#Pays basque

[beautiful-basque-country]

Fun Sad fact of Spain you probably didn't know

Each Nov 20 hundreds - if not thousands - of francoists and nazis gather in different places of Spain to pay hommage to Franco and sing fascist chants and mottos. There are even masses honoring him.

Each year.

[coto524]

so the biarritz rugby team is now sponsored by grindr and these are the new home/away kits. which i feel like people should see

(i have a Rugby Gay friend i of course sent this to immediately and he just sent me back a string of 😭 emojis because his first thought was to go to the club's website and. THESE ARE ALREADY ALL SOLD OUT)

[thebusylilbee]

I just learned on reddit that apparently there's an expression in the basque language (spoken in the western Pyrénées that cover parts of France and Spain) that says "Liberté, égalité, fraternité. Hirur gezur horiek egiak balira !" which means :

"Liberté, égalité, fraternité. If only those three lies were true !"

[leparfumdesreves]

Hier, dernière soirée riche en calories à San Sebastián !

Une balade gustative dans les Bars qui ont chacun leurs propres spécialités de "Pintxos".

Les Pintxos sont au Pays Basque ce que les Tapas sont à l’Espagne.

Dans le centre historique de San Sebastián, on les trouve à tous les coins de rue !

[thibautfleuretonline]

Façades (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Espagne)

[utkhowaga]

Gaztelugatxe is about an hour’s drive from Bilbao, on the scenic route to Gernika along the Mar Cantábrico. It’s an islet connected to the mainland by a treacherous path (the staircases were a filming location for Game of Thrones), with a hermitage dedicated to Saint John the Baptist that dates from the 10th century (at least). Even the view is worth a look—and just getting to the lookout is a hike!

[sir20]

Human vs Nature, Biarritz by sir20

[retrogeographie]

Biarritz, résidence les Grands Horizons.

[canirando]

La Rhune, 64 // 6 ans, 2 mois

[simrockfelin]

Col d'Ibardin, Pays Basque

[fidjiefidjie]

"Certaines personnes voyagent pour surfer 🏄‍♂️ , mais souvent j'ai l'impression de surfer pour pouvoir voyager."

Chris Malloy

Gif de Flying Bee Animations

[beautiful-basque-country]

I’ve read your recent post like six times but I still can’t wrap my head around it. There are masses for Franco? MASSES?

I know the Catholic Church can be a real mess, but how on Earth is this allowed? Isn’t there a bishop or someone at the Vatican that can stop this?

How do all the various communities let these gatherings and masses happen?

I’m Italian and Irish, so the lose equivalent of this Franco worship would be gatherings and masses for Mussolini and Cromwell, which I could never see happening. There would be a revolts in the streets! I mean sure, there’s always a handful of fascist ass lickers in every community, but usually it’s not blatant and their actions aren’t accepted let alone celebrated?

What is the general education regarding Franco like in Spain? Is there a lot of revisionist theory trying to paint him out to be something other than a psychopathic murderer?

Sorry if these questions are stupid, I’m just shocked this is like a normal and widespread thing. I’ve been to Spain once, and I guess I missed this aspect of the culture?

Kaixo anon!

They're not stupid questions, and I'll try my best to answer in an understandable way.

I'm sorry you're shocked about the masses thing, but it becomes a bit less weird if you take into account that one of the keys to the success of Franco's regime was Catholicism and the Catholic Church. Not for nothing his political ideas were called "national-Catholicism". The Church gave its full support to Franco and the dictatorship, and worked hard indoctrinating people to first accept and then passionately defend it. We can't understand Francoism without the Catholic religion.

You ask why this is allowed. Easy!! I'm not sure how Christian masses work in other parts of the world, but in Spain and EH, you pay and the church delivers: it can be a mention of the name of a deceased person the family wants to honor on the Sunday mass, or a full mass for said person any day you want. That's why there are masses for Franco eeeeeeeevery Nov 20. Because somebody - Franco Foundation, fascist associations or parties, just somebody - pays for them to exist. Of course the Catholic church defends it's just a mass of remembrance for a deceased person and not a glorification of a fascist dictator. Okay, if they say so.

Just this year there have been 18 masses throughout the Spanish state: in Madrid, Valladolid, Zaragoza, Málaga, Toledo, Alicante, Santander, Granada, Uesca, València, Zamora, Ceuta, Teruel, Sevilla, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

I'd like to think that Francoism isn't part of the Spanish culture as you mention, but sadly 40 years of a fascist dictatorship do some things to people. 40 years of lefties escaping the country or being executed, 40 years of brainwashing, 40 years of turbo Catholic fascism. You don't leave all that behind just overnight. There are still monuments to the dictator or the coup (Crusade, in fascist language), streets devoted to fascist elite members and criminals, and the f*cking king is the son of the king Franco personally chose for the Spanish state. There are Francoism remnants in every single Spanish institution, from the Congress to the Supreme Court (especially there). Everything is still tainted by Franco, his political ideas, and his corrupt political ways, even now, yes. Franco himself said the infamous words maaaany still remember: everything is tied and tied well. He meant that everything was throughly planned and established to function as he wanted when he passed. And it really was tied well.

So it may be not blatant for anyone visiting, but it's there, and it's definitely apparent. There's this sociological Francoism that was somewhat hidden from the 90s to the 10s, but now with the rise of the far right / neonazi movements has taken the mask off and fascists are calling themselves fascists with pride. There have always been some nostalgic people that were considered fanatic freaks up until now, but now they're more and more since very young men - mainly - are joining them.

[ortodelmondo]

Gure Bazterrak © Anne Rearick

[joselito28-1]

Villa Belza à Biarritz.

[leparfumdesreves]

L'icône du Pays Basque... Les Espadrilles ! 🧡

[utkhowaga]

Portugalete, Bilbao, Bizkaia-Vizcaya.