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The Euskal Etxea in Cuba celebrated a huge Aberri Eguna celebration on March 27 that gathered some 330 people including members, friends and visitors from the Basque Country.  In addition, the Basque club also organized a Basque Week, with conferences and cultural activities that featured the importance of Euskera, “the identity of our country,” in the words of club president, Renato Garcia Egusquiza. 

Havana, Cuba. Aberri Eguna in Cuba gets bigger year after year, and with such a well-attended event it was a great success, as it has been in recent years.  “After making ourselves more open to associations interested in the Basque Country, and above all to the Cubans, including also some foreigners, that want to know more about the history and current situation of Euskal Herria, we are getting bigger, although we still face economic challenges,” Renato Garcia Eguskiza, club president told EuskalKultura.com.

This year, 2016, Aberri Eguna was dedicated Durango’s book and music fair – Durangoko Azoka on its 50th year. The festival was attended on Sunday by some 330 people including members, Basques based in Cuba, Cuban friends as well as Basque visiting from the Basque Country.

The day began with an Aurresku, done by Basque club dancers and one Cuban.  Afterwards, the choir made up of Basque students from the club sang various songs.  Next, the president of the Peña Athletik Kuba, thanked everyone present and then club president, Renato Garcia Egusquiza, talked about the first Aberri Egunas celebrated in Havana.

“At that time there were not more than 7 or 8 people who got together to celebrate,” Eguizquiza said.  “Today, we almost can’t fit all the Basques that represent the Diaspora; the Basques who came here at a very young age, for different reasons, almost always due to war; the children and grandchildren of these and friends that have always selflessly helped us to maintain the culture and the history of such a small, but at the same time gigantic country.”

The festivities continued with a raffle for the txikis, an exhibition of repentistas and bertsolaris, and a performance by singers Ray Fernandez and the Gema duo, all accompanied by “beer, wine and Cuban rum.”

Besides Aberri Eguna, the Basque club also celebrated Basque Week, with cultural and social activities that included a talk by Nekane Goikoetxea, Professor from Mondragon University.  Goikoetxea gave a talk on Basque culture emphasizing the importance of Euskera.