Culture of Basque Country

The Basque Country is a cross-border cultural region that has a distinctive culture including its own language, customs, festivals, and music.

The Basques living in the territory are primarily represented by the symbol of the flag Ikurriña, as well as the Lauburu cross and the Zazpiak Bat coat of arms. The Gernikako Arbola and the Agur Jaunak are its most recognizable anthems in music, and the oak its most revered tree (cf. the aforementioned Tree of Gernika).

Despite their present conspicuous secularization, the Basques have been Christian Catholic for centuries, but owe much of its religious festivals and buildings to ancestral believes and pagan sites sometimes extending as late as the 15th century. Saint Miguel, Saint Mary and Saint John are its most worshiped and ancient cults, while during the Modern period new saints came into being, notably Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Francis Xavier.

The traditional Basque districts are home to Basque, an ergative language. However, Basque has showed a receding trend, and it is nowadays a minority language due mainly to political fragmentation, with higher usage intensity in Biscay, Gipuzkoa, northern-western Navarre, and western sub-Pyrenean areas of the Pyrénées Atlantiques.Spanish and French remain the most widely used everyday communication languages in their respective administrative districts, with the legal status of Basque varying depending on the area.

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