The Itinerant Book has its third edition. In 2020, at the initiative of the Ikastola Txintxirri de Elorrio. It was for them to organize the Ibilaldia (Feast of the Ikastolas of Bizkaia) in the year ravaged by the pandemic and, as an alternative, proposed to the rest of the ikastolas of Bizkaia the production of the book that would build the ikastola through the ikastola.

A 20-page book was produced in collaboration with the Basque Country as a thread to weave history. The goal was to bring together members from different socio-linguistic areas and, as they could not face each other, they had a role as a meeting tool. Lingua Vasconum Resuscitae was called and the vicissitudes of our language were collected.

The following year, although the pandemic situation was fading, they decided to continue with the initiative, assuming the Ikastolen Elkartea project and extending it to the rest of the ikastolas in Euskal Herria. As part of the Herriari initiative of the Ikastola, the Itinerant Book 2021 gradually travelled the way from Sopelana to Estella.

In this edition, the students of ESO 3 of 21 ikastolas from the Basque Country participated voluntarily in the creative process. The responsibility for the beginning of the community narration lay with the students of Ander Deuna de Sopelana and Betiko de Leioa, who organized last year’s Ikastolas festival in Bizkaia. The end, on the contrary, was for the Lizarratas, who hosted in the town the festival of the Ikastolas of Navarra, Nafarroa Oinez of 2022.

In 250 years… Following the
same direction, the 2022 edition has been for the students of the ikastola Abusu, where the Ibilaldia will be held on May 29. Under the direction of two professors, 11 volunteer students did this work last December, Basque Day. They had experience because it was the third time they participated in the initiative, but for the first time they were in charge of writing the beginning of the story.

Therefore, the greatest challenge in the creative process was to write a sufficiently broad starting point that would allow the students of the 27 centers who would later take the witness to continue the story. Two teachers were in charge of leading the process: Teresa Zarraga and Jon Aritz Bengoetxea. They brought together the students who wanted to participate in the Itinerant Book and started adding ideas from the start. Then they decided by couples what the starting point and the guiding thread of history would be.

Once defined, they had to write and draw the idea. In fact, each ikastola participating in the Itinerant Book receives a sheet divided into two parts. At the top they will write the text by hand and at the bottom they will complete the image (drawing, comic book, collage…) for those who cannot read it.

Abusu students decided to place the story in 2275, on December 3. Olatz and Amets are two of the 11 people who have participated on behalf of the ikastola Abusu and they have informed us of the story. Two brothers reportedly found a mill in a forest near the Abusu neighborhood. There they read the word “Ikastola”, but did not understand its meaning. Inside the mill a box was found with the text “euskera, the time capsule” at the top. So they decided to take what they found their mother, and that's the end of the first step that starts the narrative. “The use of the Basque language may be related to the disappearance of the Basque language in the year 2275,” the writers explain.

In the context of the Herriari
dynamic, the festivities of the ikastolas want to show that “they live, think, have fun, create… in Euskera”. With this practice, the participants of the different sociolinguistic areas of the Basque Country want to collaborate to have fun, experience and cultivate creativity in Euskera, as well as to promote joint work and give “another model” to Euskalgintza.

In the creation of this 2022 edition 28 ikastolas participated. The story started in La Peña will end at the Ikastola Garces de los Fayos de Tafalla. Before this, the first five ikastolas will fill in the entry sheets, the next sixteen will complete the development and the last four will square the end. Each will have a period of one week to collect the Itinerant Book, fill its page and deliver it to the next ikastola.

To read the story that began last December, we will have to wait until October. For the first time the full story will be available in the panels that will be installed at the Nafarroa Oinez festival in Tafalla. The students of Ikastola Abusu are anxious that day. They know how history has started, but they have no trace of development or end, “it will be
a surprise.” Once the book is finished, each participating ikastola will receive a small copy. In fact, the Itinerant Book is large, as can be seen in the photograph.

Ibilaldia,
in which, in any case, abuses are involved in another important project that has been deluded: Paseo 2022. In the absence of a few days for great celebration, nervousness and joy are evident in their faces. “It’s been nice because it has put a lot in common parents, teachers, family, students…,” explains Teresa Zarraga. They have set up a number of committees, some of which have been working since the beginning of the course to ensure that everything goes well on 29 May. In addition, throughout the year many cultural activities have been organized in the ikastola and in the neighborhood, and the professor says that “all have been very successful”.

Both students and teachers all expect people on the last Sunday of May. As the first March after the Pandemic, they want to maintain the success of Herri Urrats. After a two-year break, they enthusiastically perceive those around them and they are. It will certainly help them to make the wait until October more fluid, and perhaps have the opportunity to meet other people who have participated in this curious tale.