Folklore, death and hard-edged politics overtook a village where local businesses closed down for the day. There were pipes and drums and dancing girls in long red skirts and white blouses carrying long hoops decorated with ribbons. A male dancer performed a neat, austere and highly acrobatic dance - the aurresku - full of on-the -spot turns and impressively high kicks in front of the coffin. There were also angry speeches and denunciations of Madrid. It all ended with the surprising, high-pitched sound of women ululating and the turning over by angry radicals of a radio reporter's car. I do not recall any masked men this time. But at another funeral in Solaruze - this time for an ETA gunwoman shot by the army sergeant she had tried to kill when he stopped his car at a traffic light - masked characters appeared with a huge banner bearing the axe and serpent of ETA.
From the book "Ghosts of Spain" by Giles Tremlett
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