Lauburu - Background

Background

Historians and authorities compete to apply allegorical meaning to the ancient symbol. Some say it signifies the "four heads or regions" of the Basque Country. The lauburu does not appear in any of the seven coats-of-arms that have been combined in the arms of the Basque Country: Higher and Lower Navarre, Gipuzkoa, Biscay, Álava, Labourd, Soule ; The Basque intellectual Imanol Mujica liked to say that the heads signify spirit, life, consciousness, and form – but it is generally used as a symbol of prosperity.

It was found in old stelas.

After the time of the Antonines, Camille Jullian finds no specimen of swastikas, round nor straight, in the Basque area until modern times. Paracelsus's Archidoxis Magicae features a symbol similar to the lauburu that is to be drawn to heal animals. M. Colas considers that the lauburu is not related to the swastika but comes from Paracelsus and marks the tombs of healers of animals and healers of souls, i.e., priests. Around the end of the 16th century, the round swastika appears abundantly as a Basque decorative element, in wooden chests or tombs, perhaps as another form of the cross. Straight swastikas are not found until the 19th century. Many Basque homes and shops display the symbol over the doorway as a sort of talisman. In modern times it has been associated with the swastika. Sabino Arana interpreted it as a solar symbol, supporting his theory of a Basque solar cult based on wrong etymologies, in the first number of Euzkadi. The lauburu has been featured on flags and emblems of various Basque political organisations including Eusko Abertzale Ekintza (EAE-ANV).

It is also used as an alternative to the Christian cross in the death notices of Basque nationalists. The use of the lauburu as a cultural icon fell into some disuse under the Spanish nationalist government of Franco, who repressed many elements of Basque culture. For that reason, there is some dispute as to which direction the lauburu faces represents creation (life and good fortune) or destruction (death and misfortune).