Buenos Aires, Argentina – President Javier Milei’s drastic austerity measures aimed at improving Argentina’s economy have shown better results in recent months.
The libertarian president’s ambition to eliminate bureaucracy and red tape have become one of the main focuses of his cabinet, including slashing public works budgets and slashing education spending.
His push to achieve and maintain a “zero budget deficit” is led by the Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, whose main function is to shrink or remove laws and decrees that limit individual freedoms, complicate trade or create tariffs unnecessary.
After passing a major reform package, the Ley Bases (Basics Law) in July, Sturzenegger is now preparing another project, called the Ley Hojarasca (Law for Fallen Leaves). The bill, presented to Congress on October 10, aims to repeal legislation created by previous governments that no longer serves a purpose, or has been superseded by other laws.
One particular law at risk of the chopping block is an Argentine tradition that allows the president to become godfather to the seventh consecutive son or daughter of Argentine couples in order to prevent them from becoming wolves.
Indeed, Law 20.843 was approved in 1974 during the presidency of María Estela Martínez de Perón, but the tradition is actually over a century old.
The law allows a couple with seven sons or seven daughters to request that the president become the godfather/godfather of the seventh sibling of the same sex. By law, the president can then send a representative to the child’s christening, usually with a commemorative gold medal, and accept a scholarship for his or her education, a nominal fee ranging from $150 to $300 a year.
Where does this tradition come from? “The myth arrived in Argentina through Brazil, with the Portuguese wolf or lobbyist-manwhich later developed into the lobby area. Thus, most cases of supposed wolves are reported in northeastern Argentina,” explained historian and journalist Alejandro Galliano. Argentina reports.
The myth, which has deep roots in the villages of Argentina, is that the seventh son becomes a wolf on nights when there is a full moon.
The idea of making the president the godfather of the seventh son of a family was introduced by German immigrants from the Volga region, who came to Argentina in the early 19th century and established rural communities in the northeastern region of Mesopotamia, consisting of the provinces Misiones, Entre Ríos. , and Corrientes.
“The tradition comes from Catherine the Great,” Galliano added, referring to the 18th-century Russian leader who believed in becoming godmother to his seventh son to prevent him from becoming a werewolf. “Both traditions ended up blending here.”
The first case occurred in October 1907 in Coronel Pringles, a town in the south of the province of Buenos Aires. Russian farmer Enrique Brest and his wife, Apolonia Holmann, asked then-president José Figueroa Alcorta to be godfather to their seventh son. The president agreed, and a tradition was born that lasted for more than a century and became law in 1974, when the benefit was expanded to include girls. That year, the scholarship was created to finance the child’s education.
“It was a way to make up for the discrimination that the seventh brother is said to have suffered because of the legend of the lobbyist,” Galliano commented.
More than 12,000 children are estimated to have become godfathers or daughters of an Argentine president in the past 117 years. Former president Alberto Fernández, who left office in 2023, became godfather to 66 children, while his predecessor, Mauricio Macri, 159. Before them, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a staunch Peronist, gave the benefit to 1,152 children during her term.
Argentina reports requested information from the Casa Rosada (the official workplace of the president) regarding the number of godparent requests made to President Javier Milei, but did not receive any official figures, nor how many were actually received.
Noah Portillo, born on September 10 in Río Gallegos, could become the first seventh son known by the current president.
However, his fate as a future wolf could be in jeopardy if Sturzenegger’s law is passed. “It is a medieval figure that has no place in a modern democracy,” argued the minister in an X post, after the announcement of the draft law on fallen leaves.
Indeed, Galliano explained, the tradition is no longer followed in Russia, where it originated, or anywhere else.
