BACHELORS AND SPINSTERS

mutilNeskaAAs mentioned above, May is popularly considered to be a month devoted to love, and therefore, this is the right time to take account of the customs and songs associated to love and marriage.

Unmarried men and women remained tied to the house and were rightful members of the household. Bachelors and spinsters have generally been accepted as one of their own by the rest of the family members; however, they have often been figures of ridicule and laughter outside the family. Apart from quite derogatorily calling them neskazaharra and mutilzaharra (literally old girl and old boy), other more scornful phrases have been used to refer to them: mutxurdina, seutona, donadoa, mutil arra