An important ceremony

Hello everyone, I hope you are very well...

Today I will tell you about a very important celebration: the We Tripantu.

The We Tripantu is a Mapuche celebration in which the beginning of a new year is celebrated, takes place every June 21, with the winter solstice and the longest night of the year. This date is sacred to the Mapuche world, in it, thanks and honors Mother Nature for the end of the annual cycle of the earth and the beginning of a new year.

The beginning of the new year is determined by the return of the sun on the winter solstice. In the Mapuche belief the sun is the main engine of life and has a life cycle: it is born at the beginning of winter, grows in spring, is adult in summer and is old in autumn (when the leaves of the trees fall and the fur of the animals changes).

The importance of the celebration is that it marks the beginning of the rainy season and the rebirth of nature, the harvest season ends and a new period for agriculture begins. This celebration represents the rebirth of life.

The celebration begins after 22:00 pm the night before. The lof (community) gathers in a ruka (house) around a campfire and they gather foods such as meats, Muday (fermented corn drink), mote, sopaipillas, tortilla and others. As they eat, stories are told, the sage is heard, and the wisdom is shared The children play, sing, dance and play the kultrún around the campfire.

In the early morning, when the birds start singing, the whole community heads to some river or lake, enter in to for people are purified. Before the sun rises, the lof gathers to perform the Nguillan Mawún (Dawn Ceremony) and communicates with the force of the cosmos. When the sun rises, they start screaming ¡Akuy we tripantu! (New Year's Here!) and ¡Wiñoi Tripantu! (Dawn returned).

Throughout the day the Palín is played, competitions are held and the Guillatún (thank you ceremony) is made.

It should be noted that We Tripantu is a celebration that the peoples of South America have been holding hundreds of years ago.

Here's a picture of the celebration in a Mapuche community.