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The initiative that emerged with the objective of contacting families of Basque origin in Roldan, took another step this year and has now reached South San Jeronimo, where they were very well received.  The success of this second outing of “Door to Door,” encouraged members of the Euskel Biotza Basque club to include more towns in the area to the proposal.  Along with this news, and with much joy, the club also let us know that 450 people gathered at its San Ignacio lunch. 

Roldan, Argentina.  Members of the Euskel Biotza Basque Club in Roldan, in the province of Santa Fe, undertook an interesting initiative last year that consists of going through the local registers looking for Basque names, and getting in touch with each of these families to invite them to join the club.  They researched the meaning of the last name, its origin, and its location in Argentina, as well as developing each coat of arms.  Once this information is gathered, members of the club went door to door to deliver this information in envelopes.

This is how “Basques in Roldan Door to Door,” was born, which has had a great impact in the city, with the subsequent arrival of new members to the club.  Motivated by the success of their actions, this year, the youth from Euskel Biotz decided to take another step and repeat the activity but this time in a neighboring town, specifically in South San Jeronimo.

As one of the main supporters of the project, Gabriela Menghi, explained to EuskalKultura.com that “South San Jeronimo has 3,000 inhabitants; and so like last year, we are looking in the voters registration lists for Basque last names in the city and so far have found 51 last names out of 110 families.  With the same format as last year, we are putting together letters that tells them who we are, with the meaning of their last names, where the last name can be found in Argentina, and we gift them a family coat of arms.  We of course also invite them to activities at the Basque club.”

“We know that we are providing history and identity at each home where we leave a letter; there are people that discover that they are Basque after reading it, and so it is a really wonderful experience. In addition we continue to expand our database of last names, and next year we are going to repeat the program in another neighboring city,” Menghi said.

San Ignacio festivities

Faithful to the tradition, the Basques in Roldan gathered to celebrate the Feast of San Ignacio with a program that included mass, tributes, kalejira through the streets of the city and a huge lunch.  The festivities took place on August 7, and in the words of Menghi, “We are especially pleased by the huge attendance: 450 people!  We are very proud and moved especially when we think that in 2013 we were only 63…but the festivities and the club continues to grow year after year.”

“We still have a lot of work to do, but we think that we are headed down the right path.  There are goals that keep us going, and we also have more people that support and accompany us, encouraging us to keep going,” the dantzari said.

In regards to the coming moths, the youth from Roldan have various events that they don’t want to miss: they will attend the Txikis Get-Together in Llavallol, participate in the Festival of Collectivities in October in Armstrong; and in November they have Semana Vasca, and in December, besides the end of the year events, the Festival of Collectivities in Carcarañá.