MERCEDES, Argentina — Watching his savings being eaten away by Argentina’s rampant inflation, Jorge Zabala turned to what some might consider an unexpected place for financial help: Argentina’s folk cowboy saint Gauchito Gil.
Zabala is among thousands of faithful Argentines that flock every year between Jan. 6 to Jan. 8 to the northern city of Mercedes to ask for the pagan saint’s protection and thank him for past favors.
But this year, a deepening economic crisis and drastic political shifts in the South American nation seemed to dominate the celebration. Zabala, a bricklayer, said soaring prices added an extra level of hardship to their yearly pilgrimage.
“This (year) was quite complicated because of the economic problems. But we made the sacrifices we had to so we could participate,” he said. “We had to borrow money. It’s barbaric how much prices have gone up.”
He was later captured and hung from a tree on January 8, 1878, and is now widely worshiped by many faithful Argentines. The tale is believed to be based on the life of the gaucho Antonio Mamerto Gil Núñez, though little is known about his life.
On Monday, nearly a century and a half later, thousands congregated 680 kilometers northeast of Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires. Cloaked in red, lighting candles and leaving cigars and wine in front of statues of the saint, many begged Gauchito Gil for solutions to their economic woes.
