Tag Archives: aizkolari

Basque Fact of the Week: Paulino Uzcudun, the “Basque Woodchopper”

My dad’s favorite sport to watch was boxing. I never asked him why (so many questions were never asked…) but I always assumed that it was because, of the sports on our American TV, boxing was the most straightforward, something he didn’t have to grow up with to understand, unlike American football. However, I recently […]

Buber’s Basque Page, Sports Edition, Part 1: Stone Lifting

In 1987, attending my first (and everyone’s first) Jaialdi, I got my first taste of rural Basque sport. There were the aizkolaris and the sukatira, but probably the most impressive were the harrijasotzaileak, or the stone lifters. Men like Inaki Perurena were enormous celebrities in the Basque Country (after he retired, Inaki was a TV star as well, […]

Today in Basque History: Battle of Najera, King of Sardinia, Aizkolaris

1367: The Battle of Nájera, also known as the Battle of Navarrete, is fought between an Anglo-Gascon army and Franco-Castilian forces near Nájera, in the province of La Rioja. The English are led by Edward, the Black Prince, and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, allied with Pedro of Castile (called “The Cruel”) against his […]