Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

Let the fire warm us up and not burn

Hernaniko akelarrea / Ekainaren 23an / Gudarien Plazan (Hernani) / Herritarrek zuzendu eta antzeztu dute obra. Argazkia: A. Mariezkurrena.

The Christian religion ended the knowledge, wisdom and self-management of witches, imposing thought and, therefore, a certain life. They were tortured, raped and killed. With the intention of moving these religious convictions to every corner of Europe, many citizens engaged in pagan practices that had been burned in the fire. The calendar we have today is Christian and what better night, the longest of the year, to remember what happened, to face the Christian religious faith, to come together and to party at the Akelarre.

For years, a popular and pagan act has taken the Hernani Square on the night of San Juan. It initiates the festivities and has the form of theatre, but dance, music and singing are also joined, as is usual in the creations of this format. The elements related to nature place it in the environment from the beginning: wedges, sticks, branches, straw and fire, among others; as well as the witches that appear gradually, the beings that have branches and the male goats. On the night of St. John the fire has a great protagonism, but this is not what the Church ignited, but an element that, like all the ancient customs of Euskal Herria, represents the sun to maintain the faith of nature and welcome to the summer. It is a pity that the traditional annual act ignites the “real” fire after the akelarre. The spectator expects that fire, and the popular proposal that we are counting is nothing but an anecdote.

Although on the first occasion when the act was proposed, it damaged several faithful of the people, it has been gaining more and more views. This year people have approached the plaza well before 20:00 in the afternoon. The rain has failed to leave anyone at home, let alone the participants, who have suffered significant damage. There's about 300 on the stage, mostly young, that exaggerate the emotions that we're looking at. As the stage is a square, most of them have sat in a circle. The carriers of the torches have gained more prominence and have organised a very representative image of the straw in the centre. They will be the ones that the Inquisition judges later and those who resist, those who have just succeeded in a kind of orgy.

In any dramaturgy, there can be no missing element that generates conflict, and here it is the Church that plays that role. Traitors and impositors are those who come in white and well-dressed. Witches come to judge and to smoke aggressively. However, they "get" the public to stand against them. In the past, two witches have appeared to place history, representing a small state of their daily lives. These are two people who live in their own way and have proven to have a knowledge of medicinal plants. The inquisitors seek to eradicate it, since they will never accept a life that is not within their borders, nor a creative wisdom and realization, nor a life free from body and sexuality, nor that they think for themselves and deny power. The inquisitors came to prevent the development of witches' thinking and to deny the power to live without any command, and it was a pity that I had not focused on it.

Popular creations tend to maintain social cohesion and collective coherence and, therefore, common logic. However, these ideas have also been translated into current reality, recalling the genocide taking place in Palestine and saying, among other things, that “the inquisitors then are today’s military.”


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