with branches. In Lower Navarre, the carpenter built in the hall, ''eskaratze'', against the main door, a small chapel with canvases that the female neighbours decorated with green branches (boxwood, bay). The background canvas, known as ''hil mihisia'', was special. The carpenter places the coffin on two chairs in the centre of this closed space. Candles in holders provided by the family or borrowed from the neighbours (each homestead wrote its name on the base to then get it back later) were placed on each site. Two symbolic items were important: a marble crucifix bought by the first neighbour (which would be placed on the funeral monument), along with the house’s house's ''ezko'' (mourning candle used in the church during the funeral masses).
In general, the first neighbour wife, accompanied by her husband, welcomed the visitors at the entrance to the hallway. She took the relatives to the kitchen where the residents of the house would be.
The list of people and homesteads making an offering was published on the church door. In earlier times, the priest would read it from the pulpit.
The light offerings have already been mentioned. Subsequently, the family’s family's dead would be regularly and collectively remembered by masses being said, particularly those offered by women.
== The burial ==
The social conventions of the time were very important during the mourning period and established the way of behaving. The mourning period was marked by external signs that would gradually fall into disuse (except in the case of our grandmothers, ''amatxi'', who wore black as long as we could remember); the length of that period and its intensity particularly depended on the nature of the deceased (child, adult) and the link with them.
The earliest periods of mourning seemed to involve ceremonies organised by women. There were also “neighbours’ “neighbours' masses”, which the people surveyed could barely be remembered. Those ceremonies were less frequent from ''urthe buruko meza'', the traditional “year-end mass”.
== Legends around death ==