The Witches of Navarra, Spain Regina Winkle-Bryan
Hidden in the Baztan Valley near the southwestern French border, and a few miles away from the pristine shores of the Bay of Biscay, sits a little village with a big secret. Removed from the bustle of the Basque Country’s San Sebastian and the glitz of Biarritz, Zugarramurdi is a tranquil town where not too much has happened in the last four-hundred years. This lush area of Navarra is an ideal blend of French, Spanish and Basque culture, and this mix is especially evident in the local architecture. Painted clean white and adorned with red wooden shutters, bountiful flowerpots filled with pansies and geraniums spill from all the windows along Zugarramurdi’s streets. As I drove from Ainhoa to Sare to Zugarramurdi, I admired the picture-perfect countryside. There were fluffy sheep in the greenest grass on bulbous hills and manicured, yet unpretentious, farmhouses around every bend. It is easy to see why the Spanish say this region and, the Baztan Valley in general, is enchanted. 10 || TERRA TRAVELERS
I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to become spellbound by Zugarramurdi. For hundreds of years the town was home to witches and warlocks who used its natural caves as their meeting point for magical rituals. Up until 1610, the Witch Caves of Zugarramurdi were a happening place, and upon touring the caves it is easy to see why yesterday’s witches chose Zugarramurdi to hold their covens. More like a tunnel than a cave, Zugarramurdi’s Witch Cave is enormous; 40 feet high and 394 feet across at its widest. A stream, aptly named Hell’s River, runs through the cave and around it into the village, adding to the cave’s aesthetic beauty. Zugarramurdi’s Witch Cave is surrounded by thick forest replete with cherry trees, wild strawberries and purple figs which hung like weird decorations from slender limbs. Those who visit the cave are given a map of the area and take a self-guided tour through the cave and the woods encompassing it. Markers show where magic ceremonies were held, and point out medicinal
plants along the way. Everything was going swimmingly for the village folk of Zugarramurdi until the beginning of the 17th century when Don Juan del Valle Alvarado and the Spanish Inquisition was called to town. During his stay in Zugarramurdi, Valle Alvarado found witches and warlocks doing the craziest things, such as casting spells on crops, people and animals, shape shifting, being vampires, causing storms and creating shipwrecks, and basically worshipping Satan as their god… By November 7th of 1610, three-hundred citizens had been accused of witchcraft. Of these, forty were taken to Logrono to stand trial. Once in Logrono, the Spanish Inquisition acquitted eighteen of them, burned eleven at the stake, and handed the rest sentences such as life in prison, torture and hefty fines. Looking around Zugarramurdi and the fertile land it rest on, it crossed my mind that if I was a jealous neighbor
