{"id":7672,"date":"2025-06-08T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=7672"},"modified":"2025-06-06T13:27:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T13:27:31","slug":"basque-fact-of-the-week-origin-of-the-motto-zazpiak-bat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2025\/06\/08\/basque-fact-of-the-week-origin-of-the-motto-zazpiak-bat\/","title":{"rendered":"Basque Fact of the Week: Origin of the Motto Zazpiak Bat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background\">The motto Zazpiak Bat &#8211; or the equation 4+3=1 &#8211; is a common way to express the unity of the seven historical Basque provinces. The Basque coat-of-arms is called <a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2022\/06\/19\/basque-fact-of-the-week-zazpiak-bat-the-basque-coat-of-arms\/\">zazpiak bat<\/a>, 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, and Nafarroa Beherea. It has become a unifying motto that can be seen and heard across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Donibane_Lohizuneko_Lore_Jokoak_1892.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"207\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Donibane_Lohizuneko_Lore_Jokoak_1892-207x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7673\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Donibane_Lohizuneko_Lore_Jokoak_1892-207x300.jpg 207w, https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Donibane_Lohizuneko_Lore_Jokoak_1892.jpg 441w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The poster designed by Jean Jaurgain that features the phrase Zazpiak Bat and the Basque coat of arms. Image from <a href=\"https:\/\/eu.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Zazpiak_Bat#\/media\/Fitxategi:Donibane_Lohizuneko_Lore_Jokoak_1892.jpg\">Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The phrase &#8220;Zazpiak Bat&#8221; as a way to describe the seven Basque provinces and their unity was first coined in the 1700s but became popular in the 1900s. In 1891, Felipe Casal wrote the poem <em>Ama Euskarari<\/em> in which he had the line &#8220;Zazpiak beti bat&#8221; &#8211; the seven are always one\/united &#8211; that first wrote it in the modern form. However, the phrase goes back even further. In 1836, the Zuberoan <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Agosti_Xaho\">Agosti Xaho<\/a>&nbsp;dedicated his Basque grammar to &#8220;<em>Zazpi Uskal Herrietako Uskalduner<\/em>.&#8221; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The phrase started getting attention when <a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2022\/08\/28\/basque-fact-of-the-week-anton-abadia-the-basque-scientist-who-promoted-basque-culture\/\">Anton Abadia<\/a>, an explorer, used it to close a banquet in his honor at the&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jocs_Florals\">Lore Jokoak<\/a><\/em> in 1892, a cultural festival he helped foster. The motto had adorned the streets of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saint-Jean-de-Luz\">Donibane Lohitzune<\/a> where the banquet was held. In fact, Jean Jaurgain had designed a poster for the festival that first combined the phrase &#8220;Zazpiak Bat&#8221; with a coat-of-arms featuring the seven provinces.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>After that, it quickly spread, even reaching the Americas. By 1900, a songbook published by Jean Mendiague in Buenos Aires was entitled <em>Zazpiak bat, Eskualdun kantuak<\/em>. Even before that, in California, a Basque newspaper was using the phrase. Later on, several Euskal Etxeak of the Americas, with Rosario, Argentina perhaps being the first, used the phrase Zazpiak Bat as their name.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The phrase took hold in Hegoalde as well, particularly after the Second Carlist War. Poems expressing a desire for unity used images such as a mother with seven children or an oak with seven branches to represent the unity of the seven provinces &#8211; the zazpiak bat. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, the sentiment behind this motto goes back even further. In 1765, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Real_Sociedad_Bascongada_de_Amigos_del_Pa%C3%ADs\">Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del Pa\u00eds<\/a>\u00a0coined the phrase &#8220;<em>Irurac bat<\/em>,&#8221; meaning the three are one, to refer to Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, and Araba. Later, the phrase &#8220;<em>Laurak bat<\/em>&#8221; was created to include Nafarroa, or all of the Basque provinces in Hegoalde.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background\">A full list of all of Buber&#8217;s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the <a href=\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/basque-fact-of-the-week-archive\/\">Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Primary sources: Urkizu Sarasua, Patricio; Urkizu Sarasua, Patricio.&nbsp;<em>Zazpiak Bat<\/em>. Au\u00f1amendi Encyclopedia. Available at: <a href=\"https:\/\/aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus\/en\/zazpiak-bat\/ar-146820\/\">https:\/\/aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus\/en\/zazpiak-bat\/ar-146820\/<\/a>; <em><a href=\"https:\/\/eu.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Zazpiak_Bat\">Zazpiak Bat<\/a><\/em>, Wikipedia; <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Zazpiak_Bat\">Zazpiak Bat<\/a><\/em>, Wikipedia; <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mhli.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Basque_Literary_History-for-Creative-1.pdf\">Basque Literary History<\/a><\/em>, edited by Mari Jose Olaziregi, translated by Amaia Gabantxo, published by Center for Basque Studies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The motto Zazpiak Bat &#8211; or the equation 4+3=1 &#8211; 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, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[836,8],"tags":[4127,3395,4126,1415],"class_list":["post-7672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basque-fact-of-the-week","category-euskadi","tag-agosti-xaho","tag-anton-abadia","tag-felipe-casal","tag-zazpiak-bat"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Donibane_Lohizuneko_Lore_Jokoak_1892.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1ZK","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7672"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7729,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7672\/revisions\/7729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}