Fiestas Patrias

Fiestas Patrias in Chile commemorates the day that the first Chilean governing body was formed, and the start of their independence process from Spain (their actual independence day is February 12th). Though the "real" holidays are the 18th (referred to here as dieciocho - Spanish for 18 but also holds cultural significance) and 19th, the festival usually lasts around a week and most schools and businesses close to celebrate.

Celebrating Fiestas Patrias is truly an event here, and people commemorate the holiday in various fashions. Though most locals use it to host huge fiestas at their houses with extended family and friends, lots of music, and enough food and drinks to last weeks, the city also puts on huge festivals at the large parks around town (think state fair, but MUCH bigger). Though we are foreigners, we got to experience both the home and local celebrations.

Friday the 16th: Darcy and I are invited by friends from our soccer team to a house celebration. There's music, traditional Chilean BBQ (known as asado), and lots of dancing. It's also fairly typical to stay out until around 4 or 5 AM here, especially during festivals. So sleep isn't really a thing.

Soccer team friends and family

Saturday the 17th: Though still recovering from Friday night, we headed to a Parque O'Higgins in the middle of downtown Santiago to experience the public side of Fiestas Patrias. Mostly, we ate lots of food and listened to live Chilean music while watching the locals dance "La Cueca", the traditional dance of Chile.

 

Traditional asado

Fried empanadas

Performances with Chilean artists

Sunday the 18th: We venture to a park a little closer to where I live, where the atmosphere was more family oriented but still fun. We went to Parque Padre Huertado which was packed with a rodeo, food trucks, an art fair, music, and plenty of people. 

Food trucks - we enjoyed "choripan" which is a traditional
Chilean sausage.

Sunset Rodeo

Katie and I enjoying "Terremotos",
a traditional Chilean beverage