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It was more than a hug. Last Wednesday, April 22, Xabier Irujo and Magnús Raffnson symbolized the friendship between the Basque Country and Iceland with a hug. “It was a very exciting event,” said Aizpea Goenaga, director of Etxepare Institute, to EuskalKultura.com.

Hólmavik, Iceland. 400 years ago, farmers in Hólmavik killed 32 Basque whalers. To remember those who perished and to strengthen ties between the two countries, last week a five-day program was conducted in Reyjkavik, in the northern fjords and in Hólmavík. Following the international conference and a couple of concerts, on Wednesday, UNR professor Xabier Irujo and the director of the Icelandic Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft Magnús Raffnson symbolized peace with a hug; the former representing the whalers and, the latter, as a descendant of the locals.

“(The event) has many meanings,” clarified Irujo. “On the one hand, we remember those who died and, on the other hand, we encourage new research on this topic and the public debate in Iceland.” Irujo is not a direct descendant of any of the men killed in 1615 but, he stated, “my family tree is rooted in Mutriku, until the seventeenth century: Urkidi, Lasa, Gorostidi, Isasi ... And one of the dead sailors was Isasi.”

Raffnson does have ancestors among the murderers, though. “The embrace symbolizes the peace making,” said the Venezuela-born Basque. “It was very exciting,” concluded the highest representative of the Etxepare Institute, Aizpea Goenaga. 

Deputy General of Gipuzkoa Martin Garitano and Ikerne Badiola –cultural affairs−, were the Basque political representatives that went to Hólmavík. On behalf of the host country, Culture Minister Illugi Gunnarson attended the event, and so did Esther Ösp Valdimarsdóttir and Jón Jónsson Gisli as representatives of Hólmavík.