subject: Who Are Basques [print this page] The Basques are a people who live in the northern part of Spain, in the Pyrenees Mountains, and in southern France, on the other side of the mountains. The three small provinces' or states of Alava, Vizcaya, and Guipuzcoa, in northern Spain, are called the Basque Provinces because most of the Basque people live there. The Basques have dark hair and eyes, and are usually of stocky build and medium height. Basques are not related to the Spanish or French people. Nobody has ever been able to discover where they originally came from, or how they got to northern Spain and southern France. They learn Spanish in school, but it is not their native tongue. Their own language is different from Spanish and from every other language in the world. The Basques are all Roman Catholics and are very religious. St. Ignatius of Loyola, who started the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), was a Basque. St. Francis Xavier, a priest who went to India and Japan to convert the natives to Christianity, four hundred years ago, was also a Basque. The Basques are fine sailors and excellent fishermen. Most Basques live on small hilly farms and work very hard for their living. They grow wheat and vegetables, and raise cattle and sheep. There are some Basque shepherds in the western part of the United States. They take care of large herds of American sheep. The little cap called a beret comes from the Basques, and most of the men still wear it. The fast and exciting game called jai-alai is the national game of the Basques. It is played against a wall, as handball is, but the players wear wicker basket scoops on their arms and use them to drive the hard rubber pelota (ball) against the wall.
