Category Archives: Basque Fact of the Week

Basque Fact of the Week: Canadian Hall of Fame Quarterback Sam Etcheverry

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, the culmination of the National Football League’s season, which saw star quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, and Dak Prescott light up the field (yeah, these last two are on my fantasy football team, so I might be biased; and I’m rooting for the Bengals!). However, there’s another league, […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Possible Basque Origins for the Names of Several Native American Tribes

It is now well established that the Basques, if not the very first Europeans to set foot on the North American continent, were among the first. Of course, there were already a large number of thriving peoples living there when they arrived, and the Basques certainly interacted closely with them, even developing trading pidgins. None […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Butrón Castle

In probably 1996, after I had started this page and met Xabier Ormaetxea online, I visited the Basque Country and Xabier took me to see Butrón Castle. At the time, it was open for visitors, with people in period costume welcoming us and showing us the castle. For me, it was pretty impressive – you […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Florentino Goikoetxea, Smuggler of Allied Airmen in WWII

During World War II, the Basque Country occupied a special geopolitical position which provided unique opportunities to contribute to the effort against the Axis powers. The French side was of course occupied by Germany, but the Spanish side remained neutral. This led to networks to get soldiers, refugees, and politicians across the French-Spanish border and […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Munitibar-Arbatzegi-Gerrikaitz

My dad, Pedro Uberuaga Zabala, was from Munitibar, Bizkaia. Or better said, Gerrikaitz. At least, he always referred to his home as Gerrikaitz, not Munitibar. This confused me when I went to visit for the first time because the signs for the town say Munitibar. It turns out that this little town, home to less […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Days of the Week in Basque

When we think about what we call the days of the week, how many of us think about the fact that Monday is named after the moon, Wednesday is Odin’s day, and Thursday is dedicated to the Scandinavian god Thor? Where do these names even come from? They’re just names, and we’ve lost, for the […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Mayie Maitia and the Wool Growers Restaurant

One of the distinguishing features of Basque culture in the US West are the Basque restaurants. Often serving family-style meals, with long tables and large plates and bowls of food, they are the cornerstone of Basque-American identity. The Wool Growers, in Bakersfield, California, is one of these wonderful dining spots, a place for Basques and […]

Basque Fact of the Week: The First Translation of the New Testament into Basque

As compared to its neighbors, the Basque language was standardized only recently, in the 1970s. The challenges in standardizing the language so that all Basque speakers could communicate with one another was expressed by Joanes Leizarraga, one of the first to attempt the task. One of the first to refer to the Basque Country in […]

Basque Fact of the Week: Mari Domingi, Olentzero’s Companion

These days, Olentzero, the Basque “Santa Claus” who brings gifts to children during Christmas, is reasonably well recognized in the Basque diaspora. He not only visits children in Euskal Herria, but can often be found in Basque clubs in the United States, South America, and elsewhere. Even the New Mexico Euskal Etxea, back when it […]

Basque Fact of the Week: La Concha, the Iconic Beach of Donostia

You can do worse than having La Concha be the path you take to class. When I lived in Donostia, during my attempt to learn a bit of Euskara, I lived in the neighborhood Egia. While I often took the bus, when I wasn’t late and the weather was decent, I’d walk along the beach […]