'Trick or Trial?' The Witch Hunt for Meigas and Sorginak

Ylenia

3 October 2022

With the spooky season upon us, here are two bewitching tales from Northern Spain to get you in the Halloween spirit. Witches have always been a popular element of northern Spanish folklore, particularly in the regions of Galicia, Asturias and the Basque Country, a land where the mountains are high, the mist is thick, and there are plenty of caves for covens - the perfect recipe for witchcraft to thrive!

Meigas

Meigas are Galicia and Asturias' take on witches. The word ‘meiga’, which comes from the latin ‘magicus’, describes a person who has extraordinary or magical powers and is able to make pacts with the devil. There are different types of meigas, like the Marimanta known for kidnapping children to steal their blood, or the Feiticera, a siren-like witch that seduces young men with her beauty and chants to accompany her to the river where she lives, only to drown them immediately.

However, the majority of meigas choose to use their powers for good and are loved by locals for their healing abilities.

Sorginak

The Basque word for ‘witch’ can also be translated as ‘creator’. Sorginak were a group of pagan women who paid tribute to the Basque goddess Mari and met every Friday night in akelarres (witches' sabbaths) to adore Akerbeltz, a black billy goat. Akerlbeltz was viewed as a benevolent sign of fertility and health by the Basque folk but Christianity turned him into the sign of the devil himself.

For centuries, meigas and sorginak went on with their witchy business until the post-plague years at the end of the Middle Ages. The rise of Christianity across Europe and the loss of 30% of the population led the Church to establish a new patriarchal family model where women were relegated to the domestic sphere, to focus on repopulation.

Enter the Spanish Inquisition, an institution to combat heresy in Spain and punish any member of society who did not adhere to the social structure assigned to them. So, the female healers, midwives and nurses were criminalized and accused of witchcraft.

The Zugarramurdi Witch trials

On January 12, 1609, the Spanish Inquisition of Logroño received complaints of witches in Zugarramurdi, Navarre. Inquisitors were sent to the village, where they found 300 women involved in witchcraft. Forty were taken to Logroño to be tried and judged by the Inquisition. 11 of those were found guilty of demonic possession, celebrating black masses, causing storms and cursing fields and animals. They were burned at the stake.

We now know that the 300 women suspected of witchcraft were the wives of men recruited in droves for Basque whaling, leaving them alone for long periods of time.

It is estimated that about 80,000 women suspected of witchcraft were put to death in Europe from 1500 to 1600.

Were Meigas and Sorginak the first Spanish feminists?

These women had one dominant element in common: they were disobedient to the patriarchy and the Church. These women were in their vast majority widowed, single, midwives, nurses, or wives awaiting their husbands’ return. They were independent working women who had to find ways to make a living by themselves to support their families. They were rebels in a time when lords and priests would not tolerate dissent or change.

Nowadays, these witches have become a Spanish symbol of feminism and during feminist marches or when celebrating the International Women’s day, it is common to see a sign that says: ‘Somos las nietas de las brujas que no pudisteis quemar’: we are the granddaughters of the witches you couldn’t burn.

Francisco de Goya – Akelarre (1821)

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