Biscay is a province of the Basque Country in Spain.It is generally accepted that Bizkaia, the original Basque term, is a correlate of bizkar Biscay is a province of the Basque Country in Spain.It is generally accepted that Bizkaia, the original Basque term, is a correlate of bizkar Biscay ' onMouseout='HidePop("92400")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Álava">Alava
Álava is a province of northern Spain in the southern part of the Basque Autonomous Community. The province numbers a population of 301,926 inhabitants in an area of 2,963 km²....
,
LabourdLabourd is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques département. It is historically one of the seven provinces of the traditional Basque Country....
,
SouleSoule is a former viscounty and French province and part of the present day Pyrénées-Atlantiques département...
; The
BasqueThe Basques are the native people of the Basque Country .The Basques as an ethnic group primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country, a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-eastern Spain...
intellectual Imanol Mujica liked to say that the heads signify spirit, life, consciousness, and form – but it is generally used as a
symbolSymbolism is the use of symbols to represent things such as ideas and emotions. Symbolism is sometimes used to refer specifically to totemic symbols that stand on their own, as opposed to linguistic symbols....
of prosperity.
It was found in old stelas.
After the time of the Antonines, M. Camille Julián finds no specimen of swastikas, round nor straight, in the Basque area until modern times.
ParacelsusParacelsus was a Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist...
's
Archidoxis Magicae features a symbol similar to the lauburu that is to be drawn to heal animals.
M. Colas considers that the lauburu is not related to the swastika but comes from Paracelsus and marks the tombs of healers of animals and healers of souls, i.e., priests.
Around the end of the 16th century, the round swastika appears abundantly as a Basque decorative element, in wooden chests or tombs, perhaps as another form of the cross.
Straight swastikas are not found until the 19th century.
Many Basque homes and shops display the symbol over the doorway as a sort of
talismanAn amulet , a close cousin of the talisman consists of any object...
. In modern times it has been associated with the
swastikaThe swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form or its mirrored left-facing form. Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period and was first found in the Indus Valley Civilization of the Indian...
.
Sabino AranaSabino Arana Goiri, self-styled as Arana ta Goiri'taŕ Sabin, , was a Basque writer. He was the founder of the Basque Nationalist Party and father of Basque nationalism....
interpreted it as a
solar symbolA solar symbol is a symbol which symbolises the Sun. Solar symbols can have significance in psychoanalysis, symbolism, semiotics, astrology, religion, mythology, mysticism, divination, heraldry, and vexillology, among other fields.Some solar symbols include:...
, supporting his theory of a Basque solar cult based on wrong etymologies, in the first number of
EuzkadiEuzkadi may refer to:*Basque Country *Basque Country *Euzkadi , a Basque nationalist newspaper published from 1913 to 1937*Euzkadi, a Mexican tire manufacturer...
.
The lauburu has been featured on flags and emblems of various Basque political organisations including
Eusko Abertzale EkintzaBasque Nationalist Action is a Basque nationalist party based in Spain. Historically, it was the first Basque nationalist political party to exist running on a socialist program...
.
The symbol in its positive form (right-facing) can symbolise
lifeLife is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have self-sustaining biological processes from those that do not—either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as "inanimate."In biology, the science of living organisms, "life"...
, and in its negative form (left-facing)
deathDeath is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical...
. This is the reason why many Basque tombstones display left-facing lauburus.
It is also used as an alternative to the
Christian crossThe Christian cross is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity. It is a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is related to the crucifix and to the more general family of cross symbols...
in the death notices of Basque nationalists.
The use of the lauburu as a cultural icon fell into some disuse under the Spanish nationalist government of Franco, who repressed many elements of Basque culture. For that reason, there is some dispute as to which direction the lauburu faces represents creation (life and good fortune) or destruction (death and misfortune). Some say that what produces the distinctive round heads is the wake created by the rotation of the cross, representing the elements and universe of energy. When rotating clockwise, the wake trails in the opposite direction with the heads facing left, and vice versa.
Etymology
Lau buru means "four heads", "four ends" or "four summits" in Basque.
So the real origin could be in Astur or Cantabrum. Some argue it could be a folk etymology applied to the Latin
labarumThe labarum was a vexillum that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol, formed from the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" — Chi and Rho . It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine I. Since the vexillum consisted of a flag suspended from the crossbar of a cross, it was ideally suited...
.
However, Father Fidel Fita thought the relation reversed,
labarum being adapted from Basque in Octavian Augustus' time
See also
- Mechanical fan
A mechanical fan is an electrically powered device used to produce an airflow for the purpose of creature comfort , ventilation, exhaust, cooling or any other gaseous transport....
- Lábaro
The Lábaro is a modern interpretation of an ancient military standard of the Cantabri people from pre-Roman Iberum. It consists of a purple cloth on which there is what would be called in heraldry a "saltire voided throughout" made up of curved lines, with knobs at the end of each...
- Labarum
The labarum was a vexillum that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol, formed from the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" — Chi and Rho . It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine I. Since the vexillum consisted of a flag suspended from the crossbar of a cross, it was ideally suited...
- Sauwastika
The term sauwastika or sauvastika is a term sometimes used to distinguish the "left-facing" from the "right-facing" form of the swastika symbol. The "left-facing" variant is favoured in Bön and Gurung Dharma where it is called yungdrung in Bon and Gurung Yantra in Gurung Dharma...
- Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form or its mirrored left-facing form. Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period and was first found in the Indus Valley Civilization of the Indian...
- Tomoe
A tomoe or tomoye is a Japanese abstract shape that resembles a comma or the usual form of magatama. It is a common design element in and corporate logos, particularly in triplicate whorls known as mitsu tomoe...
External links
- The Baskian Swastika Lauburu, its symbolic meaning and history
- "La croix Basque, laubaru": demonstrating the layout for scribing the arms
- Lábaro y lauburu, Spanish-language page proposing that the Roman labarum
The labarum was a vexillum that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol, formed from the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ" — Chi and Rho . It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine I. Since the vexillum consisted of a flag suspended from the crossbar of a cross, it was ideally suited...
is of CantabriThe Cantabri were an ancient confederacy of eleven tribes, perhaps Celtic, that inhabited the north coast of Hispania in the whole modern province of Cantabria, the eastern third of Asturias and the nearby mountainous regions of modern Castile-Leon....
origin. The Basque lauburu would be a cultural appropiation of the Cantabrian symbol by erudites from the 16th and 17th centuries who tried to present modern Basques as descendants of the Cantabri. The symbolic meaning of both symbols would be very difficult to ascertain.