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Korrika coming to Boise: What it means for Basque culture in Idaho and around the world

The local edition of the Korrika relay is happening Saturday, April 2.

BOISE, Idaho — The Basque Country, geographically, is located in northeastern Spain and southeastern France along the Bay of Biscay, but the cultural and familial ties stretch across oceans and continents -- all the way to Idaho. For that reason, and for the sake of the Basque language, Boise is joining the celebration of Korrika on Saturday, April 2.

Korrika is an 11-day relay around the Basque Country. The first run took place in 1980 between Oñati and Bilbao. It was organized by AEK to promote the Basque language and raise funds for AEK Basque language schools.

Edurne Arostegui, education programs specialist with the Boise Basque Museum & Cultural Center, talked about the significance of keeping the Basque language alive.

"This language -- we don't know the exact dates, but we know it's quite ancient," Arostegui said. "It definitely predates Spanish and French, and was spoken pretty widely in the Basque Country."

However, the Basque language was for all intents and purposes banned in the Basque homeland during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, who rose to power during the Spanish Civil War, and ruled Spain from the late 1930s until his death in 1975.

"A lot of people who lived in the cities were not able to maintain the language. It was not taught in schools, and it was very much discouraged. In some villages, there were signs outside where it said, 'speak, don't bark,' and barking would refer to the fact that they were speaking in Basque," Arostegui said. "What's interesting here in the Diaspora -- here in Boise in particular, but in all the different communities here in the United States -- Basque was never banned. So they continued speaking it here and it flourished. You look around and we have so many different people who speak Basque from the get-go, when they speak Basque and they speak English, (but) they don't speak Spanish, they don't speak French. So it's due to the Diaspora to a certain extent that this language was able to be maintained during those dark times."

The 2022 edition of Korrika began Thursday, March 31, and is streaming live right now. It will cover more than 1,240 miles and it won't stop for a moment. As Korrika participants run, they pass a baton with a message hidden inside. The message is revealed and read aloud at the end of the event. 

Boise's version of Korrika is set for 11 a.m. on the Basque Block in downtown Boise. That's on Grove Street between 6th Street and Capitol Boulevard. The 3-mile run will proceed along Grove to 3rd, then to Julia Davis Park and along Capitol back to the Basque Block. Batons will be filled with messages written by students at Boiseko Ikastola, Boise's Basque preschool. At the end of the run, the baton messages will be read in a celebration that will include food, drink and live music. Those interested may register here, or just show up. A donation of $10 for the preschool is suggested, but there is no fee to participate.

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