Paper Short Abstract:

This paper discusses self-definitions in the Basque city of Vitoria-Gasteiz through the annual festival of the White Virgin. Neither an economic nor a cultural center, Vitoria-Gasteiz is a village-town that was made the capital of the Basque Autonomous Community, an incongruity that prompts it to redefine its identities amidst competing national visions.

Paper Abstract:

In Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country in northern Spain, traditional festivals like the celebration of the White Virgin have been a cardinal component of constructing Vitorian identity and community. They are a source of stability, continuity, and local self-definition, especially in the complex political realities of a city constantly influenced by Basque regionalist and ethno-nationalist forces. However, even in a town nicknamed “the city where nothing happens”, festivals have been a site of profound challenges; for example, the rapid immigration processes of the 40s and 60s, episodes of terrorism by ETA, or the naming of the city as the capital of the Basque Autonomous Community. These changes have raised discussions concerning how Vitorian sentiments and identity should be presented or defined. In the case of the festival of the White Virgin, the local patron saint, the loss of religiosity and the development of popular and visual alternatives like the Celedón (a representation of the Basque peasant) have raised questions about the centrality and validity of previous traditions and symbols to represent the city. Examples of these tensions are the counter-processions in the 80s, the attacks against the image of the Virgin in 1982 and 1984, or the debates between the centrality of the Celedón versus the White Virgin. Both symbols serve as platforms where Vitorian identity gets defined and contested between Basque nationalist, non-nationalist, apolitical, or traditionalist movements.