On March 19, hundreds of thousands of Basque citizens will participate in an initiative that passes a baton from hand to hand without interruption; the same baton that has become a symbol of the Basque language itself. Over 11 days and 10 nights, the Korrika ('Running' in Basque), will go on for over 210 hours and will pass through most Basque villages and cities, for a total distance of around 2300 kilometres. The festival will pass through all of the Basque Country, which is situated in the southern part of the French State and in the northern part of the Spanish State.
You can see a video of the last festival here.
The organizers insert in the baton a secret message that is read at the end of the festival, after having passed through thousands of hands. It is considered an honour to carry the wooden baton with the symbol of the Basques and thus, different associations and organisation “buy” kilometres in support of the Basque language. AEK, the organisation responsible for teaching the Basque language to adults is the organizer of this gigantic crowd-funding event and the collected money goes to them.
