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Music, song
and dance remain central ways that we humans express ourselves. Music and
song have been long-standing elements within our Western liturgical
tradition; e.g., we can sing our prayers. Whereas song endures to enliven
and supplement the Western liturgical experience, generations ago dance
was essentially abandoned. It all began innocently enough: good
intentioned clerics forbid liturgical dance because they feared it might
disrupt or distract the congregation. That left most western Christians
with only song to accompany music; elements of the church said that we
could not dance our prayers.
The
"catholic" of Roman Catholic Church means universal, and the
church has always embraced a multi-faceted, diverse collection of peoples
and cultures. The Basque people accepted Christianity around the 8th
century, and this is a culture that prizes music, song and dance. The
prohibition of liturgical dance never really took hold in the Basque country;
instead their liturgical dances became special ways to supplement and
celebrate church rituals.
In
the summer of 1980 nine men of the Boise Oinkari Basque Dancers donned the distinctive
folk dance costumes
of Oņati--the sash, skirt and castanets--and performed the Korpus dantzak for
the first time in America. Almost
every year since then at the end of July in Boise, the "trakatan--trakatan" clatter of the
dancers' castanets can be heard as the Idaho Euskaldunak (Basques) and their friends
gather to celebrate the festival of their patron St. Ignatius. These
liturgical dances, dating back several centuries, are characterized
by gestures of reverence: they manifest the dancing of prayer.
Follow the links above for more information.
On
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