Ar Redadeg (

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

for ''The Race'') is a

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, oriente ...

modelled on the Basque

Korrika Korrika (Basque for ''running'') is a biennial event in the Basque Country that creates awareness of AEK's adult Basque language curriculum and Basque language, and is also a fund raiser; AEK is an adult education organisation for the teac ...

. It takes place around

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

over three days and three nights from ''Naoned'' (Nantes) to ''Karaez'' (

Carhaix Carhaix-Plouguer (; ), commonly known as just Carhaix (), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, France. The commune was created in 1957 by the merger of the former communes Carhaix and Plouguer.

). Its aim is to raise funds each year to finance a project promoting the

Breton language Breton (, , ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic languages, Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albei ...

. While the Korrika has taken place every two years since 1980, this is the first Redadeg to be organised started on April 30, 2008. The runners covered some at an average speed of per hour. The route for Ar Redadeg was planned so it would go through the five Breton

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

s: ''Penn-ar-Bed'' (

Finistère Finistère (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.Côtes-d'Armor The Côtes-d'Armor ( , ; ; , ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord until 1990 (, ), is a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582.Morbihan The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...

, the only one to have been given a Breton name in French), Il-ha-Gwilen (

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Ill-e-Vilaenn'', ) is a departments of France, department of France, located in the regions of France, region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named a ...

) and Liger-Atlantel (

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Louére-Atantique''; ; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', ) is a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. ...

). Note that the latter is not included in the

region of Brittany The region Brittany ( ; ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is an administrative region of Metropolitan France, comprising the departments of Côtes-d'Armor, Finistère, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Morbihan. Its capital and largest city is Rennes. Bordered b ...

, as defined by the French authorities, even though it is historically a part of Brittany. Starting the race in Naoned (Nantes), the

préfecture In France, a prefecture (, ) may be: * the , the commune in which the administration of a department is located; * the , the commune in which the administration of a region is located; * the jurisdiction of a prefecture; * the official residence ...

of Liger-Atlantel is therefore highly significant. At the end of every kilometre, runners would pass each other a baton containing a message to be read in Karaez at the end of the race. One fund-raising method in this event is payment by each runner of 100 euros for the privilege of bearing the baton over a kilometre. The funds raised in the 2008 edition of the race will benefit the Diwan Schools, through which the French Ministry of Education curriculum is taught using the Breton language. The itinerary went through as many towns and cities as possible where Diwan schools are operating. French governments have traditionally refused to give official status to any of the many languages spoken in France such as Alsatian,

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

, Catalan, Corsican,

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

(

West Flemish West Flemish (''West-Vlams'' or ''West-Vloams'' or ''Vlaemsch'' (in French Flanders), , ) is a collection of Low Franconian varieties spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and the Netherlands. West Flemish is spoken by ...

) and

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

, to mention only the better known continental ones. Instead, some acknowledgement was given to some of these languages (such as Breton) under the form of bilingual road signs and some teaching of regional languages on a voluntary basis. In spite of its linguistic and cultural diversity, and appeals made by linguistic minorities for granting of official status for their languages, France only lists French as its official language, while

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, for example, has granted official status to

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

(as an official language of

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

) and

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

(in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

), along with

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

(in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

).Henriette Walter, L'Aventure de Langues en Occident, list of the official languages of Europe and their official status, pp 31-34. The existence of schools such as Diwan plays an essential role in the efforts made to pass the Breton language on to new generations, but the lack of an official status for the language they promote weakens their position.

In other countries

*the

in the Basque Country *the Correllengua in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

* Rith in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

References

*Henriette Walter, l'Aventure des Langues en Occident, Robert Laffont, (1994), p 33. On the official language of France.

External links

*Official Redadeg website: https://www.ar-redadeg.bzh/ Breton sport and leisure Breton language Recurring events established in 2008 Relay processions