Part 10
These labor troubles, felt first in the populous centers, are gradually finding their way to the farms and haciendas, and it is easy to predict the changed condition that will result within a few years; conditions that will reach the other extreme. There is no class of people so tyrannical, so unreasonable and dictatorial, as the ignorant, the poor and oppressed, when once they hold the balance of power. The Roto Chilenos, as an organized force, would be a desperate, dangerous class, a menace to society and good government. Let us hope that the distance between these extremes will be narrowed, that capital will be given the protection and encouragement to which it is entitled, and upon which its existence depends, and at the same time labor will be given the best remuneration, the broadest field and the amplest opportunity possible. This is a problem that should concern the politicians and statesmen of Chile. The time has passed when the working class will submit to intolerance and oppression, and the fact that conditions are changing, even in a country where the common people cling tenaciously to tradition and usage, must be recognized. The sons and daughters of farmers go to the cities and take service with foreigners. When they return to their country homes they take with them manners and ideas acquired from a different people--transplanted customs from another world. And so, slowly, backward and forward among the people passes the shuttle of changing methods, weaving into the fabric of life new and strange conditions. These influences are making themselves felt in many ways. In the typical Chilean village one sometimes sees among the thatched roof adobe huts, a house with some pretensions to ornamentation. Instead of an earthen floor, and the patio occupied by fowls and animals, there is a brick or tile floor, and the walls are ornamented with pictures. The poncho, which was formerly universally worn by the men, has been almost entirely discarded in the cities, and generally so in the villages. The mantilla, that most unsanitary of articles, with which all the women of Chile formerly draped their heads and faces, and which had also the objectionable feature of giving them a common and unattractive appearance, is fast growing into disuse, and is being supplanted by more modern feminine headdress. The country people are beginning to discard sandals for shoes, and in many ways manifest a more progressive spirit.
A Chileno may appear upon the streets of a city in personal attire the same as that prescribed for gentlemen in any country, but custom in the country prescribes a different standard. A gentleman huaso, well mounted and properly equipped, will have several hundred dollars represented in his personal adornment and caparison, for he must appear “a la moda del campo” (in the costume of the country). The cost of the outfit of the average well-mounted Chilean gentleman farmer may be calculated as follows: Horse, three hundred pesos; silver mounted bridle and reins, seventy-five; silver mounted saddle, two hundred; inlaid silver belt and knife, fifty; silver spurs, seventy-five; poncho, fifty; hat, twenty; special riding suit, one hundred; embroidered leggins, seventy-five; boots, twenty-five; watch and other extras, two hundred; total, one thousand one hundred and seventy pesos, equal to four hundred dollars United States currency.
RODEO.
One of the most exciting of the many peculiar practices indulged in by the country people, and one which requires great skill and courage, is the “rodeo” (method of managing wild bullocks in a corral, by men on horseback). It is the Chilean Corrida, taking the place of the Spanish bull fight, and is an inoffensive sport. A rodeo is an event of much general interest, and is usually attended by large crowds of people, friends and invited guests of the owner of the hacienda where it takes place. Special and elaborate preparations are made, and the rodeo is looked forward to with much interest, not only by those who take part in the dangerous proceedings, but also by everyone favored with an invitation or an opportunity to attend. The company first assembles at the residence of the gentleman giving the function, where all the specially invited guests and personal friends are entertained.
The vaqueros have been instructed to collect in a large corral, representing a half circle, all the cattle from the hill potreros. The animals are usually unaccustomed to the sight of anyone except the vaquero who attends them, and are wild and easily excited. When the time arrives for opening the rodeo, the horses of the men who are to participate, are brought out, each attended by a mozo (personal servant), who carefully adjusts the huge spurs always used on such occasions, to the boots of their respective masters. The men then mount and ride to the corrals, each followed by his mozo with several reserve horses to be used in case of necessity. About the corrals, which are decorated with flags and bunting, is a large crowd, including the mounted servants of the hacienda, as well as the inquilinos and servants from other farms, on horseback and in carts. Later the ladies of the household and their friends and guests arrive and occupy seats especially prepared for them, which command a good view of the corral. An order is given for the function to begin and employés of the hacienda enter the corral and drive the animals close together, encircling them to prevent their escape. The men who are to participate in this sport take their positions and a bullock is permitted to pass through the line encircling the herd. It is immediately charged by two of the waiting party, one following and urging it on, the other riding by its side, forcing the beast as closely as possible to the corral fence. When they have traversed the distance of the corral enclosure the person riding by the animal’s side rushes to its head, and by a clever move turns it suddenly around. The positions of pursuing parties are reversed, first one riding at the side of and turning the infuriated beast, and then the other, until it is completely subdued. Until it is conquered the riders must at no time leave the animal. If it bolt through the herd, or amongst the bunch of mounted servants on guard, they must follow, each keeping his respective position. Their horses are well trained and enter into the sport with as keen a zest as the riders. When one animal has been conquered it is driven from the corral and another turned loose, different persons taking part in each separate contest. If a horse is gored, as is often the case, or the rider dismounted and trampled upon, others quickly take their places and the sport continues. During the rodeo the spectators applaud or groan at the acts of the participants, according to their merit or demerit. Rodeos sometimes last for several days. An intermission is given in the middle of the day during which lunch is served, and at night there is always entertainment and much merrymaking at the hacienda residence. This sport is full of surprises, both comic and tragic, as there is always an element of uncertainty in the actions of a wild and infuriated young bull, when pursued and harassed until he becomes desperate. The day’s entertainment often closes with some daring vaquero lassoing, saddling and mounting a big, untamed bull.
One of the purposes of a rodeo is that the owners of cattle in neighboring haciendas may have all of the cattle brought in from the hills, identified and separated. The cattle belonging to each estate bear the registered mark of the owner by which they are identified. Frequently animals stray from their ranges and potreros and join the herds in neighboring haciendas. In these annual rodeos, or round-ups, they are divided and each lot according to mark or brand is returned to the owner. All the vaqueros of the different estates in the locality attend and participate. In this way the hacendados get all the wild young animals from the hills brought in, separated and branded at practically no expense. What is considered sport, and a festival by the vaqueros and employés on the big farms, is in reality the annual collection of cattle, as a matter of business to the owner.
The crowd constituting the spectators at a rodeo is made up of peons, inquilinos and vaqueros from neighboring haciendas. They dance the cuaca, and there is music of primitive harps and guitars. There is much drinking of chicha and exchange of badinage, all mixed with talk of, and comment on the rodeo, and the personal skill and bravery, or the lack of those qualities, displayed by those engaged in the sport. In the evening, after the conclusion of the rodeo, along the dusty country roads leading to the homes of these people one may witness strenuous and exciting contests in topeadura, in which sturdy Chilean ponies and tipsy riders form the component part.
CHACRA.
Chacra (vegetable farm), is usually land rented in small sections by the poor people from the rich landowners. After the servants have been allotted their portion of land in the poorest soil of the hacienda, other portions are rented, usually for a stipulated rental of two thousand kilos of beans for each quadra (four acres). At the harvest time the landowner must be paid his rent, either in the proportion of the products stipulated, or the cash market value of same. This settlement must be made before the “chacrero” is permitted to remove any of the crops. The lessee’s family live in the chacra in huts made of the branches of trees. The hacendado knows the productive capacity of his land, and gauges the rental value accordingly. If the renter manages to save a few sacks of beans, after living and paying his rent, he is fortunate. As a rule this class of tillers of the soil receive nothing more than a meager living for their labor.
HABITS AND CUSTOMS
A careful study of the history of Chile from the time that Pedro de Valdivia attempted to subjugate the Indians, through the colonial period to the revolution of 1810, when Spanish rule was overthrown and Chile took her place in the sisterhood of South American Republics; through the varying vicissitudes of its first half century of national existence, down to the present time, will reveal the fact that certain customs and traditions characteristic of the race have been maintained. In some instances they reflect the influences of changed conditions and environments; foreign ideas have been engrafted upon the social structure and the body politic, but in character, and in general characteristics, the Chileno retains his inheritance from Spanish and Indian ancestors. This is particularly true of their economic use of water. It can be safely said that the majority of the working classes or country people apply water sparingly to their hands and faces only, and never to their bodies, and many of them are utter strangers to its personal application.
This does not apply, of course, to the wealthy, educated and traveled Chilenos, who go annually to the seashore, or other pleasure and health resorts, such as Panca, Cauquenes, or Viña del Mar, the latter being the summer playground of the rich. A visit to any of the pleasure resorts by a Chilean family, be they residents of the country or city, is an event attended with much pomp and ceremony. They take with them their horses and carriages, a retinue of servants and an extra supply of clothes for display for the purpose of impressing other visitors with their financial standing and social importance. The vacation season in Chile is usually from the first of January to the fifteenth of March. For two months government service is transferred from Santiago to Valparaiso, the president and his cabinet taking up their temporary residence in Viña del Mar, a suburb of Valparaiso. The courts are closed and practically all business suspended in the capital. Members of the diplomatic corps follow the Santiaginas to the seashore, and the suburbs of Valparaiso, with their hotels and bathing beaches, are gay with fashionably dressed visitors and social functions. Many people who indulge in this annual seaside frolic are compelled to resort to strenuous domestic economy for the remainder of the year, in order to recuperate from the financial sacrifice made in the effort to compete in the social exhibit with those who can well afford the expense. Others whose financial condition will not admit of their joining the procession of those who appear for a few brief weeks in the year upon the social stage at Viña del Mar, close the front of their city residences, and do not appear in public during the vacation season.
The poor classes who cannot afford a vacation, live in filth and unsanitary conditions the year round, and during their natural lives. The dwellings of the poor are built without regard to architecture, comfort or hygiene, and the domestic condition of the occupants is a menace to health. The floor of a majority of the huts is the ground, which during the rainy season becomes damp, and not infrequently muddy. The refuse water from the houses is thrown any place outside to get rid of it, and there being no drains to carry it away, it becomes stagnant and creates disease. Donkeys, dogs, pigs and poultry maintain intimate social relations with the members of the household, not infrequently being housed with the family at night.
Chile has several dishes peculiar to and characteristic of the country. Cazuela is, strictly speaking, a national dish. It is a sort of soup, served as a first course at any meal, but more particularly for breakfast. It is made of mutton, “cordero,” or fowl, with various kinds of vegetables, all cooked together and served hot. It possesses the merit of including both meat and vegetable, solid and liquid food. In addition to being inexpensive, it is easily made and is very palatable. It is extremely popular with all classes of Chilenos and is a dish that foreigners invariably become fond of after once having tested its good qualities. A breakfast in Chile without cazuela would be considered a poor meal. “Puchero,” is another dish of which the Chilenos are fond, and which is usually served at dinner. It consists of meat boiled with a variety of vegetables, all being cooked dry, and served without liquid. “Empanadas,” a sort of meat pie, is also popular and peculiar to the country.
The zama cuaca is the national dance of Chile. It is danced by all classes, and is made clownish or genteel, coarse or refined, according to the different social grades of the participants. In no case can it be considered vulgar, and when properly danced it is graceful and attractive. It is danced in couples. The lady and gentleman each carry a handkerchief in the right hand, which they wave in front of their partner as they move about the room, keeping time to the lively and inspiring music of harps and guitars. The music of the instruments is usually accompanied with the hum of voices and the clapping of the hands of spectators. The dancers always face each other, except at certain intervals, when they turn suddenly around and then proceed as before. Whether in the parlor, in a despacho, a cancha de bola, or in the open, the zama cuaca is a national favorite, and the music will always arouse the interest and enthusiasm of everyone present. It is indulged in on all occasions where people congregate, day or night, and crowds frequently stop along the country roads to dance the cuaca.
At places where the country and village people congregate on feast days, “fondas,” enclosures prepared especially for dancing, are provided. The fonda is enclosed on three sides and is covered with branches of the arrayan, a flowering bush, which emits a strong, but pleasant odor. In front of the entrance is a “vara” for topear. Most of the people attending feast day demonstrations go on horseback, and there is always a mixed and miscellaneous mounted crowd in front of the fonda. Inside, seated upon benches, are men and women who divide their time between dancing and drinking. Those not engaged in the dance keep up a constant hand-clapping, timing their movements with the music. Sometimes during the dance, when a woman performs a special evolution that is thought to be very clever or unusually graceful, some man in the crowd, perceptibly affected with alcohol, calls out in a loud voice, “aro, aro.” At the sound of this magic word, which means drinks for all, the music and the hand-clapping cease and the dancers stop. Then the woman in charge of the fonda appears and passes to the man who called “aro,” a “potrillo” (a large glass tumbler) filled with chicha, or a mixture of aguardiente and milk. The man takes the brimming potrillo, approaches the dancers, and bowing profoundly, offers it to the lady. She appears shy, makes several courtesies, accepts the cup, takes a sip and returns it to the man. After the women dancers have been served, the cup is passed to the men engaged in the dance, and later to the spectators, all drinking from the same potrillo until it is finished. The man calling aro does the honors in passing the drink, and for anyone present to refuse would be considered an insult that would probably be resented.
A peculiar feature of the cuaca is the solemnity with which it is conducted. There is never a laugh or a joke, and seldom a smile. Levity on such occasions would be considered an indiscretion. The Chilenos take every phase of life lightly and indifferently, except their amusements, which are sacredly serious.
A peculiar custom in Chile is that of offering to a friend any article that he may desire. It is not proper, however, to accept the proffered gift. The would-be donor is given an opportunity to show his generosity, and at the same time made happy by having his offer declined.
There prevails in Chile a pretty custom in salutations, conversation and in summoning persons, in which the christian name is always used. It is practiced between members of families, friends, acquaintances, servants and masters. To strangers it conveys the idea of familiarity, but on the contrary it is the most polite formality. The christian name is always used in social, domestic and commercial intercourse where the parties are known to each other. When strangers are addressing each other it is always Señor, Señora or Señorita. Friends and even acquaintances are profuse in the use of personal and endearing terms. Another method of expressing pleasure when friends or relatives, either male or female, meet, is to embrace, each passing the right hand around and patting the other affectionately upon the back.
Politeness is one of the characteristics inherited by the Chilenos from their Spanish ancestors. Members of the same family, especially among the better classes, are kind and always considerate of each other’s feelings and wishes. Family quarrels and disputes are seldom indulged in, and never in the presence of strangers. Among the middle and poor classes, there are occasional rows, and sometimes encounters between members of the same family, but it is usually due to the influence of drink rather than their natural inclinations. It is a national custom for the right of correction and punishment to rest with parents, so long as they and their children live. A son never becomes too old to be chastised by his father or mother. He may have reached middle age, be the father of a large family, and even venerably gray, but if either of his parents sees fit to box his ears, or even to apply more vigorous methods of punishment for any dereliction of duty or for any offense, the chastisement is administered with impunity and is accepted without resentment.
It is the custom among uneducated country people in calculating their ages, to reckon time from some important event that has taken place in the country, such as the revolution, severe earthquake, or other notable occurrences. The great earthquake of 1851, is often used as a basis for calculating the ages of old people.
An aire is a muscular affliction of the face or neck, which may result from sitting or remaining in a draught when one is warm or perspiring. It is a common affliction in Chile, and to avoid the danger, not only the country people, but those living in cities and towns, are disposed to keep their rooms closed to the exclusion of fresh air, and to the great discomfort of the occupants.
Sometimes foreigners on arriving in Chile find the customs of the country unsatisfactory, according to their theories, and at once constitute themselves missionaries to “convert the natives,” as they put it. They proceeded to introduce ideas and methods that conform to their own standard of ideals. The result usually is the acquisition of an unsatisfactory lot of experience, without having affected any changes in the prevailing customs, or even made any impression upon those for whom the education was intended. The Chilenos are slow to accept innovations, and quick to resent the presumption of foreigners who attempt to engraft new ideas and customs upon the ways and traditions of their country.
RELIGION
The sanctity of the church is considered forbidden ground to all those who attempt to portray the life and customs of the people of any country. To criticise religious forms or customs is to incur the displeasure, arouse the combative spirit and the resentful nature of the communicants of the church under discussion. It means to bring down upon the head of the offending scribe the wrath of those who have found consolation in the church. Religious views and ideas, with prejudices deep rooted and strong, are generally inherited.
Believing that there is good in all churches, that the Christian religion is the foundation upon which the superstructure of good society and modern civilization is based, the writer wishes to preface his comments on the Church in Chile, with the statement that it is not the purpose to criticise the Christian religion, but to point out some of the peculiar, and what would seem to the disinterested observer, objectionable practices in the dominating church.
The Catholic religion has been so closely interwoven in the fabric of Chilean history that it forms a feature of every chapter in the Republic’s record. It is impossible to accurately describe the life and customs of the country, and at the same time omit so important an influence as that exercised by the church on the political and social life of Chile.
Article 4 of the constitution (1833), says: “La Religion de la República de Chile és la Católica Apostólica Romana, con exclusión del ejercicio publico de cualquiera otra.” (The religion of the Republic of Chile is the Roman Catholic Apostolic with the exclusion of the public exercise of whatever other.)
Under constitutional authority the public exercise of all religious worship, except the Catholic, was excluded from Chile until 1865, when the right was conceded to establish non-Catholic schools within private property, and to be supervised by a Catholic board. Later came another innovation in the civil register law.
In Chile the State sanctions, helps to support and maintain the Catholic church, and the church participates in politics and the affairs of state. Reaching out through its various ramifications the church extends its influence to the farthest limits of the country, both socially and politically. The union of Church and State is strong, and the day seems far distant when they will be divorced. Able and courageous men, individually and in party groups, have tried to loosen the hold Catholicism has on Chile, and have in some instances weakened its influence upon the body politic, but it is still powerful. President Balmaceda endeavored to separate Church and State, not by destroying the church, but by directing each in its legitimate channel. The result was defeat, revolution, disaster and death.