Ar Redadeg (

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

for ''The Race'') is a

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of Race track, racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in runni ...

modelled on the Basque

Korrika Korrika (Basque for ''running'') is a biennial event in the Basque Country that creates awareness of AEK’s adult Basque language curriculum and Basque language, and is also a fund raiser; AEK is an adult education organisation for the tea ...

. It takes place around

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

over three days and three nights from ''Naoned'' (Nantes) to ''Karaez'' (

Carhaix Carhaix-Plouguer (; br, Karaez-Plougêr ), commonly known as just Carhaix (), is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Finistère, region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, France.

). Its aim is to raise funds each year to finance a project promoting the

Breton language Breton (, ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of t ...

. While the Korrika has taken place every two years since 1980, this is the first Redadeg to be organised started on April 30, 2008. The runners covered some at an average speed of per hour. The route for Ar Redadeg was planned so it would go through the five Breton

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

s: ''Penn-ar-Bed'' (

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

), ''Aodoù-an-Arvor'' (

Côtes-d'Armor The Côtes-d'Armor (, ; ; br, Aodoù-an-Arvor, ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord ( br, Aodoù-an-Hanternoz, link=no, ), are a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582.

), ''Mor-Bihan'' (

Morbihan Morbihan ( , ; br, Mor-Bihan ) is a department in the administrative region of Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastli ...

, the only one to have been given a Breton name in French), Il-ha-Gwilen (

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.

) and Liger-Atlantel (

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...

). Note that the latter is not included in the

region of Brittany Brittany (french: Bretagne ; br, Breizh ); Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is the westernmost regions of France, region of Metropolitan France. It covers about four fifths of the territory of the historic province of Brittany. Its capit ...

, as defined by the French authorities, even though it is historically a part of Brittany. Starting the race in Naoned (Nantes), the

préfecture In France, a prefecture (french: préfecture) may be: * the ''chef-lieu de département'', the commune in which the administration of a department is located; * the ''chef-lieu de région'', the commune in which the administration of a region is l ...

of Liger-Atlantel is therefore highly significant. At the end of every kilometre, runners would pass each other a baton containing a message to be read in Karaez at the end of the race. One fund-raising method in this event is payment by each runner of 100 euros for the privilege of bearing the baton over a kilometre. The funds raised in the 2008 edition of the race will benefit the Diwan Schools, through which the French Ministry of Education curriculum is taught using the Breton language. The itinerary went through as many towns and cities as possible where Diwan schools are operating. French governments have traditionally refused to give official status to any of the many languages spoken in France such as Alsatian,

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

, Corsican,

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

(

West Flemish West Flemish (''West-Vlams'' or ''West-Vloams'' or ''Vlaemsch'' (in French-Flanders), nl, West-Vlaams, french: link=no, flamand occidental) is a collection of Dutch dialects spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and t ...

) and

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...

, to mention only the better known continental ones. Instead, some acknowledgement was given to some of these languages (such as Breton) under the form of bilingual road signs and some teaching of regional languages on a voluntary basis. In spite of its linguistic and cultural diversity, and appeals made by linguistic minorities for granting of official status for their languages, France only lists French as its official language, while

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, for example, has granted official status to

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

(as an official language of

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

) and

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

(in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

), along with

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

(in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

).Henriette Walter, L'Aventure de Langues en Occident, list of the official languages of Europe and their official status, pp 31-34. The existence of schools such as Diwan plays an essential role in the efforts made to pass the Breton language on to new generations, but the lack of an official status for the language they promote weakens their position.

In other countries

*the

in the Basque Country *the

Correllengua The Correllengua ({{IPA-ca, korəˈʎeŋɡwə, ec) is a campaign that is held annually in the Catalan Countries. Created in 1993 by cultural Catalan association '' Coordinadora d'Associacions per la Llengua Catalana'' (CAL), it has the aim of pro ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

Rith Rith () is a relay race organised in support of the Irish language. It was held for the first time in 2010 and coincided with Seachtain na Gaeilge, the Week of the Irish Language. It started in Galway and finished in Belfast, traversing both the Re ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

References

*Henriette Walter, l'Aventure des Langues en Occident, Robert Laffont, (1994), p 33. On the official language of France.

External links

*Official Redadeg website: https://www.ar-redadeg.bzh/ Breton sport and leisure Breton language Recurring events established in 2008 Relay processions