The cave of Supelegor

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Basque mythology divides the universe in two halves, two worlds, two realities. The known world is on the surface of the earth, the world where the human being imposes its primacy; a subterranean world spreads under this surface, an obscure world inhabited by the gods. The caves link one world to the other.

Many legends survive about the cave of Supelegor, such as the one that relates that witches and “lamias” lived in the cave. Witches were women, generally speaking, who were very related to old deities, undertaking religious rites, imprecations and curses; namely, they were the priestesses of ancient religions. “Lamias”, on the other hand, were not human beings, albeit they looked like women; they were easy to recognize on account of the fact that they had a goat’s hoof, or duck’s flipper. They served Mari, and were ardent and affectionate lovers, but the man who fell in love with them went mad.

Nevertheless, people have always found Supelegor a pleasant place to visit; legend says that five shepherds went to live to Supelegor and, afraid that the wolves could attack their sheep, kept about five hundred of them in the cave. Some nights, the sheep awoke suddenly, frightened and began to run all over the cave; the shepherds never saw anyone, but they found a child’s footprints in the morning. They said that this was a game played by the “lamias” but it could have been a badger’s footprints, as they resemble a child’s.

Once, an immensely wealthy young man from the Ipiña district in Zeanuri went into the cave of Supelegor accompanied by two or three friends. Suddenly, someone stepped out of the shadow and embraced him with such strength that he was squashed. His friends carried him moribund to his home, where he died eight days later.

According to the beliefs of the time, the only being capable of such an embrace was the “basajaun” –lord of the Basque woods-; although it might be possible that it could have been a female bear, trying to protect her cubs, since this type of “embrace” is their typical defense and the she-bear protects its litter to death.