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He is the central figure of the Basque mythological pantheon, the manifestation of the deified forces of nature. But not in the sense of divine as understood by the great patriarchal religions, but in the sense of sacred of indigenous peoples. All beings and natural cycles are nothing more than different expressions of the same thing, Mary.
Mary constitutes a whole with nature, her archetypal image symbolizes a naturalistic world-view, long before the great patriarchal religions, encompassing the three kingdoms (mineral, vegetable and animal) and the four fundamental elements: earth, air, water and fire.
Below are a couple of images that represent the figure of Mary:
Mary is a chthonic (subterranean) divinity and as such, she lives underground, in caves and grottoes in high mountains, metamorphosing (“multi-appearance”) into genies and animals from the underworld (from the interior of the earth).
He takes zoomorphic figures in his underground dwellings, in which he frequently shows part of his extremities in animal form (goat or bird feet) or presents himself as a bull, goat (Akerbeltz is his favourite animal), red bull, horse, snake, vulture, etc. However, on the outside, on the surface of the earth and at the entrance to the caves, everything that appears before the human being takes the form of a beautiful woman (or human being).
When she travels through the air, she is observed surrounded by fire, in the form of a red cloud, fiery crescent or sickle, gust of wind, etc. Surrounded by riches, with the magnificence and sumptuousness that correspond to her position and person, when we talk about the quality of her personal utensils, as well as the furniture of her domestic trousseau, we always have to talk about solid gold. The “Zezengorri” or “Behigorri”, wild bulls native to the area, were in charge of protecting the treasures of the caves where the Goddess lived.
The Goddess Mary is not something exclusive to the Basque culture, additionally we can find her with other names in many other cultures and religions around the planet, such as:
The Virgin Mary (white virgin is attributed to Catholic currents and the black virgin is attributed to pagan currents)
Pachamama, venerated by the Andean peoples
Cybele or Ceres in Greek mythology
Magna Mater in the Roman
Freiyja or Frigg in Norse mythology
Nerthus in Germanic
In fact, the English name Friday derives from Old English and means "day of Frigg or Fri", the Norse Goddess of fertility and love, who is often perceived as the same deity as Freya. Therefore, we can deduce that "Black Friday" day, in turn, is a day of celebration of the pagan Virgin Mary (Black Virgin) or Mary.
Below is an image of the Chapel of Santiago Apóstol (Madrid, Spain) where we can see the Virgin Mary (and at the bottom of her the crescent and Sugaar).
Location and correspondent image:
The following image shows the Black Virgin (Alcalá de Henares, Spain).
Location and correspondent image:
Mary is not only the epiphany of Ama Lur (Mother Earth/nature and her forces personified) but represents the natural ordo, whose webs, she weaves and unweaves in the horns of her ram. To this greatest Basque divinity, the ram, a sacred animal per excellence, is symbolically offered.
She is the queen of the rest of the genies that accompany her, usually in the form of animals. The image of it (like that of many other traditions) varies depending on the town or geographical area that describes it. Mary can appear carrying a golden palace in her hands, on a flying chariot pulled by four horses, like a woman on fire crossing the air, she can be mounted on a ram, like a large woman whose head appears surrounded by the moon. full, etc.
In some legends she appears with a subordinate male companion, Sugaar, a male snake (also called Maju or Herensuge, Mother's Angel in English, it is the masculinization of Maya or Mara), and when the two come together in sacred union or “mixis”, violent storms are unleashed. In this cosmic duality that always accompanies the figure of Mary, Sugaar represents the celestial masculine forces archetypally symbolized as a snake-ray-dragon.
This symbology is based on the fact that for our ancestors, the sexual union between Father Sky and Mother Earth occurred during storms, since from said encounter the seminal rain arose that fertilized the crops. And in this cosmic coupling, lightning represented the fertilizing power of the celestial male principle that penetrated the chasms and uterine cavities. This atmospheric phenomenon was interpreted by our ancestors as a lightning-snake or dragon (related to the masculine elements fire and air). Mary unleashes storms, but she is not always a source of fear and helps those who believe in her.
These stories about the lovers Mary and Sugaar can be considered a relic of early Europe, since they still preserve the original symbolism of the dragon character as a lover of Mother Earth and directly relate it to the celebrations of the Neolithic sacred marriage. For this reason, in many European legends, including the Basque ones, the dragon appears linked to the interior of a cave, which represents for primitive peoples the womb of the Mother-Goddess where the two principles that originate life come together.
Later, Catholic Christianity would qualify this meeting between lovers as a dragon abduction, creating new myths in which the original representative of the masculine principle of fertility was killed and replaced by the new patriarchal chivalric hero.
Mary unleashes storms, but she is not always a source of fear and helps those who believe in her. People often turned to her for advice, such as on one occasion when a man came to the Amboto cave to ask her for advice because her forge was not working, and she gave him an accurate solution. Sometimes she acts as an oracle, spinning the skein of destiny, inside her cave, frequently on the horns of Aker, her faithful numen servant. She is a thread of destiny (sometimes made of gold), a symbol of the paths of life, which Mary cuts, sews or joins at her free will.
It is convenient, due to its evident importance, to summarize and synthesize the characteristics of the Mother Goddess or Mary:
Mary is the Basque Magician: her own names and functions make her Magician, Sorceress, Enchantress and Witch.
As a guardian-spirit, she has affiliation and metamorphosis in the plant and animal world (“Basoko Mary”, Mary of the forest, of the trees and animals of her). She also with the mineral world, with her sacred caves. Finally, she appears as the owner of the waters and fertility-fecundity.
She is the mother of the elements. She holds the keys to the sun, the wind, the waters and the earth.
She also possesses magical knowledge about animals (hunting) and primitive agriculture, later usurped by "supposed" Christian heroes.
She is mistress of Destiny and Death. As the chief guardian of the underworld, she is not only the specific lunar and nocturnal divinity, but also the host of the souls of the ancestors. She herself lives from the “no”, the “negation”, the “underside”, that is, “the other side” of things: death, negativity, darkness and nocturnal side.
In her ritual of combing and combing her hair with a golden comb, Mary constructs and deconstructs the world, inhabiting her hollowness, her emptiness, and “the side of the mirror.”
As a mythical initiator or first cultivating Heroine she offers the most prototypical character of regeneration. She herself donates her powers and magical means of initiation type: fetishes, amulets, gold and science.
Her den houses gold, precious stones and talismans, all magical objects that refer to the other world, as a place of initiation and confrontation with death. Her den – her cave represents in itself a place of coming and going, of transmutation and transformation, of regeneration, life and death, death and rebirth. Her cave, like the Olympian Hades, lord of the underground world that houses the dead, is a limit-place, forbidden and transgressed at the same time.
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