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Gauchito Gil
The Gauchito Gil depicted in a mural in Rosario, Santa Fe.
HometownMercedes, Argentina
Venerated in
Major shrineSanctuary of the Gauchito Gil, Mercedes Department
FeastJanuary 8
Attributes
  • Man with long dark hair and moustache, wearing typical gaucho costume and holding a pair of boleadoras
  • the color red in crosses, flags and candles
Patronage
  • Marginalized people
  • rural workers
  • travelers
  • emergencies
  • divine justice
  • outlaws

The Gauchito Gil (lit. 'Little Gaucho Gil') is an Argentine folk saint, folk hero and cult image in folk Catholicism and neopaganism, one of the most significant figures of the country's popular religiosity of the 20th and 21st centuries.[1][2] According to the most widespread legend, he was a real gaucho of the mid-19th century born in Mercedes, Corrientes, generally called Antonio Mamerto Gil Núñez, who became a bandit and was later executed for deserting a militia.[3] However, there are no records that support his historical existence, and the stories surrounding his cult have been transmitted through oral tradition, which has given rise to different versions of the legend.[1][2]

History and legend

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Although the legends surrounding the Gauchito Gil claim to be based on a real historical person, the evidence indicates that he never existed and is a legendary character.[1][2] The absence of the Gauchito Gil in the main texts about Argentine folklore of the early 20th century suggests that his cult did not exist at that time, or that it was very small.[4] He does not appear in the 1897 work of Daniel Granada, nor in that of Juan Bautista Ambrosetti of 1917, who traveled the Littoral and did give an account of other folk saints of the region such as San La Muerte and San Son.[4] Although these sources are not conclusive, Granada and Ambrosetti are the most important authors who wrote about the folklore of the region between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the time when the cult of the Gauchito Gil is supposed to have arisen.[4] Most notably, the Gauchito Gil is not mentioned in the extensive government survey of 1921 called the Encuesta del Magisterio.[4] Better known as the Encuesta Nacional del Folklore (Spanish for "National Folklore Survey"), it was the most extensive and ambitious project to survey and collect folkloric tales and practices from all over the country, and has been a highly valued archive since then.[5] Researcher Andrés Salas claims that the earliest published notice about the Gauchito Gil is in a book of 1906, whose author identifies him as Juan de Dios Giles, born in Mercedes to Uruguayan parents.[4]

The first mentions of the Gauchito Gil by researchers or travelers who passed through the Mercedes area did not appear until the second half of the 20th century.[4] One of the oldest known is from an article about San La Muerte written by Emilio Noya, published in newspaper El Litoral in 1968.[4]

Veneration

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A shrine to the Gauchito Gil on the side of the Carretera Austral highway in the Aysén Region, Chile.

According to a 2019 national survey on religious beliefs and attitudes carried out by CONICET, 23% of the Argentine population believes in the Gauchito Gil.[6] The number is highest among Catholics, where it rises to 30.8%, while it is lowest among Evangelicals, with 9.4% believers.[6] The survey also showed that 10.3% of irreligious people believed in the Gauchito Gil.[6] Belief in the folk saint decreased compared to the results of the previous 2008 survey, where it reached 30%.[6]

The Gauchito Gil's day is celebrated on January 8.[3] On that day every year, at least 300 thousand people gather at the Sanctuary of Gauchito Gil a few kilometers from the city of Mercedes.[7][8] His santuary in Mercedes also features a replica of the tree where he was supposedly killed.

The typical image of the Gauchito Gil, disseminated through multiple photographs, postcards and bulletins, attributes to him the attire of the stereotypical gaucho popularized at the end of the 19th century, not that of a gaucho of the period in which his legend takes place.[2] He is depicted with a rolled-up shirt, breeches, chiripá,[note 1] sash, neckerchief, headband holding his hair, botas de potro[note 2] and boleadoras.[2] Other versions incorporate the use of bombachas (instead of breeches),[note 3] boots (replacing the botas de potro), a low top hat with a small brim, and a red poncho.[2]

https://perio.unlp.edu.ar/ojs/index.php/question/article/download/3216/2748/12359

Church recognition

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Despite being venerated by many Catholics, the Gauchito Gil is not recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church, and church leaders have been divided on whether they should accept or reject the phenomenon.[12][13] A trend among Argentine churchleaders that seeks to reconcile the Church with folk beliefs has gained ground, something that has been supported by Pope Francis.[8][13]

I understood that I had to be present in spite of my doubts and inner resistances (...) I stood in line with the pilgrims, white priest's shirt and straw hat. When they realized that I was a priest they began to ask me to bless them, their relatives, their sick; they presented me with photographs of their relatives and objects of devotion so that I would also bless them... Many wore the Rosary around their necks... Then I said to myself: 'these are our people, they are children of the Catholic Church'".[13]

https://www.corrienteshoy.com/interior/dia-de-la-cruz-gil-el-obispo-invito-a-encontrarse-con-el-amor-de-cristo.htm

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ In typical gaucho costume, the chiripá is a "long blanket wrapped around the waist like a kilt, then brought up from back to front between the legs and the end tucked through [the] belt, to hang down again in front."[9] In 1890, a writer of The Illustrated American defined it as a "shawl, generally made of some light, black woollen material, which the gaucho arranges into a pair of loose, picturesque trousers."[10]
  2. ^ In typical gaucho costume, the botas de potro were boots "made of the rawhide from a horse's hind leg, pulled on while still moist so as to dry to a perfect fit."[9]
  3. ^ In typical gaucho costume, bombachas are a type of "baggy pleated trousers tapered at the shins".[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Araujo, Danielle; Martins, Renato (2019). "Gauchito Gil - el santo rojo". Plural. Antropologías desde América Latina y el Caribe (in Portuguese). 2 (3). Asociación Latinoamericana de Antropología: 275–328. ISSN 2393-7491. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Sousa, Irma C. (2013). "Antonio Gil: Historia de un gaucho imaginario". Ecléctica, Revista de estudios culturales (in Spanish) (2). Logroño: Universidad de La Rioja: 150–159. ISSN 2254-0113. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b "¿Quién fue el Gauchito Gil y qué cuenta su leyenda?" (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Cultura. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Gentile, Margarita E. (2014). "La cruz Gil: historia, espacio y tiempo de una devoción popular de la provincia de Corrientes, República Argentina (siglos XX-XXI)" (PDF). Revista de Folklore (in Spanish). León: Caja España-Duero: 3–26. ISSN 0211-1810. Retrieved 3 December 2023 – via CONICET.
  5. ^ Dupey, Ana María; Pensa, Fernanda (2021). Volver a la Encuesta Nacional de Folklore un siglo después (PDF). Sobre Encuesta Nacional de Folklore (#1) (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Cultura. pp. 8–13. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d Mallimaci, Fortunato; Giménez Béliveau, Verónica; Esquivel, Juan Cruz; Irrazábal, Gabriela (2019). Sociedad y Religión en Movimiento. Segunda Encuesta Nacional sobre Creencias y Actitudes Religiosas en la Argentina (PDF). Informe de investigación (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Laborales. Programa Sociedad, Cultura y Religión. pp. 18–22. ISSN 1515-7466. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  7. ^ "Gauchito Gil: 300 mil personas se reunieron al cumplirse 145 años de su muerte". Página/12. Buenos Aires. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  8. ^ a b Panessi, Hernán (1 April 2023). "Te agradezco, Gaucho". Lento. La Diaria (in Spanish). Montevideo. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  9. ^ a b Bennett, Deb (1998). Conquerors: The Roots of New World Horsemanship. Solvang: Amigo Publications. p. 267. ISBN 0-9658533-0-6. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  10. ^ Stephenson, Byron P. (2 August 1890). "Estancieros and gauchos". The Illustrated American. Vol. 3. p. 111. Retrieved 5 December 2023 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ Gidal, Marc (2016). Spirit Song: Afro-Brazilian Religious Music and Boundaries. Oxford University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-019-049-380-6. Retrieved 5 December 2023 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ "Outlaw saint rides on for pilgrims wanting miracles". The New Zealand Herald. Auckland. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  13. ^ a b c "El Gauchito Gil y la Difunta Correa desafían a la Iglesia". Clarín (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
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Category:Folk saints Category:Legendary people Category:Folklore characters Category:Argentine saints Category:Argentine folklore Category:Gaucho culture Category:Christian folklore Category:Catholicism in Argentina Category:Argentine legends Category:Folk Catholicism Category:Cult images Category:Miracle workers Category:Heroes in mythology and legend

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