A myth that went down in history.

On Maundy Thursday, 8th April 1841, a very strange thing happened to the farmer Nicolás de Palacio in the small town of Las Muñecas, in the municipality of Sopuerta in western Bizkaia (Las Encartaciones region). As he was looking for a cow which had wandered off from the herd in the mountains, he suddenly saw a multitude of spirits or souls. The souls were not frightening -  their appearance and clothing was pleasant, and they smiled at him and one even caressed his face. Among the crowd, he recognised various friends and family.  When he asked them what they wanted, the majority asked him to have masses said so that they could go to heaven. One gave him a piece of advice: to continue living as he had done until then, and to reproach those who spoke bad words.  Others greeted him or congratulated him on his exemplary behaviour. They also told him that they were happy it was Maundy Thursday, because on that day they received 300 years of indulgences. 

Nicolás de Palacio kept his promise: he told the spirits’ families so that they could have masses said, light candles and give alms as their relatives had wanted. Within 22 days, a further 5 spirits had appeared him in more or less the same place as before, but this time with more specific requests: such and such a mass in such a such a church, for example. The late Ignacio Martínez even blamed Nicolás for the fact that his relatives had not listened to his petitions. Upon hearing his, Nicolás de Palacio argued that if the souls had given him their requests in writing, things would have been a lot easier, but no sooner had he said this than the spirits disappeared. 

Whether this tale is true or false, we have no way of knowing, but that is Nicolás’ sworn story as told to a priest from Montellano, Father Jose Maria Sagarminaga. And when an event is recorded complete with names and dates, it must be taken as history, if only to prove that the teller lied. In fact, ‘lied’ is not really the correct term in this context, even when we are talking about things that seem totally incredible to our modern minds. Mythical reality is quite different from historical reality, but that does not automatically mean that the majority of the population are able to distinguish between the two. 

For anyone who is familiar with Basque mythology or old tales passed down in the oral tradition, certain elements of  Nicolás’ story may ring a bell. Throughout Europe (and in many parts of the world also), wandering souls or spirits do not just appear in religious tales and texts, but are common figures in folklore and literature also. There are generally two kinds of spirits: evil ones who are condemned to wander the earth for all eternity and who are extremely dangerous; and the souls in purgatory, who died before fulfilling all their obligations and must therefore walk the earth asking for help in order to be received into heaven. Maundy Thursday and All Souls’ Day are especially popular days for apparitions. According to local folklore, in Bermeo, souls would often appear to travellers on the Gaztelugatxe road. Although they would often frighten the people they appeared to, they were actually very grateful, and would thank their helpers by shaking hands with them before being lifted up into heaven. If this happened, you had to be careful not to get burned, and people would wrap their hand in a handkerchief, which would then be marked with hand-shaped burns.  This is one of the reasons why Nicolás’ account of one of the souls caressing his face is so strange. 

Nevertheless, the tale shares many elements with popular myths and stories. For example, old stories often tell us that working after midday on Maundy Thursday was generally frowned on, so perhaps Nicolás was merely trying to excuse his breaking of this unspoken taboo. Similarly, Basque myths often start with the hero going off in search of a lost animal, especially when that search causes him to cross over ‘to the other side’, an ethereal place or time characterised by elements such as night, forests, mist, caves, cemeteries or holy days of obligation. Requests made by souls often involved saying mass in three different churches, making pilgrimages or other such activities. Seen against this mythological backdrop then, it is much easier to understand how the story went down in history as a true event, and why many people believed so implicitly in its genuineness. 

The ease with which supernatural events were taken as everyday occurrences during the years following the First Carlist War was not merely confined to the rural classes. It also influenced high-level political activities also, as is evident in the fact that Charles the Pretender named Our Lady of Sorrows Generalísima of all his armies. 

Queen Isabel was no less of a believer. In 1835, in the middle of the war, a rumour spread around Madrid that the wounds of Christ had miraculously appeared on the body of a nun called Sister María Rafaela de los Dolores y Patrocinio. The nun also claimed to have a miraculous statue of Our Lady of Forgetfulness, Triumph and Compassion, a cult which she herself had invented. The Liberal Government banished her from Madrid when she started proclaiming that Queen Mª Cristina had been evil, and therefore her daughter could not be allowed to reign. However, she returned at the end of the war and gained much influence over both Isabel and her husband, even though her claims to the stigmata and proclamations were proved to be false. According to the progressive liberals of the period, it was she, rather than the queen, who actually governed Spain.

Now that Lent is once again upon us, it is perhaps a good time to recall the appearance of the souls in Las Muñecas, in order to gain a clearer insight into the way of thinking, so different from our own, that was so common during Zumalakarregi’s era.