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Huaso
A huaso is a Chilean countryman and skilled horseman, similar to the Argentinian or Uruguayangaucho, the American cowboy, and Mexican vaquero and charro.
Huasos (plural) live in Chile's central valley and ride horses (Chilean Horse) and typically wear a straw hat called a chupalla. They also wear a poncho called a manta or a chamanto over a short Andalusian waist jacket, as well as tooled leather legging over booties with raw hide leather spur holders that sustain a beautiful long shanked spur with 4" rowels, and many other typical garments.
Huasos are an important part of Chilean folkloric culture and are a vital part of parades, fiestas, and holidays. The dancing of the cueca in which the coy china is courted by the persistent huaso, both traditionally attired, is de rigueur on such occasions.
In Chile the term huaso or ahuasado (in a huaso way) is also used disparagingly to refer to people without manners or lacking in big-city experience. Often this is a misconception of what the identity of a real huaso actually depicts, because they are known as smart, strong and gentle people, which implies that when in urban areas the term huaso is used as to denote impoliteness, rudeness or lack of manners, would be a mistake. This because people living in the urban areas take gananes for huasos. Gananes are people who live in the countryside and are prone to alcohol. They are known for the big indian background in their blood and because they often work for huasos in order to afford their needs.
Etymology
Various theories are commonly advanced: from the Quechua huakcha (hispanicized as huacho) meaning orphan, not belonging to a community, hence free and homeless, an important aspect of the huaso/gaucho myth, or alternatively from the Quechua huasu, meaning either the back of an animal, or rough and rustic. Moreover the word guaso/a is used in Andalusian and American Spanish with the last sense. It appears that a form of folk etymology has operated to conflate the contrasting identities of the huaso, viewed as both a free horseman (implying some wealth and nobility) and an unsophisticated country bumpkin. Both senses can be observed in Chilean usage.
See also
Chilean rodeo
Vaquero
Cowboy (U.S.A)
Gaucho (Argentina)
Charro
Guajiro (Cuban cowboy)
Llanero (Venezuelan and colombian cowboy)
External links
Huaso photographs (text in Spanish)
http://www.huasochileno.cl/
http://www.pro-ohiggins.cl/libro/cuerpo/3_2_4.asp
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Huaso
