Читать книгу Conozcamos lo nuestro - The Gauchos's Heritage - Enrique Rapela - Страница 18

Each zone of the country had its own type of gaucho, who adapted the clothes, the elements of his tack and his working tools to the topography of the land.

For instance, in this first illustration , we can see the gaucho from the Río de la Plata: he was austere in his clothes and way of living. He was tall, a characteristic of the men from the plains who needed to see from a distance in a flat surface that stretched for miles and miles with nothing obstructing the horizon.

The vast pampas markedly developed his sight: he identified from a great distance any strange lump without any possible mistake. This quality fascinated the foreigners who were lucky to set foot in our wonderful land. The gaucho from the Buenos Aires province (or even better, from the Humid Pampas) is a character we are going to take care of a lot, for being —I guess— the most important countryman in Argentina.

Regarding the gaucho´s clothing, our ancestor wore a very particular outfit. He covered the lower part of his body with a wide cloth that fitted him exactly like a diaper for children. A so rudimentary piece of clothing was justifiable in places that were far away from any chance of getting a complicate to elaborate piece like pants. Besides that, both in his outfit and his habits, he was, without knowing that, very similar to the Arabs. His poncho was resembled the Berber robe, and the chiripá reminds us of the wide Levantine breeches. This garment and its use have many antecedents of incredible antiquity. His way of wearing it resembles the way of covering of the ancient Hindu race.

It is not unreasonable to think that, through the centuries, this way of dressing reached North Africa, continued along the coast and passed to Spain with the Arabs, and from there to this part of the world. The wide belt, decorated with coins, which holds the chiripá and is a wallet or purse for the gaucho, as well as the sash, typical of Oriental people, remind us of Moorish habits and customs.

This piece of clothing, the chiripá, was usually made of baize, a low-quality fabric. The word “chiripá” comes from Quichua and means “for cold”. We have already said that is worn like a children’s diaper and fastened at the waist by a woven sash finished in fringes (A) and (B). Over this sash, they put a wide belt made of hide. The poor gauchos (almost all of them) secured it in the way we show in figure (C). The emergence of wire fences and the advance of the consumer society caused chiripá stopped being worn. It was replaced by the bombacha (D), a more comfortable piece of clothing that they secured in the same way.

The military garments that were worn from the year the resisted Paraguayan war began belonged to the soldiers of the war of Crimea and, even with the original patches, went to cover the bodies of our young warriors. These uniforms gave rise to the use of the bombachas and displayed a wide range of red.

Usually, the gaucho only wore the poncho: such was his poverty. Many writers, travelers and environmental scholars have claimed that; but we should not simplify and suppose that our countrymen were some needy people, because they worked in the estancias and they were engaged in low scale trade, such as selling hides, feathers and bristles. With that, they met their needs, which were not a lot, since, as we have already said, they were moderate in everything; that is the reason why, at the beginning, they wore a wide sleeve shirt (E). This piece of clothing drew the attention when it was fastened by a thin piece of hide that went through the buttonholes. The reason for this was that the countrymen from distant lands did not have access to buttons and thread, and were forced to replace them with the only material they have at their reach and in abundance: hide. They managed to close the opening with a thin strap they passed through the buttonholes, as in the Middle Ages. The sleeves of the shirts were called “buche” (craw).

Over the shirt, the gauchos that were not so poor wore a short blouse (F), inspired obviously in the Andalusian jacket. At the beginning, as it was dictated by the fashion trends of the time, it had a small lapel; then it disappeared and just one button was left in the top part. It maintained its short size and today it is recognized as “corralera”. Over all these clothes, the poncho was worn (G), a rectangular piece of cloth with a central opening for the head. It is almost equal to the Berber robe and, for the gaucho, it is a very important part of his being. With it, he protected himself from inclement weather, it was his shield in the fights and the blanket for love. In warm weather, he wore it over his left shoulder; the reason of this can be understood if we think that, in case of danger, if he was forced to defend himself, with only dropping the poncho over his left arm, it was ready to fulfill its role as a shield, stopping possible blows of an enemy facón. This piece of clothing had several sizes. The thin, light poncho used to be 1 m by 70 cm; but the rough one, to keep him warm, reached below the knees, a spaciousness that allowed it to protect from the rain not only the gaucho’s body, but also his tack. It was 1.80 m by 1.20 m, approximately. The most famous and expensive poncho is, without a doubt, the poncho of vicuña, made of the fine wool of this Northwestern camelid.

Another well-known poncho was the Pampa one, made by indigenous people in oblique looms. The drawings in its patterns, whose motives were always based on the cross with right angles, were typical. The indigenous people knew the natural elements to make their dyeing, extracted (then and still today) from fruits, barks and roots of some plants, trees and herbs. The colors were indelible, for that reason, pieces of clothes from long time ago are preserved even today with such freshness in their colors that really amazes. The black and the grey, so used by the Pampas to dye wool, were obtained from the churqui, an acacia very rich in tannin. The espinillo also served this purpose.

Formerly, the Quichua people, who lived in the North of the country and, coming through the mountain range, arrived to Santiago del Estero, as they did not have scissors yet, buried the hide in a humid place where he left it several days. Afterwards, just pulling the thread, it separated very easily. The fringes that ornate the most narrow sides of the poncho (that is, the parts that hang at the front and the back) are not added: they are the consequence of simply leav-ing the threads of the warp.

We can talk a lot about the poncho, but this work only tries to include, roughly, everything (or almost everything) concerning the gaucho. Therefore, we will pass to other garments of this character so agreeable to our Argentine spirit.