We just came across an article in the Argentine daily La Naciรณn about an Alava-born missionary,ย Juan Ramรณn Etxebarria, has been working hard in Ecuador, where he is a missionary, to open the first museum dedicated to theย Montubia culture, a regional identity that arose in modern-day Ecuador during the colonial period at the height of the cocoa exploitation period and that was a mix of Africans, colonists, and indigenous people.
This people made up a very small part of Ecuador’s population, about 10%.ย Nowadays, they are about a million people, more than 40,000 families that are spread out across 1,200 Montubip communities along the coast, mainly in the provinces of Manabรญ and Los Rรญos.ย And it is in these provinces where the Basque missionary works, and wants to help preserve the roots of this community.
This individual identity has been disappearing in official institutions and in the population itself, because it is closely linked to hicks.ย The situation was so bad that in the 1980s, the culture almost completely disappeared, without a trace.
Basque missionary Juan Ramรณn Etxebarria arrived at the end of the ’70s to that area, where theย Basque diocesian missions have been located for seven decades.ย Once there, he started collaborating in the process of recovering the roots of the Montubio people, giving them a “strong and determined push.”
He undoubtedly saw great similarities between what was happening in that culture and what had been happening for a long time to the culture of his homeland, the Basque culture.ย He surely understood quite clearly that there is no such thing as “first” or “second-degree” languages or cultures, and that each culture is a treasure that should be protected and preserved, to survive and thrive.
This museum and cultural center is located on 12 ha (30 acres) in the town of San Isidro, in the province of Manabรญ, next to the Cangrejo River.ย Its goal is to become a cultural and anthropological space to share and study this culture, open to locals and visitors.ย Theย Diocese of Vitoria via the Office of the Missions, is economically supporting this project to help get it underway throughout 2022, and to strengthen this 17th-century culture, with the help of the missionary Etxebarria.
We’ve spoken a great deal about Basque missionaries in the Americas, and in other parts of the world.ย We’ve paid special attention to the Basque Passionists who have been working the Peruvian Amazon for over 100 years, “near” the Basque diocese mission of Los Rรญos, in Ecuador.ย And as we always say, they are an example and a reflection of the best virtues that we Basques are so proud of: solidarity, empathy, commitment to the weakest, and a will to transform unjust realities.ย This can be seen in the interview we’re including with this entry.
In addition to the Argentine news article, we’ll also leave you with a link to Juan Ramรณn Etxebarria’s blog, and an interview Ecuador’s RVT Satelital 91.5 FM had with him, and the Basque diocese missions’ website.
La Naciรณn – 11/10/2021 – Argentina
Un misionero vasco impulsa en Ecuador un museo de la cultura montubia, que empezรณ a surgir tras la conquista de Amรฉrica
El sacerdote y misionero alavรฉs Juan Ramรณn Etxebarria ha impulsado en Ecuador, donde lleva mรกs de cuatro dรฉcadas, el primer museo de la cultura montubia, una identidad regional que empezรณ a surgir tras la llegada de los espaรฑoles a Amรฉrica.
Nacido en 1950 en Urbina y pastoralmente crecido en Kuartango, Etxebarria ingresรณ como seminarista en 1971. Fue ordenado sacerdote en 1976 y un aรฑo despuรฉs dio forma a su vocaciรณn de misionero trasladรกndose a Ecuador para trabajar en favor de las personas mรกs empobrecidas.
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El blog de Juarra Etxebarria
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Web Misiones Diocesanas Vascas
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Last Updated on Dec 28, 2021 by About Basque Country