Asturias #2

Vintage photos from Asturias, Spain. 

Asturias #1

Vintage photos from Asturias, Spain.

Makhilas by Ainciart-Bergara

The Makhila (stick in the Basque language) is above all a walking stick.

It is also one of the symbols of the Basque Country. It appears in many watercolors from the early 19th century. This stick has an ancient history, but the origin of this tradition is not precisely known. During the 19th century, it was used to defend oneself. It now accompanies trekkers all over the world.

Each Makhila is unique, made to measure and personalized, according to the morphology of its owner. It consists of a chiseled loquat stem, a knob in horn or different metals, ferrules, braiding, a wrist strap and a metal tip.

The loquats grow in the forests of the Basque Country and Béarn. Shrubs are incised around their 9th to 10th year. The wood will then heal and is cut after one plant year. The wood is then fired and debarked. Following which, it is colored using an ancestral technique. The coloring is quite unpredictable, each wood reacts in an original way.

The craftsmen of the workshop cut out metal plates (brass, nickel silver or 1st grade solid silver) then decorate them by engraving, chiseling, punching. Each ferrule is unique. It is engraved by hand, with the signature of Maison Ainciart-Bergara, la Fougère, rather present in the moors of the Basque Country.

The leather comes from a tannery in the Basque Country. It is used in making the braid and the strap of the Makhila. Some pommels are made from zebu horns.

Portrait

Anonymous, Young Hispanic Woman (c. 1969). Courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.

At the Movies

 

Tattoos

 

Mela Muter

Mela Muter is the pseudonym used by Maria Melania Mutermilch (April 26, 1876 – May 14, 1967), the first professional Jewish painter in Poland. She lived most of her life in France.

Mela Muter, Portrait of a man in a beret, before 1939.
 

Kids

Children in 1950s/60s Hungary. 

Bosnerau

Bosnerau is a folk band from Zuera, Aragón. For more than ten years they have been singing in honour of the mountains: the Pyrenees.

Bosnerau plays a fusion of folk styles from Aragón, the south of France and the Basque country, but also love to include many styles like Irish trad and bluegrass. As much as it is important to safeguard old songs and traditions, they propose new melodies, new sounds, to keep folk alive in as many ways possible.

Bosnearu’s instrumentarium are accordion, guitar, bass, percussion, violin, Gaita de Boto (bagpipes) and Chiflo y Salterio (the Aragonese equivalent of the Béarnaise "flûte a trois trous et tambourin a cordes"). Song is in Spanish and in several dialects of the Aragonese language, like Ansotano and Cheso, from the valleys of Ansó and Echo.

Allué with boina and bota de vino, another element that is crucial in the attire and tools of the Pyrenees

Adrián (Gaita y Chiflo) and Allué (Violin) both wear berets as a rendition to their ancestors and a continuation of the Pyrenean tradition. 

Mila Dolz

Mila Dolz is a Spanish multidisciplinary artist and researcher from Villaumbrales, Palencia, in the Tierra de Campos region. 

Her work focuses on the revival and reproduction of traditional textile arts, particularly through hand-stamped fabrics used in traditional Spanish garments, typically inspired by Aragonese and Pyrenean designs.

Apart from playing brass instruments and percussion, Mila sings and plays many wind instruments like the Gaita de Boto and Dulzaina: the staple instruments from the centre and south of Aragón.

While keeping her link to Zaragoza and Teruel alive, Mila presently lives in the Basque Country doctoral studies and reproducing traditional clothing pieces.

Mila Dolz maintains an online portfolio showcasing her diverse artistic endeavors, including painting, design, and textile work.