News
 Bio
 Work
 Résumé
 Photos
 Blogs
 -The Daily DG, on journalism, in Spanish.
-The Daily DF, on Mexico, in Spanish.
-NY-DF, the roadtrip of a lifetime, bilingual.

» Home › Work › Newspapers › Clarín

 » A Christmas Fair in Palermo / December 20, 1998

My first byline in Clarín.

lovenia was, as it has always been, a neighbor to Croatia. But from Ukraine the samba that Brazilians dance could be heard; Korea shared borders with Bolivia; Galicia and Andalusia were separated, as if they had nothing to do with each other; and masks from Angola, which hung from a tree, looked towards Israel.

That was because for three days the "Community Christmas" fair organized by the porteño Government forgot the severities of Geography to concentrate kiosks with meals, art crafts, dances and music from about twenty countries at The Rosedal in Palermo.

Yesterday, people who every sunny Saturday take a hike around the park on foot, on bicycles or skates, came across the kiosks raised by associations of foreign residents or their children and grandchildren. Flags from the different countries decorated the fair, that sounded like a musical Babel tower: each one had their own sound system and rhythms from every latitude could be heard.

When the afternoon was ending, the Buenos Aires Tango Orchestra, conducted by Carlos García y Raúl Garello, opened a festival in which all the communities participated with their typical dances.

The Angolan Boni Ngitukulu received visitors in a kiosk where there were art crafts from many countries in Black Africa -the Sub-Saharan region and the West coast of the continent-. He explained that the wooden masks, with big lips and thin eyes, are not intended for jokes. "You disguise of your ancestors to remember them," he said. If visitors were lucky, Boni would let them sit down on a carved wooden chair that, he said, is used by the tribes' chiefs.

The Greek community kiosk was an outstanding one, due to its imposing columns that -although being made of foam- looked as real as the Parthenon's marbles. Surrounded by postcards from Athens and imported dishes with gold details, Maria Galitis recommended the "gyro," that is half way between a sandwich and a pie, stuffed with lamb, cucumber sauce with yoghurt and a salad.

ight in front, another kiosk imitated a typical house in Slovenia. There, one could eat "strudel," a tasty apple pie, and chat with members of the Slovene Cultural Center in Carapachay, one of the eight existing in Buenos Aires. "We talk and we write in Slovene," commented Ireneo Markez.

Each community gave Christmas its own touch. So, in the Paraguayan one you could see a manger made with tree branches, where native gifts were placed: "Ñandutí" weaves, "palo santo (a type of wood) mates" or meals like "chipa" or "sopa paraguaya." Proud, Nilda Ramírez told that her daughters Patricia and Alejandra maintain the traditions that she brought from Paraguay 30 years ago, because "their blood calls them."

Not far from there, the unmistakable Brazilian Carnival music sounded. It was the people from the "Numa Boa" residents centre, which concentrates some 350 of the 16,000 Brazilians who live in Argentina, according to Angela Carlos, a Black woman from Vitoria. As she spoke, she prepared "caipirinhas" (a beverage) to go with the "cachorros quentes" (hot dogs) and "espetinhos" (recommendable roast meat brochettes).

One could also see the Maronite Catholics from Lebanon, who are "Arabs by language, but not Muslims", as Gabriel Atallah explained. He was dressed up with his "kafia", the piece of cloth that protects the head from the sun of the desert.

But these were not the only options in the fair: Chilean wine or pisco, bullfighter's flags from Andalusia, books in polish and many others were among them.