Basque cultural reinassance

In spite of the fact that the end of the 19th century around 90% of the population was Basque speaking and, more to the point, around 80% were monolingual, that is to say, they didn’t speak Spanish, Basque culture was mainly passed on orally without any official status. The majority of the few texts that exist in Euskera are religious, not literary. Signs that cultural traditions in the Basque language were being taken up by the elite coincided with the loss of the fueros, although paradoxically their defence of Basque was made in Spanish.

Within this context the Juegos Florales (Flower Games), initiated by Antoine d’Abbadie in Iparralde, played a key role. In 1879 they crossed the frontier and were held in Elizondo, Navarra, and that same year were also held in Donostia. They were literary competitions in Euskera (improvised verses and other forms of writing), sporting events, folklore and so on. The magazine “Euskal-Erria” became the voice of the “Consistorio de Juegos Florales Euskaros de San Sebastián”, a commission established by the local authority and the Diputación. This commission also organised other activities, such as putting bilingual signs in the streets in 1896 and including Basque speaking teachers in the provinces’ schools.

In this cultural and literary effervescence in the last quarter of the 19th century, known as the “Euskal pizkundea”, Euskera was progressively gaining ground. This movement reaches its decisive moment in the 20th century with the promotion of many different dimensions of the Basque language, culture and history: literature, music, bertsolarism, education, literacy, investigation, etc., Together with the creation of some of the most important institutions of current Basque society (Eusko Ikaskuntza, Euskaltzendia, etc.)