Santos Vega was a mythical

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

gaucho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, the southern part of Bolivia, and the south of Chilean Patago ...

, and invincible '' payador'' (a kind of

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist enter ...

that competed in singing competitions resembling dialectic discussions), who was only defeated by the

Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

himself, disguised as the ''payador'' ''Juan sin Ropa'' ("John Clothless"). The myth states he is buried near

San Clemente del Tuyú San Clemente del Tuyú is an Argentina, Argentine town in the ''La Costa Partido, Partido de la Costa'' district of the Province of Buenos Aires. History Noticed by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520, who gave nearby Cape San Antonio, Argentina, Cape S ...

. Argentina's President

Bartolomé Mitre Bartolomé Mitre (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and author. He was President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868 and the first president of Argentine Civil Wars#National unification, unified Argentina. Mitre i ...

was the first to compose a poem based on the legend. Afterwards,

Hilario Ascasubi Hilario Ascasubi (1807 – November 17, 1875) was an Argentine poet, politician and diplomat. He played an active role in the resistance to the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas. Ascasubi was also a prominent figure in gaucho literature. ...

wrote "Santos Vega o los Mellizos de la Flor", a long poem in which the minstrel narrates the events. Soon after, Eduardo Gutiérrez published the "Story of Santos Vega and his friend Carmona prosecuted by justice" as a

feuilleton A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of , the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle ...

. Finally,

Rafael Obligado Rafael Obligado (27 January 1851 – 8 March 1920) was an Argentine poet and playwright. Obligado was the son of María Jacinta Ortiz Urién and Luis Obligado y Saavedra. During the 1880s, he became known as ''el poeta del Paraná'' (the poet of P ...

, inspired on Gutiérrez's work, composed his best poem "Santos Vega", one of the top works of

Argentine literature Argentine literature, i.e. the set of literary works produced by writers who originated from Argentina, is one of the most prolific, relevant and influential in the whole Spanish speaking world, with renowned writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Ju ...

. A 1936 film '' Santos Vega'' was released.

Rafael Obligado

's poem is

romanticist Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

, because it emphasizes nature, twilight, nationalism, and the

four elements The classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Angola, Tibet, India, a ...

. It is divided in four cantos: The Minstrel's Soul, The Minstrel's Wife, The Minstrel's Hymn and The Minstrel's Death. They don't follow a chronological order since the first two feature the "ghost" that inhabits the

pampa The Pampas (; from Quechuan languages, Quechua 'plain'), also known as the Pampas Plain, are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentina, Argentine Provinces of Argentina, provinces of Buenos Aires Pro ...

s, the fourth tells his last duel with the Devil; and the third one was a later addition in which Santos Vega (alive) interrupts a match of

Pato ', also called ' (, literally "duck game"), is a game played on horseback that combines elements from polo and basketball. Since 1953 it has been the national sport of Argentina. History ' is Spanish for "duck", as early games used a live duck ...

and calls the

gauchos A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, the southern part of Bolivia, and the south of Chilean Patag ...

to join the

May Revolution The May Revolution () was a week-long series of events that took place from 18 to 25 May 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the territories of present-day Argentina, ...

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{{Authority control Argentine folklore Argentine poetry Fictional Argentine people Fictional gauchos Fictional singers Fiction about the Devil

Rafael Obligado

See also

External links