The homeland of the Basque people is Western Europe in the areas of southwestern France, western Spain and Portugal, where they have lived since ancient times. They are a unique people with their own cultural heritage and a language that is unrelated to other languages, being a language isolate.
Antiquity of the Basque Tribes
An old Basque saying relates that "Before God was God and boulders were boulders, the Basques were already Basques."
At the time of Pliny and Strabo in the Roman period, the Basque tribes were known as the Basques, the Vascones, and Aquitania. These people predated the influx of the Indo-Europeans into Western Europe. They existed at least 5000 years ago, and may be the oldest ethnic group in Western Europe.
An interesting, but unproven theory, links the Georgians with the Basques due to cultural similarities. This theory maintains that some of the Georgians moved from the Black Sea to Western Europe 10,000 years ago.
Basque Country today is found only in the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, in parts of Portugal, north-central Spain and south-western France. Basques have also immigrated in great numbers to North America and other countries far from their homeland. They have been primarily rural and are typically identified as sheepherders, although many now live in urban centers.
Basque Language and Religion
Basques are known in their own complex language as Euskaldunak, which is a language isolate. It is known in Spanish as Vascos. Their language and dialects are unrelated to the Indo-European family of languages, and are the remnant of a more ancient people originating in Western Europe, Gascony (Vascony) and the Pyrenees, as shown by archaeological and toponymical evidence. It is widely held that most likely the Basques are the last surviving ethno-linguistic group descended from populations of Neolithic Europe prior to the arrival of the Indo-European peoples and their languages.
Today almost all Basques adhere to the Roman Catholic religion. Traditionally, an unusually high percentage chose to become priests or nuns, but this number has fallen since the Second Vatican Council (1962). Two of the Church's most renowned clergy, St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius Loyola (the founder of the Jesuit order) were actually Basque. Catholic Basques, like Catholics in many other areas of Spanish influence, have a strong religious component surrounding the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Perhaps religious syncretism can be found between the goddess worship of the ancient Basque Mari and the reverence for the Catholic Mary.
Folk Arts
Basque men wear a flat, wider than usual, black beret. The Basque beret immediately identifies Basque men. They also wear white and red clothing during special events and festivals such as the well-known running of the bulls in Pamplona.
Basques are skilled in the decorative art of woodcarving and engraving on stone. Both are utilized on door lintels (on the upper frames) and on Basque tombstones.
The Basques have a well-developed tradition of storytelling. Basques would often invite their neighbors over for an evening of tale-spinning. This was one of their main forms of entertainment before the Basques moved to urban centers and television was introduced.
Basque folk music is sung and played on traditional instruments such as a three-holed flute, the txistu, and the bagpipe-like dultzaina. Many folk dances are performed regularly.
See examples of Basque dancing on YouTube.com.
Sports and Recreation
The Basque main sport is pelote, a game like handball played at very high speeds. The game has been played for centuries in an outdoor court called a frontón. This court often shares a wall with the village church and today it is also played in indoor courts as well. The fastest form of pelote, called cesta punta, is played on an outdoor court with a second wall called a jai-alai. Jai-alai is the term used for the fastest sport in the world. It is played round-robin in teams and utilizes a basket called a xistera.
The Basques are well-known historically for physical strength. They compete in rowing, stone-lifting and log-chopping.
Sources
- “ Basques.” Countries and Their Cultures. everyculture.com
- “Basques.” Encyclopedia.com.
- "Georgians, Basques Linked Culturally. The Washington Times.
Paula I. Nielson - Paula I. Nielson, Ph.D., holds credentials and interests in anthropology, archaeology, religion, the Middle East and Asia.
