Literary representations of the jíbaro date back to 1849 with Manuel A. Alonso’s book El Gibaro. Cuadro de costumbres de la Isla de Puerto Rico. As a “cuadro de costumbres” the book is composed of vignettes, short stories, poems and décimas that narrate the events in rural life. Following the costumbrista tradition of the time and in search for a unique national identity, El Gibaro depicts folklore and customs as found on the countryside and rural areas, such as weddings, dances, burials and other activities and cultural expressions. In this way, the book embodies one of the first texts that documents the aims for a homogenizing cultural construction of nationhood.

El Gíbaro. Cuadro de Costumbres de la Isla de Puerto Rico (1849)

Manuel A. Alonso

 El Gíbaro. Cuadro de costumbres de la Isla de Puerto Rico was originally published in Barcelona, where the author studied. The book is an influential costumbrista text composed of texts in prose and verse that describe rural Puerto Rican life, customs and folklore. The book’s subtitle, cuadro de costumbres speaks to the different vignettes that compose the whole of the text, of which, “Boda Gíbara” is a central one that vividly describes the day-long rural community wedding ritual. This scan of the original text (linked here) displays engravings and drawings that illustrate the different sections. El Gíbaro laid the foundation for the literary representation of the jíbaro figure enregistered as a national symbol.

Click on the book’s image above to access the first edition of the book via Internet Archives.