"Baserri" or farmhouse

It is said that one day in midsummer, a valiant hero called "Saint Martintxiki" stole a handful of wheat seed from the lords of the mountain, the giants or basajaunak. Soon after he was able to spy on them while they talked and find out what time of the year was best for sowing.

This ancient legend which writer Jose Miguel de Barandiaran heard during his youth in Ataun, relates the vicissitudes of a fantastic adventure that allowed the Basques to discover the secrets of agriculture, known until then only to the creatures and gods of the woods. By stealing these secrets from the ancient gods, the starving Basque shepherds and gatherers became farmers and initiated a long period in their culture which would last right up to the Industrial Revolution.

The mythical origins of the Basque farmhouse is one thing – its status as a specific type of European regional dwelling is another.

During the Middle Ages, the country peasants lived in wooden huts. The first stone farmhouses were first built during the fifteenth century and during the sixteenth there was a veritable boom in the number of farmhouses built with stone and wood. Although Basque farmhouses are very large buildings with an average of 300 m2 on each floor, the space reserved traditionally for the family was very small. It was always located on the ground floor and only over the last 150 years have bedrooms begun to appear of the first floor.

The dwelling was divided into two parts: the kitchen, sukaldea, and the bedrooms, logelak. The kitchen, placed near the entrance, was the heart of the farmhouse and the place where the family met and talked and received guests, where at night the women spun and during the day local events were discussed.

The term caserio or farmhouse is applied to both the economic activity and the dwelling in which this is takes place. As an economic unit, the farmhouse is a medieval institution which first came into being between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Sacred meaning

As an architectural style, it dates back to a maximum of five hundred years. A particular feature that sets Basque farmhouses apart is the fact that they all have a name, recognised by the authorities and neighbours, which in most cases has remained unchanged throughout history.

Even more than crops, domestic animals and especially cattle were considered to be symbols of wealth and for this reason more than half of the ground floor of the building was given over to them. The top floor was used exclusively for storage.

It is said that for the Basques, their houses had a special, sacred meaning. It was a family temple. However, this religious concept of the family dwelling, widespread among ancient peoples, diminished in intensity over the years and disappeared over the last century.

The heavens and other invisible sources of protection for the house and the people who lived in it were invoked. Protection was assured by placing symbols and objects in the house, acting like good-luck charms.

It was also the place where marriages were arranged and where the most ancestral rites of popular Basque culture were given refuge. Initially, fires were lit on a stone slab placed in the middle of the room. Later, fireplaces with a hood and chimney built against the wall became the norm. In the twentieth century, these were replaced by metal hotplates and cooking ranges. Every farmhouse had three or four beds, each with its respective double linen covers, as well as several carved wooden chests for keeping clothes.

Many were Christian in nature, such as the "IHS" anagrams and the stone cross on the roof, small wooden crosses on the doors, crosses painted with lime on the windows and crosses carved in beams and lintels. Some plants were also thought to have protective qualities, especially laurel, branches of which were placed around the house as soon as it was completed. The flower of the Swiss chard was considered to be an efficient way of scaring off evil spirits and whitethorn prevented lighting from striking.

The artistic decorations and adornments of farmhouses are few in number, as befits a building which, throughout history, has been conceived merely as a means of making the life of farmers a little more comfortable. One can understand the fascination generated by farmhouses in the past as they loom up in the mist with their rounded volume and time-honoured solidity. This is the Basque farmhouse: the ancient lord of the valleys.