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The Mayor of Iurreta, Bizkaia, Iñaki Totorikaguena visited the US last week.  He did so on behalf of himself, the Mayor, as well as all the citizens of Iurreta, including those in the Diaspora.  He had been invited to Boise to celebrate the 100 years that Benito Ysursa settled in the city.  The Ysursas in Idaho wanted to include representation from their ancestor’s hometown.  They want to maintain those ties and continue to do so in the future. 

Boise, ID.   Along with Benito Ysursa, there were other youth from Iurreta who left to establish themselves elsewhere.  In the case of the Ysursas, the family settled in Boise and even after 100 years, the new generations born in America maintain their knowledge and relationship with their Basque origin.  Although, without a doubt, the Centennial of the arrival of their “Aitxitxe Benito” to the US provided an excellent occasion to get the family together and take a look at the past, while also looking to the future.  The invitation to the mayor of Iurreta was a means to endorse their roots and Basque past, with a wish that it continues in the future.

The invitation left Boise and the town hall of Iurreta joined with enthusiasm, approving, in September 2015, a resolution recognizing the value and invaluable contribution that their sons and daughters in the Diaspora pose for the town of Iurreta, as well as their descendants. A great example of this, Benito Ysursa, whose family despite the amount of time passed, continues to feel and preserve their Basque connection that they wish to present in this moment and initiate the second century as an American family that conserves and maintains its Basque origin.   

During his visit to Boise, Mayor Totorikaguena met his counterpart, Dave Bieter third generation Basque American and Mayor of Boise, who welcomed him to City Hall in Basque.  He also met with representatives of the Basque club, the Museum and Cultural Center in Boise and various other local Basque associations and institutions, as well as generations of the Ysursa family.

He visited the historic Basque places in Boise, some of them directly linked to the Ysursas and he also had the opportunity to talk with many people and realize firsthand the reality of many places in the Basque Country that count Boise as an extension provided them by their descendants born in America.

There was a lot of emotion and gift exchanges.  Maybe one of the most significant was a framed copy of Benito Ysursa’s birth certificate that was presented his descendants, and that they received as the special gift it was.  As well as an embroidered flag from Iurreta, that was presented to representatives of the Oinkari Dantza Taldea in Boise.  Dantzari-dantza is a traditional dance that comes from Iurreta and the area of the Durangaldea in Bizkaia, which has always been part of the Oinkari’s repertoire. From now on, this flag from the community of Iurreta will show and will participate in special Oinkari performances as a symbol of the union between both sides of the Atlantic.  Other unifying proposals were also discussed last week with an idea to move forward and assert what the ancestors have sown, in the future.