QUESTIONS? CALL: + 34 650 713 759

Pyrenean Experience

  • HOME
  • GEORGINA HOWARD
    • Georgina Howard, Writer and Founder
    • Blog
    • Photos & TV Documentaries
    • Responsible Travel Pledge
  • HOLIDAY TYPES
    • Guided Walking Week in the Spanish Pyrenees
    • Self-Guided Walking Week in the Spanish Pyrenees
    • Spanish Language Immersion Week
    • Creative Writing Retreats in the Pyrenees
    • Walking the World War II COMET Line
    • The Total Basque Mountain Experience (One Day Tour)
    • Inmersion Total en Ingles en Los Pirineos
  • ACCOMMODATION
    • B & B and Holiday Home near Baztan Valley
    • The Farmhouse
    • How to get there
    • The Baztan Valley
      • Ituren
      • Basque Valleys of the Pyrenees
      • Baztan Valley Walks and Traditions
  • DATES 2022 & 2023
  • PRESS & REVIEWS
  • CONTACT
Georgina Howard
Thursday, 10 March 2016 / Published in Basque Mythology, Wildlife of the Pyrenees

The Cure of San Juan Xar

Basajaun in the cave of San Juan Xar

“And it harm ye none, do what thou wilt”

Healing and superstition have played an important role in the lives of the Basque people – and the witch hunts of the Spanish inquisition in the 17th century are perhaps the most dramatic example. Many women in these misty Basque mountain villages, with their strange attire and odd sounding language, skilled in the use of natural remedies, herbs and ointments, were considered direct enemies of the so-called omnipotent powers of the church. Even today there is still a strong tradition among the Basques people to make home-made potions and creams for a variety of maladies. I like one that Pello (a historian friend from Irurita) mentions that his grandmother used for burns. She would use a mixture of olive oil and spring snow. Why spring snow and not winter snow we all thought?
Apparently there are more pollens in spring snow than in winter snow, and these also have their own curative properties.

Basajaun in the cave of San Juan Xar 709x399 - The Cure of San Juan Xar

Basajaun in the cave of San Juan Xar

 
Before the advance of the scientific age, healing was performed by the village witch or wizard as a matter of course, often called the wise man or woman and these pagan healing rituals comprised a mixture of magic, herbal and folk remedies. As diabolism penetrated into popular culture these healing techniques also involved the changing of the body’s energy field by directing energy to them as a form of absent healing.

This is the case of the magic healing effect of the three springs of San Juan Xar. Here on the outskirts of the village of Igantzi, on the dark and windy road up towards the village of Arantza, along the Bidasoa river valley, lies the cave of San Juan Xar.
According to anthropologist Father Barandiaran, patriarch of the Basque culture, it was Basajaun, (the mythological large, hairy guardian of the woods) who first presided over the cave and curiously enough, not far away, there is a place near the mill named after him; Basajaun Elutsa. However, the true fame of the cave (and chapel) of San Juan Xar is due to the faith in the properties of the water gushing from its three springs – a faith still held today and noticeable by the constant stream of people who make their way out to this isolated cave in the hills.

Healing springs 709x399 - The Cure of San Juan Xar

Healing springs of San Juan Xar

At the entrance to the cave and chapel abundant water flows through three limestone pipes. Legend has it that the water is holy with curative properties mainly for skin diseases. In order for the curative powers of the water to take effect, the most common ritual is to drink from each of the three springs and then, dampening a soft cloth in the water, to wipe the feet, legs and arms (and any other affected parts of the body). The final, and equally important part of the ritual, is to then extend the cloth over a bush near the springs and leave it there.

As you will see from these photos, and the number of cloths extended on the undergrowth, these rituals and traditions are still in common practice today.

Within the cave is a large sculpture of Basajaun but due to the mania of the Christian faith to stamp out any sign of paganism, today Basajaun is accompanied by a sculpture of a Saint Juan (St John) bearing a cross, turning the cave into a chapel. Every San Juan (23rd June), midsummer’s night, locals gather here for an evening ceremony. Nevertheless the presence of the pagan faith in the curative properties of the springs, deep within the forest, and under the auspices of Basajaun, leaves by far the dominating impression.

hornbeam 399x709 - The Cure of San Juan Xar

Hornbeam trees near the healing springs of San Juan Xar

During the last years, San Juan Xar has enjoyed substantial improvements and some measures to improve public safety, but with full respect to its cultural and natural heritage – in particular to the indigenous population of the Carpinus Betulus trees that circle the fountains. The Carpinus Betulus, Pagalizarra in Euskera, are commonly known as the hornbeam in English. Oddly enough this tiny circle of hornbeams around the cave of San Juan Xar constitutes the only grove of hornbeams in the whole of the Iberian Peninsula! How on earth they arrived there adds yet another mystery to the cave’s history!

Today practitioners of different faiths and established traditional cults – even atheists -still come for the curative properties of the San Juan Xar springs. Considered a class by itself, it comes with no holy texts, no creed or clergy: “And it harm ye none, do what thou wilt” is perhaps one of the few philosophies to cut across religious and cultural divides.

*************
Thanks to Oskar Txoperena and Nafaa Salem

  • Tweet
Tagged under: trees

What you can read next

Approaching Elizondo in the Baztan Valley
The Baztan Trilogy, Dolores Redondo – are we ready?
A Portrait of an English Mother in a Basque Pyrenean Sheep Shed. Autumn 2005
The lamia on a coat of arms on a house in Oriegi
Mermaids with Dangerous Combs! Lamiak con Peines Peligrosos

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

  • Basque Country Walking
  • Basque Culture and Tradition
  • Basque Food
  • Basque Lifestyle
  • Basque music
  • Basque Mythology
  • Baztan Valley
  • Bilingual Families
  • Dolores Redondo
  • Elizondo
  • Exercise and Learning
  • Ituren carnivals
  • Learning Spanish in Spain
  • linguistics and language learning
  • Spanish-English differences
  • Teaching Spanish
  • The Basque Language
  • The Invisible Guardian
  • Uncategorized
  • Visit the Pyrenees
  • Walking in the Pyrenees
  • Wildlife of the Pyrenees
  • World War II Escape Lines

Tags

Basque Country Basque Culture Basque food Basque Gastronomy Basque history Basque language basque traditions baztan valley bi-lingualism Carnivals chemists Christmas Traditions Cider comet line cultural differences Elizondo farming Fiesta Francois Grosjean Gastronomy Georgina Howard Ituren Joaldunak Krashen language learning Lozanov Marion Mills Nature Olentzero Onomatopoeias Pyrenees smuggling Spain Spanish conversation Spanish courses Spanish language Spanish school teaching total immersion trees tuition Vygotsky walking wellington

Featured Posts

  • Comet Line children meet in France

    Basque Children of the Resistance

    0 comments
  • pyrenean experience sunset over the valley on our guided walking holidays in the Pyrenees

    Comet Line Crossing of the Pyrenees

    0 comments
  • Map of the French and Spanish Pyrenees

    Secrets of the Pyrenees

    0 comments
  • Hiking in the Pyrenees: the Baztan and Bidasoa Valleys

    Hiking in the Pyrenees – stunning scenery and ancient Basque traditions

    0 comments
  • Colour definitions - is it green, blue or grey?

    Seeing Life in Colours – and the need to expand our vocabulary!

    0 comments

Location

Mapoflocation 350x262 - The Cure of San Juan Xar

Contact

Phone UK: +44 (0)121 711 3428

Phone Spain: +34 650 713759

Email: info@pyreneanexperience.com

Info

  • Privacy Policy
  • Responsible Travel Pledge
Responsible Travel
  • TripAdvisor
  • GET SOCIAL

© 2021 GEORGINA HOWARD All rights reserved

TOP