- Joined
- Aug 4, 2009
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- 6,234
Adventure travel isn't just about racing mutinous armies across borders and over evaluating survival gear. This is why the HEST should keep the bottle opener... the human aspect.
I love celebrating cultures-especially cool ones. In today's generation of one world order, everything for the sake of international business and streamlining money making, it seems as though all the beauty of foreign heritage gets washed under the carpet and the ugly side is all we see.
I remember watching Native American canoe races and totum pole carving competitions on Lake Bemidji in Minnesota growing up, and Scandinavian festivals all over northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and I miss them alot. Unfortunately I think one of the side effects of our 'melting pot' is that all of the benefits of having multiple peoples in one country is that all our differences get supressed, whereas they should be the forefront.
This week, Jaialdi, the largest Basque festival in the world, is going on downtown Boise. I've never seen such a beautiful display of humanity in my life. There is archaeological proof of Basque ancestry going back tens of thousands of years, and it's amazing how much of their culture has been preserved throughout that time. They have their own language, government, flag, instruments, music, dances, food, beer... all from a tiny little chunk of mountain and coastal land on the borders of France and Spain. I enjoyed the best piece of lamb I'll ever have in my life last night over a sorghum beer. Mostly consisting of sheep herders and mountain farmers, Basque peoples naturally settled in Idaho and Nevada, though as a whale fishing society, they supposedly beat Columbus to the Americas.
Euskal, their language, is nothing like anything I've ever heard before. People say grammatically and phonetically it's about as far away from English as you can get. Still, even coming from a tiny chunk of land, and a population of at the most 3 million people, they are extremely unique, and proud of it. I've been doing my best to understand what's going on through the language barrier, and I'm sure I'd enjoy it ten times more if I could understand what everyone is saying, Thank God there's always something that crosses cultures-people love beer, music, food, dancing and smoking. Last night a circle of about 20 people came out of the woodwork and started playing wooden spoons. I don't know how anyone can take 20 random people with wooden spoons and orchestrate music with no real direction, but it happened. Everyone seems to know every word from all their cultural music, and apparently there's ALOT. All day long, someone is singing somewhere and it's resonating on the streets. They also beat on wooden planks with sticks used for making cider and communicating with other villages, almost like tribal drums. Very flashy, unique. And everyone knows how to dance! Lots of pretty long black haired girls barefooted in sundresses with dark tan skin, dancing constantly. Yesterday there was a tree chopping contest- a short skinny kid whacked through a 14 inch thick tree in three strokes. I bet the axe he used was at LEAST 50 years old.
The whole ordeal is like a scene straight from the Shire in Lord of the Rings. Short, stout people, with children playing in the streets and grumpy old folks reminiscing while everyone in between is either preparing for the party or enjoying it. They even dress similar. It seems as though shyness goes straight out the window for the sake of celebration, no one seems reserved or self conscious. People that really understand enjoying life for what it is.
Anyone else have similar examples of experiencing other cultures? I think this is just flat out cool. Unfortunately this festival only happens once every five years, though I think it should never stop. I'll be spending more time in the Basque bars, that's for sure.
Pictures to come...
I love celebrating cultures-especially cool ones. In today's generation of one world order, everything for the sake of international business and streamlining money making, it seems as though all the beauty of foreign heritage gets washed under the carpet and the ugly side is all we see.
I remember watching Native American canoe races and totum pole carving competitions on Lake Bemidji in Minnesota growing up, and Scandinavian festivals all over northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and I miss them alot. Unfortunately I think one of the side effects of our 'melting pot' is that all of the benefits of having multiple peoples in one country is that all our differences get supressed, whereas they should be the forefront.
This week, Jaialdi, the largest Basque festival in the world, is going on downtown Boise. I've never seen such a beautiful display of humanity in my life. There is archaeological proof of Basque ancestry going back tens of thousands of years, and it's amazing how much of their culture has been preserved throughout that time. They have their own language, government, flag, instruments, music, dances, food, beer... all from a tiny little chunk of mountain and coastal land on the borders of France and Spain. I enjoyed the best piece of lamb I'll ever have in my life last night over a sorghum beer. Mostly consisting of sheep herders and mountain farmers, Basque peoples naturally settled in Idaho and Nevada, though as a whale fishing society, they supposedly beat Columbus to the Americas.
Euskal, their language, is nothing like anything I've ever heard before. People say grammatically and phonetically it's about as far away from English as you can get. Still, even coming from a tiny chunk of land, and a population of at the most 3 million people, they are extremely unique, and proud of it. I've been doing my best to understand what's going on through the language barrier, and I'm sure I'd enjoy it ten times more if I could understand what everyone is saying, Thank God there's always something that crosses cultures-people love beer, music, food, dancing and smoking. Last night a circle of about 20 people came out of the woodwork and started playing wooden spoons. I don't know how anyone can take 20 random people with wooden spoons and orchestrate music with no real direction, but it happened. Everyone seems to know every word from all their cultural music, and apparently there's ALOT. All day long, someone is singing somewhere and it's resonating on the streets. They also beat on wooden planks with sticks used for making cider and communicating with other villages, almost like tribal drums. Very flashy, unique. And everyone knows how to dance! Lots of pretty long black haired girls barefooted in sundresses with dark tan skin, dancing constantly. Yesterday there was a tree chopping contest- a short skinny kid whacked through a 14 inch thick tree in three strokes. I bet the axe he used was at LEAST 50 years old.
The whole ordeal is like a scene straight from the Shire in Lord of the Rings. Short, stout people, with children playing in the streets and grumpy old folks reminiscing while everyone in between is either preparing for the party or enjoying it. They even dress similar. It seems as though shyness goes straight out the window for the sake of celebration, no one seems reserved or self conscious. People that really understand enjoying life for what it is.
Anyone else have similar examples of experiencing other cultures? I think this is just flat out cool. Unfortunately this festival only happens once every five years, though I think it should never stop. I'll be spending more time in the Basque bars, that's for sure.
Pictures to come...
