Step by step this new cycle is being renewed in the southern hemisphere
A new cycle begins to arrive in this part of the southern hemisphere, where numerous families share to accompany the renewal of the energies and forces of nature under cultural, religious and spiritual traditions.
Just as various other Peoples keep the celebration of this cycle alive, such as the Quechua with the Inti Raimi, the Aymara with the Machaq Mara among various other peoples of ancient cultures, in this part of the planet, the Mapuche People have traditionally been commemorating the We Tripantu , Wiñoy Tripantu or Wvñol Xipantv.
Step by step this new cycle is being renewed and the call that has been made is to consider these moments to connect with the elements of nature, with the living forces of the earth.
Next, we share an important text by the Mapuche academic, linguist, activist for the rights of indigenous peoples, Elisa Loncon Antileocurrent Mapuche constituent and who was president of the Constitutional Convention in her first term.
“It is very important to clarify the name of the holiday. It is called Wüñol Tripantü (Wvñol Xipantv, Wvñoy Xipantv), with the verb wüño- ‘to return, to return’ and not we tripantü, the latter is a semantic carbon copy of the concept ‘new year’ of non-Mapuche culture.”.
Wüñol Tripantü or Wvñol Xipantv: History, present and future for indigenous peoples
By Elisa Loncón
The celebration of the Wüñol Tripantü is a celebration with nature, with the family and the community. The renewal of life, of the earth, of animals is celebrated; all nature flies to be reborn. It is an ancient practice that has always been in Mapuche memory, although it had been replaced by Saint John the Baptist, as a result of evangelization and colonization.
The restart of the year starts with the winter solstice, on June 21 in the southern hemisphere. On that day the rays fall directly on the Tropic of Cancer, so the day is shorter and the night is longer. The festivities take place from June 21 to 25. From then on, the Sun begins its approach towards the earth, day by day the night shortens and the day lengthens.
The indigenous peoples of Chile, from the north to Puerto Williams, are preparing to receive a new cycle of life together with mother earth, it is the Wüñol Tripantü (mapudungun), Inti raimi (quechua) Machaq mara (aymara).
In the Mapuche culture, it is said that the earth rests in the fall and that it is purified by the rains that enter winter. After the rains, the sun allows the first shoots, the first flowers, the animals are born, spring comes, and the earth continues its natural cycle to summer, autumn, to restart in another winter.
In this celebration the cosmogony, worldview and values of the people converge, and it is characterized by:
a) The uniqueness of the world and the universe, we are a part of the universe, human beings, everything that exists make up the universe.
b) The sense of belonging of the human being to a group, made up of men and women in complementation. The complementation of man with woman, the living as the ancestors, nature with the beings that inhabit it, the earthly with the spiritual, all are part of what one is, all are needed.
c) The sense of reciprocity of human relations between people and with nature, is received and given, for this reason one must also give and thank;
d) The cyclical sense of time. The year returns to its beginning, nature begins again; life is a constant renewal.
and) The connection of the visible world with the spiritual. There is no border between the real and the imaginary; the act of matter and soul; a profound spiritual practice on which indigenous thought is based. The belonging of the human being to a totality leads to the notion of harmony between man and the world, to the balance between natural forces and to the possibility of listening to mother earth, to a state of peace and contemplation. This way of life is so deep that it refers us to a world in constant movement, life and connections between everything that inhabits it (material or spiritual).
That said, it is very important to clarify the name of the holiday. It is called Wüñol Tripantü (Wvñol Xipantv, Wvñoy Xipantv), with the verb wüño- ‘to return, to return’ and not we tripantü, the latter being a semantic carbon copy of the concept ‘new year’ of the non-Mapuche culture. There is a profound difference between concepts, Wüñol Tripantü, ‘return of the year’, corresponds to the restart of a cycle, we tripantü, implies linear time, where a new year leaves behind an old one, which leaves and does not return. Indigenous time is cyclical, not linear. The name change is not a simple coincidence, but the product of a phenomenon known as linguistic acculturation, the dominant language modifies the morphology, syntax, and semantic content of the dominated language, in this case the content and the name of the celebration are changed .
The recovery of the memory of Wüñol Tripantü
The public recovery of the tripantü wüñol dates back to 1985, when a group of young Mapuche members of the AD-MAPU Mapuche Theater Workshop, dedicated to researching and disseminating their culture, expressed their concern about why everyone celebrated on June 24 . They investigated and arrived at the source of memory, when a ‘wise’ kimche explained to them the reasons for this celebration; he told them that it was not the celebration of San Juan, but the wüñol tripantü. The old man also contextualized the story in the Mapuche agricultural calendar, in the worldview of the people and in history; its clarity allowed connecting all the stories gathered by the group and from there, a voice of marichi wew, spread again throughout the wallmapu announcing the Wüñol Tripantü, and that today spreads throughout the chilemapu, the Aymara peoples also celebrate it historically , Quechua, Lickan antay.
The first public celebration was held in Temuco on June 23, 1985, in this event students, young Mapuche, leaders participated along with the great sages of the time, such as Anselmo Rangileo lamngen, leaders such as José Luís Huilcaman, Santos Millao, and others. . Today, the passage of the Wüñol Tripantü ceremony from the private and family to the public, has helped to strengthen the Mapuche culture in public spaces, has allowed June 24 to be declared as National Day of Indigenous Peoples (1998) . The activity is also celebrated beyond the communities, in schools, municipalities, universities, gardens, in organizations; and most importantly, it has made it possible to make culture visible as a practice of the present, not of the past, of the museum, or of folklore.
The value of Wüñoy Tripantü
The event is very important for indigenous peoples and also to account for the cultural diversity that exists in the country. To promote the value of the roots, the legacy of the ancestors. It reminds us of our spiritual origin, our relationship with mother earth. If indigenous cultures have something, in addition to their legacy of struggle, their languages, cultures, it is spirituality, a language of the sacred, of the land, which sustains their history, present and future.
On the other hand, although this root is denied by the non-indigenous society; Those who have been able to appreciate it have made it their source of inspiration. It would not be capricious to point out that the roots of Chilean poetry, that of Neruda, Mistral, Tellier and others gather the spirituality, the word and the memory of indigenous peoples.
The celebration also strengthens intercultural dialogue between peoples and cultures. Undoubtedly, celebrating the Wüñol Tripantü breaks the paradigm of non-Mapuche culture time, but not only that, it shows us another conception of the human being and that it is possible, a collective being, that belongs to a whole, that is not alone, but it is part of a network called world, earth, cosmos, linked to everything that exists, physically and spiritually, of a world in continuous movement. The Western world and its thought in crisis have lost balance and relationship with nature and its spirituality. It enhances the value of diversity, broadens the perspective, gives meaning to the coexistence of different people. It gives value to the way of life of the people, not because of its “exotic” character, but because of its aesthetic value and its hopeful message in harmony with nature.
On the other hand, with the celebration of this date by the peoples, it is being shown that they do not need opportunities; rather, they have and demand individual and collective rights, such as languages, territories, and collective and community organizational structures.
The renewal of a new cycle is one more opportunity to improve, improve ourselves and balance ourselves with mother earth.
It is a time of renewal, not only of our lives, but of the renewal of the commitment with the community, society and with mother earth:
– Our conviction is renewed for the defense of natural and energy resources, water and land;
– The recognition of indigenous languages as national and co-official languages with Spanish;
– Intercultural Bilingual Education for indigenous peoples and intercultural education for all Chileans;
– The struggle for a New Constitution, which recognizes the peoples and their collective rights. For a multinational State with a new model of society that assumes multiple nationalities, cultures, languages, religions, forms of spirituality;
– The exercise of the collective rights of the indigenous peoples, such as the autonomy and self-determination of the peoples, the use of the territory, the knowledge and values of the peoples.
– Freedom for the peoples, such as the release of political prisoners for the Mapuche cause. Especially freedom for our machi.
– The search for a new alternative social ethic to that of the market that does not continue to prey on nature.
KÜME KOMPAPE IÑ WÜÑOL TRIPANTÜ. MARICHI WEW!
Main source: Sustainable Planet