“On a daily basis, some men called the idiot to the bar where they met and offered him to choose between two coins: one of a large size of 50 cents and the other of a smaller size, but of 1 peso. He always took the largest and least valuable, what which was a laugh for everyone. One day, someone watching the group having fun with the innocent man, called him aside and asked him if he had not yet perceived that the larger coin was worth less and he replied: I know, no I’m so stupid … half worth, but the day I choose the other, the game is over and I’m not going to win my coin anymore. “
With those words Roberto Fontanarrosa presented in his “Fable of a Boludo” an apparently silly character, without many lights, which everyone made fun of, but who, after all, was the most awake of all. “The true intelligent man is the one who appears to be stupid, in front of a stupid who appears to be intelligent,” says the moral of this fable.
There are many ways of being stupid and also many meanings of this term that began being used as an insult, with a negative connotation, but that ended up becoming a way of cataloging people who, by acting honestly, end up being mocked by the practitioners of the “creole liveliness”.
In 2009, a group of graphic designers, bloggers, theater students and friends decided to put a date on the calendar for this “commemoration” that is celebrated every June 27.
“In the first place, we seek to honor all of us idiots, who for seeking to do things well just wrongly go wrong. For being honest, following the rules or seeking the common good, we end up being mocked and despised by compatriots much more ‘ alive ‘and eloquent “, say the creators of National Boludo Day on their website.
But they are not satisfied with just a symbolic tribute, their objective goes further: “Second, and not least, we seek to install this great day as a NATIONAL HOLIDAY.”
But, why is the day of the idiot celebrated? Who was our first reference? According to the creators, the day responds to a historic moment: “In 1806, in the face of the English invasions, the authorities of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, with the impetus to do things well and generate dialogue, ended up handing Buenos Aires over to the British. The British troops They paraded through the present Plaza de Mayo and raised the flag of the United Kingdom, which would remain there for 46 days. ”
As of this event, the promoters of this commemoration decided to crown Viceroy Sobremonte as “our first homeland jerk imported directly from Spain”
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