People fall in love with a place for various reasons. For Jeremy, it started with his love for a Basque woman, who later became his wife. Visiting the Basque Country with her lead to a fascination with her homeland and, ultimately, a new website aimed at introducing the Basque Country to those who have not had the luck to discover it yet.

Euskoguide is, in the words of Jeremy, “a Basque Country travel guide website which covers all of Euskal Herria. My wife and I have travelled around collecting information and photos of the region. Our goal with the site was to create something that would really help people in not only planning their trip but also to convince others of how awesome it is and to go check it out for themselves.”

The website features some beautiful photos of the Basque Country and an introductory guide to the places and sites of the region. It also gives an introduction to the food and drink of the Basque Country, starting with pintxos and sagardotegis. The website is very nicely put together and promises a lot more in the future.

If you are interested in visiting the Basque Country, Euskoguide can serve as an introduction to some of the most popular and intriguing spots.

The now defunct Journal of Basque Studies in America was a journal published by Society of Basque Studies in America to promote Basque culture by publishing in English articles that would be of interest to a wider American audience. The goal was to essentially disseminate information about Basque culture that otherwise would not make it to an English speaking audience. That journal, which ended publication in 2011, was transferred to Boise State University and its Basque Studies Program.

Fast forward to today and the journal has been reincarnated as BOGA: Basque Studies Consortium Journal. BOGA has the same basic aims as the Journal of Basque Studies in America, but with a bit more rigorous peer review. Those aims are nicely summarized on the BOGA website:

This journal aims to be a part of the long-standing tradition of Basque higher education as symbolized by the Basque Country’s first university built in Oñati, Gipuzkoa in 1548 (incorporated into our website theme). The town of Oñati also holds additional significance for Boise State University’s Basque Studies Program because it served as the first location for the studies abroad program in the Basque Country in the 1970s. This journal is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed academic publication dedicated to the scholarly study of all aspects of Basque culture with the aspiration to foster a better understanding of Basque culture and heritage in its diverse aspects by disseminating original works of interest to an English speaking audience and to encourage interaction–learning links–among academics from various learning traditions; e.g., linguistic, philosophical, anthropological, ethnological, historic, literary, artistic, religious, economic, cultural, international relations, etc. The Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza stated that to move forward, one had to look backward, and that is conceptualized by the rowboat image as the rowers make progress while looking behind. This journal hopes to contribute to the shared “rowing” effort among institutions and individuals to mutually support efforts in Basque Studies.

Many familiar names are associated with the journal, including: John Ysursa, William Douglass, Pedro Oiarzabal, Sam Zengotitabengoa, and Joseba Zulaika, among many more.

The inaugural issue is not online yet, but promises to have very interesting perspectives on a number of Basque topics, if the articles that appeared in the Journal of Basque Studies in America is any indication.

I’m personally very excited to see the launch of this new effort. There are a lot of aspects of Basque culture, history, and linguistics that simply are inaccessible to people who do not speak Basque or Spanish. This journal will provide a vehicle for at least some of those ideas and discoveries to reach an English audience.

Zorionak!

Benoit Etcheverry Macazaga has been a presence the internet, promoting Basque culture, for a number of years now. His newest venture, 8 Probintziak Elkartea, rekindles a theme he initiated a few years back of trying to draw together with stronger ties the Basque Country and the Basque diaspora. Part of his goal is to simply make Basques in the Basque Country more aware of their cousins in the diaspora, and vice versa. The goal of his website it to facilitate this by sharing links and news items that might be of broad interest to Basques, support genealogical research, promote physical exchanges between Basques in the Basque Country and in the diaspora, and exchange business ideas between all Basques to encourage economic development. As part of this, his website lists the feeds from a number of other Basque websites, including this one (thanks Benoit!)

In fact, the name of the site — 8 Probintziak Eklartea — emphasizes this idea of an 8th Basque province, the diaspora, that has it’s own contributions to make to the Basque experience, that the diaspora is a significant part of Basque culture. By promoting these connections and establishing stronger ties between the Basque Country and Basques all around the world, Benoit is trying to strengthen Basque culture world-wide.

A companion project is a radio program, 8HZ Radio. Co-hosted with Robert Acheritogaray and Adelaide Daraspe, the program directly engages the Basque diaspora and brings their views and activities to the Basque Country.

The only thing he is missing is a snappy logo!

Update: Benoit pointed out to me that he does have a snappy logo, on the Facebook page for 8 Probintziak. Sorry Benoit! 

Aitor Delgado recently wrote me describing his tour company, Aitor Delgado Tours, with the tag line Get a Real Basque Experience with your Personal Tour Guide.  Aitor describes his goals better than I ever could:

My name is Aitor Delgado. I love my country and I have been showing it enthusiastically around for more than 14 years in private tours to friends, colleagues and clients of more than 40 countries. 

I have travelled to more than 50 countries around the world (and counting). This contact with people of all ages, sexes, origins and religions made my prejudices fastly dissapear and help me to understand the diversity of our world. 

I used in my travels the language as a way to interact with locals and to understand better their culture. I speak fluently Spanish, Basque, English & Italian and I have as well a medium level in French and German and say a few words and sentences in many other languages. 

Now I am happy to help you with my tours to understand the art, history, traditions and culture of the Basque Country.

Let me be your host in the Basque Country and let me show you the must seen but also the hidden gems of this region both in Spain and France with my tours: Basque Country, Pays Basque, Castille, Navarre & La Rioja: its museums (Bilbao is not only Guggenheim Museum), traditions, culture, nature, food and wines.

Discover all aspects of our region with a local.

Private tours adjusted to you
All my tours can be tailored only for you and the ones you want to share with (your partner, family, children, friends…). 

We will see the most interesting sights, but also the off-the-beaten-track places only known by locals. 
And always at your speed and according to your interests and the time you have.

Do you need any help?  I am willing to help you.

Given the large interest in people discovering their roots, and the fact that there is no better way than to visit the Basque Country, I’ll continue to share these services as I learn abou them.

Do you remember that AT&T commercial from 2000 featuring a Basque sheepherder, mingling with his flock in the American West, talking on his cell phone with his family back in the Basque Country? Pedro Oiarzabal does. He uses this commercial, featuring the late Dionisio Choperena, to lead off his article on the Basque Diaspora, an article requested by Facebook for a new initiative they have called Facebook Stories.

The tag line of Facebook Stories is “People using Facebook in extraordinary ways.” And Pedro, who many of you may know from his research on and close connections with the Basque Diaspora not only in the US but around the world, describes how social media such as Facebook have helped to bridge the gulf between the Basque Diaspora and Euskal Herria. This is especially pertinent to the Basques since, as Pedro points out, there are more Basques living outside the Basque Country than within it. And, today, with practicing culture being almost a lifestyle choice, anything that helps Basques of the diaspora connect with the mother culture and give them an outlet to explore, express, and enhance their culture is critical to ensuring it flourishes.

Pedro draws from his connections and experiences working with the Basque Diaspora to highlight how social media has brought new people together to forge new collaborations, how a family dispersed across the entire globe is discovering its roots, and how second generation Basque Americans use social media to connect to the culture of their parents and grandparents. I must also say eskerrik asko to Pedro for calling out this very page!

Pedro’s article is one of the first to be featured on Facebook Stories. It kicked off the series in grand fashion and is followed by a wide variety of stories, including one on how a scientist used Facebook to identify 5000 species of fish within 24 hours. Some fascinating stuff!

Long-time Basque historian, and frequent contributor to Buber’s Basque Pages, Joxe Mallea, has done a lot of work documenting Basque history recorded on the trees of the American West.  Joxe has decided to start a website (since, as his daughter says, no one reads books anymore) that will showcase many of the arboglyphs he has documented.  The website, basquehistory.net, is still a work in progress, and based on what Joxe has collected, will be greatly expanded from its current version, but this is an interesting and unique perspective on Basque history from the point of view of those men and women who endured the hardships of emigration and life in the hills of the American West.

Can you tell that I’m trying to catch up on things today?  In any case, here is one of the more bizarre links I’ve gotten recently, though maybe this is something people have been wanting for a while and I’m just not aware.  Maybe if you are a gardener, this is the perfect thing for you.  Or the perfect gift for that Basque gardner in your family.

Euskadiko Lurra, Basque Soil, is a company that sells, literally, Basque soil, from the heart of Gipuzkoa.  If you want Basque soil to grow your Basque txuritxeros in, this is the way to go.

If anyone tries it, let me know how it went.  Not being a gardner at all myself, I can’t imagine this would make much of a difference, but maybe it does.  And, if nothing else, I guess it would be neat to be able to say that your plants are grown in soil from the Basque Country.

Paul Etxeberri alerted me to the .eus campaign to create a Top Level Domain for the Basque Country.  From puntueus.org, the website promoting this effort:

“An endangered language will progress if its speakers can make use of electronic technology”
David Crystal [ Cambridge University, 2004 ]

“languages without social prestige will disappear”
Amadeu Abril i Abril [ .cat domain ]

The Basque language, Euskara, faces a new challenge: creating its own name on the Internet. In this virtual space, both the existence of something as well as its name go hand in hand. Therefore, something unnamed simply does not exist. And that is the goal that the Community of the Basque Language and Culture [EEKK, according to its initials in Euskara] wants to achieve: the creation of a symbol that allows its international recognition in the virtual space of the Internet: the .EUS domain.

This is why we have started the PuntuEus Association: in order to assure and control .EUS domain creation process.

As many of you might already know, the Boise Basque Museum and Cultural Center, with help from the Basque Government, has been working on a project to highlight the Basques’ contributions to the history and settlement of the United States.  I’ve received a number of recent messages updating me on the status of the project, which is that the exhibit is now on display at the Boise Basque Museum and will soon move to the Ellis Island National Monument Museum.

Entitled “Hidden in Plain Sight: the Basques“, the exhibit will be at Ellis Island from February to May.  It will return to Boise for Jaialdi and will become a feature exhibit at the Basque Museum in Boise.  In the words of the website, the exhibit explores the language, customs, traditions and values of the Basque people as well as the allure that America held for them. Hidden in Plain Sight will recount the compelling historical journey of the of Basque men, women and children who immigrated in the early 20th Century from the Basque regions of France and Spain to the United States.

The exhibit aims to both recognize and demonstrate the history of Basques throughout the United States.  The Basques have played a large role in many areas, but their actions have often been in the background, hidden if you will.  The exhibit hopes to show the greater populace the part the Basques have played in shaping the US.

If you are interested in contributing to the project, there is a form for doing so on the website.

A couple of links I’ve been sent or found in wanderings of the web.

First, Louis Arriaga Jr has a fascinating story of misunderstandings and miscarriage of justice (even one of the sentencing judges felt this way, but couldn’t do anything about it).  Clearly, Arriaga is of Basque descent, though his connections to Spain are somewhat distant.  He has a site devoted to his story, but a summary of it can be found in this Phoenix New Times article.

Mugalari means “someone who crosses boarders”, a reference to the smugglers who work across the French-Spanish border.  Mugalari is also the name of a new blog, a blog devoted to showing you “other” aspects of the Basque Country, not necessarily those that would show up in a guide book.  Mugalari has traveled himself extensively and this blog is his attempt to do for the Basque Country what would have been nice for him in other parts of the world.

And speaking of visiting the Basque Country, the region of Debagoiena, which includes the famous University of Onati as well as the shrine Arantzazu, has a website devoted to tourism in the area. This includes guides, photos, and information about hotels and more to help you in your visit to the heart of Gipuzkoa.

I ran into this next site just searching for Basque images on Google.  It is amazing what you find sometimes.  I’ve often been asked, especially by adherents of the Society for Creative Anachronism, what the Basque dress of the Middle Ages was.  It’s hard to find much about that in English, though I guess I would think there is quite a bit in Spanish and Basque.  In any case, this site has quite a few images devoted to the dress of Basques from that era.  Some very interesting images.

Finally, the Basque Country, like the UK and other parts of Europe, was recently hit by some winter weather, and this blog of EiTB captures some of the resulting spectacular scenery, including this image of a snow-covered La Concha.  The Basque Country looks very different in white than it does in the typical green we are more familiar with, though just as striking and beautiful.