I spent the 1991-92 school year in the Basque Country, trying to learn Basque and learning a bit more Spanish. It was my first time to the Basque Country and it really opened my eyes as to what life was like in the Basque Country. I had learned something about the traditional culture, primarily dance, when I was a kid, but I hadn’t realized that the Basque Country, like everywhere, was a modern, vibrant place that was continuously evolving. All that to say that the exchange program that I participated in was, literally, life-changing. Ateak Ireki is a new cultural exchange program with the goal of exposing young Basques in the diaspora to the life and culture of the Basque Country today. If you are interested, registration for summer 2026 ends soon.
Ateak Ireki means “Open Doors” in Basque and the program has the primary goal of giving young Basques in the diaspora the chance to experience life in the Basque Country first hand. For three weeks, these youngsters spend time with families in the Goierri region in southern Gipuzkoa (where incidentally Mutiloa, the town my great grandfather Blas Telleria was from, is).
The program hopes to strengthen ties between the Basque Country and the Basque diaspora. Participants learn about traditional aspects of Basque culture including language, dance and literature but also network with local and business leaders to help establish new professional connections.
Participants live with a local family that speaks primarily Basque at home (though knowledge of Basque beforehand is not a requirement). Each family also has someone at home of a similar age to each participant and each also has an English speaker at home. All this to make each participant feel as welcome as possible while they also get an immersive experience.
Registration for the summer 2026 program is open until December 7. Participants must be between 18 and 25 years old, become a member of the North American Basque Organization after being accepted, and participate in all activities. There is also opportunity for chaperones.
The program is inspired by the cultural exchange program between Boise and Oñati that occurred in the 1970s. That program, spearheaded by Pat Bieter and Jon Bilbao, was instrumental in giving the Basque diaspora of Idaho and by extension the American West a huge boost. Many of the leading figures of the Basque diaspora of the United States participated in that program.
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.
It is always cool to see Basque names on the big screen. Whenever we sit through the credits of a movie, I tend to scan the names to see if any Basque names pop out to me. So, it’s even cooler when the Basque name is also the star of the movie. Jacob Elordi has been getting a lot of buzz and his career has really taken off in the last couple of years. The son of a Basque immigrant, Elordi grew up in Australia before making his way to Hollywood. His most recent film is Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo del Toro, in which Elordi plays the creature.
Incidentally, I just saw Frankenstein and really enjoyed it.
Jacob Elordi after his transformation into Frankenstein’s monster. Photo from Elle.
Jacob Nathaniel Elordi was born on June 26, 1997, in Brisbane, Australia. He comes from a working class family. His father John is a house painter and his mother Melissa is a stay-at-home mom and waitress. John was born in the Bizkaian province of Marikina-Xeimen while John’s father, Joaquin, was born in Ondarroa. Jacob has three older sisters.
Joaquin had immigrated to Australia to escape Franco’s dictatorship. He originally worked in the sugar cane fields until he saved enough money to bring his mother and his son, John, to Australia. John was eight years old at the time.
Elordi says that he was inspired to become an actor by Heath Ledger. He started acting in musicals at his school at the age of 12. He was interested in rugby until he hurt his back when he was 14, which pushed him from athletics to acting. It was when he was 15 and reading Waiting for Godot in drama class that he really decided acting was his passion. His father initially discouraged Jacob’s acting ambitions, saying that “acting is a one-in-a-million kind of situation.” Jacob replied by saying “Well, why can’t that one be me? Why can’t I be that one in a million?”
Elordi’s first Hollywood role was as an extra in 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. He started gaining fame in 2018 as part of Netflix’s The Kissing Booth. He was about to give up on his Hollywood dream – he had been sleeping in his car and on friends’ couches – when he was cast in HBO’s Euphoria.
After that, his career began to take off. In 2023, he played Elvis Presley in Priscilla and starred in Saltburn, for which he received a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actor. Most recently, he starred as the titular monster in Guillermo del Toro‘s Frankenstein. His performance in this and other recent films has earned him praise. For Frankenstein, he spent 10 hours a day in make-up to complete his transformation.
Elordi has made his pride in his Basque ancestry very clear. When a Wikipedia article about him listed his ancestry as Spanish, he said he wasn’t of Spanish but Basque descent, and his grandfather would strangle him if he heard that.
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.
The Basque Country has a long association with bears. Indeed, research by people like Roslyn Frank indicates that the Basques may have worshipped bears at one time and that Basques believed that humans were descended from bears. The importance of bears to Basque culture is reflected in their role in carnivals in various towns. However, despite this importance, real bears have all but disappeared from the Basque landscape, with the last bear sited more than 15 years ago.
At one time, at least three different species of bears lived in the Pyrenees and the Basque Country, the oldest remains dating over 240,000 years ago. The last native Basque bear, named Camille, had lived in the Roncal Valley but died some time around 2010.
Hartza, the bear, is the protagonist of more than than one festival in the Basque Country. For example, in Ituren, Nafarroa, the arrival of Hartza and his handler, hartzazain, during their fiesta announces that spring has come.
There are tales highlighting the relationship between bears and humans, with some telling how Basques are descended from bears. Indeed, in 1983, Petiri Prébende, the last Basque bear hunter, said, “Lehenagoko eüskaldünek gizona hartzetik jiten zela sinhesten zizien. […] Hartzak eginak gara” (“Basques used to believe that humans descended from bears. […] We were created by the bear.”) Bears were said, once shorn, to look like humans and that humans were bears without fur.
The close relationship meant that bears and humans could interchange souls: “The primitive belief in the possibility of such an exchange of souls comes clearly out in a story of a Basque hunter who affirmed that he had been killed by a bear, but that the bear had, after killing him, breathed its own soul into him, so that the bear’s body was now dead, but he himself was a bear, being animated by the bear’s soul.” (The Golden Bough by JG Frazer)
One story describes Joan Hartza or Bear’s Son or Little Bear or Hamalau or Hartz-ume (there are many names for this story). This hero was half human, half bear, with a human mother and bear father. He represents the transition from bears to humans and bear ancestry. The story relates his adventures, including his encounter with a group of animals that he helps and is rewarded with talismans of their power. Roslyn Frank suggests that this story, though appearing throughout Europe, originated in the Basque Country.
There is also some evidence of belief in a Celestial Bear, a bear that helps guard the gates of heaven with St Peter. An English folklorist, Thomas Hollingsworth, was interviewing two Basques from Nafarroa who told him in 1891 that bears could understand human speech, including Euskara, and that bears were smart enough to learn from people and take that knowledge back to other bears, and that this would allow bears to come back and rule over humans as they had once done. They referred to the bear as the “dog of God” and the “dog of St Peter.”
Though bears have now essentially disappeared from the Basque Country, the last bear hunter was still alive in 1983. He and his son discussed how killing a bear would bring bad luck. However, a bear’s paw has also been seen as a powerful magical item, protecting people from the evil eye and other illnesses.
One final curious note is worth expanding on. One of the names for the Little Bear is Hamalau, which literally means 14. Frank alludes to the special role that 7 has in Basque culture, and maybe the name 14 is related to this. Hamalau is also a name for the boogeyman, who scares people at night. It is also a large number, representing infinity. Maybe a future post will go into 14 in more detail.
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.
“There are at least two things that can clearly be attributed to Basque ingenuity: the Society of Jesus and the Republic of Chile.” – Miguel de Unamuno
When we think about Basque emigration and the Basque diaspora, places like Argentina and Idaho are the first to come to mind. But, as I recently learned, Chile drew a large number of Basques. Whether for the rugged landscape and nearby coast or simply because that was were earlier relatives had gone or the economic opportunities were so tempting, many Basques made their way to Chile such that, today, maybe 25-30 percent of Chileans have a Basque surname.
A member of the Mapuche performing a ceremony to bless the Ikurrina. Photo from Euskal Kultura.
Before the arrival of Europeans, the predominant group of people living in what is now Chile were the Mapuche. The Mapuche, primarily located in south-central Chile, first settled in the region sometime around 500-600 BCE. They resisted incursions from the nearby Inca and maybe numbered 700,000 to 900,000 when Europeans arrived. Today, they make up about 9% of Chile’s population.
The first European to set foot on what is now Chile was Ferdinand Magellan, in 1520 during his attempt to circumnavigate the globe. It wasn’t long before the Spanish crown began exploring the region, with colonists and conquistadors arriving in 1535. Several Basques were amongst that first wave, including the Bilbainos Martín de Cote, Francisco Galdemes, Francisco de Isásaga, Domingo de la Orta, and Juan de Larrañaga; fellow Bizkaian Ortún Jiménez de Bertendona; and the Gipuzkoans Pedro de Zárate and Gaspar de Bergara.
Of the families that settled Chile from the Iberian peninsula in the 1500s – 157 in total – 39 had Basque names.
The capital of Chile, Santiago, founded in 1541, was designed by Pedro de Gamboa, whose parents were from Bizkaia. Supposedly his friend played the txistu while he was working on the city plans.
This was only the first wave of Basque immigration to Chile. In fact, even greater influxes occurred in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. In the 18th century, there was such a huge number of Basques coming to the country that, by the end of the century, some 30% of Chileans had Basque ancestry. While much of that immigration was from Hegoalde, starting in the 19th century Basques from Iparralde also started arriving. The Carlist Wars and the Spanish Civil War both led to large bumps in Basque immigration to Chile.
Basques established themselves as part of the elite of the country, in part due to success in business and their ties back to Iberia, but also because of favorable laws that enabled property to be passed down to single heirs rather than being broken up. Thus, Basques and their descendants have been part of the Chilean elite – the Castilian-Basque aristocracy – and ruling class for centuries. However, the shear number of Basques in the country also means that many people in other parts of Chilean society can trace ancestry to the Basque Country.
As a consequence of the Basque presence in Chile, many important Chileans have had Basque connections. A few examples include:
Bernardo O’Higgins, who led Chile’s war of independence from Spain and was Chile’s second Supreme Director, was of Basque heritage through his mother Isabel Riquelme, daughter of Simón Riquelme de la Barrera y Goycochea.
Actor Pedro Pascal‘s parents are Verónica Pascal Ureta and José Balmaceda Riera, who is a member of that aristocracy.
Augusto Pinochet, who led the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende, was dictator of Chile from 1974 to 1990. His mother, Avelina Ugarte Martínez, was of Basque descent.
Gabriela Mistral (born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945.
Pablo Neruda (born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto), who won the same prize in 1971, is speculated to have had Basque heritage, though definitive links are missing. Basoalto is possibly a Basque name meaning “next to the forest” or “the elevated forest” (though some sources say it is a Spanish name meaning “high foundation or base”). He denied his Basque heritage, though, perhaps because of its association with the aristocracy of his country.
It is estimated that 10-30 percent of Chileans today have Basque heritage, translating to between 1.6 to 5 million people. Given that the population of the Basque Country is just over 3 million, Chile perhaps has more people of Basque heritage than the Basque Country.
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.
The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know about Basque culture. When she accepted her award for her dedication to Basque culture at the Zortziak Bat symposium, Meggan Laxalt Mackey emphasized the role of auzolan – community work or more broadly collaboration – in her work. I hadn’t heard of that concept before, but it is central to Basque culture. It embodies the collective spirit, of working together to make your community better.
Auzolan to create a park in the town of Gaztelu in 2015. Photo from ataria.
Auzolan, or the related Bizkaian concept of lorra, is the concept of communal work, or performing work that benefits the community. In the Basque Country, this has manifested itself in many ways, from the building of churches to the maintenance of forest trails. While the concept of auzolan was defined by custom in the Basque Country, in more recent times it has been codified into law in some places.
Auzolan promotes community solidarity and cohesion. As described by Prof. Xabier Barandiaran, the concept of auzolan reflects “the individual’s responsibility to the community and their service to others, fostering solidarity and forms of social organisation that prioritize community interests over individual ones.”
To decide what work the neighborhood would focus on, either the town council or a simple local meeting would convene. Two types of auzolan could be planned: big or small, reflecting what tools would be needed to do the work: just hoes and shovels for a small job or carts and the like for a bigger job.
Often, auzolan would happen in September though a special auzolan might also happen in the spring. The committee would alert everyone in the neighborhood as to the time and place of the work and, if they couldn’t participate, they had to send an alternate. If the work was on public land, the city would provide food and supplies while if it was on private land, the owner would. People weren’t paid for their time – participating in the auzolan was viewed as an obligation of living in the community; it was mandatory.
The actual work associated with auzolan was often a community improvement effort, to construct or maintain roads, parks, fountains, or other things that would benefit the community as a whole. However, in some cases it could be directed to specific people that needed extra help, such as a widow or sick farmer.
Today, the concept has expanded to include collaboration more broadly, especially collaboration carried out freely and voluntarily, and to actions that benefit a neighborhood, town, or region voluntarily without receiving money.
The idea of communal work for the benefit of the community is not unique to the Basque Country and was common in medieval European societies. Indeed, the Asturians have a similar concept called andecha. Modern ideas associated with crowdsourcing certainly have a similar spirit. The Mondragon cooperative is one example originating from the concept of auzolan.
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.
It is amazing how fast technology has changed over my lifetime. When my dad first came to the United States, he rarely called back home in the Basque Country. He’d call maybe at Christmas. It was just too expensive. However, at the end of his life, he was constantly on his cell phone talking to his brothers back in the Basque Country. What was once a prohibitively expensive and extremely inconvenient became almost trivial. The Basque Country is on the forefront of pushing forward one of the next frontiers of technology – quantum computing. They just got one of the newest quantum computers in the world, and are only the second place outside of IBM to have one.
The IBM Quantum System Two in its home in Donostia. Photo from NetworkWorld.
Quantum computing is an alternative approach to computing from the more traditional analog and digital computing.
In October of 2025, IBM delivered to the Basque Country the IBM Quantum System Two, the first of its kind in Europe. This machine is modular and scalable, and can be upgraded in the future as newer quantum processors are developed. It uses IBM’s Heron chips, which contain 156 qubits. The computer is housed in Ikerbasque’s new building in Donostia. To perform, the computer has to be cooled to 0.15 Kelvin, or -459 Fahrenheit.
A key player the push to make the Basque Country a leader in this area is the Basque Quantum Initiative, or BasQ. This initiative is led by “the Department of Science, Universities and Innovation of the Basque Government and the three Provincial Councils of Araba, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa.” The Director of the initiative is Professor Javier Aizpuru, a research scientist at the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC).
These researchers have already been pushing the frontiers of quantum computing even before the delivery of this new system. For example, they used a quantum computer to simulate the motion of quarks, subatomic particles that make up protons and neutrons. They have also used such machines to look at “time crystals,” for the first time in two dimensions. Regular crystals, such as the NaCl crystals in table salt, have repeating patterns in space. Time crystals also repeat their structures in time, oscillating periodically.
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.
Amuma Says No has been a staple of the Boise Basque music scene for almost 2 decades. Not only are they at every Basque event in Boise, but they travel the country spreading Basque sounds wherever they go. At Jaialdi 2025, you could find them on the stage in the middle of the Basque Block or in the Idaho Central Arena, one of the three acts including Neomak and Gatibu that rocked Saturday night.
Amuma Says No playing on the Basque Block in Boise. Photo from the Jaialdi website.
Amuma Says No grew out of the traditions of Basque dancing in Boise – more than one member was part of the Oinkari Basque Dancers and grew up with the sounds of people like Jimmy Jausoro and Domingo Ansotegui. They play a mix of traditional music centered around the trikitixa with more modern sounds including rock.
The band has come to embody the Basque American spirit and has represented Basque culture throughout the country, traveling to various picnics and fiestas all across the American west. They even performed at the Kennedy Center and in 2010 at the Library of Congress.
The current – and original – line up includes
Dan Ansotegui on accordion. Dan was an Oinkari and has been a part of the Boise Basque community for a while, owning in the past both Bar Gernika and The Basque Market and playing in Jimmy Jausoro’s band. He current also owns Ansots, a restaurant and caterer in Boise.
Jill Aldape, vocals. She has served as both President and head instructor of the Oinkari Basque Dancers.
Sean Aucutt, pandero, was also a dancer for the Oinkaris.
The band was formed in 2006. Dan and Sean had met when they both had been teaching for Txantxan Gorriak, a musical group teaching Basque music to children. They knew Jill who was an instructor for the Oinkaris. Spencer, who has Basque roots, had just moved to Boise and wanted to play drums. He was directed to Dan, Sean, and Jill. They put together some songs for a December dance and the reception was so great that the rest is history.
In 2011, the group accompanied the Oinkari dancers for a few performances in the Basque Country.
Over the last few years, they have been in semi-retirement, but they came back out to perform at Jaialdi 2025.
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.
I’ve said it before – for such a small place, Basques seem to outdo themselves, making an impact above and beyond what their small population might suggest. Case in point: Patxi Usobiaga. Patxi is a rock climber who reached the pinnacle of his sport, doing things no one had ever done before. Maybe growing up in the mountains of the Basque Country gave him an advantage. But you only make it to the top with hard work, dedication, and sacrifice.
Patxi Usobiaga Lakunza was born on September 7, 1980, in Eibar, Gipuzkoa. He started climbing when he was 10 years old.
Usobiaga is the first climber in the world to complete an 8c+ climbing route “on sight.” What does this mean? 8c+ refers to the difficulty of the climb, or its rating, in the Fontainebleau bouldering system. An 8c+, equivalent to an 5.14c in the Yosemite Decimal System, is one of the hardest climbs there is, though there are routes that are rated in the 9s. Onsighting means that he had no prior knowledge of the route – he didn’t know where the handholds were or what order might be best to attack them, he discovered them as he climbed. He couldn’t even watch another climber attempt the route. Further, to qualify as an onsight climb, he had to complete it in his first attempt.
The route itself is called Bizi Euskaraz (live by Basque) and is in Etxauri, Nafarroa. Usobiaga climbed it in 2007.
This isn’t the hardest route he climbed. He also redpointed 9a+ routes. Redpointing means that he didn’t complete it on his first attempt, so that when he did complete it, he had some familiarity with the route.
During one two-week period in December, 2007, he redpointed two 9a+’s and a 8c+/9a and onsighted a 8b, 8c, 8b+, and 8c+.
In both 2006 and 2007, he won the Climbing World Cup in the individual discipline of lead climbing. He was also the World Climbing Champion in 2009.
In 2010, he was in a car accident that caused a slip disk in his back. He retired from the sport the following year. Since then, he has become a personal trainer, training other climbers in the sport.
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.
Rediscovering Gatibu at Jaialdi was a great experience, but Lisa, Rose, and I were also blown away by a band I’d never heard of before: Neomak. Opening for Gatibu in the Idaho Central Arena, Neomak both had a more traditional sound than Gatibu – trikitixa, tambourines, and drums – but pushed that sound in new and innovative ways. The steady drum beat instilled an energy that was only rivaled by the women dancing and singing on stage. Another band I would highly recommend.
Neomak playing at the Idaho Central Arena during Jaialdi 2025. Photo by Blas Uberuaga.
Neomak was formed in 2020. Their name, translating from the Greek to new moon, represents their goals of transforming tradition, of keeping their roots but making something new.
Originally comprised of seven young women, Neomak got their start touring with renowned Basque musician Kepa Junkera. After the touring stopped, they realized they had more to say, more to do, and so they started Neomak. In 2025, three of the members of the group left with the remaining four continuing to find new ways to interpret Basque music and stories. Those four are Alaitz Escudero Unanue, Leire Etxezarreta Learreta, Irati Gutierrez Artetxe, and Garazi Otaegi Lasarte.
In 2022, after releasing only two songs, Neomak toured the Basque Country before releasing their first self-titled album later that year. In 2024, they composed and released a song, “Hor Daude,” in support of Herri Urrats, a festival that promotes the ikastolas of Iparralde.
As they discuss in this interview, their songs give voice to their grandmothers, to the women who haven’t had a voice. “We begin by talking about the stories told by our grandmothers and saying that we will be the voice they often haven’t been able to have. We continue with a critique of the repression of our grandmothers, the church, some traditional ideas, etc. We shift gears by talking about the taboo surrounding sex and end with a vindication and critique of today’s society with the song “XXI.mendekua,” which has a double meaning: the 21st Century and the 21st Revenge. It’s a song that champions support among women and empowerment.”
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.
The theme of the Zortziak Bat symposium that was held during Jaialdi was Elkarrekin Arraunean, or “Rowing Together,” highlighting the contributions of so many people that have helped promote and support the Basque language and culture. Seven people were honored for their lifetime of effort – I was pleased to be one of those recognized. But I was also humbled to be in the presence of such a great group of people, people who have done so much for Basque culture.
Honorees at the Zortziak Bat symposium. Photo from Euskal Kazeta.
Joseba Etxarri first came to the United States in 1987 and has been a stable of Basque festivals ever since. He wrote about his experiences in his book Euskaldunen Ameriketa, Bidaia bat EEBBetan zehar. He is the director of the website EuskalKultura.com where he shares news from all over the Basque diaspora, not just the United States. Euskal Kultura, which began as a print publication in 1998 and went online in 2001, is an invaluable resource with the goal to “inform, connect, facilitate mutual understanding, and build bridges.”
David Lachiondo was honored posthumously. He spent 41 years in secondary education before moving to Boise State University. He was director of the Basque Studies Program at BSU while also teaching on topics including Basque history. Born in Boise, his first language wasn’t English and he struggled when he first went to school, but later education became his passion. He was recognized for his many contributions to Basque culture, in Boise and beyond.
Meggan Laxalt Mackey was the heart and soul of the symposium. She was recognized for her dedication to Basque Studies, having taught at Boise State’s Basque Studies Program. She has spent the greater part of her adult life promoting the Basque Culture and Language, not only as an educator but also as an author, publishing amongst other books Lekuak: The Basque Places of Boise, Idaho. She currently owns and runs Studio M Publications and Design, which helps other authors bring their ideas to light.
Nere Lete Bieter, a Professor of Basque in the World Languages Department at Boise State University, was honored for her dedication and continued efforts to promote Basque culture and language. She is also one of the co-founders of the Boiseko Ikastola, the only Basque language preschool outside of the Basque Country. Previously director of the Basque Studies Minor at Boise State University, she has also translated numerous documentaries to provide a larger corpus for natural language processing.
Benan Oregi is Senior Diaspora Policy Officer with the Basque Government, which means he has been working to strengthen ties between the Basque Country and the Basque diaspora. He has worked in this area for more than 25 years, recognizing that relationships with diasporas are becoming ever more important for governments at all levels. He also teaches post-graduate classes on diaspora relations at the University of the Basque Country.
Nancy Zubiri is the force behind Euskal Kazeta, which is “the premier website for news about the Basque community in the United States.” Started in 2009, Euskal Kazeta shares news about all things Basque in the United States. Its mission is to “help preserve the Basque culture by promoting social engagement and public education relating to Basque culture.” Nancy, who recently retired as from teaching high school English, has also published multiple books, including Travel Guide to Basque America and Jaialdi: A Celebration of Basque Culture.
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive.
