Hilarri (from
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
''hil'' 'dead' and ''harri'' 'stone') is the name given to disk-shaped funerary
steles that are typical of the
Basque Country.
These funerary steles present a disc-shaped head facing the rising
sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
on a
trapezoid
A quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is called a trapezoid () in American and Canadian English. In British and other forms of English, it is called a trapezium ().
A trapezoid is necessarily a convex quadrilateral in Eu ...
al stand. They belong to an old tradition throughout all of the Western Mediterranean, which includes parts of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
, but today they are mainly found in the Basque Country.
Examples
Image:Hilarri-4symb.jpg, A cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
and a rosette by sector.
Image:Hilarri_PawCross.jpg, A cross pattée
A cross pattée, cross patty or cross paty, also known as a cross formy or cross formée (french: croix pattée, german: Tatzenkreuz), is a type of Christian cross with arms that are narrow at the centre, and often flared in a curve or straight ...
and text 'our grave'.
Image:Orhoitzapena.jpg, A lauburu
The lauburu ( Basque: ''lau'' ("four") + ''buru'' ("head")) is an ancient hooked cross with four comma-shaped heads and the most widely known traditional symbol of the Basque Country and the Basque people. In the past, it has also been associa ...
and text 'Memory'.
Image:Hilarri_Stars.jpg, A cross and many kinds of stars.
Ornamentation
Typology
The disc may be decorated by:
# geometric
symbols, generally organizing the disc into four or eight
circle sectors (marked or implicit), a structuring of space that recalls the
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
of
Navarre;
# a single
rosette;
# a
lauburu
The lauburu ( Basque: ''lau'' ("four") + ''buru'' ("head")) is an ancient hooked cross with four comma-shaped heads and the most widely known traditional symbol of the Basque Country and the Basque people. In the past, it has also been associa ...
or other figures that indicate a rotation;
# more specific figures.
A smaller rosette, a Christian cross or a text may be added on the stand.
Geometric symbols
Geometric symbols are regularly distributed on the disc within 4 or 8 circle sectors. The quarters are often delimited by a cross as:
* a
flowered cross (flory), often reinforced by tangent arcs linking arms to each other;
* a kind of
cross pattée
A cross pattée, cross patty or cross paty, also known as a cross formy or cross formée (french: croix pattée, german: Tatzenkreuz), is a type of Christian cross with arms that are narrow at the centre, and often flared in a curve or straight ...
with concave ends evoking the
Maltese cross;
* an
Occitan cross
The Occitan cross (also called ''cross of Occitania'', ''cross of Languedoc'', ''cross of Toulouse''; heraldically ''cross cleché, pommetty and voided'') is a heraldic cross, today chiefly used as a symbol of Occitania.
The design was probably ...
, similar to the former but with, for each arm, 2 concavities delimited by 3 tips.
They may be very simple or well worked. Sometimes, a
diagonal
In geometry, a diagonal is a line segment joining two vertices of a polygon or polyhedron, when those vertices are not on the same edge. Informally, any sloping line is called diagonal. The word ''diagonal'' derives from the ancient Greek δ ...
secondary cross completes the figure.
Each sector is decorated with various small decorative symbols such as stars, moons,
potent crosses or rosettes. They may be different in each sector. Sometimes, depictions of tools point out the trade of the deceased, whose name is seldom mentioned. Stylized hands open upwards may also be found.
Rosettes
Many steles are decorated by single
rosettes. In this case the order of symmetry is often 6. The most frequent figures are:
*rosettes made up of 6 laurel leaves (with 2 in a horizontal plane);
*rosettes with 8 to 36 petals radiating from a central spot;
*stars as
pentagram
A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle arou ...
,
hexagram or octogram (with 5, 6 or 8 points) ; sometimes an armed-cross is superimposed, arms being inserted between points;
*a square made up of 4 smaller squares;
*one circular string making up 4 or 6 loops around a central spot or circle, or 2 of them doing 8 loops; these rosettes seem static but in fact, loops have a sense of rotation that can be figured (the cord toward the right upside) or not.
Figures indicating a rotation
Some figures are designed to give an idea of rotation, generally clockwise, a sense which is often analyzed as positive. The most popular figures are :
*the
lauburu
The lauburu ( Basque: ''lau'' ("four") + ''buru'' ("head")) is an ancient hooked cross with four comma-shaped heads and the most widely known traditional symbol of the Basque Country and the Basque people. In the past, it has also been associa ...
;
*solar rosettes (of approximately 16 to 36 wings evoking a camera shutter).
One Navarrese hilarri presents a kind of lauburu made of four walking legs. This motive cannot be considered as usual in the Basque Country.
Other symbols
Some more specific figures can be encountered as:
*a figure that looks like a
$ symbol, made up of 3 vertical lines, crossing 3 horizontal
segments, linked to each other as a wide
S; it could be a symbolic representation of weaving;
*
Christograms (IHS + cross);
*some rare human representations can also be noticed;
pentagram
A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle arou ...
s could have been a stylization of human body.
They are all identified with Christ as the sun rising after
Resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...
, evident also in Basque church symbols and the imagery of
Loyola's
Jesuit Order
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
.
Surrounding
The surrounding of the disc is often decorated, giving an impression of a shining sun.
Modern hilarris
Many innovative ornamentations can be observed in modern hilarris. As an example, in
Zuberoa
Soule ( Basque: Zuberoa; Zuberoan/ Soule Basque: Xiberoa or Xiberua; Occitan: ''Sola'') is a former viscounty and French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées-Atlantiques '' département''. It is divided into two cantons of the arr ...
, the traditional song "''Orhiko txoria''" (the bird of Orhy) has led to many representations of a bird flying towards this emblematic mountain. Others have seen connections to a prehistoric solar cult arriving with the
Mauri
Mauri (from which derives the English term "Moors") was the Latin designation for the Berber population of Mauretania, located in the part of North Africa west of Numidia, in present-day northern Morocco and northwestern Algeria.
Name
''Mauri'' ...
or
Jentillak
The jentil (or jentilak with the Basque plural), are a race of giants in the Basque mythology. This word meaning ''gentile'', from Latin ''gentilis'', was used to refer to pre-Christian civilizations and in particular to the builders of megalith ...
and related to the Egyptian
Horus, consort or manifestation of the
Ishtar
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Su ...
(the star) of Fertility among the desert and Sea People.
See also
{{Commons category, Basque steles
*
Armenian eternity sign
The Armenian eternity sign ( hy, Յաւերժութեան Նշան, haverzhut’yan nshan) or Arevakhach (, "Sun Cross") is an ancient Armenian national symbol and a symbol of the national identity of the Armenian people. It is one of the most co ...
*
Atalburu
250px, ''Saubat de Arraidou et Maria de Hiriart 1743''Atalburu in lauburu.html"_;"title="Lower_Navarre_with_a_lauburu">Lower_Navarre_with_a_lauburu_and_founders'_names
image:Atalburu_Mandoz.jpg.html" ;"title="lauburu_and_founders'_names.html" ;" ...
*
Borjgali
Borjgali ( ka, ბორჯღალი; also Borjgala or Borjgalo) is a Georgia (country), Georgian symbol of the Sun and eternity. The borjgali is often represented with seven rotating wings over the tree of life which can be used to create vari ...
*
Celtic cross
*
High cross
*
Khachkar
References
* ''Contribution à l'étude de la stèle discoïdale basque'',
Michel Duvert Association Lauburu, Bulletin du Musée Basque n° 49 & 50, 1976.
* ''Les stèles discoïdales et l'art funéraire basque'', Lauburu.
Funerary steles
Basque culture