Kevin Paul shares his tattoo, done by Tattoo 13 in Oakland, CA. It is a stylized lauburu in which each of the heads of the lauburu is an oak leaf. A great idea! Thanks for sharing Kevin. This, and all the tattoos, are in the Tattoo Gallery. If you have a tattoo to share, feel […]
Sunday, April 26, marks the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Gernika. When I posted on a previous anniversary, I wrote that the Wikipedia article on the bombing briefly mentions that, in addition to Gernika and Durango, Gerrikaitz was also bombed. I was intrigued by this as my dad is from that town and I […]
Finding nice overviews of the Basque Country — its history, culture, traditions, and language — is rare in English. There are, of course, The Basque History of the World by Mark Kurlansky and The Basque Country: A Cultural History by Paddy Woodworth. But, both of those are rather lengthy and certainly have their authors’ respective […]
I had never heard of the txalaparta before my first visit to Euskadi in 1991, even though I was semi-active in Basque dancing and attended many festivals in the US. In fact, I only learned about it once a friend of mine, Mikel Lopategi, who was also in Euskadi at the same time, had learned […]
Joyce Inchauspe is a member of the Big Horn Basque Club of Wyoming. When she heard about Aita Tillous’ passing, it was snowing where she lives. She was inspired to make a little Basque snowman as a tribute to a man who they had the pleasure to host many times in Wyoming. She writes: Father, […]
Few and far between are the “popular” books on the Basque Country that give an overview of the people, the land, and the culture of Euskal Herria. The Basque Histroy of the World, by Mark Kurlansky, is probably the most well-known. Now, Paddy Woodworth, author of Dirty Wars, Clean Hands: ETA, the GAL, and Spanish […]
It was one of the most horrific events in modern warfare. During the Spanish Civil War, at the behest of Franco, the German Luftwaffe bombed the Basque town of Gernika, on a Monday, the traditional market day for the town. They also bombed Durango and, I have read, the town where my dad is from, […]
There seem to be two camps in linguistic circles on the role language has in shaping how we think. I’ve read a number of books by Stephen Pinker, who is of the opinion that the particular language we speak doesn’t shape how we think, that there is a meta-language underneath, common to all of us, […]
Two more points about Euskara that I wanted to mention. First, Renee Marticorena sent me a note about UNESCO‘s new classification of Euskara as unsafe. They have an interactive atlas of languages in danger, which is interesting in its own right, but, with regards to Euskara, shows it to be in an unsafe position in […]
In 1991, I went to Euskal Herria to learn Euskara. My dad is from Munitibar, and my mom’s grandparents were from Leikeitio (her grandma) and Mutiloa (her grandpa). While of course my dad was fluent in Euskara, my mom hadn’t had the opportunity to learn. Her dad, while born and raised in Oregon, also knew […]
