This year we spent our summer vacation in Bidart on the Côte Basque. Côte Basque boasts a unique culture on a beautiful stretch of coast with nice sandy beaches, decent waves which draw a huge international surf crowd, rocky coves, beautiful sunsets - and extends from about Bayonne in France to Bilbao in Spain. If you have been there once you want to come back again and again. The region behind the coast is hilly and soon gets higher and higher as it extends to become part of the Pyrenees mountains, a paradise for hiking and road-biking. Hasparren/Hazparne is a nice little town in this sub-coastal region not far from Biarritz and belongs to the Département Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
On August 13, 2017, we drove up there on the occasion of the 20th edition of the “Lehengo Hazparne”, a festival in the Basque country. Originally founded by and for Hasparren’s inhabitants (the “Haspandars”), the festival is a great display of the basque culture and tradition. While it was fascinating to see a traditional marriage in costumes and muscial parades in a great festive spirit, our main interest in coming was to see a special game of Pelote Basque: La partie des Légendes d'Hasparren (players: Peio Larralde, Bixente Larralde, Manu Etchemendy & Alexis Inchauspe). Pelota is the most popular Basque sport and does not require much. Pelota mano, which means hand ball, is based on players whacking a hard ball against a wall, called a fronton, with little more than their hands. The game is played throughout the Basque Country by young and old alike and has a large following of both players and spectators (you can find out more about the game here). The images below aim to give an impression of this fascinating event and the physically and technically demanding sport.
The game venue is the fronton of Hasparren/Hazparne
Standing in front of the fronton the players in their traditional attire get introduced by a solid man with a microphone, from left to right:Peio Larralde, Bixente Larralde, Manu Etchemendy and Alexis Inchauspe.
The warm-up keeps all players busy.
... and they even may get a helping hand from a little friend...
Next two officials hold serious deliberations
A playing line gets redrawn which is the task of the senior official
...which is important business...
And then the game begins
Peio taking aim and whacking it against the wall
Points are made, maybe a little bit of a discussion is taking place and the visitors are having fun.
Next, Bixente is taking aim - power, motion and precision come together as one beautiful movement.
The official is seemingly happy
While Bixente and Alexis almost go head to head
Here, Manu is taking aim
And this is Alexis in action, fully focused on the target.
And the winner is ... Hasparren/Hazparne, what an exciting afternoon.
