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Veronica Zulaica is a lawyer in the province of Buenos Aires, granddaughter of Basques, Basque by blood, feeling and conviction.  In her Basque club, Denak Bat in Cañuelas, the 10th anniversary of the Aberri Eguna Dantzari Get-Together will take place next Sunday: It's an important date annually on the calendar of many youth in the general Basque-Argentine community. 

Joseba Etxarri.   Descendant of Basques from Elgoibar, Deba and Azpeitia, Veronica Zulaica delved into Basque by reading.  She received a legacy of customs, stories and celebrations at home, although of her four Basque grandparents, she only met her paternal grandfather, Jose Domingo Zulaica form Elgoibar, who came to the country in 1911 and was one of the original founders in 1960 of the Denak Bat Basque club in Cañuelas. Both the Zulaica-Berasa, and her mother’s side, the Urdampilleta-Berjera were, as many Basques in Argentina, dairy farmers and ranchers, in an area where many families from all of the Basque Country settled and where Euskera and the sound of a bouncing pelota were heard strongly for years at many residences and ranches.  

You belong to the generation that rescues and wants to update the Basque heritage that you have received.

-I grew up in a Basque household and I remember my grandfather who died when I was 13.  He never went back, but he always maintained contact with his brothers in the Basque Country.  He loved to sing in Basque, and at our house we enjoyed many customs, the food and the festivities.  On my mother’s side, her parents died long before I was born, but I knew a lot about them through her.  I studied law in Buenos Aires and I delved into the Basque world through reading.  I would go to the library at Laurak Bat and I was interested in the history as well as the cultural aspects, laws, the Fueros…I met Mikel Ezkerro and Cesar Arrondo and when I returned to Cañuelas in 1999, I started to work with the Basque club, along with current president, Daniel Sancholuz, as well as others.

The Basque club carries out many activities but the Aberri Eguna Dantzari Get-Together that began in 2007, is the activity that has become Denak Bat’s most famous, and has been since then an important event annually for many dantzaris and Basque clubs.

-In reality it emerged without us realizing what we started.  We wanted to respond to the demands of our youth, because we were worried about supporting their participation and guaranteeing the continuity of our Basque clubs.  Iñaki Aramayo saw it very clearly that same year and wrote an article.  Since the first edition, it has become an important meeting place for youth  and supports their relationships with dancers from various Basque clubs, allows them to get to know each other and learn together, exchange ideas and projects, and of course supports the human relationships that are what create and form a community in the end.

This Sunday you will celebrate a special edition: its tenth anniversary.

-We have invited the Basque-Argentine music group, Maral, from Arrecifes, and we have organized a special program, that will include talks and dances by each participating group, we will play the tamborrada as usual, and on Sunday we will present awards and have a special meal.  We have 150 dantzaris confirmed from the Basque clubs.  For Sunday’s lunch we have 350 people registered. We also count on, as every year, support from the city, from our volunteers, and from Laurak Bat in Buenos Aires who have always lent us their drums and barrels for the Tamborrada, and this year even their director will help out…(smile).

Your dedication to the Basque club and all things Basques is notable.  Why?

-Let me first say that everything we do is done as a team and that is what makes the activity possible.  If you ask me personally, I would say that it is very satisfying to me.  I has something to do with the pleasure that was transmitted to me and that I have been able, in turn to transmit.  It has to do a lot with my identity and that depends on each one.  I can proudly say that my daughter, Manuela, also follows this path, she is a girl of 13, her father is not Basque but she asked me this morning to get her from school earlier so she could rehearse for this weekend.  If we want to go somewhere we have to know where we came from, and be consistent and committed to our identity.  That is how I see the Diaspora, committed to Euskal Herria and its cause, and that is how we will celebrate the 10th anniversary of our Aberri Eguna Dantzari Get-Together this Sunday in Cañuelas.