|
|
||
|
|
A New Fronton Do you know where the newest fronton in the American West was built? You are probably wrong – the answer is Grand Junction, Colorado. Mr. Jean Urruty, the main organizer of Basque events in the Grand Junction area, decided that the twelfth annual festival of the Western Colorado Basque Association, held last October, ought to include handball competition. He asked Mesa College for use of their athletic facilities, but was denied permission. Jean, therefore, decided to build a fronton on his own land and at his own expense. In an interview with the local newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, Urruty declared, “I’ve played every day of my life and I can beat everybody at Mesa College, even the coaches, even if I am 75 years old.” Jean extends an open invitation to anyone who would like to use the court. Photo Exhibit We are pleased to announce that photo-archivist Richard Lane has completed an exhibit of fifty still life photographs documenting the life of the Basque sheepherder. Dr. Lane has photographed herders throughout the American West, supported in part by grants from the Banco de Vizcaya and the National Endowment of the Arts. The first showing of the exhibit is scheduled for the Northeastern Nevada Museum in Elko. It will run from June 26 to July 31, 1979. Any organization interested in arranging for a showing in its area should contact the Basque Studies Program for further information. Basque Studies in Scotland We recently heard from Professor Douglas Gifford of the Centre for Latin American and Linguistic Studies of the University of St. Andrews (St. Andrews, Scotland). Professor Gifford uncovered the earliest medieval Basque language text discovered to date and published his findings in the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Vol. XLI, 4 (1964), (“A White Paternoster in Basque”). He notes that at St. Andrews over the years there have been several students with an interest in Basque. The University, therefore, allows a student to emphasize Basque studies in the three hour qualifying M.A. honors examination. One of the requirements is that the student be capable of translating Basque texts and writing a short story in the language. The North American Basque Festival On August 25 and 26, 1979 the San Francisco Basque
Club will sponsor the North American Basque Festival at the Fort Mason,
Pier 2 facility of the City of San Francisco (located between the
Marina and Fisherman’s Wharf). The festivities will begin on the 25th
at 11 a.m. with a parade from Ghirardelli Square along Hyde and Beach
streets. At 12 noon, there will be an opening ceremony. A variety of
exhibits and athletic events will be open to the public until 6 p.m.
There will be a dinner and dance that evening. The next day’s events
will begin with a mass at 9 a.m. There will be a barbecue lunch and the
festivities will last until 7 p.m. Activities will include weight lifting, weight
carrying, sheep hooking, a sheep dog competition, bread making, Basque
culinary arts, wool spinning, a tug-of-war, singing groups, folk
dancing, bertsolaris, handball competition, and the finals of the
international mus tournament with representatives from Europe
and Latin America. There will also be a rare books display, a photo and
art exhibition, a sheep camp exhibit, and continuous slide showings and
films on Basque life. |
|
|
|
|
