Poncho from Salta. Molinos, Province of Salta. Circa 1960.

Typical "Güemes" poncho, preserved in impeccable condition. The garment was made with sheep's wool hand-spun on a spinning wheel, and was woven with the warp face on a horizontal pedal loom, a Creole adaptation of the primitive Spanish looms that arrived in the lands of Plata in colonial times. The craftswoman has stretched out a warp about four meters long to then proceed to weave it into a long piece, which once disassembled from the loom was cut in the middle to face the two resulting mirrored cloths and join them by means of an ornamental seam. The space reserved for the mouth shows a black winch trim that ends in two bows of the same color at its ends. The upper and lower edges have been hemmed and the structure culminates in a perimeter fringe of black wool, woven ad hoc in a fringe loom. Measures. Length: 192 cm. Width: 144cm. Fringes: 8cm.

The red color of the field of this poncho presents as an ornament two black stripes and in the same color, the bows, trims and fringes. The design responds to the popular tradition referring to the Montoneras Gauchas commanded by General Martin Miguel de Güemes in the second decade of the 19th century, during the Argentine War of Independence against the Spanish. Its history is reflected in the foundations of the bill presented before the Chamber of Deputies of the Nation on November 16, 2012, requesting that it be declared a National Pledge.

“… During his administration as governor, between 1815 and 1821, General Martín Güemes imposed on his militiamen the use of the poncho with shades of red with black guards. This measure by Güemes is consistent with his respectful attitude towards the Indians, for whom he had his proclamations distributed in Quichua. It was only after the assassination of Güemes that his gauchos added a second mourning, this time in the bow tie of the poncho, before his death.

General Güemes formed his army of gaucho militia, known as the infernal ones, among other characteristics due to the red tone of their ponchos, with which they resisted nine invasions by the best Spanish armies; At the head of a growing band of gauchos he confronted the Spanish strategy of robbery, looting and mass murder.

On September 12, 1815, he was filled with enthusiasm upon verifying the patriotic adherence of his people to the resistance against the invader. General Güemes asked the supreme director Ignacio Álvarez Thomas for permission to create the "Infernal Division of Gauchos de Línea".

The Infernals are, without a doubt, one of the most famous regiments in the history of our Independence, full exponents of the gaucho idiosyncrasy and truly amazing for the speed of their attacks, retreats and ambushes…” (1)

Note:

1. Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Nation. File 8133-D-2012. Summary: Salteño poncho. Declaration as “National Pledge”. Date 11/16/2012.

S.O.XVII-SDM