Annie Gavica
Interviewee: Annie Gavica
Interviewer: Doug Exton
Description: This presentation explores the unique history of the Basques from the late 19th century to today, their global immigration, and their impact on communities, especially in Idaho. Attendees will learn about Spain and France before mass Basque emigration, the region’s transformation into a major tourist destination, and the hardships Basques faced during the immigration process. The talk will highlight their perseverance in establishing communities across the western U.S. and their lasting impact on local culture. The Basque Museum & Cultural Center preserves and shares these stories to connect people of all backgrounds and celebrate the dignity of the human experience. Bio: Annie, a fourth-generation Basque-American, was born and raised on a cattle ranch in Paradise Valley, Nevada. She attended a small three-room grade school before continuing her education in Winnemucca. Active in student leadership and athletics, she carried that passion to Boise State University, earning a degree in Spanish with minors in Basque Studies and Business. She joined the Oinkari Basque Dancers, serving as a board member, dance director, and liaison for a decade. Her deep connections with Boise’s Basque community led to study, travel, and work opportunities in the Basque Block. Since college, Annie has worked in education and became the Education Program Specialist at the Basque Museum & Cultural Center in 2013. In 2016, she was appointed Executive Director, continuing the mission of preserving, promoting, and perpetuating Basque history and culture for future generations.
Date: 2021-03-09
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Doug Exton: Thank you so much for joining us for tonight's Connected Conversation, a program conducted by the Idaho Humanities Council. If you're not familiar with our organization, I encourage you to check out our website, Idaho Humanities.org. I'd like to remind you all that you may submit any questions using the Q&A feature located at the bottom of the screen. And with me tonight is Annie Gavica.
It's an honor to have you with us tonight. And I turn it over to you.
Annie Gavica: Well, thank you so much, Doug, and thank you to all of Idaho Humanities Council for their continued support throughout the years and for including us this evening. I'm going to just talk a little bit about the Basque museum. I'm the executive director at the Basque Museum located in the middle of the Basque block. And then, we'll get into the bulk of the presentation if it allows me to do so.
Just one second. Here we go.
I hope.
All right, well, you get to see some of it backwards, I guess.
Okay. So the Basque Museum, its mission statement is to preserve, promote and perpetuate Basque culture. We were formed in 1985, in the little Cyrus Jacobs/Uberuaga House boarding house, little brick building on the Basque block. And since then, we've grown to have ten full time employees as well as various programs, including our exhibits that are in the main building.
We usually have 3 or 4 exhibits, and they're rotating out periodically. We have our oral history interviews through the Community History Project that is constantly going. They've recorded more than 200 in the last five years, which is a huge project as well as collections that we have had through donations and gifts to the museum from all over the United States and the Basque Country.
We also have studio and adult tours. Of course, not so many right now, since everybody's still kind of in lockdown or barely coming out of it. And we have evening, language classes for adults. We teach Basque to adults. In the, in the fall. In the spring. And then monthly programing from cooking classes to lectures and presentations, similar to tonight's book releases, dance classes and loads of other ones.
And then we also have, Basque language immersion preschool that, began in 1998 and is located across Garfield Element, across from Garfield Elementary on Broadway Avenue in Boise. And then I just wanted to give a shameless little plug here. We are getting ready for one of our fundraisers this year. Virtual benefit dinner and concert.
We typically have people over to the Basque Center for a dinner, typically a Basque dinner, and have some auction items and things. But this year, we can't all cram together. So we're doing it virtually and going to have a little concert online with musicians from the Basque Country as well as the US. So if you're interested, you can go to Ask Museum US or scan that QR code with your cell phone.
All right. So we're going to talk a little bit about Basque history and culture. And then get a little more specific about the Basques in Idaho. So the Basque Country, if you're not familiar with it, is located between Spain and France, technically in Spain and in France, it's about 3 million people that live in the area. That's about the size of Canyon County.
If you're familiar with the counties of Idaho, Canyon County is pretty good size, but it's just a little bit bigger than that. There's seven provinces total in the Basque Country, four of them in Spain and three in France. So you kind of have that geographic area where the Basques are. And here's just some great little photos from areas in the Basque Country.
Some may be familiar with some of them, like on the bottom right in San Sebastian. One of the most common tourist spots. And then I just want to show you to get a good picture of the Basque Country. It's current video, of course, but it'll give you a little idea of, excuse me, of the Basque Country and what it looks like to kind of put some things into context here.
So just a couple of minutes long.
Okay, so we'll go back to some of those things that we saw in that video and talk a little bit about them in bits and pieces, but, I kind of want to talk about why we're talking about this group. Who is this group? The Basques culturally are not connected to any of the, places around it.
Common misconception is that they are Spanish, that they are French, and that is specifically proven incorrect when we talk about their language. The Basque language, Euskara is not related to any other language in in the world. It's not Latin based like Spanish and French. And they found very little in common with any other languages. It's very, very old.
And it was passed down orally for so long that there's a lot of mystery behind it. The first book written in the Basque language is, a picture till you're right. And it wasn't until the mid-16th century, which is very late in the, in the game, of writing down texts. In many cultures it's considered a language isolate, meaning that you only really find it naturally in that that area of the Pyrenees mountains on the Bay of Biscay.
We also in Idaho have a language isolate is called the Kutenai language, Native American language, and is still spoken today. As I said, the Basque Museum has language classes here. Boise State University has Basque language classes. And throughout the West, especially within Basque clubs and organizations, there are different people that are, willing to teach those.
And there's a big push through the Basque government to, teach those that aren't living in the Basque Country the language as well. So we get some support that way as far as teachers and curriculum, things like that. Some examples below. You are our numbers to ten in Basque is in blue, and then in Spanish as a comparison is in, black.
I'll just go through them so you can hear what they sound like. But the first is but .... Most say .... So an example sentence. Hi, my name is Annie. I work at the Basque Museum. You can see it in Spanish and most of us know very a little bit of Spanish that we can understand some bits and pieces.
But that same phrasing in there, ... Just in those few sentences and words you can see how different the language is compared to any others.
Excuse me, we talk about immigration. Sorry, it's cut off. We're talk about this group that came to the US like many other immigrant groups for various reasons, but there's kind of three different times that they came over here to the United States. The Basques originally, a few of them. Anyway, immigrated over in the late mid to late 1800s, for gold and silver.
Thought that they could go into the areas of Nevada, even Idaho a little bit, and especially California, and strike it rich. And for some of them, they did all right, but most weren't able to make that much money. And so they were here. They had to find other work to either return home or just to survive in general.
And with their lack of language skills and their need to find work, they were willing to do just about anything. And at that time that people were hiring, sheepherders or hired hands on ranches, cattle ranching, etc. so it was the first group that came over, and they gained slowly this reputation of being hard working and really determined, honest and loyal.
And so then in the early 1900s, they're writing kind of back and forth to their families. More and more people, especially in Idaho, northern Nevada and eastern Oregon, more, sheep ranchers and some cattle ranchers are really in desperate need of help, on their ranches and with their animals. So they started asking, oh, do you have a brother, a cousin and nephew that would come over here and work?
And so that main group from 1900 to the 1940s and maybe even the early 1950s, there was a bigger group that started immigrating over to the Western United States. Their goal in most cases was to come over here and work a few years, just make so much money and return home and just not have to deal with, finding jobs or farms or ranches.
They could just purchase something of their to have of their own. And then there was a third group that came over from about the 60s and into the 70s, a very small group that came over all for economic reasons. Of course, they all they couldn't find jobs in the US in all three instances or couldn't find jobs. Excuse me, in the Basque Country in all three instances, and so decided to come to the United States because that's where there was quite a few opportunities prior to those three, time frames.
There were earlier time frames where a lot of Basques immigrated to South America. They could learn or knew a little bit of Spanish. So there's quite a significant Basque population in South America, specifically in Argentina. And it says in surveys, census type things that about 10% of Argentina's population is about is of Basque ancestry, which is a huge amount, at the same time as immigrating to the United States, the first and second groups, there were some that also immigrated to Australia to work in sugar cane fields.
So there's a good, portion of people that also work from the Basque Country that work in, the sugar cane fields. And it's quite interesting to hear, someone from the Basque Country that speaks English with an Australian accent. Blows my mind. One question we have on here. Thank you for asking some questions. I love them, so by all means, if you have them, put them in the little chat or the Q&A area.
Was the Spanish Civil War a reason some Basques left their homes? Yes, in some cases, absolutely. There were some in that second group towards the end of that second group, from the 1930s into the 1970s that immigrated over primarily for economic reasons, but also political reasons at that time in Spain. Francisco Franco was dictator. And if you're not familiar with it, the very shortened version of it was he didn't want anyone to be, anything but very pure, pure Spanish.
So if you a Basque or if you're from the Barcelona area, Catalan, or Galicia, they weren't Basque or Spanish enough. So he was not a fan speaking. The Basque language, for example, was illegal. If you got caught, you were jailed, if not worse. And so some people did come to the United States to get away from that.
Great question.
Let's see if it'll let us.
I'm sorry. Just some more pictures of the Basque Country. For many of us, we associate the Basque Country or the Basque. The immigrated, from the Basque Country as farmers and sheepherders. And in some cases, that was the case. They might have had a few sheep or a couple of cows on their little farm, or on their little farms in the Basque Country.
The photo on the top is a good example. That's probably more of a little town than a farm that looks like there's several little houses there. And then the lower, picture is an example of the beautiful, beautiful coastline of the Basque Country. And so some of those immigrants were coming from small towns near San Sebastian, which is the most well known area.
... and those places. And coming to the United States. So their background or their knowledge of work, maybe on fishing boats and things, which doesn't serve much of a purpose here in Idaho. But most of them we equate to sheep herding and agriculture here in Idaho. And I it's kind of hard to just talk about Idaho specifically, because a lot of them had such were working for such large sheep companies that they were also moving those sheep into northern Nevada and even into eastern Oregon.
So it's kind of that whole that whole space there. Some great photos.
One thing that we talk about with these sheepherders is kind of the timing of what their typical year was like. And so if they were, if they planned it right or it worked out well enough, they would start working in the early part of the year about now, February and March and some of them would be hired on to help with lambing right on the farm, and then they would take them in to kind of lower the lower hills, like right outside, like the Boise foothill areas, and let them graze a bit.
Then they would bring all of those sheep or find a, an area to contain the sheep, and they would wean the lambs from the sheep, and then those sheep would go with the sheepherders out into a little bit farther hills and mountains and, just graze on that land until the fall. So most of them were gone about 8 to 10 months, depending on whether in to the hills and mountains of Idaho or Nevada, with their sheep wagon or a tent and a horse.
And somebody would be bringing them supplies every couple of weeks or so. So their only interaction, unless they were some of the lucky ones that would get put in pairs of sheep herders, most of their interaction was just when if they were if they saw them when somebody was bringing supplies. So there's not a lot going on, not a lot to do.
And so they have to pass some time. There's a great stories of different sheepherders taking a guitar with them, not knowing how to play, but learning how to play because that's how much time they had to do. So. Or the button accordion, which we all equate to the Basque culture here in the Boise area. But then this is another example.
Arbor glyphs or tree carvings. And they originally were started to kind of help the sheep herders navigate the area. They would put the name or the dates to know that that's where they grazed before. And so maybe they needed to go farther east or west or what have you. But then it just was a way to pass time.
And so they would draw, keep their names on there. The dates that they would draw, other things you see from these ones here.
Specifically the Basques in Idaho. I guess Idaho, Oregon, Nevada. They've always been great explorers, the Basques in general. So from being on ships with, Magellan Financial and excuse me, they helped circumnavigate the globe, but they were some of the first people that came over to, the Americas to find cod and whaling and then taking it all the way over to, back to the Basque Country.
So they were known to be great explorers. And so it was kind of just built in their DNA to kind of go out and establish themselves and do, some really hard work wherever they needed to go. Here in the US, there are Basque diaspora communities or I'm sorry, you know, over 21 countries, and here there's over 45 clubs in the United States, I believe, seven of which are in Idaho.
Primarily in Boise, but we have very large, active Basque communities as well. In Holmdel. There's some in Nampa, Caldwell area, Gooding, and then in Ontario, Oregon, not too far, of course. But all of these have sprung up from where Basques immigrated to, to work in sheep, as sheepherders. The primary industry they adopted, of course, was agriculture.
Some went into ranching and often sheep herding. Mostly it was men that came over here to, work in sheep, ranches and cattle ranches. In fact, I don't know any cases of women that came over here to do those jobs. But eventually they would send for a sister or wife. In some cases, though, most of them were quite young.
And those women or the families would start boarding houses. And that's then what the women would immigrate forward to work in the boarding houses. The boarding house. The idea of boarding houses or rooming houses is not specific to the Basques. Really. It was pretty common in the United States for someone to come and stay in. As in a place.
Similar to these, as a temporary home. They couldn't afford an apartment or a home of their own or anything like that. So people that they may be near or had a connection to would rent a space in their homes. The boarding house, Cyrus Jacobs/Uberuaga boarding house right next to us where museum started was actually a boarding house the early 19, from.
Yeah, the early 1900s until about 1969. It closed when Mrs. Uberuaga passed away suddenly. But she had run the the boarding house with her children, and her husband worked outside of the house, which was pretty common for a lot of boarding houses in the Boise area. There were between 1900 and 19 60s. There were about 50 Basque boarding houses, not all running at the same time, but some some opening, some closing and opening and closing.
So that's a good, testament about how many Basques were coming here. The you Uberuaga boarding house held anywhere from 5 to 20 boarders beyond the family that lived in the house so they could cram all over the place. And then on the other side of the Basque Museum, we have another boarding house. There's turned into office spaces and a building.
But it also has a ball court in there. If anybody has time, I would recommend, checking out our website. We have virtual tours of the Basque block, and it takes you throughout the whole boarding house as well as into the front on into the Entwistle building and just around the block as well.
All right, now we're getting back to that film. Some ways that the Basques find, to share the culture and continue it. That is a big push for how to keep it going is to share it with others, whether they be of Basque ancestry or not. And that is, true in the language, in music and dance.
But most common, and what we often see around here is through food and drink. We're really, really lucky here in the Boise area to have quite a few Basque restaurants. We have three on this block, in downtown, one a block away, and then we have several trickling out. We have one trickling out, out a few blocks and then one clearing meridian.
So quite a few opportunities to try some different Basque food. But the idea of pinchers or the cheeky tail culture, cheeky tail, as you know, is one of the Basque restaurants here. But the idea of Cheeky Tail is kind of like a pub crawl where group groups of friends or quadrillions in the Basque Country gather together and they have their set bars, 4 or 5 different bars, maybe that they go to every day, maybe right before lunch or right before dinner, and they have just a little tiny drink.
Maybe a few ounces, 2 or 3oz of their wine or whatever their drink is, but it's usually accompanied by some sort of appetizer or show, as you could see in the picture. And they do that same route. So if you're meeting up with them, you know more or less what your where you're going to find your friends and then they go home for lunch and then they do the same thing in the evening.
Seafood is more popular in the Basque Country. Of course, they're right on the ocean and have some incredible gastronomy. Opportunity is there. The Basque Country has, more Michelin stars per capita than anywhere else in the world. So have incredible chefs, incredible, restaurant experiences. And then the idea of Basque cider and Basque wine or chocolate, we have different opportunities.
If you go to the Basque market to try them. Basque cider is not like the cider or the hard cider that we have here. It's not sweet at all. It almost tastes a little bit like olive juice, which is an odd comparison because it's made from apples, but, it's excellent. Chocolate is a white wine specific to the Basque Country.
It's very young white wine. And, you have to pour it from quite a distance. Same with Basque cider. So maybe 2 or 3ft from your glass to get some bubbles in it and kind of aerate that and get that to taste really good. And then some other ones from across the Basque Country got the Basque is from more popular on the French side of the Basque Country.
And then we know chorizo, which is also a Mexican dish. But then the other one that is popular here is Murcia or black pudding or blood sausage.
Basque dance and music are also very popular here in, in Idaho. Clearly, one of the more visual parts of of the culture. And again, we had kind of this lucky group of people that had the foresight of keeping some of these pieces going. One example is the and cutie Basque dancers. They were founded in 1960. A group of seven people, one of which was an immigrant from the Basque Country, decided they wanted to tour the Basque Country.
And in the 1960s nobody was really touring the Basque Country. They were still under the dictatorship of Franco. And so you had to be kind of kind of careful how you went about doing that. But these seven, people went to the Basque Country for several months and, mostly just went to meet their family and learn a little bit more about their family firsthand.
But they met up with a dance group there and learned some dances. Well, they couldn't write the dances down. They couldn't write the music down because it was illegal. So they did everything from memory, including humming the songs back here to a musician who then wrote them down and put them together for them. And they've been going for since 1960, traveling back to the Basque Country several times to places like Argentina, you know, in the World's Fair in China.
But a huge part of the culture that continues the language, music and dance. We have another question. Great question. Are the founders of doing Basque dancers? Well, their family still in Boise? David would like to. Yes. Yes they are. So, some of them have passed away recently, unfortunately. But their children and grandchildren in some cases have gone through or in Cadiz.
There was a husband and wife that met in the group of that original, Tony and Simon. They met in that group of the original 8 or 7 that went to the Basque Country. Simon was from the Basque Country. They married their children. All dance. All three of their girls dance. You know, in Cadiz. And now their grandchildren are part of the group, too.
So that's a really good example. And some of the other ones, yes, their families are our part of the group or cousins or, and and uncles and some still living here watching as they're practicing, of course.
Speaker 3: There we go.
Annie Gavica: The other part of the culture that is quite strong, not necessarily here in, in Idaho, is much just space. In the area in which to play it, but, a lot of Basque sports, where hopefully after 2015. Hi, Aldi, you're familiar. The week prior to Aldi, we had a Basque soccer friendly, Albertsons Stadium.
They turned the blue turf green and brought a team from the Basque Country over, and they played a team from Mexico. And it's quite, quite an experience. That team from the Basque Country and several others from the Basque Country are very, very successful and continue, to be very successful. In fact, I think the athletic, which is the team that came in 2015, is playing for the Copa del Rey in Malaga.
What is the origin of the word Basque? I will get to that in just a minute. I will come right back to that. I'm just going to cover sports really quick. Other sports, Korea, which are, running races or racing and bicycle racing are common. Some of the most interesting sports, though, in the Basque culture.
And we see it once in a while around here, but it's a little more popular in Nevada and into California. Areas are some of the rural sports of weightlifting and wood chopping. But based on similar to the Highland Games, where a lot of that was chores of work, that they turned into games. And now has become professional athletes, playing against each other.
Similarly, fronton courts or ball courts, we have one that and we building next door to us has a polo court that players can play on. It's a ball game. Similar to if you could compare it to like, maybe racquetball or squash, just large scale, polo or pelota is most common with a wooden paddle, and a rubber ball.
We often in the photo in the background is of highlight, which we see on TV once in a while, but was more popular in the eastern U.S. and didn't really make too much of a mark here, with the exception of when it was, at the MGM in Las Vegas. Often, some of these sports we get to watch during haled, which is kind of the culmination of all of these wonderful pieces of the culture or sun and Nacho as well.
The Basque community here puts on a festival every July that brings dancing and food and music and in some cases, sports, specifically polo, but sometimes weightlifting or wood chopping as well, to the Basque block. And they share that with the community here. Community participates in street dances and everything in between. But then every five years we have what is called Hialeah Festival.
And Hildy is just that seems an amazing festival, just on a huge, huge scale. And dance groups and music groups come from the Basque Country to participate. Dance groups from around the US come, and we anticipate anywhere from 30 to 40,000 people participating in, a high all the event. And it's instead of a weeklong like seminars or weekend like seminars, it's typically a weeklong.
So we should have had it in 2020, but that coronavirus told us we couldn't. And so we will be having high in 2022, all things hopeful. Anyway, I'll just show you this quick video hopefully. Yeah. Well.
Maybe. I guess.
I guess I won't, but that is okay. Is not overly important. But I can answer some questions, and we have that one. The origin of the word Basque. Let me just stop sharing. So, you know, staring at something really random. Okay. The origin of the word Basque is it's French. They it is a French word that they put that they use to, explain who the Basques are.
The, the Spanish column. Basque. Those are mussels. Vasco. And so that's the interchangeable. But for whatever reason, in English, we chose the French word to, to talk about Basques. Yeah.
Doug Exton: So one of the questions that I had, how was the dynamic between the French and Spanish sides of the Basque Country? Especially during Franco's rule.
Annie Gavica: It's really interesting. It's really interesting because during Franco's rule, the Spanish side of the Basque Country was the side that couldn't be Basque and so kind of in secret, had to be Basque and, and so were more vocal and more blatantly proud of the culture. I think you would even see that if you compared it here in Idaho.
Most of the Basques here are from the Spanish side, specifically B Scala, where Bilbao is to Basques in, say, California, that are primarily from the French side of the Basque Country. But just a little bit more, I don't want to say loud and proud, but just a little more outgoing and wanting to tell you about it and teach you something about it.
Then, then others on the French side. During that same time, they were helping some of the Spanish Basque escape into France, in some cases feed them in other cases, but Basque was really never interrupted in that area. There's far fewer Basque people on the French side, but it wasn't really interrupted, the way it was on the Spanish side.
So it was just kind of a continuation. And still today, there's a lot of now on the French side of the Basque Country, you see Basque flags all over the place. And it's very, very proud to showcase that culture as well. And so it's a little more visually similar. But personally, city wise, I don't know, maybe that's pre Spanish Civil War too, I don't know, but just quieter.
Yeah. We're Basque and this is here and this is that. And then maybe on the Spanish side it's like, yes, let me tell you and come with me and have a, have a Kelly Rojo and let's do all of these things. So they really push to share it and continue it a little more. I think that makes sense.
Doug Exton: Yeah. And speaking of California, I know you have the new exhibit of Basques in California, so I was wondering if you'd be willing to talk about that for a little bit.
Annie Gavica: Yes, it is a really great exhibit. It is going to be open through part of the summer at least, so you have plenty of time to come see it. But we put this together based on some books from an author in the Basque Country, about specifically Basques in California. The history of Basques in California started in the early 1500s.
So a couple hundred years before Basques were in this area at all. But they started as missionaries coming from Spain into what is now Baja California and up into California. All the incredible missions that are in those beautiful missions that are built in California. There's about a dozen, nearly, I believe, that were built by and established by Basques.
And so they have such a strong, kind of roots there in the area that it talks about that kind of group and the agricultural group, the immigrated and then current day. And similar to the Boise area, there's incredible Basque restaurants throughout California from San Francisco, Fresno, Chino, Bakersfield, those places, and very, very committed groups that have dance groups or musicians or different things going as well.
But it kind of gives that big large scale photo or kind of picture of the Basque history in California.
Doug Exton: And since, Basque communities are kind of spread out across the world, you know, I would assume the communities in California are different than Idaho. You know, how do those groups interact with each other?
Annie Gavica: Yeah. So we're again, this group from Boise, there was a couple of people in Boise that knew couple in California and Nevada and got together in the 70s and said we should come up with a federation so that we can all work together. So this group's not working so independently to do this, and they're trying to do the same thing.
And we can, you know, share, share information, share resources. And so they created the North American Basque organization. And from that in the early 70s, we gather together three times a year. This Saturday we get to do it on zoom. So it'll be fun. We kind of just update each other on the goings on within music, dance, education, history, etc. and have kind of a concentrated effort to push all those out further and get more people involved and do different things.
And so as a whole, there's about, as I said earlier, about 45 clubs that have been involved in the North American Basque organization and then as groups closer together, like California or within Idaho or Nevada, they also get together kind of informally and work together as well, because they'll have something maybe a little more common. Or if they bring, say, a band over from the Basque Country or dance group, then it's really easy to have them travel in that little area.
So that works together in that way too.
Doug Exton: Nice. Another thing I was wondering if you could talk about is the impact of the culture, like specifically has had on Idaho as a state. And, you know, Idaho's cultural identity kind of slightly being intertwined with the Basques.
Annie Gavica: Yeah. So, in the early 1900s, when that big group of Basques were immigrating over here, the population of Idaho was very small. Less than a quarter million, if I'm not mistaken. But there were a lot of sheep ranchers here. And there's some statistic that there was more than 2 million sheep in the state and less than 250,000 people in the state.
And so, they needed a lot of people to work here and come here. And so there's quite a number concentrated number that came to this area, established themselves and became, kind of gained a good reputation, hard working, honest. And so it was probably easier for them to move on to other opportunities. They had that trustworthiness. So maybe they took another job here or they learned English a little bit better, so could build on to this a little easier.
And then as history progresses, we get more closer to current day. We have that second generation of Basques that don't have to do that because they went through school and finished at least a high school degree in many, most cases, and then to college. And so we had examples of those people doctors, lawyers, politicians, Pete Santa Rosa and Benny Sirsa, secretaries of state for the state of Idaho, were some of the longest running secretaries of state.
And so with that, the connection in and of itself that made with Idaho and the Basque community in the Basque Country is a very strong connection. And so there's often exchanges, political exchanges between Idaho, even sometimes the city of Boise, because Mayor Beta was prior to mayor McLean was of Basque ancestry as well. And so bringing people over and, showing different examples to each other of how things progress or how to build this versus that.
So there's a strong political bonds, there's a strong kind of work ethic. And, and bond. And then since 1900s so more than 100 years, just the presence I think has added to it. We are really lucky that we've worked with the city and have an entire block dedicated to the Basque culture. So that's, you know, says something to the of those that came before us and really put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into working really hard and being part of this community.
Doug Exton: And then what is the demographic of Basque people that currently have a job within, like the sheep ranching industry? You know, that kind of agricultural field, if you know that.
Annie Gavica: Yeah, there's not there's not a lot of people that are can that have continued in agriculture? In general, I mean, that's common across the United States. I'm an example of that. My family had a I had a ranch in Nevada before I moved up here. I wasn't in an interest of mine to continue that. So similarly with the Basques.
They few of them would, purchase their own sheep, maybe, and eventually have their own sheep ranches. They were working for sheep ranchers. There's a couple examples. One is the Dakota family has still has a very large sheep business here in, in the Idaho area, and we're quite successful. So there's bits and pieces here and there, but not to the extent or the involvement, as you know, 50 to 75 years ago.
Doug Exton: And do you think with that shift away, from like the agricultural ancestry, especially as the immigrant generation that moved here, you know, they're having kids and then their kids are having kids, you're moving further away from that. Is there kind of a loss of identity in that sense?
Annie Gavica: You know, I in probably in some cases, yes. And in some cases, no. There's a great thing. I do not remember who it was, so forgive me, but it's the, grandchild tries to remember what the grandparents are trying to forget. So that first generation came here and was just survival mode, trying to earn a living.
Put food on the table. Very basic. And then that second generation, their children was the group that I don't want you to be Basque. Don't speak of Sierra. Don't be different. You need to be as American as possible, because I don't want you to have the difficulties I did not knowing the language and things like that. Now, that third and fourth generation where we're at now is the group that are starting the restaurants here in Boise, or the dance, keeping the dancers going or keeping, you know, bits and pieces going, or are most involved in some of the things.
So there's a good push. There's definitely some that are. They are Basque because they have a Basque last name and that's all they know. But there's still quite a chunk that are carrying it on. And same in the Basque Country too. There's lots of, maritime industry in, in the Basque Country, of course, and it's becoming less and less of a need because there's commercial fishermen, fishermen and things like that, instead of the little tiny boats that they took out to get to get whatever.
So similarly, they're they're having that struggle as well. But then there's the few kind of that are keeping things going to kind of make up for it, I guess.
Doug Exton: And then where is the largest concentration of Basques in the US? Is it Boise?
Annie Gavica: Yeah, technically it depends on how you see it. There are far more Basques in California, but there's far more people in California. So the ratio of Basques non Basque is less. And in Idaho, I would say in Idaho has the highest concentration as a whole. And it's pretty obvious just visually in especially the Boise area where you see so much of them.
Doug Exton: Yeah, I can attest I've been to the Basque bloc and yes, you know, it's like, can you get around that corner? You definitely know you're in the Basque Bloc.
Annie Gavica: Absolutely. Yeah. There's no no denying it. You just can't see or anything. Or if you don't see it, you smell it. Yeah. Or like and onions cooking at the Basque market when they're making pie. Yeah for sure.
Doug Exton: I think kind of building off of the, you know, the colors and stuff. I know that the Basque flag has a lot of symbology behind it. So if you talk about the meaning behind the colors and everything.
Annie Gavica: Yeah. I don't know if, there's a specific connection. I mean, there's some things in the Basque culture with other cultures a little bit mysterious, but, from what I've read in a couple books, the, it's the Union Jack flag, right? It's, very simple design, but the white is the religion. The Catholicism is associated with the Basques because it's the flag that was put together in the 30s.
Maybe a little bit before that, but, then the red is the blood shed and the green is the land in the Basque Country. So that's what it supposedly represents. I don't know if that's not official statement, but that is what we've heard. And our told.
Doug Exton: And then what are ways for children to be involved in learning Basque culture through like dance, language and history, if there are any.
Annie Gavica: Yeah. So, really young children, preschool children can go to basically Costello, which is the Basque language immersion school that we have here. Well, on Broadway, but it's part of the Basque Museum. And we have two teachers that come every year from the Basque Country. So they have native speakers teaching them and prepping them for kindergarten.
But they're bilingual by the time they start kindergarten. Which Basque isn't overly helpful to know as a language? Most people would want to teach their children Spanish or French or things like that. But studies show that just learning any language that young helps them learn another language later. So that was our way of getting, the language in intertwined.
And about half of our kids are Basque industry, and the other ones aren't they just like the curriculum. They love the teachers. And you can get involved that way. We have things through the museum that kids can come to, and we have programs in the summer, like little mini camps and things that they can participate in. And then they can always come down on the block is blocked off something informal, and play games and do all of the other things that all the other kids are doing as well.
So there's a couple different things depending on the age.
Doug Exton: Yeah. And I know, more for the adult population. Boise State has a really great bass department.
Annie Gavica: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. If you're kind of that age or older. I would if you're really interested in some of their classes, auditing some of their seminars or their weekend classes, and they have a language program as well that's really great, great teachers over there too.
Doug Exton: And then circling back to the origin of the Basque language, you know, and how it's that isolated language with no, you know, definitive connection. Is there any, you know, current origin, at least theory that's out there right now, or is it still just kind of we really don't know.
Annie Gavica: There's both. There are, a lot of researchers, of course, doing loads of research, trying to figure out exactly. But what they know is the Basques have been in that area of the Basque Country, in the Pyrenees mountains, by the Bay of Biscay, more or less for thousands of years. There are one example is, a Basque flute.
It's called a cheese stew. They have found it made out of bone in caves. And, that has been that was dated to be 3000 years old. So that along with cave drawings and the connections that they have, historically, through stories and things, lead them to believe it was probably a larger area. But then as the Romans came through Spain or Visigoths or whoever was coming through at that time, push them into where we know the Basque Country now.
So as far as we know, they've been in that area more or less. It's a good question. Very good question.
Doug Exton: And, I just take a class at Boise State, you know, kind of talking about the Basques and stuff. So I'm wondering if you could touch on the religious component because the Basques weren't always Catholic, but nowadays, like, it's a very large, like component of their identity.
Annie Gavica: Primarily all Catholic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, especially here in the United States. But yeah, historically, like when the Romans came through Spain, they introduced Catholicism, Christianity in general to the Basques and we're not entirely sure how it works out, but they didn't take over the Basque community. I think they weren't really confident in the fact that they could take them over because of the Pyrenees mountains.
Then they weren't confident in completely overtaking them in that area. But there was a lot of, a lot of, intermingling and, with that came the alphabet that we know and write in, in English and Basque. That's where they started writing, when they started writing books in Basque, as well as Christianity. So prior to that, they were pagan and there's a lot of inter intermixing of both the, pagan traditions and the Christian traditions in the culture now.
And so prior to prior to that introduction of Christianity, it was a lot to do with, you know, the sun and the moon and the earth and very, very much connected to the Earth and nature. And and now as it's moved into Christianity for hundreds of years, we see a few things like, one example I always like to use is Saint John the Baptist Day, which is usually close to summer solstice.
The the Basque celebrates Basque summer solstice is what they call it. But they light fires all over on the beach, in the plazas, little, little tiny bonfires and it's on a Catholic holiday. But the idea is you have to jump over this fire three times to cleanse your spirit for the year and have good luck in the year.
So that aspect of pagan tradition and the Christian and then Christianity kind of melded together as a, as one. So it's a really interesting combination of how it kind of works, however it is. Yeah, yeah.
Doug Exton: And I always thought, you know, those the pagan traditions kind of, you know, bleeding into Christian traditions and how they mingle together. So it's just such a fascinating it's really a thing because it's yeah, it happens in every culture. It's not just limited to the Basques.
Annie Gavica: Yeah, probably. Yeah. That's just more what I'm, I'm familiar with and super interesting. And if, if someone in that spoke English were to ever do some research on that because there's a few books on it in Basque or Spanish. So there's some, there's a good project there. If anybody needs a master, for that.
Doug Exton: And speaking of master's projects, have the Basques ever established their own college or university outside of the Basque Country?
Annie Gavica: No, but they have a really great exchange program with, some U.S. universities. So the example is, Boise State has a good relationship with them and has a couple of professors that come over. But then, engineering students often come over from the Basque Country and, do their PhD program here in Boise. And then through the University of Nevada in Reno, they have, some professorships, I believe, and, master's programs and, and, things like that where they make those connections.
But they've never established a university here. I don't know that it's fully necessary just because the other ones have taken on the Basque studies programs, and so not overly necessary, but it will be interesting.
Doug Exton: And then, circling back to Catholicism within the Basque Country is Easter Holy Week a big thing for the Basques in Spain, you know, in the same way. And Scala is. And the rest of Spain.
Annie Gavica: Yes. Yeah. They have, a lot of processions like you see in, in Spain and Italy and kind of all those, European countries that are really known for their Catholic traditions, but with the huge, statues that they carry and things like that. And I'm, I'm assuming that was taken from the Spanish or whoever brought it in and they've incorporated into, into their communities and things as well.
So, yeah, they have a lot of similar ones for sure.
Doug Exton: And unfortunately, that is the last question that we will have time for tonight. Yes, I really would. Yeah, I would definitely encourage everyone that's here to not only check out the Basque museums website, but also if you are in Boise and you are able to to definitely go and visit the museum. I know they have a few exhibits that are going to be opening up in the near future that I think will be amazing.
So yeah, definitely sign up for our newsletter and everything.
Annie Gavica: Yeah. And if there's any questions, I don't think we got to maybe all of them. I'm not sure if you need some more questions answered. I am happy to answer those. You can call or email me at the Basque Museum any time.
Doug Exton: And then also, we did have one last minute question. This is being recorded and it will be, probably tomorrow or in two days. So I will be emailing out the link to everyone that has joined, just in case I had to leave partway through. Or they just wanted to re listen.
Annie Gavica: Very cool. Thank you.
Doug Exton: So yeah. Have a good night everyone.