Astero
San Inazio in Boise
The Boise Euzkaldunak is hosting its annual San Inazio Basque Festival this weekend, July 26-28th, on the Basque Block. Festivities begin on Friday night with a friends and family night at the Basque Center beginning at 5:45pm. Everyone is invited to bring a pintxo to share. Saturday’s events begin at 10am and run until 2pm, and the traditional San Inazio mass will begin at 5pm at St. Mark’s Church with the participation of the Biotzetik Basque Choir and dance by the Boise Oñati Dantza Taldea. Saturday night will conclude with a street dance, again on the Basque Block, to the music of Amerikanuak. Sunday’s festivities will begin at 11am with a picnic in the Municipal Park. The day will include games for all ages as well as an Oak Tree Ceremony. For complete information, please visit their website, or refer to this schedule of events.
California Basques at Baztandarren Biltzarra
On Sunday, July 21st, Baztandarren Biltzarra was celebrated in Elizondo, Navarre. This huge annual festival, in the Valley of Baztan, was made bigger this year thanks to the participation of some 150 members of Kaliforniako Euskal Etxeak. This group included 42 dancers, 10 musicians and another 100 plus friends and family members from the California Basque community, predominately from Basque clubs in San Francisco, Bakersfield, Rocklin, Fresno and Chino, organized by Valerie Arrechea San Francisco Basque Club dance instructor. This is not the first time that such a group participated in the event; 25 years ago, a group called “Euskaldunak Californian” participated for the first time. This year, however, many of the original group returned accompanying their children. We have compiled some photos and videos of the event for your enjoyment. Zorionak to everyone who participated, and thank you for representing the American Basque Diaspora so well! Mila esker!
Saitua to Lecture at Nevada Historical Society
The Nevada Historical Society is hosting a lecture this Saturday, July 27th at 1pm entitled, “Basque Exiles in Mexico, the Bracero Program, and the Sheepherder Labor Shortage in the American West during the Second World War” by Dr. Iker Saitua. Saitua, who did his Ph.D. at the William A. Douglass Center for Basque Studies, is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in history at the University of California Riverside. He is also the author of, Basque Immigrants and Nevada’s Sheep Industry: Geopolitics and the Making of an Agricultural Workforce, 1880-1954 (University of Nevada Press, 2019). His talk will address the Basque labor shortage during World War II, the creation of the Bracero Program that allowed Mexican nationals to work in the US, as well as the effort to recruit Basque exiles in Mexico, through this program, to address this shortage. Admission to the lecture is $5 for adults. For complete information, click here.
7/25/2019
