This November 10th is celebrated Tradition Dayan anniversary intended to highlight the national spirit that takes the date of birth of the writer, politician and journalist Jose Hernandez.
The life of this referent of national culture is much broader than the writing of the Martin Fierro, his masterpiece, which represents a fraction of a trajectory associated with the search for an Argentine cultural and political identity. By this north that guided his life, the date of his arrival into the world is commemorated with the Tradition Day.
On November 10, Tradition Day is celebrated in Argentina (photo: Florilegius/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)Florilegius – Universal Images Group Editorial
Jose Rafael Hernandez He was born on November 10, 1834 in Chacras de Perdriel or Pueyrredón, in the current district of San Martín, Buenos Aires province. He studied at the Colegio Liceo de San Telmo. At the age of twelve he learned about the communities and traditions of the rural sector, in the south of his native province. This was because when his mother died in 1843 and suffered health problems, he had to move with his family to the town of Camarones, in the Pampas region of the province of Buenos Aires, in search of a climate conducive to his condition.
Since young, interest in politics defined a large part of his life. So The historians Roque Raúl Aragón and Jorge Calvetti recounted this passion in Genius and figure of José Hernández: “His great passion is politics. It is in his blood and it is a consequence of his generosity. Love the country in the town. He wants justice. He is outraged by the abuses, the abuses committed against the helpless, the selfishness of the powerful. But he knows how to give in and adapt to situations in order to save the main thing from what he wants.”
This revolutionary ardor will be channeled through the federal cause, which in those years pitted the provincial leaders against the authority of Buenos Aires in a fight for the destiny of the country. In 1853, he participated in the battle of San Gregorio, which, although it ended in defeat, did not prevent the sanction of the National Constitution in San Nicolás, which Hernández supported.
In October 1859, participates in the Confederation army that defeats the Buenos Aires people in the battle of Cepedaachieving an important victory for the federal cause that would prove transitory, after the defeat in the battle of Pavón (1861), where he fought under the orders of Justo José de Urquiza.
A decade later, already married and with seven children, He participated in one of the last federal rebellions, that of Ricardo López Jordánagainst the Sarmiento government: a defeat that cost the leader his life and led Hernández to exile in Brazil. By then, there was already founded the newspapers The River Plate and The Echo of Corrientesfrom which he defended the integrity of rural people in a context of metropolitan advance on these lands. He also collaborated in newspapers The Peaceful Reformationorgan of the Reform Party; The Argentinianfrom Paraná and The Homelandfrom Montevideo.
A pardon granted by President Sarmiento on the condition that he not practice journalism allowed him to return to Buenos Aires in 1872. In March of that year, while staying at the Hotel Argentino, he began writing the Martin Fierro. In this story, Hernandez seeks to crystallize the figure of the gaucho, at a time when his existence was threatened by displacement, repression and forced enlistment. that the Miter and Sarmiento governments imposed.
The appearance of this classic of national literature It occurred on November 28, 1872 when the newspaper The Republic He published it in a brochure along with an article that previously appeared in newspapers in Buenos Aires and Rosario. Given the success of this poem in verse, in 1879 he published The return of Martín Fierro, whose first edition of 20 thousand copies sells out quickly. In this continuation, the character returns to life in society, joins the law and is reunited with his children, to whom he leaves a series of advice.
One year after the publication of The return of Martín Fierro, He obtained the vice presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, and promoted the federalization project of Buenos Airesone of the historic federal causes, which would materialize under the first presidency of Julio Argentino Roca.
In 1881 He was elected senator for the province of Buenos Aires. In 1882, he participated with Dardo Rocha in the founding of the city of La Plata, and was re-elected in his seat in 1885. He was also a member of the Banco Hipotecario and the General Council of Education. He would die on October 21, 1886 in his country house in Belgrano, a year before this town was integrated into the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
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