Category Archives: Basque Fact of the Week

Basque Fact of the Week: Oldest Known Tools Made of Whale Bone Found in the Bay of Biscay

Basques have long been associated with whaling. Records as far back as 670 highlight the importance that whale hunting was to the Basque economy and their way of life. However, the people that inhabited the region we now know as the Basque Country used resources from whales even earlier, many millennia earlier. New research has […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Origin of the Motto Zazpiak Bat

The motto Zazpiak Bat – or the equation 4+3=1 – is a common way to express the unity of the seven historical Basque provinces. The Basque coat-of-arms is called zazpiak bat, but the phrase means more than just the coat-of-arms. It expresses the common cultural and historical legacy of Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Araba, Nafarroa, Zuberoa, Lapurdi, […]

Basque Fact of the Week: The Fiestas of the White Virgin

The Basque Country is full of colorful festivals and each city and town has their own special fiesta. Even towns as small as Munitibar – less than 500 people – have a big fiesta on their saint’s day, with the plaza full of people dancing to live music. Vitoria-Gasteiz, the political capital of the Basque […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Txikiteo

Wandering the streets, friends in tow, hopping from bar to bar, getting a bit of a drink and a pintxo – the tradition of the txikiteo. One of my favorite things to do in the Basque Country, txikiteo is the epitome of Basque social life. It’s a perfect way to spend time with your koadrila […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Gizotso, the Basque Werewolf

Gizotso – gizon (man) + otsoa (wolf) – is the Basque wolf man, the Basque werewolf. Though there aren’t many wolves left in the Basque Country, Basques have a long history with wolves, which often terrorized livestock and even people. So, it is no surprise that the Basques, as so many cultures, had stories of […]

Basque Fact of the Week: The Province of Nueva Vizcaya

When I wrote about the various cities of Durango a while back, that opened a thread of the Basque history of Mexico and the southwest United States that is ripe for further exploration. That history is reflected in so many place names of the region. Not only are cities like Durango named after their Basque […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Picon Punch

Maybe you’ve heard that some politicians in Nevada are trying again to make Picon Punch the official state cocktail. It’s not the first time, but that Ferino, a distillery in Reno, is making their own version of Amer Picon, the central ingredient that gives the Punch its distinct flavor, is perhaps going to help the […]

Basque Fact of the Week: The Elizate or Democratic Town Councils

One of the less appreciated aspects of Basque history is their strong democratic tradition. So central has democracy been to the Basque Country that John Adams was impressed, noting how the Basque Country was “a republic; and one of the privileges they have most insisted on, is not to have a king.” Central to the […]

Basque Fact of the Week: The Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno

“During the darkest day of the Franco era when we were denied our language, our culture and our identity, we were consoled by the knowledge that an American university in Nevada had lit one small candle in the night.” – Basque President Jose Antonio Ardanza This is how important the William A. Douglass Center for […]

Basque Fact of the Week: The Koadrila, or Group of Friends

For me, the best thing about the Basque Country is the strong social connections between family and friends. The Basques are so tight knit. Life-long groups of friends celebrate everything together and these groups are essentially a second family. Maybe this comes from having more compact towns and cities where it is easy to get […]