Gauchito Gil, #2, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
Folk Figures
All over the world, marvelous miracles seem to crop up with regularity, and with them, new folk religious figures and beliefs are often born. Some of these occurrences and some of these figures, after “investigation”, are ultimately recognized officially by an established religious tradition (for example, as in sainthood in the case of the Catholic Church)… but other such “miraculous” happenings, those not officially recognized, simply remain floating around the folksy, popular underworld of the masses and get incorporated into what we might call “folk religion”.
What is fact and what is fiction? What is real history and what is myth?
Who knows, who can say…?
Neither of my two examples today has been recognized by an official religion, but they are hugely popular here in Argentina and have even spread beyond this country’s borders (even to Spain, I have heard!).
If you travel much around Argentina, you will likely see one of these “folk altars” as they have sprouted up along most major arteries.
Now you’ll know what they are.
Gauchito Gil
The “Little Gaucho Gil”, whose full name was apparently Antonio Plutarco Cruz Mamerto Gil Núñez (phew!), was a tragic mid-19th century figure here in Argentina, and caught up in the civil wars of the time. There is very little actually and factually known about the guy, but he perhaps was a Robin Hood sort of hero to the downtrodden… or maybe just a common thief and army deserter. In all versions of the story, though, he was unjustly executed.
Before being wrongly put to death, he is said to have told his executioner something like: “You are about to kill an innocent man. When you go home, you will find your son gravely ill. If you pray for help from me, I will cure your son.” (I’m most definitely summarizing and paraphrasing here from what may be all myth.)
Sure enough, the executioner–often the local sheriff in many versions–goes home and finds his son on his deathbed, just as the Gaucho had predicted. However, upon praying to the now defunct “Gauchito Gil”, his son is miraculously returned to health.
If you can read Spanish, the Wikipedia entry gives three possible versions of his story. There are probably many more.
So, today, when in need of some sort of miracle, some folks have found solice in their prayers to Gauchito Gil, and the Gaucho, so say some, often delivers.
The Images
Disclaimer: All photos made in relatively poor lighting conditions with the iPhone XS.
This particular Gauchito Gil shrine is colocated with the Difunta Correa altar presented below (and a bus stop, as you can see) just south of the city of Mendoza on the old Ruta Panamericana (Ruta Provincial 82). Look for it on the top of a small hillock to your right as you travel south…
Gauchito Gil, #5, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
A close-up. Someone spent a lot of effort, time, and money to build this, even if it does look a bit precarious. The Gaucho is under shelter, they even wired for lighting (battery-fed?), and we found newly-laid tile on the concrete floor, the bags of mortar still present (visible in the opening photograph above). The red is explained by the fact that this was the color of the Partido Autonomista de Corrientes, the political party associated with Gil…
Gauchito Gil, #4, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
The Difunta Correa
This can be roughly translated as the “Deceased Correa”, Correa being the last name of the woman involved: Deolinda Correa.
As this story goes, Deolinda’s husband was forcibly recruited during the period of Argentina’s civil wars (1840s). While carrying a new-born baby in her arms, she attempted to track her husband and his captors across the hostile desert of San Juan, a province just north of Mendoza in west-central Argentina.
Unfortunately, Deolinda ran out of food and water and died along the way. When some local gauchos came across her body, days later, they were astonished to see that the baby was still alive, suckling from her breasts that miraculously kept providing precious milk for the child.
Her burial site, and the location of the original and now enormous Difunta Correa sanctuary, is near the small town of Vallecitos in San Juan Province of Argentina. The many, many faithful (1,000,000 visits a year!?) make pilgrimages to this spot to ask her for special miracles–which, apparently, are sometimes/often granted.
Because she died while struggling to travel a long distance, the Difunta Correa is the unofficial saint of gauchos, long-haul truck drivers, and travelers in general. It is customary to stop and leave behind a bottle of water at any of the many Difunta Correa roadside shrines–not only to help her along on her perilous journey in the afterworld, but also so that she might bless your own journey.
Here is one such Difunta Correa shrine, sharing the same hilltop outside of Mendoza City as the above Gauchito Gil. It may look a bit like a junkyard–BUT, somene has taken the time to build a wall, a roof, hang a gutter, lay tile, raise a flag, plant and water the palm tree…
La Difunta Correa, #16, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
The many gifts, offerings, and expressions of thanks left behind by the faithful…
La Difunta Correa, #8, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
If you look carefully, within this small altar, you can see at least four small plaster casts, one unpainted, of the prone Difunta Correa with her child at her breast…
La Difunta Correa, #8a, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
This was a most touching image. Sitting atop this Difunta Correa plaster cast is a positive pregnancy test. At least for this particular woman, that was the answer to her prayers and she came here to give thanks–and leave behind her life-changing Evatest…
La Difunta Correa, #9, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
The cars, I think, symbolize the idea of traveling long distances… the water bottles are what you would need to safely cross many miles of arid desert…
La Difunta Correa, #14, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
La Difunta Correa, #6, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
Another close-up of the various offerings…
La Difunta Correa, #13, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
Fan belts??? Perhaps someone is asking the Difunta Correa to please keep the car from breaking down in the middle of nowhere! And Gustavo has left a brass plaque saying, “Difunta Correa, thank you… for the rewards received, February 2014“….
La Difunta Correa, #17, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
If I were dying of thirst in the Argentine desert, a Difunta Correa shrine would be one of the first things I’d look for, even if the water might be a bit funky…
La Difunta Correa, #15, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
This is yet another, smaller shrine to the Difunta Correa and is located only about three miles away from the one documented above. You will find them everywhere in Argentina!
La Difunta Correa, #20, Mendoza, Argentina, 2022
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