User:Tony24644/Chingana

"Chingana" is a Creole term that was used in ancient times in Chile and Peru to designate a hideout, a place of little importance, or a place of ill repute for drinking, eating, and having fun. During the 19th century, they were venues for entertainment and popular festivities, similar to a tavern. In them, the cueca dance was established, developed, and spread, as well as folklore in general.

Etymology

The term comes from the Quechua "chinkana," meaning 'labyrinth'—other sources derive it from the colloquial verb 'chingar' ("to frequently drink wine or spirits")—, and during the colonial period of Chile, it was used to designate those places where people played, socialized, drank, ate, sang, and danced.

Origin

These places proliferated from the old "ramadas" or "enramadas," which were located in rural areas around the cities of the Central Zone of Chile, especially in Santiago in the area called La Chimba. The Chilean capital came to have more than forty of them, which opened every Sunday and Monday. They were mainly made up of a humble installation made with wooden poles and dry branches of palm trees, pines, or totora reeds. Several members of the upper social class openly declared themselves against the "chinganas," illustrating their growing insertion into the conservative political order of the time.

The historian Gabriel Salazar conceives the "chinganas" as a space in which popular identities were gestated. Originated by single and abandoned women who, unlike men who wandered, settled in some corner of the road and subsisted through the sale of food, accommodation, sociability, dance, and music to the "rotos" (itinerant workers) who passed by or to the foreign sailors who transited through the port of Valparaíso.

Development

By the end of the 18th century and during much of the 19th century, there were no excuses to set up a "chingana": they were there for weddings, the grape harvest, threshing, rodeos, or on the occasion of animal sacrifices. They were also organized in areas where roads or railway sections were being built. In this environment, the well-known encounter in 1790 between El mulato Taguada and don Javier de la Rosa in a duel of "payas" (clowns) that took place in a "chingana" in Curicó was recorded.

The presence of women known as "cantoras" (singers) was common as they provided music, singing, and dancing. This space of recreation allowed the dissemination of the zamacueca in Chile and later the cueca.

Around 1820, they began a process of urbanization since from their location on the outskirts of the city, such as in La Chimba, they later moved to streets near La Cañada. From 1823, the authorities and part of the aristocracy tried to regulate their operation due to high alcoholism, fights, and vices derived from gambling, requiring a license for their installation. In 1872, the Intendant of Santiago, Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, installed the "popular fonda" with the intention of partly controlling some habitual unseemly attitudes in the "chinganas."

Some of the most popular and representative "chinganas" of the period were Teresa Plaza's in La Chimba, known as "El Parral," and Peta Bustamante's, called "El Arenal," as well as those with the motto "Aquí está Silva."

Since the 20th century, the "chinganas" and "ramadas" began to be called "fondas," limiting their proliferation today to the "Fiestas Patrias" (Independence Day celebrations), in addition to having different characteristics from those of the old "chinganas," being part of a set with cookeries, chicherías (traditional taverns), and other establishments that play recorded and commercial music.

External links

• [Article in Memoria Chilena](http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/dest.asp?id=cuecachinganas)
• [Ramadas, chinganas y fondas, ¿son lo mismo?](http://urbatorium.blogspot.com/2008/09/ramadas-chinganas-y-fondas-son-lo-mismo.html)