"Hizkuntza bat ez da galtzen,
ez dakitenek ikasten ez dutelako,
dakitenek hitz egiten ez dutelako baizik.” -Joxean
Artze
Once a year
there is day set aside for the celebration of Euskara--the Basque
language. This annual NABO event goes to our three
part goal of making Euskara
"visible, viable & vital."
Officially Dec. 3rd (that coincides with the feast-day
of St. Francis Xabier the Basque missionary who went to
Asia) it is rotated here depending on what community is
hosting the event.
The first
celebration was in 1949 when various Basque
organizations around the world inaugurated the event.
It was formalized in 1995 at the World Basque Congress
of Basque Collectives along with the
Autonomous Basque
Government
of Euskadi and the Basque language academy
Euskaltzaindia.
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"All
languages are used all hours and days of the
years. That's certain, but what is also clear is
that not all languages find themselves in the
same circumstances: some have multitudes of
speakers and others few; some are vigorous and
growing while others are not. There are
also some languages, that against the odds, have
somehow endured across the millennia. That
is why we celebrate every December 3rd the
International Day of Euskara."
-Lehendakari Juan Jose Ibarretxe
President of the Autonomous Basque Government
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