N.A.B.O. is a
federation of Basque entities, and thus does not have individual
people as members. Our federation membership guidelines
are posted at
Joining NABO
Below, however, are comments that address some of the issues
that individual clubs/entities deal with regarding accepting
individual people as members.
In our federation of clubs we have
a wide spectrum of membership requirements for member
organizations. Some clubs require that a person be of Basque
descent (some have gone to 1/16 or fifth generation) while other
clubs waive Basque descent and take whoever shows an interest in
joining. Some clubs began as only male or female, but most
today are mixed.
NABO does not dictate the terms of individual requirements for
member organizations. To look into joining our federation
click on
Joining NABO
Those clubs requiring Basque
descent, are one by one, having to take a look at their
membership requirements because of what you mention: a slow
trickle of new Basques coming into town, while generation after
generation the Basque link shrinks. Some have found a
compromise by allowing non-Basque spouses to be full members.
Frankly, things are moving in just
one direction: fewer and fewer Basques marry other Basques. To
survive, we will have to adapt to this reality and find ways of
better integrating non-Basques who wish to share a part of our
heritage. But that is not today, and it depends from community
to community. You know best your own dynamics there, but in
NABO, as stated above, we have a mix of both.
