Relatos y contra-relatos en torno al mito de Mari

Abstract

Mari, a character from Basque mythology, exemplifies a nationalist matriarchal-identity, which is based on a tale of oral tradition strongly linked to tradition and to the Basque language. It is important to understand that all representation is inscribed not only in language, but politically and socially in the different realities that construct the environment and the networks that constitute the understanding of an identity (Said 2004, 2007). We start from a social and cultural context that tends to construct a differentiated identity. Studying the construction of identity from a mythological perspective can be a complex task, since myths are constructed and developed from hermeneutics, anthropology, etc., and approaching collective identities and traditions is difficult, since it implies reflecting on issues that question the perception of our identity. We will try to understand the nationalist identity construction, questioning a differentiated, immovable and unquestionable identity (which would start from the Paleolithic). We detected that there are no representations of Mari as such: a pre-Christian character demonized by the Catholic Church, she became important in witchcraft and in folkloric representations. Mari is still present in the Basque popular imaginary, and in manifestations such as covens, bonfires of San Juan, or the Zurragamurdi festivities. The musical group Eskorbuto, which was formed on the left bank of Bilbao in the early 1980s, also mentioned Mari, and will help us to contrast the proposal of nationalist identity from the counter-narrative. We are interested in how Eskorbuto will rearticulate Mari's proposal as another gesture of resistance, denying any given or constructed identity. We will take into account how projects of a subversive character, and therefore rejected by the hegemonic power, become mythologizing strategies of the hegemonic power itself, both in Eskorbuto and in Mari.