The Communities Meeting and National Celebration (in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, ''Encuentro y Fiesta Nacional de Colectividades'') is a cultural event celebrated annually in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most p ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

of Santa Fe,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

, since 1985. This event showcases the diversity of customs of the many established communities of immigrants that live in the city and around. It is locally known simply as ''las Colectividades'', and usually held in the middle of spring (the first days of November), though in 2004 it was celebrated in December instead, to avoid overlapping with the

Third International Congress of the Spanish Language The Third International Congress of the Spanish Language (''Tercer Congreso Internacional de la Lengua Española'') was a cultural event that took place in Rosario, Argentina, on November 17-19, 2004. The main topics of the Congress were three: id ...

(held in Rosario in mid-November). Tents, kiosks and several performing stages are set up in the National Flag Park (''Parque Nacional a la Bandera''), a large expanse on the shore of the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

, right opposite the

National Flag Memorial The National Flag Memorial (Spanish, ''Monumento Nacional a la Bandera'') in Rosario, Argentina, is a monumental complex built near the shore of the Paraná River. It was inaugurated on June 20, 1957, the anniversary of the death of Manuel Belgrano ...

. Immigrant communities devote their space to selling typical foods and drinks, as well as other items, or for exhibits. The stages are devoted to the performance of dances and music. The festival is attended every year by tens of thousands of local residents and tourists. In recent years, the ''Colectividades'' were marred by poor organization and abuse on the part of some communities, which in effect turned their spaces into common open-air bars and

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke ...

Alcohol abuse Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of unhealthy alcohol drinking behaviors, ranging from binge drinking to alcohol dependence, in extreme cases resulting in health problems for individuals and large scale social problems such as alcohol-rela ...

by some attenders, robberies, problems with

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

ation and

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

in the area of the festival caused many people to complain or to miss the celebration altogether. In light of this and the recently increased touristic flow into the city, for 2005 the municipal government added special requirements for the communities' exhibits, such as a percentage of space to be devoted to cultural activities and the sale of typical foods only, and a change of the layout. The 2005 celebration was, accordingly, deemed better organized and safer than the previous ones, and attendance during its ten days reached about 1 million.

References

Fiesta de las Colectividades
(in Spanish) Communities Celebration, at the website of Rosario's municipality * La Capital, 14 November 2005
''Cerró Colectividades: visitada por un millón de personas y no llovió''
* Rosario3, 13 November 2006
''Fin de Colectividades, una fiesta en la que todo se multiplica''
{{coord missing, Argentina Cultural festivals in Argentina Culture in Rosario, Santa Fe Tourist attractions in Rosario, Santa Fe Folk festivals in Argentina