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Gaucho
Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Region, Brazil. In Brazil, it is also used to designate people from the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The word gaucho could be described as a loose equivalent to the North American "cowboy" . Like the North American word cowboy, Venezuelan or Colombian llanero, or Chilean huaso, or the Mexican charro (Vaqueiro is also a word used in Brazil), the term often connotes the 19th century more than the present day; then gauchos made up the majority of the rural population, herding cattle on the vast estancias, and practicing hunting as their main economic activities. The word "gaucho" is sometimes used to refer to chimichurri, a steak sauce common to Argentina.
There are several conflicting hypotheses concerning the origin of the term. It may derive from the Mapuche cauchu ("vagabond") or from the Quechua huachu ("orphan"), which gives also a different word in Spanish "guacho". The first recorded uses of the term date from around the time of Argentine independence in 1816.
History and culture
Early gauchos in the 18th century were referred to as gauderios, as in the work of Alonso Carrio de la Vandera.
Gauchos were generally nomadic, and lived in the Pampas, the plain that extends north from Patagonia, bounded on the west by the Andes and extending on the east to Uruguay and the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Residing outside of the growing urban centres and farming settlements, these skilled riders lived off the land often willingly sharing their food with other travelers. Most gauchos were either criollo (South Americans of Spanish or Portuguese ancestry) or mestizo (of mixed Spanish and Native American blood), but the European, African, or mixed ancestry.
A genetic research conducted by FAPESP (Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo) on Southern Brazilian Gauchos revealed that they are mostly descended from Spanish ancestors, and less from Portuguese. This is because for two and a half centuries the modern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul belonged to the Spanish Crown and it only became part of Brazil in 1750. Since it was a disputed region between Portugal and Spain, its inhabitants roamed freely between the regions, ignoring the boundaries of the territory. The genetic resource also detected a very high degree of Amerindian admixture in Brazilian Gauchos , at a similar ratio that was found in the inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest and higher than in the rest of Brazil (at 33%). A significant African mtDNA admixture was also found at 11%. This genetic finding matches with the explanation of sociologist Darcy Ribeiro about the ethnic formation of the Brazilian Gauchos: they are mostly the result of the miscegenation of Spanish and Portuguese males with Amerindian females.
Some gauchos were recorded as being in the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas, and have left a few Spanish words in the local dialect e.g. camp from campo.
The gaucho plays an important symbolic role in the nationalist feelings of this region, especially that of Argentina and Uruguay. The epic poem Martin Fierro by Jose Hernandez used the gaucho as a symbol against corruption and of Argentine national tradition, pitted against Europeanising tendencies. Martin Fierro, the hero of the poem, is drafted into the Argentine military for a border war, deserts, and becomes an outlaw and fugitive. The image of the free gaucho is often contrasted to the slaves who worked the northern Brazilian lands. Further literary descriptions are found in Ricardo Guiraldes' Don Segundo Sombra.
Like the North American cowboys, gauchos were generally reputed to be strong, honest, silent types, but proud and capable of violence when provoked. The gaucho tendency to violence over petty matters is also recognized as a typical trait. Gauchos' use of the famous "facon" (large knife generally tucked into the rear of the gaucho sash) is legendary, often associated with considerable bloodletting. Historically, the facon was typically the only eating instrument that a gaucho carried. It was common for a gaucho to hold a large piece of meat in his teeth and to cut away what he would keep using the facon. The meat is cut is made from beneath and tends to narrowly miss the nose.
There is, perhaps, more of an air of melancholy about the classic gaucho than the classic cowboy.
Also like the cowboy, the gauchos were and still are proud and great horseriders. Typically, a gaucho's Horse constituted most of what he owned in the world. During the wars of the 19th century in the Southern Cone, the cavalries on all sides were composed almost entirely of gauchos. In Argentina, gaucho armies such as that of Martin Miguel de Guemes, slowed Spanish advances. Furthermore, many caudillos relied on gaucho armies to control the Argentine provinces.
The gaucho diet was composed almost entirely of beef while on the range, supplemented by yerba mate, an herbal tea-like drink rich in caffeine and nutrients. Argentine cooking draws influence from the simple but delicious recipes used in gaucho meals.
Gauchos dressed quite distinctly from North American cowboys, and used bolas (three leather bound rocks tied together with approximately three feet long leather straps) in addition to the familiar "North American" lariat or riata. The typical gaucho outfit would include a poncho (which doubled as saddle blanket and also as sleeping gear), a facon (large knife), a rebenque (leather whip), and loose-fitting trousers called bombachas, belted with a tirador, or a chiripa, a piece of cloth used in the fashionbut not the functionof a diaper. Several of these items were British imports into the area; for example, bombachas were originally made in Turkey. In the wintertime, gauchos wore heavy wool ponchos to protect against cold. Nowadays, working gauchos are as likely to be found in overalls and wellington boots as in their traditional dress.
Just as the disappearance of the "Wild West" of the United States altered the character and employment of "cowboys" so too did the nature of gauchos become changed. In southern Patagonia, on both the Chilean and Argentine sides of the frontier, the term "gaucho" became synonymous with "bandit" or "stock rustler" or imply "thief." The rural population of Patagonia often does not share the traditional or "literary" image of the gauchos as "honest but solitary cowboy types" but instead as undesirables. Those with urban and academic orientations typically continue to cling to an image of gauchos that is no longer accurate or consistent with contemporary rural realities.
Modern influences
Gaucho is also the common denomination of the current inhabitants of the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul.
Gauchito (a boy in the Argentine colors and a gaucho hat) was the mascot for the 1978 FIFA World Cup.
In popular culture
Way of a Gaucho 1952 film starring Gene Tierney and Rory Calhoun.
"The Gaucho" was a 1927 film starring Douglas Fairbanks. In it he plays the Gaucho, a heroic leader of a gang of outlaws that try to save a city overtaken by an evil general.
La Guerra Gaucha was a 1942 Argentine film documenting the Gaucho war in Argentina in 1817. It is considered a classic of Argentine cinema.
DC Comics owns two characters named El Gaucho. One was a Wonder Woman villain equipped with a flying robot horse and an electric lasso (from Wonder Woman 263) and the other one is an Argentinian masked hero (see Batmen of All Nations).
Gaucho is the name of the 1980 album by American jazz fusion band Steely Dan, which featured a song by the same name.
"Gaucho" is the codename of a soldier in Pallitoy's Action Force toyline. The figure was a repaint of the G.I. Joe Gung Ho figure. Gaucho was mistakenly listed as being of Mexican nationality, however.
"Gaucho" is the name of a chain of upscale steak houses in London.
The Gaucho is the mascot of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
See also
Charro
Estancia
Stockman
External links
Confederacion Gaucha Argentina
Folklore del Norte Argentino
Movimento Tradicionalista Gaucho
Pagina do Gaucho
Aldo Sessas Gauchos
Richard W. Slatta Gauchos and the Vanishing Frontier
The Gauchos- Horsemen of the Pampas
The Gaucho Tradition
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Gaucho
