euskalkultura.eus

Another edition of San Sebastian was experienced in Necochea, organized by the local Euskal Etxea and with the participation, as every year, of the locals and friends from other cities and Basque clubs.  A January without a rest for members of the Euzko Etxea, who also prepared a week before traditional Basque dishes at the city’s Communites Fair.  

Necochea, Argentina.   After a year full of activities that peaked on November 11-13 with the main events of Semana Nacional Vasca 2016, Euzko Etxea of Necocheadidn’t take a break in January and represented the Basque Country at the local Communities Fair.

The 15th edition of the Fair took place at the French Garden in the Miguel Lillo Park where each group provided the public a variety of typical dishes and artistic performances.  In the case of the Basque club, a large group of cooks and helpers worked hard for three days to provide visitors with txistorra, sandwiches and pintxos.

San Sebastián 2017

The Necochea Basque Club also joins in the festivities in honor of the patron of Donostia and does so by celebrating for two days. On Friday January 20^th the day began with mass at the Our Lady of Lourdes in Villa Balnearia and continued with a large Tamborrada in the church’s atrium, accompanied by the Municipal Band.

After the Tamborrada, musicians and the public celebrated Pintxo Eguna, or Pintxo Day at the Basque club.  In the evening, traditional music was provided by Otxote Osasuna.  The celebration continued on Saturday, the 21^st, with a huge paella and another Tamborrada.  Saturday evening, Victor Fernandez was elected club mayor for another year, “recognizing his uninterrupted commitment to the club since he first joined the dancers in 1941 until today,” Kitty Zubillaga told EuskalKultura.com.

Long tradition

The tradition of celebrating San Sebastian is one of the most important activities at the Necochea Basque Club that strives every year to approach, symbolically, what is being experienced at the same time in the Gipuzkoan capital.  Among the efforts that the Euskal Etxea has carried out, besides counting every year on a large number of musicians prepared to play the Tamborrada, it should be noted that since 2014, the club has recreated Constitution Plaza at its facilities.

This year, there was one more thing, and that was that the txikis were dressed in typical and original costumes like those used in Donostia.  “Even if this costumes debuted during Semana Nacional 2016, this was the first San Sebastian that they were used by the children, it was a donation from Summa, a union of three schools in Donostia, through the collaboration of the Gaztelubide Society, and especially Iñaki Almandoz, and Javier Madariaga, among others” Xabier Zubillaga explained to EuskalKultura.com.

As the festivities have surpassed the city limits and has reached other cities, every year it is attended by representatives from various euskal etxeak.  In 2017, Eduardo Olivetto from Laurak Bat in Buenos Aires and Alvaro Ocariz from the San Nicolas Basque club joined the ranks of drummers.