Hendaye No. 1

The holy-water stoup at Saint-Vincent's is a real montage involving a ceramic 'botijo' perched on a trapeze above the basin; it probably holds holy-water in it, which can be 'decanted' into the stoup; the stoup itself appears to be a composite object made of a round tapering basin precariously balanced on two cheese-shaped volumes that make up the base. The basin of this object is a medieval water stoup, oblong but the outer side rounded, the inner embeded in the wall, ornamented on one side with the Basque "lauburu" [a cross of "legged" arms, on the same basis as the svastika but with rounded arms which run the opposite way - "lau buru" = four heads]. It is now placed in the parish church of St-Vincent, wall-mounted on one side while the other rests on a round "stelle" which bears the Maltese cross; the whole is framed in a rather bizarre Baroque canopy which includes an earthenware pitcher ["cruche"] and a radiated motif that looks like a splatter on the background. The Hendaye historian l'abbé M. Michelena reports that this stoup had originally served the same function in the ancient prieuré/hôpital de Sant-Jayme (St-Jacques) [now disappeared] located in Zubernoa/Zoubernoa, on the banks of the Bidassoa/Bidasoa river; this priory/hospital was known in existence long before 1305. (Michelena, 1997: 33-34 and p. 227)