Basque culture

Mi camino, my path is also my life and I would like to share some of the colours and textures of Spanish life that I plan to discover over the next few months or so.

Right now I am in the Basque Country and its traditions and language are much older than the Spain that exists today. Today is St. Thomas day and it is a day to celebrate pigs. Luckily I missed St. Martin´s day when the pigs are killed and instead I get to enjoy the market and music today where the pigs are cooked and eaten. This morning around 12:00pm, because in Spain the morning goes until about 2:00 or 3:00pm, the market area was full of people wearing small green kerchiefs around their knecks and small black, basque berets on their heads. Making our way through the sea of people we eventually got to a stand where they were preparing ´Talo´ a round, tortilla-like corn bread that is served with your choice of pig parts and downed with a glass of cider. I picked sausage because it was one of the easier words to pronounce. There were also lots of people selling mistletoe which I was told is for good luck. There was a big street party downtown and we danced for a while and then went to listen to the music of a basque music group called ´Oskorri´. They were on a stage with a lot of students and it was a sing-a-long. At first I thought we were singing basque Christmas songs, but then I was told it was they were in fact folk songs . The language is surprisingly phonetic, but not so easy to understand.

In a few days Olentxero ( ´tx´ in Euskera is pronounced ´ch´) the basque Santa Claus is coming. I will translate his story when I learn more about him. Zorionak (Merry Christmas)!