Larunbe (Navarra). The Aranzadi Scientific Association has been carrying out archaeological excavations on the Arriaundi peak (942 m) for years. There a 12th century monastery was found and inside a well a “votive altar” from Roman times. The importance of the discovery lies in what was written on said altar.
In the inscription, a woman named Valeria Vitela venerates the Basque god “Larrahe”. In the mural we have painted the altar itself and symbolically represented what is said on it.
“Larrahe” is the Basque god of the pastures. The sun in a sunrise as the creator of nature, and mother earth with its mountains and pastures. A woman, Valeria, looks up as if connecting with the gods. Next to her is a red cow, an icon of Basque mythology and, in addition, Valeria’s last name, “Vitela”, means calf in Latin. The birds and the eagle around protect Valeria. It is said that the Romans brought Basque sorcerers to Rome for their great divination skills. They predicted the future by observing the flight of birds.
From Arriaundi you can see Irulegi, near Pamplona, and it is a nod to the bronze hand of Irulegi that was found in 2021. Also from Roman times, the hand is inscribed with the term “sorioneku”. Sorioneku in Basque means lucky, and is formed by joining the words “txori” and “on”. That is, “good bird”, which means good omen or fortune.
