The rest of the evening flew by as Kepa and Maite celebrated with their friends. The town only had three bars, but they bounced from one to the next all night. It was early in the morning before they finally found their way home. Kepa drove Maite home to her parents’ apartment in Gernika before […]
Happy holidays! Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Hanukkah Sameach! However you celebrate, the holidays are upon us. In Basque, it is traditional to say Gabon Zoriontsua! or Eguberri On! Sometimes you’ll hear the ubiquitous Zorionak! But where does this word, used in so many situations, come from…? Primary source: Euskal Hiztegi Historiko-Etimologikoa, Euskaltzaindia
“So,” asked Koldo as they stood around a high table in one corner of the bar, “how did the interview go? You’ve got to tell us all about it.” “Interview?” asked Maite. “Oh, right! Berkeley. It feels so long ago…” “What do you mean?” asked Idoia, taking a sip of her gin and tonic. “It […]
The holidays are upon us. Time to gather with family and friends, to take a break from all of the worries and responsibilities of work and school. And to eat! There always seem to be tables full of food everywhere we go, especially desserts! My mom always has a flan and often rice pudding on […]
Maite looked around. This time, she was certainly back in her own time, standing at the end of the hallway in the airport in Bilbao. She looked out the window where she was greated by the rolling green mountains and the baserria speckling the hillsides. There were no throngs of people dressed in strange garb, […]
John Ysursa is near-omnipresent in the Basque community of the United States. He’s seemingly at every festival, he’s a central part of Boise State University’s Basque program, and he has authored a book on Basque dance. His enthusiasm for all things Basque – particularly how to get others excited about the Basque culture – is […]
The Basques have always enjoyed a high level of rights and autonomy, at least relative to their neighbors. These are embedded in the revered Fueros. However, as European nobility became more powerful, the common man lost more and more autonomy and rights. In France, the centralization of power in the hands of the king led […]
Moments later, Kepa materialized seemingly out of nowhere next to Maite. “Zer…?” he began. Looking at Maite, he asked “What is going on?” “We’re in Garuna’s mind,” replied Maite. “What?” he exclaimed. “Why?” “Garuna wants to go with us.” “Go with us? Where?” “Our own time.” “Can it do that?” Maite nodded. “It can, but […]
Sometimes, it seems that the very idea of being Basque is inherently full of contradictions. Perhaps this is a consequence of not having their own country, of being split into two different regimes with two different external cultures influencing them. Miguel de Unamuno is perhaps one of the most important Basque intellectuals, certainly of the […]
Maite looked around. She expected to find herself back at the airport in Bilbao, in her own time. She expected to see the long hallways and, out the glass windows, the green mountainsides that were so familiar. But, instead, all she saw was darkness. “Kaixo?” she said, almost in a whisper, her voice trailing off […]
