Maite gave a panicked glance at Kepa. “What now?” Kepa shrugged, as he looked back up at the woman floating above them. “Ez dakit! I don’t know!” “Hemen!” They heard a voice whisper from one of the buildings next to them. A door had opened seemingly from nowhere. “Here! Hurry!” Kepa nodded as he and […]
While the Basques aren’t the first and only people to play ball games, they have made their own unique imprint on this versatile sport. Pelota a mano, or handball, is the most popular version played today in the Basque Country – when my aunt and uncle ran the Herriko Taberna in Munitibar, it was always […]
I just stumbled on to the Ethnographic Atlas of the Basque Country, which intends “to provide an overview of popular culture and lifestyles of the Basques throughout the 20th century up to the present day.” It covers a range of every day activities and aspects of every day life, from “House and Family” to “Diet” […]
Maite and Kepa approached one of the flying egg things. As they got closer, it grew, seemingly sensing that there were two of them. “Everything here seems to have its own brain,” said Kepa. “Everything seems almost alive.” Maite nodded. “I guess, if they’ve perfected artificial intelligence, everything might.” “At least the robots haven’t taken […]
It’s often easy to forget the role that France, and along with them the Basques from Iparralde, had in the history of North America. From Louisiana to Canada, Iparraldetarrak had an enormous hand in shaping the history of the continent. One dramatic example comes from Quebec, in which the grandson of a Basque military officer […]
The plaza was surrounded by massive buildings that reached up into the sky. Each was covered with plant life, some with green vines, others with flowering plants. Some had terraces that jutted out at odd angles with trees growing out of them while on others the plants cascaded down their sides like a waterfall. Benches, […]
This article originally appeared in Basque and Spanish at Euskalkultura.eus on November 23, 2021. In memory of Gorka Aulestia (1932-2021) Pete Cenarrusa passed away on September 29, 2013 at the age of 95 in Boise, Idaho. With him we lost possibly one of the last figures of his time to go down in history for […]
Who knew the Basque Country had a pioneer in skateboarding? Not me! Sancheski, based in Irun, Gipuzkoa, made the first skateboard in all of Europe in 1966. Like Orbea, the company had to reimagine itself when times got hard and new opportunities arose. Starting off as a ski company back in the 1930s, they shifted […]
“I’ll distract those things,” said Marina. “You two get out of here.” She handed Maite a small object. “Meet me here.” “Non?” asked Maite, looking at the object in her hand. It looked like one of those die Dungeons and Dragons players used, except there were no markings on the faces. “How do we use […]
The late 1700s were a turbulent time for Europe, with the United States declaring independence and Napoleon trying to conquer the continent. It was also a time in which scientific enlightenment was crescendoing, leading to many people having both distinguished military and political careers as well as making important contributions to science. According to Julio […]