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Ahuaso (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈwaso]) is aChilean countryman and skilled horseman,[1] similar to theAmericancowboy, theMexicancharro (and its northern equivalent, thevaquero), thegaucho ofArgentina,Uruguay andRio Grande Do Sul, and theAustralianstockman. A femalehuaso is called ahuasa, although the termchina is far more commonly used for his wife or sweetheart, whose dress can be seen incueca dancing.Huasos are found all overCentral andSouthern Chile[2] while theAysén andMagallanes Region sheep raisers aregauchos.[3] The major difference between thehuaso and thegaucho is thathuasos are involved in farming as well as cattle herding.
Huasos are generally found in Chile's central valley. They ridehorses and typically wear a straw hat called achupalla. They also wear aponcho—called amanta or achamanto (although this was originally reserved to land owners, as it is much more expensive)—over a short Andalusian waist jacket, as well as tooled leather legging over booties with raw hide leather spur holders that sustain a long-shanked spur with 4-inch rowels, and many other typical garments.
Huasos are a part ofChilean folkloric culture and are a vital part of parades, fiestas, holidays, and popular music.[4] The dancing of thecueca in which the coychina is courted by the persistenthuaso, both traditionally attired, isde rigueur on such occasions.
In Chile, the termhuaso orahuasado (in ahuaso way) is also used disparagingly to refer to people without manners or lacking the sophistication of an urbanite, akin to US Englishredneck.
Various theories are commonly advanced: from theQuechuawakcha (hispanicized ashuacho) meaningorphan,not belonging to a community, hence free and homeless, an important aspect of the huaso/gaucho myth, or alternatively from the Quechuawasu, meaning either the back of an animal, or rough and rustic. Moreover the wordguaso/a is used in Andalusian and American Spanish with the last sense.
It appears that a form offolk etymology has operated to conflate the contrasting identities of the huaso, viewed as both a free horseman (implying some wealth and nobility) and an unsophisticated country bumpkin. Both senses can be observed in Chilean usage.
