Mari

Mari, also known by titles such as the Lady of Anboto or Murumendiko Dama, is the preeminent deity of Basque mythology who resides in high mountain caves to oversee the environment and dispense justice. Often represented as a woman dressed in red, a thunderbolt, or a woman-tree, she is a unique figure among Basque spirits and is closely associated with elemental forces and animals like red cows and black he-goats. Her presence is inextricably linked to the weather: she and her consort Sugaar meet every Friday to conceive the storms that bring either fertility or disaster to the land, and her specific location within various mountain dwellings is believed to dictate cycles of rain and drought.

Served by a court of witches known as sorginak, Mari is said to feed on the "negation and affirmation" of falsehoods while maintaining a complex legacy that includes modern syncretization with the Virgin Mary or Santa Marina, whom many still invoke for protection and assistance during childbirth.