Basque Country Sheep Bells

The jingling bells announce the return of the fluffy white wanders as they end another day of foraging and assemble in town, seeking comfort and safety amongst the humans. Their usual bleating is now melow and faint, only the incessant music of their accessories keeps them conscious of their place in the grand scheme of things, serving to stay their occasional need to stray. The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast. It comprises the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France. The modern claim for the extent of the Basque Country, coined in the nineteenth century, is seven traditional regions. Some Basques refer to the seven regions collectively as Zazpiak Bat, meaning "The Seven [are] One". According to some theories, Basques may be the least assimilated remnant of the Paleolithic inhabitants of Western Europe to the Indo-European migrations. Basque tribes were mentioned by Roman writers Strabo and Pliny, including the Vascones, the Aquitani and others. There is considerable evidence to show their Basque ethnicity in Roman times in the form of place-names, Caesar's reference to their customs and physical make-up, the so-called Aquitanian inscriptions recording names of people and gods.