Olentzero and Tió de Nadal

First, let me apologise for the three weeks of silence. Apparently, studying two languages, taking classes at the university, and working can be quite time-consuming... who knew?!

Second, I haven't really had much material to blog about anyway seeing as I've been hard at work trying to figure out the concept of nominalizazioa in Euskara. I have been emailing my teacher, Mireya, back and forth trying to figure out the difference between Nongo, Nongoa, and Nongoak. Unfortunately, the first two translate to pretty much the same thing in English and the third is the plural version. This is one of those concepts that I am not 100% sure I've understood it but as I use it more, it starts to become a little bit clearer.

Third, I think I want to expand this blog and take it beyond just Euskara and Català. I want to include the cultural aspect of the Basques and the Catalans. This would include anything from music to football. The only thing I will be keeping out from this blog (or at least, I will try to as there are times when I will not be able to help but speak out) would be POLITICS because although I enjoy it (I did just switch from Theatre Arts to International Relations after all...) I realise how polarising it can be and how it could turn people off.

Now to the good stuff. Christmas is just a day or two away, depending on where you live, and to celebrate I want to explore different things about the Basque and Catalan Christmas.


[an Olentzero from Hendaia, Lapurdi/Hendaye, Labourd]

[Tió de Nadal]

Growing up, I was raised in a mix of Spanish, Filipino, and some American Christmas traditions but two traditions I did not grow up with are: Olentzero and Tió de Nadal.

Olentzero (I've also seen variations such as: Olentzaro, Olentxero, Onentzaro...)

I first read about Olentzero in a brief one paragraph mention in Mark Kurlansky's The Basque History of the World. In that book, he was described as a "pre-Christian evil sort of Santa Claus who slides down chimneys on Christmas Eve to harm people in their sleep. Fireplaces are lit for the holiday to keep him away."

There are many descriptions and stories of Olentzero and they differ from village to village. Some have him as belonging to the race of the jentilak (giants) who looked up to the clouds and saw in it a sign that Jesus would be born. The other jentilak threw themselves off the cliff, leaving Olentzero behind. There is also another version wherein Olentzero is an orphan who is bestowed gifts by a fairy (an English translation of this tale can be found in Buber's Basque Page).

It was in around the 1950's when Olentzero received a bit of a makeover and the more gruesome aspects of his personality as well as some of the pagan elements were removed. In his modern aspect, Olentzero is slowly starting to look like the Santa Clause of the west (i.e. the one Coca-Cola has seared into our brains for all eternity) rotund, jolly-faced and sometimes with a beard!

On Christmas Eve, an effigy of Olentzero sitting on a chair is carried around the streets as children and adults sing Olentzero carols and ask for food, sweets or sometimes money to be given to a humanitarian cause. At the end of the night, it is sometimes customary to burn the effigy of Olentzero.

Some Basques only celebrate Christmas with Olentzero whereas some do both: Olentzero and the Spanish Reyes Magos (Feast of the Three Kings, celebrated on 6 January).

To wrap up, here's a fantastic Youtube video of an Olentzero kantak. It's set up karaoke-style so you can sing-along! It's a version called Olentzero and performed in the children's program, Txirri, Mirri eta Txiribiton. I was unable to find translations for the entire song but it seems to be a mix of the two carols found in this Wikipedia article.

Also, there is a website dedicated to Olentzero. It comes in four languages (Euskara, English, Spanish, and French) and it is loaded with pictures of Olentzero, people dressed up as Olentzero, celebrations, recipes, and more. It's very interesting although actual articles in English are minimal.

BONUS: Here are some funny Olentzero-related sketches featured in my favourite Spanish-language comedy sketch show, Vaya Semanita (if you can understand Spanish, this is also a funny way to learn a bit about Basque culture and politics). All are in Spanish.

- Olentzero secuestrado
- Olentzero Gandalf
- Olentzero Begins
- Olentzero vs Reyes Magos
- He matado a Olentzero

Tió de Nadal

This is one of those lovely Catalan traditions that I became aware of through the comedy sketch show called Crackòvia. Unfortunately, I cannot find a clip of this sketch on Youtube or on Crackòvia's website. In the sketch, Carles Puyol invites Andrés Iniesta and Samuel Eto'o to his home to make the Tió poop by beating it with a stick. The laughter comes in when a large log, which Eto'o thinks is the Tió turns out to be just the stick that will be used to whack the gigantic Tió outside the house.

The Tió de Nadal roughly translates to Christmas log. In the early days it was quite literally just a rough log which was used to bring heat and light to the home. In a symbolic way it also brought presents of sweets, wafers, and turróns. Now, the image of tió has changed dramatically. It is now a hollowed-out magical log with a painted smiling face, a barretina (red sock hat) on its head and little sticks beneath it for legs.

On 8 December, the tió comes calling on a family's doorstep and the member who goes out to answer the door must care for him by giving him something to eat (dry bread, carob, orange peels or other fruit) and drink (water) each night as well as a warm blanket to keep him from getting cold. It is through the gentle care that the tió is later on able to poop presents.

On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (depending on the household), the family come around and beat the tió with a stick and sing caga, tió (literally an order to: "poop, log!"). After the order is given, the tió has pooped out a treat that can be found underneath his blanket. The tió never brings large gifts as these are brought by the Reyes Magos. The tió tends to bring sweets such as turrón, wafers, dry figs, and chocolates. When the tió is finished pooping treats, it drops a salt herring, garlic, onion or it simply pees. The beating of the tió with a stick is relatively modern as in the old days they used to stick part of the tió in the fireplace to make it poop treats out.

Here are two different version of songs that one can sing to make the tió poop:

caga tió,
caga torró,
avellanes i mató,
si no cagues bé
et daré un cop de bastó.
caga tió!

poop log,
poop turrón,
hazelnuts and cottage cheese,
if you don't poop well,
I'll hit you with a stick,
poop log!

caga tió
tió de Nadal,
no caguis arengades,
que són massa salades
caga torrons
que son més bons!

poop log,
log of Christmas
don't poop herrings,
which are too salty,
poop turrón
which is much better!

I've also found a cute video one Youtube of two little kids giving the tió a whack with their Mum and also singing a version of the Caga, tió.

BONUS: Anna, who runs the blog: This curious thing called Catalonia, has written an entry talking about the tió, along with personal pictures and a song. Fantastic stuff!

If anyone knows of any other Basque or Catalan traditions, please feel free to share. Also, if you've grown up with Olentzero or the Tió de Nadal, please feel free to share any personal stories of memorable events and the like. I'll be back later tonight to officially wish you all a Happy Christmas.

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Basque Cuisine plus recipes and vocabulary words

A week ago, I bought two cookbooks on Basque cuisine: The Basque Table by Teresa Barrenechea and the bilingual Cocina Vasca/Basque Cookery by Juan de Echevarria. I'm quite fascinated by Basque cooking, even more so after having two fantastic lunches at a Basque restaurant in Chino Hills called Centro Basco, so I've decided that I want to try and learn to cook as many Basque dishes as I can. I've already made quite a few (some have been a part of my family's staples for so long that I was surprised to find out they were traditional Basque! And here I thought my family made those recipes up...)

Aside from using food to learn more about Basque culture, it has also helped me learn and memorise words. This is why it's easy for me to recall that in Euskara an onion is kipula, water is ura, and salt cod is bakailaoa. Sometimes, this is easier to do than flash cards although I use both.

A few months ago, one of my friends from the Basque Country sent me a recipe for Intxaursaltsa (also: Intxaursalsa) which in English is sometimes known as Walnut Cream or Walnut Purée. Through that, I was not only able to add more words to my vocabulary but it was also very much appreciated in my family, especially by my Pops who loves sweet things and nuts.

Seeing as I haven't asked her permission to share the recipe, I won't be posting it here. Instead, I will give you guys the recipes found in the two books I mentioned earlier. There is a slight difference in each but both remain quite simple.

The first is from Cocina Vasca/Basque Cookery:

Intxaursaltsa

500 gms walnuts (crush with a mortar and pestle until it has become a paste)
2 litres full-cream milk
4 eggs (beaten)
450 gms sugar
1 stick of cinnamon

- Put the milk to boil with the sugar and stick of cinnamon and when it boils, take the cinnamon stick out.
- Remove the milk from the stove and when it has cooled a little add, the walnut paste and the beaten eggs.
- Put the mixture on low flame and constantly mix for about 20 minutes. (If you stop mixing it will start to boil and separate).
- Transfer the intxaursaltsa into a serving dish. It will thicken as it cools. Eat alone or serve with ice cream.

This next one is from The Basque Table:

Creamy Walnut Purée

1/2 lb walnuts
4 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
4 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar

- Using a mortar and pestle, crush the walnuts until they are ground fine but not quite a paste. (You can use a food processor for this if you take great care not to overprocess the nuts.)
- In a large saucepan, combine the water and cinnamon stick. Bring water to a boil over high heat. Add the walnuts, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes, until the water is almost completely evaporated and the ground nuts are very thick. Discard the cinnamon stick.
- Add the milk and sugar to the saucepan, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, until the mixture is slightly thickened. If you'd like a thicker mixture, cook it for 5-10 minutes more, or even longer. Let the purée cook in the pan, then cover and chill the purée for at least 2 hours.
- Spoon the purée into small bowls, and top each serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Serve immediately.

The great thing about Intxaursaltsa is that you can eat it cold or warm and by itself or topped with ice cream or whipped cream. I usually prefer it at room temperature and by itself.

Although both recipes posted here are in English, here are some vocabulary words you can use if you try the recipe out:

• intxaurra - walnut (intxaurrak - walnuts)
  
• esnea - milk
• ura - water
• kanela - cinnamon
• azukre - sugar
• arrautza - egg (arrautzak - eggs)
  

My next Basque cooking project will be either chicken or Gateau Basque so hopefully I'll be able to post pictures next time!

BONUS: While watching one of my new favourite shows on EiTB, Objetivo Euskadi, I noticed that this week's episode which deals with traditional Basque dishes includes intxaursaltsa. In the show, the couple who make the intxaursaltsa add the crumbs of 5-day old bread. It looked pretty interesting! Leer más...

[Books] The Basque History of the World

One of the first books I decided to pick to learn more about Basques was Mark Kurlansky's The Basque History of the World. I knew beforehand about the positive and negative reviews but I felt that I needed something that gave me a broad view of everything from food to politics to culture but without being too heavy (I could always go into that later on).

One of the main reasons why Kurlansky's book is great for a beginner (i.e. someone completely unfamiliar with Basque history) is because of its readability factor. He is able to present such polemic topics as nationalism in a way that draws people in and forces them to want to know more.

I also love how the book is sprinkled with poetry (Gabriel Aresti's Nire aitaren etxea defendituko dut), quotes about Basques from famous works (Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises) and interesting recipes (bacalao al pil-pil).

As I learned more about Basque history, I did come out with one major gripe about Kurlansky's book. I felt that when it came to certain issues pertaining to armed-struggle in Basque nationalism, he did not give a clear and balanced view. Perhaps he might have wanted to downplay the negative aspect of armed-struggle to counterbalance the anti-nationalist bias being perpetrated by the Madrid press but I would have rather he presented both sides of the story on an equal level so the reader can be informed and come to their own decision about things.

Still, all that aside, I think Kurlansky ended up writing a great book. It certainly is one of my favourites and I always suggest it to people who are either unfamiliar with Basque history or people who simply think all Basques are racist terrorists who hate Spain.

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