5 replies to this topic

[piazzola]

Walking the on Saturday through the Jewish neighbourhood brought me memories of the old Buenos Aires.
In the late sixties and seventies it was really hip to dress up the best way you could to go out early or later at night for dinner or the movies.
I and others would't really leave home before 10PM and not earlier and may come back around 3 to 4 AM
But it always caught my attention why this obsession with dressing up and look the best on Saturday?
I think one could draw parallels between Jewish Shabbath cultural influence on the people habits in Buenos Aires which grew out as customary hip thing to do on Saturdays especially before going out to dinner. It was dinner ethiquette but somethign else noone knew what or how but evident everywhere.
And so the elegant dining at the restaurant culture was born together with the revista, cinemas and and cabarets
Even when The Jewish population always kept a low profile given Peronist sympathy towards the nazis at the time we the citizens of Buenos Aires should be greatful for this influence which made us a cultural centre of fine dining for many years.

Now Buenos Aires had the largest Jewish population in Latin America (still has many) Sephardies were the first settlers in the late 19th century and they were called (Gauchos Judios) Jewish Cow Boys, they mostly settled the mesopotamian regions and the provinces of Entre Rios and Santa Fe. Later in the 1914 throught to 1940 many Jewish immigrants came along with sucessive waves of other immingrants from, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Bielorussia, Ukraine, Austria and Germany of course.
My father of course had many Jewish friends with whom he sailed from Gdynia in Poland.

[podolski]

The same tradition can be tracked in Spain in a different day (Sunday) and not done only by Jewish but for a large pool of people. The "aperitivo" (appetizer) used to be done with your "gala" dressing (don't spoil your Sunday Shoes, niño:)))... Since the Jewish expulsion by the Catholic Kings was a long time ago, do you think there is any connection between these practices?
R

[piazzola]

I beg to differ with your statement for obvious reasons

[saltshaker]

While I understand how you drew the idea, I have the feeling it's more likely coincidence than anything else. The tradition of dressing up for a weekend evening dinner, especially Saturday goes back in Europe, and via import to other parts of the world that were colonized by Spain, England, Portugal, etc., to before the time of the large influx of Jews to Buenos Aires (and, by the way, BsAs still, I believe, has the largest Jewish population in Latin America). It would be nice to think my people had that level of influence to change the entire culture here, but I'm betting not. It's also not particularly tradtional within the Jewish culture that Saturday night, at the end of the Sabbath, in particular be one of "dress up," in fact being the end of the Sabbath it's the time that traditonally, within many Jewish communities, one puts on work clothes and gets back to work, since work is forbidden on the Sabbath. It's more likely that those who came here picked it up as a practice from another community.

[podolski]

I beg to differ with your statement for obvious reasons

obvious reasons?

[piazzola]

Hey saltshaker I was perhas it may be far fetched or coincental besides I don't know what's going on that much over there. I am talking about years ago. How exactly may this custom originated it is open to debate really.
I have not seen in my travels any customs parallel to that of BsAs anywhere not at the time anyway. Not evn NZ;)
Even Clive James picked some of the vibes when he reported from BA a number of years ago.
Perhaps multicultural influences? Sure! But curious ritual that of Saturdays nevertheless, not only the nights but right after lunch.
Anyway things do change I don't expect it to remain the same