Festive Leisure and Rural Sport in the Basque Mugak: Sare and Extalar Cases

This paper describes and analyses two cross-border sports festivals in the western Pyrenees: the Day of the Smugglers of Sare and the Festival of the Tradition of the wood pigeons hunt of Lizaieta (Etxalar-Sare). The selected examples show how border communities use rural sports in festive contexts to bring together people from both sides of the border (emic limit) and to express their thoughts about the state border. To address this research, an ethnographic methodology based on the observation of festive events and interviews with participants has been employed. The article addresses the identity of this border area whose inhabitants do not consider themselves entirely French, Spanish, or Basque, but all at once under the self-designation of fronterako jendea (the people of the border). In short, our study examines the role that local culture plays in defining and shaping border areas.