The commune is located some 13 km southwest of Bayonne and 30 km northeast of Donostia-San-Sebastion and only 4 km from the Atlantic beaches of Bidart and Guéthary.
The river Zirikolatzeko erreka, a tributary of the Uhabia, flows through the commune,[5] as well as several of its tributaries, including the Amisolako, Uroneko, and Besaingo.
Paul Raymond also stated in his Topographical dictionary of Bearn-Basque Country in 1863[6] that a tributary of the Alborga: the Haïstéchéhé flows through Ahetze after rising in Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle.
According to Eugène Goyheneche:[11] "two houses (…) had medieval names of Akarreta and Haranbillaga".
History
In the Middle Ages the Compostela pilgrims who chose the passage along the Atlantic coast passed near Ahetze, Ibarron and the hospital (Ospitale Zaharra) in Sare. Others preferred to fork through part of Ahetze to reach the chapel Saint-Jacques of Serres and also visit Vera by passing by Olhette and the Ibardin Pass.[12]
Heraldry
Arms of Ahetze
Blazon:
Party per pale, one of Or a lion rampant of gules supporting a processional cross with six small bells all sable; two azure a pilgrim's stick of Or surmounted by two escallops the same..[13]
The flea market takes place every third Sunday of the month and regularly attracts lovers of antiques from the Paris region, to the Spanish communes all around and contributes to the economic revitalization of the village which has mainly agricultural activity.
The Map of the Seven Basque Provinces established by Prince Louis-Lucien Bonaparte in 1863 indicated that the Basque dialect spoken in Ahetze was Labourdin.
Festivals
Established in 1971, the Committee of Festivals of Ahetze (Ahetzeko Mozkor Banda) organises the following events: wheat threshing, dance evenings, a gala of Basque rural sports, loto, and employers' festivals that take place between 25 October and 11 November.
Civil heritage
The Ostalapia farm, now a restaurant, is a former way station on the road to Saint Jacques de Compostela and long before was a haven for the Guethariars and Bidartars when they were attacked by pirates from the ocean or by robbers. There are some boulders once used for walls in the parking area.
Some old Baserri dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, some of which have been extended over time. New construction follows the Labourdin style.
The Church of Saint Martin (16th century) is registered as an historical monument.[21] The church contains a number of items that are registered as historical objects:
A Processional Cross (15th century).[23] This cross, whose arms are garnished with bells, was used in witchcraft trials in the year 1609 to the outrage of Councilor Lancre[24] who saw it as an evil object. The carvings on the Cross represent the faces of Christ, the Virgin, Saint John, a pelican, and two women's heads. On the back of the cross there is the representation of a bishop, undoubtedly Saint Martin.[11]
A Statue: Virgin of the Assumption (18th century)[25]
A Statue: Saint Jacques dressed as a pilgrim (18th century)[26]
Eugène Goyheneche[11] noted that the church quite exceptionally possessed a register of Catholics in Basque.
On the heights of Ahetze all the Basque mountains near the Atlantic are visible: the Rhune, the Mondarrain, the Artzamendi, and the Ursuia in France as well as the Three Crowns in Spain.
View of the Mondarrain (750m) and the Artzamendi (906m)
Ahetze has two Frontons, one is old and built into the wall of the town hall, a second was completed in 2008 as part of the new development of the town.
A Trinquet called Pantxoa Sein is next to the primary school.
A marked fitness trail runs through the south-east of the village.
Morton H. Levine [fr],[28][29] born in California and died in 1982, was a North American Anthropologist who, during the 1960s, conducted the first research that highlighted specific Basquehaematology with the entire population of the villages of Macaye and Ahetze.[30] These studies put in evidence in relation to the surrounding population the high frequency of blood group O and Rh negative and the particularities of distribution of Gm antigens and HL-A.
^Piarres Erdozaintzi is a sculptor born in 1957, resident in Saint-Just-Ibarre - Source: Harria et herria, Pierre et pays, Bulletin du Musée basque, 2003 (in French)
^Manuscript from the 14th century in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (in French)
^Chapter of Bayonne in the Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (in French)
^ abcEugène Goyheneche, Basque Country: Soule, Labourd, Lower Navarre, Société nouvelle d'éditions régionales et de diffusion, Pau, 1979, BnF FRBNF34647711 (in French)
^Philippe Veyrin, The Basques, Arthaud, 1975, ISBN2 7003 0038 6, page 53. (in French)
^At a council meeting on 21 September 2011, Mayor Jean d'Elbée, in response to a blockage of the decision-making process, called for the resignation of the entire council. After two rounds of municipal elections on 20 and 27 November 2011 Philippe Elissalde was elected mayor
^Claude Dendaletche, The Basque Archipelago, Éditions Privat - Cahors, 2005, ISBN2 7089 5619 1, page 133 (in French)
^The results of these studies were published in 1967 (The Basques Natural History, New York, J. Dausset, L. Legrand, M. H. Levine M. H., J. C. Quilice, M. Colombani, J. Ruffié), 1972 (Genetic Structure and Distribution of HL-A Antigens in a Basque village, in "Histocompatibility Testing", Copenhague, J. Ruffie, M. H. Levine, M. Blanc, P. Richard), 1972 (A New lmmunoglobulin haplotype Gm (-1, -17, 21) in a Kurdish isolate and in a French Basque village, M. H. Levine, J. Ruffie, H. Darrasse) and in 1973 (Basque Isolation: I A Hemaypological Survey of Basque Villages)
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