Life

On the first Monday after the last Sunday of January, around twenty men or "ioaldunak" from Zubieta, a small town in the heart of Navarre, gather by the pilota court in their town square.

Dressed in Basque traditional footwear, petticoats and wool-lined coats, carrying huge cowbells on their backs and hispos (a kind of magic wand made with horsehair) in their hands, they walk to the neighbouring town of Ituren led by one man. This man keeps the pace of the march and the rhythm of the cowbells' music which sound thanks to the rhythmical movements of the "ioaldunak".

Halfway along on their journey, the zanpantzarrak from Zubieta meet the zanpantzarrak from Ituren, and both walk together to Ituren where they march through the streets. The next day, the zanpantzarrak from Ituren do the same thing: Dressed the same way, half way to Zubieta they are met by the zanpantzarrak from this village and march through their streets.

This ritual tradition has close links to nature. It is said that the sound by the cowbells and the shaking of the hispos scares away the bad spirits.