In a frequently quoted observation, Nobel-prizewinning Mexican author Octavio Paz (1914-1918), muses: “The Mexicans descended from the Aztecs; the Peruvians descended from the Incas; and the Argentinians descended from...boats.”
To some extent he has a point, inasmuch from 1870 to the outbreak of the First World War my country received an enormous influx of immigrants. Although immigration to the United States in these years was greater in terms of absolute numbers, as a proportion of the native population, the Argentinian wave was more significant to the host country. According to the 1914 census, there were more foreigners than natives in the City of Buenos Aires, and in the country as a whole, 1 of every 3 inhabitants came from abroad.
Admittedly, one needs to interpret these affirmations in light of their failure to include the indigenous peoples that inhabited the country before the first wave o f Portuguese and Spanish immigration starting in the 15th century, as well as the thousands of African slaves who were brought to these shores in deplorable conditions. These ethnic groups were not considered persons with rights at that time, and the majority of them were lost to history, recruited to fight in the bloody wars that occurred in these lands. It was only in 1813 that slavery was abolished in my land.
The immigrants who poured into Argentina came to pursue the dream the American continents offered, building up our country through their hard work. Escaping hunger, war, and religious persecution, the Spaniard, Italian, French, English, German, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Syrian, and Lebanese refugees (among others), arrived with their trunks filled with the humble keepsakes that nonetheless conveyed a precious cultural inheritance, fruit of centuries of the march of history: music, language, literature, religious beliefs and practices, aromas and recipes, workplace habits and tools, in short, all that fashioned and constituted the different cultures of the newcomers, longstanding identities that in no way would dissolve with the passage of time, even when the descendants of these eager arrivals would count more than a century of residence in their new home.
Notably numerous were the arrivals from the northeastern Italian region of Friuli, a corridor between the Italian peninsula and Eastern Europe and the continent of Asia beyond – a doorway opening to communication, trade, and exchange of ideas, but also to invasions by the Barbarians, Lombards, Hungarians, and various others. This situation left Friuli impoverished and unstable, an invitation for many locals to relocate to neighboring countries, and eventually in the 19th century, to cross the ocean in search of the promise of the vast riches that beckoned from the Americas.
The Friulians are said to possess a typical melancholic personality, they are serious, responsible, somewhat withdrawn, rough in manners, at times blunt to the point of rudeness, and timid. This last characteristic can hide their deep sensitivity and warmth. They can be touchy and suspicious, and in their social life gravitate toward family and the companions of their traditional surroundings. All this facilitates an intense interior life. However, their qualities of sincerity, loyalty, and fidelity inspire trust and bonds of indissoluble friendship.
They are also active, hardworking and entrepreneurial, with a keen sense of duty exemplified by the high value they place on self-sufficiency, even if it requires emigration to guarantee their sustenance.
My city of Reconquista is renowned for having welcomed immigrants from many different regions, as well as for the mixture of these cultures that has evolved naturally through the years. In contrast, the small village of Avellaneda, only 3 kilometers away, is composed mostly of descendants of Italians, above all from Friuli, their inward-oriented character fostering, across comparative age groups, a more homogenous population.
The various ethnic groups often organize annual events whose objective is to keep the old traditions -the rhetorical, written, musical, gastronomic, and recreational legacies of their ancestors- alive and healthy.
“Morra” or “Mora” is a game of handplay and numbers whose history begins several millenia back with the ancient Egyptians. The Greeks brought it to Europe and the legions of Rome spread it throughout their Empire. Thanks to its popularity among the Friulians, the custom remains very much alive to this day. The residents of Avellaneda organize a tournament that lasts months, is held in different urban and rural locations, and gets everyone involved: children, adolescents, the elderly, men and women, although these latter are a minority, due to a traditional notion that Morra is a masculine contest in which vociferous virility provides an advantage. Nonetheless, the times are changing, and the women are now finding their place in this previous bastion of patriarchy. It is not uncommon to see pairs composed of fathers and sons, grandparents and grandchildren, Friuilans and half-Friulians.
Games between pairs last only a few seconds, but this short span does nothing to temper the heated passion of the proceedings. After the game is finished and calm is restored, everyone gathers around meat roasted in the gaucho style, and the finest Malbec in the world fills the cups of the Morra warriors who thus assisted, channel for a moment the many centuries of the misfortunes of the peasants of Friuli, as well as their overflowing joy in the succession of succulent and abundant harvests.
It’s a great joy to me to see how assiduously and creatively the different groups of immigrants in my country preserve the culture of their ancestors, but on occasion I wonder whether this is one of the causes (though certainly not the principal one) of the difficulty Argentina has in consolidating anidentity of her own. It is standard for some ethnic groups to attribute their success to their provenance from one or another region of Europe, in detriment to other groups on whom they foist the blame for the errors that lead to “the history of our calamities”. I’m aware, my friends, that this is a gross simplification, but perhaps it will furnish a key to understanding a country as complex as Argentina, an understanding that continues to elude my grasp...
Perhaps the day in which our actions exhibit a mutual commitment to each other in a united nation above and beyond the flags that are planted deep in the heart of each one of us, we will then all begin to pull the cart in the same direction, thus achieving our destiny.
Pacho Coulchinsky
