Chilean Independence Celebration In CA Includes Food, Dancing

By David Tapia, fundi2.com

San Bernardino, California — On September 18, 1810, Chile declared it’s Independence from Spain. This year,2011, marks the 201st  Anniversary of this South American country. In Chile, the days surrounding the Independence Day are referred to as “Fiestas Patrias” and last for several days. This year the celebrations began on Thursday, September 15 with many people not working on Friday and going out of town to ranchos and other locations to celebrate “El 18.”

The official celebration took place on Sunday and involves copious amounts of food, drinks and dancing. Chilean-style rodeos also take place during this time as do outdoor barbecues. The Fiestas Patrias continue on September 19 with the Parada Militar. The Parada Militar is the Armed Forces Parade. Chile has always maintained a strong military presence and it is no coincidence that the country puffs out it’s chest and put on a display on how mighty they are. On September 20 there is La Pampilla, which is a large national festival in the northern city of Coquimbo. Since this festival draws over 100 thousand attendants, many from Santiago, the attendants can’t possibly get back to work on time

This year the Chilean Consulate of Los Angeles invited the public to join them in San Bernardino, California for a day of music, food and dancing. The Chilean Independence Day Picnic was held in Rancho Los Gavilanes in the city of San Bernardino. It was a beautiful day in Southern California and many Chilenos showed up to partake in the festivities. For many Chileans or Chilean-Americans, like me, it is the one time a year where one can reconnect with your heritage and enjoy some traditional food.

Their were food choices ranging from empanadas, choripan, pastel de choclo, etc. Empanadas are one of the more known of the Chilean dishes. Although many Latino countries have their own variations on the empanada, the Chilean ones are large, baked in the oven, are filled with minced meat, onions, spices with raisins and also a portion of hard-boiled egg and an black olive. Empanadas also vary greatly in ingredients (cheese, seafood, alabone, ham/cheese,etc.) and manner of cooking (oven vs. fried). Another typical Chilean meal is pastel de choclo — the same empanada meat filling is baked into a casserole-type dish with a topping of ground corn with basil. It sometimes included some shredded chicken layered between the meat filling and corn.

The dance troupe Grupo Lejos De Mi Tierra were one the highlights of the day. They are visually enticing troupe, not only are the dances performed; there is typical play-acting that accompanies typical Chilean folkloric song and dance, but on another level each performance had an introductory audio that was an emotive tie back to “la Patria.” The words spoken repeatedly gestured the sentiment of being “lejos de mi tierra” and how this troupe represents the new generation of replanted Chileans — the children of the Chilean immigrants who reside in the city of angels, here in the United States. The group had two performances. The first round of dances were based on more traditional dances of the central region of Chile — which of course included the national dance of the cueca.

The cueca is national dance of Chile and is a reenacting of the courting dance between a rooster and a hen. The second round of dances were a nice surprise as the dancers performed traditional dance from Rapa Nui. Rapa Nui also known as Easter Island is a Polynesian island annexed by Chile in 1888. It is Chile’s answer to Hawaii. The dancers wore typical Polynesian dress and also have dances that bear resemblance to other dances from Tahiti and Hawaii.

One of these years I will partake in the Fiestas Patrias in Chile itself. This will provide me a whole new aspect to the importance of the date and also experience how the homeland Chileans celebrate our national holiday.