Feliz cumpleaños Chile! Today Chile rings in another Independence day, kicking off the year of its Bicentennial birthday in a big way. Colloquially referred to as “Dieciocho”, meaning 18, the day actually celebrates Chile’s official rupture from Spain on September 18, 1810.
Actually, the party started yesterday. Or maybe even on September 1 for a lot of people. El 18 is a normally a 4-5 day long event where fondas, make shift “inns” serving up food, a lot of alcohol, and music invade parks, town squares, and are organized as private parties. They all take the same theme and vary it in a thousand ways (the funniest one being however, the “Yein (pronounced like Jane) Fonda” every year in downtown Santiago with rock music). In small towns, fondas are rustic, with eucalyptus branches and straw serving as makeshift roof and sawdust covering the floors. The idea? To party on–for five days straight.
During the afternoon, families head for the fondas to pig out on a staggering amount of traditional food. Try asados, a mixed grill from steak which is the cornerstone of any 18 celebration; choripan, longaniza, a spicy sausage, stuffed in a grilled bun most certainly slathered with a garlicky tomato salsa called chancho en piedra; anticuchos, meat shish kebabs; empanadas; even French fries (this is an unofficial national passion); and in the sit down places, pernil, boiled pork shoulder and blood sausage with potatoes. This heavy, gut bomb food is obviously to deter the effects of the alcohol, primarily drunken in the form of chicha, a rustic grape cider. Chicha is, in a word, d-a-n-g-e-r-o-u-s. It is sweet, tastes like juice, goes down easy, but uh oh, has alcohol in it! By the third round, careful getting up. No doubt, chicha explains why every 18 we would always find numerous fonda goers passed out in Parque Forestal in front of our apartment building.
In the evening, the fondas continue, now revving up for the music, a lot of it live. Cueca, Chile’s national dance, is making a total comeback and is never more popular than during Independence day. Men garb themselves in an elegant black suit with a short jacket worn by huasos, cowboys, a short poncho called a manta, spurs, chaps,and a flat-brimmed felt or straw hat. As they step and skip, they try to seduce a flirty maiden waiving a white handkerchief dressed in flowery, flowing dress called a chinita. The dance is basically of courtship. Besides cueca, people get down to cumbia, and in some fondas, Chilean rock bands kick it up.
During the day, rodeos abound with cowboys; kids play traditional games like trompo, fly kites, and do a rope pull. Many people choose to celebrate 18 with friends or family and skip the fondas, or leave it for the party that night. In any case, the keystone of any 18 celebration is the asado, barbecue. This should not be confused with any gas grill equivalent. No, no, no. The only acceptable form of fuel is mesquite wood, the men must light the grill, and the fare is strictly meat—and lots of it. Huge slabs of marbled steak cooked whole, spicy longaniza sausage, racks of marinated pork spareribs, daggers of chicken, pepper, and onion, and the illustrious baked meat empanadas to get it all started. This is all chased by jugs of chicha, wine, beer. Unless you are headed to a vegetarian event, just accept that salads and vegetables are usually sidelined this week. Dieciocho barbecues are full-day drinking and eating affairs (not for those with small stomachs or low alcohol tolerance) that start at lunch and extend into the evening with a break for a siesta.
Funny, when I think of a comparison with North American celebrations, Thanksgiving springs to mind. It is a time of national unity. Everyone partakes regardless of their background and prepares the same traditional foods. It is fairly labor intensive to produce (better to be invited) and definitely is all about stuffing yourself (and partying). Although Thanksgiving may not turn into a 4-5 day extravaganza, there certainly are leftovers for that many days.
Well, I won’t be partying it up tonight, I am making traditional empanadas. Partially for a photo shoot for the upcomingSouth American cookbook (out in the US in 2010) and because my adorable Chilean husband, Francisco, asked me to make them. What can I say? It’s love–for him and Chile.
FELIZ DIECIOCHO A TODOS!
