The Land of My Fathers: A Son's Return to the Basque Country

Fete Dieu in Iholdy

FETE DIEU IN IHOLOY The village feast in Iholdy is well and widely known, and visitors come a long distance to view it. That is because it is different. Unlike the solemn processions and Masses on feast days elsewhere, the Fete Dieu at Iholdy is marked by clamor and outright noise. Apart from that, the Fete Dieu has ancient overtones that strike an unexplained chord in Basque folk memories. The first symbol ofancience that a visitor encounters is greensward. Before the procession begins, grass is strewn in a wide path from village square to church and back again. It makes for a brilliantly green carpet. When the village church bell tolls, it is time for the procession to begin, and all three hundred inhabitants of the hamlet participate. The procession is led by bandsmen with drums and cymbals, fifes and cornets in a blast ofsound that commands everyone's attention. The bandsmen are followed by young men dressed in the uniforms ofNapoleon's GrandeArmee, blue with white sashes crossed on their chests, and tall bearskin helmets with small mirrors imbedded in the fur, which once blinded the foe when the Grand Army marched into the 27 sun. Like their predecessors, the soldiers carry long muskets , gleaming swords, and lances. Then come the Basque dancers, virile youths dressed in white with red and blue sashes, red berets trimmed in gold thread, and leggings with tiny tinkling bells. The dancers leap and twirl in the air and perform wondrous footwork on the greensward path. Village girls with red skirts and black bodices and colored head scarves come next, singing joyous Basque songs in pure soprano voices. They are followed by children who scatter flower petals in front ofthe priest's entourage. The priest is dressed in his very best goldhued robes and carries the Sacramental Host in a golden monstrance. He walks under a canopy borne by four acolytes in long red robes. Finally come the villagers, women in black dresses and men in black suits, white shirts, and black berets. Their passing marks the end of the procession. Inside the church, the middle aisle is taken by the participants in the procession-bandsmen, dancers, singers , flower girls. The priest and his entourage go up into the sanctuary for the conduct ofthe Mass, and the villagers separate according to tradition-the women in the nave and the men in the balconies above. 2.8 The women sing the priest's part, and the men sing the responses. Together, they make a counterpoint ofsoprano and the deep tones ofbaritone and bass. While the Ordinary ofthe Mass is the same as elsewhere , there is a dramatic difference in Iholdy when the moment comes for the Consecration ofthe Sacramental Host. When the priest turns to the congregation and raises the golden monstrance, three things happen. The soldiers aim and fire their muskets in a crashing volley that fills the church with white smoke &om blank cartridges . The warriors raise their swords and spears overhead while they shout out their irrintzina, the piercing battle cry that Roman legions and Germanic tribesmen heard. The dancers line the railing of the sanctuary, and to the rhythm offlute and single-beat drum, dance a stylized dance altogether different from their dances in the procession. The dance is performed in ballet movements , stiffand constrained. The dance personifies what the Basques believe to be the most beautiful gi& that they can offer to God. The dance, they say, is older than Christianity. The origins ofits symbolic meanings have never been traced. But it is nevertheless easy to imagine that the dances 29 were once offered in worship ofpagan gods. Its vestiges linger in the folk memory of the Fete Dieu in the tiny village ofIholdy. 30 ...