buber.net > Basque > Folklore > Basque Mythology: Odei
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The following was translated from an article originally in Spanish at the Encyclopedia Auñamendi.
Odei is the name which is given at times to thunder; at others, the storm
cloud or simply the agent of the thunder, the thunder clap. When it
is heard to thunder, is said: Odeiak jo du «the thunder clap has
sounded»; when it thunders strongly, Odei asarrea «the thunder clap is
angry»; when dark clouds appear, Odeia dator «the thunder clap or the
tormentous cloud comes»; Odei dago «it is stormy weather». In these
or similar phrases, common in the rural vocabulary, the two main
senses of the word odei appear: thunder and spirit of the storm or of
the storm cloud. Juztulodai «thunder cloud» is another name that
comes that follows this theme. In Guesalibar (Mondragón) they call
Odeiaixe «wind of Odei or of the thunder clap» to an east wind that
brings storms. My informant said that Odeiaixe can pass without
dischargeing neither rain nor hail, provided that the north wind does
not intercept it. But, if upon formation of the storm, the north wind
brings its battery of clouds and causes them to run to the sides of
Udalatx, the encounter of both winds causes a strong storm of rain or
hail. This is more furious still, if the other third wind --
Naparraixe -- intervenes bursting from the side of Muru or the
mountain that is toward Guesalibar. It tries to dominate Odei by
means of magical procedures, or resorts to God so that the scourge of
the terrible element does not arrive, we as indicate in AIDE- GAXTO.
-J. M. of B.
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