The poncho and the gaucho

For our gauchos, the poncho was almost like a flag. He had, in turn, many practical functions that accompanied day to day in the fields, protecting them from the cold and assisting them in the fight.
Today we want to give you a reflection on this, from the hands of Alberto G. Bellucci, former director of the Museum of Decorative Art.

Extended or folded over the shoulders thrown over the neck or velvet on one side, the poncho protects from the wind and shelters from the cold; it is alternately overcoat, waterproof, scarf and hood.
It also serves as a serene mattress, blanket office and blanket or is armed as a saddlebag, where a “strikeout” fits.
Occasionally it accompanies violence because, wound on the left arm, it serves as a shield and defense of the other's dagger or acts as an instrument of torture, “patching “the prisoner with fresh leather.
The poncho integrates the rider's galas, supports the advances of a love conquest, serves as an offering of the teacher and melts the gaucho with his ride turning him into a pamppean centaur.
The poncho keeps its validity intact, overcoming the passage of time, because it has become one of the symbols that identifies us and that connects us, without doubt, with the roots of our own history.

Alberto G. Bellucci