Chiripá
Chiripá
Gauchos of the Río de la Plata adopted many elements of pre-Columbian culture, including clothing. The original peoples of South America developed the chiripá (a word of probable Quechua origin), a rectangular cloth worn like a diaper. After passing the cloth between his legs, a man secured it around his waist with a stout belt (tirador). The seamless garment provided great comfort while riding. Underneath the chiripá, gauchos sometimes wore white, lace-fringed leggings called calzoncillos blancos. During the late nineteenth century, the traditional chiripá gave way to imported bombachas, bloused (usually black) pants taken in at the ankle.
See alsoGaucho .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Madaline Wallis Nichols, The Gaucho (1968), p. 13.
Richard W. Slatta, Gauchos and the Vanishing Frontier (1983), p. 73.
Additional Bibliography
Assunção, Fernando O. Historia del gaucho: El gaucho, ser y quehacer. Buenos Aires: Editorial Claridad, 1999.
Gari, Abel. Del chiripá al pantalón y algo más—. Ayacucho: Museo Histórico Regional Ayacucho, 1999.
Slatta, Richard W. Comparing Cowboys and Frontiers. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.
Stedile Zattera, Véra. Pilchas do gaúcho: Vestuário tradicional, arreios e avios de mate. Porto Alegre: Pallotti, 1998.
Richard W. Slatta