| Zugarramurdi | |
| Translit Lang1 Type: | Spanish |
| Translit Lang1 Info: | Zugarramurdi |
| Settlement Type: | Municipality |
| Pushpin Map: | Spain Navarre#Spain |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Spain |
| Pushpin Map1: | Spain Navarre |
| Pushpin Map Caption1: | Location in Navarre |
| Coordinates: | 43.2694°N -1.5417°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: |  Spain |
| Subdivision Type1: | Autonomous community |
| Subdivision Type2: | Province |
| Subdivision Name2: | Navarre |
| Subdivision Type3: | Comarca |
| Subdivision Name3: | Baztan |
| Leader Party: | Akelarre |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Lázaro Dainciart Iribarren |
| Area Total Km2: | 5.6 |
| Elevation Footnotes: | (AMSL) |
| Elevation M: | 205 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Demonym: | zugarramurdiarra or zugarramurditarra |
| Timezone1: | CET |
| Utc Offset1: | +1 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | CEST (GMT +2) |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 31710 |
| Area Code: | +34 (Spain) + 948 (Navarre) |
| Website: | www.zugarramurdi.es |
Zugarramurdi is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre in northern Spain. It passed into history as the setting of alleged occult activity featured in the infamous Basque witch trials held in Logroño in the seventeenth century. The town is home to the Basque witch museum and the Witch Caves. Every year, spectacular fires are lit in the caves near Zugarramurdi for the celebration of the ‘day of the witch’ on the summer solstice.[1]
Zugarramurdi is a toponym with unknown meaning, even though it comes from Basque. The philologist Koldo Mitxelena proposed that the etymology of the name could be “place with abundancy of ruined elms”, coming from zugar (elm) + andur (ruined) + the suffix –di (it indicates abundancy). However, Mitxelena himself admitted not having proof about this theory.In Basque and in Spanish it seems that the name of the village is transcribed in the same way, although the z is pronounced differently in both languages. Because of that, the pronunciation slightly varies.
See also: Basque witch trials. It is said that the word “akelarre” comes from the field next to one of the small Zugarramurdi caves, where the witch meetings used to take place. The Basque word akelarre means “the field of the he-goat”, as well as 'witches sabbath'. Those present in the meetings used to call the caves from this field, because in it, a big black he-goat used to graze (called Akerbeltz in Basque). It is said the he-goat turned into a human when the witches gathered, so it is thought the goat was the devil itself. This is why Zugarramurdi is often called “The Cathedral of the Devil”.
The legend of Zugartamurdi is the main plot of the 2013 Spanish film, La brujas de Zugarramurdi (in English, it is Witching and Bitching).