Relación

The Relación (the full title is: Relación que hace el gaucho Ramón Contreras a Jacinto Chano de todo lo que vio en las fiestas Mayas de Buenos Aires en 1822 or German roughly: Description made by the Gaucho Ramón Contreras Jacinto Chano of all this, what he saw at the May festivities in Buenos Aires in 1822 ) is the last of the three diálogos (German: conversations ) drawn up by Bartolomé Hidalgo . The Relación was published between May and November 1822 and consists of 310 verses.

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Verses 1-4

Ramón Contreras reached the town where his friend Jacinto Chano lives on his horse when the cattle were branded. After being branded, he is greeted by his friend.

Verses 5-12

Contreras had offered his friend to visit him and had fulfilled his promise. The journey had been long and his horse was now exhausted. He asks Chano if he was also at the May festivals in Buenos Aires.

Verses 13-54

Chano explains why he didn't take part in the May festivities. Sayavedra, the animal tamer, came to see him on May 24th to buy horses from him. Sayavedra had agreed to the price he had quoted, the contract was concluded with a handshake and a few sips of sugar cane schnapps and mate . However, Sayavedra withdrew from the contract, getting tipsy from the sugar cane schnapps. In his anger, Chano got a stick and attacked Sayavedra. Sayavedra fought with a dagger. There was a fight in which Chano was injured in the leg. Ultimately, both were separated from third parties. In his anger - less about the injury than about the fact that he was unable to go to the May festivities as a result - he swears revenge on Sayavedra. If Contreras was present at the May festivals, he was to tell about it.

Verses 55-98

Contreras begins his long speech with the pretext that he has not attended such an impressive event in recent years as this year's May festivities in Buenos Aires. These had already started on the evening of May 24th. He raves about the pompous jewelry with which the city has been decorated. Poems in honor of the American liberation struggle were publicly exhibited. Someone who is apparently unable to read read him the poems on the poster. There is also talk of dance, music and games. A little boy honored May 25th in a lecture. After all, everyone went to the theater. But he was tired and stayed at a friend's house.

Verses 98-249

The next day (May 25th) he attended a parade of schoolchildren and later soldiers. Like many others he was touched by the sight. When the members of the government and employees with their escort left the citadel in the direction of the church at eleven o'clock, the soldiers of the parade stood in line on both sides of the street. In the evening after dinner he attended a sortija game (English: ~ ring stitching ) and then a palo jabonado game (English: ~ soaped pole game ) on the main square . In this game, he was astonished to find, an Englishman had proven himself to be the winner several times and was able to steal the wallet at the top of the slippery, tree-high pole. Others later won the game. Another game he was present at was rompe-cabezas (English: ~ headbreaker ). He also took part, but failed miserably. In the evening there were dances, fireworks and more games. On the second day of the celebrations, everyone went to the theater this time towards the end of the day. He was pushed into the top ranks by the crowd. He left the theater in horror and spent the rest of the evening strolling through the military quarters of the city with a stick flame, which was obviously a theatrical trick he was not familiar with.

Verses 250-300

The celebrations continued on May 26th and 27th. As in the previous days, there were games, a parade of children carrying national flags and the image of the Blessed Virgin, then a lecture by one of the children who touched Contreras. There were tightrope walkers, an English clown had amused the audience, sortija continued to be played and there was a bull show. After all, he met his friends in a pub. People drank, danced, played cards for money. Exhausted from the day, after the card game in which he lost all his money, he lay down in a cot in the pub. With that, Contrera's description ends.

Verses 301-305

Chano regrets that he was unable to attend the May festival. If he was still alive the following year, he would accompany Contreras on the trip to the May festivals in Buenos Aires.

Verses 306-310

Contreras stays with his friend for a whole day. The next day he saddles his horse and returns home after saying goodbye to Chano.

Further information

• The May Revolution of May 25, 1810 has been celebrated at the May festivals in Buenos Aires since 1815 .
• The sortija game is played on an open square with a wooden gate with a wooden ring with a relatively small diameter on the crossbar. The aim of the game is to gallop through the gate and put a 10–15 cm long stick into the ring or spear the ring with it.
• The aim of the rompe-cabezas game is to cross (with the help of a rope) a pole that is mounted on movable pegs and at the end of which there is the prize.

literature

Text output

Bartolomé Hidalgo: "Relación que hace el gaucho Ramón Contreras a Jacinto Chano de todo lo que vio en las fiestas Mayas de Buenos Aires en 1822", in: Poesía gauchesca . Biblioteca Ayacucho, Caracas 1977