Personal accounts of the lifestyle, farming traditions and local fiestas in the Basque Country villages of the Spanish Pyrenees.

A Portrait of an English Mother in a Basque Pyrenean Sheep Shed. Autumn 2005

Friday, 15 April 2011 / Published in Basque Lifestyle, Bilingual Families, Wildlife of the Pyrenees
I dug this paragraph out from my writings years ago when Marion was just 1 year old and it reminds me of many of those tiny cultural differences that I suppose I now take for granted. We wake up reeking of the raw onion on the dressing table …..Amatxi’s solution for Marion’s cough. It works but we

The Basque House – a mixed blessing.

Tuesday, 15 March 2011 / Published in Basque Culture and Tradition, Basque Lifestyle
My neighbour's house, Zubialdea
Over the past decades I have come to realise just how important a role the Basque farmhouse (etxea) plays in the Basque culture. When the final roof tile is put into place, a sprig of bay leaves is tucked into the eaves above the front door and the house is given its name. It is

Life on a Basque Farm (as I never knew it)

Wednesday, 02 March 2011 / Published in Basque Lifestyle, Spanish-English differences
My dear neighbour and friend, Sagrario, lives on the Basque farm next door and is 47 years old. She is more or less of my generation – or so you would think until you heard the stories of her childhood. Only then do I realise the true extent of the cultural abyss between us. Sagrario

Mummy, I can’t speak English! (The languages used between bilinguals).

Monday, 21 February 2011 / Published in Basque Lifestyle, Bilingual Families, The Basque Language
Marion at school in local peasant dress
On Friday, I sent an e-mail to François Grosjean, Emeritus Professor of Psycholinguistics, from the University of Neuchatel, about my 6-year-old daughter, Marion, and her tri-lingualism. Within hours François had emailed me a very personal reply of which I was extremely appreciative and had me mulling over the characteristics and quirks of her tri-lingual nature

Carnivals of Ituren & Zubieta 2011

Wednesday, 09 February 2011 / Published in Basque Culture and Tradition, Basque Food, Basque Lifestyle, Ituren carnivals
Bears in the plaza during the Ituren carnivals
Ituren Carnival: 31st January 2011 After a mug of hot broth, (caldo), traditionally made from boiled pork and chickens feet, we climbed the steps to the attic rooms above the town hall and plunged into a frenzy of bells and ropes, of sheep’s skins and brightly-coloured swaddling ribbons. No, don’t be misled by the pretty pinks

Carnival Time Again – The Bustle of Life in Ameztia

Thursday, 20 January 2011 / Published in Basque Culture and Tradition, Basque Lifestyle, Ituren carnivals
The home of the Joaldunak
I just popped in on Amatxi yesterday and she was bent double over the kitchen table taking in the waist on her grandson’s lace petticoats. Carnival time is coming .. by far the most exciting and loved moment of the year for our village of Ituren.  There is a general buzz everywhere, groups of youths congregating in farm sheds and clinks