Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 25 August, 2005 : - - Un año más llega el Festival de Surf Femenino a la playa más surfera de Euskadi,Zarautz. Será el fin de semana del 3 y 4 de septiembre. Se trata de unevento abierto a todas las niñas y mujeres del mundo que deseenparticipar. El único requisito es gozar de una licencia federativa desurf, ¡y tener ganas de pasarlo bien!.They also provided with the poster for the even, which has a pretty cool retro look, here you have it:
Aurten ere, Nesken Surf Biltzarra jaialdia dator Euskadiko Zarautzko surf hondartzara. Datorren irailaren 3 eta 4an izango da. Partehartu nahi duten munduko neska eta emakume guztiei zuzenduriko ekitaldia dugu hau. Baldintza bakarra surf lizentzia fedrakor batetaz gozatzea da eta ondo pasatzeko gogo handiak izatea besterik ez!
Girls Surfing Festival is coming back again this year. It will take place at Zarautz, one of the most famous spots in the Basque Country.It will take place in September, days 3 and 4. The event is open to all the girls and women who want to take part on it. The only condition is to have a federation licence and look forward to have a great time!
We've all eaten on average about three times a day every day of our lives thus far. So to have a single meal stand out in your memory for the rest of your life is a pretty big deal. And last night, for Wilbert and I, Jose Mari Arzak (pictured with us above) and his amazing staff accomplished this feat. Our dinner at Arzak in San Sebastian will go down in our memories as one of the most special and outstanding meals we've ever had.Pay a visit to this blog, pronto.
Yet in terms of sheer aggressive nihilism few can match the so-called "Talibans" of Spanish politics, whose only mission is the destruction of their rival. I refer not only to the faction of Catalan Nationalists (CiU) who go by that name, but to all the party spokespeople, and in particular to the specialists in the Popular Party who work full time at sowing hatred and distrust. In this department the palm goes to Aznar, a professional Taliban who has spent his life speaking foul of anyone who fails to bend to his will.But that seems to be just a divertion, because right after that, he goes head on against Basque and Catalonian nationalisms, only Galizans seem to be under his radar. Read on:
However, the real Quixotes in our political comedy are the regional nationalists, who, confusing their prosaic territories with the giants of history, invent fictional states and regional statutes dressed up in the exalted terminology of constitutions, build castles in the air while poor Sancho Panza stands by perplexed at the mad knight's delirium and wonder what to do next. These are Catalonia and the Basque Country's premiers.Whoa!
I recommend you read the entire article, it is quite interesting.The running of the bulls takes place in early July in Pamplona, the Basque town in northern Spain. They've been holding this ritual for more than 400 years, but in recent decades a new tradition has evolved there - the running of the Australians.
Lauren Bowey, 21, of Adelaide, jogged through the streets of Pamplona on July 5, the day before the bulls were let loose, along with a group of others wearing nothing but a pair of horns and a red basque scarf. The naked protest was meant to draw attention to the treatment of the bulls, maimed and killed during the bullfight festival.
The previous year, another young Australian woman, Karen More, 24, was one of three people who suffered head injuries sustained during the running of the bulls. The year before that, three people were gored and, once again, one was an Australian, Nicolas Headlam, 29. In 2002, another three people were hospitalised after being gored. Yet again, one was an Australian.
Detect a pattern? Young Australians gravitate to the most dangerous rite in Europe, in disproportionate numbers, and with disproportionate bravado. One travel company in London which services Aussie backpackers proudly accentuated the danger in its ads for Pamplona this year: "Every year many people are injured and some killed."
Actually, 13 people have been killed since records began in 1924. The last fatality occurred 10 years ago, a 22-year-old American, but there have been thousands of casualties. It is one of many, many ways Australians manage to put themselves in harm's way for a dare, for the adrenalin, all over the world, all the time. On July 21, an Australian, Darcy Zoitsas, a veteran BASE jumper (jumping off mountains or tall structures, with a parachute) leapt off the Kjerag clifftop in Norway, and became the ninth person in 10 years to die off Kjerag when his parachute failed to open. Another Australian, Roland "Slim" Simpson, died in a BASE jump off the Jinmao Tower in Shanghai last October. The list just keeps ticking over.
In South San Francisco there stands an oak with a very special heritage: It grew from an acorn taken from the Tree of Gernika in Spain, the most revered symbol of Basque nationalism. It was under this tree that the kings of Castile traditionally vowed to respect the laws of the Basques.
Planted in 1982 and now thriving, the new oak is also a potent symbol of the way Basque immigrants have transplanted their culture to the Bay Area and kept it alive. It stands outside the large Basque Cultural Center -- Gure Euskal Etxea to native speakers -- a gathering place for local Basques and also a popular restaurant open to the general public.
The Basque presence in the Bay Area dates back to the arrival of the very first Europeans. In fact it was a Basque, Juan Bautista de Anza, who in 1776 chose the site for what would become San Francisco.The second article delves into the great mystery, just what the heck is a Basque:
Anna Intxausti doesn't look like a Cro-Magnon, but she might sound like one.
Intxausti is a Basque, and her language is the oldest and most enigmatic in all of Europe. Hardly anyone who wasn't born to it can master it. The Basques like to say that the devil once tried, and after seven years managed only three words -- all curses.
Over the centuries linguists have tried to link it to any number of other languages -- including, weirdly, Japanese -- and failed. Euskara, as the Basques call it, has no known linguistic relative. It is an orphan tongue.
After studying blood types, Rh factors and skull shapes, many anthropologists now believe the Basques to be the last surviving descendants of the Cro-Magnons, the earliest homo sapiens in Europe.
Another intriguing clue comes from their language: Many of the words used today for tools -- "knife," "ax," "hoe," etc. -- have as their root the word "stone." When you hear people like Intxausti speak, you might be hearing the language of the cave dwellers who hunted wooly mammoths during the Pleistocene era.
So there you have it.
In Basque country, look for a dried thistle tacked by the door.
In our part of the world, one may approach a house and spot a little shoo-away sign: “No soliciting.” In Basque country, the message is more profound, beautiful too. A dried thistle or eguzkilore (also called flor del sol) may be discreetly hung near the front door. It’s a pre-Christian custom meant to ward off all manner of evil spirits (including, we suppose, some solicitors).To my Basque readers, if you or any of your friends have a good pictute of an Eguzkilore please send it to the author of the afore mentioned page, it is good to know that there is people out there willing to present Euskal Herria on all of its aspects and complexity, unlike the main stream media that finds space to talk about the land of the Basque speakers only when describing violent acts.
In Basque folklore it was believed that before people got wise to agriculture “uncommonly strong shaggy beings...worked the land.” San Martin “seized the seeds from the lords of the wood,” giving them to the first human farmers, and understandably the spirits of the wild have held a grudge ever since.
Houses, being human refuge, are ever under threat from “sorcerers, lamia (mermaid-resembling creatures with bird’s legs), the spirits of illness, storms and lightening.” The eguzkilore, a bright bristly eye, stares back at all such encroaching spirits and keeps them from daring to pry open a window or even ringing the bell. (The Romantic poets and Pre-Raphaelite painters of England developed a hate-love thing for the Lamia, though it seems the Basques never fell under her spell.)
Photos of eguzkilore are scarce. If any readers are in the Basque region, please keep your eyes open and send us a stronger photograph. And if anyone knows which variety of thistle qualifies as eguzkilore, send word. The bloom looks more like a spiny sunflower than the purple tufted thistles we know (beloved in Scotland, not so well admired by farmers in the Kentucky Bluegrass).
NEW YORK, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, August 16th the White House released President Bush's summer vacation reading list. Two of the three nonfiction titles were New York Times bestselling Penguin trade paperbacks: THE GREAT INFLUENZA: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry and SALT: A World History by Mark KurlanskyThe Press Release goes into some background regarding Mark Kurlansky, an outspoken supporter of the Basque right to self determination:
In SALT: A World History Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Cod: A Biography of a Fish That Changed the World and The Basque History of the World reintroduces readers to the importance of salt in both the ancient and modern world. Salt-the only rock we eat-has played a surprising part in shaping the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Kurlansky presents a vivid social history blending human stories with economic, commercial, political, scientific, religious, and culinary histories.
Mark Kurlansky is the recipient of the 1998 James Beard Award for Food Writing for Cod: A Biography of a Fish That Changed That Changed the World. A respected journalist, he has covered politics and civil unrest in Haiti and he is a frequent contributor to The International Herald Tribune and Audubon. He writes a regular column about food history for Food & Wine.
Hopefully this will lead Mr. Bush to read more books by Mark Kurlansky, including the afore mentioned The Basque History of the World.
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Why Jaialdia in Boise is that important?
By Miren Artiach
Here in Boise, Idaho we have just concluded the celebration of the fifth Jaialdi and are very elated to report that the event was the biggest success of all. There are reasons why an event of this magnitude can only be celebrated every five years. Firstly, the planning for such an undertaking takes more than two years. As most of the workers for the event are volunteers, it takes a certain amount of time to find all of the people who are needed to work to make all of the events run smoothly.
One of the main reasons for staging such a celebration so far from our homeland is to express our extreme pride in our Basque heritage. Many of us are the sons and daughters of Basque immigrants who left their beloved Euskadi in search of a better life. For many of them, there were extreme sacrifices but most of them held on to their uniqueness even as they worked hard to assimilate themselves into the American culture. Perhaps the greatest gift they gave their children and grandchildren was a sense of pride in being Basque. For some of us who were even more fortunate, our parents taught us to speak euskera, one of the most unique languages of the world.
In Idaho and the surrounding western states, Basques have achieved an enviable record for being good citizens. In my opinion, this is because their families have instilled in them a sense of pride in who they are. Here in the American disapora, our uniqueness is respected and, therefore, we feel that it is our duty as Basques to share our culture with all those who live around us.
The concept of Jaialdi was born out of this sense of responsibility to share our pride with the Boise community. Now, our focus is international and we welcome everyone who is Basque or non-Basque to share in the richness of our traditions. The activities of the week feature Basque dance, music, sports, food, and educational seminars. For those who are non-Basque, these are opportunities to know us better and to witness the beauty, strength, and uniqueness of the Basque culture. For those of us who are Basque, this is the time when we reach out to our brothers and sisters in the diaspora to forge new working relationships so that we may continue to support one another in our efforts to preserve what is most dear to us.
If it were not for celebrations such as Jaialdi, many people here might believe the slanted news they read in the American press concerning current events in the Basque country. The press would have us believe that the Basques are malcontents who are trying to achieve their autonomy through means that are violent in nature. The arrests and tortures of innocent Basque victims and other human rights violations are seldom given attention in our media. I would hope that the celebration of Jaialdi might be the birth of new understandings. A knowledge of the political aspect of the culture is essential to completing the picture of who we are. Our struggles to preserve our culture have been endless.
It is my opinion that a culture can thrive under two very different conditions. If there are incessant threats to an identity as there are in Euskadi, the will to survive and preserve is strengthened. Oppression has always made us strong! On the other hand, when you have a country that respects diversity for the most part such as the United States, then you have freedom and respect as the elements that foster the preservation of a unique culture.
After a week of celebrating who we are, our hearts are again full and our souls are satisfied. I would measure the success of our efforts by the events that will come about over the next five years until we celebrate again. I know that the connections that were made during this week will inspire renewed efforts to nurture the preservation of who we are in many communities throughout the world.
For those of you who came to us from Euskadi and other Basque communities of the world, I offer my sincerest thanks for your participation in our events. I hope that you left with one important impression. Although we are far from the homeland of our ancestors, you had the opportunity to see just how precious our Basque heritage is to us.
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U.S. surfer Mike Dobos emigrated to this tiny Basque village just to ride its wave. Eight years later, one of the most famous waves in the world has disappeared.Thousands of surfing enthusiasts used to descend on this northern Spanish village every year for surfing's premier competition, the World Championship Tour.
This year, the Mundaka leg of the Billabong Pro championship has been cancelled because the wave, known as the best "left-hand" in Europe, has vanished.
Some suspect it is due to some work done last year:
Smith and other surfers are convinced the wave disappeared because the estuary was dredged in 2003 to make way for a newly built ship. The sand was used to restore a huge dune nearby and provide a home for endangered plants, and birds such as plovers.
Local officials have ordered a study into what happened to Mundaka's wave. Some scientists say it is just not clear why the vast tubes that drew surfers from around the world no longer roll across the bay.
Anyway, back to my story. Besides Mundaka, a couple of other towns were mentioned by their original name, one of them was Gernika (Guernica) that held a Heavy Rock festival last weekend, and the other one to be mentioned was Getxo (Guecho) as a result of the coastal city being a stage for a famous sail boat race.
The Basque interior ministry said that under Spanish law Batasuna was banned from holding rallies.
Batasuna was banned in 2003 for refusing to condemn violence by Eta - which is alleged to have killed more than 800 people in its campaign.
It was the first political party to be banned in Spain since it returned to democracy after the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975.
He called the rally for Sunday, when San Sebastian starts its summer festival. He said the aim of the march was to push for Batasuna's inclusion in proposed all-party talks on the future of the Basque region.
The interior ministry said another reason for banning the demonstration was that previous demonstrations by the party that were allowed to go ahead had resulted in violence.
On Wednesday, though, the government in Vitoria decided to outlaw the Sunday demonstration. In a statement, the interior department said its decision had been based on a ruling by the Audiencia Nacional which concluded Batasuna has no right to call gatherings as an illegal body.
The Basque government also said it feared the public order would be disturbed by the demonstration.
Earlier in the day, both socialist and conservative parties criticised Batasuna over the march.
The conservative PP called for the march to be banned while PSOE's general secretary Diego López Garrido said Batasuna had no credibility calling for peace or democracy since it still refused to condemn violence or demand ETA disarms.
Spanish politicians of all hues were quick to welcome the IRA move. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called it "great news," but was quick to add that the situation in the Basque region is very different from Northern Ireland.Correct Mr. Rodriguez Zapatero, it is very different, and it is mainly because of the arrogant and repressive approach by Madrid to the issue.
It is true that the IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, was a vital part of that peace process. But in Spain, the political wing of ETA, Batasuna, was banned two years ago. The party's supporters -- numbering up to 15 percent of voters in the Basques -- say the ban curtails their basic democratic rights and makes dialogue and a peace process impossible.On the other hand, Batasuna, unlike Sinn Fein, has never been able to distance itself from its militant wing. On numerous occasions Spanish courts have proven Batasuna's involvement in funding and supporting ETA violence.
Maita Floyd spent four oppressive years under German occupation in France, but that didn't dim her teenage spirit.
Despite the danger, Floyd was a courier from 1943 to 1944 for an underground escape network that smuggled Allied air crews, Jews and political escapees over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain.
The Sun City resident was a teen when France fell to the Nazis in 1940 and German soldiers took over her town and her family's upscale hotel. Floyd, whose maiden name was Maita Branquet, was born in the Basque region of France, near the Spanish border. Her parents owned the Hotel de la Poste in St-Jean-de-Luz.
One day, Floyd saw an advertisement from the French Red Cross, looking for girls to train as nurses. When she began training, she had to go into town each day, so her brother sent messages with her.
Michel was a member of the French underground, a network that helped people escape the Germans.
"I was my brother's courier" for a year, Floyd says.
No message was written down, because if she were caught, she would have either been sent to a concentration camp or executed.
"Two days after D-Day, 85 men in my hometown were betrayed to the Gestapo and arrested," Floyd says. "They were all taken to concentration camps. The Gestapo was ruthless.
"Floyd says someone turned the men in for a reward. She tells of another underground network that was caught by the Nazis. The men were taken into a barn and shot. The women were taken into a church and also shot, and then the church was burned down.
I was lucky enough last night to have attended a Basque cultural evening in South Armagh.... the Basque struggle...
I got speaking to a few of the lads and they gave me an update of the current situation. There are over 718 Basque political prisoners and each is facing the same struggle that Republican POW's faced, attempts to criminalise their struggle.... and like many of us, he too hopes for a peaceful resolution.
Juan Jose Ibarretxe, president of the Basque autonomous region, and Sona Andrews, provost of Boise State University, signed a memorandum of agreement to create a Basque Studies Program at the university.
The signing of the memorandum will provide $150,000 to establish the program. Boise State will use the money for a Basque Studies minor that will be funded by both the Basque government and the US government.
The article provides some more info:
The program will raise awareness about the Basque culture through classes in language and culture; publication of literature about Basque issues; participation in seminars, symposium and conferences and collaboration with cultural centers and universities in the United States and the Basque country. Boise State also has a study abroad program in the Basque country that has been active for decades.
