Olentzero Reloaded

This note about the Olentzero was published by EITb:

'Olentzero badator', Basque myth gets modern makeover

O.M.

Beñat Amorena (born in Saint-Etienne-de-Baigorry, Iparralde) is the creator of Olentzero badator (Olentzero is coming), a piece of modern street theatre due to perform on 20th December on the streets on Bayonne. A total of 50 actors interpret the show, a contemporary take on the pagan mythological tale of Olentzero, the coal man who, according to Basque tradition, hands out gifts to children at Christmas.

The composer

Born in a mill in Baigorry fifty-nine years ago, at the age of 20 Amorena moved to Paris to study music. Five years later he returned to the Basque Country where he joined the group Errobi in 1975, together with Anje Duhalde, Mixel Ducau and Michel Halty. He now teaches percussion at the conservatory of music in Les Landes, southern France.

Creator of shows

Though he has written and performed music all his life, Amorena only began composing whole shows a while ago; Olenztero Badator is his third, following Jotakurri in 2002, which he created for the Errobi de Itsasu festival, and Ufaka Zanpaka for the festival of Hartzaro de Uztaritz, together with the Burrunka and Izartxo companies. For his latest show he has once again joined up with Burrunka as well as choreographer Mizel Theret. Six professional dancers are also involved.

'Olentzero Badator'; mythology-based street theatre

Amorena's version of the mythological character starts with an ancient idea that Olentzero would come back to announce the sun-rise. From this, Amorena invented a story in which the Sun abandons the Earth, leaving the people in cold and darkness. To save the planet, Olentzero travels to the galaxies in search of the Sun.

Fifty people take part in the show, playing a mixture of earthlings, extraterrestrials and fantastic and medieval characters, all of whom parade along the streets of Bayonne. Amorena and his team have spent a whole year preparing the show, battling with light and darkness. Since September he has been accompanied by a painter, ironmonger, - very importantly - lighting and sound technicians as well as 15 percussionists from Burrunka and nine pipers directed by Pierre Haira, not to mention the six dancers under the direction of Mizel Theret.

On 20th December from 6pm onwards, Olentzero Badator will take to the streets of Bayonne, parading in four different areas (Cinq-Cantons square, Orbe karrika, Liberté Square y Megadenda) all ending up in the market place where they will perform a final mark of respect to the Sun.

(NB: In case of bad weather, the show will be put back to 21st December).

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The History of Basque Cuisine

This article was published at the Buenos Aires Herald:

50,000 years of culture in kitchen

Dereck Foster

The area that comprises the south-east corner of the Bay of Biscay is that which, invading a small portion of France and a larger portion of Spain, is where Basque culture and cuisine flourishes with all its traditional originality and flavour. Within the many varied regional cuisines that can be detected within Europe, that of the Basque country is an important leader. According to María José Sevilla, a food historian, who has analysed Basque culture in depth , this can be traced back at least 50,000 years and has, in its essence, undergone only cosmetic changes imposed by the advent of modern techniques and modernised ingredients.

What is the basic character of Basque cuisine? The Basque nation has always been dominated by the sea, and Basques have been notable seafarers. As a result the true flavour of Basque food leans strongly towards the sea. It is no secret that tuna and cod are important ingredients that figure in many traditional Basque recipes. Who visits a Basque restaurant does so — unless totally ignorant of the theme — expecting to discover a menu strongly imbued with fish and seafood. But we must not forget the importance that roast lamb, fungi and dried pulses also enjoy within a Basque menu.

Basques, true to their naval traditions, are great travellers, frequently emigrating — because of mostly political reasons — and setting up important colonies abroad. It is only normal that, deep in their baggage, they pack their gastronomic traditions. Argentina is no exception. We have a large and active Basque colony, larded with a great number of restaurants and food outlets with a Basque origin. As is the case with many styles of cooking, exporting to different climes is not easy. Rarely does food in different climes resemble exactly that of the original. Basque cuisine is no exception, but in spite of this we do enjoy a high level of Basque restaurants in Buenos Aires and the rest of Argentina. One of them is, without discussion, Sagardi (Humberto Primo 319, 4361-2538), nestling in the very heart of San Telmo.

50,000 years of Basques cuisine tradition, Spain has been around for 500 years tops, you do the math.

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Atxaga's Book Translated Into English

This note was published at the Boise State University's page:

Professor Translates Popular Basque Tome to English

Erin Ryan

Visiting assistant professor Nere Lete in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures recently translated internationally acclaimed author Bernardo Atxaga’s “Two Basque Stories” into English. The book, separated into two moving novellas, examines traditional and contemporary Basque culture, the lessons of family, the elegance of ordinary things and the challenge of living in two worlds. The paperback translation was published recently by the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Lete received her B.A. in Basque philology from Spain’s University of Deusto and her MFA in translation from the University of Iowa. While Basque is her “mother tongue,” she also is a native Spanish speaker, is fluent in English and studied French for many years. As an educator, she has held positions in the Basque Country at the Renteria Municipal Basque Language School and in the U.S. at the University of Nevada, Reno, University of Iowa and Boise State, where she has taught on and off since 1993 and now directs the Basque minor program.

Lete’s connection to Bernardo Atxaga began many years ago in his kitchen in the Basque Country.

“That day I went to ask his permission to translate this work as part of my master’s thesis. I thought it would take 10 minutes to get the yes or the no, but he was very welcoming, and I stayed for a couple hours chatting with him,” Lete said. “I was star-struck. He is the first Basque writer awarded the Spanish National Prize in Narrative for his novel, ‘Obabakoak,’ which has been translated into 25 languages — quite an achievement for any writer.”

The setting for “Two Basque Stories” is Boise, where Atxaga’s main character Old Martin lives. An 80-year-old Basque sheepherder, Old Martin receives two letters from the old country that stir his memory, making him reflect on what seem like separate lives.

“Old Martin is a Basque man, but his story encompasses the universal emigrant mentality that all of us who live away from our home countries relate to internally,” Lete said, adding that her thesis work on location in Boise allowed her to hear the stories of many “Old Martins” at the local Basque Museum and Cultural Center.

While most literature translated from Basque first is translated to Spanish, Lete skipped the middleman, interpreting Atxaga’s words directly.

“It is like getting a cup of tea made out of the first brewing, full of flavor,” she said, admitting that capturing the essence of another person’s writing is a serious challenge that requires maintaining the integrity of the original work and managing multiple languages and literary traditions. “If we accept as true the Latin aphorism, traductore traditore, meaning that the translator is a traitor to the original work, then any effort to convey a work in another language is doomed from the very beginning, and I don’t accept that. Translation opens a window to an author’s world that otherwise would be closed tight to anyone who didn’t speak the language of the original.”

Currently, Lete is collaborating with Boise’s Basque Museum and Cultural Center on the creation of an exhibit for the Ellis Island Immigration Museum titled, “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Basques.” The exhibit will show the journey Basques took to come to the United States and particularly the American West.

To learn more about the English translation of “Two Basque Stories,” visit this link.

By the way, the exhibit at Ellis Island sounds quite interesting, almost more interesting than the fact that one of Atxaga's books being translated into English.

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The Basques of San Francisco

This book review about the history of the Basque Community in California and more specifically in San Francisco has been published by EiTB:

'Gardeners of Identity' pays homage to Basques in San Francisco

O.M.

A book that brings together the accounts of Basque immigrants living in California's San Francisco Bay, written by doctor of Basque Studies and current researcher at the University of Deusto, Pedro J. Oiarzabal, with material compiled by members of the city's Basque-American community, will be one of the newest publications to feature at this year's Book and CD Fair in Durango (Biscay), starting on Friday 4th December.

Entitled Gardeners of Identity: Basques in the San Francisco Bay Area and written in English, the book pays homage to those members of the Basque-American community who made it possible, more than a century after the first waves of mass immigration from the Basque Country began arriving to the United States, for Basque culture and identity to continue to be a reality in the San Francisco Bay area of today.

"I tried to reflect who these people are; normal, everyday people who don't need an academic background, or to be specialists or linguists in order to appreciate what culture is and their own cultural legacy," explained Pedro J. Oiarzabal in an exclusive interview with eitb.com in Bilbao.

"People born in farmhouses with a minimum level of school education who had to work hard in order to survive in a foreign country where the language is neither Spanish, French nor, of course, Basque and where they may have achieved a certain level of success in life while at the same time struggling hard to maintain their culture and language," Pedro says of the people who feature in his book.

The book is also of great historical value visually, bringing together as many as 123 photographic documents, much more than any other book of the same length. "In this book I've tried to give particular significance to photographic evidence in itself. It is important to be able to see the evolution of this community in terms of its style of dress, clothing, and other symbols which represent the world we live in," explains Pedro.

A seed

The creation process behind the book involved actual members of the Basque-American community, who were responsible for carrying out 93 interviews and organizing the compilation of visual material.

According to the author, his objective was not only to gather together witness accounts, but also to ensure that the community itself was central to the book; that the book's creation was the seed to make the Basque-Americans realize their own abilities to carry out such a project.

"You don't need a history degree per se to make history. A good methodology plus training in specific techniques for (compiling) oral history would make it easier for all those Basques living elsewhere to document and conserve their own immediate history. The importance of compiling firsthand accounts of emigrants from the 1930s or 1940s is invaluable, as well as a race against time, which we must try to win," explained Oiarzabal. "The communities themselves are in the best position to carry out such tasks.

"We hope this marks just a beginning; that the Basque community now continues to take care of its own history," he added.

Mirror

For Pedro, the Basque migratory experience during the diaspora can help modern-day Basques to understand why immigrants of other nationalities settle in our lands and work so hard at jobs that these days nobody wants to do.

In the same way, discovering how Basques were received in the various countries to which they emigrated helps us in turn to understand immigrant cultures, try and integrate them with our own and enrich ourselves through their experiences.

According to Pedro, Basques have always known how to convey very well - though without ever imposing - the importance of their own culture to those countries in which they have settled. "What we can do, in return, is try to learn from those that come to our land and try to combine their culture with ours. I think that we could all learn a lot from that," he concludes.

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Latin America and the Basque Street

This note was published at EITb:

Kepa Junkera presents new album 'Kalea'

The musician from Bilbao counts on figures such as Pablo Milanés, who sings on the popular 'Txoria Txori' by Mikel Laboa, Lila Downs, and Juanes, who performs 'Aldapeko'.

Kalea, which was presented on November 19 in the Basque Country, is the second part of the trilogy that Bilbao musician Kepa Junkera began one year ago with Etxea.

This time Junkera has travelled to America to meet and record with many unique artists, singers who have sung in Euskera (Basque language) some of the most famous traditional Basque songs.

A total of 82 artists, singers and musicians from 11 different countries, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Guatemala, Peru, Venezuela, Uruguay, Cuba, and Brazil, accompany Junkera in the album. Those singers are Juanes, Lila Downs, Pablo Milanés, Ximena Sariñana, Abel Pintos, Adriana Varela, Georgina Hassan, Hilda Lizarazu, Juan Carlos Baglietto, Liliana Herrero, Liliana Vitale, Pedro Aznar, Sandra Milhanovich, Sebas Bereciartua, Victor Vitico Bereciartua, Fabiana Cozza, Fabio Caddore, Ivan Lins, Kadu Viana, Magda Pucci, Cris Miguel, Sandra Oak, Angélica Leutwiller, Zuzu Abu, Sarah Abreu, Joel Teixeira, Edson Penha, Renato Bráz, Vander Lee, Flavia Maia, Giba Alves, Mariah Rocha, Heloiza Ribeiro, Patricia Sosa, Leon Gieco, Manuel García Herrera, Jorge Villamizar, Ele, Eme, Gerardo Alfonso, Mayito, Martha Gonzalez, Miguel Inzunza, Susana Baca, Pamela Rodriguez, Nora Sarmoria and María Márquez.

Musicians such as Lito Vitale, Celso Duarte, Leonardo Amuedo, Barbatuques, Carlinhos Antunes, Armando Marçal, Da Lua, Ernesto Snajer and so many others have collaborated in this record, something that is a true reflection of a project that transcends the barrier of an ancestral language.

Kalea is a double CD with 24 songs published in a deluxe format including an extensive booklet with texts and reviews of each song and its lyrics in Basque and Spanish language.

Eitb.com gives you the possibility of listening to the first single of Kalea: "Aita San Antonio", recorded together with Pamela Rodriguez and Brazilian percussion group Barbatuques.

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Salmon Marmitako

This recipe its a twist to a classic Basque Country's recipe and it was published at the Juneau Empire:

Salmon Marmitako: Stew for a Spanish fisherman

Ginny Mahar

Fall comes early to these parts. I saw the first signs in mid-August while biking out the road. Movement caught my eye at the edge of the forest; a flicker of silver and green, as one falling leaf rocked its way to the ground, and then another.

Today the driveway is littered with leaf jerky, the fireweed stalks look like they've been rolled in snow and autumn is filling our noses with its damp bouquet. It's not cold yet, just barely crisp, but something in my body knows that it's time for warming food - something that will radiate heat all the way to fingers and toes.

The recipe below has been borrowed from many generations of Spanish and Basque tuna fishermen and adapted to reflect the bounty of our own waters. Originally developed in the galley of a fishing boat, marmitako uses simple ingredients that store well. Tomatoes, potatoes, onions and peppers are brought to life with a bit of sherry, a sprinkle of capers, and the magical dust known as smoked paprika. Nestle some cubed salmon into the pot, oven-crisp some olive oil toast and you've got a dinner that will make you happy the mercury's falling.

Salmon marmitako (serves 6 to 8)

The Spanish make Marmitako with tuna, but salmon makes a fabulous understudy here. Smoked paprika, which is now widely available in the spice section of most grocery stores, adds real depth and richness to the flavor of this stew. Pair this with a crisp and light-bodied white or rose wine like Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling or Pinot Gris.

2 pounds salmon fillets, skinned, boned, and cut into 1-inch cubes

2 red bell peppers

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced ½-inch thick

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

One 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced shallots

½ cup dry sherry

Pinch cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

2 teaspoons sea salt, divided

½ teaspoon sugar

One 14-ounce can chicken broth

2 tablespoons capers, drained

¼ cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Best quality olive oil, for garnish

1 artisanal loaf of crusty bread

1. Sprinkle the cleaned and cubed fish with ½ teaspoon sea salt. Refrigerate until ready to use.

2. To roast the bell peppers, heat the broiler and place the peppers on a baking sheet in the upper ⅓ of oven. Watch closely and using metal tongs, rotate the peppers once they begin to blacken, until all sides are evenly charred. Remove from oven. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, remove stems, seeds, and blackened skin. Cut the roasted pepper flesh into a large dice and set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 350. In a large (5 quart) roasting pan or oven-proof casserole dish, toss potatoes and onions with 2 tablespoons olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt, and spread evenly. Place uncovered in preheated oven, 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife.

4. In a medium (1½ quart) sauce pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook, stirring 1 to 2 minutes or until garlic is fragrant. Add shallot, sherry, cayenne and smoked paprika and cook 2 minutes more to allow some of the alcohol to evaporate. Add remaining ½ teaspoon salt, sugar, crushed tomatoes, diced roasted peppers and chicken broth. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Cook 10 minutes, uncovered.

5. Pour tomato mixture over potatoes. Sprinkle evenly with capers.

6. Cover and place in oven 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Meanwhile, tear the loaf of bread into serving-size pieces, brush lightly with extra virgin olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet.

7. Remove stew from oven, uncover and nestle the cubed fish evenly atop the stew. Cover and return to oven, along with oiled bread, for 5 to 7 minutes. Fish should be moist and barely opaque. Do not overcook.

8. Sprinkle stew with chopped parsley, drizzle with olive oil and serve hot in shallow bowls along with toasted bread.

Just to point to the obvious, once again, Basques are not Spaniards and Marmitako is a Basque recipe. The recipe may be the same in neighboring Spanish state but you can rest assured that they would never name one of their recipes in euskara, remember, they want the Basque language (and the entire cultural identity around it) to disappear.

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Zinemira in Donostia's Film Festival

This information was published at Variety:

San Sebastian sets up Basque section

John Hopewell and Emilio Mayorga

MADRID -- The San Sebastian Festival has created a new section: the Zinemira-Basque Film Showcase.

Section's first Zinemira Award will go to Imanol Uribe, who directed three key titles in a brief but vibrant new Basque Cinema after Franco's death: "The Burgos Trial" (1979), "Escape from Segovia" (1981) and "Mikel's Death" (1984).

Zinemira will also feature the first screening of the new Kimuak catalog, a prestigious short-film collection from a Basque Country that has struggled to make multiple feature films over the past two decades but won a large reputation for its curation of shorts.

Section presents one U.S. pic, Andrea Oibarra's "Rough Winds," a teen obsession drama produced by Miami-based Spoon Ent., and toplining Danna Maret, John Lovino, Jessica Brydon and Albert Campillo.

Section includes the latest feature from Uribe's first producer Angel Amigo: Aizpea Goenaga's gentle satire of Basque's gastronomic devotion, "Tales from the Kitchen," featuring some of the Basque Country's top-notch thesps such as Isidoro Fernandez.

Two other pics hit the section with good prior buzz: Roberto Gaston's rural gay drama "Ander," which sparked praise and deals for sales company Latido off a Berlin Panorama world preem; and Gorka Gamarra's "Umurage," a docu on the Rwanda reconciliation process.

Section opens with a Gala perf of Patxi Telleria and Aitor Mazo's rites-of-passage tale set in a Bilbao working-class environment.

Zinemira features the latest pic from one of Spain's best-regarded docu feature directors, Javier Corcuera, who teams with Fermin Muguruza for the Israel-Palestine set music docu, "Checkpoint Rock."

Three films are portraits: Juan Miguel Gutierrez's "Action, Please!," about filmmaker Juanjo Franco Zabalegi; Arkatz Basterra's "The Labyrinthine Biographies of Vojtech Jasny," about the Czech director; and Jose Martinez's "Sea's Daughter," a docu about the daughter of Mikel Goikoetxea, piecing together an idea of her father, a head of the ETA terrorist org murdered by a Spanish government hit-squad when she was two.

Talk about misleading information, Mikel Goikoetxea was the victim of state sponsored terrorism by Madrid, yet, according to the authors of the article Goikoetxea is the terrorist. That is exactly what happens when you obsess over saying something about ETA in an article dedicated to art and cinema.

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Basque Events Féile '09

We just received this information from our friends at the Irish Basque Committees:

Féile Carnival Parade

Assemble Kennedy Centre
Sunday 2nd August, 12pm – 1pm

Join the Belfast Basque Solidarity Committee with flags and banner to show your support for the Basque Country in the Féile Carnival parade.

Exhibition

St. Mary’s College, Falls Road.
Monday 3rd August – Friday 7th August.

“Life and Struggle in the Basque Country”, a unique exhibition from the Basque photographers collective Ekinklik detailing life, protest and political action in the Basque country.

‘A Picture Paints a Thousand Words’ Launch

Felons Club, 537 Falls Road.
Monday 3rd August 12 noon

Currently in the Basque country to display an image of a political prisoner publically has been made illegal and can carry a prison sentence of four year for ‘glorifying terrorism’. In solidarity all the images of all the current political prisoners will be displayed in Belfast in opposition the criminalisation process in the Basque Country.
Main speaker: Michael Culbert, Director of Coiste.

Discussion and Debate

“Political persecution in the Basque Country: the cases of Inaki de Juana & Arturo “Benat” Villanueva”

An Chultúrlann, 216 Falls Road.
Saturday 8th August 4pm.

Two members of the Basque community living in Belfast are facing extradition to Spain on politically motivated and manipulated charges brought against them by the Spanish government. Other have face similar proceedings across Europe and South America.

This discussion will provide an insight in this particular case and the many others.

Organised by: www.dontextraditethebasques.org

Speakers:

Julen Arzuaga, former director of Behatokia (Basque Human Rights Watch) and charged in one of the show trials, Inaki de Juana, Arturo “Benat” Villanueva and Niall Murphy, from Kevin Winters solicitors.

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Keep up to date on Basque struggle news.

Listen to Basque Info at www.feilefm.com on line on Tuesdays from 6.30-7pm and Wednesdays 12-12.30pm

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New Facilities for Center of Basque Studies

This not was published at the Nevada News site:

Dedication set for Center for Basque Studies

Natalie Savidge

The Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno is celebrating the dedication of its new location in the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. The Center’s new facilities are specially designed to showcase the largest collection of Basque materials outside of the Basque country, which is also the largest special collection in the University library.

“We are excited to celebrate this amazing new facility where the University’s Center for Basque Studies will continue to strive for cultural preservation, outreach, youth revitalization and Basque-related research, instruction and publishing,” said Co-director for the Center, Eric Herzik.

The dedication also coincides with the annual convention of the North American Basque Organizations (NABO) held on campus Friday in the Knowledge Center, the 50th anniversary of the first Western Basque Festival held in Reno in 1959, and the 20th anniversary of the University’s Zenbat Gara Dance Troupe whose members have served as ambassadors and mentors for the Basque culture and dance groups throughout the American West.

Who: Basque and campus community members, invited guests, University President Milton Glick and Co-directors for the Center, Eric Herzik and Joseba Zulaika.

What: Dedication of new location and 42nd anniversary of the founding of the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada. The afternoon reception will feature Basque entertainment, hors d’oeuvres and drinks.

When: 4 – 6 p.m., Friday, July 24, 2009.

Where: University of Nevada, Reno campus, Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, Third Floor’s North Patio. Parking is available in the Whalen parking garage directly across from the Knowledge Center.

For more information about the Center and NABO.

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Euskaltzaindia's 90th Anniversary

This article was published at EiTB:

Basque Language Academy "Euskaltzaindia" turns 90

E. S.

Euskaltzaindia is celebrating its 90th birthday at the headquarters of the Academy of the Basque language in Bilbao.

Representatives of institutions such as the Spanish Royal Academy, the Royal Academy of the Galician Language or the Philology department of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, will be present at Euskaltzaindia’s 90th anniversary celebration in Bilbao on Friday 17.

The Royal Academy of the Basque Language (1919) is the official academic institution which watches over Euskara, or the Basque language. It carries out research into the language, seeks to protect it and establishes standards of use. The Basque name of this academy of language is Euskaltzaindia.

Basque is a non-Indo-European language whose speakers are largely found in the Basque Country or Euskal Herria, straddling the border between France and Spain, in the bottom right-hand corner of the Bay of Biscay. The territory the language is spoken in is spread over three distinct regions: in the Kingdom of Spain, the two autonomous communities of Euskadi and Navarre and, in the French Republic, the Département des Pyrénées Atlantiques.

Euskaltzaindia enjoys full official recognition as a royal academy in Spain (1976) and as a cultural association of public benefit within the territory of the French Republic (1995). At the same time it also enjoys widespread social recognition among the country's population. All this has brought about an intense normative activity leading to the standardization and modernization of the language in Basque society, especially since 1968.

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Basque Orchestra in Scotland

Well, seems like this summer Scotland will be under the spell of the Basque culture. We just mentioned an article about a Basque delegation to the Inverness Highland Games and now thanks to EiTB we learn about the Basque Youth Orchestra being invited to perform in Aberdeen:

Basque Youth Orchestra to perform in Scotland

E. S.

The Basque Youth Orchestra is starting the summer season on July 26 in its homeland. After performing in the three Basque capitals, its members will be touring around Scotland.

The Basque Youth Orchestra (EGO in their initials in Basque) is starting its summer season on July 26 at the Principal Theatre in Vitoria-Gasteiz. After performing in the three Basque capitals (Bilbao -July 27, Euskalduna Palace-, Donostia-San Sebastian -July 29, Kursaal-) and at the Urko Sports Centre of Sopelana on July 28, its members will be touring around Scotland.

The orchestra is taking part at the Aberdeen International Festival in Scotland, an event aimed to support the young in the world of arts, as the EGO said in a statement. Over 30,000 people are expected to visit a ten-day long festival which counts on more than 70 events scheduled.

From August 1 to 5, the young orchestra will be performing in venues such as 'His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen or at the 'Perth Concert Hall' in the Scottish town of the same name. The EGO will be accompanied by other European bands like the Northhollands Youth Orchestra, the Iceland Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland or the Inverness Youth Orchestra.

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Basque Delegation at Inverness Games

This article was published at The Press and Journal:

Games to have international appeal

Record number of overseas competitors visiting Inverness for Masters World Championships

Jane Candlish

This year’s Inverness Highland Games will have an international feel, organisers said yesterday.

A record number of foreign competitors – more than 80 from 10 countries – will take part in the Masters World Championships, including the first participants from Japan and France.

And there will be a Basque feel to the whole afternoon as the Nazioen Mundua Display Team demonstrate their traditional games.

The Pyrenees group will take part in wood-chopping, stone-lifting, anvil-lifting, bale-lifting, tug o’ war and sawing.

The group made their debut in Inverness last year, with a display in Falcon Square.

The 65-strong Nazioen Mundua Party will also include traditional Basque dancers, singers and musicians and a team of Basque Yoaldunak marchers.

Yoalduna means “he who has the bells" and each marcher has two giant metal bells attached to their sheepskin jacket and the sound of ringing can be heard from some distance away.

The event, which is part of the Inverness Summer Festival, will start at the Bught Park at 11.30am on Saturday, with the shinty World Cup final between Fort William and Portree.

Heavy events will start at 1pm each day.

A spectacular opening ceremony will see the first appearance of the new official Inverness Highland Games tartan.

Inverness Provost Jimmy Gray will be the first wearer of the specially designed tartan.

The Inverness Highland Games will be the largest gathering yet staged in the Highland Capital since the event was revived in 1822.

More than 10,000 spectators are expected to attend the event, which will feature more than 600 competitors and performers.

In the last few years Scotland has joined Nabarra in the front line of the demand for self determination of the European nations trapped by the outdated but generalized conception of state. This is why we think it is positive that both nations send their own delegations so we can weave a tight net of solidarity so our voice is heard loud and clear in the European and international institutions.

For more information about the Inverness Highland Games visit their page.

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Integrating Through Own Identity

Here you have a note published at Basqueresearch:

Basqueness is an element of social integration for the Basque communities in the United States

A PhD thesis undertaken at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) involved the ethnographic study of young dancers belonging to the Zazpiak Bat Basque Club based at Reno (Nevada, USA). Using this case, how the dances and activities of the Basque communities intervene in the process of multicultural socialization in the United States, was studied.

The PhD thesis aimed to show the subjectivity of persons making up the Basque community in the United States, to which end a study was undertaken of how the dances and activities of these Basque communities in that country intervene in the process of multicultural socialization in that North American country.

The author of the thesis is Ms Clara Urdangarin Liebaert and has entitled her work Dancing the Jauzi under the stars and stripes: an ethnographic study of the Zazpiak Bat Group of Dancers from Reno, Nevada. In order to carry out this research she stayed at Reno from February 2003 to January 2004.

Through the rehearsals and performances and so on of the Basque folk dantzaris from Reno, the researcher was able to see how a code of communication adjusted to the social context in the United States was internalized. Thus, Basqueness is an element of social integration in this multicultural society.

Internal and external logic

The author analyzed the relationship between the internal logic of the Basque dances and the external logic of the dancer. Each one of these logics is divided into four sections, each as a function of the relation of the subject to space, to time, to the other actors and to objects.

The socialization of United States Basques as demonstrated in this work is within a social context characterized by a multiracial society which strives to marry the different origins of its inhabitants with the social cohesion of the country. To a certain extent, the features distinguishing Basques from other ethnic groups in the United States have the features of multiculturality: a United States citizen linked to an immigrant origin, identified with customs and a desire for brotherhood with other groups.

The results show the characteristics of the internal logic of Basque dancing and the social framework in which it happens. The Basque dance in the United States presents a citizen who associates with other Basque citizens to form a group and thus build their identity within the framework of North American minorities. In this way, the Basque fiestas construct a Basque who presents himself or herself to the multicultural community with pride. The Basques dance in order to exist in the multiethnic mosaic that is the United States.

Material culture

Material culture —culture associated with objects— shows a United States person who uses objects of consumption linked to his or her own identity. In the same way, Basque activities underpin their identity —peaked caps embroidered with brotherhood motifs, balloons and banners in white, red and green and car license plates with the inscription proud to be Basque—.

Also, the liking for uniforms is quite clear with the clothing of the dantzaris and other who actively participate in the fiesta. According to the researcher, these objects link the citizen to the group they belong to and, in this case, the Basque with his or her ethnic community.

Information about the author

Ms Clara Urdangarin Liebaert (London, 1960) is qualified as a psychiatric nurse and a graduate in Physical and Sports Education. She undertook her PhD thesis under the direction of Mr Joseba Etxebeste Otegi from the Department of Physical Education at the Faculty of Physical Sports Activities Sciences (UPV/EHU), and spent time at the Center of Basque Studies at the University of Reno (Nevada). She is currently working as a lecturer in the Department where she carried out her PhD.

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Running With the Hemingways

Sanfermines, the main festivity in the Basque country which takes place the second week of July in the capital city of Iruñea (known also as Pamplona) and the iconic US writer Ernest Hemingway will be forever some sort of symbiotic entities.

Regarding this connection between the Sanfermines and Hemingway we strongly recommend that you read the book "San Fermingway" by Mundaka's writer Edorta Jimenez, in the mean time we leave you with this article published at the Irish Times:

Hemingways give the bulls a good run for their money

John Fleming

PAMPLONA LETTER: Some bearded gents compete to get in character. Oh and the sun also rises

HERE THEY come running and snorting, muscular and well-fed, thundering through the cobbled streets of Pamplona. Most are sure-footed but others slump heavily against the cordoning walls of the Basque town. While some have bull necks, these guys also have beards and many have American accents.

Coiffured and growling in voices laced with cigar smoke, they came just in advance of the week-long San Fermin festival with its bull run taking place at 8am each day. They have a specific purpose apart from running with the bulls or observing them from safety. One and all, they are here in Pamplona for the first international Ernest Hemingway lookalike competition.

The manly gun-loving bull-idolatrist writer was part of a coterie of Americans whose reverse voyage of discovery to the old world led them to a rediscovery of Spain in the first half of the 20th century.

Holed up in the Navarra capital’s old city, Illinois-born Hemingway wrote the textbook on bull running and fighting. Revering it as a spectacle of blood and lust and soft machismo, he was a literary anthropologist firing a blunderbuss of adjectives into noble savages (bull and man), much in the way Robert Flaherty framed Irish islanders in Man of Aran in 1934.

But Hemingway was a participant observer, living among the peasants. He was drawn to visit Pamplona on nine occasions starting in 1923, staying for the most part in the Hotel Perla.

In the main square, Plaza del Castillo, under a long arcade, like many a writer the world over, he sat and drank and stared at the sinking sun. His novel The Sun Also Rises appeared in 1926, putting the town of Pamplona and its reverence of the bull on the international map.

In 1957, four years before he died, Hollywood made a film of the novel, shooting it on location in Pamplona with Errol Flynn and Ava Gardner and projecting the city firmly into the world’s consciousness. His favourite bar in the plaza now bears his name and is the focus of this impersonator competition held a half-century on from his last visit.

Hemingway liked to nurse a drink. It can seem difficult to find a bar in any touristy quarter anywhere that does not proclaim him as one of its more famous frequenters. The man’s fondness for spreading his custom is often mocked – be it by a bar on Plaza Santa Ana in Madrid that guarantees its clients they are in the one bar where Hemingway certainly did not drink. Or here in Pamplona, where a “Hemingway Pizza” joint waves a red flag to ardent literary pilgrims and cooks in soft mockery with its buffalo mozzarella.

Gangs of young Spaniards, Australians, Englanders and others flock in on buses in a parade of bravado, combining surfing holidays in San Sebastian and crossborder Biarittz with the running of the bulls. As they get set for an eight-day street orgy of wine-bathing and over-consumption of sangria, some portly gents arrive as leisurely guests of the government of Navarra’s office of culture and tourism.

While the energetic young ones don Daz-whiteness T-shirt and trouser outfits and tie red cravats around their necks and feel part of a history bigger and even crazier than their over-enthusiastic selves, the old chaps are thoughtfully decapitating decent cigars and getting ready to roll on down to the unlikely talent show.

All the finalists grind down through the streets to the central plaza. They are now fully in character, all beards and bellies, and must perform for a while as the celebrated writer.

They charge past tattooed young hedonists on Interrail passes just finished their first-year exams. They cut through stunning Spanish youths who know this fiesta of bulls mauls the internet back into its box.

They nod to similar-aged locals whose ardour for San Fermin never flags but whose intensity of celebration now finds form in the preparation and consumption of excellent cod stew.

The product of the best bovine breeding, some of the international Hemingway doubles are veterans of qualifying heats elsewhere.

But the only heat here is the 36 degrees bombarding these greying men.

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The Other Red Wine Cocktail

Slowly but surely a Basque concoction is becoming the favorite party drink around the world. Its name? Kalimotxo.

Here you have some info from Austin 360:

Calimochos (The other red wine cocktail)

Addie Broyles

Sangria might be the king of exported Spanish drinks, but calimochos — a drink that originated in the Basque region that combines red wine, Coke and lemon juice — are just as beloved. Calimochos are cheap, easy (no cutting up of fruits) and contain ingredients you can get a convenience store.

The combination of red wine and cola sounds disgusting, I know, but in the five years since I lived in Alicante, Spain, I've introduced hundreds of people to this drink and few have turned me down for seconds.

There are endless regional variations throughout Europe of drinks involving wine and other beverages (pink wine and lemonade, white wine and Sprite, etc.), but this is the only one I continue to drink.

The recipe is simple: Half cola, half red wine, with a squeeze of lemon and plenty of ice. Cheap wine works best, as does a bottle of wine that's been open for a few days. As with all drink recipes, tweak the proportions to your taste.

Funny thing, Alicante is not in the Basque Country.

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Sanfermines : Time Magazine 1932

Because of its historic value we thank Time Magazine for publishing this article about the Sanfermines in Iruñea from back in 1932:

Animals: Pamplona's Encierros

Monday, Jul. 11, 1932

For 51 weeks of the year the capital of Navarra is a sleepy little Spanish city where half-naked children play in the narrow streets and café waiters doze under the arcades of the broad, quiet Plaza de la Constitucíon. But in the second week of July, Pamplona becomes bull-mad, its streets and plaza are full of snuffing, rushing bulls. Hotels and rooming houses overflow with visitors from Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian, with tourists from St. Jean-de-Luz, Biarritz and Paris. Peasants from miles around sleep in wagons, in the fields, or do not sleep at all. For four days from 6 a. m. until long after midnight sleep is next to impossible while Pamplona celebrates the Fiesta of San Fermín, its patron saint. There are bullfights, street dancing, parades of huge grotesque figures, much drinking of strong Spanish wine. But by far the most exciting ceremony—one which takes place only at Pamplona—is the encierro (driving of the bulls).

Soon after dawn the first day of the fiesta this week, hundreds of youths gathered at the edge of town near the railroad station. Men climbed upon six big cages, reached down and opened them. Out walked six bulls, blinking in the sunlight. They were strong, lithe, handsome, each branded with the mark of Don Ernesto Blanco. They looked around, uncertain what to do, until from the crowd of youths came a yell: "Hah! Hah! . . . Toro!" The bulls lowered their heads, charged the crowd. The crowd took to its heels, the bulls stampeding in pursuit.

Through the narrow streets rushed the yelling rabble of boys and young men, while women cheered from the safety of windows. From every doorway came male recruits to swell the throng. Across the city they ran, the foremost bull not three paces behind the last man. At the plaza the path of the encierro is marked by fences, behind which hundreds of tourists and visitors watched. A few, carried away by the excitement, vaulted the fence, joined the runners. Occasionally a runner fell, lay still while the bulls, their eyes on the moving mass, pounded over them. From the plaza the chase poured into another small street, then men & bulls made one mad rush for the entrance of the bull ring.

The gate is far too small to let all through at once. Those who could not get in fell to the ground. Men piled upon men, bulls leaped over a human wall and charged snorting into the ring. There they found men waving coats, shirts, rags—anything that remotely resembled a matador's cape. The bulls charged here & there. Sometimes a novice held his bull's attention, executed several passes. Sometimes he went down with a horn wound in his leg.

Into this bedlam now trotted a bunch of steers. The bulls charged, goring the steers at first but gradually making friends with them, quieting down in the company of fellow cattle. Then the steers led the bulls out to pens under the arena.

The failed to mention anything regarding the Basque identity of this tradition, but at least they did mention Navarra and not just Spain.

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Bulls and Hemingway

In this article published by Time Magazine you will get some basic information about the main festivity in Euskal Herria, the Sanfermines in Iruñea:

The Running of the Bulls

Randy James

As they have each July for centuries, the narrow, cobblestone streets of Pamplona, Spain, are thundering with the sound of charging bulls. The weeklong annual celebration originated as a religious festival to honor St. Fermin, the patron saint of this small city in Spain's northern Basque region. Today the festival attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world, many of whom are drawn to its world-famous encierro, or running of the bulls, which begins July 7 and was made famous outside Spain by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 classic The Sun Also Rises.

The running of the bulls began as a way to move bulls from Pamplona's corral to its bullfighting ring. The animals would run the roughly half-mile stretch as children and adults herded them with shouts and sticks. The practice may date back as far as the 13th century, but it is known to have continued virtually uninterrupted since 1592, when the festival was moved from September to July. People are thought to have joined the herd sometime in the 1800s.

Nowadays, thousands of participants from around the world dash through Pamplona's streets trailed by charging bulls. Thousands more watch from safe nooks and balconies along the route, and spectators can also follow the events on national TV. Every morning from July 7 to 14, hordes of daredevils gather in a historic section of the city, many dressed in traditional garb and carrying rolled-up newspapers to swat the bulls if necessary. They sing a traditional homage to St. Fermin, asking him to guide them through the run. After two small rockets are fired, six bulls are released (along with a herd of steers), and the chase is on. The event generally takes just a few minutes.

As one might imagine, running with an angry, half-ton bull on your heels is not a particularly safe pastime. Since 1924, 14 people have been killed at the St. Fermin festival; the last to be fatally gored was a 22-year-old American, Matthew Tassio, in 1995. Witnesses said Tassio was knocked to the ground by a bull, then got up again and was struck by a second animal — a violation of the axiom that runners should remain on the ground if they get knocked down. Many people are injured each year, by both the animals and the crush of sprinters frantically making their way to the bullfighting arena on slippery cobblestones. Observers say foreigners — especially, for some reason, Americans — are most likely to be injured. "Americans come here with the image of The Sun Also Rises and just don't realize how dangerous it is and how easy it is to trip up," Daniel Ross, an American vice consul in Spain, told the New York Times after Tassio's accident.

Another factor fueling injuries in Pamplona is alcohol. As Hemingway chronicled, the festival is awash in wine and sangria, and runners partake copiously during long nights of partying. Participating in the run while tipsy is against the festival's rules, but violations are common. Another oft broken requirement is that all runners be at least 18 years of age. Many Spaniards were outraged to see televised images of a smiling 10-year-old boy dashing through the streets of Pamplona in 2007. The boy's mother was horrified as well; her ex-husband, who took the youngster to the festival, lost his visitation rights and was fined $200.

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Extreme Basqueness

This article and recipes come to you courtesy of Canton Rep:

Extreme surroundings yield extreme cuisine

Jim Hillibish

Imagine living in rugged mountain territory isolated from the 21st Century. Your land spreads over two vastly different nations.

As with many things Basque, cooking reflects their culture. These are tough sheepherders and fishermen along the Pyrenees separating France and Spain. Their isolation has allowed their culture to grow. They are accustomed to doing things their own way and protect this freedom from the outside.

The result is a cuisine drawing from the countries it touches. Then the Basque Way is applied — supercharging with strong ingredients, getting the absolute most flavor out of everything. This is not subtle stuff. Your own most flavorful American recipe would be considered way bland here.

They use strong olive oil in almost everything, and garlic to the point of tears.

Stews and soups simmer for hours. A Basque cook shakes the pan violently where we would stir. He (men often do the cooking) produces dishes ahead, knowing that flavors increase with advance preparation.

Spanish tapas, the appetizers so popular in bars worldwide, started with the Basques. Now we know why they are flavor-packed. Chorizo is another Basque contribution, a dried or semi-cured sausage of potent power from heavy and heady use of pepper and hot paprika.

Basques have endured a number of scatterings as their people seek better lives in new countries. A million of them live in Chile. There are major concentrations in Mexico. The few who have made it to the United States seek territory similar to their home country, many in Idaho. Boise has a sizable Basque population, and the restaurants to prove it.

Chorizo in wine is simple but hearty enough to be consumed only with homemade bread. Basque pot roast features the flavors of bacon, pork and garlic all melded together in a powerful mix. This is classic Basque technique.

CHORIZO IN WINE

1 pound chorizo, the softer semi-cured instead of the dried hard-cured
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup dry white wine
1 baby leaf
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Slice the chorizo into inch-long rounds. Brown in oil and drain off the fat. Add wine and boil. Add bay leaf and pepper flakes, reduce to low, cover and simmer 45 minutes.

Serves four with a loaf of homemade bread and butter.

BASQUE PORK ROAST

4 slices bacon, thick cut and peppered, diced
3 pounds boneless pork roast, fat included
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 large red onion, sliced
1 large green pepper, seeded and sliced
1 small jar pimento
1/4 cup white wine

Wash and dry roast. Pierce meat with a knife in several places and insert slices of garlic. Rub with salt and pepper.

Place bacon in a heavy pot and fry until crisp. Remove bacon and add roast. Brown on all sides. Add onion, green pepper and pimento. Add wine and cover, baking slowly at 325 degrees for three hours. Drippings may be converted to gravy by heating and whisking in a tablespoon of cornstarch.

Serves 6 to 8.

Note: Lamb or venison may be substituted for pork.

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Javier Aguirre's Basque Identity

Being a Mexican of Basque background is often misunderstood in Mexico, this is why we are glad to present this article about one of Mexico's must famous Basques, Javier Aguirre, the coach of the national soccer team published at Sign On San Diego:

Patriotic Aguirre leads with passion

El Tri coach follows no-nonsense path

Mark Zeigler

“Guernica” is the famous mural by Pablo Picasso depicting the 1937 bombing of the Basque village during the Spanish Civil War. It is painted in black, white and a dark blue.

Javier Aguirre looks at “Guernica,” at the haunting images of death and devastation, and sees another color.

Green.

Aguirre is Mexico's national soccer coach, the man charged with forging a route to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa at a time when a wide freeway has dwindled into a lonely dirt path leading into a dark, uncertain jungle. He is here not because it is necessarily a good career move, or because he thrives on the challenge of qualifying Mexico for the World Cup after a 1-3 start, or because of the six zeros on his paycheck, but because he has to.

“A commitment to my country, you know?” says Aguirre, 50, whose team plays Guatemala in a friendly today at 5 p.m. at Qualcomm Stadium. “I have to give something back to my people.”

Aguirre's nickname is “El Vasco.” The Basque. He wasn't born in the Basque region of northern Spain, but his parents were. His father fought in the Spanish Civil War at 17, was captured by Gen. Franco's nationalist army and later forced to fight for it in North Africa. His mother was from the village of Guernica.

She was there, standing in front of a church, when the planes from Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe began dropping the bombs. She was 7.

Someone grabbed her, rushed her into the church's bomb shelter.

That was 1937. Aguirre's father would get out of the army, meet Aguirre's mother, get married and look for a fresh start.

“Sometimes the worst part about the war is the post-war: no food, no job, (political) parties in jail, persecution,” says Aguirre, who speaks fluent English. “My parents decided to move to Mexico in 1950. My father changed his nationality from Spanish to Mexican.

“My parents spoke Basque at home, the food was Basque, but they knew that I was Mexican and I was born in Mexico. They told me the Mexican flag, the Mexican anthem, the Mexican language was the most important thing. My parents, they told me I have to love Mexico.”

In April, the bosses from Mexico's soccer federation called. They were desperate. The grand experiment of hiring a Swede, Sven-Goran Eriksson, had gone terribly wrong and El Tri found itself on the brink of not qualifying for a World Cup, on the brink of the unthinkable, the unfathomable.

Would he help?

Aguirre did this once before, swooping in during the rocky 2002 qualification and going 4-0-1 over the final five matches to secure a World Cup spot. He left to guide Osasuna, an unfancied club from the Basque city of Pamplona, to the UEFA Cup. From there he took Atletico Madrid, after a decade of embarrassing finishes, to the UEFA Champions League before a string of poor results led to his dismissal in February.

He was in demand. He could wait for another big club's job to open. He could stay in Spain, where his two sons attend college. He could let someone else step onto the bridge of El Tri-tanic.

And he couldn't.

A commitment to my country, you know?

There was the new life that Mexico gave to his parents, and the life it gave him. There also was 1981, when Aguirre was part of the national-team player pool that failed to qualify for the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

“I don't want to talk about it, but of course I know what would happen if we don't qualify for this World Cup,” he says. “I remember that feeling. It was a disaster, terrible. It was devastating, for the federation, for the people, for everyone.”

So he said yes.

San Diego is a city Aguirre knows well. He has owned a condominium in La Jolla Colony for the past decade, vacationing here with his family during the offseason, going to beach, attending Padres games.

But this trip is no vacation. “We are not here to relax,” he says.

Aguirre is known for crafting teams in his image, of a kid discovered by pro scouts relatively late in his career, of a player who relied on raw grit more than raw talent, of someone who never stops working. Superstars often don't flourish in his system, and he is not afraid to jettison them if they pout.

“He tries to make a good group,” goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa says.

Aguirre also talks of wanting “hungry players,” and one of his first acts as national coach was to eliminate their per diem on road trips. Not so they literally wouldn't eat, but to reinforce the notion that you play for pride on the national team and nothing else.

His roster for today's game, and for the CONCACAF Gold Cup that begins next week, has few of the veterans who play for some of the biggest clubs in Europe – much to the consternation of Mexico's predatory soccer media. In their place are youngsters with little international experience.

Or, in other words, the exact type of player Aguirre loves to coach. To mold. To motivate.

“The Mexican national team does not depend on anybody,” Aguirre says. “There are no starters. We are all Mexican. There are some people who may not agree with me. They may have favorite players. But that's the right I have been given, to choose who I want.”

He taps his coaching jersey. It's green.

“I need people who want to win, who are proud of this shirt,” he says, “proud to be on the national team, proud of the anthem, proud to be Mexican.”

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Festivities in Lekeitio

This note was published at EiTB:

San Pedro festival, Lekeitio

Euskadi.net

Festivities kick off on Sunday 28th June until Wednesday 1st July and will include Basque dancing, traditional music and extra activities such as pelota.

Kaxarranka, Kilin-Kala and Aurresku de Mujeres are traditional Basque dances well-known among the Basques. San Pedro's festivity is the most important day in June. It is celebrated on the 29th and starts with the High Mass followed by San Pedro's procession, which leaves from the church of Santa María and proceeds along the streets as far as the harbour. It is here where an unusual ceremony known as Kilin-Kala is held. The procession members bear a statue of the Saint that they bend over the water. The ritual is thought to be favourable for fishing. The local street band accompanies the bearers.

Next, "dantzaris" (typical Basque dancers) perform the celebrated Kaxarranka. A man dances on a large chest or "kutxa" carried on eight fishermen's shoulders. The performance involves three parts: a "Zortziko", a "Fandango" and an "Arin-Arin". The dancing takes place first in the port, under the image of San Pedro. Then people walk down the streets of the town passing by the house of the current fishermen guild president, the main square and the Town Hall accompanied by the sound of the "txistu" (Basque flute), the tabor and the kettledrum.

At noon, classic Aurresku de Mujeres (women's aurresku) takes place in the town's main square. In the evening, the popular "tamborrada" (drums parade) marches down the streets.

Next day is the turn of "San Pedro Txiki". Musical performances are to be found aplenty. The local street band will offer a show under the image of San Pedro followed by an open-air dance at night in Tala - near the breakwater. At 11pm the local street band will set out on a short trip from Tala to the Town Hall stairs.

On 1st July an open-air dance is scheduled to take place between Tortola and Beheko Kale Streets before the image of the Saint.

More activities have been arranged for the occasion, such as children's workshops, cesta punta and pelota mano pelota games, and hot chocolate tasting.

Lekeitio is a great spot to spend your holidays, don't miss it if you ever get a chance.

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