9
Cultural Overview | Crown Colony of East Plate
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Some of the strongest cultural expressions of the East Plate are the Tango, a dance that has influences from African, South American, and European cultures, and originated in the impoverished port areas on both sides of the River Plate, the Candombe, a style of music and dance that originated among the descendants of liberated African slaves. and the Mate, a tealike beverage consumed by the Guaraní peoples even before the arrival of Europeans. Platia, the personification of East Plate, which is said to be the daughter of Britannia, is another of the most known cultural expressions of the colony, representing the culture, the people and nationhood of East Plate.
Despite the efforts of the British colonial governments to anglicise East Plate, the colony never fully adopted English culture as its own, with its population refusing to abandon some of the old traditions of its past colonisers, creating a unique set of ideas and customs within the British Empire. This has created a very strong sense of nationality in East Plate, with most people in the colony―even the most loyal subjects to the British Crown―recognizing that the Eastplatines are different from those in Britain. Nonetheless, Eastplatines are also characterised by a strong sense of loyalty and belonging to the British Empire, especially in the southern areas of the country, seeing Britain as their "motherland," with the close economic ties with it reinforcing the loyalty of Eastplatines to an empire that secures their place in the world against the desires of both Argentina and Brazil to integrate them.
The cultural mixture that dominates Montevideo and the southern coastal areas of the country is, however, not the norm across all of its territories. The northern parts of the colony, such as Arlesey and the North Blackwater Territory, far from the influence of the flourishing multicultural identity of Montevideo, proved to be difficult to reach by the new Eastplatine traditions, in part due to the lack of viable infrastructure which made communications with those areas of the colony very difficult and inefficient. As a result, those sparsely populated areas remain closer to Argentina and its original Spanish culture, with the Gaucho culture remaining dominant, generating a clear division between a multicultural southern East Plate, and a gauchesque, agrarian, and unruly north East Plate.
Gauchos, despite being a minority, have earned a central place within East Plate's culture and political affairs, with them being the centre of many policies of Governors and Colonial Secretaries who have tried―and often failed―to assimilate them into East Plate's southern multiculturalism. Despised by most of the population due to their nomadic and unruly lifestyle, their illiteracy, and their violent tendencies, Gauchos have also managed to become a role model of "Eastplatiness", with several theatrical, musical and literary works romanticizing some of their values, such as their solidarity, loyalty, hospitality, and courage, creating a dichotomy where in practice East Plate routinely tries to extinguish gaucho culture due to the problems it brings to ranching and development in areas north of the Blackwater River, while at the same time extolling and promoting some elements of this culture, using and integrating them as part of their identity as a nation.
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Eastplatine English is, however, far from standard, and can easily be differentiated from other variations of English as it has many pronunciation and spelling differences. For example, Eastplatine English devoices /z/ to [s], pronouncing his as hiss, merges the sound /tʃ/ with /ʃ/, pronouncing watches as washes and shifts stress to the last element of compound nouns, pronouncing boyfriend as boyfriend or milkman as milkman. In addition, Eastplatine English tends to have a much stronger pronunciation of the letter "r" than other variations of English, and it is common for written formal Estplatine English to incorporate the symbols "¿" and "¡" when formulating questions or expressing exclamation: (e.g. "¿How are you? ¡Great!")
Eastplatines tend to give Spanish meaning to false cognates (a Spanish word that is similar to an English word but has a different meaning). Some examples could be:
- My assistance [from "asistencia", meaning attendance] in class is not very good.
Let’s separate [from "separar", meaning reserve] that date for the meeting!
The documents are inside the carpet [from "carpeta" meaning folder]
I love the camp [from "campo" meaning countryside]
He is so gracious [from "gracioso" meaning funny]
English spoken in East Plate is also different from other variations of English as a result of the large amount of borrowed words (often modified or corrupted) and expressions from Spanish that are regularly used. Some of the most common examples are:
- Che: An informal expression common in Rioplatense Spanish, used to catch the attention of someone: "Che, can you lend me your pencil?"
Pucha: An informal expression equivalent to "wow": "Pucha, it is so expensive!"
Finde: From "Fin de semana". Informal version of weekend: "I went to Montevideo last finde"
Tute: From "Tutear". An expression to tell someone that they may address you informally: "You can tute me, no need for formalities"
It is commonly marked by a great deal of code-switching (using different languages for different sentences) and code-mixing (using different languages for different words in the same sentence) between Spanish and English, and by the use of Anglicisms and loanwords. To some outsiders who speak either only English or only Spanish, the Spanish spoken in East Plate may sound incomprehensible, as speakers appear to switch languages in mid-sentence, but to people who are bilingual in both languages, it can sound interesting and unique.
Eastplatine Spanish variations usually use verbal expressions with para atrás, mirroring the use of English phrasal verbs ending in "back". Some common examples are "dar para atrás" (instead of "devolver", meaning "to give back"), "ir para atrás" (instead of "volver" meaning, "to come back") and "pagar para atrás" (meaning "to pay back"). When speaking informally, "para atrás" is usually shortened to "p'atrás": "Quiero ir p'atrás a Alberton" (I want to go back to Alberton). Loan translations such as correr para (to run for), aplicar para (to apply for), and soñar de instead of soñar con (to dream of) also frequently occur, but are less common than "p'atrás".
Borrowing words from English and "Spanishizing" them is a typical feature of Eastplatine Spanish variants, some of the most common examples are the following:
- Lonchear: From "lunch" meaning "to have lunch"
Marqueta: From "market"
Mitin: From "meeting"
Another common feature of the Eastplatine Spanish variants is the use of the English present continuous applied to Spanish verbs. For example "Estoy corriending" instead of "estoy corriendo", "Estoy comiending" instead of "estoy comiendo". This feature is however not always used, and it is up to the speaker when to use it. Generally, in formal contexts, the correct Spanish form is used, but in relaxed or informal contexts, the "Spanglish" version is used.
The following is a comparison of English, "standard" Spanish, and a possible form of Eastplatine Spanish, using an extract (adapted to modern English and Spanish) of the first chapter of Don Quijote de la Mancha, a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes published in 1605 and 1615. Words in Italic are anglicisms or English loan words:
English | Eastplatine Spanish | "Standard" Spanish |
In a place of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to remember, lived not so long ago one of those gentlemen who always keeps a lance in the rack, an old buckler, a skinny horse, and a greyhound for coursing. | In un placete1 de La Mancha, of which nombre no quiero rememberearme2, vivía not so long ago, uno de esos gentlemen who always tienen una lanza in the rack, una buckler antigua, a skinny caballo y un greyhound para el coursing. | En un lugar de La Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, vivía hace no mucho tiempo, uno de esos hidalgos que siempre tienen una lanza en el astillero, adarga antigua, un caballo flaco y un galgo para la caza de liebres. |
- 1 Placete: Corrupted from the English word "place." Commonly used intead of the Spanish "lugar"
2 Rememberearme: Corrupted from the English world "remember," replacing "acordarme". The Spanish verbal ending "-ar" (from acordar) is added to "remember," while a "-me" is an indirect object pronoun in Spanish that can be added at the end of verbs to indicate who benefits from or is affected by the action of the verb in the sentence, in this case, the person narrating the story, thus replacing the necessity to include an English "I" or Spanish "Yo".
Portuñol has five vowels inherited from Spanish (A, E, I, O and U) and two from Portuguese, that do not exist in Spanish (É and Ó) which are like the vowels e and o, but pronounced in a more open way, closer to an a. Distinguishing the open-mid vowels (é, ó) is very important because they can completely change the meaning of a word, for example véio (meaning "old") and veio (meaning "he came"), póso (meaning "I can") and poso (meaning "well"). Portuñol is also differentiated from Spanish for having nasal vowels, which are the vowels produced by expiring the air partly through the nose and partly through the mouth. They do not exist in Spanish and therefore are generally derived from Portuguese words.
Portuñol, unlike Spanish, which is tolerated in the colony, is considered a "language of the poor and ignorant", with most speakers of English or Spanish considering that the people who speak it do so because they are not intelligent to speak correctly neither Spanish nor Portuguese as the result of laziness, indifference or even lack of respect for the other language and its speakers. Many linguistic authorities have criticized the Portuñol, with even the Emperor of Brazil allegedly saying "Unfortunately, some people have appeared with the claim they speak Portuñol. Portuñol consists of conferring a Portuguese tonality to the Spanish language... I urge you not to keep on prostituting the Portuguese language" although it is unconfirmed. Speaking it outside the regions where it predominates is completely frowned upon. Because of this, this dialect can generally only be heard in communication between people in the same family, in the privacy of the home or between friends.
When a man and woman marry, the rights of the woman are legally given over to her spouse. Under the law, the married couple becomes one entity represented by the husband, placing him in control of all property, earnings, and money. This effectively means that, after marriage, women lose ownership of their wages, all of their physical property, excluding land property, and all other cash they generate once married. In addition to losing money and material goods to their husbands, wives become property to their husbands, giving them rights to what their bodies produce: children, sex, and domestic labour. Marriage abrogates a woman's right to consent to sexual intercourse with her husband, giving him "ownership" over her body. Their mutual matrimonial consent, therefore, is a contract to give herself to her husband as he desires.
Women are supposed to be pure, chaste, refined, and modest, knowing not only domestic abilities to tend to their families, but also being cultured, having a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and modern languages, as well as having excellent manners and an adequate voice tone, walking manner, and hair and dressing style. However, they must not be too intellectual either, as it is important for a well-educated girl to soften her erudition in a graceful and feminine manner. Women who devote themselves too enthusiastically to intellectual pursuits are known as "blue-stockings" and are considered unfeminine and off-putting as they "attempt to usurp" men’s "natural" intellectual superiority. Nonetheless, education is considered very important even for women in East Plate, meaning that most women receive a decent amount of education, a strange characteristic for the time in the British Empire.
At the same time, a young girl is not expected to focus too obviously on finding a husband. Being "forward" in the company of men suggests a worrying sexual appetite. Women are assumed to desire marriage because it allows them to become mothers, rather than to pursue sexual or emotional satisfaction. Girls usually marry in their early to mid-20s, while their groom is usually five, or more, years older, as a young man needs to be able to show that he earns enough money to support a wife and any future children before the girl’s father gives his permission for the marriage to happen.
- Fashion
Women's clothing follows trends that emphasise elaborate dresses and skirts with wide volumes created by the use of layered materials such as crinolines, hoop skirt frames, and heavy fabrics. The ideal silhouette demands a narrow waist, which is usually accomplished by constricting the abdomen with a laced corset. While the silhouette is striking, and the dresses themselves are often exquisitely detailed creations, the fashions are sometimes cumbersome. At best, they restrict women's movements, and at worst, they have a harmful effect on women's health, causing several medical problems such as compression of the thorax, restricted breathing, organ displacement, poor circulation, and prolapsed uterus. However, one must not be fooled by the gruesome fate of some women who suffer from those consequences, as Eastplatine women have a wide arrange of tricks up their sleeves to create a false illusion of a very narrow waist, all while remaining comfortable, unrestricted and healthy.
Women's dresses in East Plate follow the so-called "first bustle style." The bustle is a softly draped protrusion at the back of the waist, created by a manipulation of fabric and drapery. This sloped bustle style is supported by horsehair-ruffled petticoats or crinolettes, which consist of rows of fabric-covered steel half-hoops. For formal occasions, women wear elegant evening gowns, trimmed with silk, lace, and ribbons. Sloped necklines with small, off-shoulder sleeves are common, often accompanied by stylish gloves. Women also usually wear ribbons tied around the neck.
To accompany their outfits, women wear their hair in tight ringlets, often piled high in knots at the back or on top of their heads. Bonnets help keep the elaborate hairstyles in place.
Examples of Eastplatine women's fashion
The husband and father is considered to be the "pater familias" with extensive power. As the head of the household, his duty is not only to rule but also to protect his wife and children. However, just as men expect things from an ideal Eastplatine woman, the women and the rest of society have expectations for the ideal Eastplatine man.
Men are expected to be strong, brave, and hard-working. Being an ideal man involves detaching oneself from the home and its feminine comforts, and achieving a level of material success in the wider world. The role of the man is to be the main money earner. Men are expected to be the ones who work all day, earning enough money to pay the rent and provide food and other essential items. For this reason, they are known as “breadwinners,” as bread is the staple food of all classes and the men earn the money to buy the daily bread. In order to become that breadwinner, men need some sort of education and training, which starts as a young boy. This education depends upon his class, but a man's education is always prioritised over a woman's education, even in a society like the Eastplatine one, where, at least basic education, is generally considered a right of both genders.
Once school is completed, young men are expected to take on full-time jobs. For the working class, this would be in a factory, field, mine, etc. and for the middle class, it would be in an office or bank. For the upper classes, young men would help their fathers run the family estate or join the army, navy, or church. Men and boys tend to have opportunities for education and training not afforded to women, as it is seen as part of the man’s role to do the thinking, planning, and decision-making.
Once settled into a good job, and with enough money to sustain a family, men are expected to marry and have plenty of children. It is incredibly important for men to be fathers and for their sons to continue the family name and legacy, although the job of rearing those children belongs to the women. Failing to be a father can rapidly taint the respect of a man, even if he has managed to achieve a very successful life. A man who has failed to find a wife is never seen with good eyes, and one who has failed to have children is often seen with suspicion, and soon, rumours about his sexuality, wealth, and even health begin to spread.
- Fashion
Men wear three-piece suits in dark colours consisting of a high-buttoned sack coat with a matching waistcoat and trousers, called ditto suits or lounge suits, often accompanied by either a frock coat or a morning coat. Frock coats are fitted with buttons along the torso and flared at the waist, ending just above the knee. Morning coats are a more casual alternative, shorter and tapered away at the waist. Most men wear winged collars on their shirts, with bowties for decoration. Ascots (a neckband with wide pointed wings, traditionally made of pale grey patterned silk) have started to emerge as an alternative to bowties. Usually, neckties are darker in colour, but white is favoured for formal attire. Starting from the 1870s, patterned or figured fabrics for shirts began to be accepted as a regular piece of men's fashion in East Plate. Top hats remain a requirement for upper and middle-class attires, although bowlers and soft felt hats in a variety of shapes are sometimes worn for more casual occasions, while flat straw boaters are worn for yachting, other nautical pastimes and strolls near the coast.
Stylish men keep their hair short, but not exceedingly so, with the top, sides, and back all of a similar length. Though hair is kept relatively short on the top and back, sideburns are sometimes worn long, with or without facial hair. Beards in East Plate are quite different from those fashionable in other places of the British Empire, usually being trimmed very short, allowing men to not go to barbers very often, trimming their own beards at home instead. Moustaches are generally a must.
Examples of Eastplatine men's fashion
While heterosexual sex between married couples is still the only form of sex socially and morally permissible and sexual pleasure and desire beyond heterosexual marriage is still labelled as deviant, and considered to be sinful and sinister, the repercussions of said activities is not as harsh as in other parts of the British Empire. However, this more tolerant society towards sex must not be confused with an equally tolerant one. Gendered ideals of the sexual purity of the respectable woman helped to enshrine a sexual double standard, where men enjoy a lot more tolerance for topics related to sex than women. For example, women can be divorced on the grounds of their adultery alone, while it has to be proved that men had exacerbated adultery with other offences. While women need to remain chaste until marriage, men do not, with many even hiring prostitutes without major social backlash.
A common stereotype representing this double standard is the concept of the "fallen woman". Women are expected to be sexually pure and virtuous, with their role being mothers and domestic caregivers. The fallen woman is a prostitute, sexual deviant, or wife unable to perform her domestic duties. This woman, whether driven by economic problems or greed, was thought to have fallen from virtue. Narratives often portrayed these fallen women needing to be rescued from their vices, and be reformed into the proper position in family life.
It can be argued, however, that Eastplatines have reasons to restrict sex for women, as they remain a minority in the colony, with a majority of the Eastplatine population being males, making women "a scarce resource" that has to be protected. Firstly, syphilis is rampant and incurable, usually leading to insanity and death. Second, and even more tragic, the number of women who die in childbirth is extremely high, with 1 out of every 200 women dying in childbirth or from resulting complications.
- Prostitution
Prostitution is a wide-scale problem in East Plate. Upon entering into the world of prostitution, there are several different avenues that can be taken by prostitutes including military encampments, brothels, and streetwalking. Some women lived in brothels, some with soldiers or sailors, and some worked on the streets. Several factors in society led to prostitution, but the most prominent are social classes and the economy. Women who work the streets are often subjected to poverty, insecurity, physical danger, alcoholism, disease and police harassment. This does not mean that prostitutes who work in alternate avenues, such as the encampments of soldiers or brothels, do not experience many of the same difficulties, but these dangers are normally less severe.
- Homosexuality
Discussions about male homosexuality in society are very minimal because Eastplatine citizens try to ignore the fact that males might have sexual relations with other males. Homosexuality is deemed to place a terrible strain on the family dynamic and when citizens and officials are forced to speak about it, the accused men are vilified, ostracized, and classified as individuals who went outside acceptable masculinity. Such is the importance given to masculinity, and the damages done by homosexuality to it, that the punishment for making false claims about a man’s sexuality carries even more severe punishments than being homosexual.
Once more, gender roles produced a double standard on this topic, as lesbian and bisexual acts of women are common and not even illegal, as it is believed that such sexual acts are almost impossible due to the high morality women are attributed to have according to the established gender roles, while male homosexual acts are considered criminal acts. Those convicted of sodomy, or buggery, as it is called, suffer years of imprisonment with hard labour and abuse meant to break the spirit. Before 1861, the death penalty was also an option, but it ended with its abolition in Britain for sodomy, although sentences still sometimes lead to suicides. However, since the arrival of Governor Lucas Higgins to the Government of East Plate in 1871, sentences of sodomy due to homosexual behaviours have been almost non-existent, as he routinely uses his right to exercise the royal prerogative of mercy to grant pardons to convicted males, which has helped to fuel rumours about Higgins' possible homosexual relation with Nicolas Murray, a close friend of his.
Publicly homosexuality is not discussed, and if someone is discovered to have homosexual sex, the crisis is kept inside and dealt with within the family. However, homosexuality has seen a sensible increase, especially among young men, as homosexuality behind closed doors is not considered a criminal offence.
Prior to the British takeover of East Plate, people really enjoyed older traditional folk songs. However, currently, a lot of the music popular in the colony has a more contemporary feel to it and often contains humorous lyrics. Pianos are very popular around East Plate, with most saloons having at least one. Most of these music saloons have unruly crowds attending them, and any song played and any music artist must have the ability to hold the crowd’s attention. For this reason, many of the music halls stick to some of the crowd's favourites.
The initial roots of tango are found in the "tangos" of the slaves of African origin, when Buenos Aires and Montevideo were under the colonial rule of Spain. Since colonial times, the musical meetings of the communities of African origin of the Río de la Plata, formed as a result of the slave trade, were called "tangos". Buenos Aires and Montevideo had been named by the Spanish Empire as ports for the "slave trade" and for that reason, they had important Afro-River Plate communities. With the independence from Spain and the subsequent British conquest, slaves were freed in a process that lasted until the 1850s. These freed slaves mostly lived in cities like Montevideo, where they started to mix and mingle with the local population, mixing their cultures and customs. With the British arrival, these cities began to experience an "urban revolution" receiving migrants from many places in Europe and the British Isles. That urban revolution in which ethnic groups, cultures and languages converged resulted in the creation of Tango.
Tango has a very peculiar way of dancing: a couple closely linked in a sensual embrace, with their bodies and faces in contact, each dancer moving independently, but with the man "marking" and advancing on the woman, and the woman "answering" to the man's marking. The intimate embrace of Tango has its origins in the Waltz, which became fashionable in the first half of the 19th century while scandalising the English upper classes due to the "indecency" of embracing couples, something that tango inherited.
Tango is characterized by predominantly Spanish lyrics, although English variations are not uncommon in East Plate. These lyrics are usually vulgar, talking about issues related to sexuality and even pornographic themes, often with a comedic twist. For this reason, Tango is considered one of the main ways the Eastplatine population "escapes" from the prudish way of thinking of the Victorian Era. Nonetheless, not all tango lyrics relate to sexuality, with many examples of it having peasant, urban, social, satirical, and even philosophical themes. Tango is highly resisted by the upper classes and the Catholic and Anglican churches, as they associate tango with brothels and a sinful life, considering it violent and typical of the criminal underworld.
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The rhythm of Candombe is created by the use of three drums; the piano, the chico and repique. The piano is the largest in size and the lowest in pitch of the three drums. The chico (literally "small") is the smallest in size and highest in pitch of the three drums, serving as the rhythmic pendulum. The repique (ricochet) is medium-sized and used in a much more liberal way than its two counterparts, usually with improvised rhythms. Each of the three drums is played with an open hand and a stick in the other. At a minimum, one of each of the three drums must be present.
The most classic lyrics of the Candombe song refer to the origin of this music and the slavery and misery that Afro-descendants suffered for centuries. They also talk about the customs that are transmitted from generation to generation and current social problems, serving as a means of protest and proposal.
This style of music is often played on the streets of different neighbourhoods of Eastplatine cities during the night. On specific dates, large candombe festivals are allowed by the authorities in the city of Montevideo, which become true large-scale celebrations, not only for the Afro-descendant populations of the East Plate, but for the entire community, including the classes. low, medium, and even high. These festivities usually take place between December 25 and January 6, in conjunction with the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
The people who are in charge of playing the candombe drums usually wear colourful clothes and are accompanied by dancers who parade with them along the street. The custom of wearing blackface, a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person, is particularly common while playing candombe, especially among the upper classes. During the celebrations where candombe is played, the appearance of three very iconic characters, portrayed by some of the musicians playing the music, is very common:
- The Escobero: He is the one who directs and encourages the groups that play candombe. With his cane movements, he begins and ends the Candombe.
The Mama Vieja: Personalizes wisdom and represents old age.
The Gramillero: It is the symbol of tribal life, representing the people from Africa. He always carries a little bag full of weeds that says "Doctor" or "Wizard".
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Various genres are performed in the parlour, including patriotic selections, religious songs, and pieces written for the musical stage. In contrast with other Eastplatine popular music genres, such as Tango, parlour music is considered to be very moral and correct. The lyrics of these songs talk about morality, progress, and other topics related to the daily life of people, such as true love, work, children, and family.
Parlour music is, however, not for everyone. Playing this kind of music is considered "an activity for women," to the extent that it is regarded as an "emasculating and debasing activity for men," who should only be found in the audience. As a result, Eastplatine women tend to be very cultured and well-educated regarding music, knowing how to play several instruments, especially the piano. Music is therefore inextricably tied up with "perceptions of ideal femininity." However, parlour music could also say a lot about a man. Households with enough cash surplus to own a piano or other instruments are a clear indication of a man's reputation, showing social standing and financial well-being, and thus, a wife aquatinted and well versed with this music genre is indicative of a husband's success.
The performers of choice in middle and upper-class homes are unmarried daughters, to the extent that it seems that the greater use of amateur music is to obtain a good marriage. After-dinner or social performances in the parlour present potential suitors with an opportunity to watch a young lady’s graceful and beautiful movements, and/or to note her father’s social status, whose wealth and success allow her enough leisure time to practice music.
It is important to note that, even when men are excluded from playing the instruments, they usually participate by singing along with the woman who is playing the instrument, or even alone. It is very common for couples to perform together to entertain their children or other family members during special occasions such as Christmas or personal important dates. For this reason, there is a considerable amount of parlour songs that are particularly "happy themed", evoking happiness and inviting the whole family to join in the singing.
Many of these songs focus on aspects such as spiritualism and the supernatural, although many times they also focus on satirical themes. These songs are usually sung in groups during informal social gatherings among friends, generally from lower or middle social classes, with their appearances being rarer in the highest sectors of society, although due to the "viral" characteristic of these songs, the high classes also tend to know the lyrics of these songs, generally ridiculing them and considering them as belonging to the "uneducated people." Most of the time, these songs carry happy or inspirational messages.
A clear example of this type of song is "Spirit Rappings", an incredibly popular song from 1863, which speaks about how "spirits come down to mingle" and mentions rapping and tapping, noises that the spirits are believed to make to catch the human's attention, helping them to realize that lost friends are always near. The refrain also implies that all spirits are good and happy.
Parrillada, a type of barbecue, is perhaps the most popular food in East Plate, regardless of social class. The cooking is done with the embers of the wood and not with charcoal, as in the case of other types of barbecue. Both in Montevideo and in areas of the countryside of the colony, it is common to find restaurants, bars, and food centres where meat is on the menu. In addition, it is very common for meetings to be organised in which enough money is raised among the guests to sponsor the barbecue or contribute to its realisation. In general, the consumption of beef and pork is clearly dominant over that of other animals., although rabbit, hare, rhea, duck, chicken, and wild boar are widely consumed in rural areas.
Whereas in Europe labourers eat meat in very small quantities due to its high price, in East Plate it is cheap enough to have it for every meal. This has caused British settlers (and those from other European countries) to have a particularly problematic meat consumption, as it is not uncommon for them to end up having very poor or unhealthy diets, rarely eating anything other than meat, as they still see it as a "high-status food," and feel compelled to eat it at all times, as they unconsciously link meat with wealth and success. This often leaves those with poor self-moderation prone to diseases such as gout, which are typically associated with the rich in Europe, but is relatively common and unremarkable in East Plate, often being more telling of one's ignorance and bad upbringing rather than one's wealth.
A particular characteristic of meats and Eastplatine parrilladas is that contrary to the established gender roles around the world, cooking meat is not seen as a women's duty, but an activity usually left for men to do. Roasting meat is seen as a manly activity that should never be done by a woman, as it would otherwise "only give lousy results" as a woman is not expected to have the necessary knowledge to correctly treat and cook meat, in addition to indicating "masculine inclinations inappropriate for delicate women." Therefore, it is not uncommon for Eastplatine men to be seen doing the cooking when meat is involved, while women are relegated to preparing side dishes accompanying the meat, such as salads or sauces. The ability of a man to cook meat is also often seen as an indication of his manliness, with those who fail to properly cook meat usually being seen as "feminine" and "delicate."
At first, sweets were sold in regular shops, but as they became more affordable, entire shops filled with sweet treats started to appear, becoming a common sight on Eastplatine commercial streets. These shops became increasingly popular after the success of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. The main items sold in these shops include marzipan slices, liquorice allsorts, jelly babies, lime fruits, bonbons and chocolate limes. Marmalade, jams, and pastes, a kind of soft compound made of the pulp of fruits or other vegetable substances, such as oranges, apricots, or pears, are also very commonly sold in Eastplatine sweet shops.
Dulce de leche, or milk jam, as it is known to the English-speaking population of the colony, is a thick, creamy, caramel-like sweet prepared by slowly heating sugar and milk over a period of several hours. It is typically used to top or fill other sweet foods, and it is central to Eastplatine deserts, being found in most of them, although it can also be eaten alone, or with toasted bread, which is a very common Eastplatine breakfast. Although the origins of this sweet are not very well known, it is believed that it originated during the Spanish rule of East Plate, when slaves created it as a way of consuming sweetened milk.
A traditional Eastplatine confection is Alfajores, which are made with two round cookies with different sweet fillings between them. The filling is usually dulce de leche, although there are a lot of variations. They can be covered with powdered sugar (the traditional ones), glazed sugar (known as "snowy alfajores"), grated coconut, or chocolate. Alfajores are considered one of the most popular snacks for children and adults, with them being greatly popular in the cities of East Plate, where they can be bought on the streets and in sweet shops.
Another popular Eastplatine confection is the churros, a type of fried dough from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine. Churros are sold by street vendors, who usually fry them freshly on the street stand and sell them hot. They are also available in cafes for breakfast, although they may be eaten throughout the day as a snack.
Alfajores, Churros and Dulce de Leche
Men, women and children, especially those working for very long hours, something common among the labouring classes, might take all of their meals in the streets. Street food is varied, cheap and tasty, if not nutritious and, at times full of dangerous additives or fouled by human or animal excrement. One of the most popular dishes sold on the streets is jellied eel or, as it is sometimes called, eel jelly. Cheap and nutritious it is a staple in the diet of the Eastplatine poor. The eels are chopped and boiled in fish stock with various herbs and spices.
For those who are either up late or rose early, there are numerous coffee stalls. Some open as early as midnight, while others do not start trading until three or four in the morning. They usually sell coffee and tea, and some of them cocoa. They keep hot milk in large cans, and coffee, tea, or cocoa in others. They also supply bread and butter, or currant cake, in slices, ham sandwiches, watercresses, and boiled eggs. A cheaper coffee, made out of coffee, dried carrot, and chicory, is popular amongst the least wealthy buyers.
However, not all food sold by street vendors is intended for humans. Cat's meat sellers are a common sight in some parts of Montevideo. These vendors sell food for cats, consisting of hunks of horse meat. This meat is sometimes dyed green or blue by horse slaughterers to prevent untrustworthy traders from using it in pies or selling it as meat for human consumption. Some residents are regular customers, paying weekly for the meat vendor’s daily visits. Cats from wealthy streets learn to recognise these traders as soon as they appear, besieging their carts or buckets.
Mate was consumed by the Guaraní people, and has been drunk in South America since before the arrival of Europeans. Its consumption was exclusive to the natives but it became widespread with the European colonisation of the area now known as Paraguay in the late 16th century, among both Spanish settlers and indigenous Guaraní. Mate consumption spread in the 17th century to the Río de la Plata. Mate is typically associated with the Gauchos, but with the British arrival, the similarities of mate to tea made its adoption by the new settlers of East Plate easy, quickly becoming part of the English-speaking population culture.
The preparation of mate is a simple process, consisting of filling a container with yerba, pouring hot―but not boiling―water over the leaves, and drinking the mixture with a bombilla. The method of preparing the mate infusion varies considerably from region to region, and which method yields the finest outcome is debated.
Mate is traditionally drunk in particular social settings, such as family gatherings or with friends. The same gourd and straw are used by everyone drinking. One person usually assumes the task of server or brewer, who fills the gourd and drinks the mate completely to ensure that it is free of particulate matter and of good quality. Passing the first brew of mate to another drinker is considered bad manners, as it may be too cold or too strong; for this reason, the first brew is often called the fool's mate. The brewer possibly drinks the second filling as well if they deem the first one to be too cold or bitter, and subsequently refills the gourd and passes it to the next drinker, who drinks it all (there is not much; the mate is full of yerba, with room for little water), and returns it without thanking the brewer; a final thank you implies that the drinker has had enough. The only exception to this order is if a new guest joins the group; in this case, the new arrival receives the next mate. It is impolite for anyone but the brewer to move the bombilla or otherwise mess with the mate; the brewer may take offence to this and not offer it to the offender again.
Some drinkers like to add sugar or honey, creating sweet mate, a practice said to be more common in the northern East Plate. Some people also like to add lemon or orange peel, some herbs or even coffee, but these are mostly rejected by people who like to stick to the "original" mate.
The course of the Eastplatine Victorian period saw a drive towards a more civilised and controlled society. In sports this manifested itself by a desire for rules and regulations, changing the emphasis from manly physical pursuits to moral and spiritual exercises with disciplinary value and a spirit of fair play. Eastplatine sports quickly adopted rules and regulations to make them fairer and safer. In the first half of the nineteenth century, many Eastplatine viewed sports with suspicion, if not hostility, believing that too much emphasis on recreation distracted one from the proper attention to duty, but in the second half of the century, a belief emerged that participation in sports could have moral as well as physical benefits. Private athletic clubs sprang up in Eastplatine cities, and sports like Cricket, Croquet, Archery, Tennis and Horse-Racing became well-established in East Plate, while Football and Rugby have been recently introduced to the colony by British settlers, quickly attracting the interest of many.
Cricket is possibly the most popular sport in East Plate, in part thanks to its popularisation by English settlers who brought it to the colony as a way of feeling closer to Britain. Cricket is much more than just a sport for the Eastplatines. They glorify it and regard it as a symbol of their culture and values, and it is the topic of conversations all around the colony, with the lower class, middle class, high class, politicians, and academics talking about it and regularly playing it, becoming a sport which knows no boundaries. While initially only popular among young men, as they are encouraged to be fit, strong, and manly, making cricket a game of choice in Eastplatine schools, with many even making playing sports like cricket compulsory, it gradually also become popular among adults, becoming a mass sport.
Besides observing the rules of the sport, cricketers must respect the "Spirit of Cricket", a concept encompassing sportsmanship, fair play and mutual respect, making the game very in line with the Eastplatine and British values of civilised society. This spirit has long been considered an integral part of the sport but is only nebulously defined.
By the early 1870s there were 60 cricket teams in East Plate, with the Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club (CURCC) being the most famous of them all. It was originally founded by the workers and employees of the Central Uruguay Railway Company of Montevideo, a British company based in London which built a big portion of East Plate's railways, with the purpose of stimulating the practice of cricket, football and "other male sports." Initially, only workers of Central Railway would be admitted as members of the team, but the prohibition quickly dropped after the success of the CURCC and its achievement of massive popularity across the colony. However, the oldest team is not the CURCC, but the Montevideo Cricket Club (MVCC), founded in 1841 under the name of "Victoria Cricket Club." The first international cricket match played in East Plate was between the Montevideo Cricket Club and the Buenos Aires Cricket Club, being the oldest international cricket match registered in all of South America.
Flag and Shield of the CURCC
Croquet is popularly believed to be viciously competitive. This may come from the fact that many players will often attempt to move their opponents' balls to unfavourable positions by hitting them with their balls, instead of using their turns to try to score points, with the hopes of making it harder for their opponents to pass the balls through the hoops. However, purely negative play is rarely a winning strategy: successful players will often use all of their balls to score points for themselves, rather than simply making the game as difficult as possible for their opponents.
However, unlike Cricket, where fair play is an important aspect of the game, it is widely accepted that croquet is not as fair. Women usually cheat by hiding balls below their dresses and then replacing them when convenient, or tapping the ball when no one is looking. When caught they usually just laugh and call it fun. While cricket promotes mutual respect, it is believed that croquet is demoralising for society, as cheating is not only common, but generally seen as an integral part of the game and part of its charm. Cheating, however, also tends to lead to many temper tantrums and players often have to be reminded to not let the game interfere with one’s mood. Between the widespread cheating, the discomfort of mixed-gendered sports, and the ambiguity of the rules of the sport, a leisurely game of croquet does not always end with good feelings. There are reports about couples not speaking for days, men breaking mallets, many tears, and even a death when a man was struck over the head with a mallet during a game in Clarence.
As croquet grew in popularity, clubs were formed. In 1860 the first Eastplatine croquet club was established in Montevideo: the All Montevideo Croquet Club. There are more than 120 croquet clubs in East Plate, each with just a few members. Universities also have croquet teams, which compete against each other. Currently, the University of Alberton is the most successful university croquet team. Notably, Queen Victoria University and the Royal University of Montevideo engage in a yearly match in Port Lewis, New Surrey, and their rivalry continues to be an Eastplatine tradition, attracting thousands of spectators.
Much like in Britain before the creation of the first laws of football in 1863 with the Cambridge Rules, Eastplatine football lacks a concise and unified set of rules, with each team mostly having its own rules to determine what constitutes fair play. Some versions heavily restrict the use of hands, while others allow it completely, while some allow for greater physical contact and aggressiveness. This has created situations where it is difficult for teams to play against each other, as rules can be very different between them. Football is therefore pretty much a developing game, allowing for great amounts of creativity. Football games tend to be chaotic due to the lack of common rules, and often lengthy negotiations over rules are required before a match can begin. However, this usually does not prevent misunderstandings and reproaches after the match is over.
In recent years, the rules established by the Football Association (created in 1863, mainly following the Cambridge Rules) have begun to gain popularity within the colony thanks to the arrival of multiple British immigrants who have modernized and adapted the rules previously used in East Plate. Some teams, like the football divisions of the CURCC and the MVCC have already fully adopted the FA rules as their own.
Most Cricket teams also have Football teams associated with them, with the rivalries created in Cricket usually also expanding to Football. Other football clubs formed around suburbs, hotels, churches, schools, and workplaces. In a society of recently-arrived immigrants like East Plate, they provided a strong sense of belonging and community.
Games are regularly played every day and an unofficial system of senior and junior clubs emerged, with the Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club (CURCC), the Montevideo Cricket Club (MVCC), Albion and Uruguay Athletic considered the senior clubs, as they have the most followers, while more than 30 smaller teams are considered to be junior. The starting time for senior games is fixed at 3 pm on Saturday afternoon, enabling manual labourers to play. Games are played on open parkland, there are no admission fees and crowds of 2000 to 3000 spectators regularly gather to watch the matches. Women too are regular attendees, parading in their finery around the playing area. Enthusiastic spectators sometimes encroach onto the field and disrupt the game, many times intentionally.
Gauchos originated as a distinct social class during the 17th century under the Spanish rule of the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata. The original gaucho is typically descended from unions between Iberian men and Amerindian women, being itinerant horsemen who live by the great natural abundance of the Pampas with its plethora of cattle, horses, ostriches, and other wild animals. This meant that a skilled horseman and hunter like a Gaucho could live without permanent employment by selling hides, feathers, and pelts, and eating "free" beef that they hunt themselves, without caring if it is wild cattle or belonging to someone. This pampean largeness shaped the gaucho's independent, migratory existence and his aversion to a sedentary regimen was unfavoured not only by the British nowadays, but by the previous Spanish authorities.
An essential attribute of a gaucho is that they are skilled horsemen, with many even believing that they take their first lessons in riding before they are even able to walk. Without a horse, a gaucho feels unmanned. The gaucho uses horses to collect, mark, drive, or tame cattle, draw fishing nets, hunt ostriches, snare partridges, draw well water, and even (with the help of friends) ride to their own burials. The horse is absolutely essential to their survival, as they must every day traverse vast distances, be able to see quickly and judge rapidly, being ready at all times to encounter hunger, fatigue, and violent changes in temperature.
The main food of the gaucho is mainly roast beef while roast goat, as well as sheep, are also widely consumed, although a true gaucho will cook and eat almost any meat if necessary. A well-known gaucho saying is that "todo bicho que camine va a parar a la parrilla" meaning "every walking animal, will end on the grill." The few types of meat that gauchos have as a taboo are those of their unconditional friends: the horse, the dog, and even the domestic cat. Their diet is always supplemented by mate.
In addition to the lariat (a rope used as a lasso), gauchos use bolas or boleadoras (three leather-bound rocks tied together with leather straps). The typical gaucho outfit includes a poncho, which doubles as a saddle blanket and as sleeping gear; a facón (a fighting and utility knife); a leather whip called rebenque; and loose-fitting trousers called bombachas or a poncho or blanket wrapped around the loins like a diaper called chiripá, belted with a sash called faja. A leather belt, sometimes decorated with coins and elaborate buckles, is often worn over the sash. During winters, gauchos wear heavy wool ponchos to protect against the cold.
Another type of gaucho tradition is the jineteadas, also known as doma gaucha which is a traditional sport where the objective is for the rider to stay on an untamed horse for a given number of seconds. The rider may not touch the horse with his hands at any time, and a set of judges determines the winner by taking into account the elegancy with which the rider "domed" the horse, whether or not the rider touched the horse with his hands and if the animal was treated with respect or not.
Sometimes, more violent duels take place, known as the Creole Duel or Duelo Criollo, usually as the result of disputes regarding women and rivalries for their love. In these duels, gauchos fight each other with their facones, but rarely want or try to kill the opponent. Instead, gauchos try to permanently "mark" the opponent, preferably on the face, leaving scars difficult to hide which would remind everyone that the opponent was defeated in a duel, tainting his honour forever. Creole Duels can, however, be fatal from time to time, especially when the reason causing it is considered to be too important. In the Creole duel, everything is allowed: stepping on the opponent and trying to make him lose his balance, throwing dirt on his face to diminish his vision, or directing a flick of the poncho with the same purpose are some of the tricks most commonly used, as well as making the opponent step on his poncho, causing the distracted person to fall. Gauchos wearing a poncho wrapped around the arm can usually be seen during these duels, as the poncho can serve as a shield.
A friendlier way of settling disputes is the Visteo, which usually acts as training for a real Duelo Criollo, and is usually regarded as a game. The game consists of wielding a stick that is nothing more than a half-burned piece of wood and "painting" the face or some vital part of the opponent's body to show the supremacy of one of the opponents in the dispute.
A Creole Duel, note the use of a poncho to make the opponent fall
During the independence wars against the Spanish, the Gauchos were loyal to the revolutionary forces and fought alongside them to drive out the colonialist and royalist forces. The gauchos pledged loyalty to the Oriental Republic after its creation by the British, and fought a resistance war against the colonial forces of the British Empire when the Crown Colony of East Plate was established. Nowadays they still fly the Oriental Republic's flag and continue to raid Anglo farms and settlements.
Despite them being disliked by most of the "civilized" world of East Plate, some of the gaucho ideals are regarded as some of the most important tenants of "Eastplatiness" with several theatrical, musical and literary works romanticising some of their values, such as their solidarity, loyalty, hospitality, and courage. Montevidean theatres are full of references to the Gauchos, which are seen as "exotic" by the wealthier Eastplatines, who enjoy watching plays featuring them, usually, as uncivilized and "stupid" characters meant to be funny, or as villains who disturb the orderly life of English-speaking rural families, who eventually outsmart the gauchos with clever tricks, exposing their illiterate nature.
The governments of the colony have constantly tried to civilise the gauchos and integrate them into Eastplatine society, in part due to them being considered a problem for big ranchers and farmers. As a result, vagrancy laws have been established in the colony trying to limit the free-roaming nature of the gauchos, requiring rural workers to carry employment documents to be able to distinguish them from gauchos. Those who do not carry the documentation can be sentenced to serve several years in the military. Since 1843, even "internal passports" are required to travel to zones known for having a big gaucho population, although the enforcement of these passports is very limited. British colonial governments have also constantly offered gauchos jobs on farms and in the cities, in an attempt to remove them from their nomadic lifestyle.
Despite most not taking the British offerings, some gauchos did take them, creating a whole new "type of gaucho", the Compadrito. Compadritos have a home, a fixed abode, work habits, and respect for authority, on whose side they will always be, even against their better feelings. They have instincts of civilisation and imitate the man of the cities in their dress and in their customs. Many Compadritos are hired for cattle branding, while others work as bodyguards of wealthy Eastplatines, becoming useful men for industry and work.
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