There is a story that, millennia ago, a Basque shepherd was working under the hot southerly wind. The night before, he had finished a lamb for his dinner and, today, he used the lamb’s hide to hold milk. He then trekked home — this all took place near the modern town of Eibar — and […]
Percent of land covered in forest. Source: http://atlasa.net/en/environment/provinces
Their trip was only weeks away. Maite had had a long sit down talk with her parents, describing the opportunity and that, right now, she was only going for an interview, that she wasn’t making any commitment to attend school in the United States. She could tell her parents were struggling with the news, but […]
Magunagoikoetxea. Gorostiaga. Arroitajauregi. Bastarretxea. Basque last names are as distinct as they are complex, at least to an English tongue. It is only relatively recently that children took the names of their parents. Rather, Basques were often, though not universally, known by the names of their houses, which were in turn based upon the location […]
On Friday, August 7, the Basque community lost a great one, Dave Lachiondo. Dave was a pillar, not only of the Boise Basque community, but also of Boise more broadly. He had served as both principal and president of Bishop Kelly High School, impacting an untold number of lives. His long career in education touched […]
Over the next month, Maite confirmed with the group at Berkeley the logistics for her interview. The interview was scheduled for the beginning of the trip so that Maite didn’t have that hanging over her the rest of their vacation. “What do you think?” Kepa asked after taking a sip of his coffee. They sat […]
The idea of something being ’empty’ is typically a negative one. When the glass is half full, we are taking an optimistic view of the situation, but a glass that is half empty is certainly negative. The Basque language has similar connotations around the word huts. Possibly stemming from Neolithic times when an empty stomach […]
Useful agricultural land by province. Source: https://es.slideshare.net/maixu61/euskal-herria-geografa-economia (originally Gaindegia)
“What? Coming with me?” asked Maite. “Sure!” replied Kepa. “It’s only an interview, right? We can make it a vacation. I’ve got a cousin in California, so close to Berkeley…” “You do know how big California is, don’t you?” interrupted Maite. “Bah!” answered Kepa. “Once we are across the ocean, it’s all close. We can […]
This article originally appeared in Spanish at El Diario. You can find all of the English versions of the Fighting Basques series here. Like many young people of his generation, and like in many cases following in the footsteps of his parents or close relatives, Jean Etchart Chabagno, a young man from Nafarroa Beherea born […]
