Name: Father Facundo Sebastián Risso Parish Vicar, Maria Madre de la Esperanza Age: 39 Lives: Villa 20 • At what age did you decide you want to dedicate your life to religion? When I was 16 years old my brother died in a fatal accident. I don’t come from a […]
The Day of Kings: Argentina’s Christmas Finale
The Day of Kings (El Día de los Reyes Magos) on January 6, marks an exciting end to the Christmas season for children in Argentina. Though the summer Christmas in Argentina is more about food and fiesta than gift giving, the kids make out with some good loot on the Day of Kings, which marks […]
Christmas in Buenos Aires and Beyond
What is Christmas like in Buenos Aires? With fireworks, warm temperatures, calorie-laden food, and dancing until dawn, Navidad in Buenos Aires is a party that is literally not for the faint of heart. It may be Christmas but It’s Hot as Hades! Christmas falls in summer in the southern hemisphere, so traditions such as Santa […]
Gauchito Gil in Buenos Aires
←cont. from Gauchito Gil—Argentina’s Gaucho Saint In the bleak part of the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Chacarita, in a tree-lined plaza just outside the country’s largest cemetery, a cluster of bright red clearly marks the location of a Gauchito Gil shrine. Old women come to place flowers in front of the glass-encased statuette of Gil. […]
Gauchito Gil: Argentina’s Cowboy Saint
Folk Saint. War hero. Outlaw deserter. Dubious myth. Antonio Mamerto Gil Núñez, better known as “Gauchito Gil” is the colorful figure who represents many things to many different people in his native Argentina. Imagine Robin Hood meets patriotic soldier meets protective Saint and you will have some idea of the many sentiments this mercurial character elicits in Argentine popular culture
