The document provides an overview of Mapuche culture, history, and traditions. It discusses the Mapuche people's origins in South America, their successful resistance against the Inca Empire, and their later 300-year war against Spanish rule. It describes important aspects of Mapuche life like their traditional houses, livelihoods based on farming and herding, and foods like mote, bread, and wheat beer. The document also covers Mapuche artforms like silver jewelry, textiles, and merken spice. It provides context on the Mapuche people's culture and identity.

1. Andean Designs’
Mapuche Culture Research
2012-2013
www.andean-­‐designs.com
info@andean-­‐designs.com

2. Mapuche
(mapu = earth, che = people)
The mapuche people (mapu = earth, che = people) are one of the many
American native groups who have retained more strongly their beliefs,
customs and identity.
Origins
The Mapuche remote origins comes from the large Mongolian ethnic
group which arrived in America 1000 BC. Later on they would have
branched off from the Andean subgroup. Three hypothesis have been
formulated about the Mapuche origin:
1. Menghin (1909) proposes an Amazonian origin. Similarities in culture
and language with the Amazon peoples suggest a link with a tropical
subgroup, which later settled in the Andes.
2. Latchman (1924) proposes that the Mapuche people crossed The
Andean mountains from the other side.. As a foreign ethnic group they
settled in the zone of the Bio-Bio and Toltén rivers between the Pikunche
and Williche people. Due to archaeological findings, especially
ceramics, this theory has been discarded: the Mapuche ceramic is a
clearly influenced by the Atacameño and Diaguita people, what is
confirmed by the Tirúa and Pitren ceramic findings.
3. Guevara (1925) bases on a migration from north to south. There is
also archaeological and ethnographical evidence of similarity with the
Tiwanaku culture.

3. History in short:
Pre-Hispanic times
The Mapuche successfully resisted many attempts by the Inca
Empire to subjugate them, despite their lack of state
organization. They fought against the Sapa Inca, Tupac
Yupanqui, and his army. The result of the bloody three-day
confrontation known as the Battle of the Maule was that the Inca
conquest of the territories of Chile ended at the Maule river.
They fell back to the north behind the Rapel and Cachapoal
Rivers, where they established a fortified border guarded by
fortresses such as the Pucará de La Compañía and the Pucará
del Cerro La Muralla.
Cacique lloncon
A cacique's wife
Warlike People
Before the war against the Spaniards, the Mapuches engaged in tribal warfare,
using weapons such as bow and arrows, spears, slingshots, stone balls and
mace made of wood or stone, known as macanas.
The War Covenant among the different local groups was ratified in a ceremony
where a black llama was sacrificed, and its blood drained.
The meat was pierced with spears and arrows and it was then eaten to
celebrate the alliance. The winning party either kept their enemies as slaves, or
killed them. Defeated chiefs were decapitated, hanging their heads on spears.
Victory was celebrated in an open field around a Canelo tree. Around this
sacred tree, men and women danced covered with animal skins. They danced,
ate and drank large amounts of maqui or corn beer.
Mapuche old flag
Mapuche current flag

4. War of Arauco and occupation of the Araucanía
One of the main geographical boundaries was the BíoBío River, which the Mapuche used as a natural barrier
to Spanish and Chilean incursion. The 300 years were
not uniformly a period of hostility, and there was often
substantial trade and interchange between Mapuche
and Spaniards or Chileans. The long Mapuche
resistance has become primarily known as the War of
Arauco.
After Chile's independence from Spain, the Mapuche
coexisted and traded with their neighbors, who
prudently remained north of the Bío-Bío River, although
clashes frequently occurred.
War of Arauco
In the post-conquest period, Chile interned a significant
percentage of the Mapuche, and destroyed the
Mapuche herding, agricultural and trading economies,
while also looting Mapuche property (real and personal
- including a large amount of silver jewelry to replenish
the Chilean national coffers). The government created a
system of reserves called reducciones along lines
similar to North American reservation systems.
Subsequent generations of Mapuche live in extreme
poverty as a result of having been conquered and
having lost their traditional lands.
occupation of the Araucanía

5. Recent History
In recent years, the Chilean government has tried to
redress some of the inequities of the past. The Parliament
passed, in 1993, Law n° 19 253 (Indigenous Law, or Ley
indígena) which officially recognized the Mapuche people,
and seven other ethnic minorities, as well as the
Mapudungun language and culture. Mapundungun, which
use was prohibited before, is now included in the
curriculum of elementary schools around Temuco.
Government
In 1818, Chile gained its independence from Spain, and in
1866 the government placed the Mapuche on reservations.
The Indians revolted against this oppression several times,
and the Chilean government finally succeeded in bringing
them to sign a peace treaty. Although relations between the
two groups are somewhat better today, the Mapuche still
remain in the lower classes of society. The existing Mapuche
political organizations have no legal authority over the
people; they remain subject to the national government.

6. Mapuche house
The traditional house, ruka, has a single door, open
towards the east, an orientation which expresses the
cosmological preference of the Mapuche for
Puelmapu (Land of the East), where the deities reside.
The ruka has no windows. Inside, the sleeping place
is by the internal wall while in the center lies the kutral,
or open hearth.
Soot blackens the wall and smoke floods the
Mapuche home coming out through the güllonruka,
two openings on each side of the gables. In the
interior there is space to store food and there are
many domestic artifacts, which hang from the ceiling
and wall. The most characteristic artifacts are:
– The wenku (bench), a small settle carved from a solid
block of wood.
- The witral, or loom, is placed near the ruka entry. During the
bad weather the witral is used indoors, and outdoors with
good weather.
The smoke and the grease from cooking turn the ruka water
proof, sealing the straw-made roof and, even, forming
stalactites of soot. The fire is permanently lit in the center.
The construction of the ruka was celebrated with the rukatun,
a house building ritual with dancers wearing wooden masks
known as kollón.

7. Livelihood:
Mapuche means ‘people of the land,’ and many of the
people are Recent History farmers. They raise cash crops
such as wheat, barley, potatoes, sugar beets and oats.
Coastal Mapuche are dedicated to fishing. Many women
work as maids in the cities. Young people continue to
migrate to the cities for better work opportunities,
because there is less and less available land for them in
the rural reservations.
For the most part, the Mapuche depend on their
traditional livelihoods based on herding cattle, sheep,
and vicunã (a relative of the llama). They also collect
pine nuts from the abundant monkey puzzle trees to sell
locally. However, due to the lack of other income and
employment opportunities, most Mapuche live in
poverty. The traditional subsistence livelihood puts a
growing pressure on the fragile ecosystem. Ecotourism
is only in its infancy, but to help preserve the
environment and provide income alternatives for the
native communities. Mapuche now manage the
campgrounds, provide mountain guides, and offer
excursions on horseback. These activities provide some
of the few income sources. The Mapuche also preserve
their extensive cultural traditions and indigenous
handicrafts, among them hand-woven textiles, musical
instruments, woodcarvings, and traditional food items.
They are for sale at the various communities and at
cooperatives and crafts markets in nearby towns.
Mapuche were able to organize themselves to
create a network of forts
complex defensive buildings
Metal working (Iron,Copper)
Horseback riding
the cultivation of wheat and sheep

8. Mapuche Wheat
Through the 19th century, the Mapuche’s harvest was by
hand:
They cut the wheat with a sickle, tied the sheaves and tossed
them with pitch forks into ox carts that took them to the
threshing floor.
And threshing was also done manually. Juan Amasa, a
Mapuche of the village of Collipulli explained:
After the harvest they would bring together 10 or 20 Indians,
men and women, young and old to thresh the wheat with their
feet. The chief himself does not work, but is in charge of
directing the threshing as a “corporal.” Depending on the size
of the pile of wheat the Indians go around it in lines of two to
four people holding hands with their bodies inclined forward in
a particular threshing step, executing two food movements
with each step. That is, the foot is put forward then drawn
back, sliding the sole of his foot over the wheat, and then
there is another step with the same foot, continuing the same
sliding motion with the other foot and moving forward. To the
rhythm of the threshing they sing to entertain themselves in
this monotonous work.
If the amount of wheat was greater, horses were used for the
threshing, a Spanish practice adopted by the Mapuche.
After the straw was brushed aside, the
wheat remained on the ground. To
separate the wheat from the chaff, it was
winnowed—thrown into the air where the
lighter chaff blows away and the wheat
falls to the ground or the winnowing tray.

9. Toasted flour: mürke (harina tostada)
Toasted flour was one of the most important Mapuche wheat
products, adapted from the aboriginal toasted corn meal—
an indigenous American Indian food from New England to
Chile. North America settlers called it “parched corn”[7], in
Mesoamerica it is known as pinole, in NW Argentina it is
ñaco, and in Chile mürke.
Toasted wheat was, and is, eaten as ulpo, mixed with cold or
hot water (chercan) or was boiled in water to make a
porridge. It continues to be popular and is available in
supermarkets.
Lightly toasted wheat that is coarsely ground is tukun, locro
in Chilean Spanish. It is added to soups and stews.
Traditional Mapuche milling stone
Peeled wheat: kako cachilla
(mote de trigo)
Mote is eaten as a boiled grain, like rice, and in soups and
stews with other products: potatoes, beans, peas. It is also
the basis for catuto or mültrun, a bread like mixture of ground
mote, lard or oil, and salt which is formed into oblong rolls, and
eaten as is, toasted on the coals, as below, or sautéed in a
little grease[13]. (It is also made of boiled wheat that has not
been peeled.)
Catutos on the coals,

10. Wheat bread
Bread was not an early addition to the Mapuche diet.
empanadas, tortillas and “fried buñuelos and rosquillas and
sopaipillas of eggs,” Spanish pastries made of wheat flour, but
these do not seem to have been common in Mapuche kitchens
until the late 19th and 20th centuries when they could take their
wheat to mills for grinding into a fine flour.
Since that time, however, bread has been a major factor in
Mapuche life.
Making bread continues to be the principal activity of the
Mapuche woman. It occupies a good part of her day. There are
several customs. Some women prefer to leave the dough over
night, ready to make bread in the morning, others like to make
use of the embers of the kitchen hearth and have the bread
ready. This is the “ash bread” [tortilla de rescoldo], cooked in
the hot ashes of the hearth. Sometimes it is left overnight and
the next day, on getting up, the bread is ready and still hot.
Other women rise, knead and prepare the bread for breakfast.
Sopapilla
sümita,
the boiled
bread
Kofke

11. Mapuche Merken
Merken since centuries, has been the
Chileangourmet copper spice per excellence. This
unique blend of dried and smoked red chilies (ají
cacho de cabra or goat s horn), toasted coriander
seeds, cumin and salt is elaborated exclusively in
the Araucanía Region of Chile by our natives, the
Mapuches, ancient traditions.

12. Mapuche food and drinks
Traditional Mapuche foods
“Tradition” is constantly changing.
European foods and cooking techniques
that did not exist in the pre-conquest diet
had become common by the 17th century
(see Feasting with the Enemy: 17th
Century Mapuche food), and military
defeat in the 1890s and subsequent
removal to reducciones (reservations) let
to poverty and some malnutrition, but the
Mapuche remained largely rural and self
sufficient until the last third of the 20th
century. Their diet was based on locally
produced grains, tubers, vegetables, and
meats; augmented by increasing (but
limited) amounts of purchased flour, pasta,
rice, sugar and oils: foods tabooed in
many Mapuche areas in the early 20th
century.
The sopapillas and pebre
The pebre was a mixture of cilantro,
parsley and basil, mashed with
garlic and a little chili pepper and
diluted with water and lemon juice.
tomatican
– a traditional Mapuche stew
The lamb stew
piñone, or pine nut

13. Wheat beer:
mudai or muday (chicha de trigo)
Mudai, maize chicha, was traditionally made by
cooking ground corn in water, adding masticated
maize meal, and allowing the mixture to ferment.
The chewed meal contains enzymes from the
saliva which convert the maize starch into sugar,
which yeasts then convert into alcohol. (In
making beer “malting” or sprouting the grain
accomplishes the same purpose.) Sometimes
left over muday from a previous batch with well
developed yeast was added to speed
fermentation.
The Mapuche quickly adapted the same process
to wheat and barley.
Today’s mudai is made without mastication, and
may be drunk at any stage in the fermentation
process. Lightly fermented mudai is a refreshing,
milky and slightly sour drink.

14. Mapuche art
Silver jewelry
In the long 300-year coexistence between the Spanish
colonies and the relatively well-delineated autonomous
Mapuche regions, the Mapuche also developed a strong
tradition of trading with Spaniards and Chileans. It is this
which lies at the heart of the Mapuche silver-working
tradition, for it was from the large and widely-dispersed
quantity of Spanish and Chilean silver coins that the
Mapuche wrought their elaborate jewelry, head bands, etc.
They are known for their beautiful metal work, especially
jewelry such as their head dresses and necklaces. The
influence of the silver coin from the Spaniards had a major
.
affect on their craftsmanship

15. Mapuche women & textile
One of the best known arts of the Mapuche is the textiles. at the
arrival of Europeans in the region of the Araucanía, natives of the area
wore textiles made with camel's hair that they made from the raw
material obtained from the breeding of these animals. Later, and with
the addition of sheep brought by the Europeans, these Indians began
breeding these animals and use their wool for making their weaves,
after which it prevailed over the use of camelid hair.
These fabrics were made by women who transmitted their knowledge
from generation to generation, orally and through imitation of gestures,
usually within the family environment. They were highly prized for their
textile knowledge: through the development of their weaves, women
played an important economic role and also cultural. For these reasons,
at the time of giving a dowry for her marriage, a man must give a dowry
much greater if the married woman was a good weaver.
Currently, many Mapuche women continue making the tissue according
to the customs of their ancestors and transmitting their knowledge in
the same way: in the domestic scope and family, from mother to
daughter, from grandmothers to granddaughters, as happened in the
past. This form of learning is based on gestural imitation, and only
rarely, and when strictly necessary, the apprentice receives explicit
instructions or help from their instructors. This means that knowledge is
transmitted in the moments of realization of fabrics: and “make” and
transmission of knowledge go together.

16. In Andean societies textiles had a great importance. They were developed to be used as clothing, as tool and shelter
for the home, as well as a status symbol.
Tissue volumes made by Aboriginal women and marketed in the Araucanía and the north of the Patagonia Argentina
were really considerable and constitute a vital economic resource for indigenous families.
At present, the fabrics woven by the Mapuche continue being destined for domestic as well as for gift, sale or barter.
Although now women and their families wear garments with foreign designs and tailored with materials of industrial
origin and only the ponchos, blankets, strips and belts are of regular use. Many of the fabrics made are intended for
the trade and in many cases are an important source of income for families.

17. Some symbols of Mapuche culture
Found in textiles

18. Wooden art
Wood carving is one of the most traditional art manifestations
in the mapuche territory. This technique took control of the
utensils of old inhabitants of these lands, using for it the wood
of the rich forests of the sector.
Today it is continued working in the same way, with the axe
and chip axe carving the wood but creating new products,
some functional such as plates, spoons and buckets,
sources, trays and others, in those use and decoration invent
hens dish, ducks and others.
They made utensils, plates, spoons, ritual masks.
This kind of handcraftship transits between the domestic
function and the possesion of a ritual meaning, for example,
the masks represent the Kollom playing a specific rol in the
Nguillatun ceremony.
When a member of the Mapuche dies, a wooden carving
known and a chemamull is placed to mark the grave site.
Each carving in unique and can either be male or female. The
statues are generally over 2 meters in height.
The Rehue and the Chemamull are carved trunks that finish in
wide heads. The ritual mask, the Kollon, is finished with
horsehair.
Chemamull

19. Basketry
The humidity of the southern weather has disabled the
conservation of these objects. However the trail of
mapuche baskets can be followed through the stories
left by the first spanish chronicles and afterwards by
travelers.
Metawe
They are of usefull character principally. This mapuche
basket can be considered like the most representative
between their baskets. It has strong and thick texture
that make besides the characteristics of its rigid fiber a
container of great resistence and capacity. It serves to
contain, move and wash grains such wheat and corn.
Huilliches baskets
In San Juan de la Costa near Osorno, baskets knitted
with Boqui is quite characteristic.
Two typesof baskets are elaborated. The one that
uses “Quila” as raw material, it can be used to make
baskets of various sizes destined for sale or domestic
use: closets, baskets for washing clothes and wool.
LLepu or Balai
is the name that this mapuche basket receives, that is
used mainly to throw and clean cereals. It is knitted in
different places in the same way but with different
materials: with Ñoca in Arauco, with Quila in Cautín and
with Boqui Pifulco in San Juan de la Costa. The
technique used is with the aduja, that gives objects of
great resistence and lasting.
Baskets for wheat, to pick potatos or murtas. And the
one that use “Boqui” as raw material, worked with the
needle technique and the buttonhole stich: this
production is of specialists and since the 80´s decade
it is orientated to the matket. The “Boqui” is a variety
of bindweed that grows in the mountains in the
thickest part of the native forest, offering thickness
and solidity to this handcraft.

20. Pottery
Nowadays, in the Mapuche territory a large variety
of pottery is still manufactured. The most Known
Metawes has simple lines and natural colors. In the
p a s t , P t i rè n , re p re s e n t e d t h e d e g re e o f
development reached by this art before the arrival
of the conquers.
The Mapuche pottery are slowly disappearing by
lack of use. They distinguish various stylistic, but
generally they are asymmetrical with shapes of
ducks or frogs, some with eyes “coffe grain” tipe,
cups like vasses and plates. But we have to stand
out the pieces called “effigy dishes”, with clays
natural colour.
Some represent human beings or objects such as
“duck-dishes” or “frog-dishes”, posibly linked to
“ngenko”, “the owner of the waters” . between the
pottery objects that represent human beings, we
stand out various pieces that represent a standing
pregnant woman with her hands hugging or
touching her womb, in clear allusion to the idea of
fecundity.

21. Mapuche beliefs and traditions are tightly bound to their
relationship with the earth. For generations only women
make pottery, because of the ties between earth and its
fecundity. Women trek alone into the quarries to fetch
minerals that give the pottery its color and glint. The clay
and minerals are dried in the sun, and then cleaned with
water and kneaded with fine sand. The piece is gradually
fashioned into shape, and then polished with stones
before firing the figure in a kiln in the ground. Still With
The Original forms, pottery Mapuche Has Been Always
Been conservative in the shapes and motifs in jugs and
jars Used.
On the south bank of Bío Bío River lies the village of
Quinchamalí, where a very special black pottery is
produced. Its production consists of house ware and
decorative pieces. This craft is distinguished by its black
glossy touch, achieved by smoking each piece (reduced
burning), while still preserving the color of the hotplate.
Mapuche pottery, with its own origin and tradition is very
sought after in foreign markets, especially its functional
and symbolic pieces.

22. Musical Instruments
Pifilka
Rustic whistle with a single orifice, without a determined tone and
a real high sound. In the Mapuche culture it represents a bird
named “Ñandu” calling her sons. Those are the whistles that are
usually used by the Kuriche, during the Mapuche rogation.
Pifilka
Trutuka
A large instrument that belongs to the family of aerophones.
Galvanized pipe about 3 meters long with an old animal horn in
one of its ends. The sounds comes when you exhale. It is played
in the Patagonia and used in all types of ceremonies.
Its validity grade is very close to the chamanic practice of the
Machi, being the one that practices the aborigin empiric-magical
medicine and presides the different rituals of the Mapuche
community.
Trutuka
Kaskawilla
Kaskawilla
Bronze instrument, in the past it was based on pumpkins. In the
rogation, the Kaskawilla is played by the Ñankan, the Machi
assistant.
Piloilo
This Mapuche musical instrument is used to cheer up parties. Its
structure is of bone or stone. It is similar to the Pifilka, but it has
more than one orifice.
Piloilo

23. The Kultrun
The Kultrun is the symbolic microcosmo of the
Machi and the Mapuche Culture, in which it takes
the shape of its particular spiritual conception of
the universe.
Its drawn membrane represents the cosmic
superstructure and its diverse inmaterial
components, representing like the four divisions of
the square earth platform, oriented according to
the four cardinal points, beginnig in the East, up to
the land of the Four Places, or Meli Witran Mapu.
On the other side, the wooden pot of the Kultrun,
with the symbolic objects introduced in it,
represent the cosmic and earthly infrastructure
with its diverse material components.
The Kultrun sums up the cosmic and earthly
components, material and inmaterial, representing
a synthesis of universe; a topographic limit that
separates the natural earthly world from the
supernatural world. It represents the symbolic
structure of the Mapuche worldview, and such
structure reflects the existence of contradictions
and internal conflicts in the Mapuche beleifs.

24. Dances
Dance is an activity practiced by man, that was born by
the human necesity of expression. It is being spoken like
spiritual motives characterized by fear, petitions or
gratitudes to the divinity; of erotic or afective reason; of the
warrior reason to scare the enemy and self excite himself
to attack in battle, or the reason leagued to the crop
celebration, etc.
All this explain why dancing involves a message, it is
significant and has a spìritual content besides the esthetic
one.

25. Mapuche Clothing
The traditional dress for a woman is the Chamal or
Kepal; a square cloth, wrapped around the body
leaving the shoulder naked, the waistband or
Trarihue, which is tied to the waist; and the Ikulla, a
black shawl with blue edges. The man wears black
pants called Chiripa and the Makuñ, a finely woven
poncho, which may have a simple decoration or rows
of figures.

26. Mapuche mythology
The mapuches of today have managed to establish
a new dimension of what is religious in a syncretism
that includes the catholic religion as well as
protestant evangelic cults.
The machi
The machi or shaman is fundamental in the
configuration of mapuche's myths and rites. She is
the mediator between the natural and supernatural
worlds. To this effect, she uses the kultrung, a
ceremonial drum where the universe is represented
symbolically in four parts by means of a cross; the
upper quadrants represent sky configurations while
the lower quadrant represents the earth. This skyearth opposition would be equivalent to the
masculine-feminine opposition or to the cycles of
nature. The mapuche man is located in the center of
the cosmos, where the four cardinal points converge.
This is the meli witran mapu (land of four corners).
She is often described as a good
witch, but in truth her role is that of
a spiritual healer within the
Mapuche community. Healing
ceremonies are private affairs and
outsiders of the community are
very rarely able to view the
process. The Machi has an
extensive knowledge of medicinal
herbs. Her training comes from an
apprenticeship with an older
Machi would guides the younger
woman into the rights of weather
prediction, dream interpretation,
warding off evil and curing
illnesses.
The Healing ceremony

27. Further to this quaternary order, the mapuche's cosmos is
structured in an "up" and a "down". The celestial region,
wenu mapu, is occupied by groups of deities headed by
a Ngnechen, king or owner of men, a deity endowed with
opposing attributes, such as masculine-feminine, oldyoung.
Also the stars are deities, as killen (the moon), weelfe (the
morning star), wanglen (the stars). They have an influence
on the machi's public prayers, where she invokes relevant
beings already gone.
The ordering of the universe and of all beings has
endowed it with a mythical character. There are two
cardinal points related to good: south and east, while
north and west are evil.
Pillan is a deity proper of the east, that lives behind the
mountains. The east is not only the place where the sun,
the moon or the stars rise, but it also represents the place
from where all powers and forces capable of securing life
are generated. To invoke this deity is fundamental for
ascending toward the sacred world. The ruka should be
directed to that point, also as the machi directs the rewe
in that sense.
The north and west are identified as evil; the first one as
wind bearers of bad weather, while the west is the point
where the sun sets and the dead rest in peace.
The nag-mapu subworld (opposed to the wenu
mapu) is the place of evil and of occult forces.
Black is its symbolic color. The wekfe, beings of
darkness, live here. However, kuri as a color,
symbolizes what is strong and power ful.
Christianity has generated a number of changes in
m a p u c h e s ' b e l i e f s , t u r n i n g t h e m t o w a rd
monotheism. Today, the Supreme Being is called
God Father (chau-Dios), creator and owner of men
and the universe. Pillan is identified more like a
demon than a beneficial deity
The Pillan
The Mapuche Jesus birth

28. Mapuche mythology characters
Colo Colo
The football team Colo Colo,
one of the most popular in the country, is
named after a legendary Mapuche animal
that has different forms depending on who
you talk to, with body parts of a snake,
rooster, and rat and cries like a newborn
child.
The Peuchen
is a figured feared by many Mapuche. It is
able to shift its form instantly and become
any animal. It has the ability to petrify its
victims and suck the blood from humans and
animals alike.

29. The Kai Kai and Tren Tren
Like most ancient cultures, the Mapuche have their
own version of the great flood. They speak of two
serpents, one the keeper of land and the other of
water. When the water serpent Kai Kai tried to take
over the land from his enemy, the serpent Tren Tren,
the other snake protected the people by bringing
them to the mountains. Once the water subsided the
people were able to return to the valleys and
repopulate the earth.
Lituche and Domo
The first two humans in Mapuche mythology are
Lituche and Domo. Domo, the first female was
created from a star and the flowers and grass grew
so that she could walk upon softer ground.

30. Mapuche ceremonies
In several mapuche ritual ceremonies, and according to the
cosmovision, the compensation of the forces of good
(Ngnechen) by those of evil (wekfe) is pursued. The first
one means life and construction, the second, destruction
and death.
Among the most relevant, the following should be
mentioned: nguillatun, a ceremony of prayer, the machitun,
healing ritual, the wentripantu or celebration of the New
Year, day of the winter solstice; the funeral and initiation
rites may also be included.
The nguillatun
requires a place specially disposed to that end. The rewe is
installed at the center and participants gather around. It
lasts a minimum of two days and a maximum of four. In
certain zones of the Araucania they were held each two,
three or four years, as needed. The public prayer is held for
various motives: the weather, the crops, to avoid illness or
for plenty of food. During the ceremony there is dancing
accompanied by different prayers. Moreover, an animal is
sacrificed, generally a lamb for the ngepin, who directs the
rite. Then the animal's blood is sprinkled or distributed
among the guests, and the ritual drink mudai (fermented
grain) is offered to participants. The dead animal's body
may be completely burnt down in a bonfire in order to be
eaten.

31. Machitun ceremony
The machitún is the healing ceremony. The
machi, who nowadays is almost always a
female, presides the ritual. In dreams, she
receives the ancestral knowledge and the
power to influence the nature of sicknesses
and other natural phenomena.
The traveler E.R. Smith (middle of the XIXth
century) describes the rite as follows: “When
one resorts to a machi the visit takes place
at dawn, because this is the most precise
time for her managements… The patient
must lie on his back in the middle of the
ruka, all family members are asked to leave
or, otherwise, they must facing the wall.
After checking the symptoms, the machi
begins a long magic ceremony consisting in
a monotonous chant along with the playing
of a small drum, made by a sheepskin
stretched over a wooden frame. She
becomes excited, making gestures and
violent contortions, until falling on her back
as in an epileptic fit, with her eyes turned up
and foam coming out of her mouth and her
body twisted in convulsions.
At the same time, she
manipulates the sick
part of the body, until
extracting the evil that
causes the sickness,
which is exhibited with
open demonstrations of
triumph. The sickness
generally assumes the
form of a spider, a frog,
or another creature that
the machi had hidden.”.
She lies on the floor, as if dead,
for along time. At this signal,
young naked men, fearfully
painted, gallop bareback on
their horses around the ruka,
filling the air with their yells.
They carry torches, which they
wave over their heads, as well
as spears, used to scare off
the evil sprits which lie waiting
to harm the sick person…
When the machi recovers, she
declares the nature of the
sickness and proceeds to the
administration of remedies.

32. Mapuche language
Traditionally, Mapudungun, the Mapuche language, has been considered an isolated language, not directly related to any
other language in the southern cone (Lenz 1886:XXII).
For Englers (1936:80), there is a relation, although distant, between the Mapuche, the Quechua and the Aymara world.
According to standard classification, The Mapuche belong to the Araucano sub-family (Araucano family Chon), of the
Andean group, Andean-equatorial branch.
Other authors, as Stark and Hams, have genetically linked the Mapuches with the Mayans.
Mary Kay sustains that the Mapuche people are kin to the tacano-panoas of Peru and Bolivia. Payne has said that there is
a link to the Arawak families of the equatorial group, Andean equatorial branch.
The phonetic system of Mapudungun consists of six vowels: a, e, i, o, u, ï; three semi consonants: y, w, g, and eighteen
consonants: c, o, f, k, l, a, m, n, p, r, s, t, t, tr.
The pronunciation of the vowels is as follows:
a is similar to the English a as in man
e is similar to the English e as in end
i is similar to the English i as in pin
o is similar to the English o as in cold
u is similar to the English oo as in moon
The sixth vowel ï can be pronounced like a u, but with the lips place in an e position.
The mapuche verbs have the particularity of expressing several people interacting among themselves, for example: teli-n:
I looked, leli-e-n: you looked at me.
The numerical system of the Mapuches is decimal and each word corresponds to a unit:
1 kiñe
2 epu

33. Several theories deal with the relation between Mapudungun and other languages. According to standard
classification, The Mapuche belong to the Araucano sub-family (Araucano family Chon) of the Andean group,
Andean-equatorial branch. Authors as Tovar (1961) suggest that Mapudungun belongs to the type II Andean
group, along with languages such as Quechua, Ayamara, Aonikenk (Tewelche), Sel´knam (ona) and Yagán.
Luisa Stark relates Mapudungun to the Maya Language.
Payne, in 1984, speaks of a kinship between Mapudungun and the languages of the Arawak family, of the
equatorial group, corresponding to the Andean- equatorial branch.

34. Mapuche struggle
Today they continue to have a political struggle
with the Chilean government to maintain their own
land. Many now live in impoverished conditions
due to the loss of their land. Many Mapuche also
have the internal struggle of maintaining the
rituals and traditions of their ancient culture in an
ever-changing world with greater influences from
the outside world.

35. Mapuche tourism
There is a museum dedicated only to Mapuche artifacts
just outside of Cañete, south of Concepción near Lago
Lanalhue Contulmo. The museum displays a wide
collection of intricate silver jewelry, textiles, ceramics,
weapons and more. There is also an example of a ruca,
or traditional Mapuche home made of wood and straw
and often circular in shape.
Several other Chilean museums also dedicate portions to
Mapuche artifacts. You can also find modern Mapuche
products in the street fairs throughout the Southern half of
the country.
Unlike the floating islands of Lake Titicaca where the
locals have preserved their way of life and market it as a
tourist attraction, living on display and sharing their
ancient customs, the Mapuche generally remain very
closed. While you should have no problem finding
Mapuche products and crafts while travelling here getting
an up close personal look at the Mapuche way of life is a
rare experience for most tourists.
links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapuche
http://www.cholchol.org/en_mapuche.php
Information from beingindigenous.org

36. Thanks!
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