i'd love to read about the Argentinian gnomes 🥺👉👈
Oh man, I'm probably not an expert but I do love this subject.
It's very curious because the often used translation is "duende" but word "duende"' can mean very different things (from gnome to poltergeist and many things in between). Still, some creatures under the 'duende' umbrella are similar to gnomes, but not quite.
Because of how diverse the territory is in Argentina, both language and folklore developed differently in distinct areas, especially due to the combination of the varied and preexisting native cultures and the immigrants who settled also in those areas.
So, the resulting situation was that there were figures brought by immigrants, especially due to evangelization and Missions, that were labeled as "duendes" and a lot of figures in native peoples' cultures that were translated as "duendes".
The Missions' form of "duende" tended to go around the idea of creatures born from, for example, non baptized children or abortion, you know, stuff the church wanted to scare away. Those blended with the most European version of the gnome, with the beard and the colorful clothes, but they lost their ties to alchemy and became more similar to the goblins, in the sense of "mischief" makers, able to tempt or take innocents and with problematic representations of "the other".
Some of the local figures that were translated and paired up with duendes include, for example, the Anchimalén or Anchimayén from Mapuche culture, which are able to turn into fire so they're translated as "duende de fuego" ("fire duende"), the Chuviño which is also present in Chile, called sometimes "duende mono" ("monkey duende") who is more of a prankster, or Cuca Blanca, also from the Patagonia region, which are said to help those who get lost and are translated as "duendes blancos".
In northern and more riverside regions, there are other figures that are sometimes dubbed as "duendes" or placed in that group, some shared through Argentina, Paraguay and Brasil, like La Coquena from Quechua and Calchaquí culture, El Pombero from Guaraní culture, El Curupirá from Tupí Guaraní culture, and some others, but I think those have sustained a more individual identity enough to be conceived as separate figures under their own umbrellas. I don't think people would normally see El Pombero as a "duende" as much as an identity in itself, but they still may be grouped there in some academic spaces.
One of the most visible blends of European gnomes and South American duendes are the figurines, which are always hand made but don't tend to vary in representation as much as fairies do. They tend to be bearded or have puffy hair, wear hats and colorful clothes and are connected with nature. The figurines are used sometimes as decoration and sometimes as elements of spiritual energy, depending on the belief. There is a whole village in the Río Negro province called Aldea Duende in which figurines of duendes, hadas and other forest creatures are scattered and people can hike to find them.
These types of "blend duendes" were popularized in cartoons, such as Los Peques.
So, I'd say there are about three different categories for the duendes, of this kind, in general terms: the ones that originated in native peoples' cultures and were translated as duendes, the ones that were brought through immigrants and the ones that were born from the blend.
I don't know if this is too little or too much information, but I hope it's an interesting read!
