It was our first Palm Sunday at our parish and our first time to attend a Basque Mass, as participated in by the Basque Community of Bay Area. The mass was said in French, Basque and English. The trumpet music and traditional hymns in Basque were unforgettable. Click, to enlarge * 
Who are the Basque People?
The Basque people are the oldest indigenous living group known in Europe. They live in the north central Spain, and there are also a couple of Basque regions in France. Their language, culture, customs, and land are all distinctly different from the rest of Europe. They have their own newspaper, radio, and educational system.
The Basque people have strong traditional ties to their families and to their land. They have an independent spirit, respect for liberty of the individual, and a love of freedom. For that reason, they have struggled to become an autonomous region, with their own government, for years. During the Spanish Civil War, the Basque and Catalan people fought with the Republicans as seperatists groups, in order to try to gain the independence that they have desired for so long. However, when the Republicans lost to the Nationalists, and Franco took over Spain, it looked as if the Basque people would forever remain under the rule of Spanish government. However, the Basque people have now been granted more freedom, such as the right to speak Euskara (the Basque language), the right to educate in Euskara, and the right to teach about the Basque culture. Most Basque people are satisfied with the freedom that they have been granted, but there are still some extremists who are fighting for the right to have an entirely autonomous region. These people are usually associated with the ETA (the Basque seperatists group) and go to extreme measures to try to win what they believe to be rightfully theirs. However, for the most part, the Basque people are willing to make compromises and are happy with what they can get.
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