Click here for information about how Besta Berri is annually celebrated in Chino, CA Besta Berri The Poetry and Prose of the Iparralde Basque Corpus Christi Celebrations Like other ethnic groups, Basques have fallen prey to the temptation of ethnocentrism.  Some Basques have gone to great lengths to celebrate distinctive and/or original elements of Basque culture.  Centuries ago a Basque priest bragged that Euskara—the Basque language—was the original, sole language of the world as spoken in the Garden of Eden which of course would make it the original of God.  Meanwhile, other Basques have pointed out that their homeland is the center of the universe.  One good friend commented that Jesus Christ was actually born in the hills of Gipuzkoa then later transported to the Holy Land .  From this perspective, all of the good, significant things in life are attributed to Basques.  While there are some notable Basques who have been significant throughout history, many other cultures could make the same claim, and oftentimes on a larger scale.  It is true that the Basques are a distinctive people in their corner of the Pyrenees in Europe , but they are not a separate race.  While some might be struck by how Basques dress up differently and participate in dance and games during their festivals, those outfits and traditions are not unique when you look around their European source to see that many of their European neighbors practiced much the same.  Yes, the Basques’ possess a unique language—Euskara—that knows no other definitive link with any other language, but the Basques also share much in common with their neighbors.  The Iparralde, or north-side of Euskal Herria (Basque country) is the locale of a unique set of annual celebrations that brings out the whole town.  There usually on the Sunday following Corpus Christi , in about two-dozen towns, the streets are covered with green foliage to demarcate the procession route.   Processing through the town is an elaborate collection of people in colored costumes with music and dance.  The faithful are there that day to commemorate God walking with them.  These Besta Berri [“New Festival”] celebrations of a handful of Basque towns in Lapurdi and Nafarroa Beherea capture in microcosm this paradox of the Basques:  they are simultaneously different from yet share much in common with their neighbors.  This also applies to differences among Basques themselves.  Usually on the two Sundays following Corpus Christi, Besta Berri celebrations can be found in the Lapurdi-Benafarroa regions [the northeast region].  Check out the towns of Armendaritz, Donostiri, Bidarray, Bitiriña, Heleta, Iholdi, Itsasu, Lekorne, Luhoso, Makea, Ortzaize and Ostanko.  The Basques did not originate these Corpus Christi celebrations, but once they adopted them they stamped them with their own distinctive character.  This is not unique to Corpus Christi .  Today, for example, the essential “national” dance of the Basques is the fandango/jota.  This dance was introduced into the Basque country and with their love of dance, Basques embraced it and gave it a distinctive flair.  Basques did not invent the accordion, but their love of music made this a natural instrument to adopt into their repertoire.  Again it is the same instrument as played by their neighbors, but most observers note that the way Basques play their music it is distinctive.  The same applies to the Besta Berri celebrations.  They share much in common with neighboring celebrations but they remain distinctive—even from similar celebrations in parts of the Basque country. Not only have Basques shown a penchant for adopting outside elements, those that they have chosen to embrace also reveals another central feature of the Basque worldview:  they tend to keep things longer than others.  Rodney Gallop in his Book of the Basques noted this penchant when he commented that the Basques were a “living museum.”  Corpus Christi celebrations were once characteristic of many communities in Catholic Europe, but across the centuries more and more of these festivals disappeared.  For various reasons, local inhabitants suspended these celebrations and the only things that we know about them are the brief notations found in historical archives.  In the case of these few towns of the Iparralde, we do not need to consult the historical record to learn about what once was; here we can see history come alive in an annual re-enactment that takes us back in time to an event that was inaugurated in the 13th century.  Here we see a living museum as the Basques keep alive what other communities lost long ago.   Thesis Statement The objective of this essay is to explore an explanation for this divergence:  how and why did the Basques keep alive a tradition that many of their neighbors let disappear? Why is the “living museum” phenomena so prevalent among Basques?  Then more precisely, what do the Basques see in this Besta Berri tradition that merits preservation?  The thesis of this exploration is that the Basques see beyond the prose to the poetry of the event.  Prose is the ordinary style of expression—it is writing or speech that is ordinary or matter-of-fact, without embellishment:  it is not poetry.  The Besta Berri celebration is not a matter-of-fact event:  it is embellishment and it is poetry in motion to communicate deeply held truths by way of symbols.  This symbolic event is ultimately an attempt to direct the attention of the individual away from the self and toward the other:  toward God or the transcendent, and toward compassionate, constructive relationships with other people in the community. Origins of the Feast of Corpus Christi The feast of Corpus Christi , literally "the Body of Christ," was inaugurated through the efforts of St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon ( Belgium , 13th century) to commemorate the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  From her early youth, Juliana had a great veneration for the Blessed Sacrament, always longed for a special feast in its honor.  Responding to a petition to expand the observance of the feast through the whole church, Pope Urban IV, always an admirer of the feast, issued the Bull “Transiturus" (September, 1264).  The Pope extolled the love of Christ as expressed in the Holy Eucharist, and proclaimed the new celebration of Corpus Christi on the Thursday next after Trinity Sunday.  The death of Pope Urban IV the following month after he issued the Bull, somewhat impeded the spread of the festival.  Clement V again took the matter in hand and, at the General Council of Vienne (1311), once more ordered the adoption of the feast. He published a new decree which embodied that of  Urban IV.  John XXII, successor of Clement V, urged its observance.  The feast had been accepted in 1306 in parts of what is today Germany ; in England it was introduced from Belgium between 1320 and 1325.  The feast introduced into the Basque Country in 1317 by Bishop Arnaldo de Barbazan at Iruña-Pamplona, where the celebration still takes place. Secular-Sacred Fusion:  The blending of military, civil & ecclesiastical authority One of the Catholic doctrines that Protestant reformers [c. 16th century] challenged included what came to be labeled “transubstantiation.”  The term transubstantiation seems to have been first used by Hildebert of Tours (about 1079).  Transubstantiation is also known as the doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  This was not the first time that this doctrine produced a degree of controversy.  In the early era of the Church when Christians experienced the oppression of Romans, some non-Christians heard rumors that Christians gathered together to partake of a cannibalistic ritual.  Later in the fourth-century with the establishment of Christianity as the sole official faith of the Roman Empire , the controversy abated.  Protestant critics re-ignited the controversy, and this issue became a key element of the Catholic Counter-Reformation.  The Council of Trent (concluded in 1563) sought to address the challenge of Protestantism.  The Council adopted key reforms but it also re-affirmed elements of doctrine.  The Council declared that "at the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ's Body and Blood."  Consequently, the Catholic celebration of Corpus Christi became a way of not only reaffirming Christianity generally, but more precisely Roman Catholicism.  The tradition of Corpus Christi , therefore, is that of the Roman Catholic variant of western Christianity.  A defining characteristic of the celebration is the procession but original decrees made no mention of these.  The procession, already present in some locales, was later endowed with indulgences by the Church and this contributed to making it a central element of celebration because indulgences were ways of atoning for sins.  During the procession, the consecrated host is placed in a special vessel and paraded through the streets of the town as the townspeople join in adoration of the "Body of Christ."  Distinct from other religious rituals of penance or imploring, from its inception the festival of Corpus emphasized adoration and exaltation.  The Papal decree requested that the faithful set this day aside as a celebration.  Each community responded in unique fashion, adopting its own local customs and traditions.  In many cases, this new festival opened opportunities for the creation of new choreographic and theatrical representations. Corpus Christi was widely celebrated throughout Catholic Europe but across the years these myriad festivals dissipated.  This is one aspect of a larger phenomena that makes the Basques a “living museum.”  The Basques readily embraced this new festival, celebrating it in distinctive fashion.  Their love of dance made it certain that dancers would join in the celebration of the Body of Christ.  Once widespread throughout Europe and Euskal Herria, many of these colorful celebrations dissipated over time.  Only a handful of these festivals have endured, and the same applies to the Basque country.    Corpus Christi in the Basque Country Introduced to the Basques in the early 14th century, Corpus Christi has come to be known by different names in different locales.   Christianity had long been established in Euskal Herria when this feast day emerged, thus the Euskaldunak [the Basques] labeled it besta berri or "new festival."  Basque variants of the label also include Pestaberri, common to Nafarroa Beherea, and Korpus-eguna in Gipuzkoa.  In the Iparralde when the celebration is labeled in French, it is known as “La Fete-Dieu” or the Feast of God.  In Donostia (Gipuzkoa) they have re-created the ezpata dantza or sword dance performed during the Corpus parade in Donostia.  There in 1660 over one hundred dancers took part in the procession.  In this variation the characteristic dance is entitled Jaungoikoaren aurrean--literally "in front of God."  Up until the end of the 18th century a variation of this sword dance was performed during Corpus in almost every Gipuzkoan town.  Another unique set of dances characterize Corpus in the town of Onati (Gipuzkoa) that appears to have sustained this tradition intact and consistent from the 16th century into our times.  There in 1573 a special fraternal order was organized to put on this celebration.  Sword Dance:  Jaungoikoaren aurrean--literally "in front of God” Decoration and ornaments also characterize these celebrations.  In Apellaniz (Araba) it was characteristic to decorate the doors and windows of houses along the processional route.  In Isaba (Nafarroa) special altars were erected.  The famous large figurines that march through the streets of Iruña-Pamplona during their week-long celebration of San Fermin were originally created for the feast of Corpus in nearby Estella in 1632. These various Basque celebrations share several aspects:  a procession through streets strewn with green foliage, the benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, the town’s children who received Holy Communion for the first time that year in the procession, members of various fraternal orders created for this festival, and of course colorful characters in costumes marching to music.  Some of these celebrations are further distinguished by the introduction of military escorts.   Controversial Aspects:  Military Parades & Liturgical Dance There are many theories to explain the origins of a seeming contradiction:  what are men with weapons doing in a procession with the Blessed Sacrament?  Juan Antonio Urbeltz locates the origin of an armed escort back in the Middle Ages when armed guards were a common adornment for public civil and ecclesiastical ceremonies.  These escorts were known as “sworn” armed guilds:  they were sworn to both protect the community and to pay tribute at the solemn communal events.  The community, therefore, assigned a special degree of honor for these armed military guilds.  These armed escorts were at the ready to honor the local patron saint as San Marcial in Irun , to celebrate the feast of St. John the Baptist in Tolosa, the festival of Corpus, etc.    Zapurrak:  half-man, half-bear and the symbol of power A distinctive character in these military parades is the zapurra.  Urbeltz argues that the origin of this character takes us back to pre-historic archetypes and myths.  The zapurra is the “wild man” character; it is both man and beast.  The human side is illustrated as the soldier and the master-workman.  But the distinguishing element of the costume, however, is the large fur-covered head-gear.  This head-gear marks the character as being half-human and half-bear.  Early legends spoke of this strange creature that espoused the primary virtues of the hero:  strength and vitality, intelligence and spirituality.  Bears are now extinct in the Basque Country, but they were indigenous to that area until relatively recently.  This magical creature inspired the imagination of early humans; note that bears hibernate during the cold, winter months only to seemingly resurrect with the coming of Spring.   What Urbeltz suggests is that folklore posses a syncretic capacity to formulate symbols.  What is essential for a military force is just that—force.  The bear emerged as the representative symbol of primeval force.  These military escorts, of which the zapurra is a key part, indirectly demonstrate the power behind every festivity.  The presence of military characters, therefore, is an illustration of the syncretic capacity of folklore.  The contradiction of men with weapons in a religious parade is reconciled.  The symbol of power is appropriated to demarcate the underlying power of the event transpiring:  God walking with us.  Thus the presence of weapons is a “natural” aspect of these festivities.  These armed escorts distinguish many celebrations throughout the Basque country, but it is in the Iparralde that the Besta Berri celebrations have sustained in peculiar fashion this syncretic capacity of folklore. In the provinces of Lapurdi and Benafarroa, about two dozen municipalities observe this feast day with unique civic-military processions.  They can still be seen annually in the towns of Iholi, Heleta, Bidarrai, Ortzaize, etc.  These processions take place on the two Sundays that follow Corpus Christi .  The town is specially decorated for the event and all of its inhabitants usually take part either as characters marching in the procession or as spectators lining the route.  Again here is the living museum as almost all of the town actively participants.  Music fills the air as characters march and dance to the music.  The dance takes the entourage inside the church and this is what also makes this tradition somewhat controversial.  If armed escorts alongside the Blessed Sacrament did not cause a stir for some folks, a rising tide of sentiment soon turned against liturgical dance.  An examination of this challenge to liturgical dance also helps us to explain the erosion of Corpus Christi celebrations.  The Roman Catholic liturgy continues to make use of song, but somewhere along the way it became essentially devoid of dance.  Liturgical dance characterized many religious celebrations in earlier times, expressing the same joys and affirmation now embodied in song and music.  Once prevalent in Europe , it disappeared over time.  While being notable singers, the Basques nonetheless retained this form of religious response:  the dance as a form of worship and prayer.   This means that Basques largely ignored Church directives that sought to expunge liturgical dance. Why animated the critics of liturgical dance?  The most common objections to liturgical dance include:   Specific objections – emanating from a bad experience with dance in church in the past.  These included a lack of modesty in costuming, poorly presented choreographed dances that were not rehearsed enough, and dancers hearts not being right with God.   Second, some critics the scriptural basis - some Christians may not know about the scriptural references to dance.  Critics who did dismissed the references as "not for today."  They argued that dance was acceptable as a form of worship in ancient Israel in the times of the Old Testament, but not “today” with the New Testament.  And finally, 3) critics just did not like it - this is at the root of a lot of objection to Christian dance. What seems to have troubled these church critics most were "improper" dances and songs, the participation of women in these rituals, and the dancing of men and women together.  The Council of Narbonne (1551) declared church dance a dishonoring of the Christian name and contempt for holy things.  They proclaimed their desire "to root them out entirely, so that henceforth nobody will dare to dance in a holy temple or a churchyard during divine service. This was followed by the Council of Lyons (1566) that threatened priests and other persons with excommunication if they led dances in churches or cemeteries.  Protestants and Catholics, for all their differences, by the early 18th century neither officially allowed for religious dances in their services.  Consequently religious dance either disappeared, survived in isolated places or in was transformed into folk expressions.  But the pattern of transition varied across western Europe.  Spain joined in the movement to extinguish religious dance.  Charles II issued a decree in 1780 banning almost all dancing in churches and also religious processions.  The Church aimed to halt religious dancing, but it persisted in various forms.  People never gave it up, and the French, Italian and Spanish clergy were in general less stringent in pressing the prohibitions.  Thus is was for these two dozen communities that sustained Besta Berri.  They ignored official directives, and with the support of their local clergy—which sometimes even entailed the priests themselves dancing—the Basque quietly continued their traditions in their corner of the Pyrenees . Besta Berri Ensemble:  Donoztiri, 1948   Besta Berri A handful of communities in Lapurdi and Nafarroa-Beherea continue this tradition of Besta Berri, and while they all share central elements in common, each town has its own variation.  Sometimes the variation is subtle:  in one town the oilarrak or first two characters of the procession wear green jackets while in another they might wear red or blue.   Dance steps are also slightly varied as is the order of the procession.  Here we see first-hand how the Basques adopted a new tradition and made it distinctly theirs at the communal level.  The principal characters in this, in contrast to the ecclesiastical and civil authorities that take part, clearly reveal a military theme.  From the two oilarrak or “rosters” that lead that lead with staffs topped by symbolic rosters to the conclusion of the processional entourage with the young males of the town forming a “national guard” with makeshift rifles at their side, the principal characters are costumed in military-like wardrobes and they march to military march tunes.  Other characters include the suissa, or “swiss guard”; pairs of the aforementioned zapurrak, pairs of officers dressed in blue to direct the national guard, a makilari, or drum majorette with a twirling baton in hand, a pair of lantzierak or characters holding lances, a pair of alabardariak holding colorful standards and a pair of bandelariak who carry flags.  The waving of flags is very common in Corpus Christi celebrations.  These and other characters are organized according to local protocol. In the town of Heleta , to use one such example, the observer sees the ancient choreographies reenacted and fusion of civil, military and ecclesiastical authorities.  The town is all festively decorated yet quiet in the morning, because most inhabitants are at church.  Inside the church they await the entry of the principal characters.  Soon the music begins, a military march tune, that ushers in the dancers who process up the main church aisle.  As they move forward the dancers execute a simple step until all the principal characters are inside and the entry concludes with the flurry of twirling flags.  Then again, during the course of the liturgy, the music begins and the flags twirl to commemorate the Eucharist.  Following the mass, the procession begins as the Blessed Sacrament is now escorted through the streets by the principal characters, the clergy, the “national guard” entourage and the local civil authorities.  At the climax of the procession, all is again quiet for the benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in the town’s main plaza.  Then music begins as the characters lead another procession this time round and round the plaza as they dance.  When this final procession concludes, all are invited to dance the jauziak or circle dances characteristic of that region:  the muxikoa, hegi, maiena, etc.  Besta Berri remains an annual tradition in a shrinking number of Iparralde towns.  They include:  Armendaritz, Donostiri, Bidarray, Bitiriña, Heleta, Iholdi, Itsasu, Lekorne, Luhoso, Makea, Ortzaize and Ostanko.  It was not too long ago that  towns such as Ahatsa, Aldude, Arnegi, Arrosa, Donamartiri, Donazaherre,  Ezterentzubi, Gamarte, Gerezieta, Haltsu, Kanbo, Larresoro, Lakarra, Landibar, Lartzabal-Zibitz, Lasa, Lekuine, Lekunberri, Meharine, Mendibe and Suhuskune stopped their celebrations.  Perhaps they might reclaim their traditions like some neighboring towns have done.  Some towns have re-created and adapted their traditions.  In Makea, for example, they have recently incorporated women into the procession.  In Ezpeleta they have again started to celebrate Besta Berri with the addition of new dances.    Besta Berri in the Diaspora: The Chino Basque Club of California and its re-creation of the Besta Berri tradition Click here for information about how Besta Berri is annually celebrated in Chino, CA Besta Berri is also celebrated in the Basque diaspora.  As Basques migrated throughout the world, a diaspora was created with small Basque communities crystallizing.  In the United States , Basque immigrants congregated in the western states and southern California became the home of many Basque immigrants from Lapurdi and Nafarroa-Beherea.  There in 1997, the Chino Basque Club incorporated Besta Berri into their annual celebration and adapted it to their local reality.   Instead of following Corpus Christi , for example, the Chino Basques celebrate Besta Berri in conjunction with their annual festival on Labor Day weekend.  Nevertheless, the key elements remain with the principal characters and the outdoor procession of the Blessed Sacrament with the concluding communal dance.         The Basque Anomaly That Basques are still around as an identifiable ethnic groups is a historical anomaly.  L.L. Cavalli-Sforza’s recent genetic studies in Genes, Peoples and Languages have demonstrated that Basques are the oldest indigenous people of western Europe.  Basques have the world's highest frequency (over 50 percent) of the gene for the blood group Rhesus-negative.  Again, not to slip into ethnocentricism, the argument of Basques being the oldest people does not imply that they are the best.  This fact only affirms the “mystery” status of the Basques.  Basques have always been a numerically small population.  Mark Kurlansky, in his A Basque History of the World, noted this feature and attributed this to the high incidence of the Rh negative factor in the Basque bloodline which inhibited population growth because the negative and positive blood types do not mix in the human fetus.  Be that has it may, such a small population base in western Europe should have been assimilated into the larger neighboring groups.  Why the Basques escape the route of most all other minority groups continues to spark debate that presents environmental arguments (e.g., the high mountains and geographic isolation) and cultural choices.  It is problematical to overly emphasize environmental factors because the Basque homeland has been traversed by many outsiders; e.g., what quickly comes to mind is the medieval pilgrimage route through the Basque region to Santiago in northwest Spain .  Cultural factors—the choices made individually and collectively—therefore, yield greater relevance in addressing this issue of why the Basques are still here. Two cultural factors concern us here in addressing the Basque anomaly:  Euskara [the Basque language] and the “living museum” phenomena of the Basques.  No doubt that Euskara—the Basque language—played a role in ethnic persistence.  Linguistic research has demonstrated that Euskara is unlike any other language in the world in that it has its own branch on the linguistic tree.  The language served as a legitimate barrier to both sides and thus assimiliation:  outsiders found the language strange and Basque speakers reciprocated.  But Basques still made a choice to retain their language rather than forsake it.   The same applies to the Besta Berri celebration.  Whereas Corpus Christi celebrations were omnipresent in western Europe until recent times, the Basques again chose to retain this tradition.  This proclivity to retention, therefore, is a key element in explaining Basque ethnic persistence.  This proclivity now seeks explanation:  why would Basques tend to keep traditions alive while many neighbor groups around them let them dissipate?    Makilaria   Connotation vs. Denotation:  What is it that we are actually seeing? For the spectator, things are not always what they seem in the Besta Berri celebration.  In locating the military aspect of the celebration, a flawed assumption is to link it all back to the Napoleonic era.  Whereas Basques became more integrated into the French state at that time, the military theme as Urbeltz demonstrated, was already well in place.  The present-day costumes certainly borrowed from contemporary French elements of the 19th century, but this too demonstrates the fluid—poetic—quality of this event.  While sharing common characteristics, each locale maintains a distinctive “look” in their costumes that have varied across time.  Characters come and go.  In Heleta, for example, Arbelbide tells us that there was a stretch from 1919-1936 that they dropped the oilarra characters before re-incorporating them.  Another flawed assumption is to conclude that Besta Berri is a celebration of things military.  Again, it is the difference between prose and poetry.  This is a mistaken reading of the event where the observer becomes stuck on the denotation—the literal meaning—that they miss the connotation—the implied additional meaning—of what is transpiring.  Despite appearance, the significance of the celebration is not primarily military, as the origin of the event was clearly to pay tribute to the Blessed Sacrament.  As Urbeltz argued, the military element was secondarily inserted as a supplementary means of conveying the underlying power of the event being witnessed.  This escapes some modern critics with pacifist inclinations who have recently condemned these celebrations as the celebration of war.  Weapons are indeed present, but upon close inspection it is clear that they are not designed for real use.  These critics cannot seem to look beyond the presence of weapons or other military trappings to locate their metaphorical significance.  So if Besta Berri is not really about Napoleonic France nor the celebration of warfare, is it just then a good excuse for a festival?  Besta Berri is indeed a festive scene to witness, but it is also more than just colorfully costumed characters dancing to the music as they make their way through town.  So what is really going on?  The answers vary as we move from the historical to the mythological.  For a time Corpus Christi celebrations acted as bridge between the pagan and Christian worlds.  Basques were relative late-comers to Christianity (c. 8th century), but once  they embraced this new faith they absorbed it and made it their own.  Like other converts to Christianity, the Basques came from a pagan context.  While little definitive evidence remains as to the pre-Christian religious beliefs of the Basques, it is probable that Basques practiced a form of sun worship.  The feast of Corpus Christi became of way to bridge that divide:  Christ now supplanted the sun-god.  Urbeltz in his Danza Vasca links this substitution with the ritual of the procession over streets strewn with vegetation.  Christ now became the metaphorical sun that gave life.  In some parts of the Basque country the continued reference to Eguzki saindua (“Sacred Sun”) in reference to this practice is a remnant of this bridge-building effort.  Joseph Campbell’s work on “the power of myth” gives us a poetic reading of the event.  From this perspective, Besta Berri is a communal re-enactment of a ritual that defines a meaningful experience for both the individual and the community.  If this is the case, then why do we not see this clearly?  Why is it not transparent as say the armed escorts?  Campbell addresses this by noting the serious deterioration of ritual in the modern world; he believed that we are losing our “mythic imagination.”  Ritual plays a key role in the socialization of the individual into the community.  From the earliest of time until the present, the stages of human development remain basically the same:  the child develops in a world of obedience and dependency on others, and this must be transcended if the individual is to come to maturity.  Campbell defined maturity as “self-responsible authority.”  This transition comes about via the enactment of the ritual:  the induction of the youth into the life of his/her world; what Campbell explained as the linking of the individual “to a larger morphological structure than that of his own physical body.”  The primary function of ritual is to take the individual outside of himself to something larger, greater, more noble.  This Corpus Christi celebration is the essence of Christianity.  As Charles Kimball noted, a common feature of most all religions is that they converge in teaching an orientation toward the other:  toward God or the transcendent, and compassionate, constructive relationships with other people in the world.  In a scriptural passage, Jesus summarized this essence while responding to a query as to what is the most important commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the laws and prophets.  (Matthew 22:37-40) Campbell of course never had occasion to wander into these towns during these annual re-enactments, but had he done so, he would not have been surprised but what he saw.  Perhaps unschooled in particular Basque characteristics, he nevertheless would have seen the poetry in motion:  the pitching out of the individual into the community.  Those who have observed Besta Berri firsthand concur:  Urbeltz argues that these ongoing celebrations represent the community’s way of celebrating their collective identity.  Xabier Itzaina relates the same theme:  he believes that Besta Berri is a means of identifying the individual within the community.  The Iparralde Basques, specifically those few in the dozen or so towns that have refused to abandon this tradition, because it served as path to the other.  Arbelbide’s study of Besta Berri tells of the Basques’ persistence in retaining this event even when the Church moved to censure some of its elements.  For whatever reason, these critics again seem to have foundered on the prose.  Basques proceeded to largely ignore the restrictions.  Recall that this is a culture that celebrates the tradition of bertsolaritza:  improvisational poetry.  As Kimball notes, whatever is apprehended or known by someone, no matter how profoundly true it may be, can only be communicated to others via the use of symbols.  Besta Berri is just this symbolic dialogue:  the styled costumes, the characters, the music and dance, the solemn procession, etc. are all vehicles to convey greater meaning.  Even the language of the event serves the same purpose, as languages are ultimately complicated symbol systems.  Even if one is aware of the symbolic dialogue, the symbols work at many different levels and they require a nuanced understanding and explication. It was Campbell who argued that the recovery of our mythic imagination was crucial for the beginnings of this nuanced interpretation.  This perspective allows us to see in the Besta Berri celebration what Campbell described as the invisible supports of the visible.  He explained that society represents the invisible support afforded individuals.  Society predates the individual and it will endure long after we are gone.  Besta Berri reaches us today from across centuries, and it appears that it will endure for a good long while.  Its enduring power comes from its ritual basis and that is why Campbell argued that myth and ritual “must be kept alive.”  The living museum of the Basques, therefore in the final estimate, becomes the ongoing attempt to keep ritual alive.  And it is in the enactment of the ritual that we find the means of taking us out of ourselves to be a part of something bigger and better.  This is ultimately the transporting of ourselves into a union with the other:  an orientation toward God or the transcendent, and toward beneficial, noble relationships with other people in our world. BIBLIOGRAPHY ARBELBIDE, Xipri.  Besta Berri.  Lasarte-Oria:  Ostoa, 2001.  ISBN 84-88960-67-0. CAMPBELL, Joseph. The Power of Myth.  Betty Sue Flowers, ed. New York :  Doubleday, 1988.  ISBN 0385247745. CAVALLI-SFORZA, L.L.  Genes, Peoples, and Languages.  Berkely:  University of California Press, 2001.   ISBN 0520228731. DUESO, Jose.  Nosotros Los Vascos:  Mitos, Leyendas y Costumbres.  Volume III.  Lur Argitaletxea, 1987. KIMBALL, Charles.  When Religion Becomes Evil.  San Francisco :  Harper Collins, 2002.  ISBN 0060506539. URBELTZ, Juan Antonio.  --Bertan:  Alardeak.  Volume 8.  Donostia-San Sebastian:  Diputacion Foral de Gipuzkoa, 1995. --Danza Vasca: Aproximacion a los Simbolos.  Lasarte-Oria:  Ostoa, 2001.  ISBN 8488960689   Click here for information about how Besta Berri is annually celebrated in Chino, CA