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In Zeanuri (B), the oldest people recalled that up to seventy years ago, the people who had made up the family mourners at the burial returned from the church to the house of the deceased in two groups: the men wearing capes and hats, and the women with black veils. On the way back, once they had reached a certain point, the men would remove the heavy capes, particularly in summer. They all then took part in the funeral meal that was put on at the house.
An article published in the 1920s<ref>D. ESPAIN. “Des usages mortuaires en Soule” in ''Bulletin du Musée Basque'', VI, 1-2 (1929) p. 24.</ref> pointed out that after the interment in Zuberoa, all the guests would go to the house of the deceased where they would be offered refreshments. They would originally only have been offered bread and cheese with the homestead’s wine, but by the 1920s, there would have been a meal. At the end of the meal, the precentor or sacristan would say some prayers for the deceased and “for all the souls that had left the home”, which would mark the end of the ceremony.
The return of the cortege to the home of the deceased that was common until three or four decades took different forms throughout Euskal Herria. In general, it could be said that in places with a concentrated population and the homesteads formed a settlement close to the church —as is the case of Álava and of Mid-Navarre— all the participants in the funeral rites, presided by the parish church and accompanied by the priest, returned to the house from where the funeral cortege had left and then a prayer was said in front of the door and which marked the end of the obesquies<ref>The Constitutions of the Ánimas de Sangüesa (N) Brotherhood, drafted in 1798, echoed this practice when they laid down that the members should go to the house of the deceased to say the response after the funeral mass.</ref>.
The end of the obsequies usually involved meals and feasts. It should be noted that those feasts are further proof that the people attending the burial and funeral were made up of two different groups: the ''honour group'', consisting of the people at the obsequies due to obligations arising from blood relationships, and the charity group, made up of those there due to Christian solidarity<ref>José Miguel de BARANDIARAN. ''Estelas funerarias del País Vasco. ''San Sebastián: 1970, p. 35.</ref>. There were different meals for each group.
In both cases, those meals were held with a ceremony in line with the requirements of a ritual, which has caused some authors to consider them as funeral meals or feasts dating back to ancient times<ref>Bonifacio ECHEGARAY. “Significación jurídica de algunos ritos funerarios del País Vasco”, in RJEV, XVI (1925) pp. 102. Barandiarán in turn stressed that the funeral meals or feasts “do not have the mystical content as in the past”. See ''Estelas funerarias del País Vasco''. San Sebastián: 1970,'' ''p. 29.</ref>.
{{DISPLAYTITLE: XIX. RETURNING TO THE HOUSE OF THE DECEASED AND FUNERAL MEAL}} {{#bookTitle:Funeral Rites in the Basque Country|Ritos_funerarios_en_vasconia/en}}
