In recent years the women of Lekeitio have danced the sun dance on St. Peter's Day, this year they will dance on the day that originally corresponds: On St. John's Day.The women who once danced on St. John’s Day also performed the prequel called the sun dance and this year they will do it again, as in the past, they will dance three times, at dawn, noon and sunset.

However, on St. Peter’s Day, the Cabaarrancas usually take centre stage. The women of Lekeitio saw that their dance was left in the background, if they had been going for a few years with the idea of changing during the day, because in reality the dance had its own day and sense, since they associate the solar dance with the summer solstice. With this in mind and this year being the weekend, they will dance on St. John’s Day and the idea is to continue doing so during the years that the weekend falls. Although they dance on the 24th of June, they will also dance on the 29th, this year the dancers will have more work than ever.

Following the sun

The dance used to be danced three times during the great feast of St. John’s Day, when the sun came up, when the sun was at its highest point and when the sun was hidden. From a religious point of view; at the end of the first Mass in the morning, at the end of the main message, and finally at the end of the evening rosary. This year they will dance three times again; at 6:30 a.m. in Tala, at 1:00 p.m. in the square and at 8:00 p.m. again in the square. The women wanted to regain their day and their protagonism, and for this, the call to dance has been made to women of several generations who have danced the prequel. Sixty women will dance all day long. Among them will be some of those who danced in 1975 when the Lekeitio prequel was recovered.

The first written mentions of the dance date back to 1682; there are also documents of municipal payments made during the 19th century. We also have the image of 1936, but it was interrupted after the war. Then, in 1953, it is a trace of what was danced in semi-secrecy; but it was recovered in 1974. The Zerutxu dance group of Markina had been dancing and receiving music with the women who danced before the war. The following year the women of Lekeitio resumed their custom. By this time, however, the feast day was St. Peter's Day.

Manton by period

It was customary to dance the sun dance on three occasions during the day and for each occasion the women wore certain clothes. In the morning, they danced with an ordinary percale skirt and little silk shawls on their shoulders. At midday, the long black skirt and the elegant cloaked shawl came out to the square. At dusk, with the same midday clothes, but with large cashmere shawls. This year, the three times they will go out with long black skirts, but as it was done before, they will change the shawls. Some of the shawls that will be taken out are those that have been kept in the houses of Lekeitio for years.

[Kattalin Ager Dantzan.eus has published this article on the website; we have brought it to us under license CC-BY-SA]