Pax Avant: Europe’s oldest oath

Original title Pax Avant. La palabra más antigua de Europa

The Pyrenees have always been a single unified space that offers abundant opportunities for interactions between inhabitants on either side. “Pax Avant” (peace from now on) is a phrase that symbolizes the value of honouring an agreement, a living example that establishing rapport and reaching compromise is possible. This commitment to peace inspires mutual understanding among people in times of war. The Tribute of Three Cows is the oldest treaty in force in Europe. Every year since 1375, representatives of the valleys of Roncal (Navarre) and Barétous (France) meet at the Belagua mountain pass, which the French call Pierre de Saint-Martin and the Spanish sometimes refer to as Piedra de San Martín. At the pass, these delegates place their hands on the Saint Martin boundary marker and repeat “Pax Avant” thrice to renew their oath, as decreed by the people of Ansó.

Author/s Domingo Moreno

Domingo Moreno was born in Zaragoza in 1965. He is a screenwriter, director and producer who made his first films at the University of Zaragoza. He has obtained diplomas in film directing from the Centro de Estudios Cinematográficos de Cataluña (CECC, Catalonia’s Center for Film Studies), and from the New York Film Academy (NYFA). Moreno studied filmmaking at the University of Valladolid and completed a postgraduate course in screenwriting at the EICTV (San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba).

Research Domingo Moreno
Photography Sebastián Vanneuville
Sound Domingo Moreno, Sebastián Vanneuville
Editing Luisa Latorre