Basque Architecture

The Basque Country is a cross-border cultural region that has a distinctive culture including its own language, customs, festivals, and music.

The Basques living in the territory are primarily represented by the symbol of the flag Ikurriña, as well as the Lauburu cross and the Zazpiak Bat coat of arms. The ''Gernikako Arbola'' and the '' Agur Jaunak'' are its most recognizable anthems in music, and the oak its most revered tree (cf. the aforementioned Tree of Gernika).

Despite their present conspicuous secularization, the Basques have been Catholics for centuries. However, they owe much of their religious festivals to ancestral beliefs and pagan sites, sometimes extending as late as the 15th century. Saint Miguel, Saint Mary, Saint John and Saint Peter are its most worshiped and ancient cults, while during the Modern period new saints came into being, notably Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Francis Xavier.

Language

The traditional Basque districts are home to Basque, an ergative language. However, Basque has showed a receding trend, and it is nowadays a minority language due mainly to political fragmentation, with higher usage intensity in Biscay, Gipuzkoa, northern-western Navarre, and western sub-Pyrenean areas of the Pyrénées Atlantiques. Spanish and French remain the most widely used everyday communication languages in their respective administrative districts, with the legal status of Basque varying depending on the area.

Basque medium education is provided for by the Ikastola Federation, and sometimes the public network. It is the main linguistic option in the Basque Autonomous Community, while in some areas of the French Basque Country and Navarre its presence is small. Town councils operating in Basque clustered around the consortium UEMA for mutual support and legal assistance.

Literature

Literature in the Basque Country may refer to the literature made in Basque, Spanish, and French. Basque, historically the primary language of the territory at either side of current French-Spanish border, was not prone to be written until the early Modern Period, aside some short poems (''Beotibarko gudua''), letters (between Navarrese high-ranking officials in the early 15th century), loose phrases, and notations. Stories and poems were transmitted down generations by oral tradition. The official Spanish and French languages were preferred (often compulsory) for written works starting in the 16th century. However, the coming of the printer allowed for the first glossy Basque literary sprouts to spring up (Bernard Etxepare with ''Linguae vasconum primitiae'', 1545; Joanes Leizarraga) in the mid-16th century.

The Royal Basque Society fostered arts and literature in the late 18th century. Much of Basque literature was ''costumbrismo'' literature (''Garoa'' by Txomin Agirre, 1912), or Romantic historic novels like ''Amaya o los vascos en el siglo VIII'' by Navarro Villoslada (1879) and, especially in Basque, often aimed at Catholic indoctrination up to the Second Republic period, but plays, lyric poems in bertso metre ( Bilintx, Joan Batista Elizanburu, the Lore Jokoak festivals), and press articles were also produced. Meanwhile, Spanish language writers started to stand out in the context of the 1898 crisis, figures such as Unamuno and Pio Baroja (''El árbol de la ciencia'', 1911), hailing from urban areas like Bilbao and Donostia.

After the barren postwar years, a new generation set an innovative trend along the lines of contemporary European literature, authors like Txillardegi (influenced by existentialism), Ramon Saizarbitoria, Gabriel Aresti in Basque, or works in Spanish like '' Tiempo de silencio'', as well as Ignacio Aldecoa and Blas de Otero (''Pido la paz y la palabra'', 1955 (1975)) with their social realism. A committed literature approach appeared unavoidable in the social and political context of Franco's dictatorship. However, the trend towards diversification in genres and styles was confirmed during the 80s and 90s with the emergence of regional editorial houses, and authors as diverse as Joseba Sarrionandia (''Ni ez naiz hemengoa'', 1985), Bernardo Atxaga (''Obabakoak'', 1988), Pako Aristi, Aingeru Epalza (in Basque), or Toti Martinez de Lezea, Miguel Sanchez Ostiz and Espido Freire in Spanish. In the 90s and on into the 2000s, Marie Darrieussecq from Bayonne should be highlighted in French language literature.

Music

Music in the Basque Country has evolved from its historic characteristic instruments (txistu, xirula, trikitixa, etc.) and singing traditions to include a whole range of musical options in step with a modern European context. Popular tunes have been closely related to the ''bertso'' tradition, but the tunes used are often variations of a common European folk music heritage. The coming of the Enlightenment and the Royal Basque Society saw attempts of establishing an upper status music, e.g. bringing more dignity to the txistu, and technically developing it.

This trend toward a more sophisticated music catering to the upper classes saw its heyday in the early 20th century, with acclaimed composers like Jesus Guridi or Jose Maria Usandizaga (who held friendship ties with the French Basque Maurice Ravel), featuring Basque topic zarzuelas, operas, and operettas. In the run-up to the golden age of the opera theatres (Victoria Eugenia, Teatro Gayarre, Teatro Arriaga), among individual singers, Julián Gayarre from Roncal struck a chord in the opera scene. Local choirs and ''ochotes'' also developed. This is a period of strong influence of the ''costumbrismo'' and overall nationalist motifs.

In the early 1960s, the seeds of the Basque music revival were sown at either side of the French-Spanish border with new young figures eager to sing their ideals (Mixel Labeguerie, Benito Lertxundi, etc.), incorporating the guitar as musical instrument. Radio and television (ever more local) provided the springboard for numerous groups, and in the early 80s punk music saw a surge in the Southern Basque Country, crystallizing in a strong musical movement ('' Basque Radical Rock''). Basque traditional music has come to integrate new influences and technical innovations (Tapia eta Leturia, Kepa Junkera, etc.), while many pop-rock bands have confirmed their own paths and even go international, groups as diverse as Gatibu, Barricada">Gatibu">Allmusic ...