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Co-organized by the Parisian association “Navarra Siempre,” the Cultural Week took place on Saturday and Sunday, November 18-19, and on Saturday, November 25, with another event planned for Saturday, December 9th; there, the religious, Pedro Meca Zuazu, originally from Villava who passed away in 2015, and a well-known figure in Paris as “the chaplain of the vagabonds in Paris,” will be honored for his commitment and solidarity with the most disadvantaged. 

Iruña-Pamplona.   According to the Government of Navarre, the Minister of Citizen and institutional Relations of the Navarrese Government, Ana Ollo, went to Paris last weekend to participated in a Cultural Week organized by the “Navarre Siempre,” Association and the Association of Parents of Spanish Immigrant Families in France. There she gave a talk about Navarre nowadays.  Ana Ollo said that “Navarre has been and will be a land of diversity, of contrasts but at the same time a territory of opportunities,” and stressed that “the management of coexistence, in that plural Navarre as a positive trait has been, its is and will be a genuine caracteristic of the present Government and its policies.”  

The cultural week in Paris is aimed to promote the culture and the history of Navarre “thorugh leisure, educational and participative activities,” according to its organizers.  “Our main goal is the education of our children and grandchildren, as well as that of the elderly to learn to age in a healthy and active way, in a framework of intergenerational exchange.”

The program includes a tribute to religious Pedro Meca from Villava, who was known as the “chaplain of the vagabonds in Paris.” He passed away on February 18, 2015.

The minister’s presentation

During her presentation the minister summarized the current situation in Navarre and some of the initiatives that have been put in place by the government to highlight  “the high degree of maturity of our society,"  "we must prioritize the values that unite us because the diversity and plurality of Navarre makes us stronger when we know how to extract the benefits of the debate and not fall into sterile confrontation.”

She alluded to the physical diversity of the geography of Navarre, that favors a rich agro-food production, and to the diversity of cultures with two languages, “one, Spanish that we all share, and Euskera the language that originated in Navarre and that was the most common in this territory for centuries as seen in the exhibition Navarrorum.”

Minister Ollo added that “conviviality, in diversity and plurality, reinforces the strengths of a community.  Navarre today is a land of opportunities, coming out of the crisis that punished the weakest and most vulnerable sectors of society. However, in more than two years of legislature, we have achieved to turn the policies of social protection, education and health around,” she assured everyone that the Government’s priority is “to continue reversing those cuts, and consolidate the progress achieved over these two years.”

She also recalled the Strategy of Intelligent Specialization focused in the five socio-economic areas that Navarre is strong and competitive in.  Plans such as the Childhood and Youth or Healthy Aging Plan, ‘focused on people, so that they can live fully and in the most complete and happy way possible.”  Plans such as the Young Navarrese Diaspora, Tourism, or Science and Technology “that place the engine of Navarre’s development in innovation and knowledge.”

“We have to take advantage of the opportunities that Navarre provides to improve its present and bet on its future,” Ana Ollo said, adding that” the men and women of Navarre, in their business, with their work, with their talent and innovation, are who will convert our territory into the European vanguard. It si up to us to create the sufficient and necessary climate fo r the development of individual and collective activity.  And so Navarre will be a land not only of contrasts, a diverse land, but also a land of opportunities, a river to the future,” she concluded.

Tribute to Pedro Meca Zuazu

The program of the Navarre Cultural Week in Paris is taking place on the 18, 19 and 25 of November and will continue on December 9^th.  Besides the Minister’s presentation, there was also a concert by the group “Ablitas Canta,” that focuses on the interpretation of jotas and folkloric Navarrese songs.  Afterwards there was an aperitif based on products from Navarre.

On Sunday there was a meal and another performance by "Ablitas Canta" followed by dancing.

On Saturday, November 25^th, Professor Xavier Cros will give a talk on the patron saint of Navarre entitled “Francisco Javier, a Saint of Exile and Travel.” In addition, “Navarra Siempre,” will celebrate the saint’s day on December 17^th at its headquarters located on 39 de la rue Notre Dame des Champs.

On December 9^th there will be a tribute to the Navarrese whose death was mentioned in the local press in this way, “The poor of Paris will cry about a Navarrese: Pedro Meca.”  The Dominican priest, Pedro Meca Zuazu, known as the “Chaplain of the Parisian Vagabonds,” was known for his work in La Moquette, a center that provides the homeless a welcomed place and an ear.  Born in Villava in 1935, he left for Paris at the age of 17 looking for his mother.  There he founded La Moquette, the headquarters of the Association les Compangons de la Nuit (Companions in the Nighte), as well as participated in some projects with the well-known Abbe Pierre, creator of Emmaus to combat poverty.

The tribute will take place at La Moquette (15 rue Gay Lussac, in Paris).  The director of the Cervantes Institute in Madrid, Juan Manuel Bonet will participate along with the director of the National University of Distance Education (UNED) in Paris and Professor at the Sorbonne, Jesus Dorronsoro, among others.

The Association “Navarra Siempre,” would also like to remind us of some of the socio-cultural activities that the Spanish Club in Paris 6 have carried out, like workshops for the elderly, basic literary training and French classes, which are held on Monday afternoons.