Every year since 1939, San Antonio de Areco (120 kilometers from Buenos Aires) is the venue of the Fiesta de la Tradition, the most popular gaucho celebration in Argentina in which the people show their own identity and people from all over the country travel to see the protagonists: Gauchos, artisans, musicians and folk dancers.
Traditionally this festival always takes place the first week of November and for 3 days visitors and locals enjoy different activities such as parades equestrian, rodeos, domes, concerts, folk dances, stoves, typical foods in the urban area and artisan markets. The event is free and open to the public.
If you are interested in learning more about the Gaucho Festival, we will tell you about every detail below:
Origins of the Fiesta de la Tradicion
San Antonio de Areco is not only the center of the gaucho tradition for being the place of the celebration of the Fiesta de la Tradicion, its for its long history. In the year 1926, Ricardo Guiraldes Argentine writer emblematic published his rural novel Don Segundo Sombra, which takes place in this same city and turned it into the guardian capital of country traditions. The book became a painting of the Argentine countryside and became a success, it was awarded nationally and internationally, although its author died a year later in 1927.
After the death of Guiraldes, the Ricardo Güiraldes Criollo Park and Gaucho Museum was created with the presence of the mayor of San Antonio de Areco, José Antonio Guiraldes, brother of the writer. The objective of the Museum that can be visited in the center of the city is to preserve the uses and customs of the gauchos, in addition to focusing on the writer's texts.
Then in the year 1939, the Dia de la Tradicion takes place, a November 10 was chosen, a date that commemorates the birth of José Hernández (poet and politician), one of the most representative figures of Argentine culture and author of the renowned Martín Fierro, a masterpiece of Argentine literature and the gaucho genre. In it, Hernández recounts the life, customs, codes and political and social situation of the gaucho.
That same year, residents of Areco organized the first Fiesta de la Gaucho tradition to honor the country man and his customs. Since that date, the most important gaucho festival in the country is celebrated every year in November.
Closing the origin of this traditional celebration, in 1984 The Buenos Aires Legislature declared San Antonio de Areco the Capital of Tradition to turn it into a tourist site par excellence near the City.
Activities that can be viewed at the Fiesta de la Tradicion
The Gaucho Festival takes place the weekend closest to November 10, Tradition Day. It takes place in the old town and in the Parque Criollo and Ricardo Güiraldes Gaucho Museum. The party consists of different acts that hom they alienate the country man and his customs.
The festival begins on November 9 at noon in the Parque Criollo with a great asado accompanied by wine and encounters with the gauchos. During the days of the celebration exhibitions of renowned artists, handicraft samples are also inaugurated in different stands, where you can see silverware, braiding, rope work, weaving, aspa, colonial carpentry, blacksmithing and ceramics.
Then in the afternoon the most varied competitions are held: horse riding, ring and square run (horse racing). In the evening, when the sun goes down, stoves are lit to share dances, music and traditional dances at night.
In The next morning, the November 10 is Tradition Day. It all begins with a great party in the historic center of Areco, where The Ricardo Guiraldes Municipal School of Dance makes its demonstration and then in front of the Municipal Palace (Lavalle 383) the flag bearers on horseback receive the national and provincial flag from the authorities.
Next, the parade of two thousand gauchos and all the herds arrived from every corner of the province begins. In front is the gaucho flag bearer, that wears a national flag and a race horse with an elegant silver collar (bridle, bridle, collar and pretal). As they pass in front of the square, the municipality and the parish of San Patricio, they all head again to the Criollo Park.
More than 60 Herds walk through the streets of the town and show their elegance and skills with the horse. The herds are usually made up of a dozen horses and during the entire festival between sixty and seventy of these groups arrive in town, each with a single gaucho at the head.
The herds are the pride of the Fiesta, for a gaucho it is a great honor to have a complete herd of animals of the same hair. These horses can be monkeys (with a general light tone and dark spots that grow from the bottom up), tobianos (like the overo but with the spots from top down), crawling (with a mane that extends like a fringe over the loin to tail), colorados, bayos, tordillos and pampas.
As they arrive throughout the morning, the herds walk around the town and they parade in front of the municipality, where they greet the mayor, who watches them from a box. And the most striking thing is that, when passing in front of the authorities, each herd goes around in a circle, then forms in a line and finally all the horses in the group bow their heads in unison as a sign of reverence. The parade ends in the Gauchesco Park, in the La Blanqueada grocery store (Ricardo Guiraldes Road) where there is a great Creole barbecue with music and dances.
By In the afternoon, the gauchos perform their skills again, the most exciting and dizzying part of the festival. The jineteada is the most traditional test , which consists of riding an untamed horse for the longest time possible. They ride the horse while being tied to a palenque and bandaged. The rider climbs carefully and when he is well grasped they release the animal, which bucks wildly.
The "piolada door outside" is another test nbsp ; very popular in the party, it consists of binding a runaway horse before any other of the contestants. There are also ring races and quadreras, which are horse races in the open field.
The herd of herds is another demonstration that attracts a lot of public, the seventy groups of “streaky” foals take off. Then the tamers enter on horseback, also carrying their godmother mare with her cowbell. The first one who sets up his herd and locks it up in a corral is the winner, although it seems like a difficult task, it only takes about 20 minutes.
Throughout Sunday They develop the different activities until sunset, at which time the great festival of San Antonio de Areco culminates with a bonfire, where the gaucho renews his commitment to the lifestyle and its noble traditions.
In addition to its traditional festival, Areco offers every day from 11am to 6pm tourist horseback riding in the Criollo Park. On Fridays from 1 pm to 5 pm, there are the carriage rides (they begin in the main square of Areco) to see the old town historic town.
On weekends there are talks and tours of the Guiraldes Museum, guided tours of the bars historical and grocery stores. These last activities must be reserved at the tourist office located in Zerboni and Arellano.
How to get to San Antonio de Areco
San Antonio de Areco is located in the province of Buenos Aires, 130 kilometers from the City. In the case of
go by car you have to go along the
National Route 9 (Autopista Panamericana) to the fork with
Route 193, which must be taken for 83 kilometers
until you reach National Route 8, where a route of 40 direct kilometers is made until the entrance of the city of San Antonio de Areco. The duration of the trip is approximately
1 hour 30 minutes.
Another option is the
buses that leave from the Federal Capital from the Retiro Bus Terminal (Av. Antártida Argentina)
to the San Antonio de Areco Terminal (Av. Smith 188). The companies that operate this destination are
Chevallier,
Autotransporte San Juan and
Argentine Company.
The frequency is daily between the hours of 2 pm to 9 pm and the duration of the trip is 2 hours 30 minutes.