Page 33 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Argentina

A POR TR AIT OF ARGENTINA  31

the descendants of a Chinese
community who migrated to
Argentina in the mid­19th
century as contract laborers.

Pre-Columbian Beliefs
Although many indigenous
groups were wiped out by
war and disease during
Spanish rule, several groups
remain who still practice their Gathering of native Mapuche women
traditional beliefs. The Andean for Ngillatún
Northwest was on the fringes
of the Incan empire, and even
Dome of Templo de la Congregación today mes tizo and native Popular Cults
Israelita, Buenos Aires commu nities in Salta and Argentinians venerate a
Jujuy pay homage to number of unorthodox holy
cowboys). In Buenos Aires, large Pachamama (Earth Mother) figures and even those who
numbers of Jewish families and perform pre­Columbian profess to no religion often
arrived bet ween 1880 and 1940 or syncretistic rituals such as adopt these as part of the
to escape the pogroms in Fiesta de Inti Raymi (winter sol­ national or regional folklore.
Russia and, later, the stice). Some members The three best­known quasi­
growing tide of anti­ of the Mbya­Guaraní­ saints are Difunta Correa (see
Semitic feeling across speaking tribes of p220), a woman who, though
central and eastern Misiones also follow deceased, is believed to have
Europe. After many a belief system that continued to breast feed and
decades of peaceful predates the Spanish nourish her infant son; Gauchito
coexis tence, the bomb­ con quest, with Gil, a Robin Hood figure from
ings of the Israeli empha sis on the crea­ Corrientes; and, from the
Embassy in 1992, killing tion of the world by province of Río Negro, Ceferino
29 people and wound­ Pan Altar exhibit, the supreme god, Namuncurá, son of a Mapuche
ing 242, and of the Museo Xul Solar Tupã, dream narra tives, chief. Ceferino is worshipped
Argentinian­Israeli and a strong sense of across northern Patagonia. Bus
Mutual Association living in harmony with drivers often have the Virgin
(AIMA) in 1994, killing 85 people, nature’s rhythms. Argentina’s of Luján dangling from their
sent shock waves through the Mapuche commu nity conti­ rear­view mirrors alongside
local community. While the nues to observe their ancient the color ful pendants of their
bombing at the Israeli Embassy tradi tions through story telling soccer teams, and San
was attributed to Islamic terrorists, and through Ngillatún, a major Cayetano, the saint who cares
the attack on AIMA remains annual fiesta cele brated at for poor people, is a figure
unsolved. The mysterious death different times according to whose importance ebbs and
in 2015 of Alberto Nisman, the the local sowing and har­ flows in correlation to the
special prosecutor of the inquiry, vesting calendar. econo mic realities of the day.
has delayed investigations.
World Religions
Argentina’s constitution
guarantees freedom of wor­
ship for all. A Muslim mino rity
makes up about 1.5 percent
of its popu lation and Buenos
Aires’s King Fahd Mosque is
the biggest in Latin America.
The country is also home to
other groups, including
Mormons, Spiritualists,
Jehovah’s Witnesses, and
Buddhists. A few Buddhist
temples in the capital serve Largest mosque in South America, the King Fahd Mosque, Buenos Aires

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