History:<\/strong> Olentzero, a character of Navarrese origin, based on a coalman, who makes the children of the Basque Country smile on Christmas day. The olentzero is not only limited to the autonomous community of the Basque country, but of all euskal herria, to be able to know that it includes the ends euskal herria you can read the article that we have on the provinces of the Basque country, although summarizing we can say that euskal herria is composed of the three provinces of the Basque country, Navarre and the French Basque country, if you have more interest in this cultural and geographical area you can read our article on the Basque provinces. <\/p>\n It is not known exactly the origin of the olentzero but many place it in the Navarrese town of Lesaka, a town that we recommend to visit with eyes closed, if you coincide in San Fermines, you will find a whole town overturned with the festivities of their town, the town is literally invaded by young Basques who come to Lesaka from all corners of Euskal Herria.<\/p>\n If we analyze carefully the Olentzero we will see in him reflected the Basque culture and tradition. In the past, the job of charcoal burner was very popular in the mountains of the Basque Country, hence the profile that the Olentzero has today, a burly man with a visible gut (we want to believe for the good gastronomy of the Basque Country), with a long beard and above all stained with soot. As on many other occasions the Olentzero appears for the first time in documents of the fueros of Navarre in the 17th century under the name of Onenzaro. <\/p>\n The Navarrese tradition, dresses the Olentzero with old clothes and neglected appearance as a symbol of the past time, after walking him through the streets they gave him fire, thus burning all the past and welcoming the new time that awaited them. Many say that Olentzero was created based on the Christian faith, something that has been denied on several occasions by great historians, since Christianity simply adopted the customs of the Basque people, as you can see the history of Olentzero is quite clear, or at least has a logical basis on which we can base our ideas. <\/p>\n In many parts of the Basque Country and outside the Basque Country, Olentzero is compared to Santa Claus, which is totally inevitable due to the symbolic resemblance of the character, especially in the French Basque Country, but as we have already explained above, it has nothing to do with the character known worldwide.<\/p>\n The Olentzero is a character that did not completely take root throughout the Basque Country until well into the twentieth century, and this is due to the new image that was given to him, either by the media or from public agencies, to make that rough man with a strong character a very patient and nice man.<\/p>\n Tradition:<\/strong> The olentzero song is one of the most sung songs throughout the Basque country during the Christmas season, we leave you a video of the olentzero song and the lyrics in case you feel like creating a Christmas atmosphere typical of the Basque country:<\/p>\n