Basque Dinner shares traditions of food, dance and music

IC photos by Christine Young

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The Utah'Ko Triskalariak female dancers perform the Kaskarrot. It is a dance in which the Basque women of the fishing village celebrate the days catch.

SALT LAKE CITY — Aromas from traditional Basque food and sounds from traditional Basque music and dancing filled the Saint Ambrose Parish social hall for the 27th Annual Traditional Basque Dinner and Dance Feb. 20.

"We hold our dinner at St. Ambrose Parish because we have around 400 guests and they have the largest social hall," said Mary Gaztambide, president of the Basque Club and member of Saint Vincent de Paul Parish. The event is a fund raiser for the Basque Club of Utah, which has been in existence for 30 years and has about 150 members, most of whom are Catholic."

The Utah’Ko Triskalariak Basque dancers performed many traditional dances, and the young Utah’Ko Triskalariak dancers performed an old folk song. The Basque music was provided by Jean Flesher.

"We hold this function to give people an opportunity to have Basque food because there is not a Basque restaurant in the Salt Lake Valley," said Gaztambide. "The Basque food consists mostly of fish because the original Basque people were coastal. They cooked with garlic, peppers, onions and parsley. "Nothing too spicey. They are a race of people who cannot trace their origin to any particular country.

"Basque people come mainly from the region of the Pyrnees Mountains that form the natural border between France and Spain. Dance, sports, such as handball, food and music are very important to our culture," she said.

Monique Flesher taught the young Utah’Ko Triskalariak children the folk song she learned as a child. "It is important to teach our children our Basque language, Basque ball games and dances and to teach them to do them with integrity and honesty and to be part of our culture and who we are," she said.

Flesher was born and raised in Bakersfield, Calif. Her father was born and raised in the Basque part of the Pyrnees in France, and her mother’s parents were also born and raised in the French Pyrnees. She said there are five cities in California that are heavily populated with the Basque culture. She started dancing when she was 4 years old, and has been dancing ever since. Now she teaches the Utah’Ko Triskalariak Basque dancers.

"The Basque people migrated to where ever there was livestock," said Flesher. "They all came over between the 1930s and the 1960s, which is when my father came to the United States. But they had to come over by assignment; they had to have a place to work. They did not immigrate without already having a job and a sponsor. They came over as sheep herders, although some of them eventually became farmers and ranchers."

Gaztambide has been president of the Basque Club of Utah for the past five years. She said they are part of the National Northern American Basque Organization, which has 40 clubs in the United States and Canada. They have this organization to keep the Basque culture alive and to maintain their heritage as the young people grow up.