In the so-called eastern Alava plain, not far from Araia and we could say that in between two populations that stand out, at least, for their important megalithic remains, such as Eguilaz and Arrizala (1), is the small town of Ocariz ( Okariz, in Basque). A population, already in its name, should call us powerfully, because it refers to those guardians of Knowledge, and by default, to certain fraternities of stonemasons, whose presence, symbolic and transcendent, has a close relationship with the Camino de Santiago : geese

In fact, for this same place, it is not difficult nor should we be surprised to find all those pilgrims who, once crossed the Pass of San Adrián and left behind not exempt populations of interest, such as Zalduondo, are heading towards the Navarrese border -in the outskirts of Larraona and the legendary Montes de Urbasa- and one of the leading places on the Camino, such as Estella, a population that is approximately forty kilometers away.

It is true, on the other hand, that at present little should call our attention the modern mass of his church, dedicated-as is customary, once forgotten or modified its primitive advocation, to the Marian figure of the Assumption, if not outside because, in the course of a restoration made in the seventies, some remains of interesting invoice appeared, belonging, no doubt, to its old Romanesque factory. Basically, these consist of ashlars, some capitals, modillions and voussoirs, including a small cover, which is located on the south side.

For its details, more care, possibly, than in many other temples in the area, some specialists emphasize the influence exerted by the whole region, of that immeasurable, energetic and artistic focus, constituted by one of the most impressive sanctuaries in Alava: the Santuairo de Estíbaliz, place whose impressions and details, I will see later.

The acanthus leaves, characteristic in the Romanesque of the area, are interspersed here with other floral motifs, among which stand out the undulating stems, possibly based on an original from Roman times - the Roman presence in the area was important, and of its trace it remains good constancy, as it will be able to be appreciated in the following entrance, dedicated to the hermitage of Nª Sª de Elizmendi that is located on the right jamb.

But, undoubtedly, some details induce to think about the universality of concepts and designs, whose transmission was occurring as the brotherhoods of stonemasons, generally itinerant, were distributed throughout the different peninsular regions. Some examples of these motifs could be those sawtooth-shaped ornaments, which sometimes, distributed by the simi-arch of the covers, could allude to the primordial sea and by default, to a symbolic baptism by water for everyone who it will cross the threshold of the temple, and that also, in other areas, is interpreted as allusions to the figure of the Great Mother Goddess, arriving to find painted in the chambers of some dolmens, as would be the case of the well-known dolmen on which it rises the hermitage of Santa Cruz, in the Asturian town of Cangas de Onís.

These jagged motifs are also located in another curious Asturian temple, that of San Pedro de Arrojo, in the council of Quirós, with the particularity that along with them, there is also a curious bird figure, of Norman origin, more characteristic, for its abundance, in the Romanesque area of Villaviciosa, although it can be seen in other neighboring councils, such as Siero and its curious church of San Esteban de Aramil or the Knights.

The symbolic allusions of solar character, are also visible among the surviving details, and as in many Romanesque temples, it is worth mentioning the presence of small heads that, alone, could make an allusion to the ancestral Celtic belief that the soul located precisely in the head and to avoid the metempsícosis, that is to say, the reincarnation of the enemy warriors killed in combat and to avoid that they returned to fight them, they used to place their heads in the lintels of the doors.

A belief that, after all, and possibly in a superstitious way, was maintained in some Christian temples, being able to cite, as an example, the temple of San Vicente de Serrapio, in the Asturian council of Aller, in whose main façade, and placed in a row, three human skulls were found when it was restored

(1) Reference to the Aitzkomendi and Sorginetxe dolmens, respectively.

NOTICE: Originally published in my blog, ROMÁNICA ENIGMAS DEL ROMÁNICO ESPAÑOL. Both the text and the photographs that accompany it are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry, where you can check the authorship of juancar347, can be found at the following address: https://juancar347-romanica.blogspot.com/2013/01/ocariz-n-s-de-la-asuncion.html