Entradillas dance of Arrastaria in Amurrio

The inhabitants of the Arrastaria Valley in Álava, belonging to the town of Amurrio and including the localities of Aloria, Artimaña, Delika and Tertanga, celebrate the festivity in honour of their patroness, the Virgin of La Antigua on 9th May.

This festivity is celebrated at the boundary between Bizkaia and Álava. It is peculiar that, although Arrastaria is located in Álava, its patroness is located in the neighbour locality of Orduña, in Bizkaia, that also celebrates the festivity of the Virgin of La Antigua about this time of year. Thus, everybody meets in Orduña to pay a tribute to the Virgin and dance the Entradillas dance. Since almost four centuries ago, this is the only day of the year when the Entradillas are danced.

Since 1639, each 9th May, the inhabitants of Arrastaria meet at the Hermitage of El Buen Suceso, in Orduña, to start a procession towards the Sanctuary of Our Lady of La Antigua, located in that same town.

The four villages take turns and each year one of them renews the vow to the Virgin, in the name of the other localities. Four banners and four crosses representing the four villages lead the procession. The authorities of Arrastaria, Amurrio and Orduña follow them.

At noon, once the procession reaches the hermitage, they celebrate a mass in the honour of the Virgin and, next, children and young people from the Arrastaria Valley dance the Entradillas at the sanctuary, forming a circle.

The Entradillas are short dances, like an honour bow to the amatxu of la Antigua, although they are danced before the authorities. At the beginning, the rhythm is slow, but it starts to speed up and becomes intense, as the rhythm of the arin-arin (Basque dance rhythm).