Culture

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE
SECRETARIA NACIONAL DE CULTURA
Culture in the Classroom

Teaching Aid Material for Teachers
Beatriz González de Bosio
Asunción, Paraguay
January 2010
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Catholic University
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CEPUC
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Mariana Barreto
Photography:
• Centro de Artes Visuales
(Center for Visual Arts)
• Museo del Barro ( Museum or
Clay)
Acknowledgment to: Lic. Lía
Colombino Chase.
• National Secretariat of Tourism
SENATUR. Visual Archives
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January 2010
Asunción - Paraguay
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Preface to the English edition
“Culture in the Classroom” was conceived as a teaching aid guide

aimed at helping those in the educational front line to become
conversant with the concept of culture as defined by the UNESCO.
In a country like Paraguay, possessing the invaluable asset of
extensive bilingualism where the Guarani Indian language is
spoken by a majority of the population regardless of the speakers’
ethnic origin, finding value in an individual’s background is a way
to reaffirm self-steem and to assure persistence in schooling as a
threshold to success in life.
The task of helping local culture survive, first, and thrive, later, is
made all the more opportune by the onslaught of globalization and
its threat of condemning smaller societies mores and customs to
oblivion in the wake of mass media indoctrination. The discipline,
hence, has become a full fledged academic endeavor although
the bibliography is still scarce but growing.
The author seeks to make her contribution available to students
and scholars of American and European universities looking at
the field as a bona fide subject of academic endeavor, graduate
theses and dissertations, and scholarly articles. Heritage, language,
music, cuisine, dances and oral traditions appear in this useful
teacher’s guide opening up a world of wonder and magic, legends
and history.
B.G. de B
To return the cultural heritage
to the cycle of life
I confess that after reading the guide written by Professor Beatriz

G. de Bosio I experienced the sensation of reaching a perspective
that allows me to analyze from newer and more humane trends
the problem of culture in our Latin American countries. Such
a focus, in effect, offers a refreshing proposal to enter into the
universe of the Social and Human Sciences in Paraguay. An
outlook of the analyzed modules provides a synthesis that includes
subjects such as identity, culture, heritage, globalization, cultural
policies, development, Cultural Mercosur, concluding the vision
with a personal analysis of the natural and cultural frameworks
of Paraguay. It would seem that its accurate starting point was the
belief that, confronted with the ideologies and interests that divide
the world, there is one single possible meeting point, and that is the
field of culture.
This viewpoint allows culture to gain in familiarity what it loses
in mystery.
Without any doubt, Paraguayan culture expresses the national
soul of the Paraguayan people. Hence, to reflect it is to immerse
oneself into the collective unconscious, integrating into the mystery
of its myths and rituals, to have access to its unitary essence, in its
joyous diversity, in order to pour its quintessence into educational
and cultural policies aimed at the school classroom.
First and foremost, I gladly greet the breath of fresh air represented
by the expressions of a culture that, at first, is alive. I bear in mind
the concepts of Master Jacques Rigaud, by remembering that the
“cultural label” results at first dissuasive to the general public as
well as a harbinger of “distinguished boredom” and “hermetic
language”.
Professor Bosio’s work seems to reflect –and celebrate– a culture
neither cloistered nor passive, but one alive and creative. A culture
that is always “in the making” and that results in the expression
of true democracy.
I speak of an open culture that, at the same time, helps to include
and transcend the elite culture of minorities as well as mass culture.
I speak of culture to live for.
We must highlight the happy orientation of the author and her
pedagogical zeal condensed in summaries, generic ideas and
homework destined to students. There is something guaranteed
for those who are concerned with the eventual aridity of cultural
contents: there is neither in the text –nor in the suggestions or
exercises– a single reason to get bored. The difference is clear,
there is an interest in making others appreciate the traditions,
popular culture, music, customs and the tangible and intangible
heritage of Paraguay.
It is clear that she is moved by a generous service and didactic spirit
as well as the will to animate students and teachers. Precisely, to
animate, etymologically means to give life anew, to wake up those
sleeping. And the school is the privileged space for the pedagogical
revolution of a culture that is alive.
In the footsteps of Rigaud, I have always believed that such a
cultural pedagogy must propose but not impose, suggest but not
demonstrate and to invite to inner trips. Beatriz G. de Bosio calls
us to accompany her in this journey with Paraguayan students
and we join it with pleasure: the proposal supposes to return the
cultural heritage to the cycle of life.
Dr. Gregorio Recondo

Argentine Center of International Relations
Prologue
A textbook of clear didactic scope is the one put forth by Beatriz G.

de Bosio, whom we knew for her academic output in the field of
her specialty, history, although she has been widening the scope of
the problems she treats in such open areas as folklore and, in the
current case, culture, which would be nothing but a cross reading
both synchronically and diachronically, of history as “res gestae”,
that once was proposed by Ortega as “the task ahead.”
Frequently in current times, we find a pejorative interpretation
of folklore, as mere museum elements and craft of subjects
extracted –in G. Vansina´s vision– from oral tradition, and related
to such a narrow approach, they venture a definition of culture
that identifies it with the “tangible” or material heritage. Beatriz
G. de Bosio proposes, on the other hand, an anthropological
approach, pointing that there is nothing significant or insignificant
in culture thus discarding the ethnocentric bias that relegates
popular knowledge as a pre-scientific stage. Within this assertive
temperament, the author highlights some parameters which
orientate a practical pedagogy in such a field, concluding that:
• culture is no longer deemed as the possession or privilege
of a few.
• every culture has intrinsic dignity and value.
• all peoples have the right to develop their culture, and
that,
• it is not the State which creates culture, and neither is culture
a service of an administration, but the task of social groups
which produce it and transmit it.
Afterwards, the teacher/reader is introduced into the subject of
cultural identity –a subject distorted in Latin America by both right-
wing and left-wing ideologies, using it as a symbol to vindicate
issues of dubious authenticity. Here, as presumably expected, the
author proposes an historical approach, illustrating the panorama
of confrontations by affinities and differences. To the stereotyped
cliché of a Guarani nation, Beatriz G. de Bosio asserts that, with
the new National Constitution, “Paraguay is a multiethnic and a
pluricultural country”; which supposes an epistemological openness
and a new reading of the universe under study. A challenge for
our identity, as for all Third World countries, is the new reality of
globalization and, in our case, Mercosur which, on the one hand
opens up as a gallery of unheard possibilities and, on the other
hand, as a challenge call to resist the onslaught of competition,
not always loyal from countries with larger technological resources
and larger markets. Here too, the author suggests some guiding
mottos, such as “culture can unite what politicians have divided”
or “culture provides content to education. We must affirm the
place of cultural matters in the process of integration.”
Another success of the new guide, besides the constant examples of
cultural traits in current customs and practices prevailing in the oral
tradition, are the teaching guides whereby teachers are oriented by
suggesting tasks to be undertaken by the students, so that learning
in such a field does not fall into old practice of repetition, or the
mere evaluation of memorizing without enrichment of the world
view of the subject that receives the communication/learning.
Engaged as we are in strengthening the process of educational
reform, we cannot but congratulate ourselves to this timely guide
prepared by the author, and to recommend wholeheartedly its
dissemination and for the benefit of those who have the irreplaceable
task of educating our children and youth in the unavoidable heritage
of our rich and peculiar Paraguayan culture.
Dr. Ramiro Domínguez

Member of the CONEC
National Council of Education and Culture
Asunción, June, 2002
Foreword
In the framework of the educational and cultural policies of

Paraguay, it is understood that the best instrument to transmit
culture is through education. Nevertheless, in practice, the teachers
discover the evident lack of publications that could serve as aid
and assistance in the task of disseminating concrete knowledge in
the field of culture. Our purpose is to fill that void in order to help
the teacher save the many hours needed to review bibliography
and to try to generate a synthesis that could be of use in the
classroom. It is of vital importance to link up education with
culture in a feasible way.
This material intends to be highly didactic and is aimed at the
teacher to disseminate new approaches of the concept of culture
in a language which the students of all the communities of the
country may understand and value. It is an important task because,
through it, we shall be stressing within the student population
the conviction that they have a cultural and natural heritage that
is valuable and worth preserving. Oral and artisan traditions,
gastronomy, loss of customs, folklore expressions and the other
components of the Paraguayan imagery merit a socialization with
the new generations receiving the influence of the mass media
which privilege hegemonic cultures. Therefore, we try with these
bibliographical contributions to revert the accelerated process of
acculturation.
To that end, nothing could be better than to add value to our
customs and, if necessary, to rediscover our values in order to
generate self-esteem –an essential element– to confront a future
of great challenges, armed with faith in our origins and love for
our culture, our country and our fellow human beings. This love,
however, is not the nineteenth century type which excludes with
xenophobia those who are different. It is the contrary process
along the lines of integration and respectful of other cultures which
populate the region and the world and which gives us the precious
gift of diversity.
The author
Index
CHAPTER I
1. Goal 5
2. Beneficiaries 5
3. Methodology 6
4. Contents 6
4.1. Culture 6
4.1.1. Education 6
4.2. Definitions of culture 7
5. Identity 21
6. Tangible and intangible cultural heritage 25
6.1 Tangible heritage 25
6.2. Intangible heritage 27
6.3. Museums and Historic Sites in Asunción 44
6.4. Sites and museums in the Paraguayan countryside 47
7. Sustainable Development 50
8. Law No 904 “Statute of Indigenous communities in
Paraguay” 53
CHAPTER II
1. Cultural Policies 58
1.1. Goals of cultural policies 59
1.2. Contents of cultural policies 60
2. Cultural Mercosur 66
2.1. History 66
CHAPTER III
1. The Paraguayan reality 81
1.1. Historical variables 81
1.2. Other elements to bear in mind in the analysis of
Paraguayan reality 89
1.2.1. The Guarani language 89
1.2.2. Economy 90
1.2.3. Society 91
2. Globalization 98
3. New approaches to the disciplines of history and geography 100
CHAPTER IV
1. The Guarani culture 103
Some biographies to remember 108

Other important data 116
Documentary Annex
Paraguay, nature and culture 127
A century and a half of the word «Folklore» 159
Chipa, Holy Bread and 70 recipes to prepare it 163
Ilex Paraguaiensis, a classic of the Cultural Mercosur 167
Conclusion 171
Bibliography 177
CHAPTER I
1. Goal
The Advisory Council on Culture, aware of the challenges posed
by globalization and by the regional integration into Mercosur, has
generated a program of cultural awareness raising and animation
with transversal content modules to aid in the formal education in
schools and teaching training centers, in order to strengthen the
educational reform and the axial role of the Vice- Ministry of Culture
aimed at the achievement of the goals of its cultural policies.
This projects comes from a need felt and expressed by secondary
and teacher training institutions and it gives special emphasis on the
three components of the reform: the fundamental component, the
academic component and, in a very special way, the local component
as the central axis in the appreciation of the rich Paraguayan cultural
inheritance and the strengthening of the national identity.
2. Beneficiaries
Secondary schools students and teacher training institutions.
3. Methodology
Group dynamic, workshops, exhibits by specialists, on site research,
audio visual courses (slides, “Tele Educación” videos, etc.)
Beatriz G. de Bosio
15
4. Contents
Modules on:
• Culture
• Identity
• Tangible and intangible cultural heritage
• Sustainable development
• Globalization
• Environment
• New approaches to history and geography in the framework
of regional integration
• Cultural Policies
• Cultural Mercosur
• Natural and Cultural Framework of Paraguay
4.1. Culture
Cultural identities and its dynamics as well as the cultural
integration processes acquire significant relevance in the current
international context.
Carefully, we must also bear in mind the conceptions or models of
culture that are in force and how they influence with the teaching-
learning process, be it explicitly or implicitly.
4.1.1. Education
Education is the best formal instrument to disseminate culture.
Quoting Susana Avolio de Cols: “education implies a socialization
process –language acquisition, values criteria, ideas, dominant
norms and customs of the society in which one lives”.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
16
On being educated, humans internalize the cultural patterns and

communicate them to the new generations. At the same time,
education is a process of internalization given that the individual
develops abilities and skills by growing inwardly.
The final goals of education will be to make the individual aware
of his /her dignity, his /her freedom and self-determination.
The State, through its specialized organizations, together with the
family, establishes the educational policies of a country, the type
of individual and the desired society. The role of teachers is to
form people. Students must develop their abilities and commit
themselves to their society.
The teacher is an intermediary between the cultural inheritance
which he or she receives and the subject under education.
Therefore, it must be a cultural policy priority the factual linking
of education and culture.
4.2 Definitions of culture

In the modern conception, culture is the way people think, eat,
dress, imagine, arrange their houses, make politics, speak and
remain silent. It is what makes people live in a way that gives them
identity and makes them distinct.
Formerly reserved for the fine arts, the concept of culture
was brought to a crisis due to the impact of the scientific and
technological civilization.
Cultural anthropology contributed to supersede this elitist
conception of culture. Culture is neither refinement nor
erudition.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in its Article 27o:
“The right of all human beings to participate in cultural life.”
There is nothing significant or insignificant in culture.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
17
Primitive cultures articulate collective patterns of behavior

functional to their societies. Thus, ethnocentrism is rejected which
implies judging other ethnic groups from a given cultural pattern
(Recondo, Gregorio: “Identity, Integration and cultural creation
in Latin America”).
Every culture has its distinctive seal, values, worldview, collective
memory, etc. A typical example of ethnocentrism was the one
applied by Europe to the societies it found in the American
continent after the Columbian discoveries or with its colonial
policies in other continents such as Africa or Asia. Culture is no
longer understood today as the birthright or privilege of a few, but
the product of the constant creation of the spirit of human beings
and the peoples.
• Human beings internalize, through the learning
process, behavior patterns and values.
• Every culture has a value and a dignity that have to
be respected and protected.
• Every people has the right and the duty to develop its
culture.
• In their fruitful variety and diversity, all cultures are
part of the common heritage of humanity.
• They are the adequate instrument to favor and
promote cultural development.
The UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies, held
in Mexico in 1982 conceived culture as “The entirety of the
distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and affective traits
which characterize a society or social group.”
It includes, besides the arts and literature, ways of life, fundamental
rights as human beings, value, tradition and belief systems.
Culture turns human beings into rational, critical and ethically
committed people.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
18
Societies, through the people and the social groups that integrate
them, are receptacles and producers of culture.
It is not the State that creates culture, but humans as social beings
interacting within their respective communities.
Culture is not a service granted by the Administration. On the
contrary, the latter has to be at the service of culture.
Hence, in short, we say that:
Culture is something specifically human, acquired by inheritance
within a framework of reference. It is a learned behavior. It involves
biological, environmental, logical and historical components,
knowledge, habits, techniques and forms of social organization,
based upon a common history. Culture is the way of being, making,
thinking and feeling of a people. In culture there are material and
spiritual aspects linked to the needs of human beings.
Culture comprises morality,

ethical order, religion, belief
in supernatural beings and the
worship given to them, the legal
system, as every people has a set
of norms ruling human relations.
Language is a substantial aspect
of culture as it is not only a way
of communication but it implies
a certain mental structure
together with a worldview.
Arts, music, dancing, literature,
theater, painting , drawing ,
engraving, ceramics, pottery, Skillful embroiderer of ao po’i from
Yataity. The skills and techniques for the
textiles, are expressions of the development of a community conform
culture of a people. a given culture.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
19
The cultural industries include:

cinema, video, photography,
books, etc.
Scientific knowledge, housing,
clothing and body ornaments,
and cooking are also cultural
manifestations.
The Arete Guasu or Chiriguano carnival

of the Guarani ethnic group.
Culture encompasses knowledge, beliefs, customs, mores and

habits of a given society as well as the techniques and skills for
its development. Each culture represents a set of unique and
irreplaceable values. All cultures are a part of the common heritage
of humanity. The cultural identity of a people is renewed and
enriched with the traditions and the values of the others. Culture is
dialogue, exchange of ideas and experiences and an appreciation
of other values and traditions.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
20
5. Identity
By identity we understand the set of factors that allows us to
distinguish an individual or group from others facing them; it is
how we perceive ourselves and how we perceive others. In the
words of María de los Ángeles Yannuzzi: “To raise the issue of
identity really means to raise the issue of the difference.”
Article 25 of the National Constitution of 1992 addresses the

topic of identity: “Everyone has the right to freely express
his/her personality, to be creative, and to forge his/her own
identity. Ideological pluralism is hereby guaranteed.”
As in the rest of the Americas, the ancient inhabitants of this

territory were Indigenous tribes from different ethnic groups which,
through migration, settled in the Pre-Columbian era in what today
is the territory of Paraguay.
When the Spanish conquistadores
arrived, a biological and cultural
mix took place. Spaniards mixed
with the Kario of the Guarani
family. The Guarani were
widespread in an vast territory
that covered the Amazon basin
to the surroundings of the Río The Cario of the Guarani family,
de la Plata. inhabitants of the zone of Asunción at
the time of the conquest. This engraving
Fundamentally, the Conquest was published in the book by Ulrich
was a military task whereby Schmidl which was the first book of
memoirs on the conquest of Paraguay.
Spanish power as well as
cultural, economic, social,
political and religious schemes
were imposed in the Americas.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
21
The total domination of the Indian by the Spaniards made the

aboriginal inhabitants of these lands occupy the last echelon of
the social pyramid. The new society inherited the Spanish cultural
patterns but it gave its distinctive seal because it underwent a
process of miscegenation that branded it deeply.
Paraguay is a multiethnic and multicultural country.

Ethnic groups in Paraguay are divided into five linguistic
families:
Tupí Guaraní: Mby‘a - Pai Tavyterã -Ava Guarani - Guarayo
—andeva o Tapiete – Ache - Guayakí
Zamuco: Ayoreo, Ybytóso and Tomárãho
Mataco - Mataguayo: Nivaklé - Maká - Manjui
Lengua - Maskoy: Lengua - Sanapaná - Guaná - Angaité
- Toba Maskoy
Guaicurú: Toba Qom
Although the process of miscegenation took place basically with the

Guarani, Paraguay also received migratory flows although minor in
comparison with the rest of the Río de la Plata. We must stress that the
African element enters almost unnoticed in Paraguay albeit there are still
elements of their culture such as the ones that preserve the community
of Loma Campamento in Fernando de la Mora, known as Camba Cuá.
They arrived in the country in 1821 with General José Gervasio Artigas
who requested political asylum in the country. Dr. Francia granted his
request but under some conditions. Artigas settled with 400 black slaves
he had liberated. On January 6th, they celebrate the feast of Patron
Saint Balthazar. Josefina Plá in her book “Hermano negro (La esclavitud
en el Paraguay)” -Black brother - Slavery in Paraguay-, provides an
extensive reference regarding this cultural universe.
The country lived processes of isolation in some stages of its history.
When the Giant Province of the Indies (1617-1620) was divided
Beatriz G. de Bosio
22
into two Governorates (Paraguay or Guairá and that of Buenos

Aires), Paraguay ended up isolated. The geographical situation of
Paraguay also did not help to allow a larger migratory flow into
the country.
The immigration of Spaniards and Italians was the most important.
The case of the Mennonites, members of a religious community
founded by a Dutch reformer, Menno Simons, was a migration of
Canadian, German, and Russian origin which settled in the Chaco
and also in the Eastern Region. They provided an organizational
model of development in their respective areas of settlement.
The Japanese immigration into Paraguay took place before and
after World War II. The first stage occurred in the settlements of
La Colmena, Department of Paraguarí, and the second in those
located in the Department of Itapúa which today is a melting pot
of cultures.
There is a Russian community in Paraguay which arrived as
a consequence of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Among
them, there were officers who later founded the Faculty of
Engineering.
The Jews arrived in Paraguay escaping anti-Semitic policies in
Europe. At the same time, a significant Syrian-Lebanese migrations
settled in the national territory which at present also counts with
important Korean and Chinese communities.
Consequently, a plurality of cultural values exist in the

conformation of Paraguayan society with contributions of the
pre-existing Indigenous cultures and the migratory flows after
the War of 1870 (Italians, Germans, Japanese, Mennonites,
Slavs, Jews, Syrian-Lebanese, Koreans, Chinese, etc.).
We must make an effort to improve the social integration and the

quality of life of all members of the Paraguayan society, free from
any kind of discrimination.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
23
Nde Ratypykua (Fragmento) Nde Ratypykua (Fragment)

Félix Fernández by Félix Fernández
Epukavymína mitãkuña, Just smile, young girl

che mborayhujára, owner of my love
tabecha jey nde juru mboypyri for me to see again surrounding your mouth
nde ratypykua, your dimples
nde rova yképe on the side of your face
ikuame oikutuvaekue Ñandejára God had dug with His finger
ha ipykó emiva opyta opupu and in the aftermath, there remained, boiling
mborayhu ykua. a fountain of love.
The legend of the Ypacaraí Lake

In the táva of Cacique Tapaikua there was a water fountain at the
foot of the Yvytypané hill (Patiño, today) and the beautiful stream
Arecayá flowed from it. The population of the region had fallen
into sin and corruption.
When an Indian refused to give water to someone else passing
by, Tupã got angry and punished the neighborhood shaking the
earth and from the fountain water emerged in great quantity. Fray
(Father) Luis de Bolaños, a Franciscan apostle of the zone, received
a desperate call in Yaguarón and rushed to the defense of the few
who had survived. He climbed upon a hill, probably the Areguá Hill,
and called upon God while he blessed the wayward water which
immediately calmed down and receded. Thereafter, the lake so
formed is called Ypacaraí: «Lake of peaceful and blessed waters”.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
24
6. Tangible and intangible cultural heritage

Man enters into the biosphere and finds himself within the
framework of nature. In order to satisfy his basic needs of food,
shelter and safety, he transforms nature. This transformation
accomplished by man is culture, and everything that is significant
becomes cultural heritage, understanding it as the set of cultural
goods inherited from generation to generation, considered in a
cultural historical framework both regional and universal.
Nature is the environment that surrounds us. Man needs to satisfy
his material and spiritual needs. The manner in which man solves
that, from the vase to collect honey, the shelter to feel protected
or his beliefs in the afterlife constitutes culture.
In some cases, nature presents itself as too hostile. Man overcomes
it and places himself above her laws.
Every cultural material is nature transformed by man. Man
has transformed nature so much, that today we are under the
obligation to protect and preserve it.
Human Ecology, a branch of Ecology, studies the reciprocal
relations between man and environment, and Cultural Ecology
studies the relation of human cultures with the geographical milieu
wherein they develop.
When human intervention destroys the environment, Ecocide
is committed. Polluting rivers with waste, cutting forests without
reforestation, not giving treatment to garbage dumpers are all
considered as attacks on the ecosystems.
It is difficult to speak of “tangible” and “intangible” heritage. We shall
do it as a methodological recourse, because often the tangible, the
concrete responds to processes or significants that are intangible.
6.1 Tangible heritage

As far as tangible heritage is concerned (with visible material traces), we
may point out basically to what refers to monuments, parks, reserves,
historical sites, handicraft and other visible cultural expressions.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
25
In the last UNESCO Forum on Cultural Policies, held in Stockholm,

in 1998, new categories were included in the area of cultural
heritage, such as cultural landscape, industrial heritage and
cultural tourism.
Let us mention some examples of tangible heritage:
a. Housing: originally it had a functional role. It is important
to mention a few peculiar architectural characteristics of
Paraguay as the corredor jeré (circular corridor) or kulata jovái
(typical dwelling with face-to-face rooms) which are functional
proposals because of the hot weather most of the year.
However, there is an invasion of universal foreign models that
sometimes end up being little practical for a specific reality.
Work for students:

It could be proposed as group work the analysis of the architectural
styles found in the country in the different cities and towns.
b. The utensils for vital

functions in a given society
are also tangible expressions
of a culture. Cooking pots,
jugs, baskets, fishing nets,
hammocks, hunting weapons,
traps, metal or leather pieces,
The traditional Paraguayan hammock
among others, are part of this
is handicraft made. It comes from common heritage.
Indigenous customs. Natalicio González
called it the appropriate implement for
a nomadic warrior.
Work for Students:

Make a survey of the utensils of the Indigenous cultures exhibited
in the country’s museums (Andrés Barbero Museum, Museum of
the Botanic Garden, Museum of Clay in the Capital city, Guido
Boggiani Museum).
Beatriz G. de Bosio
26
c. Gastronomy: translates the way of living and thinking of

a society and it is considered within the tangible and the
intangible, for which it implies more than just a mixture of
ingredients.
Work for students:
In group discussions, analyze the corn based culture of the
Americas, the manioc, and the different recipes of Paraguayan
cuisine. Get to know the bibliographical material in that respect
published by national cuisine specialists.
d. Monuments and Museums: Paraguay possesses very

few monuments and museums.
Work for Students:

As a group work, make a survey
of the monuments that exist in
the community, their history,
heroic deeds or personalities
involved.
Write a report on the museums’
heritage, collections and the
role they play.
López Palace: seat of the Office of the

President of the Republic. Built in the
19th century by the Italian architect
Alessandro Ravizza.
6.2 Intangible heritage
It becomes intangible that thing that does not leave behind material
traces, from a riddle, a saying, a sonnet, a case, a Ñe’enga or the
embroidery technique in the field of handicrafts. As music and
dancing have their intangible components, so does the scientific
knowledge, which includes the richness of the traditional medicine
that we, as Paraguayans, inherited from the Indigenous peoples.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
27
Work for the Students:

Elaborate and execute a community project to recover oral
tradition:
a) Compile Ñe’enga, cases, sayings, popular songs prevailing in
the community.
b) Interview grandparents or elder relatives to collect cases or
facts they remember about their daily lives, games they played
or how they lived, what did they do when they were ill, how
community festivities were celebrated, etc.
c) Share all the work in a major exhibit “My grandfather told me”,
Invite school authorities, students, families and the people who
were interviewed.
a. Rituals are collective expressions which reinforce the
identity of the community, its sense of belonging through
symbols fed by Christian and religious as well as Indigenous
and profane traditions.
Every ritual makes society self-represent by processing
the common history and expectations. They are linked to
transcendental aspects: excesses, wastefulness, games, duels,
disguises, worship, the parody, the metaphor (Ticio Escobar, Milda
Rivarola, Territorial Organization of the Central Department).
A part of the rituals constitute costumes and bodily
ornaments.
Find references about the
Kambaraánga (wearing of
Indigenous masks).
Beatriz G. de Bosio
28
b. Patron Saints festivities: they carry their specific rituals

and they commemorate the day of the population’s Patron
Saint. They condense social significances. They reinforce
the sense of belonging and community cohesiveness as they
become a common space for encounters where prevails
integration and social equality.
They include: music, gambling, handicrafts fair, food and
other products, sport competitions, religious acts, novenae,
processions.
Patron Saint Days festivities alternate between patterns
of Catholic worship and popular religion (González Torres,
Dionisio, Folklore del Paraguay).

Conduct a research on your
region’s Patron Saint festivity
and expose all the details.
Distinguish the roots of the
elements involved: if they are
from Indigenous, Spanish or
any other culture roots.
Festivity of the Candelaria. Every February

2nd, popular religiousness expresses
itself in this celebration of light.
c. Foreign appropriations
There are imported cliché which influence and permeate
the traditional mores. They penetrate and discredit
them but leaving, anyway, a margin for recreation and
appropriation (nowadays in San Juan festivities we listen to
“cachaca” music and hot dogs and hamburgers are sold).
The Halloween celebration has been incorporated in some
segments of Paraguayan society, especially in schools where
Beatriz G. de Bosio
29
English is taught. It is a pagan celebration representing the

collective past of Anglo-Saxon culture.
Likewise, Valentine’s Day on February 14th commemorates
in the northern hemisphere the early arrival of the spring and
therefore it constitutes the celebration of those who are in
love which has also been incorporated here. The arrival of
the spring in the southern hemisphere is on September 21st
and that day is celebrated as the Day of Youth.
d. Funerary Ritual: These rituals come from Catholic

worship and they mix with mestizo nuances.

Describe the customs and mores in the worship for the dead, for
example burial of a “angelito” (a dead child is called “little angel”),
festivities for November 2nd (Day of the Dead), etc.
In the Paraguayan tradition, the Day of the Cross (Kurusu ára) is

on May 3rd. It is a widespread popular devotion throughout the
country. All crosses in the cementeries, on rural roads, houses,
chapels, etc. are decorated with new or clean cloth. In some places,
the crosses are “dressed” on May 1st and undressed on the 31st.
Crosses are also decorated with flower garlands, laurel leaves or
with chipá (corn bread) which is given to those who come to pray.
There are crosses which enjoy fame for being miraculous such as
the Kurusu Infante, which was erected in memory of the unknown
soldier, martyr in the Battle of Acosta Ñú, located nearby the town
of Eusebio Ayala, formerly Barrero Grande. It receives many visitors
on May 3rd as well as on August 16th, celebrating the Children’s
Day. Some other famous crosses are: Kurusu Cadete, Kurusu Isabel,
Kurusu Jegua, etc.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
30
e. Bands: are the Banditas de San Lorenzo (little bands of

San Lorenzo), the Peteke Peteke, Paraí, Anguá parara or
chuchi that use rustic instruments such as bamboo flutes,
cedar wooden boxes and leather membranes.
Work for the Students::

Ascertain the status of the Peteke Peteke Band and others.
f. Chants and Popular Music: Music is a cultural expression

very dear to the feeling of the Paraguayans which has
been amply documented throughout the centuries. In the
evolution of the national heritage emerged the Paraguayan
polka, the compuestos, the purahéi jahe’o (sad singing),the
purahéi joyvy (in two voices) and, finally, the Guarania which
is more contemporary and lyrical.
Some of the more traditional songs of colonial origin such as
the ñembo’e purahéi (singing prayer), religious chants which
accompany the intimate moments of the people such as
Christmas, songs for dead children and adults, Kurusu Ára
(Day of the Cross), Ñandejára Pasión (in the Holy Week),
also belong to this group. Currently, the ñembo’e purahéi
is fundamentally a peasant expression.
Among those performing the Ñandejára Pasión, the
estacioneros deserve to be mentioned; they are all-male
choirs with banners, lanterns and crosses that visit the family
calvaries and churches singing mournful, sad and painful
chants linked to the Semana Santa or Holy Week religious
rituals, funereal ceremonies and worship of the cross. This
manifestation is seen in the communities of Ñemby, Capiatá,
Fernando de la Mora, Ypane and San Lorenzo as well as in
other places of the national geography.
We also find the compuestos, which are sung narrations
of events or stories that took place, generally true which
Beatriz G. de Bosio
31
deeply affected the community. In some cases, the

composers were anonymous. They are sung accompanied
by the guitar, rabel (popular double bass) or harp. The
compuesteros of Carapeguá are famous. A distinguished
researcher in this subject is Mr. Víctor Barrios Rojas who
compiled in his book “Motivos populares tradicionales del
Paraguay” (“Traditional Compositions of Paraguay”) the
lyrics and music of the classic “Pancha Garmendia” , “Godoi
fusilamiento”, “Jejuvykue jera”, among others.
“Campamento Cerro León” of unknown authorship, was

compiled by Silvano Mosqueira and it became a popular anthem
of Paraguay.
This fragment goes
“Campamento Cerro León “In Campamento Cerro León
Mariscal López o disponé, Marshal López ordered
Tomombeú mi peéme That I narrate to you
Guerra tiempo pe guaré” something about the time of the war”
Work for students

Review the collections of newspapers to compile references about
these cultural expressions, especially in Holy Week.
Conduct a research on the life and works of José Asunción Flores.
g. Dance: Some expressions of Paraguayan dance have their own

style and peculiar choreography. There are references of dances in
Paraguay beginning in the colonial times. The chronicles of that time
always mentioned Indian dances and also within the framework of
customs of the colonial times, dances and chants are often mentioned.
The birthday parties or santo ára are prominently recorded in the
stories of foreign visitors of that time.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
32
Polka: It is the most typical dance. Diego Sánchez

Haase writes: “that although it has nothing to do with
the European polka, its name derives from this.” The
teaching by Spanish, Italian and French musicians also
meant the introduction of dances to the new continent,
later translated into the local color by our composers.
Chopí: Also known as Santa Fe or Cielito. The chopí is
a bird of elegant but unfriendly presence, with black
feathers while yellow and red in the breast.
Palomita: It is one of the oldest dances in our folklore.
It was widely danced during the time of the War of
the Triple Alliance (1864-1870). The dance imitates
love scenes between two doves.
Pericón: This dance is widespread in the Río de la Plata
region. Originated in the eighteenth century, it was
already mentioned by Juan de Aguirre, a Spanish
officer who came to demarcate borders.
Galopa: (dance of the raida poti, without luxury but clean).
The galopa dance is the pagan manifestation in the patron
saint festivities. Generally Saint Blaise´s Day takes place on
February 3rd, Day of the Virgin of Caacupé, December 8th,
Saint Lawrence, August 10th, Virgin of the Rosary, October
3rd and Virgin of the Mercy where the Kambá la Mercé
perform. The Virgin of the Mercy is the saint who protects
the black African slaves in Paraguay.
Valseado: The waltz is a transculturation. It is called
waltzing because it is the European waltz transplanted
for native typical instruments and themes.

Conduct a research and document the typical dances prevailing
in all cities and towns in the Paraguayan countryside.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
33
h. Literature
There is an abundance of oral and written tradition in
our society. Paraguayan literature as such comes with the
European teachers hired by Don Carlos Antonio López in
the second half of the 19th century. One of the peculiar
aspects of Paraguay constitutes the fact that the civilian
heroes who supported our cause in the War of 1870 were
almost all foreign authors: Juan Bautista Alberdi, Olegario
Andrade, Carlos Guido Spano, etc. Nowadays, we have
a mature Paraguayan literature. Augusto Roa Bastos, one
of our authors, won the Cervantes Award for Literature,
considered as the Nobel Prize of the Spanish Literature.
Oral tradition in Guarani is very important because this language
was more oral than written until the beginning of publications
in Guarani. Representatives of Guarani poetry are later
accompanied by music: Narciso R. Colmán, Félix Fernández,
Emiliano R. Fernández, Manuel Ortiz Guerrero, etc.
There are great authors in all the literary genres, including
poetry, essays, short stories, novels and theater.
One of the main aspects to be considered was the boom
movement in Paraguay in the aftermath of the founding of
NAPA (Paraguayan Narrative) by the late writer Juan Bautista
Rivarola Matto in the decades of the 80s.
Nowadays, Paraguayan writers find publishing houses that
are interested in publishing their work. Newspapers also
give space to literary creation and that also encourages its
practice.

Conduct a research on the work of the poets in the Guarani
language. Currently, who are the most prevailing poets? In your
opinion, when does literature begin in Paraguay?
Beatriz G. de Bosio
34
Narciso R. Colmán wrote:

“Residenta Cué” Residenta Cué (Formerly Residenta)
“Residenta ró guaré “From the times of the Residentas
Guaimí mí nico a Yujhú I found a little old lady
Coicha ité va o mombé’ú And she proceeded to tell me thus
O guajhé vaecué ichupé what happened to her...
Residenta ró guaré…” from the times of the Residentas...”
i. Myths and Legends of Paraguay

Myths or narrations of imaginary events attributed to gods,
demigods or superior beings are used to explain natural or
supernatural phenomena impossible to grasp. Likewise,
these fantastic beings are used to avoid deviations from
agreed rules of behavior.
Thus they have a pedagogical purpose. For example, Jasy
Jateré (piece of the moon) is the Guarani cupid and carrier of
fecundity. He is the elf of the siesta (nap) and attracts children
by whistling or touching them with his golden walking stick.
He kidnaps them and takes them to the forests for some time.
This is a way of putting fear in children so they do not go far
way from home when the parents are napping.
The Pombero or Karai Pyhare: It is an anthropomorphic, ugly,
wide-chested dwarf with hairy hands and feet whose steps are
not heard. He roams about at night and he is very naughty.
He releases animals from the corrals, steals tobacco, scatters
the corn, steals honey, and he is very sensual with women.
Sometimes, he kidnaps young women.
The Póra, Malavisión (evil spirit), Karai Vosa (man with the
bag) and others conform the wide Paraguayan mythological
universe.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
35
Legends, on the other hand, are fabulous narratives but based

on historical or true facts referred to persons or things that
may also have a fantastic origin. According to the legend, the
brothers Tupí and Guaraní wandered in the forest seeking
company. Unable to find it, they founded city dwellings where
they lived for many years attracting fellow human beings. Finally,
there was a civil war and, in order to avoid further disgrace,
they agreed to separate. Tupí, as the elder brother and the one
with more extensive descent, remained in the forests of Brazil,
and Guaraní went toward the Río de la Plata basin. That is why
Tupí and Guaraní people share the same language.
Legends conform the narrative basis of our national literature.
The religious element comes into play with the widely known
legend of the Virgin of Caacupé, an icon carved by José the
Indian from the town of Tobatí who, in gratitude for a miracle
given by the Virgin, decided to carve the image that today is
venerated in the Basilica of Caacupé every December 8th.
Among others, we have the legend of the Urutaú which is
about a woman who wanted to join God in heaven. She
could not reach it because God had already ascended to
the sun, thus she was transformed into a night bird of that
name, destined to lament her sad life for having shown an
exaggerated ambition. Other well known legends are: Lake
Ypacaraí, Ñandejara Guazú (our Great Father), Lake Ypoa,
Ycuá Bolaños (Ycua Bolaños is a spring) and the legend of
the Toropé. All cultures share the tradition of legends and in
many places, their compilation marks likewise the beginning
of written literature. Among the compilers of Paraguayan
legends, we may mention Father José Guevara, Narciso R.
Colmán, Concepción Leyes de Chaves, Moisés S. Bertoni,
Natalicio González, Dionisio González Torres, etc. among
many anonymous cultivators of the oral tradition.
Work for the Students: Identify the myths and legends best
kown in the community. Identify the favorite myths and legends
in every family.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
36
The myth is a form of literature whose ultimate goal is to educate

the population, especially children and youth, in traditions, values,
dangers, taboos and to remember generally tragic events that
leave a lesson behind.
The Jasy Jatere, is the blond elf of the nap time that prevents
children from going away from their homes during those hours.
The Chogüi bird is the story of a little Indian boy who falls from the
branch of a tree and dies and his mother unable to withstand the
pain is transformed into a bird sadly calling his child. The Lobisón
(werewolf) represents the seventh male son of a family. It is the
primitive form of educating families in birth control.
The myth of the Ao Ao illustrates a terrible animal that looks like
a sheep, with big claws that would tear up the people he found in
the forest. The only way to save oneself was to climb up to a palm
tree. Any other trees could be felled by the Ao Ao with his big claws.
This myth teaches people never to wonder alone in the forest.
j. Theater: The theatrical genre always had great attraction

even in colonial times. The missionaries performed the
sacrament acts and other plays suited to the religious
festivities. It is also known that, during the great festivities
in the last colonial times, the stagings of theatrical pieces
included members of the most distinguished families.
With the government of president Carlos Antonio López,
theater was allowed again after its prohibition during
the years of Dr. Francia´s rule. At this the creation of the
National Theater took place which would later become the
Municipal Theater.
There have always been in Paraguay two forms of
expression: a classical theater, generally brought by foreign
theater companies, including in the twentieth century the
Beatriz G. de Bosio
37
very popular Spanish zarzuelas; and, on the other hand,

the folk theater, spoken in Guarani and especially the
staging of the Passion of Our Lord which would tour the
countryside with great success. Julio Correa was one of the
main Paraguayan playwrights of folk theater. Some of his
classical pieces such as Karú Poká and others reflect the
reality of the Paraguayan peasant society. Later, Ernesto
Báez became a great actor whose theater, with a great
comedy content, was in reality a tearing social comment.
Nowadays, theater is consolidated in Paraguay and it is
an expression valued and cultivated by institutions which
gather young professionals.

Prepare an essay on the theatrical piece that had the greatest
impact.. Explain the plot, the message and evaluate the
performance of the actors.
The Kamba ra’anga, which means a “figure in black” is a

staging that comes from colonial times and incarnates a historical
legendary character. He appears disguised bearing wooden masks.
Its original meaning is unclear. He is someone who threatens and
generate collective fear. It is the transposition of a secular enemy.
One hypothesis is that they symbolized the dreaded Sao Paulo
bandeirantes who harassed and pillaged the Indigenous peoples.
This tradition was kept and passed down from generation to
generation because it meant new fears and threats. These popular
stagings can still be seen in the Paraguayan countryside, where
figures in black beat people with noisy inflated cow bladders and
pay flirtatious compliments to young girls.
In the festivities of Saint Peter and Saint Paul on June 29th in the
town of Ytaguasu in Altos or the nativity of the Virgin Mary, on
September 8th in the town of Yvu in Altos, Saint Balthazar´s Day
on January 6th in the town of Rosado in Tobatí and other religious
celebrations in Itá, Yaguarón, San Miguel, San Ignacio, Santaní and
in the outskirts of Asunción where the famous kamba raánga still
entertain people with much richness and expressivity.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
38
k. Religion
Each culture has its beliefs
in the afterlife as well as
its original myths and
practical explanations
on everyday life. The
Guarani Indians had no
problems in accepting Pilgrimage in a rural zone in honor of
a spiritual god of all Saint Blaise. Different regions adhere
creation because they to religious festivities with their own
peculiar forms and modalities.
revered the equally
spiritual figure of the god Tupã. At the same time the
concept of rewards and punishments was known to them
because the Yvy Marae’y or the Earth without evil was the
paradise human beings expected after living a full life on
earth.
The Christian religion allowed a wide framework of
syncretism or incorporation of local pagan elements that
ultimately meant the respect and the survival of the ancestral
traditions. The Christian missionaries managed to impose
their rites such as the processions, pilgrimages, novena, saint
patron days festivities, the Semana Santa or Holy Week,
the Day of the Cross or “Kurusu Ára”, etc. And in their own
turn, the Indians preserved their language as the vehicle to
transmit these customs. Religions, as a vital aspect of life,
form part of the community everyday life and it is perceived
as the guiding element of daily coexistence.
Work for the students:

In your opinion, which is the most important religious festivity in
Paraguay? Explain why.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
39
Our collective memory gathers many legends such as that of the

Virgin of Caacupé.
Oral tradition tells that in the early sixteenth century, a Guarani
Indian, named José, from the Reduction of Tobatí, specialized
in wood carving, entered into the forest looking for wood to
carve statues. He was surrounded by the Mbayae Indians who
approached him in a threatening manner. Fearing for his life he
was able to escape and hide behind a massive tree trunk and on his
knees on the dead leaves he promised the Virgin he would carve an
image from the wood of the protective trunk. The Virgin listened to
his petition and the Mbayaes went by the protective trunk without
discovering his presence. Free from danger José cut with an ax a
wooden piece in order to fulfill his promise. Soon he finished the
image of the Virgin which is worshipped in Caacupé.
Years later, in 1603, when an overflow formed the Lake Ypacaraí
that image carved by the Indian of Tobatí appeared among the
waves locked inside a trunk. The neighbors picked it and such
was the fame for the miracles of the image that they took it to
Caacupé and made a sanctuary and there it began receiving many
pilgrims to worship her ever since.
Another version by Dionisio González Torres points out that José,
the Indian, carved two images of the Virgin of the Immaculate
Conception. The larger one remained in Tobatí and the smaller
one made for a family shrine went to Caacupé.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
40
l. Painting and Sculpture

The last of the fine arts to
be cultivated in Paraguay
were painting and sculpture.
Not even Indigenous religion
worshipped concrete images;
so that creation was limited to
utility implements. The arrival of
the missionaries brought along
religious imagery with which it
was discovered the Indian’s gift
for the plastic arts. Examples of
this era are the legacies in the
Jesuit and Franciscan temples
with their altarpieces, altars,
images and carvings. With them begins the Guarani-Hispanic
Baroque Era, which includes the use of vegetable-based paints
already known by the Indians. For four centuries the religious
themes are dominant. The practice of religious imagery kept being
cultivated throughout the country and it is one of the outstanding
popular traditions both in wood and ceramics. There was a time
when this type of popular creation was available only during
religious festivities such as the Day of the Virgin of Caacupé or
Christmas time.
Pictorial art develops in Paraguay
beginning in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries.
Some of the pioneers went to
study in Europe from where
they brought contemporary
influences into their portraits of
local motifs.
Imposing fresco of the Chapel of From the second half of the
Loreto, typical expression of what twentieth century, schools for
Josefina Plá denominated the Hispanic-
children and youth are opened
Guarani Baroque style.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
41
as well as galleries for exhibits, contests and invitations to

foreign biennials and triennials. The result was a flourishing of
etching, painting and xylopainting at a highly satisfactory level,
comparable to those in any other country in the continent.
Besides, non-religious sculpture begins to flourish in the
beginning of the 60s when Paraguayan artists achieved
recognition in international contests. The centennial
of the War of the Triple Alliance is an occasion for the
government to commission large scale patriotic work and
some parks and avenues in Paraguay for the first time display
statues of continental heroes. Thus, Paraguay is a country
characterized by the absence of monuments, including
one to commemorate the victorious Chaco War. Some
churches and temples resorted to order large scale works
from some of the outstanding sculptors for example for the
temples of María Auxiliadora and the Crucecita Milagrosa,
among others.
Although it started with some delay, the practice of arts in
forms of painting and sculpture have reached full maturity
at present, and the artists can decently earn their living
with their work.
Work for the Students

Conduct a survey of the status of the plastic arts in each
community. Mention styles and works.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
42
Textile handicraft in Paraguay is made fundamentally by women

and has its roots in Indian culture.
With cotton, they make hammocks, poyvi (coarse bedspread) and
blankets. The encaje ju generally opts for phytomorphic motifs
and the ñandutí in Itauguá has a variety of colors and motifs.
Sombrero pirí (typical Paraguayan hat of country men), baskets
and hand fans are made with karandaý (palm tree leaf).
Handbags are made with vegetable fibers such as karaguata and
they are colored with the use of natural dyes and aniline.
And are woven with wool

ponchos and fajas (girdle belts),
some with geometric motifs
and at times dyed in colors.
Detail of a woolen cloth, traditional

handicraft of the cattle ranching zone
of San Miguel in Misiones.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
43
6.3. Museums and historic sites in Asunción

This incomplete list is provided as a reference and suggestion for
group work to carry out a survey of each repository and update
the information.
• The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National

Museum of Fine Arts)
Formed with the private collection of the founder,
Juansilvano Godoi, this repository opened as a museum in
1909. It has a hall for European paintings and another for
national painters. It displays works by Carbonero, Tintoretto,
Murillo, and others. It also exhibits works by the best known
Paraguayan painters such as Pablo Alborno, Colombo,
Héctor Da Ponte, Jaime Bestard, and others. It shares the
building with the National Archives of Asunción.
• Oratorio de la Virgen
Nuestra Señora de la
Asunción (Oratory of
the Virgin of the Lady
of Asunción) and the
Panteón Nacional de
los Héroes (National
Pantheon of the Heroes)
By a decree by Francisco
Solano López, It was built
in 1863 as an oratory of
the matron saint of the Dome of the Oratory of the Virgin of
city. The War of the Triple Asunción, also the National Pantheon of
the Heroes. Originally, it was designed
Alliance interrupted the as the private chapel of Francisco Solano
construction works and López.
they were resumed in
1930. It was inaugurated in 1936 with the solemn burial of
the ashes of Marshal López and the Unknown Soldier of the
Chaco War. The Pantheon is also the burial site of General José
Eduvigis Díaz, General Bernardino Caballero, Marshal José
Félix Estigarribia and his wife. The last to be buried was Dr.
Eusebio Ayala, the victorious President in the Chaco War.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
44
• Museo Casa de la Independencia (Museum The House

of the Independence)
The house opened as a museum in 1965. It belonged to the
Martínez Sáenz family and it was the meeting place of the
Paraguayan independence patriots that brought about the
Independence in May 1811. It has a hall that evokes the meetings
of the Cabildo of Asunción (Spanish Town Council) with furniture
of that time. Other rooms evoke colonial spaces.
It houses very valuable objects and some of them belonged
to the Independence patriots.
• Museo del Ministerio de Defensa Nacional (Museum

of the Ministry of National Defense)
Many of these relics were part of the trophies that were
officially returned by the belligerent governments. The
documentary collection is very valuable because they are
authentic documents of that time.
• Museo Monseñor Juan Sinforiano Bogarín (Museum

Monsignor Juan Sinforiano Bogarín)
It houses the private collection of the illustrious first Archbishop
of Asunción, Monsignor Juan Sinforiano Bogarín who, in his
pastoral pilgrimages, began collecting along a half a century,
relics of all kinds and today it houses some very valuable pieces
of Jesuit and Franciscan sacred art as well war relics, documents
and garments used at that time, portraits, etchings and
photographs as well as Captain Pedro Juan Cavallero‘s desk.
• Museo del Tesoro de la Catedral (Museum of the

Treasure of the Cathedral)
The Cathedral was built during the government of Carlos
Antonio López. This museum is located on the left side
of the High Altar. It has unique samples of silver and gold
pieces of colonial times.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
45
• Collections in the Historic Center of the City

In the historic quarters of the city, limited but valuable
collections continue to appear in the aftermath of the
architectural recovery of the zone. Among the collections
of buildings that stand out are the following:
- Casa Viola: this is the only example of colonial
architecture of Asunción, previous to the grid square
system organization of the streets ordered by José Gaspar
Rodríguez de Francia after the conspiracy in 1820.
- Manzana de la Rivera, Casa Castelví, Casa Ballario.
• Museo del Barro / Centro

de Artes Visuales (Museum of
Clay / Center for Visual Arts)
It is the most important private
collection but it is open to the
public. It has several exhibition
halls: Museum of Clay, Museum
of Folk and Indigenous Art,
M u s e u m o f Pa r a g u a y a n
Contemporary Art and the
Museum of Visual Arts.
Work for the Students Casa Viola, the only remaining colonial
Conduct a research on the building in Asunción without grid
following historic architectural square system streets. Built in the
eighteenth century.
monuments of the city. Consult
the bibliography regarding:
• Government Palace • Church of Trinidad
• Chamber of Deputies • Church of The Encarnación
• National Congress • Railway Central Station
Beatriz G. de Bosio
46
• Museo Andrés Barbero (Museum Dr. Andrés Barbero)

• Solar Sarmiento (Sarmiento Residence)
• Jardín Botánico (Botanic Garden)
6.4. Sites and Museums in the countryside

• Museo Etnográfico Guido Boggiani (Ethnographic
Museum “Guido Boggiani”)
It is located in the city of San Lorenzo, it houses an important
collection of pieces of Paraguay’s Indigenous heritage.
• Iglesia de Yaguarón (Church of Yaguarón)
It is the most important exhibition of the Guarani-Franciscan
Baroque art.
• Jesuit towns
There are architectural
and iconographic
remains of what
were the 30 Guarani
Reductions. The
Reductions of San
Ignacio Guazú, Santa
Maria de Fe, Santa
Rosa, Santiago, San
Cosme and Damián,
J e s ú s , Tr i n i d a d
(Itapúa) remained
in the territory of
Paraguay.
a. Add more data to the items above mentioned and add
other sites and museums in the countryside, giving brief
references about them.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
47
b. Cooperate with the locality of your choice as a volunteer

at the municipal level to rescue its historic, natural and
cultural heritage.

Trace and define what could amount to, in a national and regional
level:
• Route: of the Independence and of the yerba mate.
• Itinerary of the López‘s Army as far as Cerro Corá.
• Sites of the battles of the War of the Triple Alliance and the
Chaco War.
Locate on a map the sites that we could consider examples for the
new categories of heritage declared by the UNESCO:
• Industrial heritage (quebracho industry, a source of tannin
extract in the Alto Paraguay, the Colonies of the South in
the Department of Itapúa, etc.).
• Cultural landscape (a rice plantation, a soybean or cotton
field, etc.).
• Cultural Tourism (Jesuit and Franciscan missions, etc.).
The Petéke Petéke Band is a famous musical ensemble composed

of the descendants of Indians who maintain the tradition that began in
colonial times. They belong to the township of Guayaivity in Yaguarón
and they were formerly known as the Angu’a Pãrarã (noisy mortars)
Band. The instruments are the mimby (flute) made of bamboo (takuapî)
and a chord-o-phone called Gualambáu. Generally, they participate
of religious events. Their repertoire, which is transmitted through
generations, includes: Procession, Tape joasá (crossroads), San Roque,
Yaguarón, Chiricote, Cacique, Jaguaru, etc.
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EVERYBODY’S PENDING TASK TO STRENGTHEN

IDENTITY
It is a priority of all Paraguayans:
• To protect the cultural heritage.
• To promote current creative practices.
• To implement the adequate stimulus mechanisms for

cultural expressions not yet fully developed or with
the possibility of extinction.
In the design and application of cultural policies, certain stages
must be considered:
1. Contact and dialogue with the sectors, persons and
institutions in charge of creating or disseminating artistic
or cultural expressions.
2. Registration of these groups and survey of their needs.
3. Detection of incipient or inexistent cultural forms.
4. Cultural promoters, intellectuals specialized in the study of
aesthetic expressions, must be in permanent touch with
creators and government agents to generate and design
cultural policies to support these sectors.
5. Definition of short and mid-term strategies.
6. Revalue aesthetic expressions. Provide support for transfer
of techniques from one generation to the next.
7. Creation of cultural infrastructure: libraries, archives,
museums, art schools, etc.
8. The regional cultural centers will cooperate in order to
strengthen the communities’ sense of belonging and
roots, and community self-management.
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7. Sustainable Development
After the Second World War, the Austrian economic school is the
first to use the term “development” as the set of actions undertaken
by the States in order to improve and increase the standard of
living in a country or region.
This terminology and ideology was quickly incorporated in the
social sciences and in politics, especially in Latin America. At first,
economic development was mentioned, but later the term came
to have a wider scope.
In the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1975, a different
type of development was proposed linked to the process oriented
according to the needs. Its goal was to satisfy fundamental needs
and to promote the realization of the communities and their
members. That is, a development with a broader dimension was
called for, an economic and cultural development. The UNESCO
declared the “Decade for cultural development 1988-1997”
with four fundamental goals:
• To incorporate the cultural dimension in the development
policies.
• To revalue cultural identities.
• To provide access for everybody to participate in cultural life.
• To foster international cultural cooperation.
Development: It is understood as the process that satisfies

the individual and collective needs, both in quantity and
quality.
Quality of life: it is an indicator that refers to the possibility of
satisfaction of the existential individual and collective needs
(to be, to have and to do) and axiological needs (pertaining
to values: subsistence, protection, affection, understanding,
freedom, leisure, transcendence)
Causarano, Mabel: 1999. Lecture at REMA Corporación, Red Metropolitana
de Asunción (Asuncion’s Metropolitan Network).
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The development models proposed were:

- Modernization: The abandonment of the traditional
economic structures to incorporate technology and
mechanization in the productive processes. An incipient
industrialization is also a part of this model.
- Dependency theory: Ideology embraced by socialists
which claims the existence of great centers of hegemonic
powers which control life and production in the periphery
constituted by the Third World or lesser developed
countries.
- The focus on basic needs: Development means attention
to education, health, housing and jobs.
- The adjustment with a human face: also known as an aspect
of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church which puts man
and not the market as the axis of all productive change.
Today, the concept of sustainable development is put forth.

For example, Paraguay cannot have heavy iron works industries
because it lacks coal. Likewise, commercial sea fishing is not
sustainable because of the distance separating us from the sea.
Sustainability: durability of the process, creativity, permanent

adjustment, diversification, proactivity, transgenerational
solidarity. (Causarano, Mabel, 1999. REMA)

Analyze the components of the quality of life of Paraguayans in
their urban and rural areas:
Life expectancy, school attendance, literacy, employment, health,
housing, productivity and welfare.
Go to the National Directorate of Statistics, Opinion, Surveys and
Census, and to the Central Bank offices to obtain and analyze
macroeconomic indicators (imports – exports – exchange rate
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- inflation – cost of living and Gross Domestic Product, GDP).

Check report by the UNDP on human development.
The Guarani language was the most important legacy collected

and systematized by Catholic missionaries.
Guarani was declared Paraguay’s official language in the
Constitution of 1992.
Bilingualism in Paraguay is a unique case in Latin America. Ninety
percent of the Paraguayan population speaks Guarani.
The languages of the other ethnic groups inhabiting Paraguayan
territory also have constitutional rank because the Constitution
recognizes the right of the Indigenous peoples to preserve and to
develop their ethnic identity in their respective habitat.
Chapter V of the National Constitution refers to the rights of the
Indigenous peoples by enunciating in all six articles, from 62 al
67 that: This Constitution recognizes the existence of Indigenous
peoples, defined as ethnic groups whose culture existed before
the formation and constitution of the Paraguayan State.
It also states that the State shall provide them with the respective
land, free of charge, which will be sufficient both in terms of size and
quality for them to preserve and to develop their own lifestyles. The
removal or transfer of Indigenous groups from their habitat without
their express consent is prohibited.
Regarding education, the Indigenous peoples have the right to
follow their rites, myths and their languages and is guaranteed
the respect for their cultural heritage and they are given the right
to have their own schools.
There are approximately 50,000 Indigenous living in the Chaco
and, approximately 40,000 Indians living in the Eastern Region.
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8. Law No 904 “Statute of the Indigenous Communities

of Paraguay”
The Constitution expresses that Paraguay is a multiethnic country
with a pluralistic culture. In that sense, the most important pending
task is that of revaluing the Indigenous presence in our environment
to put an end to centuries of discrimination and disdain. The law
requires a special treatment for such communities, which in truth
has not been translated into reality yet but it is the duty of every
Paraguayan citizen to ensure observance of this law.
Article 1 The purpose of this law is the social and cultural
preservation of the Indigenous communities, the
defense of their heritage and traditions, their effective
participation in the national development process,
and their access to a legal regime that guarantees them
property and other productive resources on the basis
of equality with all other citizens.
Article 2 To the effects of this law, an Indigenous
community shall be understood as the group of extensive
families, clan or group of clans, with culture and a system
of local authority, speaking an autonomous language
and co existing in a common habitat. An Indigenous
group shall be understood to be the set of two or more
communities with the same characteristics who identify
themselves under a common denomination.
Article 4 In no case shall the use of force or coertion
be allowed as a means to promote the integration of
the Indigenous communities to the national collective
neither shall be allowed measures aiming at an
assimilation which does not contemplate the feelings
and interests of the Indigenous peoples themselves.
Article 5 The Indigenous communities have the right to
freely apply their customary practices in their domestic
coexistence as long as they are not incompatible with
the principles of the legal system.
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Study in further details about the five linguistic families which
conform the national Indigenous universe; aspects of their culture,
regional location, number of members, etc.
Status of the Indigenous peoples in Paraguay. Public and NGOs
policies linked to Indigenous peoples. The problem of land
ownership for Indigenous peoples.
The Totobiegosode are a part of the Ayoreo ethnic group belonging

to the Zamuco linguistic family. They inhabit a region of the Pecari
(wild pigs) of the Paraguayan Chaco. They are forest people who
have had no contact with white people and they resist that by
keeping their territories and traditions. They live off hunting, wild
fruit gathering and they have their crops. By mistake they were
known as indios moros or Moor Indians.
Of the 17 ethnic groups existing in Paraguay, some remain in the
forests, others, like the members of the Maka tribe, live very close
to the city or in the city itself.
Each one of these groups possesses its specificity, its cosmic vision,
its culture, and we must respect them.
Ethnocentrism means judging other cultures from our own
viewpoints which we consider a life model.
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Regarding the masks, their wearing was unknown to the

Paraguayan Guarani. However, among the Chiriguano Guarani,
at the foothills of the Andes Mountains, beginning in the sixteenth
century the wearing masks or añavusú (great enemy) existed and
still continues to exist due to the influence of the Chané - Arawak,
and they were linked to agricultural rituals. They are made of a
very soft wood, known as torobochi (samu’u).
It is impossible to set the date the first time these masks were worn.
At present, they are made in Altos and Tobatí from the root of
timbó and Kurupy ka’y trees. The masks depict images of blacks,
old people, animals and monsters. Colombino points out that the
oldest masks have a Negroid appearance. Also some masks fully
painted with intense black color are made in a township of San
Bernardino.
The triangle composed of the towns of Emboscada, Altos and
Tobatí is an area also inhabited by blacks and it is there where
these masks are worn with greater emphasis, responding to a
tradition where many components find a junction.
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“...culture is fervor, creativity and people’s

strength on the march...”
Augusto Roa Bastos
“...Culture is not only the collective way of life

but it also includes the reasons to live for...”
René Mahieu
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CHAPTER II
“I am not trying to say that one culture

is superior to another, I do try to insist upon
the certainty that the seed of a better future
is in interculturality.
To reaffirm the hope
that in our America we learn to relate
to each other within the most profound
respect among cultures.”
Rigoberta Menchú
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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CHAPTER II
1. Cultural policies
It is the set of operations, principles, practices, administrative and
budgetary management procedures that serves as the basis for the
cultural action of a government (UNESCO).
For Evangelina García Prince: “It is understood that cultural policies
are the rules, principles and orientations formally seeking a goal which
have explicit formulation and sanction by the State and which guide
the dynamics of the cultural sector toward goals and objectives of
collective betterment.” (Recondo Gregorio, op.cit.).
Cultural policies must express a mechanism which enables the
encounter between talent and opportunity.
A culture exists independent of a public administration. The
latter has the function of organizing a cultural policy, which
means:
• To exclude ideological authoritarianism.
• To exclude political interventionism.
• To exclude paternalism by the State.
Cultural policy is an administrative activity which seeks to
stimulate the interactive dynamism of the producers of culture.
This must:
• Build new bridges between artists and their public.
• Allow the creators to freely excercise their expressions.
• Consolidate the existing cultural trends and promote the
creation of others.
• Facilitate the broadening of public spaces and democratic
access to the benefits of all expressions of culture.
• Promote citizen critical awareness.
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• Guarantee popular participation in education and in

artistic communication.
• Promote equal opportunities in education and culture
and foster the participation of all citizens in order to
consolidate a participatory democracy.
• Aim to assure creative freedom in cultural matters.
The international conferences on cultural policies in Venice
(worldwide) in Helsinki (European) and so many others highlighted the
consideration of the artist’s freedom as a fundamental human right.
Cultural policies are a mechanism to protect the rights of the
creative artists and intellectuals and to protect likewise the rights
of citizens who are consumers of culture.
1.1. Goals of cultural policies

Currently, there is a discussion
about the need to link in
practice cultural policies as
an extension of social and
economic policies. There is
no longer a separation as it is
known that culture is a part
of everyday life as well as the
other basic needs of human
beings. In fact, culture is the
way in which such needs
are satisfied and the policies
must:
• Favor the improvement
of the quality of life. Rosa Brítez. A genuine representative of
the Paraguayan woman ceramist who
• Strengthen national shapes the primeval mud with her own
identity. hands until she turns it into a valuable
artistic object.
• Favor and promote
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cultural development: “cultural dimension of

development” (beginning in the decade of the 1970s).
• Cultural policies imply a cooperating function toward a
democratization of culture and the promotion of citizens’
participation. It makes a self-identity awareness possible
and the discovery and recognition of cultural plurality.
• Assure creative freedom in cultural matters.
• Serve as a guiding instrument for world crises.
• Pursue the goal of the defense of the cultural heritage.
On the other hand, a heritage policy must consider:
• The identification and legal and scientific protection
of the heritage.
• Its conservation (techniques to maintain the heritage).
• The animation of the heritage. It must be useful, vital
and contribute to the collective richness.
1.2. Contents of cultural policies

Every global cultural policy must necessarily consider the following
points:
• Cultural identity: it is a fundamental aspect in the
framework of globalization and regional integration.
• Culture and democracy: democracy is a full fledged
goal and its achievement and upholding must be taught
everyday in order to internalize it as an undisputed pattern
of behavior and coexistence.
• Culture and development: development must never
sacrifice the cultural aspect. Therefore, the copy of foreign
models must be tested first, in order to prove their respect
for the native culture.
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• Cultural animation:
it is the promotion of
cultural goods.
• Preservation of the
national and regional
heritage: a priority aspect
of the educational and
cultural policies and
preservation.
• Artistic and intellectual
creative freedom: in a
democratic environment
this is taken for granted.
• Culture and work: Silversmith from the town of Luque. The
culture is a source of traditional making of filigree jewelry is
still maintained with the combination
employment, occupation of contemporary designs.
and production.
• Tradition and modernity: aspects that do not contradict
each other because they rather complement and enrich
each other.
• Culture and communication: care must be paid to the
cultural aspect in the mass media and a critical spirit must
be developed before the wave of foreign patterns and
models.
• Correlation between culture, science and technique:
science and technique have greater effectiveness where
cultural aspects related to an idiosyncrasy are respected.
• Culture and leisure time: this is very important nowadays
because of the accumulation of leisure time by the
citizens. Creativity during leisure time is a need and,
simultaneously, a great opportunity. A lack of choices
drives young people to the bad habits of alcohol and
tobacco.
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Professor Edwin Harvey, an authority on the subject, states some

basic principles of modern cultural policy:
• An improvement in the level of socio-cultural development
of the population.
• The adequate use of the technological and financial resources
to improve the quality of life. A theory that lay stress only on
economic variables is not enough, it is insufficient. We are
talking about integral development and not only about an
increase in the GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
• The principle of cultural democracy (free participation of
all in the community’s cultural life and the enjoyment of
the cultural goods and services).
• Affirmation of the principle of freedom in cultural
creation.
• The consolidation of the “national” cultural identity aimed
at preserving, consolidating, and protecting the cultural
heritage of each nation (OEI Seminar-Workshop to Train Human
Resources, Buenos Aires, 1996).

Imagine that you are responsible for a project to draft an Atlas of
Paraguayan traditional culture. Which cultural expressions would
you pinpoint in the Department?
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Among Paraguayan handicraft expressions, there are some linked

to the Indian past and other have deep Spanish roots.
Within Paraguayan handicraft, textiles show great richness.
It became an important activity mainly of Paraguayan women.
The Indians were skillful weavers, using vertical looms, cotton,
fibers and wool.
The Paraguayan hammock (Kyha) was an Indian product adopted
by the colonists. Currently, its ornamental richness is less evident.
Other vegetable fibers such as the palm trees and the Karaguatá
were also woven.
Ponchos, blankets, bags, nets for fishing, headbands, fajas or sashes,
single colored, or striped or with geometric motifs influenced by
the neighboring Indians of the Transchaco, conformed the Indian
textile universe that survived to this day.
Weaving in pre-currency Paraguay
constituted exchange money,
substituting the iron “wedges”.
Indian cotton material was the
immediate precedent of the Ao po’í
(narrow or long cloth). There were
varieties from the fine material
similar gauze –no longer seen
except samples from the nineteenth The ao po’i embroidery has its traditional
century– to thicker ones. origins in Yataity del Guairá.
The typói is an outfit worn by women, quite characteristic until

the nineteenth century. Probably made of ao po’i, a long clothing
strained at the waist by a chumbe (coral snake), a colorful woven
belt. No longer worn today, it is worn for folklore performances.
The typói, originally very simple, became modified by the addition
of laces and embroidery.
The encaje ju is a lace characteristic of the town of Altos.
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The ñandutí is a fine lace that imitates a spider web. Paraguay’s textile
art derived from the lace of Tenerife, Canary Islands. The material takes
varied forms such as star, flor de arasa (flower), mburukuja (passion
fruit flower), panambi (butterfly), avati (corn), etc.
The main center for making this lace is Itaguá. It is also made in
Altos, Carapeguá, Guarambaré and Ypacaraí. Gustavo González, a
physician and culture researcher was the first to study and write
about the ñandutí.
San Miguel in the Department of Misiones is a typical place for
woolen and cotton materials with geometric designs and floral
motifs. The products have a wide market.
Another example of craftsmanship is basket work, a heritage from
the Indians who were very skillful at weaving baskets and mats
of vegetable fibers and some tightly knitted earthen jars to store
water or honey.
Authentic is the piri, used as a bed or curtain. The Payaguá Indians
monopolized its making and trade.
The Spaniards also introduced their basket work. This craftsmanship
hardly survived the War of the Triple Alliance. Later, it experienced
a recovery. The sombrero piri (hat) is still made with caranday fiber.
Up to now, baskets, handbags and hand fans uncolored or died in
different colors are made.
Leather was an important product in colonial Paraguay. Work on
leather of Spanish origin and clear Moorish influence was used
for seats, back of seats, to cover large chests, and jugs as well
as horseback riding accessories. Largely, the craftsmanship was
interrupted by the War of the Triple Alliance. However, there is
some recovery at present.
In Atyrá we can see the tradition of phytomorphic leather
carving.
Paraguayan ceramics, that has Guarani roots, displayed only
elementary decorations. In terms of shapes, the Guarani showed
special skills at making water jugs, plates and large funerary urns.
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This type of pottery, without the use of a spindle, was made by

women with utilitarian purposes such as jugs for grain, etc. There
is a ceramic style of the Guarani Mbya which reveals the Jesuit
influence in the floral decorations.
Domestic pottery incorporated other forms. Today, they are made
in Itá and Tobatí –ancient Indian settlements– large earthen jars,
jugs and other shapes with Indian procedures whose decoration
is still based on the Pre-Hispanic englobe design. They also make
non-utilitarian objects that are sprayed in black, according to
tourists demands.
The chipa, the so’o josopy, the locro, the vori vori, the mbeju
and other dishes are characteristic elements of Paraguayan
gastronomy which has Guarani and Spanish origins. To prepare
a delicious mbeju we must mix 600 grams of starch plus one cup
of corn flour, a spoonful of lard, ½ teaspoon of salt, 200 grams of
fresh cheese (called “Queso Paraguay”) and ¾ cup of milk.
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2. Cultural Mercosur
Culture may unite what politicians have divided.
2.1. History
On March 26th, 1991, the presidents of Brazil, Argentina,
Paraguay and Uruguay signed the Treaty of Asunción which
created the Southern Common Market - Mercosur, a regional
organization, expression of the political will to unite our
countries.
Its main goal is the promotion of the free movement of goods,
services and factors of production, through the elimination of
duties.
On August 5th, 1994, the four presidents approved a common
external tariff through which, from beginning on January 1st,
1995, the countries formalized the entry of Mercosur into a
customs union.
Mercosur comprises a population of 200 million people and
US$ 7,700 per capita GDP, making Mercosur the eighth world
economy. Chile signed an economic complementation that
establishes a free trade zone. Bolivia expressed the intention
to become a full member soon.
This bloc implies a different conception of what in the past
was a border-wall in order to become an open-door border, a
point of encounter and convergence (Recondo Gregorio, “Identidad,
integración y creación cultural en América Latina” (“Identity, integration and
cultural creation in Latin America”), Editorial Belgrano - UNESCO: 1997).
Gregorio Recondo underlines that this treaty of integration

does not contemplate in its articles any declaration regarding
“culture”, unavoidable element in any integration project.
In the paragraphs of the treaty there are references to the
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preservation of the environment and to scientific and

technological development, the improvement of the quality of
life and to economy in general. Mercosur emerges as a project
to constitute a regional free trade zone in order to become a
common market.
The author further comments that 11 working subgroups were
created in the Mercosur but none collected the problems
of culture and education.
At the end of 1991 and in May, 1992, that lethargy is shaken
when the Ministers of Education are convened to approach
common subjects, such as equivalency of study programs,
requirements of Spanish and Portuguese languages, to make
educational languages compatible, training of human resources
for development, etc., and protocols were signed to this end.
Education feeds on culture. Culture provides content to

education. We must affirm the place of cultural matters in
integration.
Southern Cone countries in the process of consolidation of

democratic models necessarily must incorporate the cultural
aspects to the integration projects.
The 1995 Copenhagen Summit declared education not just a right
but an essential requirement for economic development.
Thus, the Meeting from September 30th to October 2nd, 1992,
created the Specialized Meeting on Culture with the following goal:
“To promote the dissemination of culture in the member countries,
stimulating mutual knowledge of values and traditions, both through
joint undertakings and through regional cultural activities”.
The first Specialized Meeting on Culture took place on March 14-
15, 1995 in Buenos Aires with the participation of ministers and
cultural authorities of member countries plus Chile and Bolivia as
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observers. A Memorandum of Understanding was drafted and the

seven technical commissions were created:
Legislation - Heritage – Cultural Industries - Networks

– Training of Human Resources and External Relations, which
contemplated the coordination of positions in forums such as
UNESCO, OAS (Organization of American States), etc.
In their different meetings, these specialized commissions

approved interesting projects, such as:
• Design of a joint program to foster development and
cooperation in the project: “Jesuit Missions, road to
integration” aimed at preserving, adding value, and
restoring the common cultural heritage, including ecology
and tourism.
• Elaboration of curricula for the training of cultural agents
and managers in cooperation with universities and
regional centers.
• Adoption of a logo for Cultural Mercosur, by convoking
an international contest.
• To promote the approval of laws that would grant tax
exemption to the resources destined to cultural goods and
the harmonization of their respective legal frameworks.
• To make the computer networks in the national libraries
and archives compatible.
• To program joint actions in the area of ecology and
tourism.
• Declaration of the Guarani as the historical language of
Mercosur (drafting of a heritage inventory, promotion of
academic research and the teaching of the language).
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• Promotion of the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese in

all countries and the consolidation of sub-regional border
area integration.
• Establishment of an itinerant calendar of cultural events.
• Dissemination of cultural programs through the media.
Sponsorship of the books co-edition as part of a Collection
of Authors from the Mercosur countries.
• Itinerant Exhibit of 100 works by plastic artists from
Mercosur countries.
• Programa Magallanes (Magellan Program), 1996-2005, for
the integration of the historical awareness of the peoples
and the geography of Mercosur, directed by the Magellan
Committee (two specialists for each State).
• Edition of a collection of phonographic records of popular
and classical music (“Voces y ritmos del Sur“), (“Voices
and rhythms of the South“).
• Inclusion of the themes on statistics and cultural indicators
as content of the training courses and seminaries in
order to prepare a future regional census, among other
things.
Cultural Mercosur is today a reality and has generated countless
meetings among all educational and cultural sectors such as
universities, NGOs, unions, artists, creators and intellectuals.
Government sectors provided due follow-up by approving
curricula, homologation of study programs and exchange that
have contributed to give it a scope even wider than the mere
commercial and economic aspect.
As far as the union of the peoples are concerned, the Ministry of
Education and Culture has supported the creation of a National
Commission of Geography and History in order to promote new
approaches to such disciplines as an effort to integrate the region
by modifying the previous partial, fragmented history and to turn
it into a history of integration.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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Visit the cultural sections of the Mercosur embassies of member
countries to requests leaflets on regional integration, cultural and
exchange programs, tourist circuits, etc.
Spain used many ways and routes to penetrate the Americas.

The first contacts were with the American islands with the discovery
of the island of Guanahani, named San Salvador –nowadays Walting,
British Bahamas– and Santo Domingo, seat founded by Christopher
Columbus. Other routes led to New Spain or México, Florida, New
Granada, Venezuela and to the isthmus of Panamá through where
they later reached access to Perú, Chile, Cuyo, Alto Perú and Northern
Argentina.
But directly from Spain, through a totally different route, there
was access to the Río de la Plata and Paraguay.
Juan Díaz de Solís was the first Spanish explorer to enter the Río
de la Plata estuary.
He had signed a Capitulation with King Ferdinand of Spain in
1514 to find a passage to the Sea of the South –Pacific Ocean–
discovered later by Balboa.
The expedition set sail on October 8th, 1515 and in 1516 they
reached “a water that, for being so spacious and little salty, they
called the Fresh Sea that proved to be the Río de la Plata”. They
went by an island they named Martín García. The members of
the expedition who landed were suddenly attacked by a rain of
arrows and, with the exception of crewman Francisco del Puerto,
they all died. The survivors, dumbfounded by the death of Solís,
the leader of the expedition, decided to sail back home. Francisco
de Torres took comand. And so they returned, arriving in Seville
in 1516.
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I want to tell you, friends. . .
1. Quiero contarles amigos I want to tell you friends

en esta noche estrellada in this starry night
acerca del Paraguay, about Paraguay
cuyo nombre significa whose name means
en la lengua de su gente in the language of its people
agua que viene del mar... water that comes from the sea…
7. En este encuentro fraterno In this fraternal encounter

de luna llena colmada of a heaped full moon
doy inicio a la jornada I begin the journey
señalando sin rodeos indicating bluntly
que el Paraguay mis amigos, that in Paraguay, my friends
-la tierra de mis ancestros- -the land of my forebears-
conformaba antiguamente formerly conformed
una Provincia Gigante a Giant Province
15. que en un vasto territorio which in a vast territory
de la América del Sur of South America
se extendía por el norte extended to the North
más allá del Amazonas, beyond the Amazons
aquel caudaloso río that mighty river
-que riega la vasta zona -watering a vast zone
del Brasil hasta el Perú from Brazil as far as Perú
22. la Tierra de Fuego al Sur Tierra del Fuego at the south

era el hito más austral, was the most southern boundary
y aunque en trecho muy pequeño and although in a small portion
el Pacífico al Oeste, the Pacific at the west
con Tordesillas al Este with Tordesillas to the east
la línea de aquel tratado the line of that Treaty
que dividió los imperios that divided Spanish
de los lusos y Españoles and Portuguese empires
Iniciándose la historia The history began
Beatriz G. de Bosio
71
30. de sinsabores y gloria, of troubles and glory

de conquista y posesiones, of conquests and possessions
de todo lo aquí encontrado all that was found here:
minas, frutos y collados mines, fruits and hills
y paisajes no soñados. and landscape undreamed
Hombres, flores y riberas, men, flowers and shores
chocolate y cordilleras... chocolate and mountains ranges...
37. La Gigante de las Indias The Giant of the Indies
en su zona más austral in its most southern border
sufrió las desmembraciones suffered dismemberments
y un destino sin igual. and a unparalleled fate.
Hoy el mapa Paraguayo, Today, the Paraguayan map
divídese en dos regiones is divided into two regions
cruzadas por aquel río crossed by that river
epónimo y singular, eponymous and unique,
45. que nace en el Matto Grosso that is born in the Matto Grosso
y se une al Paraná joining the Paraná
hasta llegar al Mar Dulce until it reaches the Fresh Sea
-designado por Solís- -named that way by Solís-
tributando así sus aguas thus depositing its waters
al Atlántico del Sur. into the South Atlantic.
1. Comienzo citando al Chaco I begin by citing the Chaco,
5
aunque de más extensión although larger by far,
su tierra es menos feraz its soil is less fertile
y alberga así a menos gente and thus it shelters fewer people
que la región Oriental. than the Eastern region.
7. Son tres los Departamentos Three are the Department,
5
que integran su geografía that make up its geography
Todos muy ricos en fauna, all very rich in fauna
y belleza natural... and natural beauty...
61. El del Alto Paraguay That of Alto Paraguay
y el de Presidente Hayes and that of President Hayes
(que por el Laudo Arbitral (who by the Arbitration Decision
nos cedieran sin dudar granted us without any doubt
los fecundos territorios the fertile territories
de la Villa Occidental) of the Western Village)
Beatriz G. de Bosio
72
67. Boquerón es el que evoca Boquerón evokes

la victoria militar, the military victory,
aquella gesta de gloria that heroic deed of glory
y coraje singular. and exceptional bravery.
71. Como escenario de guerra As a battle scene
tiene mucho que narrar it has plenty to narrate
de los valientes soldados about the brave soldiers
que surcando las picadas, who, furrowing the narrow trails,
asentaron campamentos encamped
sin quejas y sin lamentos, without complain or sorrow,
defendiendo palmo a palmo defending inch by inch
el territorio en disputa the land under dispute
que gracias a aquel arrojo that thanks to their boldness
el Paraguay hoy disfruta. Paraguay today enjoys.
81. Los nombrados menonitas The Mennonites
se instalaron en los veinte, settled in the 1920s
demostrando que el tesón, and showed that tenacity
la templanza y convicción, moderation and conviction
se hacen indispensables were indispensable
para alentar toda acción. to encourage any action.
87. Los quebrachos de Pinasco The quebrachos of Pinasco
y las huellas del tanino, and the traces of the tannin
pasaron a ser historia went down in history
y marcaron un destino. sealed a fate.
91. Carlos Casado y sus tierras Carlos Casado and his lands
y la vida del mensú and the life of the mensú
se hicieron viva memoria were all memory alive
así —como Punta Riel— such —as Punta Riel—
aquella vía férrea propia the railroad he owned
de comparecencia fiel. of loyal service.
98. Los indígenas del Chaco The Indians of the Chaco
conforman sus universos conform their own universe
y defienden su cultura and they defend their culture
de los embates perversos. from perverse onslaught.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
73
102. La familia de Zamucos The Zamuco family

del lugar del Pecarí , from the land of Pecarí,
—que algunos llaman monteses— —whom some call forest—
Chamacocos, Nivaklé, Chamacocos, Nivaklé
y Chiriguanos al norte and Chiriguanos to the North
107. o los Maká más al Sur, or the Maká farther to the South
de fauna se ensoñorean. owns all the fauna.
Ñandúes, tatú bolitas, Ñandúes, tatú bolitas,
o el mítico yaguareté or the mythical yaguareté
se entremezclan con la flora mix with the flora
de esta exótica región. of this exotic land.
113. Ybiraí fue la planta Ybyraí was the plant
que se convertía en papel that was turned into paper
para a la tropa brindar in order to provide the troops
su periódico de guerra their war newspaper
donde plasmaban sus ansias where they expressed their longins
sus miedos y la constancia their fears and the perseverance
de ese empuje singular. of that unique energy.
120. De la Región Paraneña About the Paraná region
también llamada Oriental also named Eastern.
me dispongo yo a contar I am about to tell
tomando parte por parte. taking it part by part.
Pero antes me conceden But before, please grant me,
amigos que me acompañan friends who accompany me
126. dar un sorbito a la guampa a gulp from the gourd
que la acaban de cebar just served
con agüita bien helada with little cold water
para esta noche estival. for this summer night.
30. Es costumbre en esta tierra It is customary in this land
1
compartir el tereré to share the tereré
que de la yerba se obtiene, that is made with yerba,
y así simultáneamente and thus we may at the same time
con la mágica infusión with the magic of an infusion
fortalecemos la unión. strengthen the union.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
74
136. Y les sigo relatando And I continue telling you

con paciencia y con fervor with patience and fervor
de esta tierra paraguaya about this Paraguayan land
la que inspira gran amor. which inspires great love.
40. Concepción está en el norte
1 Concepción is in the North
en frontera con Brasil bordered by Brazil
fundada en el XVIII, founded in the eighteenth century
con Pilar del Ñeembucú, as well as Pilar del Ñeembucú
también San Pedro y Rosario also San Pedro and Rosario
a orillas del Paraguay, on the shores of the Paraguay river
defendieron las riberas they defended such shores
del avance portugués. from the Portuguese advance.
152. Catorce Departamentos Fourteen Departments
uno a uno nombraré: one by one that I shall name
Cordillera y el Guairá, Cordillera and the Guairá
Itapúa y Caazapá, Itapúa and Caazapá
San Pedro y el Ñeembucú San Pedro and Ñeembucú
Misiones y Caaguazú Misiones and Caaguazú
más el Alto Paraná plus the Alto Paraná
Central y Paraguarí. Central and Paraguarí.
156. Canendiyú al noreste Canindeyú to the Northeast
y por último, Amambay and finally Amambay
—donde fluye quedamente —where calmly flows
el Aquidabanigüí— the Aquidabánigüí —
160. Esta tierra de mestizos This land of mestizos
abrió sus puertas a otros pueblos open its doors to other peoples
y se fueron asentando who began settling in
para así llegar de a poco and thus little by little
a conformar la nación, form the nation,
165. que de un modo peculiar, because in a peculiar way,
el blanco o el africano, the Europeans or the Africans
el indio y el inmigrante Indians or inmigrants
se quisieron, se juntaron desired each other, got together
discreparon y se amaron. disagreed with each other and
loved each other.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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170. Fueron dos generaciones There were two generations

las que enfrentaron las guerras who had to confront the wars
—cuyas madres temerosas —whose fearful mothers
lo lloraron sin consuelo— wept without consolation—
el destino de sus hijos the fate of their sons
y otros hijos de este suelo. and of other sons of this land.
76. Y aunque ese azar rubricó And, although that misfortune sealed
1
indeleblemente el alma in an indelible way the soul
de todos los paraguayos, of all Paraguayans,
hoy miramos al futuro today we look to the future
con esperanza y con calma. with hope and calm.
81 —no es bueno tomar revancha —it’s neither good to take revenge—

1
ni sembrar desesperanza— nor to sow despair—
Y la unión de nuestros pueblos and the union of our peoples
se volvió un mandato fiel. became a loyal command.
Hoy nos une el Mercosur Today Mercosur unites us
y asumimos ese albur. and we must take that risk.
187. Y prosigo la reseña, And I proceed with the review

de la Región Oriental of the Eastern region
tierra de los guaraníes land of the Guaranis
en la visión ancestral. in the ancestral view.
91. Muy de paso les comento

1 By the way let me say
que a Itapúa se la ve that Itapúa is seen
como crisol de culturas. as the melting pot of cultures.
Villarrica del Guairá: Villarrica del Guairá:
se la llama la andariega is known as the wandering city
pues la historia de traslados for a history of displacement
con gran orgullo despliega. she displays with great pride.
98. Concepción también se jacta Concepción also prides

1
de un pasado de grandeza, on a past of greatness
y Ñeembucú es la memoria and Ñeembucú is the memory
de escenarios de proeza. of heroic deed scenes.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
76
202. Curuguaty, la Real Villa Curuguaty, the Royal village

de yerba mate, la trilla. where the yerba mate threshes.
Decir Alto Paraná To say Alto Paraná
es decir montes y selvas is to think of forests and jungles
aunque un eco lejano an echo in the distance
muy llano y deforestado of very flat deforested meadows
responde desconsolado. responds sorrowfully.
09. Latifundios, minifundios

2 Large and small landholdings
campesinos sin solar. homeless peasants.
De los hijos de Loyola, Of the sons of Loyola
son Jesús y Trinidad. are Jesús and Trinidad.
13. De esos pueblos de Misiones, Of those towns of the Missions

2
en el mapa paraguayo on the Paraguayan map
solo siete quedan ya. only seven remain.
de la tierra de Bolaños, Of the land of Bolaños
son Yuty y Caazapá. are Yuty and Caazapá.
18. Los lagos llevan sus nombres The lakes bear their names
2
en la lengua guaraní. in the Guarani language.
Ypoá que significa Ypoá that means
“agua que suerte da” “Water that gives luck”
o la leyenda que encierra or the legend that contains
esa magia singular that magic unique
de aquel indio temeroso of that fearful Indian
que talló la imagen santa. who carved the miraculous image.,
Y pa Karai sugiere : Y pa Karai suggests:
“agua que bendita está” “Water that is blessed.”
228. La zona cordillerana The Cordillera zone

de gran belleza se ufana. boasts of great beauty.
Los productos de esta tierra The products of this land
también incluyen la greda also include the clay
que las mujeres moldean that women cast
en cántaros y en vasijas into jugs and vases
u otras artesanías and other textile and
de tejidos o madera. wood handicrafts.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
77
236. El mítico Caacupé Mythical Caacupé

es una villa serrana is a hilly village
de Basílica galana with a graceful Basilica
que alberga a los peregrinos giving shelter to pilgrims
que atravesando caminos who, passing roads
inspirados por su fe, inspired by their faith,
242. convergen cada Diciembre converge there each December
a ofrendar a la Patrona to offer the Matron Saint
un tributo de certeza a tribute of certainty
y de humilde convicción and of humble belief
de los dones milagrosos in the miraculous gifts
que Aquella sin retaceos that She generously
se los brinda en posesión. offers in possession.
249. Y así termino esta historia Thus I finish this story

y un buen consejo les doy and a good piece of advice I give
nunca pierdan la memoria never lose your memory
ni desdeñen el pasado nor disdain the past,
que el futuro se construye as the future is made
de algún sueño postergado. of some potponed dreams.
255. Dejo así para otro día Thus I leave for another day
sobre costumbres y gente. tales of customs and people
y les invito a cantar and I invite you to sing
cerrando así la jornada to finish this day
una guarania de Flores a guarania by Flores
o bailemos esa polka or let us dance the polka
que es la Danza Paraguaya that is the “Danza Paraguaya”
del inmortal Mangoré. of the immortal Mangoré.
263. Que comiencen los rasguidos Let the sound of the music
de requintos y guitarras of requintos (small guitars)
and guitars begin
y apréstense para la farra and get ready for the fun
que luego vienen los ‘casos’. as the “cases” are still to come.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
78
267. Convoquen a Don Taní Send for on Don Taní

o a Ña Eulogia la partera or Ña Eulogia the midwife
y a aquel Karaí Guazú or that Karai Guazú
—el que lleva la bandera who carries the flag
de Olimpia o Libertad. of Olimpia or Libertad.
Acérquense lo mitá Come closer “lo mitá”
poco a poco aquí al brasero slowly to the brazier
pues se está enfriando la noche— as the night is beginning to chill
y cantemos todos juntos and let us sing together
para ahuyentar al Pombero. to scare the Pombero away.
Beatriz G. de Bosio

Study and analyze the Copla (popular song) and its description of
each region, its history, idiosyncratic characteristics, distinguished
public figures and their contribution to the nation.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
79
The veladas (informal staging of theatrical pieces) were

typical artistic gatherings in Paraguay from the beginning of the
19th century. They included reciting of poems, dances, music, folk
theater and stagings of everyday life activities. The Paraguayan
Institute and the Paraguayan Atheneum were places where these
artist gatherings achieved great success.
Szarán says that from the 1940s, were famous the artistic gatherings
that toured various towns, organized by José L. Melgarejo, Diosnel
Chase, Julián Rejala and José Ka’i, Juan Melgarejo, etc.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
80
CHAPTER III
1. Paraguayan reality
An effective cultural policy requires full knowledge of the different
periods of our history, our traditions, values, and the socio-political
process. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a deep analysis of
the country’s historical, economic and institutional framework in
order to achieve cultural development.
1.1. Historical variables

Pre-colonial cultures
The aboriginal inhabitants of the New World were Indians of different
ethnic groups who, through migratory processes, in pre-Columbian
times settled in what today is Paraguayan territory. The Guarani with
whom the cultural and biological miscegenation took place, were
spread in a large territory comprising the Amazons Basin as far as
the environs of the Río de la Plata. The conquest was a military task
which sought territorial occupation and the imposition of the Spanish
power in America with their cultural, economic, social, political and
religious patterns.
The Conquest and the Colony

The center of the colonial expansion in the Río the la Plata was
Asunción, founded by Captain Juan de Salazar y Espinoza on
August 15th, 1537, not as the central nucleus Spanish colonization
in this region but as a passage to the rich lands of Perú.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
81
From the first Buenos Aires, founded by Pedro de Mendoza in 1536,

expeditions departed to the routes of El Dorado. Domingo Martínez
de Irala, Governor of the Province, later depopulated Buenos Aires
to concentrate the resources in Asunción as a military measure in
1541 with the foundation of the Cabildo (Spanish Town Council).
Several expeditions sent from Asunción derived in the foundation
of cities in a policy of territorial expansion: Santa Cruz de la Sierra,
Villarrica del Espíritu Santo, Concepción del Bermejo, Santa Fe de
la Vera Cruz, San Juan de la Vera de las Siete Corrientes, Ciudad
Real, Santiago de Xerez and the Second Buenos Aires, in 1580.
These cities, founded only with resources from Asunción made
her known as “Mother of Cities”.
Juan de Salazar y Espinoza

He came to the Río de la Plata with the expedition of Don Pedro
de Mendoza, as an “Oficial de Hacienda” (Treasurer) with the
rank of “Veedor” (Inspector). He led an expedition with 60 men
in 1536, to search for Juan de Ayolas who, departing from Buena
Esperanza had sailed up the Paraná and Paraguay rivers toward
the Sierra de la Plata. Salazar was accompanied by Captain
Gonzalo de Mendoza who was the co-founder of our capital city.
He met Irala north of Candelaria, close to what today is Bahía
Negra. Without news from Ayolas, Salazar returned to the bay,
cacique (chief) Caracara’s domain, where he had stopped in his
northward incursion and founded there the Fort of Nuestra Señora
de la Asunción on August 15th, 1537. He left Captain Gonzalo de
Mendoza in charge and went to Buenos Aires to report to the
Adelantado Pedro de Mendoza who, by that time, had already
left for Spain.
Juan de Salazar was the “Regidor” (Member) of the first Cabildo of
Asunción (Spanish Town Council), founded on September 7th,1541,
and also Treasurer of the Royal Treasury. He left heirs.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
82
In the eighteenth century, the Cabildo of Asunción echoed the

“Comunero” cause, which was an uprising of the civil province
against the Jesuit province, based on the opposing views related
to the relation with the Indians, the economy and society itself.
The comuneros held the view that the Society of Jesus enjoyed
privileges generating a prosperous and organized Jesuit State within
another poorer, polarized and neglected by the Spanish Crown.
Formerly subordinated to the Viceroyalty of Perú, Paraguay passed
to be under the rules of exploitation of the Viceroyalty of Buenos
Aires, since its creation in 1776. There was a diversification of the
products for exchange such as tobacco and cattle. Before, Paraguay
was a mono producer of yerba mate.
Franciscan and Jesuit evangelization

The Hispanic cultural presence had as main characters the
Franciscan missionaries founders of towns and disseminators of
cultural patterns. Their schools educated Indians and taught them
arts and crafts as well as music. Even today, collective memory
remembers the Indian bands and chorus who performed in
religious and profane celebrations.
Religious teaching was accepted by the local population which
nevertheless contributed with some patterns of their own to
achieve a syncretism still evident in the people’s religion.
A different evangelization was propitiated by the priests of the
Society of Jesus. They took their Reductions to frontier zones
threatened by the invasions of Portuguese “mamelucos” (slave
hunters). These fortress-cities became shelter for thousands of
Indians who submitted to a system of strict discipline which left
a legacy of great dimensions. The current Jesuit Ruins and the
rich Guarani-Baroque imagery which also includes the work of
the Franciscans, constitutes the remains of the Paraguayan and
regional cultural heritage.
The priests systematized the Guarani language and incorporated
the Latin alphabet because the Guarani was not a written language.
The oral tradition was their culture’s great strength.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
83
Yerba mate
The discovery of the yerba mate is due to Domingo Martínez de
Irala who, in 1554, led an expedition to the Guairá region where
he was received by thousans of Indians living there. The Spaniards
noted with interest their good height and strength physical
appearance, their friendly character and natural happiness. The
secret to such good qualities, according to the Indians themselves,
was due to an infusion made from the leaves of a tree called Ka’a.
The Jesuits often mentioned the yerba in the Annual Letters
(Cartas Anuas) and it was precisely one of them, José Sánchez
Labrador, the first to deal with the scientific aspect of the plant
in a study dated in 1774.
The yerba mate was a product with a wide market in Hispanic
and Portuguese America. The ilex paraguariensis became a
characteristic habit of the inhabitants of the region. Sometimes,
the yerba mate was considered an infusion with quasi-magical
virtues or an abominable and dirty vice that caused all kinds of
social stains. The yerba mate has been a subject for national
artists. Poet Eloy Fariña Nuñez tells us: “It grows healthy in your
regions/ the plant of yerba whose leaves/ give the mate, the native
tea/ glory both in the mornings as in the siestas (naps)/”.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
84
Independent Paraguay
The American independent movements began almost simultaneously
in all the Hispanic colonial territories, after Napoleon’s invasion of
the Iberian peninsula in 1808 and the abdication of the Spanish
King, Ferdinand VII. Paraguay was not an exception. Between
1810 and 1811, Paraguay severed the links with the two centers
of power: the capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata,
Buenos Aires, and Spain, the European metropolis. On the night
between May 14th and 15th, 1811, the patriots, led by Captain
Pedro Juan Cavallero in absence of Brigadier Fulgencio Yegros, sent
an ultimatum to the last Spanish Governor, Bernardo de Velazco,
who offered no resistence. The Paraguayan independence was
achieved without any bloodshed.
The Congress of 1813 declared the constitution of a Republic in
Paraguay and approved Governmental Regulations which provides
for a government for two consuls. Finally, in 1814, Dr. Francia is
elected Dictator of the Republic, until his death in 1840.
After the conspiracy of 1820, the patriots of May suffered
persecution, imprisonment and death.
The government of Buenos Aires considered Paraguay a rebel
province and it would not allow free navigation of the ships through
the Paraná river.
A Congress was convened after Francia’s death which inaugurated
the second consulship in Paraguay held by two citizens. One of
them, Carlos Antonio López, became the constitutional president
of the Republic in 1844. He ruled three terms to office: 1844-54;
1854-57 and 1857-62, when he died.
On October 16th, 1862, an Assembly confirmed Vice President
Francisco Solano Lopez in power.
The essential and decisive aspect for the new Paraguayan President
Francisco Solano López, was his foreign policy, which eventually
led us to the War of the Triple Alliance. The agitated political scene
of the Río de la Plata finally influenced Paraguayan politics.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
85
The assymetries among the belligerent countries allowed for

a prediction of the outcome. Only in terms of demographics,
Brazil had a population of ten million inhabitants, Argentina three
million and Uruguay with eight hundred thousand. Uruguay left
the conflict in 1869. Toward the end of the war, Asunción was
ransacked and occupied by the Allied armies in January, 1869. The
capital was moved to Luque and later to Piribebuy and Curuguaty.
The struggle finally became a war of extermination and it ended
with Marshal López’s death on March 1st, 1870.
Constitutional Paraguay
A decimated population, made up mostly of old men, women
and children, survived the hecatomb of the War of the Triple
Alliance. By 1870, Paraguay had lost eighty percent of its male
population and the situation presented a desolate picture of its
ruined economy, social and political structures. The generation
in charge of reconstruction of the country decided to create an
institutional framework.
A National Constituent Assembly was convened with representatives
from the capital city and the countryside, and it enacted the
Constitution of 1870, inspired in the Constitution of the United
States and Argentina, with liberal tenets. It forbade slavery, torture,
exile and the death penalty for political offences. This era marks
the beginning of close cultural links with the Río de la Plata, where
the adopted legal and educational systems came from.
Important education institutions helped in the formation of young
values who later became protagonists in the national life. The Colegio
Nacional (National School), the Universidad Nacional (National
University) and the incipient political partisan press will generate
public opinion that inaugurated the exercise of dissent in Paraguayan
society. The occupation armies left the country in 1876 (Brazil) and
1879 (Argentina) which favored a more autonomous political life.
The war for the control of the Chaco Boreal (Northern/Upper
Chaco) between Bolivia and Paraguay (1932-1935) was the
Beatriz G. de Bosio
86
consequence of secular differences due to geographical boundaries

which remained unclear in the multiple administrative divisions in
the Spanish Empire. Two poor and backward countries became
involved in a war because of the misgivings of their rulers with
dire consequences for both countries.
Paraguay, recovering from the devastation caused by the war of
1864-1870, was compeled to duplicate efforts to defend every inch
of ground of the territory under dispute because Bolivia surpassed
Paraguay in population and as a an oil and tin producer had better
accesss to credits from the international banking system.
Cabichuí was a newspaper

printed in the camps of the
War of the Triple Alliance. It
was what we name combatant
journalism, as its pages helped
increase the morale of the troops
in campaign.
Its first edition was published on May 1st, 1867 and it was printed
in the camps of Paso Pucú.The headline was accompanied by an
etching reproducing a beehive in reference to its name in Guarani.
The etchings of Cabichui constitute a chapter in the history of
Latin American art. The artists were Julián Aquino, Saturio Ríos,
Alejandro Ravizza, Francisco Velazco, and others.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
87
Authoritarian Paraguay
The 1870 Constitution was replaced by another imposed by
decree. It was the Constitution of 1840 which proposed large state
intervention and predominance of the executive branch.
The military garrison in Concepción and part of the garrison in
the Chaco rose in rebellion in March, 1947, beginning one of
the most tragic chapters in Paraguayan political history. It was a
military uprising that lasted six months where the revolutionaries
were harshly repressed with the victory of the counterrevolution.
An important sector of the population went into exile and suffering
another loss of its ruling class, a constant in its political life.
After a period of anarchy, General Alfredo Stroessner led a coup
d’état to become the ruler with more years in administration.
Stroessner started the system by which only members of the
Colorado Party could get public jobs including those linked to
education.
The final years of Stroessner’s regime were of sheer decadence
which motivated General Andrés Rodríguez, father-in-law of
Stroessner’s son and natural successor in the armed forces, to lead
the military coup that deposed Stroessner in February, 1989.
In 1992, the current Constitution was promulgated. Among other
things, it declares Paraguay as a multiethnic and multicultural
country, establishes the Guarani as an official language, protects
Indian communities and stresses the defense of the cutural
identity.
Authors recommended for studying these periods of

Paraguayan history:
Félix de Azara, Branislava Susnik, Bartomeu Meliá, Miguel Chase
Sardi, Julio César Chávez, Efraím Cardozo, Rafael Eladio Velázquez,
Margarita Durán, Mariano Antonio Molas, Fulgencio R. Moreno, Blas
Garay, Juan Crisóstomo Centurión, Gomes Freire Esteves, Fidel Maíz,
Beatriz G. de Bosio
88
Carlos Pastore, Rafael Barret, Carlos R. Centurión, Alfredo Seiferheld,

Ricardo Caballero Aquino, Milda Rivarola, Guido Rodríguez Alcalá,
José Carlos Rodríguez, Thomas Whigham, Jerry Cooney, Barbara
Potthast, Dionisio González Torres, Crónica Ilustrada del Paraguay
(Illustrated Cronicle of Paraguay), Carlos Martini, Miriam Yore, Beatriz
G. de Bosio, Line Bareiro.
Guido Spano was the author of this Nenia:

“En idioma guaraní In the Guarani language
una joven paraguaya a young Paraguayan girl
tiernas endechas ensaya, tender dirges she rehearses
cantando en el arpa así, singing thus in the harp
en idioma guaraní: in the Guarani language:
Llora, llora urutaú Cry, cry, urutaú
en las ramas del yatay; on the branches of the Yatay
ya no existe el Paraguay there is no more Paraguay
donde nací como tú! where I was born like you!
Llora, llora, urutaú!...” Cry, cry, urutaú…”

Conduct a research on Guido Spano.
1.2. Other elements to bear in mind in the analysis of

Paraguayan reality
1.2.1. The Guarani language
The Guarani language is the mother tongue of a high percentage of
the Paraguayan population and, therefore its strengthening, must
be the basis of a coherent and effective educational cultural policy.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
89
Guarani is the most important legacy of the cultural miscegenation.

It constitutes one of the few examples in humanity where the
vernacular language refused to extinguish in its contact with
the language of the conqueror. The 1992 Constitution declares
Guarani as one of the oficial languages and regularizes a de facto
situation as it had to self-recognize it. It is the first Paraguayan
Magna Charta to do so, in a context of a population where there
is a predominance of Guarani speakers, apart from the existence of
the monolingual Guarani speakers within the national territory.
Guarani was the lingua franca through the centuries and when
Paraguay achieved independence, Guarani was the current
language. Spanish was marginal as it was spoken by an educated
minority. In the two great international wars, the Guarani language
served as an element of defense and support of the morale of the
soldiers (see Chapter IV: Guarani Culture).
Paraguay as a multiethnic and multicultural country has 17
Indigenous ethnic groups belonging to the five linguistic families
mentioned before, with their respective cultural universes.
1.2.2. Economy
The first economic organization was not based on land tenure,
but upon the encomienda system. Land was abundant, but
the encomiendas assured the presence of Indian labor to till the
land. In a pre-monetary economy where the barter system land
tenure becomes a critical problem only after the massive sale of
public property in the 1880s. Before, state property was rented at
affordable prices to farmers. Economy system based on agriculture
and cattle has been up to now the basis for the production of
wealth in Paraguay.
Most of the population was forced to resort to subsistence farming
in the first half of the twentieth century. With the building of roads
and the improvement in communications, the rural population
without access to agribusiness or to employment in small and
Beatriz G. de Bosio
90
medium-sized industries, is compelled to migrate to urban

areas.
For the first time in the decade of the 1990s, the urban population
surpasses the rural population. Rural migration means substantial
changes in patterns and values. With Itaipú, the agrarian structure of
Paraguay evolved into agribusiness with injections of large capitals
which caused the disappearance of the subtropical forests in Alto
Paraná, which were depredated to provide room for the formation
of latifundios or large landholding destined for agriculture.
There remains, nevertheless, minifundio or small landholding owned
by peasants who plant cotton promoted by the cotton industry
oligopoly. Soybean and wheat are complementary, when soybean
is harvested, wheat is sown. Soybean is the cultivation of high yield
cereal, in order to export it as commodity (raw material in bulk).
All this changed the agricultural map of the country. The
discrimination policies of the Rural Welfare Institute (IBR, according
to its initials in Spanish) included the transfer of large extensions
of rural land to private hands, among whom there were civilian
and military officials of the ruling regime, taking advantage of
ambiguities in the legislation regarding who could be “subject of
the agrarian reform.”
There is an interesting bibliography on all these items: Rafael Barret,
Mauricio Schvartzman, María Victoria Heikel, Genoveva Ocampos,
Line Bareiro, Tomás Palau, Domingo Rivarola, Washington Ashwell,
Luis Galeano, Fernando Masi, Carlos Pastore, Ricardo Rodríguez
Silvero, Ramón Fogel, and several documents of the Conferencia
Episcopal Paraguaya (Paraguayan Conference of Bishops) as well
as the reports of the Rural Welfare Institute.
1.2.3. Society
As we already mentioned, Paraguay is a landlocked, multiethnic and
multicultural country. It began with a process of miscegenation with
the Kario of the Tupí-Guaraní linguistic family. In the independent
Beatriz G. de Bosio
91
era, migration policies were able to attract a considerable influx of

European migrants. Although in scarce proportion, the Paraguayan
cultural universe also includes, the African element that contributed
with the Kamba Kuá and other forms of expressions.
In the twentieth century, the Mennonites settled in the Paraguayan
Chaco and in some areas of the Eastern region. A valuable Japanese
migration settled in the zone of La Colmena in the 1930s and another
one after World War II in the Department of Itapúa.
Paraguay has a Russian community, as well as Jewish, German,
South African communities, etc. There were other migratory
presences, though newer, such as the Korean and Chinese.
The 17 ethnic groups of the five linguistic families already
mentioned are also a part of the Paraguayan society. They find
their culture difficult to mantain. When isolated, the task is
possible, but when they leave their natural territories, they are
under hegemonic economic and sociocultural pressure which
contributes to transculturation.
It is important to analyze the national identity and its coexistence
with Latin American identity and especially with the Mercosur
member countries.
For a strategic planning of culture, let us indicate some of the basic
characteristics of the Paraguayan people:
• Paraguayan society is self-sufficient, whenever there
is a need or in given critical situations. In urban areas,
individualism is more evident.
• Participative sense and solidarity in grassroots
organizations common in our rural society, such as
the jopói (give each other a hand), which goes back to
the expressions of mutual help among Indians, such as
the minga. In this respect, it was the missionaries who
came from the Alto Perú who introduced this term,
derived from the Quechua word “minkai”. Therefore,
the Guarani verb was ña mingái which means, let us
give each other a hand.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
92
Among the Guarani there was also a tradition of

community work among different táva, established in
the tovaja (brother-in-law). This practice, misunderstood
by the Spanish, served to strengthen the domination.

• The fundamentally egalitarian character of the
Paraguayan society
On this subject, it is recommended to read one of the
letters written by the Robertsons, Scottish gentlemen
living in Paraguay in the early 1800s, which narrates the
visit to a Paraguayan hacienda in the nineteenth century
where they discover that, in order to avoid mosquitoes,
all the inhabitants climbed up a “sobrado” (a kind of
terrace) -including the owner’s family, laborers, visitors
and servants- to sleep together as a community.
• Sense of dignity of the Paraguayan man.
Synthesis of Ramiro Domínguez from the book “El valle y la

loma” (The valley and the hill).
The autor adroitly analyzes the everyday life aspects of Paraguayan rural
culture mentioning almost unknown situations outside of its own milieu.
The inventory of these behavior patterns is simply invaluable.
Domínguez refers to the economic system of self-sufficiency with
scarce margin of production for sales. The “minga” system and the
communal fields used for grazing, the devotions and doctrines of
the chapels with their “Ara Santo” or Patron Saint Days, the cycles
of birth, baptism, “angelito” (burial of small children), wedding,
death, “novena paha” (end of the novena) and the “ara santo
guasu” (religious celebrations such as Christmas, Holy Week,
Corpus Christi, etc. ), the “sábado ka’aru” (Saturday afternoons)
with races and “partidos” (soccer games), the “avati ñembiso” (corn
milling in a mortar), today displaced by the hand mill, the peeling of
the sugar cane, and (cotton and tobacco harvesting in fixed dates)
all give the people of the “valle” markedly community features
Beatriz G. de Bosio
93
emphasized by different types of association: “compadrazgo” (god-

parenthood), and blood ties, “correli” or political kinks, “ira” or
recreational relations, work (“patron ta’yra”), religious (“capillero”
or church warden, “hermano” or Franciscan), or criminal relations
(“kopi”).
The term “kopi” also refers to those amusing and even burlesque
expressions used to qualify the characteristics of a person. The
word “kopi” is different from “talla” which is not offensive and is
used in an atmosphere of trust, acceptance and respect.
The use of “talla” shows the Paraguayan talent for observation of
the environment and creativity, since they are said with spontaneity
and rapidity.

Gather all the information on traditional customs both in the
urban and rural areas.
Which customs are in danger of extinction.
Which elements constitute the Paraguayan folklore.
tekojoja: equality
tekoporã: quality of life
tekojoahu: love
tekomarangatu: dignity
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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On the American continent a need was seen to reinforce the Indian

labor and it was decided to transport Black African slaves, above all
to the places where greater economic development was achieved.
This was not the case of Paraguay, although the documents from
the beginning of the conquest show references to the permits and
licences to introduce Black African slaves into these territories.
A document from the archive shows that: “…Although Asunción had
already organized its socially mestizo stability, the local industries
–shipbuilding, yerba, sugar and timber– required the presence of
slaves”. Such a contribution in African blood to the Paraguayan
mestizo environment was received without obstructions given the
unprejudiced racial tendency in the Spanish-Guarani community.
The licenses operated basically for Buenos Aires from its foundation
in 1580 and Montevideo from the start of 1750.
There is total lack of precision in the denomination of the mixture
of Black, White and Indian blood. In Paraguay they were not strict
in the denominations applied in other places to the diverse degrees
of miscegenation. The result of the union of White and Black
was named mulatto or pardo. There were other terms: tercerón,
cuarterón, quinterón, tente en el aire, salto atrás, etc. Zambo was
the name given to the result of a union of Blacks and Indians.
In Paraguay there was never a slave market or trade. But there were
traders who brought slaves sporadically and on a small scale.
Groups of slaves also arrived in Paraguay through Brazil, because
Bahía de todos los Santos (All Saints’ Bay) was a great receptor and
distributor of African slaves.
During the colonial period, a compulsory tax was created for
people of African descent and their settlement was established
in determined places.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
95
As very few of them were able to pay the tax, acquire the status
known as “amparo” or official decree that meant that blacks and
mulattoes were handed to wealthy people, ecclesiastics and to
the military. These people defended themselves by taking shelter
in towns in the countryside.
A liberation from the “amparo” system was the origin of the town
of Emboscada.
Carlos Pastore says that in Areguá, Emboscada and Tavapy the
Blacks were grouped and organized by Dominican and Franciscan
religious orders who had cattle and haciendas in those places. Tevegó
or Etevegó was a “Pueblo de Pardos” (a town of free blacks), founded
in 1813 by order of the Junta Superior Gubernativa (the governing
council) with the population of pardos from Tavapy. Later, it became
a penal colony, where mulattoes with misconduct problems were
sent until in 1843, when is renamed “Villa del Divino Salvador”.
Blacks communities of more recent origins and different nature
were the colonies for foreign residents who entered the country.
San Lorenzo del Campo Grande: Cambá Loma and Laurelty, where
Francia had granted land for fugitive slaves from Brazil and for
the Blacks in Artigas’s army.
As a cultural contribution from this African minority reflected
in the collective memory, among other things we can indicate
the celebration of Cambá la Mercé, under the direction of the
women in the capital city, which lasted until the beginning of the
century and it coincided with the festivities of the Virgin of the
Mercy, Patroness of the Order dedicated to the rescue of slaves,
on September 24th, or the festivity of St. Balthazar, on January
6th in San Lorenzo and Capiatá.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
96
The Rúas were festivities of Spanish origin during colonial times

with the presence of the people on the streets. History records some
very important festivities like the one held in Asunción in honor of
the new Governor Pedro Melo de Portugal, in the eighteenth century.
Francisco de Aguirre witnessed it and his narration indicated that
there was one Rúa in the Barrio Santo Domingo (neighborhood)
and two in Asunción. Among the many artistic performances, are
found the Kamba ra’anga, or people disguised as Blacks.
The decade of the 20s was fruitful in Paraguay. It coincides with the
creation of the Guarania by composer José Asunción Flores, Professor
Ramón Indalecio Cardozo‘s education reform, the foundation of the
Paraguayan Scientific Society, of the Historical and Ethnographic
Museum with legacies given by Max Schmidt, Moisés Bertoni and
General Belaieff. The press played an important role with: El Diario,
El Liberal, La Tribuna and La Nación. Magazines such as Juventud
and Minerva agglutinated important poets such as Vicente Lamas,
Darío Gómez Serrato, José Concepción Ortiz and Alejandro Guanes.
Popular poets like Manuel Ortiz Guerrero and Emiliano R. Fernández
stood out.
Julio Correa and Félix Fernández’s theater in the Guarani language
and Narciso R. Colmán’s studies are from this era.
The defense of the Chaco was carried out with enthusiasm,
especially by Dr. Manuel Domínguez, Fulgencio R. Moreno, and
other intellectuals.
Dr. Eligio Ayala’s government, Paraguay’s great statesman, who
ruled from 1924 to 1928, corrected the country’s economy and was
able to reach a budgetary surplus. In that way, the defense of the
Chaco was possible without foreign debt.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
97
2. Globalization
We fear that globalization may disturb the genuineness of our local
cultural expressions. We are living a true technological revolution
of instant communication and that may be benefitial, but we need
to know how to manage it.
The matter of globalization was seen as a threat to the national
states and as the likelihood of cultural homogeneization.
Our profile as a developing country, permeable to the onslaught
of the mass media that favors hegemonic cultures, we run the real
risk of becoming a hybridization as it in fact happens with the fast
food culture, standard dressing codes and now celebrations such as
Halloween or Valentine’s Day (Northern hemisphere spring day),
which is in contrast with our Day of Youth on September 21st, to
name only a few examples. Without rejecting it, some aspects of
globalization are very positive such as the available and instant
information, the elimination of distances, etc. However, we must
be alert to avoid the absorption of our values and their replacement
by others different from our reality which may lead to a harmful
alienation as it is in fact already seen.
In a country abundant in citrus fruits of the best quality which
rot because of a lack of markets, our people spend their meager
income in soft drinks of international brands without nutritive
value.
Globalization at an economic level, on the other hand, compels
us to take safeguards to limit the invasion of Asian industrialized
products or from other origins which compete in prices though
not always in quality with the local production which means loss
of jobs, pauperization and rural migration to urban belts.
In summary, globalization means the elimination of geographic
and political borders, international trade facilitation and the fluid
exchange of people, knowledge and economic resources. It is an
inevitable reality from which it is imposible to escape. For that
reason, the idea is that societies must learn to defend their interests
and to accept only those which may benefit them. Obviously, some
cultures will be able to avoid this phenomenon better and others
Beatriz G. de Bosio
98
will be absorbed as it happened with some native populations of

America with the Columbian discovery. The first globalization took
place in the sixteenth century.

1. Analyze the impact of globalization in Paraguay. Draft
an inventory of ten products of native origin and their
international competition (shoes, dairy products, garments,
cleaning chemical products, etc.).
2. Is globalization positive or negative for Paraguay regarding
education?
3. How is Paraguay preparing to confront the impact of
globalization?
The railway was at one time the most important means of

communication in our country. It was inaugurated in 1861 and
the first connection was from Asunción to Trinidad, in December
of that same year, it reached Luque and by mid-1862, it went
as far a Areguá. By March, 1864, the railway extended as far as
Ypacaraí and at the outbreak of the War of the Triple Alliance, this
important means of communication reached Paraguarí.
In the postwar period, it was transferred to a company associated
with the Allied armies which extended the service as far as Villa
Rica. In the second decade of the twentieth century, it reached
Encarnación, connecting with Argentina‘s rail system.
The Puerto Casado railway, in the Chaco on the Paraguay
river, covered westward until kilometer 160. It was used by the
Mennonites when they came to settle in Paraguay in the Central
Chaco in the decade of the 20s. During the war, from 1932 to 1935,
the railway became fundamentally important to transport troops
and elements sent by waterway to Puerto Casado and from there
they took the narrow gauge train as far as kilometer 145, called
“Punta Riel” (end of rail).
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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3. New Approaches to the disciplines of History

and Geography
As teachers of these subjects, we must face the challenge of finding
new meanings to the teaching of History and Geography within the
framework of a process of regional integration. Why do we say this?
We must work History and Geography under a regional approach
bearing in mind the trajectory and the perspectives of both disciplines
in Mercosur and the approaches and trends that happened in the
past highlighting confrontation or elements which disunited us
and obviating what we have in common. We must attempt the
incorporation of a regional approach in designing the curricula
in order not to develop these subjects in a fragmented manner.
Understanding Mercosur as a process of historical construction and
to include homogeneity and diversity as transversal elements, we
have to lay stress on the common roots and history and propose
the study of the subject as regional histories.
Support and commitment to the integration process should be
transferred to the students because there is no other way to
perceive the future but in this adventure of sharing together
common projects and ideals. As Rómulo Betancourt had indicated:
“The unfinished adventure in the Americas after the discovery
and after the cry of freedom is the process of integration and
creation of the community of Latin American nations to confront
this globalized world and the emergence of new political and
economic hegemonies.”
This process of integration must not be understood only as a widening
of markets, which it is also legitimately seeking to dynamize economic
development, but, essentialy, it must aim at the reunion of our
peoples through their cultures. It shall be imperative to respect the
plurality of cultures in Mercosur, overcoming all types of cultural
hegemony of the most “important” industrial and cultural centers of
this regional bloc. The great challenge is intercultural dialogue and
understanding that the cultural aspect is essential in a democratization
process.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
100
The technological globalization of the media reconstructs the

identity of the people and they know that its defense must begin
with the recovery of the historical memory and in the cultural
renewal, because the loss of national or regional identity implies
a cultural mutilation (Recondo, op.cit.).
Education must be no longer approached in an adversarial or

confrontational manner but from the point of view of becoming
agent and promoter of integration. For a long time, it favored
hypotheses of conflict and confrontation, which were a reality,
but time has come assume a common history for an effective
integration.
During the colonial centuries, the Spanish territories in America

remained isolated from one another. This was due to different
factors such as penetration from different routes, overwhelming
geographical obstacles, the barrier of the Andes, the desert,
the tropical and subtropical forest, the mighty rivers and the
different historical processes. The higher or lower intensity of
the Spanish or African migration was decisive in some places
and in others this happened very little. As well, the different
situation of the Indians and their integration into society resulted
in heterogeneous models of society.
This, added to the excessive centralism of Spain in dealing
with her colonies, ended up in the emergence of eighteen
separate, independent republics in contrast to what took place
in Portuguese or Anglo-Saxon colonization. When they became
emancipated, the Thirteen Colonies in the North, located on
a same sea coast and constituted a single great republic, the
United States of America. The same applies to Portuguese Brazil,
primarily concentrated on its Atlantic coast from the Northeast
to Río Grande do Sul. (G. de Bosio, Beatriz “Crónica Histórica Ilustrada del
Paraguay”, Capítulo La Conquista: 1998).
The southern states became separated and betrayed the mandate

of the Liberators. Today, we review a history of national borders
Beatriz G. de Bosio
101
while we reformulate an integrationist thesis constructing unity

from the acceptance of differences.

• Find common elements in the historical evolution of the Mercosur
countries. What unites us. What separated us.
• Find information on San Martín, Simón Bolívar and José Félix
Bogado.
Caminos reales was the denomination given to the roads that

departed from Asunción directed toward a given region in the
countryside. These roads had landmarks as markers of distance.
A great cross indicated one league, thus those crosses were
known as “kurusu legua”. Each league was the equivalent of five
thousand varae (2.8 feet), meaning 4,333 meters. Dr. Gill Aguínaga
discovered the itineraries of nine Caminos reales (Royal roads):
Tapuá, Lambaré, Capii-i-pery, Tacumbú, Ysaty, Ñu Guazú, de la
Vera Cruz and Tapé Pytá.
There are prevailing customs in rural areas, such as:

Tupãnói: to ask for blessing.
Expressions: “kóa ko hina la ore alcancía”, “This is our money
box”.
From the “Purahéi Ñembo’e” (singing prayers).
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cHaptER iv
1. The Guarani Culture

The Guarani Indians had no written language. They inscribed in
a non-alphabetical culture and of oral tradition. For that reason,
it is so very important to rescue orality in Paraguay. Guarani is a
vernacular language which went across centuries and today is
spoken by a majority of the Paraguayan population as the mother
tongue.
We know that oral literature is prior to all forms of writing. Education
through speech is transformed into education through reading and
writing. The West privileged an alphabetical culture.
At the arrival of the Spaniards in America, there were other
forms of pictographic writing (rupestrian paintings), and
ideographic such as the Mayan and Aztec Codexes written on
the amate fig tree paper or on deerskin. The Incan quipus was
used for writing. Garcilazo de la Vega wrote that he saw the
Quipucamayus (interpreters) read in them a sacred anthem
about rain (Colombres, Adolfo).
Rubén Bareiro Saguier indicates that prior to the European arrival,
the Guaraní-Tupí occupied a vast region. They went down the
Atlantic coast in a discontinuous manner from farther up the
Amazons as far as the south of the Río de la Plata estuary. They
reached the Andes Mountains, and above all, along the rivers in
what today is part of the territories of Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina,
Uruguay, Guiana, Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador. “The Guaraní group
lived in the current Eastern Region of Paraguay, the state of Mato
Grosso and part of the Atlantic coast in Brazil and the Province of
Beatriz G. de Bosio
103
Misiones in Argentina, with some settlements in Bolivian territory

in the northeast and in Uruguay in the southeast.”
In order to determine the concept of family or nationhood, certain
common features are cited: language, social structure, material
culture elements and religious beliefs.
They are divided into three large dialectal groups: the Amazonian that
speaks the Ñe’êngatu (characterized by more pronounced archaisms
in terms of phonology and morphology); the group called Tupinambá
(Guarani of the Atlantic coast) who spoke what was described as the
lingoa geral (as it was called in Portuguese) with abundant written
documents influenced by Portuguese and leaves traces in it; and the
Ava ñe’e (language of man) which includes all the dialects of Paraguay,
Bolivia and Southern Brazil, closely linked with one another, possessing
abundant documentation and a religious literary opus thanks to the
dedication of the missionaries, especially the Jesuit.
Their material culture elements, as well as the societal structure of
the community, help us understand the organization of the blurred
and confusing pre-Columbian Guaraní-Tupí society.
The movility of war, the ways of relationship with the Guarani
group and the large messianic migrations created shock in the
social organization. These migrations responded to the search of
the Land without Evil (Yvy Maraéy) led by a Karai, a high priest
capable of overcoming the divisions and hostilities among the
indigenous groups of the great family. The groups maintained
among themselves a friendly or belligerent relationship.
The organization of the villages took place in the agglomeration of
five to eight huts organized in a quadrangle, each one submitted
to a patriarchal authority. In general, several friendly villages were
surrounded by three defensive palisades.
The post of cacique was elective, revocable and occasional based
upon the needs in case of war. Elder’s council exerted a guiding
and moderating role.
The economy was of subsistence, based upon hunting, fishing and
gathering where the production and distribution was determined
by mechanisms of reciprocity and redistribution. A livelihood is
not obtained by sales in a market. Communal economy.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
104
They practiced the Neolithic agriculture; productive slash and

burn, hunting, fishing, gathering, pottery or ceramics (funereal or
utensils), basket work, crafts and tints.
The groups in contact with the Inca Empire utilized metal. The rest,
used wood and bone. Less frequent was the use of stone.
Regarding religion, Bareiro Saguier takes Melia’s description
and writes: “Sacramental inspiration in singing and dance,
led by a Messiah in search of the land without evil”, that of
eternal perfection which is located somewhere on this earth.
In the Guaraní religion, the highest aspiration is to achieve the
condition of immortality, supreme attribute of the gods and
their chosen ones. It can be reached in this life through prayer,
dances and fasting.
Belief in a supreme deity, creator, the existence of mediating
gods and of civilizing heroes with similar functions, that of spirits
blended with facts of nature, the deluge, the myth of the twins,
the land without evil are the larger features which, with variations,
arise in the religion of the Tupí Guaraní. Those are very important
as sources of the Guaraní literature.
The historical process emerging from the end of the fifteenth
century on the American continent is a dramatic culture shock. The
Spaniards took advantage of the neolithical Guaraní social system
which imposed obligations based upon kinship, of the old tradition
of “saca de mujeres” (taking of women) by more powerful chiefs.
(Bareiro Saguier, Rubén “Literatura Guaraní del Paraguay”: 1980).
The “Ayvu Rapyta”, cosmogonical chant of the Mbya compiled by

Cadogan in the decade of the 50s, had been maintained by oral
tradition during centuries or millennia.
In the year 2000, the centenary of anthropologist León Cadogan
was commemorated. The Center for Anthropological Studies of
the Catholic University (CEADUC) published a special issue in its
anthropological supplement.
The new millennium finds the country in a serious process

of revaluation of the cultural aspect related to the vernacular
language in force.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
105
The educational reform process includes the peremptory need

for a literacy instruction in the Guaraní mother tongue for a wide
rural sector of the population for whom the teaching of Spanish
should be done as a second language.
Thus, we shall eliminate earlier contradiction whereby the students
were unable to reinforce their basic primary education in the
bossom of the Guaraní speaking home since the formal aspect was
carried out in one language and in everyday practice in another.
Spanish shall be the universal language for preparatory knowledge
for a professional life. However, the use of the mother tongue
shall contribute to establish basic native culture, providing firm
psychological support which will contribute to a better performance
at school, avoiding desertion in the the educational system, accepting
and valuing a vital differentiated reality which places Paraguay in the
privileged position of having a bilingual culture.
The scientific name of the Guyra Campana is procnias nudicollis

and it belongs to the family of tropical birds known as the
Cotingidae. Guyra means bird in Guaraní and Guyirapón means
Pájaro Campana (The bell bird). This species is found in the Paraná
forest, that is in eastern Paraguay, northern Misiones, Argentina,
and in the state of Río Grande do Sul in Brasil. The singing of the
Guyra Campana is very special and musicians and poets, such
as José Antonio Bilbao and Azucena Zelaya have dedicated their
work to Guyra Campana. These lyrics are from poet Eduardo
Rayo and the music is by Félix Pérez Cardozo: “In the Paraguayan
forest/ perfumed with flowers/a feathery heart beats/ with wings
moving in anxiety/ It is the secular sound/ of the Guarani hope/
it is heard but it is not reached/ and it cannot be caught/ Like a
flying trill/ disappearing in the horizon/ goes the voice of hope/
converted into musical feathers/Like the Condor of the Andes/
and the Quetzal of Guatemala/ your name Guyra Campana/ is a
symbol of liberty!”.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
106

Complete the folllowing technical form to create a data bank in
your communities.
1. Name of the municipality
2. Name of the intendente (mayor)
3. Extension of the municipality
4. Population
5. Boundaries of the municipality
6. Historical information
6.1. Date of the foundation of the town/city
6.2. What was there before?
6.3. Causes that motivated its foundation
6.4. Economic activity of the population
6.5. Name of the patron saint
6.6. Patron saint’s calendar
6.7. Was it the site of any historic event?
7. Origin of the population
8. Current occupation of the population
9. Connections with neighboring cities
9.1. Name a neighboring town and the way of access (paved
road, riprap, dirt road, railway, by water, etc.)
10. Cite any other information of cultural and historical
interest.
11. Towns, cities and townships that are part of the
municipality
12. Tangible and intangible cultural heritage. References
Beatriz G. de Bosio
107
Some biographies to remember...
Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese navigator who convinced the

Spanish King, Charles V that he would find the ocean access, the
unfinished task during the Solís’s expedition and thus would reach
the Moluccan islands through the west.
On September 20th, 1519, he departed from Sanlúcar at the head
of a fleet of five ships and 265 crewmen.
In January, 1520, the expedition reached the mouth of the Río de
la Plata but Magellan quickly concluded that it could not possibly
be the inter oceanic access so he continued to sail south.
After some obstacles, in October of the same year, the fleet turned
around the Cabo de las Vírgenes (Cape Virgins) where the strait
opens up communicating both oceans, surging before the intrepid
sailors the channel from sea to sea. Spain now was able to reach
the spice lands without crossing the Portuguese territories.
They entered the strait and they observed campfires along the
southern coast, so they named the place Tierra del Fuego (Land of
Fire). On October 27th, after passing the Cabo de Todos los Santos
(Cape of All Saints), the ships reached the Ocean which they named
Pacific because of the stillness of its waters. The channel named
of All Saints by Magellan himself was later immortalized with the
name of its discoverer. Following the route, on March 6th, 1521, they
reached the Mariana Islands and, in the same month, they sighted
several islands they named Saint Lazarus (it was the Philippines). The
inhabitants of the Island of Cebu had no problems with the presence
of the Spaniards, but with poor judgement, Magellan confronted the
natives from a nearby island, Mactam, and was killed by them with
some of his fellow sailors on April 28th, 1521.
Sebastian Elcano commanded one of the ships (La Victoria) and
began the return trip to Spain via the Indian Ocean. Facing infinite
vicissitudes and hardships, he completed the voyage reaching
Sanlúcar in September, 1522. Thus, the sphericity of the earth was
proved and achieved the feat of voyaging around the world.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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The Portuguese had reached leadership in astronomical and

geographical knowledge. The School of Sagres founded in 1415 by
Don Enrique the Navigator, son of King Juan I of Portugal, contributed
to a great extent to the training of saliors and mapmakers.
Alejo García
He was a Portuguese captain from Alentejo who was a member of
the expedition of Solís to the Río de la Plata in 1515 and survived
the shipwreck. In the island of Yuruminín, afterwards known as
Santa Catalina, he heard of the Guaraní Indians and about the
existence of golden rivers and silver hills to the west.
Tempted by the information, in 1524 he made his way through the
Brazilian coast, escorted by a group of Indians. Travelling through
vast virgin territories, he crossed the Paraná River at the waterfall
called Monday and reached the bay where later the city of Asunción
would be founded. They were well received by the Karió inhabitants
of the region and belonging to the same ethnic group as his Indian
escorts. Alejo García went up the Paraguay river as far as Corumbá,
crossed the Chaco and he reached the hills of Alto Perú. He raided
with his troops the towns of Presto and Tarabuco, where the Charca
Indians, vassals of the Incas, were opposed to their predatory
methods forcing them to retreat. Alejo García dispatched some
Chana Indians with letters and loads of silver to their men who had
remained waiting in Santa Catalina.
In 1525, on the coast of the Paraguay river, close to what later would
be the city of San Pedro de Ycuamandiyú, García and one companion
became victims of the Indian allies and were killed.
When the other shipwreck survivors in Santa Catalina received
the riches sent by García, they began to spread the story of the
Rey Blanco (White King).
García became the first explorer to enter Paraguayan territory
reaching the Peruvian Andes through that route. In Manuel
Domínguez’s words “he ended his career when Pizarro did not even
started his in Perú. He crossed Curitiba seventeen years in advance
of Alvar Núñez, he discovered Paraguay four years before Sebastian
Cabot, he explored the Chaco thirteen years in advance of Ayolas, and
he entered Charcas thirteen years in advance of Pizarro’s men.”
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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Sebastian Cabot
Born to John Cabot, navigator at the service of the King of England
who entered the Newfoundland Peninsula in North America only
five years after the discovery of America. Sebastian was born in
1469 and entered into the service of the King of Spain as the Piloto
Mayor del Reino (Pilot of the Kingdom) replacing Juan Díaz de
Solís after his death.
In March, 1525, he signed a capitulation with the crown to follow
the route of Magellan and Elcano as far as the Molucca, Cathay
and Cipango, in search for gold and precious stones.
On April 3rd, 1526, he left Sanlúcar with a fleet of three small ships:
the Santa María de la Concepción, the Santa María del Espinar
and the Trinidad. The expedition headed for the coast of Brazil,
veering from the road set in the capitulation. Cabot wanted to
reach the Río Solís or Fresh Sea, because the news of the White
King that had reached fame.
When he reached the coast of Santa Catalina, Cabot and his men
made contact with Enrique Montes and Melchor García, who ratified
Alejo García’s experience and showed samples of precious metals.
A council of captains confirmed the change of course. The flagship
wrecked in the Puerto de los Patos (Port of the Ducks) where they built
another ship to navigate the interior rivers. Before departing, captains
Francisco de Rojas, Martín Méndez and Miguel de Rodas remained on
the island because they had opposed to the change of course.
The fleet reached the Río de la Plata and Cabot founded the Puerto
de San Lázaro (Port of Saint Lazarus). Soon appeared Francisco del
Puerto, the cabin-boy who had survived the massacre of Solís and he
confirmed the news received in Pernambuco and Santa Catarina.
Cabot went up the Paraná river and arrived at the confluence of
the Carcañará where they built the fortress of Sancti Spiritu, first
Spanish settlement in the Plata. He sailed the Paraná river up
north and on March 31st, 1528, he reached the confluence of the
Paraná and Paraguay rivers. Later, they went on the Paraguay
river reaching the confluence with the Pilcomayo river. A scout
group was intercepted and killed by the Indians of the zone. Cabot,
with diminished resources, returned to Sancti Spiritu and upon his
return he met the fleet of Diego García de Moguer, a sailor who
had been in the Plata with Solís and who had circumnavigated
the globe with Magellan and Elcano.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
110
He had been hired for a voyage on the Río de la Plata by the Casa de
Contrataciones (House of Trade) of Seville, leaving to that end from
La Coruña in January, 1526. Both captains argued about their rights
for this exploration and conquest. But, after the disagreement, they
joined forces to embark in search of the White King. In August, 1528,
Cabot and Diego García left together northward. Cabot heard that
a group of Timbu Indians was planning to attack Sancti Spiritu for
which reason he decided to return.
Sancti Spiritu was ruled by Gregorio de Caro whose bad policies
cost him the enmity of the natives. The fort was destroyed and
pillaged. Disappointed, both captains returned to Spain. Cabot
reached Seville in July, 1530 and he had to face lawsuits and
sentences that led to imprisonment and indemnity claims. Later,
he left for England where he died at the age of 80.
Isabel de Guevara
She arrived at these lands with the fleet of the Adelantado Don
Pedro de Mendoza. In Asunción she married Captain Pedro de
Esquivel who arrived with the Second Adelantado, Alvar Núñez
Cabeza de Vaca.
Doña Isabel knew how to read and write which, at that time,
indicated an uncommon instruction.
The letter she wrote from Asunción on July 2nd, 1556, is famous
because in it she narrates to the Governing Princess (she refers
to the hapless Juana la Loca or Joan the Mad) the suffering
underwent in Buenos Aires and the solicitous work of the women.
This letter is recorded among those that indicated “probanzas de
méritos y servicios” (proof of merits and services) which would
mean that the settlers requested recognition from the King for
having served in these lands.
Her letter is moving because she details the vicissitudes and
famine endured by the explorers. “…The men came so skinny that
all the work was performed by the poor women, thus washing
their clothes, curing them, cooking for them what little they had,
wash them, take their place as guards, make rounds for the fires,
prepare the crossbow, whenever the Indians came warring, even
to undertake to put fire in the verses and to put the soldiers on
foot, those who were in condition of doing so, put the camp in alert
screaming, bossing around and putting in order the soldiers…”
Beatriz G. de Bosio
111
Mencia Calderón de Sanabria

She was the wife of Juan de Sanabria, the third Adelantado of the
Río de la Plata. Although she was surprised by his death, doña
Mencia Calderón, mother of four children, decides not to become
discouraged and to go ahead with the expedition. She was aided
by her son Diego of only eighteen years old who was appointed
head of the expedition and Captain Juan de Salazar y Espinoza,
founder of our capital city.
They left Spain in April, 1550, arriving in Santa Catalina on
December 16th. From there they went to the Mbiazá region, some
twenty leagues south of the population of San Francisco, because
the ship San Miguel that had transported them was damaged.
They waited for a whole year in Mbiazá until they built another
brigantine with the wreckage of the first one.
The expedition was accompanied by a German chronicler Hans
Staden, to whom is owed interesting references and narratives.
From the environs of Brazil, Doña Mencia and her followers reached
Paraguay by land five years later. The most interesting aspect of the
incredible feat was that the expedition led by the wife of the third
Adelantado of the Río de la Plata incorporated a group of fifty Spanish
women among whom was her daughter María Sanabria who married
Captain Hernando de Trejo, who gave birth to the first criollo bishop,
Hernando de Trejo y Sanabria, founder of the University of Córdoba,
the most important center of formation in the region at that time.
Ana Díaz
She accompanied the fifty-six mancebos de la tierra (mestizos of the
land) and ten Spaniards in the expedition led by Juan de Garay to found
the second Buenos Aires on June 11th, 1580. As indicated by Enrique
Larreta, “among the founders was one Paraguayan woman”. The place
chosen for the solemnities was the present Plaza de Mayo.
She was granted a house in 1583 and ¼ of a square of land for having
participated in the foundation. Josefina Cruz wrote that “the house
granted to Ana Díaz and where she probably erected a thatched
and clay hut, cultivated her orchard, fought, suffered and loved is
today one of the busiest corners in Buenos Aires”.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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In the Municipality of the Argentinian capital there is a painting

by Moreno Carbonero, a Spanish artist, which immortalizes the
important event where Juan de Garay stands wearing a beret
and short cloak with a sword in his hand. Next to him, a felled
tree bears the scroll of the foundation, then an officer, Ana Díaz,
a priest holding the cross and a standard bearer with the banner
flapping to the gust southeast winds of June. To complete the scene,
successively a group of Indians appear, the rest of the founders and
in the background the gray courtain of the Río de la Plata.
Francisca Jesusa de Bocanegra

She was the founder and promoter of the first establishment dedicated
to the education of women in the Province, the “Casa de Recogidas
y Huérfanas” (House of the Sheltered and Orfans) and worked hard
to teach the Christian doctrine to the daughters of the conquerors,
orfans or those who lacked the means to get an education. The
regime of internation convened many girls from Asunción families.
Unfortunately, with the death of the Prioress, Sister Bocanegra in 1617,
the establishment stopped working. Her death left a great void in the
community and it inspired Father Diego de Boroa a sonnet which was
psalmodied in the funerals by the interns. One of its stanzas read:
Concave Cave, what’s of Our Mother
Dear Mother, tell us where you dwell?
Have you forgotten these poor souls?
In your haste to meet the Son and meet the Father?...
Adela and Celsa Speratti

They were outstanding representatives of the national teaching
profession. Orphans at an early age when their father died in the Battle
of Ytororó in the Great War, they traveled later to the Río de la Plata and,
with their mother, they had the opportunity to study at the Normal
School of Concepción del Uruguay graduating as Normal Teachers.
Atanacio C. Riera and Rosa Peña de González made the return of the
Speratti teachers to Paraguay possible, as they were successfully
teaching in Argentina. But a valuable and distinguished educational
labor was awaiting for them in their own country.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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Adela founded in 1897 the Normal School of Paraguay becoming

its first Director. She died shortly afterwards and her sister Celsa
continued the noble task.
In 1921, the Normal School for Teachers was founded. Under the
direction of another distinguished Paraguayan teacher, Doña Felicidad
González, disciple and follower of the Speratti sisters, the institution
became a stalwart of public teacher’s education in the country.
Agustín Pío Barrrios

Agustín Pío Barrios, was a great Paraguayan guitarist and
composer who reached an universal level. Born in San Juan
Bautista, Misiones, he was the composer of important works such
as “Danza paraguaya”, “La Catedral”, “Ha che Valle” and others.
His artistic name was Nitsuga Mangoré. Barrios died in El Salvador
where his remains are buried. The great cultivator and promoter
of his artistic legacy was the maestro Cayo Sila Godoy, another
Paraguayan virtuoso guitarist.
María de Casati
She was the founder of the first national newspaper in defense
of women’s rights. Named “Por la mujer” (For the women), it was
published between May and October, 1936. Furthermore, she
created the Feminist Union of Paraguay on April 26th, 1936.
Casati and the other founding members of “Por la mujer” were
identified with the February revolt of 1936, led by Col. Rafael
Franco who ousted the Liberal Party from government. They called
themselves feminists. They had a critical view but were aware
of the limitations of women’s role. They struggled for the social
and political equality of women as well as their instruction and
cultural improvement. They urged the government to guarantee
justice and peace without gender distinctions.
This journalistic piece is considered the first newspaper in
defense of women, struggling for legal equality and against legal
discriminations.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
114
Rafael Barrett
He arrived in Paraguay in 1904 as correspondent for the Buenos
Aires newspaper “El Tiempo”. He becomes closely linked to
Paraguay where he saw the circumstances of this country.
He is associated with the national press and later founds the
newspaper “Germinal” in 1908, which although it was short-lived
–because the content was very controversial– he pens very critical
reflections about the reality of the country in its unforgettable
pages. His journalistic articles were later compiled and published
in “Lo que son los yerbales” (What the Paraguayan yerba fields
actually are) and “Dolor Paraguayo” (Paraguayan sorrow).
Josefina Plá
Se was born in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands (Spain) in 1903.
Paraguayan by adoption, she married the Paraguayan ceramist
Julián de la Herrería (Andrés Campos Cervera). She arrives in
Paraguay in 1927.
She had an outstanding career in journalism until 1937 becoming the
first woman journalist and chief editor in a newspaper. Josefina then
becomes a narrator, poet, playwright, historian, cultural researcher
and plastic artist, leaving behind an unique legacy.
She is considered the introducer of the new twentieth century
aesthetics into Paraguay, because, at the head of the Grupo
Arte Nuevo (New Art Group) at the beginning of the 1950s, she
organized the modern art exibition, along with Olga Blinder, Lilí
del Mónico, Edith Jiménez and others.
She died on January 11th, 1999 at the age of 95.

Conduct a research on the life and works of: Augusto Roa Bastos,
Cervantes Award for Literature, Alón, Ramón Indalecio Cardozo;
Father Fidel Maíz, Juan Sinforiano Bogarín.
Inquire about the representatives of the 900 generation educated
in public educational institutions (Colegio Nacional de la Capital,
1877 and Universidad Nacional de Asunción, 1889).
Beatriz G. de Bosio
115
Other important data...
The Cerro Kói has an area of 12 hectares and the Chororí,

5 hectares and they are a geomorphological phenomenon
presenting rocks only of an igneous origin. This rarity is only
known in three places in the world: South Africa, Canada and
Paraguay, nearby Areguá.
The Tinfunké belongs to the ecoregion called flood plains of

the Pilcomayo river. It is a refuge for the reproduction of several
endangered fauna species, such as the yacaré, ñandú, yaguareté,
and turtle. It is a national park totally located in private lands. It
occupies an area of 280,000 hectares which remain flooded most
of the year. Currently, it is affected by the detour of the Pilcomayo
river.
The area surrounding the Ypoá Lake is a national park created by

a decree of 1992 and it has an extension of 100,000 hectares, with
extended swamp and dam areas. It has an excellent representation
of the biodiversity of the Ñeembucú ecoregion.
The area surrounding the Ypacaraí Lake is also a national park

created by a decree dated in 1990. It has an surface of 16,000
hectares, most of which corresponds to urban areas.
The Villa de San Isidro Labrador de los Reyes Católicos de

Curuguaty was the seat of Villa Rica del Espíritu Santo when its
inhabitants crossed the Paraná in 1635, to escape the invasion of the
San Paulo Mameluco slave hunters. There, gathered the inhabitants
Beatriz G. de Bosio
116
of Ciudad Real and of Villa Rica joined by the Indians of the desolate
towns of Terecañy, Candelaria and Mbaracayú.
The Guairá people who were migrating set their eyes on the
Ybyturusú mountains where they settled on May 20th, 1682.
Later, Governor Bazán de Pedraza, who was by chance visiting the
region, approved in 1714 the foundation of a Spanish village in the
old seat of Villa Rica del Espíritu Santo, because of the advantages
of the site of Curuguaty for the production and trading of the yerba
mate and due to the navigability of the Curuguaty and Jejuí, part
of the Paraguay river basin.
Battle of Ka’a Yvate:

This was a battle of the Guarani War in 1756, where the
Portuguese defeated the Indians of the seven reductions of the left
bank of the Uruguay river which had been ceded by the Spanish
Crown to Portugal in exchange for Colonia del Sacramento through
the Tratado de Permuta (Agreement of Exchange) of 1750.
The Semana Santa or Holy Week begins on Domingo de Ramos (Palm

Sunday) with the blessing of the palms (pindó karaí) which wards
off evil. Viernes Santo (Good Friday) is the most important day in the
ritual because then they commemorate the death of Jesus Christ on
the cross. For those days, the tradition is to make chipa (a type of corn
bread) and sopa paraguaya (a solid soup).
The Vía Crucis procession occurs and the crucifixion is staged (the
Ñandejára Jehupi); later, they proceed with the lowering of Christ
from the cross (Ñandejára Mboguejy) for the final procession at which
point comes the Tupãitu (ceremony of kissing God). Sábado de Gloria
(Easter Saturday) begins with Christ’s encounter with his mother
(Tupasy Ñuvaîtî). On Easter Sunday everybody attends Mass and
godsons carry presents for their godparents and they receive their
blessing. Many of these rituals have declined in the cities.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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The Patron Saint Day Feasts evoke the Patron Saints of the towns,
“compañías” (townships) or family. There is a mixture of the religious
and profane. In general, the festivities begin with prayers, Masses
and processions during in which the image of a saint is shown on
the streets of the town. They aim at collective participation and it is
always around a karu guasu (great dinner) with dancing, gambling,
posts that sell religious stamps or candles and amusement parks.
There is playing of the diana mbaja (Mbaja reveille) which begins
the day with an early bell ringing and fireworks. During the
festivities, popular bands perfom and typical pieces are danced.
Sometimes, there are bull fights, toro candil (fake bull fight),
carrera pe, carrera sortija, sortija yvyrupi, bandera jere, carrera
vosa, etc. (all sorts of races). The closing of the feast is indicated
by the castillo-kái (burning of the castle) or Judas-kai (burning of
an effigy of Judas). Also, people engage in different games: yvyra
syi,(slippery pole) kambuchi jejoka (breaking the jar), tuna jekutu
(stick it to the cactus), paila jeheré (lick the pan), gallo jejuka (kill
the rooster), parallel to gambling, bingo, ruleta criolla (creole
roulette), target shooting, guessing cards and others.
Kurusu Bartolo. Legend compiled by Ramón I. Cardozo in 1933.

During the times of Dictator Francia, a priest, Father Bartolomeo
(Pa’i Bartolo) lived in Villa Rica del Espíritu Santo. This priest was
eager to ask his parishioners to be virtuous, recommending them
to work the land, the linen loom. Through his preaching, Villa Rica
became an industrial and grain-producing town. His constants
journeys around the townships led him to loose his mind. So, his
family decided to lock him up and forbade him to leave.
On a given stormy day, Pa’i Bartolo managed to escape and went
to Rosado, a nearby place. On his way, he had to ford a stream that
was flooded because of the great rain and the priest was dragged
by the waters dying in the site near Táva Arroyo (Stream Tava). The
neighbors buried him and placed a cross on that spot which came
to be called Kurusu Bartolo and the stream also became known as
Bartolo.
Cardozo also indicates that there is a devotion to Kurusu Bartolo
in times of drought and that after a novena, generally, a great
rain comes as a blessing.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
118
Another very famous legend: the Christ of Piribebuy

In a small town in the Cordillera region, in which during the War
of the Triple Alliance a great battle was fought, there is an image
of Christ to which faithful attribute great miraculous powers. On
the day of its festivities, the third Sunday in January, Piribebuy is
filled with faithful from the surrounding towns who bring tributes
in gratitude for the graces granted by Him.
The legend says that in a far away yerbal (yerba field) there were
screams, and noises that terrified the yerbateros (yerba growers)
and the neighboring population. Nobody dared to enter the yerba
forests where those screams came from. One day, a very brave
man challenged all the rumors and dangers and proceeded to enter
into the woods and he found a big leather sack used to transport
the yerba. Fearful, he opened the leather sack and found inside
a giant carved image of Christ. They said that the moment the
crucifix appeared, the screams and noises stopped and a beam
of light illuminated the horizon. Everybody went to witness the
finding. At first they put it in a small chapel where the great cross
barely fit. They tried later to take it away from there to bring it
to Asunción, but it was impossible to move it from the modest
chapel where it was placed. This was interpreted as the will of
Jesus to remain in Piribebuy.
The harp is not native to Paraguay although it is very common

to hear it called the Paraguayan harp. It was introduced to the
country in the seventeenth century. Excellent instruments of
32, 36 and 40 strings are made in the country. Luis Szarán says
that the earliest Paraguayan harpists were: Pulé -from Arroyos y
Esteros-, José Dolores Fernández (Lolo Arpero) and José del Rosario
Diarte. Several Paraguayan harpists of great talent contributed
to make it known universally. Among them: Felix Pérez Cardozo,
Digno García, Lorenzo Leguizamón, Santiago Cortesi, Luis Bordón,
Cristino Báez Monges, Alejandro Villamayor and Nicolasito
Caballero.
Sofía Mendoza, Clotilde Balmelli, and Aura Mendoza were

cultivators of the bell canto.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
119
Ayvu Rapyta
The Theogony
The Origin of the Ñamandú
Text in Mby’a guaraní compiled
by León Cadogan
Ñande Ru Papa Tenonde 

Our first last father
guerera ombojera
makes his own body surface
pytü ymágui
from the primeval darkness
Yvára pypyte
The divine soles of the feet
apyka apuá i,
The small round seat
pytü yma mbytére oguerojera ....
el apyka jaguar 
In the heart of primeval darkness
Displays them in their display...
 
Yvara jechaka mbaé ekuaa
Divine reflection of the divine wisdom
yvára rendupa,
divine sonorous footboard of all things
yvára popyte, yvyrai
divine palms of their hands
with the stick as emblem
yvára popyte raka poty 
divine palm trees with flowery branches
oguerojerá Ñamandu 
pytü yma mbytére
He displays them in their own display
Ñamandú in the middle of the primeval darkness

Beatriz G. de Bosio
120
La Mujer
La Mujer de
de la
la Conquista
ConquistaWomen
(Womenand theConquest)
in the Conquest
Beatriz G. de Bosio Beatriz G. de Bosio
Beatriz G. de Bosio
La mujer de la conquista Women in the Conquesta

quedó fuera del relato were left out of the tales
pues la gloria y los honores as the glory and the honor
al valor, riesgo y tesón to bravery, risk and tenacity
se llevaron los varones were taken all by the men
de cualquier expedición. of any expeditions.
Adelantados primero Adelantados, first
Gobernadores después Governors afterwards
cabildantes, oidores, Councilmen, Aldermen
veedores, Alférez, Juez. inspectors, ensign, judge
Curas, mancebos, criollos priests, mancebos, criollos...
¿y de las mujeres qué? and of the women, what?
Doña Isabel de Guevara Dona Isabel de Guevara
señaló el rol femenino mentioned the women’s role
en misiva a la Princesa in a letter to the Princess.
detalló su cruel destino. Her cruel destiny she told.
Ante hambre y desnudez Before famine and nudity
del inicio de la hazaña from the beginning of the feat
la mujer se afanó, sana women made efforts, healthy
sorteando con gran maña to overcome with great skill
todas las dificultades all the difficulties
que irrumpían día a día. that came day by day.
Doña Mencia de Sanabria Dona Mencia de Sanabria
que a pie se llegó a Asunción who arrived in Asunción on foot
Trajo consigo alegría brought along the happiness
y doncellas de valía. and maids of great courage.
Jesusa de Bocanegra Jesusa de Bocanegra
por citar las más nombradas to cite the most named
que a la huérfanas brindó who the orfans provided
desvelos y gran cariño vigils and great affection
su muerte en plena labor her death in the middle of work
Sembró gran pena y dolor. caused great sorrow and pain.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
121
Ana Díaz, la Señora Ana Díaz, the lady

que acompañó a Juan Garay who accompanied Garay
tesón imprimió a su hora, tenacity imprinted at her time
y soldados y viajantes and soldiers and travelers
de la nueva fundación of the new foundation
admiraron su valía. admired her bravery.
La segunda Buenos Aires The second Buenos Aires
de mil quinientos ochenta of fifteen hundred and eighty
significó mil desaires signified thousands of slights
generando lucha cruenta generating bloody fights
que por el acceso al mar that for access to the sea
la mediterraneidad landlockedness
fue un destino sin piedad. was a merciless fate.
¿Y aquella mujer anónima And that anonymous woman
que se erigió solo en vientre that became only her womb
o quizá pieza servil or perhaps a servile object
ante un cuñadazgo vil of brother-in-lawhood
y se erigiera en razón and became the reason
y útil alternativa and useful alternative
en esta aislada región? in this isolated land?
Yo lamento señalarlo I am sorry to point it out
que si el relato omitió that if the tale omitted
la mujer en la conquista, the women in the conquest
sus desvelos y templanza, her vigil and moderation
su valor y condición her courage and condition
adjudicando el honor adjudging the honor
de hazañas y grandes glorias of feats and great glories
en monopolio al varón, in monopoly to man
no es difícil entender it is not hard to understand
en esta copla común in this copla (popular song)
de juglar vindicador of a vindicating bard
que sin ellas compañeros: that without them compañeros:.
¿De qué mancebos habláis? Of which mancebos do you speak?
¿Cuáles criollos mentáis? Which criollos do you name?
¿Y qué honores señaláis? Which honors do you indicate?
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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Juan de AyolasJuan de Ayolas

Juan de Ayolas
Beatriz G. de Bosio
Beatriz G. de Bosio Beatriz G. de Bosio
(fragmento) (fragment) (fragment)
A Juan de Ayolas le cupo It fell to Juan de Ayolas

incursionar en la selva to explore the jungle
para así brechas abrir thus to open paths
a la Sierra de la Plata to the Sierra de la Plata
y a la gloria del Dorado and to the glory of El Dorado
(paraje tan anhelado). (such a yearned destination).
Y así remontando ríos And thus up he sailed

se internó en el Paraguay deep inside Paraguay
llegando a La Candelaria arriving in La Candelaria
bautizada en ese día christened on that very day
por ser un dos de Febrero for being the second of February
aquella gran osadía. that great audacity.
Nombraba lugarteniente He appointed Don Domingo Martínez

a Don Domingo de Irala de Irala lieutenant
a quien entregó el poder to whom he handed power
para partir hacia el Chaco in order to leave for the Chaco
y así por fin alcanzar and thus reaching
la tierra de los tesoros. the land of treasures.
Contaron los lenguaraces The foulmouthed told

que víctima de traición that, victim of treachery,
Ayolas alcanzó muerte Ayolas found death
en terrible condición. in a terrible situation.
Ultimado con macanas Beaten to death with “macanas”

de madera y pedernal made of wood and stone
la resistencia del indio the resistance of the Indian
se hizo visible y concreta became visible and concrete
pues las crónicas recogen as the chronicles gather
la ingratitud de la treta... the ingratitude of the ruse...
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La carreta (The oxcart)

La Carreta The Cart
Vicente Lamas Vicente Lamas Vicente Lamas
Al paso cansino, monótono y lento At a slow, monotonous and weary pace

de los mansos bueyes; viene la carreta, meek oxen, comes the oxcart
gimiendo quién sabe qué pena secreta wailing who knows what secret sorrow
en su sempiterno y extraño lamento. in its eternal and strange lament.
El largo bostezo de todas las huellas The long yawning of all the traces
sabe la amargura de su ingrato sino: knows the bitterness of its ungrateful fate
ir siempre arrastrando por todo camino of eternally dragging all the way
susu penas cual loco cazador de estrellas. its sorrows like a crazy star hunter.
Eres el pasado lejano y perdido, You are the remote and lost past
te aroma el encanto de lo fenecido, perfumed by the enchantment of the long gone
carreta romántica, dulce y patriarcal. Romantic, sweet and patriarchal cart.
Llorando te acercas a tu triste ocaso Crying you come close to your sad dusk
con la sacrosanta cruz de tu fracaso with the very sacrosanct cross of your failure
yo lloro contigo tu pena ancestral. I cry with your ancestral pain.
ElEltropero The cowboy

tropero (a person who herds cattle)
Vicente Lamas Vicente Lamas Vicente Lamas
(fragmento) (fragment)
Como un absurdo y bárbaro cortejo Like an absurd and barbaric cortege

pasó la tropa mugidora y fiera. passed the mooing and fierce herd
El poncho del tropero en la carrera the poncho of the tropero running
fulgió como un relámpago bermejo... glowed like a reddish lightning…
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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Mbocayá Mbocayá (coconut)

Mbocayá (coconut)
José Concepción OrtizJosé Concepción Ortiz
José Concepción Ortiz
Tal como el campesino paraguayo, Just like the Paraguayan peasant

terco, sufrido, huraño, generoso, stubborn, suffering, insociable and generous
de la tormenta erguido ante el acoso of the storm erected when harassed
tu privilegio es atraer el rayo. your privilege is to attract lightning.
Firme en el rojo suelo, sin desmayo Firm on the red soil without fainting
das frutas y hojas al menesteroso you give you fruits and leaves to the needy
y, al fin, el tenaz leño, ya en reposo: and at last, the tenacious log already resting:
tú pareces en todo paraguayo. you seem Paraguayan in everything.
Doblarte no podrá sino romperte Only the tempest would break you
más bien la tempestad, altivo y fuerte, but not bend you, haughty and strong
símbolo del terruño, mbocayá. symbol of the land, mbocayá.
Hoy y ayer, en la paz como en la guerra, Today and yesterday, in peace as in war
para hombres y bestias de esta tierra for men and beasts of this land
tú has sido de los pobres el maná. You have been the manna of the poor.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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Beatriz G. de Bosio
126
Documentary Annex
We incorporate this document which is part of the book “Viaje a la Naturaleza y la

Cultura” - “Voyage to Nature and Culture”, memory of an International Consultation
by UNESCO, whose purpose was the ellaboration of a Project for Cultural and
Natural Tourism for Paraguay. The publication was coordinated and compiled by
Prof. Beatriz G. de Bosio and Lic. Lía Colombino.
PARAGUAY, NATURE AND CULTURE

Prof. Lic. Beatriz G. de Bosio - Lic. Lía Colombino Chase
1. Physical Aspects
The Republic of Paraguay is located in the central part of South
America. It sits on 19º 18º and 27º 3’ latitude south and longitude
54º 15º and 62º 38’ west of Greenwich. It is bordered to the north
with Brazil and Bolivia; to the east with Brazil and Argentina; to the
south with Argentina and to the west with Bolivia. It is a landlocked
country with access to the Atlantic Ocean through the Paraguay,
Paraná and Río de la Plata rivers.
It has an area of 406,752 square kilometers and it is divided by
the Paraguay river into two natural regions: the Western region or
Chaco with an area of 246,925 square kilometers, constituting 61%
of the country’s total area, and the Eastern region with 159,827
square kilometers, 39% of the total area. Both regions are divided
politically into departments, the Eastern has fourteen departments
and the Western, three.
Population is approximately 5,500,000 inhabitants of which only
3.5 to 4% correspond to the Chaco. The total population density
is very low as it is one of least populated countries in the Southern
hemisphere. In 1992, according to census data, it density was 10.1
inhabitants per square kilometer.
The country’s climate has characteristics that place it within
the continental subtropical, but it varies from region to region.
Summers are rainy and very hot while winters show low
temperatures and rainfalls diminishes. There is a marked difference
Beatriz G. de Bosio
127
in the distribution of rainfall between the two regions into which

the country is divided and that causes a significant variation in
the climate.1 The average temperatures annually range from 20º
Celsius to 25º Celsius. The average diminishes gradually from north
to south. Regarding extreme values, in the north the maximum
temperature reaches more than 40º Celsius, and the minimum
could reach 0º Celsius in the south.
Regarding the fluvial system, the Paraguay river, which crosses
the territory and divides it, is considered the most important. It
is navigable for vessels of large draft, and some passages only for
medium draft ships. Its main tributaries are the Pilcomayo river,
located in the Chaco region and form the border with Argentina,
the Ypané, the Jejuí and the Tebicuary rivers.
The Paraná river forms the eastern and southern border. It is
navigable for vessels of different drafts from the confluence with
the Paraguay river to the Itaipú dam and, from there, for smaller
vessels. This river has significant importance for the generation of
hydro electrical power, because of its unevenness.
2. Environmental Aspects
2.1. Region Oriental (The Eastern Region)
It is “characterized by a variety of physical aspects where alternate
plains with extended forested level areas, (...) mountain ranges, hills
and valleys and a network of rivers and streams.”2 In concentrates
most of the economic activity of the country and for that reason
it is one of the most densely populated regions.
1 Atlas Censal; Dirección General de Estadística, Encuestas y Censos; Secretaría

Técnica de Planificación; Presidencia de la República; Asunción, Paraguay;
1993.
2 Chase, Beatriz; La gestión participativa de las reservas de biosfera en el
ordenamiento territorial, El caso paraguayo; IV Reunión de la Red IberoMaB;
Comité MaB paraguayo; p. 2; November: 1999.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
128
The orographic system of

Paraguay is located in this region
and it is formed by the mountain
ranges of Amambay, Mbaracayú
and Caaguazú. Their height does
not reach 800 meters.
The climate peculiarities
corresponding to this region
are observed to the north west
being the climate sub-humid,
and it is humid towards the
northeast and the south.
The climate and rainfalls result
in different types of plants in the
The Eastern Region, fertile, with large
region: sub-humid forests in the rivers, it contains 97% of the population.
center, savannahs and marshes It is divided into 14 Departaments.
areas. Thus, together with the
fauna of these accidents, a very
unique eco-system arises.
The humid forested areas are
characteristic of this region and
they hold a great variety of
tree species, ephifites, vines,
ferns and palm trees, all of
them in different strata. The
most representative species are
lapacho or tajy, cedar, guatambu,
yvyra pytá which form the upper
stratum. In the lower stratum Hilly landscape: the Easten Region is
crossed by undulating mountain ranges
we find the ñandypa mi and known as “cordilleras” such as those of
the naranja hai (bitter orange). Los Altos, Ybyturuzú, Amambay and
There are species that connect Mbaracayú.
these strata such as the guembé
and the vines. The fauna in these
forests is quite varied, above all
with birds. There are abundant
Beatriz G. de Bosio
129
tucanos and the guyra campana,

an endangered specie, as well
as raptorial birds. As the forest
is divided into strata, there are
fauna species quite connected
with them, thus there is a great
variety of monkeys who feed on
Lake Ypoá: until not long ago, fruits. Among the terrestrial fauna
inaccesible natural beauty surrounded we can name the paka or agutí,
by swamps. deer and the tapir or mboreví
(wild boar).
The “cerrado” is another one of the formations in this region

and it is found in the northeast. It is associated with populated
settlements as it is employed for a variety of activities such as
cattle-raising (the “cerrado” is burned to renew pastures).
Thus, the flora grows thick and low, with hardened trunk and
foliage because of the frequent burning. The most representative
fauna are the aguara and the ñandu guasu.
The swamps are natural communities associated to marsh
systems. It includes the flooded soil to the south of the region.
In the flora, we have the totora, the aguape and the camalote;
the fauna is represented by the carpincho (capibara) and the
aguara guasu. Bamboos are also frequent in the Eastern Region
with species like the takuarembo and the takuara.
There are in this region important parks and natural reserves:
I. Reserve Mbaracajú Forest: located in the Department
of Canindeyú, it covers an area of 64,000 hectares
and it protects one of the last remaining subtropical
forests in South America.
II. National Park Cerro Corá: it is located in the
Department of Amambay, to the north of the
region. It covers an area of 12,038 hectares and it
is characterized by the isolated hills, low vegetation
Beatriz G. de Bosio
130
and numerous watercourses. It protects endemic

species of native flora and fauna that are endangered.
It has picnic and camping areas, a landing strip,
basic services in the administrative area and a fully
equipped hall.
III. Scientific Monument Moisés Bertoni: it has a reduced
area and it is located in the Department of Alto Paraná.
It holds a portion of higher forest and it houses the
legacies of the experimentation center of the Swiss
naturalist Moisés Bertoni. It has four pedestrian
trails, a lookout on the Paraná river, a picnic area, an
amphitheater and a historic-cultural museum.
2.2. The Western region or Chaco
The Chaco is “mainly a

sedimentary basin of the tertiary
and quaternary and, in almost
its full extension, it has a flat
topography, extreme conditions
of humidity or aridity and a
impermeable subsoil that causes
the coasts of the Paraguay and
Pilcomayo rivers to be subject
to flooding.”3
It is the least populated region of
the country since it contains only
3% of the total population.
The Chaco possesses great
The indomitable Paraguayan Chaco,
biodiversity. Among the most constitutes 60% of the national territory
representative fauna in this but holds only 3% of the population.
It is the habitat of most of the Indian
ethnic groups.
3 Chase, Beatriz; La gestión participativa de las reservas de biosfera en el

ordenamiento territorial, El caso paraguayo; IV Reunión de la Red IberoMaB;
Comité MaB paraguayo; Pág. 2; November, 1999.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
131
sector we may name crocodiles

–there are in the Chaco 23
known species–; more than
hundred snake species, lizards
and iguanas; the taguá, and
endemic and endangered
specie, not found in any other
ecosystem in South America;
Yaguareté, a classic of the Chaco fauna,
its nomeclature derives from the mixture the yaguareté; the tatú or
of «yaguá» which in Guarani means armadillo; diverse species of
dog, and «eté» which means body,
despite the fact that it is a feline. butterflies and a great variety
of fowl like the ñandu (ostrich),
the heron the guyra campana
(The Bell Bird), among others.
The Chaco flora is represented
also by natural forests in this
case used to extract the tannin
(substance extracted from the
quebracho) and also there are
essence of palo santo (holy
wood) and poles. There is a
line that separates the Dry or
Chaco Boreal from the Humid
Chaco or Chaco Húmedo.
Among the species that we can
mention we have large trees
such as the quebracho, known
for the hardness of the wood,
the palo santo, the pindo and
Ñandú, another specimen of Paraguayan
fauna; some ethnic groups use it in their karanday palms; the samu’u (big
symbolic imagery and in their craft bellied tree); cacti and a great
creation.
variety of orchids. The fauna
in this system has the: hornero
copetón, taguá, tatú bolita and
yaguareté.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
132
The wetlands are also

characteristic of this region.
There are also formations of
alluvial material, called sand
dunes. They constitute deposits
of sand that remain behind
a riverbed that recovered its
normal size. Later, the vegetation Samu’u, a distinct specimen of Paraguayan
covers it and it is shaped by the flora, also known as the palo borracho
wind. They are located in the (drunken stick); in the Chaco War it was
used as a spying and observation spot.
northwest, the most arid region
in Paraguayan territory. The
flora is disperse and it shows
trees such as the quebracho
and the jacarandá. The shrub
known as the yvyía is very well
known because it saves the lives
of people suffering from thirst.
Its most representative fauna is
constituted by viscachas and
tuco tucos.
The paradisiacal ecological reserve

Tinfunké on the Pilcomayo river in the
South American Chaco.
Two important national parks are located in this region:

I. National Park Teniente Agripino Enciso: it has a
total area of 40,000 hectares and it is located in the
Department of Boquerón. It is characterized as the
typical Chaco landscape with xerophilous vegetation
in dense forests where the white quebracho and the
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133
samu’u can be found. The park has old trenches used

during the Chaco War. Its infrastructure is limited
as it has a dirt road access, pedestrian trails, electric
generator and basic hygiene services for the visitor.
II. National Park Defensores del Chaco: it has an area of
780,000 hectares and it is located in the Department
of Alto Paraguay. The area is an alluvial plain covered
by quebrachos, forests and thorn bushes. The Cerro
León in unique since in the Chaco it is very difficult
to find unevenness in the land. There are also beds
of intermittent lagoons. The infrastructure in this
park is larger than in the previous one since it has,
running water, lodging, parking lot and picnic areas
and, besides, two landing strips.
3. Cultural and historical Review

Paraguay, called in its beginnings “the Giant Province of the Indies”
due to the extensive territories granted by the Capitulation to the
first Adelantado of the Río de la Plata, Pedro de Mendoza, is today
a landlocked country.
Located in the heartland of South America, its capital is Asunción,
founded in 1537 by Captain Juan de Salazar de Espinoza. From the
beginning, it became the central nucleus of the Spanish conquest
in the region after the first Buenos Aires was abandoned in order
to boost from here the expeditions to the Sierra de la Plata.
The Paraguayan territory is divided into two great regions, separated
by the Paraguay, river that comes from the Xaraxes of the Mato
Grosso, and is a tributary of the Paraná river which, in turn, originates
in the highlands of Brazil amid dense tropical forests.
The Eastern region, with its axis on the Bay of Asunción, was
populated at the time of the conquest by Indians of the Tupí
Guaraní linguistic family that occupied the central part of the South
American continent. Before the Spanish arrived, some Guaraní
Beatriz G. de Bosio
134
tribes, known as the Chiriguano and Guarayo, had migrated

through the Chaco to the Andes Mountains.
It was with the Kario of the Guarani family that the biological and
cultural miscegenation took place, and whose language went
through centuries and remains a living language for the majority
of the population.
Paraguay houses in its territory,
seventeen Indian ethnic groups
belonging to five linguistic
families. They are the Tupí-
Guaraní, Zamuco, Mataco-
Mataguayo, Lengua-Maskoy y
Guaicurú, with their respective
cultural universes. Chaco ethnic groups: drawing by
Florian Paucke, a Jesuit priest who made
It fell to Asunción to be named contributions to the anthropological
“Mother of Cities”, since from science with his outstanding engravings.
there departed in the seixteenth century several founding
expeditions which gave origin to important cities of the region,
such as the second Buenos Aires, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Villa Rica
del Espíritu Santo, Corrientes, Santa Fe, Ciudad Real del Guairá
and Concepción del Bermejo.
With the division of the Giant Province by Cédula Real (Royal
Decree) of 1617, it was created the Province of Paraguay or Guairá
with capital in Asunción and the Province of Buenos Aires, with
capital in the city of that name. The Province of Paraguay was thus
marginalized from the American commercial route, isolated and
abandoned to its fate.
The religious orders, the Franciscans first and the Jesuits afterwards,
together with the secular clergy exerted a great influence in the
complex transculturation processes, based on the Indian tradition.
The Jesuit and Franciscan imagery, pulpits and altary have become
a vivid part of the cultural heritage and are now part of museums
and collections.
The thirty Guaraní towns of the Jesuits Reductions on the border
between the Hispanic and Lusitanian empires, covered what today
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135
is southern Brazil, northeast

of Argentina and the north of
Uruguay. Eight of the most
important Reductions are in
Paraguayan territory and are
a part of a tourist circuit in the
routes of Mercosur.
Silversmith craft, originated in Potosí,
The Franciscan missionaries who
Alto Perú, but it also had practitioners
were characterized for being
in Paraguay as shown by these religious
wine and water jugs of the eighteenth
respectful of the models of the
century. Likewise, the Paraguayan silver
Guarani social organization, the
mate holders are highly appreciated for
their beauty. tava (villages), founded several
towns among which them: Itá, Yaguarón, Ypané, Guarambaré,
Atyrá, Yuty and Caazapá, most of them under the direction of
the illustrious Fray (Father) Luis de Bolaños, a true apostle of the
evangelization of the Indians in Paraguay.
The Paraguayan seventeenth century was marked by isolation,
contraction and a fierce struggle for survival. The final decadence of
the Siglo de Oro Español (Spanish Golden Century) diminished the
flow of exchange with the metropolis. The stagnant population suffered
raids by non-assimilated Indians of the Chaco and the terrible raids
of the Sao Paulo bandeirantes in their insatiable need for slave labor.
The province received in the eighteenth century the migratory
contribution of a merchant group that arrived in the Río de la
Plata and Paraguay river in response to the new conditions of the
European industrial revolution and to the important though tardy
changes in the administrative policies of the Bourbon Kings of
Spain. New cities were founded, the Villa Real de la Concepción,
San Pedro de Ycuamandiyú, Rosario del Cuarepotí and Pilar del
Ñeembucú, located on the Paraguay river and that soon became
trading ports of the renascent national production.
On the other hand, in 1767, by royal decree of the Spanish King
Charles III, the Jesuit Order was expelled from the continent while
they created the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata with Buenos Aires
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136
as the political and comercial center of the region with authority

over the Province of Paraguay.
Paraguay achieved independence from the centers of power to
which it was submitted, Spain and Buenos Aires, in 1811.
The will of Buenos Aires, the old Viceroyalty, compelled the first
independent government of Dr. José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia
to adopt a policy of “splendid isolation” to preserve the autonomy
threatened by the annexationist pretensions from Buenos Aires.
This forced the Paraguayan population to endure an austere and
authoritarian system in a self-sufficient economy.
Although it is true that independence was solidly established, the
policy of Dr. Francia affected the development of Paraguay. The
markets of yerba mate (the national economy’s main product since
colonial times) suffered. International trade (which was a source
of development), and education, were sacrificed because of the
need for national defense.
When the Supreme Dictator died in 1840, Carlos Antonio
López took office, already under a new international reality who
demanded and achieved recognition of Paraguayan independence
by Brazil, first and the European powers, later. The Argentine
Confederation resigns her pretension to rebuild the old viceroyalty
only in 1852 when it recognized the Paraguayan independence.
The country then opens itself to international trade, to diplomatic
exchanges, to foreign investment and to the presence of a surprising
amount of the best English technicians, hired by the government to
build infrastructure in the country with high furnaces, ironworks,
arsenals, shipyards, urban projects and sanitary organization.
Intellectual activity occupied a preponderant place in the nascent
Republic whose President, a former teacher himself, personally
presided over the exams of secondary school students and perhaps
impressed by them, he gave them the first official scholarships to study
in Europe. For the first time this happened in South America.
Paraguayan journalism arises under the government of Carlos Antonio
López. The newspaper “El Paraguayo Independiente” appears on
Beatriz G. de Bosio
137
April 26th, 1845, with the firm goal of achieving international

recognition of our independence. Other important publications of
that era were “El Semanario de Avisos y Conocimientos Útiles”, “La
Aurora”, a magazine by the Aula de Filosofía (Hall of Philosophy),
“Eco del Paraguay” (Echo from Paraguay), directed by Ildefonso
Bermejo a Spanish journalist and writer, etc.
Within this policy of modernization, Paraguay inaugurated
the railroad in 1861, which constitutes until today a means of
communication and a tourist attraction because it is a steam engine
already commercially in disuse.
The War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) against Argentina, Brasil
and Uruguay interrupted the industrial progress of the country and
caused dramatic demographic loss leaving it in a shambles with
the threat of even ceasing as a sovereign country.
The reconstruction of the ruined country began with the approval
of a new Constitution with liberal ideology, modeled in that of the
United States and Argentina.
Its enforcement met obstacles because of the earlier authoritarian
tradition, which, added to the economic problems, brought about
political instability and a defficient administration condemning
the country, still rich in natural resources and with a fascinating
cultural heritage, to a comparative backwardness within the
regional context.
In that context, already in the twentieth century, and after having
painfully reached the first signs of a sustained economic and
population recovery, the Paraguayan people had to face another
international war, between 1932 and 1935, against our Bolivian
brothers as the only way to settle definitive territorial limits.
The Paraguayan Chaco or Western region was the scene of this
tragic historical event.
Several sociocultural realities exist in this region. The scarce
population is concentrated into three main areas. Around Villa
Hayes and Benjamín Aceval; the Central Chaco’s Mennonite
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colonies, composed of religious anabaptist groups from Central

Europe and Canada, and the industrial and cattle ranching towns
of Alto Paraguay (Upper Paraguay) and the military garrisons on
the borders with Bolivia and Argentina.
The Indians of the Chaco constitute a marginalized population in
the context of the regional society. In the Chaco there are thirteen
ethnic groups.
The Trans-Chaco Highway stretches to the northwest from Villa
Hayes as far as Mariscal Estigarribia and, unpaved, it continues as
far as the border with Bolivia.
The Chaco War ended with the fall of the civilian oriented
Liberal Party from power and its replacement by the militaristic
system that led to, between 1954 and 1989, to an authoritarian
government led by General Alfredo Stroessner. He adopted a
policy of economic growth with limited freedoms which ended up
in serious limitations to autonomous cultural undertakings.
The education reform was carried out with the support of
international organizations with unsatisfactory results in terms of
curricula both in the humanities and in the sciences.
Once the dictator was overthrown, the emerging realities of the
modern world dominated putting an end to isolation, now open
to the democratization factor, economic and social integration,
and recently, globalization.
Paraguay became a part of the Mercosur regional bloc, the
Southern Common Market (Mercosur), despite the enormous
asymmetries with the rest of the associate members.
There are great hopes in this project for the free movement
of human and capital resources, and production in general.
Therefore, after centuries, Paraguay, will be able to make up for
her ancestral limitations imposed by the geographic imperative and
happily overcome by communications of this historical time.
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4. Tangible Cultural Heritage

In this case, the community heritage is a kind of raw material for
tourism since, without heritage, there would be no attraction.
By cultural heritage we call those cultural goods of a community,
inherited from its ancestors. The classification into tangible and
intangible is used for better comprehension.
In Paraguay, except for rare occasions, the tangible heritage is
characterized as non-monumental. We may speak then of a
modest heritage, which qualifies it particularly as it is not defined
by an isolated building or by monuments, but through a complex
cultural network making the tangible seen almost intangibly.
The towns of Paraguay are not “a monument”, “a house”, “the
museum“; they are, rather, urban sets which acquire importance
when analyzed as a whole. Thus, a visitor to a Paraguayan town
does not really enjoy his visit if he does not tour it like one more
of its inhabitants, activities such as a “city tour” or craft shopping
do not make him share that experience. We must, then, change
the approach with which, both from a tourist and an institutional
point of view, we approach heritage. The traditional way of
“doing tourism” impoverishes Paraguay’s heritage, since the most
advisable way would be a non-conventional and global personal
approach, differentiating the local characteristics. A visit to
Paraguay, as a country, not as simple isolated attractions taken out
of context, must be done as one reads. And a text reading must
be complete: it must be read what is manifested in the book but
also that which is read between the lines. Paraguay is richer in this
aspect. When that is understood, the knowledge of “the other”
and also ours acquires a sense hidden to us before.
It would be useless, in these terms, an inventory of sites, museums,
etc., as we would be doing a simple summation. Nevertheless,
we shall mention here the most important of that, which is called
the Tangible Cultural Heritage, knowing beforehand that not only
those sites, monuments and museums are Paraguay, as they are
isolated spots within a cultural and historical design that must be
understood as a whole, in order to fully enjoy it.
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Sites and Monuments

Asunción
It is the most important urban
nucleus in Paraguay, and just
like other cities, it does not show
monumental characteristics,
with some exceptions. It is
the only city in Paraguay that
shows samples of architectonic Bay of Asunción: in this area the original
heritage, as we usually know it. Fort was built in 1537.
Asunción’s historic center possesses undoubtedly places for tourist
interest and they are worth a tour. In it should be included the
Iglesia Catedral (the Cathedral), built in 1845, Palacio Legislativo
(the Legislative Palace), seat of the National Congress (former
Spanish Cabildo), Casa de la Cultura (House of Culture), old seat of
the Colegio Seminario de San Carlos de la Orden Jesuítica (College-
Seminary of San Carlos of the Jesuit Order) and later military
quarters, Palacio de Gobierno o Palacio de López (Government
Palace or López’s Palace), built in 1860, Casa de la Independencia
(House of the Independence), built in 1772, Correo Central or
Palacio Patri (Central Post Office or Patri Palace) and Manzana
de la Rivera (Rivera Square) which constitutes a group of houses
adapted as a Cultural Center which includes the oldest standing
building in the city: Casa Viola (1750), today the seat of the City’s
Memory Museum. This group forms an entire environment that
is combined with landscape-environmental characteristics such
as the plazas (squares), the river and the street forestation. Other
attractions in the historical center are those we find around the
Railway Station (1861). Also within the commercial section of
downtown Asunción we have the Oratorio Nuestra Señora de la
Asunción (Oratory of our Lady of Asunción) or Panteón Nacional
de Héroes (National Pantheon of the Heroes). The Iglesia de La
Encarnación (the church of La Encarnación), built in 1893, is
outside of the historical quarters but it completes it, located on a
knoll and built with bare bricks.
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Rest of the country

In the countryside, they towns of Paraguay are worth a visit. Depending
upon their location, they have particular features according to their
history. Sometimes, the layout of an urban setting and its design is owed
to its foundation; in others, to their past as Indian towns or Francican
or Jesuit missions, which imprints idiosynchratic characteristics in the
town. It is never too much to clarify that the same would not be as
complete without the life that surrounds them, their people, their
feasts, their rituals.
We could risk a classification and grouping of these towns based
on their general features, following the book by Architect Ramón
Gutiérrez.
I. The Indian Towns
The native towns arise in the sixteenth century and they
are laid out around the plaza (square) in whose center a
church is built. Around it, the town will grow with aligned
houses, and the new houses shall be built parallel to those
already existing. On one of the shorter sides (the plaza was
usually rectangular), stood the Casa Parroquial (parish house)
and the Cabildo would be built. The relation between the
church, with its galleries projects the religious cult toward
the exterior, the square and the houses, which also have
galleries giving evidence of a religious presence and a very
strong morphological unit. The evolution of these towns was
minimal until prior to the War of the Triple Alliance.
1. Atyrá: was founded around 1540, its quarters were
modified when the church was moved in 1928, date in
which it stopped functioning as the epicenter of the town.
The altar and the imagery are preserved; they are from
the eighteenth century. Atyrá is nowadays, thanks to the
political will and the joint action of its municipality, the
cleanest city in the country.
2. Tobatí: it maintains its original features.The church
is from the second half of the nineteenth century but
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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the style is encased within the colonial architecture.

The altar and the carvings are original.
3. Itá: it is probably the oldest Indian town, founded in
1537. The church building resisted until the twentieth
century when it was totally transformed. Some original
walls, windows and doors are maintained. It is an
important handicraft center.
4. Yaguarón: it was founded in approximately 1596; it
has one of the most interesting churches in Paraguay,
finished in 1772. Although it suffered structural
transformations at various times, it maintains an
impressive altarpiece, constituting one of the best
samples of Baroque imagery in Paraguay.
5. Caazapá and Yuty: They are inscribed in the
category of towns founded by Franciscan priests. The
foundation of San José de Caazapá is attributed to Fray
(Father) Luis de Bolaños in 1607 “in the place called
Guaybirá”. Ramón Gutiérrez says that the occupation
of the Guairá zone with the Franciscan settlements
begins in the early seventeenth century. Caazapá was
a model Franciscan Reduction in Paraguay. It was
an exchange center of goods and services for a vast
rural area. The Franciscan evangelization was of great
trascendence since the priests respected the patterns
of the Guarani social organization, customs and
language. Today, some mention the Franciscan matrix
of the Paraguayan population. This system of the
reductions initiated by the Franciscans was successfully
continued by the Jesuits and it represented a model
of intercultural dialogue, making the meeting of the
two worlds something less traumatic.
An important heritage of the Caazapá zone is the Ycuá
Bolaños (Bolaños Spring) which becomes a center of
tourist attraction, more for its intangible significance. The
current temple preserves samples of Franciscan art.
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Visiting these towns connects us with our primeval

roots and it induces us to think with optimism about
the future.
II. The towns of mulattoes and Blacks

The layout of these towns was similar to those of the native
Indian towns.
1. Emboscada: It is created with the function of setting
the northern border around the year 1740 and it is
populated with free Blacks. Although the urban layout
has been restructuring itself, it maintains the square
and the 1774 church in excellent condition. According
to Gutiérrez, the Church of Emboscada has nothing
to envy other churches in Paraguay, but it continues
to be the less known church.
2. Areguá: even when its origin

was that of a town for Blacks,
what today is Areguá is due
to the golden time at the end
of the nineteenth century as
it was adopted as a resort
town by the wealthy families
Railway Station in Areguá on the of Asunción. The urban set
picturesque Lake Ypacaraí: Areguá was and its integration into the
founded as an “encomendado” Indian
town by Domingo Martínez de Irala landscape (The axis Loma
during the conquest. Nowadays it is a Hill - Lake Ypacaraí - Koi
predominantly handicraft city.
and Chororí Hills) constitutes
an interesting example as it is very unconventional.
The casa quintas (villas) still remaining are important
examples of the architecture of the nineteenth century.
Today, it is the capital of the Central Department
and, for its peculiar heritage, it was declared a
Departmental Heritage.
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III. Spanish towns founded in accordance with the Laws

of the Indies
These are towns founded from the beginning of seventeenth
century in response to needs of territorial dominion. They
are structured based upon the famous Laws of the Indies:
1. Concepción
2. Pilar
IV. The fortified towns

They originated as precarious defense systems with
palisades and moats.
This typology is followed by many towns created in the
seventeenth century by the Jesuits in view of continuous
attacks by Paulista slave hunters.
1. Santiago
2. Santa María de Fe
Towns for the defense of the frontier: later, in the
eighteenth century, many towns were founded as forts
with the goal of defending the borders.
1. Villeta
The fort as the origin of the town.
1. Fuerte Olimpo.
V. Towns originating in chapels

The chapels that were built were very precarious and
around them were built quarters for comunal services. The
foundation dates of those towns are established according
to the completion of the chapels. At the same time, these
chapels become intermediate points between Indian towns
and the cities, serving as support centers for the agricultural-
cattle raising advance. The urban layout bears relation to
the design of the Indian towns.
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The construction of the chapels generally bears relation to:

Encomiendas: the Laws of the Indies ordered the
encomenderos to build a chapel in order to guarantee
the indoctrination of the Indians under the encomienda
system.
Actions by a Governor and Bishop: a chapel was built when
a village gathered a considerable number of settlers.
1. Capiatá.
Private oratory owned by an hacendado (landowner): it
acquires public status when the villagers start to use it.
Built by joint action by the villagers.
1. Quiindy
2. Valenzuela
VI. Towns originating in haciendas (landed estate)
There are cases in which a hacienda originates a town.
Jesuit Haciendas:
a) Paraguarí
b) San Lorenzo
Haciendas of the
Order of the Mercy:
a) Areguá
A household in San Lorenzo, originally
Dominican Haciendas a Jesuit hacienda, today it is one of the
fastest growing cities inthe metropolitan
a) Roque Gonzá- area.
lez de Santa Cruz.
The examples of monument heritage in Paraguay’s countryside
are limited to the zones where the Missions settled. Both the
Jesuit Ruins and some churches and other, Jesuit or Franciscan
buildings, are invaluable, not only for the architectural and artistic
value but because of the history told between the lines, as it was
explained before.
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Museums
In Paraguay, museum activity is relatively new. Asunción has the
largest museum concentration of the country and, although with
some limitations, it has interesting works of art.
Among them:
• National Museum of Fine Arts: created in 1902 but inaugurated
in 1909, first as a private initiative, it was acquired by the State
thirty years later. The original collection, collected in Buenos Aires
and Europe, and that belonged to Juansilvano Godoi, contains
samples of naturalism that comes from European and Río de la
Plata academies of the nineteenth century. It has works of art by
foreign painters such as Héctor Da Ponte, Guido Boggiani, and
Jules Mornet. It also has works of art by national artists such as
Pablo Alborno, Juan Samudio, Jaime Bestard, Andrés Campos
Cervera, Carlos Colombo, Julián Sánchez, Modesto Delgado
Rodas, among others. The museum’s collection mostly belongs to
the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unfortunately, a bad
management during many years led to the disappearance and loss
of works of art which diminished noticeably its collection.
• Casa de la Independencia (House of the Independence): it is a
historical and documentary museum. It has samples of colonial
furniture, objects of personal use, portraits and letters.
• Centro de artes visuales / Museo del Barro (Center for Visual
Arts / Museum of Clay): structured over twenty years of work, it
is composed of three museums which exhibit Paraguay’s visual
expressions. Thus, the Museum of Clay contains collections of
Popular Art with more than 4,000 pieces from the beginning of
the seventeenth century and it includes carvings, textiles, laces,
ceramics, jewelry, and silverwork; the Museum of Indian Art
integrates the art of the 17 ethnic groups within the national territory,
with over 2,000 pieces, among them we find vases, carvings,
feather, textiles, masks and baskets; and the Paraguayan Museum
of Contemporary Art for the multiple expressions of Urban Art from
Paraguay and Ibero America, with a collection of over 1,000 works
Beatriz G. de Bosio
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of art. The Paraguay’s Gold and Silver Collection, displayed in the

Citibank Cultural Center –an iniciative of this institution– also has a
Document and Research Center which labors in the gathering and
dissemination of rural and Indian cultural expressions.
• Museo “Bernardino Caballero” (Museum “Bernardino
Caballero”): located within the park which bears the same name,
it is the old house where General Caballero (1839-1912) lived.
He was a true caudillo (political leader) of the first three decades
of 1870 postwar. The collection includes his personal items.
• Museo del Tesoro de la Catedral (Museum of the Treasure
of the Cathedral). Founded in 1978, it contains approximately
200 pieces: images, paintings, silver pieces, etc.
• Museo colección Monseñor Juan Sinforiano Bogarín
(Museum “Colection Monsignor Juan Sinforiano Bogarín”): here
is the collection gathered by Monsignor Bogarín during over 50
years at the head of the Diocesis of Paraguay. It houses mostly
samples of religious art.
• Museo Etnográfico Dr. Andrés Barbero (Ethnographic
Museum “Dr. Andrés Barbero”): created in 1929 by Dr.
Barbero. It holds archeological and ethnographic collection of
the several ethnic groups which inhabited the country. It also
has a library and an exhibition gallery of photographs.
• Museo Postal Telegráfico (Postal and Telegraph Museum).
• Museo Indígena y Museo de Historia Natural (Indian
Museum and Natural History Museum): they are located within
the premises of the Jardín Botánico (Botanic Garden). The first
contains a collection of Paraguay’s indigenous pieces and the
second displays the fauna and flora of the country.
• Museo Memoria de la Ciudad (City’s Memory Museum): a
building dedicated to the history of Asunción. It has a didactic goal.
4 Salerno, Osvaldo; Paraguay: Artesanía y Arte Popular;Third Edition; Centro

de Documentación e Investigaciones de Arte Indígena y Popular; CAV/
Museo del Barro; Asunción: 1996.
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• Museo del Ferrocarril (Rail Museum).

• Museo Julián de la Herrería (Museum Julián de la Herrería).
Located in the Centro Cultural Juan de Salazar.
In the Central Department, in the city of San Lorenzo, stands out
Museo Guido Boggiani (Museum Guido Boggiani), in homage
to the outstanding Italian scientist and researcher who lived
in Paraguay and gathered a valuable collection of pieces and
photographs, fruits of his studies about the Chaco’s indigenous
groups which is now a part of the collection of this museum.
Craftsmanships
Popular craft is the set of
manifestations produced by
the people of different towns
as examples of their culture. It
is through this concept that we
associate always craftsmanship
with tradition and identity.
Here, it would be necessary Anthropomorfic water pitcher: created
by the famous pottery maker from the
t o d i f f e r e n t i a t e p o p u l a r town of Itá, Doña Rosa Brítez.
craftsmanship from popular
art which is a less lax concept.
The second term is used to cover such manifestations that reach a
certain level of aesthetic expressivity (quality of form, techniques,
and materials and density in the content).
At first, the Guarani craftsmanship was linked exclusively with strictly
ritual or utilitarian ends. Those related to ritual were eradicated by the
Spaniards upon their arrival in America but those linked to utilitarian
ends were reformulated in accordance with the new demands imposed
by the colony. Indian labor was organized twofold: the organization
in missions managed by the Society of Jesus where the organizational
structure was more complex and strict and, as a consequence, the
margin of creativity was limited, and other organizations, in this case,
civilian ones, and less rigorous than the former, with the help of a
religious order. The latter were established through workshops in the
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Indian towns (Táva) and as a consequence of the latter that arises the
mestizo expression that so characterizes Paraguay.
Once in the nineteenth century, during the government of the two
López, a commercial opening takes place after years of isolation,
and thereby refined aesthetic elements are imported from the Río
de la Plata and Europe. But these aesthetic criteria do not manage
to displace the craft models. Furthermore, there is a displacement of
this popular craft toward the uses and customs of the criollo upper
class. Thus, for example, the ñandutí, earlier an exclusive religious
item, starts being part of the criollo tousseau.
The problem that meant for Paraguay the War of the Triple Alliance
is also reflected in the craftsmanship. Some manifestations survived
because they had a functional feature, above all those linked to
women, since the male population was amply reduced.
From the half of the twentieth century “(...) the advance in the use
of industrialized consumer goods and acceleration in the rhythm
of urbanization provoke the weakening of peasant socio-cultural
patterns and a gradual and then speedy development of hybrid
craftmanship forms that incorporate new models, elements and
techniques.” But, at the same time, this type of manifestations
started to be valued giving them a non-utilitarian character, as
decorative pieces or collectibles.
Currently, the aesthetic quality of Paraguayan craftsmanship is seen
diminished in some cases because it adopts elements that have not
yet been reformulated as its own, especially in zones around the
capital city. In other cases, such a quality is growing since the products
of the same phenomenon and these reformulated elements, end up
creating a craftsmanship with a voice of its own.
Depending on the material and the technique used, the Paraguayan
craftsmanship have very representatives examples. We will cite
the most important.
Weaving made of woolen, cotton or palm fibers, is fundamentally
a female activity.
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Wool is widely used in San

Miguel, Misiones, to weave
ponchos and blankets or
bedspreads. It is also used in
Carapeguá to weave belts and
blankets.
The cotton thread is the raw
material for most textile crafts.
The hammock, widely used, is
woven in Carapeguá, Itauguá
and San Miguel.
The encaje ju, a reformulation of
a lace of European origin, shows
geometric decoration in white
Ñandutí: a sample of this lace whose
thread and it is made in many manufacture began in colonial times.
cities and towns of Paraguay, Nowadays, the production in centered
but above all in Yataity and in the town of Itauguá.
Carapeguá.
The poyvi blanket, widely used in Paraguayan households, is woven
with thin and thick threads and decorated by stripes of varied
colors. They are made in Carapeguá and San Miguel.
Another lace of international fame is the ñandutí, also a
reformulation of another of European origin, in this case the
“Encaje de los Soles” (Lace of the Suns) of the Canary Islands. At
first, white thread was exclusively used but, at present, they are
also manufactured in colors. It is produced mainly in Itauguá.
The ao po’i, is a fine handmade woven cloth.The product of this
careful work is a linen used as the basis for garments where geometric
motifs of the same color are embroidered. It is made in Yataity.
The palm leaf weaving, general of the caranday variety is made
mainly in Luque and Limpio. Hats, baskets and hand fans are
produced. The palms of Palm Sunday, made with tender pindó
leaves, are made especially for that day.
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Carving arises in the colonial workshops where wood and bovine

handle (guampa) are worked; they are used only for canteens
and tereré glasses.
However, wooden carving is used for a great variety of expressions.
Among them, the santería that reproduces images of saints,
generally in cedar. They are carved in Tobatí, Capiatá, Piribebuy,
Asunción and Itauguá.
The making of masks, earlier linked to Indian rituals and nowadays
linked to religious festivities, is a masculine practice. These are
used in the patron saint day festivities, where the Kamba Ra’anga
performs wearing masks made of balsa tree. Altos and Tobatí are
the only towns where they are still made.
Metal craftsmanship date from

colonial times, first as a part
of the religious and later for
domestic use.
The mates and gourd, made of
gold and silver, are still made in
Luque. Certain jewels survived
Another expression of local craft is the by using low carat gold and
artistic tin candelabra for decorative or silver and they are made in
religious use. They are manufactured Luque and Asunción.
mainly in the city of Luque.
Brass and metal packagings residues are materials quite used to

make candelabra and lanterns. This practice is made in Luque,
San Lorenzo and Asunción.
Ceramics is worked with two different techniques. Modeling is a
technique already known by the Indians and until today it is done
by women following the Guarani tradition. From the time of the
colony, new themes are incorporated but the technique remains
unaltered. Water jugs and figures are mainly made. Nowadays,
this technique is worked in Itá and Tobatí. The other technique
is molding which, as its name indicates, uses molds and lathes.
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It is made in Areguá and it has

absorbed values of suburban
culture.
The leather carving is used
to decorate chairs, tobacco
boxes and luggage. It is made
in Atyrá, Ypacaraí, Concepción
and Luque. Saint Peter and Saint Paul: traditionally
presented together; they inspire popular
The taraceado (inlaid work), of religion and commemorate the Day of
colonial origin, is the incrustation the Pope in Rome, celebrated each
June 29th.
of clear colored wood or mother-
of-pearl in furniture or wooden objects. It is made today in Luque
and Asunción, almost always to decorate musical instruments.
Finally, pyrography, made in Asunción and Caacupé, is used
currently to decorate mates and gourds. Following the indigenous
tradition, it is made with a burning point.
5. Intangible Cultural Heritage

The Guarani language is the most important legacy of the cultural
miscegenation in our country. Paraguay constitutes one of the few
examples in humanity where the vernacular language refused to
extinguish in its contact with the language of the conqueror and
today remains as a living language.
The Guarani did not have a written language, and it is considered as
a non-alphabetical culture and with an oral tradition. For that reason,
it is so very important to rescue orality in Paraguay. In the two great
international wars, the Guarani language served as an element of
the defense and moral support for the Paraguayan soldier.
Although it is true that the biological miscegenation occurred
with the Guarani, whose language is the mother tongue of a high
percentage of the population, we must bear in mind that the
country has 17 Indian ethnic groups grouped into five linguistic
families with their own cultural universe.
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On the other hand, the true history of European-Guarani

transculturation can be clearly detected in the habits and customs
of several communities in Paraguay. Thus, it is possible to refer
to the different origins of cultural expressions both in their native
expressions as the foreign influences, especially, in areas of larger
migratory influx.
The collective expressions reinforce the identity of the community
and its sense of belonging through symbols fed by religious,
Christian, Indian or profane traditions, condensing social meanings
in order to strengthen the community cohesion.
A classic example of intangible heritage are the patron saint day
festivities. In them are crearly identified the European-Hispanic
influence of the Catholic worship with the addition of the indigenous
tradition that derive into what we know as popular religiosity.
The Fiesta de San Juan (San Juan festivities), for example, is celebrated
on June 23rd, on the eve of Saint John the Baptist’s Day. This tradition
comes from pagan Europe. It is a celebration of fire which means
light, represented by the summer solstice. Through Spain, it comes
to Paraguay, located on the southern hemisphere, where the date
falls around the winter solstice, precisely the opposite.
The religious ceremonies in the towns of the countryside consist in
moving the patron saint’s image from the house of the Mayordoma
(woman churchwarden) in procession to the church on the eve;
the religious services, sung vespers, novenae, and others. On the
24th, a solemn Mass is celebrated followed by a procession of
the patron saint’s image through the streets adjoining the temple
or the main streets. Formerly, altars with Saint John’s image were
put in the houses.
In festivities of profane nature there are incorporated elements such
as the San Juan ratá (St. John’s bonfire) which is the preparation
to set alight the coals for the fire of the “tata ári jehasá” (walking
over coals) and while the bonfire is burning, the people around
–especially in the countryside– drink mate dulce (sweet mate), eat
typical dishes, and perform tests and play games. Later, the people,
walk barefoot over the coals without ashes and, presumably, the
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protection of the saint prevents them from getting burned, as long

as they have faith.
The pelota tatá (fireball) is another element of celebration of fire,
is a rag ball soaked in kerosene or tar that is kicked around from
one side to another in the crowd, which must avoid it.
The toro candil is the Spanish bullfight in which the real animal
is replaced by a someone disguised who has the horns covered
with flaming rag. In this game, the crowd resembles the torero or
bullfighter who must avoid the attacks.
The pagan aspect includes guessing and forecasting the future. Other
components of this celebration are the raffle of corn seeds, San Juan
says yes, San Juan says no; the smear of ink on a piece of paper folded
into four squares and kept under the pillow. They are pre-Christian
traditions maintained alive from generation to generation, kept by
the collective will which reinforces our rich heritage.
The celebrations in Paraguay are accompanied by typical dishes
of our gastronomy like the Paraguayan soup, payaguá mascada,
mbeyú, vorí vorí and others. The recipes of the Paraguayan typical
dishes, with the presence of corn and manioc, reflect the American
condition of its culture because of the presence of ingredients
such as corn or manioc. Likewise, the preparation of such dishes
is made together, acquiring the features of a family celebration
of pre-industrial societies. The cooking is in a tatakuá which is a
stove originally made of mud with two small openings designed to
maintain a maximum of heat with the minimal use of firewood.
Music
One of the most important expressions in cultural manifestations in
Paraguay is music. The Jesuits in the Reductions left clear testimony
that the Guarani Indian had a natural gift which made of him an
excellent composer and performer. Loyola’s order had brought many
renowned musicians like Domenico Zípoli and others. Likewise, the
Franciscans had created Indian bands and choirs whose performances
were highly praised by observers who left testimonies.
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In the independent era, the great impulse for Paraguayan music

took place under the government of Carlos Antonio López,
albeit throughout the colonial years, there are reports of musical
presentations of Spanish pieces during festivities.
The journal “El Semanario” publishes for the first time a reference
about the Paraguayan polka in its edition of November 27th, 1858.
There, it was clear how important it was that the government has
hired the French maestro Francisco de Dupuis who lived and taught
music in Paraguay between 1853 and 1861. Among his main disciples
we find Cantalicio Guerrero who directed several orchestras and took
part in some of them in Buenos Aires. Guerrero created the National
Orchestra in 1890 with state subsidy which was the precursor of
the current Symphonic Orchestra of the City of Asunción, OSCA
(according to its initials in Spanish). The other disciples of Dupuis
were Rudecindo Morales and Indalecio Odriozola. The role of
Madame Elisa Alicia Lynch was very significant because, thanks to
her, there were ballroom dances at the Club Nacional (National Club)
such as the: Lancero, Cuadrilla, Contradanza, Londón, Palomita,
Waltz, Mazurca and, finally, the Polka.
Madame Lynch also imported the first two pianos of which we
know of.
Paraguayan music achieves maturity in the twentieth century. Most
of the distinguished performers and composers had learned their
first musical education in the Police Band whose air-band concerts
became social events.
Great composers of the classical period emerge, such as, for
example, José Asunción Flores and his immortal Guarania. There
is also Herminio Giménez who combined popular and concert
music with dexterity just like Flores.
In classic guitar, Agustín Pío Barrios was called by foreign critics “the
Paganini of the guitar”, and his compositions have had a revival in
the world repertoire as his pieces are frequently performed by no less
than by Andrés Segovia, John Williams, Cayo Sila Godoy, Felipe Sosa,
Violeta De Mestral, Berta Rojas and Luz María Bobadilla.
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Paraguay is one of the three

countries which still cultivate
popular harp together with
Venezuela and México. However,
the national compositions are
reputed to have more virtuosity.
The name of Félix Pérez
Cardozo clearly stands out in The guitar is the Paraguayans’ favorite
this instrument. musical instrument. Its genius exponent
as guitarist / composer was Agustín Pío
Popular music is to a higher Barrios.
extent of oral tradition and
anonymous composers such as the famous “Campamento Cerro
León” considered as the warrior anthem of Paraguay, “Mamá
Cumandá”, “Alfonso Loma” and others.
During the Chaco War there was a burst of compositions within
the Purahéi (singing), which in the melancholy singing is known as
the Purahéi Jahe’o (singing/crying)–; some of the best known pieces
are owed to soldier-poet-musician Emiliano R. Fernández, and the
music generally was arranged by Herminio Giménez. Within the
classic repertoire, there are “Che la Reina”, “Reservista Purahéi” by
Agustín Barboza, “Regimiento 8”, and others. The use of the Guarani
language gives these compositions a peculiar identity character,
highly appreciated by the Paraguayan people.
It is impossible to try to understand the Paraguayan ethos if his musical
inclination and natural gift as a popular poet is overlooked. Most of the
performers play music by ear, with a self-taught criterion, even if the
final result is of excellent quality, highly appreciated by the universal
audience. (Source: Diccionario de la Música en el Paraguay, de Luis Szarán.)
6. Economy
Paraguay’s economy is based on agricultural and livestock.
Therefore, its production for export is based on the resources of the
soil. Its main products reflect the sharp contrasts of this society.
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157
Soybean, the main commodity generating hard currency is grown

through agribusiness. It is followed by cotton which is a typical
family based small farm product.
The national industrial outlook shows deficit in results in spite of
not always well led efforts of the past.
Food industry generates employment but still on a family enterprise
scale, except in the dairy industry, centered upon massive production
by the Mennonite community, and now with the addition of the
beef industry, both focused toward foreign markets.
For a long time, Paraguay was the main world producer of tannin
and pétit-grain essence, but these natural products have been
replaced by synthetic goods.
Manufacture on a national scale has not been able to recover
previous levels of production.
Chemical goods has had a significant growth and incipiently, they
are in conditions to compete in the regional market.
The possibility of employing the abundant energy resources from
the bi-national hydroelectric dams of Itaipú and Yacyretá for the
type of industrial production known as the “maquila,” (which is
aimed exclusively for export), promises gainful occupation, so
direly needed for the country’s population.
In matters of integration and economic opening, Paraguay has
always been a pioneer in the low tariff export of luxury products
which, under the promise of becoming a tourist attraction,
becomes harmful to national production because of the frequent
invasion of foreign products, even in the most basic.
The presence of the oriental migration has generated surprising
improvements in the fruits and horticultural production and other
items, such as the manufacturing industry.
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158
A century and a half of the word “Folklore”

Diario La Nación, September 19th, 2000
The “contemporary” phenomenon of globalization, in the case of

the word “folklore” is no less than 154 years of existence. It was
first used by the English antiquarian William John Thoms, as a label
that described the task of someone who practiced a vocational
dedication to history and cultural testimonies of peoples. In 1846,
like today, it was sought eagerly to revalue the cultural roots as a
heritage of the human societies. In our environment, the study of
folklore is formalized in a chapter of the Center of Anthropological
Studies of the Catholic University (CEADUC).
Every year, in the month of August, the World Day of Folklore is
celebrated. And in our midst the occasion is favorable for a series of
very valuable and necessary manifestations and reflections. Thanks
to that, our traditions are revalued in schools and communities.
Children and young people learn to observe the beauty of the
manifestations and experience the legitimate pride of feeling
Paraguayan. This does not go against the globalization process
because this does not mean negating the local necessarily.
Precisely, folklore combines in its etymology two Anglo-Saxon
words that once seemed contradictory, folk-lore, lore or
knowledge of the people.
For Thoms, who coined the immortal word, folklore had a condition
of past-present tense that designated a heritage whose changes
justified its analysis on the premise that on the surface with the
passage of time get lost or changed. As the case with the proverbial
iceberg, what is immediately visible in customs, traditions and beliefs,
is only the tip that hides an almost infinite pyramid.
The renewed interest in folklore in our environment received an
important contribution of an international specialist and Mercosur
compatriot, Professor Olga F. Latour de Botas, of Argentina who, in
a seminar hosted by the CEADUC before an enthusiastic and vast
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159
audience of Paraguayan cultural animators, described the features

that identify a folklore fact and they are: popular, traditional,
anonymous in authorship, of empirical or oral transmission, in
word or gesture –albeit there are elements circulating in written
form. The folklore is also localized and functional meeting needs;
it is not past but present.
The lecturer also indicated the collective aspect of folklore, since
it belongs to all. Folklore does not recognize the spectator’s plan
and the plan of the one performer. In the same way, folklore lives
in variants because it is dynamic.
However, folklore is not the same as “projection of folklore”. And
we have ample examples in our society. A projection of folklore
stops being anonymous because it has a registered author.
One of the main legacies of our Indian ancestors was oral tradition,
“the inspired word”, which in the absence of an alphabet,
became a vehicle for generational transmission of the facts and
narrations estimated as necessary for the knowledge of subsequent
generations. Thus emerge the cases, the legends, the mythical
narrations, the fables and the ñeengá (refrains or proverbs in
Guarani).
The Paraguayan literary history collects the name of Teresa Lamas
Carísimo in her work “Tradiciones del Hogar” (1921) as the first
writer who finds convenient and neccesary the transcription of
narrations and tales that she received in person from her elders
which she describes with simplicity and depth.
In this classic of the Paraguayan literature parades the compendium
of the local idiosyncrasy. Characters take the form of animals as
the Chingolo, beautiful little bird who was punished with the loss
of his beauty and the rejection of his love for being arrogant and
conceited. Bereft of bright feathers, he sought consolation in the
arms of his mother, who cried so much that she fell ill. Since then,
the Chingolo exhales his complaint with a painful “che sy hasy”
(my mother is ill).
The subject of the mother is recurrent. Pychaï is a wretched orphan
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160
eternally barefoot who suffers painful sores in the feet because

of chigoe, which force him to limp. Taking care of the horses in
a establishment, he, out of pity, picked up a skinny horse full of
scavies that passed him on the road. He nicknamed the horse
“Bichoco” because he was one-eyed.The one-eyed horse not only
spoke but actually called him by his real name, Periquito, and this
caused an untold excitement and happiness in him. Both took
part in a long jump contest organized by a powerful cacique who
had a daughter, a very beautiful and marriageable princess. The
daughter’s hands would belong to the one who would jump on
horse a huge three league ditch that the father had it dug in many
years of labor. Before the amazement of everyone because of the
physical roughness and their pretension to jump such obstacle,
they were objects of laughter and colossal derision, when horse and
rider took their place in the contest. Invoking his mother, Pychaï
spurred his friend who, with masterful impulse and long neighing,
was able to win the bet with an incredible jump.
Pychaï was overwhelmed, mounted on Bichoco, he found himself
before a delirious salvo of applause that celebrated the unexpected
feat. And the preparations for the wedding begun. Dumbfounded,
Pychaï only wanted to express gratitude to Bichoco for the
achieved feat and run to find him when the horse whispered
with emotion: “I am the soul of your mother and I came to earth
only to seek your happiness”, and a graceful dove rose in majestic
flight toward far away stars to the sound of a remote and celestial
melody”.
As befits a synthesis of the Spanish and the indigenous, the
characters always end their feats offering from them some moral
which contributes towards the teaching of good.
However, not all the characters necessarily have an exemplary
behavior. On the contrary, the gallery includes both defects and
virtues so typical of human beings.
Perurimá, also described by the author, is “the incarnation of a
clever and subtle genie, full of resources and ingenious happy
witticisms. That characteristic enables him to get ahead in his
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161
doings without ever letting other surprise him. He is irreverent,

corrupt and sacrilegious, sarcastic and shrewd. But funny as
he can be, even after committing the worst atrocities, people
tend to forgive him for the joy found in the full knowledge of
his adventures. In general, his favorite victims were priests who
suffered his mischief and constant scoff.
The author indicates that these cases must have been originated
in the times of the Jesuits. When the Indian, oppressed by the stiff
discipline in the Reductions took revenge through mockery, as a
form of resistence.
Just like Teresa Lamas in the early twentieth century, distinguished
writers such as Paulo de Carvalho Netto, Dionisio González
Torres, Mauricio Cardozo Ocampo, among others, managed
to compile and publish the results of their research in works of
similar relevance.
At present, however, perhaps it would be advisable to facilitate
access to the work of the researchers by means of the creation of
a data base and an Atlas of Traditional Paraguayan Culture. For
both undertakings, we have an offer by international experts who,
under the guidance of local specialists, could help in this necessary
and urgent project which will prevent the loss of the collective
memory and that will benefit everyone.
The very rich Paraguayan cultural heritage must be a source of
legitimate pride which will allow us to recover self-esteem in
order to show a more optimist and confident attitude in our own
forces, since there is no better formula to overcome poverty and
backwardness.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
162
Chipa, Holy Bread and 70 recipes to prepare it

The historical meaning of Paraguayan gastronomy
ABC Color, Sunday, October 21st, 2001
From prehistoric times, every culture was characterized by the

following contributions: oral communication, some kind of grain-
based bread and some form of spirit beverage used in religious
rituals. Of these three elements arise the symbolic universe that
feeds the imagery giving origin and strengthening traditions. In
Paraguay, we had a significant bibliographical void which is now
filled by cultural researcher Margarita Miró (*).
The book is a valuable contribution because it developes significant
subjects which contribute to revalue our Guarani culture, a a task in
which the national educational and cultural policy is immersed.
The final goal is to rescue and give prestige to the indigenous
component of our pluricultural universe. Appropriately, Miró
begins her task of compilation and dissemination together with an
explanation of the Guarani symbolic universe with all its mythical
elements which include an ancestral Father, thunder, our true
mother, the sun, and the two versions of the origin of fire in the
Guarani cosmogony.
In the work methodology she includes some rich oral records of
about a hundred people of advanced age from differents regions
of the country who contributed data on the Paraguayan culinary
culture as a true example of the duration of the oral tradition of
our country.
The consumption of alcoholic beverages in the Guarani and
Paraguayan culture is subject of the second part. The kagui is the
(*) Margarita Miró Ibars. Alimentación y Religiosidad Paraguaya: «Chipa, pan

sagrado». Asunción, Servilibro: 2001 - UNESCO, in the “Año de las Naciones
Unidas del diálogo entre civilizaciones”.
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163
ceremonial beverage par excellence of the Guarani. Miró estimates that

it “would be more benign than modern day beer since it is refreshing,
quenches thirst, it is digestive, anti catarrh and is diurectic.”
This kind of beverages includes also the chicha from other cultures.
In ours, drinking the kagui was only ceremonial and, although its
production was a distinctly female activity, the ceremonial consumption
was almost exclusively male since it was forbidden for children and
young people but women were allowed to drink it with moderation.
According to the available resources, the kagui could be made of
potatoes, used mainly in the Antilles, of manioc or corn. The latter
was chewed by young and pure women since it does not ferment
on its own and it needs saliva for that.
Farther on, they experimented with the kagui from fruits or sugar
cane mixed with honey which is the ingredient that most easily
ferments and is available around the year.
Honey was a necessary addition to all variants. It is important to
notice that grapes for wine as well as sugar cane are added imports
by the Spaniards who brought with them the production of “agua
ardiente de caña” or rum, later known as “caña paraguaya” or
Paraguayan cane liquor.
The next chapter refers to the birth of Paraguayan religiosity. The
missionaries discover that many of the Christian principles and
symbols are similar to those of the Guarani culture. And thus, some
of the great evangelizers had wide acceptance since the Indians
considered them shamans. This was the case of Fray (Father) Luis
de Bolaños and Alonso de Buenaventura.
The Jarý
The protector spirits maintained order and balance within the
nature, vegetable, mineral and animal kingdom, and these were
symbolisms easily transferable from one cosmovision to another,
whether it is Christian or Guarani.
The devotion for Mary is expressed in the relationship between
Ñande sy and Ñande ru (our Father, our Mother) of which union
Beatriz G. de Bosio
164
was born Kuarahy (the sun), is not that distant from the biblical
explanations of the birth of Christ. On the other hand, among the
Guarani, every important event was accompanied by a banquet
or Karu Guasu, which Miró estimates is the precedent of the
Patron Saint Day whose primary goal was to attract the natives to
Christianity to make them abandon their pagan customs.
Religious celebrations are the subject of the fourth part of Miró’s
book. For her, four are the celebrations that still gather the whole
family: the Semana Santa (Holy Week), the Día de los Muertos
(Day of the Dead), Navidad (Christmas), and Año Nuevo (New
Year). Of all these, the Holy Week is the most traditional and in it
appear the gastronomic elements of celebration such as the chipa,
the Paraguayan soup, roasting of fowls, mutton, goat, pork and
beef, all cooked in the tatakua.
The other celebration with a specific element is that on May 3rd,
or Kurusú Ara. Formerly, chipa and other foods were hung on the
cross though lately it is exclusively done with chipa. In the Karaí
Octubre (Man of October), on the first of October one must
necessarily eat Jopara, a dish prepared with “porotos” (beans)
and “locro” (hominy) in order to appease Karaí Octubre who
threatens with lack of food.
For the Day of the Dead, the population must hand out chipas
and candies to children in cemeteries or in private houses in
the name of the dead ancestors. In the patron saint’s day, a
community dinner is celebrated in order to give thanks for favors
received or to ask for protection. In matters related to the worship
of the dead, food and drinks are given to honor the deceased,
whether it is in the vigil or in the Ñembo’e Paha, —which is the
community banquet the last day of the novena. On the other
hand, the worship to little angels is an occasion of joy because the
children’s innocence implies their safe salvation, for that reason
they are dressed in white and is a moderately celebrated occasion
for food and drinks.
Finally, the fifth part of the book refers to the chipa or holy bread.
The bread made with corn flour and manioc of the entire Latin
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165
American region survive in Paraguay under the names of chipa and

mbeju. No leavening is used in its baking for which reason, despite
the heat, they can be kept for several days . It is a festive food and
they are found in all manifestations of popular religiosity.
Regarding flavor, it is clear that although the recipe is more or less
uniform, every cook adds a personal imprint. Until December,
2000, Miró registered seventy variations with different ingredients,
“but the pillars are manioc and corn and its different flours,
followed in importance by coconut, peanuts, rice, beans and
some other ingredients.”
In a valuable contribution, Miró next lists the 70 recipes of these
chipa. As a magnificent closing of this very interesting volume, Miró
refers to some newspaper articles under the heading: “Algunas
chiperas que pasaron a la historia” (Some chipa vendors who
entered history). She speaks of the “Negra Kali”, a woman chipa
vendor in Asunción who, dressed in ao po‘i and wide cotton skirts,
decorated with jazmin flowers, would shout the goodness of her
delicious product.
Another article mentions “Doña Rosa la chipera” who, during nap
time (siesta), would carry on top of her head a basket of chipa on
the streets of Asunción. Her clientele waited for her anxiously to
accompany the afternoon cocido (mate drunk like tea) with this
delicious product. It is a pity that these characters of Paraguayan
tradition are slowly disappearing from the urban landscape
although they are still very much alive in the countryside.
Margarita Miró’s contribution to the bibliography regarding the
Guarani cultural universe is particularly welcome now when
this one is preparing to form part of an Intangible Oral Heritage
of Humanity. At the same time, this is also an effort to honor
the different expressions of Paraguayan, regional and American
culture. This book is recommended for the family libraries as well
as reading material in the classroom as part of national history
courses.
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166
Ilex Paraguaiensis, classic of the Cultural Mercosur
ABC Color, Sunday March 17th, 2002

If we had to choose a symbol unquestionably common to all

Mercosur countries, inevitably we must opt for the yerba mate.The
ilex paraguaiensis is now the subject of a valuable contribution to
regional history and cultural bibliography development. Author of
the important hard cover edition is Don Fernando Assunçao, an
Uruguayan researcher of long trajectory and prolific bibliographic
production in matters dealing with cultural expressions in the Río
de la Plata. And the title he chose for this volume stands out for
being simple and accurate: El Mate (The Mate).
The edition is bilingual —Spanish and English— and it contains
valuable illustration on every page, whether they are engravings
from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries or black and
white and full color photos which give the book a peculiar
attraction.
The subjects approached by the Uruguayan academician begin
with the very history of the leaf of that shrub that for long had gone
unnoticed to the Spanish conquerors. Discovered the infusion,
another stage begins and concludes when the yerba mate grades
as a trade product of great international market in both Spanish
and Portuguese America. Around the end of the sixteenth century,
Paraguay becomes a mono producer of the yerba mate, for whose
trades later colonists and Jesuits ends in the Comunero Revolt
whose mediate and immediate causes can be attributed to the
yerba mate.
Step by step, Assunçao shows us in this interesting narration
the evolution of what soon became a charateristic habit of the
population in the region. Thus, discovered the product and its use
by the Indians, the Spaniards began adopting it gradually for which
they needed to use the calabash gourd and invent the bombilla (a
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167
metallic tube or metal straw) in order not to swallow the leaves.

From the beginning, Assunçao tells us that the route covered by
the mate was uneven: “Marked fundamentally by tendentious
opinions from panegyrists and, above all, those of detractors who
called it, alternately, an infusion full of virtues, almost magical also
an abominable vice, dirty causing all kinds of social stains.”
The mate was blamed for the scant individual or collective
productivity and of “a long series of other sinful etceteras.”
Then, the book follows the route of the artistic creation associated
with the making of gourds and bombillas in the most diverse
metallic elements including gold and silver and with the most
original designs that today are a part of the valuable collections
of regional museums.
The discovery of the yerba mate is due to Domingo Martínez de
Irala who, in 1554, led an expedition to the Guairá region where he
was received by the thousands of Indians living there: “the Spanish
quickly took notice of the good height, physical strength and
excellent health condition of those Indians, their good character
and natural happiness. The secret of so good qualities lay, according
to the Indians themselves, in that they drank in natural gourds an
infusion of leaves of a tree they called Ka‘a”. (pp. 25/6)
At some time, the priests and conquerors contemplated the
intelligence of forbidding the Indians consumption of the yerba.
That would have been a counterproductive argument because
it would have generated animosity against the missionaries.
For that reason, ”they opted for the solution of christianizing
the use of mate to the image of the labor they were doing with
them. Then, due to the preaching of the Jesuits, that drink that
was considered pagan and even diabolical, became a gift to the
Indians, not from Tupã but from God, the god of the Christians”.
(pp. 31/2)
The Jesuits mentioned the yerba mate in their Cartas Anuas (Annual
Letters) and it was precisely one of them, Francisco José Sánchez
Labrador, the first to study the scientific and technical aspects in
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168
a study dated in 1774 that today is practically unknown. But not

only science took interest in the yerba mate as Assunçao tells us:
“There is no inventory of grocery stores, stores, small stores within
the city or outside the city in which there is no yerba mate as a
merchandise of first importance for its volume in sacks or barrels.”
(p. 32). This happened throughout the nineteenth century.
In the case of Paraguay, yerba mate was always intimately
associated with its historical evolution. It is known that the ban
on its trade, as part of Dr. Francia’s isolationist policies, forced the
bordering countries to begin cultivating yerba mate, thus reducing
the market of our product in the region. Aimé Bompland, another
distinguished scientist who planned to cultivate yerba mate
became Dr. Francia’s prisoner for over a decade.
The great prosperity of the Lopezes’ government and even a large
part of the national reconstruction after the War of 1870 was due
to the trade of the yerba mate. A foreign historian pointed out that
the worst suffering the Paraguayan soldier had to undergo during
that Great War was the lack of yerba mate as its production and
harvest ended after all the able bodied men were recruited as
combatants in the Army.
Assunçao dedicates an important chapter of the book to describe
the relationship between the gaucho and the yerba mate. Similarly,
we could do the same with our Paraguayan peasant and the tereré
(mate with cold water), more appropriate in our warm climate. In
the same way, the mate cocido (a form of mate drunk in a similar
way to tea) is a custom hard to eradicate since it is a part of day to
day reality for the Paraguayans. It is a nice surprise to notice that
the closeness of the Paraguayans with yerba mate is not limited to
the popular sectors since today the widespread use of terere can be
seen in all the walks of life, including in the Congressional sessions
or among high school teenagers.
The yerba mate frequently appears in the paintings of our national
artists from the beginning of the twentieth century. Other artistic
expressions also refer to the yerba mate as subject of creation.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
169
In the case of the outstanding poet Eloy Fariña Núñez, we have

memorable verses: “It grows healthy in your regions/ the yerba
plant, whose leaves/ provide the mate, the native tea/ glory, in the
mornings and siestas.
Nothing is more pleasant than to rock/in the hammock, under
the shadow of the orange tree/in the torrid summer hours/ and to
drink mate lazily/ overflowing with foam and fragrance/ brewed
by the hands of a young maid.”
Few essays with thousands of words could describe better this
archetype of Paraguayan customs.
Finally, being the yerba mate the protagonist in that common
history which we today aim to value, as a part of the plan for the
integration of the peoples, the substantive contribution of Professor
Fernando Assunçao to disseminate knowledge about the things
that directly pertains to us because they are a part of our common
roots is frankly invaluable. We are before a classic of our cultural
literature of our Latin American and Mercosur space.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
170
CONCLUSIoN
Culture, as an object of systematic study has not yet been

approached as such in Paraguay and, furthermore, has a scant a
bibliography for the wealth of the heritage, save for some honourable
exceptions such as the contributions of Josefina Plá, Ticio Escobar,
Ramiro Domínguez, Helio Vera, and some anthropologists with
undoubtedly great contributions, but a larger analysis and reflection
and not only occasional glances would be needed.
The curricula inserted within the education reform have been scarcely
directed toward these themes. Culture in the world became important
at the the end of World War II in the belief that the great human rights
abuses were a consequence of the lack of attention to the cultural
aspects, specially the discrimination for religious and ethnic reasons.
And making a little history, let us remember that in 1941, the
President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the
British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, drafted the Atlantic
Charter, a document that recommends the creation of a permanent
organization for collective security whose aim is preventing future
wars. The famous Yalta Conference was held in Russia in February,
1945, among President Roosevelt, Premier Churchill and Marshall
Josef Stalin of the Soviet Union.
It was then decided to convene a conference in San Francisco,
California for the creation of the United Nations Organization whose
objective was to contribute to stabilize international relations, to
foster peace and to promote social progress. Economic and social
development, decolonization, human rights, disarmament, and so
forth were also focal points on the agenda.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
171
From the beginning of its foundation, the United Nations is concerned

with gathering reflections and creating jurisprudence on these subjects
and, in 1948, is approved the Human Rights Charter.
UNESCO, on the other hand, is the United Nations body that
deals with the promotion of education, science and culture. Once
World War II was over, a great conference was inaugurated in
London on November 1st, 1945, with representatives of some forty
states. The delegates decided to create an organization aimed at
establishing a true culture of peace. It was indicated then that the
new organization had to establish “moral and intellectual solidarity
of humanity”.
UNESCO also exercises an activity of prospection that is very
important. It strives to foresee the great transformations experienced
by societies and it reflects upon the future of education, the sciences,
culture, and communications. For example, the changes that the
development of the Internet produces in the field of knowledge
and information.
It is good to remember that UNESCO at a given point in time was
located in Latin America. During World War II, the International
Institute for Intellectual Cooperation, executive organization for
the League of Nations, was the institution that, at the end of the
war, became the UNESCO, maintaining some characteristics of the
Institute such as the active participation of intellectuals through the
National Commissions in each country.
This United Nations body, which was also born in the aftermath of
the war, began timidly to cover the cultural aspects to the point of
evolving throughout the 20th century acquiring an important and
privileged role among nations.
The agency pursues “human improvement” through knowledge,
making, reflection and sensibility. Great programs have been
developed within the fields of its jurisdiction: Education, Culture,
Computer Science, Communications and Social Sciences. The current
mission is to contribute toward the humanization of globalization.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
172
In a globalized world, cultural rights, individuals and groups,

intercultural dialogue, respect for cultural diversity are all imperatives
for a greater guarantee of peace, sustained and sustainable
development of our peoples. In 2001, the General Conference –its
sovereign organ– adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural
Diversity, as the first international document that establishes an
universal critical framework which must be a source of inspiration
for the cultural policies of the member states.
It is recognized for the first time that cultural diversity is a common
heritage of humanity and whose defense is considered an
unpostponable mandate in order to dignify all persons.
Cultural diversity will not be able to survive without democratic
structures. Cultural diversity is understood as freedom of expression,
pluralism in the mass media, multilinguism, access to artistic
expressions and to scientific knowledge, and the possibility of being
present in all the media of expression and dissemination. Finally,
at present, there would be a need for a profound reflection upon
the achievements and what may perhaps be still pending, the new
challenges and a true reformulation of goals, as well as an analysis
of the current situation and the new order of things in the planet
and for our societies that will redesign the objectives following
another hierarchy.
Native or regional languages are beginning to acquire importance
as the expression of minorities. The heritage that was being
lost speedily at one point becomes protagonist and a whole
new architectural style starts where preservation mixes with
modernity.
The environment becomes relevant because its destruction implies
the degradation of the human habitat. Economic prosperity creates
a whole new mass industry: tourism. At first, landscape tourism and
later, one that covers cultural aspects, traditions, myths and legends
of the different regions of the world. Thus, the tangible heritage is
joined by tourism attracted by an intangible and natural heritage.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
173
Teachers will find in this material the way to teach and approach
subjects that shall become a novelty in the classroom and that cross
into the content of distinct disciplines. Through this approach, it
can be dealt with myths, legends, traditions, gastronomy, values,
languages, references to music, dance and literature, anthropology
and diversity in general.
At the same time, students find out about their roots and notice
other valuable and different expressions beyond those shown by
the mass media.
In the globalized world, and facing the onslaught of the hegemonic
culture, may cause in our Latin American countries a feeling of
displacement or underestimation of our own cultures.
In the defense of our cultures, there should be no chauvinism nor
concessions.
This valorization process of what is Paraguayan, related to regional
integration and respectful of other cultures that give us the precious
gift of diversity, is what we consider of great importance and that is
what should be promoted in the framework of public policies.
Paraguayan culture expresses the national soul of the

Paraguayan people. Therefore, to reflect it is to be immersed
in the collective unconscious, to be integrated into the
mystery of its myths and rites in order to finally pour its
essence and embody it in educational and cultural policies
in order to teach and value them at formal education level
in school institutions, as privileged spaces dedicated to that
end. To integrate the cultural heritage into the cycle of life.
Then, this contribution to the bibliography reinforces the idea that

a culture that is always in the making and it is an expression of true
democracy. It has pedagogical aims, condensed in summaries,
with guiding generic ideas and work for student participation in
Beatriz G. de Bosio
174
their diverse communities. It is particularly highlighted that it is

not the State that creates culture and that neither it is the service
of an administration but that it is the task of societal groups that
disseminate and produce it.
The novel cultural issue, a phenomenon of the second half of the
twentieth century, must be settled with other contributions in order
to insert it into the educational universe for an apparently ironic and
contradictory conclusion but profound in personal achievements:
the study of what is native as a way of encompassing what is general
and universal.
Beatriz G. de Bosio
175
Beatriz G. de Bosio
176
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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE

SECRETARIA NACIONAL DE CULTURA

Culture in the Classroom

Beatriz González de Bosio

Design, offset and printing:

Copyright by the Author

“Culture in the Classroom” was conceived as a teaching aid guide

I confess that after reading the guide written by Professor Beatriz

Dr. Gregorio Recondo

A textbook of clear didactic scope is the one put forth by Beatriz G.

Dr. Ramiro Domínguez

In the framework of the educational and cultural policies of

Some biographies to remember 108

On being educated, humans internalize the cultural patterns and

4.2 Definitions of culture

Primitive cultures articulate collective patterns of behavior

Culture comprises morality,

The cultural industries include:

The Arete Guasu or Chiriguano carnival

Culture encompasses knowledge, beliefs, customs, mores and

Article 25 of the National Constitution of 1992 addresses the

As in the rest of the Americas, the ancient inhabitants of this

The total domination of the Indian by the Spaniards made the

Paraguay is a multiethnic and multicultural country.

Although the process of miscegenation took place basically with the

into two Governorates (Paraguay or Guairá and that of Buenos

Consequently, a plurality of cultural values exist in the

We must make an effort to improve the social integration and the

Nde Ratypykua (Fragmento) Nde Ratypykua (Fragment)

Epukavymína mitãkuña, Just smile, young girl

The legend of the Ypacaraí Lake

6. Tangible and intangible cultural heritage

6.1 Tangible heritage

In the last UNESCO Forum on Cultural Policies, held in Stockholm,

Work for students:

b. The utensils for vital

Work for Students:

c. Gastronomy: translates the way of living and thinking of

d. Monuments and Museums: Paraguay possesses very

Work for Students:

López Palace: seat of the Office of the

Work for the Students:

b. Patron Saints festivities: they carry their specific rituals

Work for the Students:

Festivity of the Candelaria. Every February

English is taught. It is a pagan celebration representing the

d. Funerary Ritual: These rituals come from Catholic

Work for the Students:

In the Paraguayan tradition, the Day of the Cross (Kurusu ára) is

e. Bands: are the Banditas de San Lorenzo (little bands of

Work for the Students::

f. Chants and Popular Music: Music is a cultural expression

deeply affected the community. In some cases, the

“Campamento Cerro León” of unknown authorship, was

Work for students

g. Dance: Some expressions of Paraguayan dance have their own

Polka: It is the most typical dance. Diego Sánchez

Work for the Students:

Work for the Students:

Narciso R. Colmán wrote:

i. Myths and Legends of Paraguay

Legends, on the other hand, are fabulous narratives but based

The myth is a form of literature whose ultimate goal is to educate