We are the Iladurarrak, the Sacred Moon People. Our name honors both Ila Amandrea (Grandmother Moon) as well as the sacred power called Adur which comes from the moon and connects all living things. We have also been called Ilzuriarrak which means White Moon People.

The Iladurarrak is one family in the larger complex of Indigenous European tribes sometimes referred to as the Aquitanians or Vascones. The Aquitanians shared a common cultural base that at one time spread from Iberia to Russia. These tribes, existing on the European continent since antiquity, are the Ancestors for many people of European heritage including the Iladurarrak, the Basque and the original inhabitants of the British Isles.

The Iladurarrak Ancestors maintained a hunter-gatherer-fisher lifestyle for thousands of years in northwest Europe. We began as caribou and horse people of the mountain valleys, steppes, and low forests. When the large walls of glacial ice and caribou began retreating north, we expanded to the coastal forests and waters of modern day France, Belgium, Nederlands, and British Isles.

We created a rich culture based on our relationship with Amalur (Mother Earth) and all life. This connection is reflected in our stories, seasonal ceremonies, and well known cave paintings and carvings.

Our culture lived undisturbed until the wave of IndoEuropean(IE) agricultural societies spread to northwest Europe about 4000 BP (before present). The ways of these battle-axe and passage grave people were not welcome to us and their Keltic culture and language took over almost all of Aquitanian Europe prior to the Roman invasions.

At the advent of written history, we were described as the Moaene or Moaini (Moon People) which certainly reflects the IE Germanic word for moon. These names may also indicate contact with Finno-Uralic peoples farther west, perhaps during migrations with retreating caribou herds. The Romans may have mentioned us as the Monesi (Sacred Knowing) of the Aquitanian region of southern France.

Until now, Aquitanian language and culture has survived only in the high mountains, meadows, and coastlines of Euskal Herria, Basque Country. Throughout Europe, including Basque Country, Christianity has had a devastating affect on native culture. Still, in myths and folklore, some of our beliefs still maintain a tenacious grasp.

So now we enter a powerful time when the Ancestors are calling us to awaken. Ohitura Iladurarrak Herria was created by and for people of European heritage who are awakening to their Indigenous Ancestors, so we can revive and preserve the Old Ways during this time of change. We wish to restore the unique place-based Indigenous wisdom of our people on the european continent.

People of Place