Pachamama Party

Every year in a Tucumán town there is a three-day gathering of thousands of adorers of the Mother Earth, that fertile nature which makes seeds sprout and fruits mature. For decades, this event, organized and financed by the tenacious villagers has attracted a crowd of curious Tucumanos and many tourists.

Rugged criollos, young and old men, children and women, with their weather-beaten faces, repeat the ancient Incaic formula: "Pachamama, cusiya, cusiya" (Mother Earth, help me, help me). This takes place every year in Amaicha del Valle, where every February, one of the last rituals of the Argentine folk culture which still survive, the Pachamama Party is celebrated.

The climate of the party is as rustic as the town and its inhabitants. Arbors made of dry leaves held by woods, known as pascanas are put up around the square, they are kinds of typical stands where regional food is sold. There you can also find patero wine, whose name derives from "pata" (foot), as in order to distill the must you have to tread on the grapes barefoot on pieces of leather.

The high mountain region provides algarroba with which aloja is elaborated, corn used for chicha and tasty goat cheese, besides the typical and delicious empanadas (kind of turnover).

Broad-brimmed hats lifted, bright colored shirts, rugged and callused hands. Gazed at by astonished tourists, the vallistos (from the Valles Calchaquíes) craftsmen intently work on surprising weavings for ponchos, blankets and other winter garments elements. However, Pachamama Party is a lot more than an excuse for seekers of exotism. It bears no resemblance to folkloric festivals, since its attendants have no artistic pseudonym and their names have never reached a marquee. The Calchaquí people are anonymous heroes of song.

Along three days, in the dry and arid local weather, everything has the characteristics of a carnival. Cajas (percussion instruments) with hard drumheads accompany old vidalas and bagualas (musical genres). Flowers and fruits are put together with sweet basil which impregnates the air thick from the dust unsettled by the dancing and the charming running of children.

The Pachamama Party consists of several ceremonies. Some of them are formal, like the Thanksgiving Mass in the chapel. Others, like topamiento (bumping) on foot or on horseback, capable of arousing greater astonishment: under willow arches men and women make merry at the shout of verses and the beating of cajas. They throw starch and confetti at each other and they furtively exchange flower or sweet basil crowns.

After a brief greeting exchange, the ritual of the topamiento turns its participants into godparents, who should be joined in mutual loyalty for ever.

Prodigious, multicolored, the Pachamama Party is a reason for the señalada (marking) or multiplico. A herd of goats is corralled, their ears are cut (they are put into a small bag or "chuspa") and a colorful mark ring is fixed on the mutilated animals. Then a couple of goats are "married", wine is scattered, the "chuspa" is put into a hole in the land and the animals are greed so that they multiply in the wild hill.