Fiesta del Desembarco in Chubut Province, Argentina

The Fiesta del Desembarco (also Gŵyl y Glaniad) is celebrated every July 28th in the province of Chubut, Argentina. On that date in 1865, in present-day Puerto Madryn, 153 Welshmen disembarked from the sailing ship Mimosa, thus starting the Welsh colony in the Chubut Valley.

In 1867, to commemorate the festivity, groups of Welsh and Tehuelches decided to celebrate the encounter with a sports tournament that included target shooting, foot races and horse races, becoming the first Patagonian Olympics.

Traditionally, every July 28, in the town of Gaiman, locals and tourists gather in the afternoon in the tea houses or in the Welsh chapels of the valley to share the tea ceremony and consume the black cake, other cakes and pastries and bread and butter. The chapels are the main centers of celebration where the majority of the descendants of the settlers participate. Some chapels include games and recitals in the evening.