VISIT TO MAPUCHE CEREMONIAL CENTER

Come discover the rich Mapuche culture without leaving Santiago!

Visit the Ruka Kiñe Pu Liwen Mapuche Ceremonial Center in La Pintana. 

You will be greeted by members of the Ruka Kiñe Pu Liwen Mapuche Community with a Welcome Ceremony in a traditional Nguillatuwe (ceremonial pavillion).  This will be followed by a Nütrakaim, a conversation with members of the Mapuche community about the Mapuche culture.  The visit will end with a Mizawün (sharing of Mapuche foods).   The duration of the visit is approximately 2 hours. 

If you are interested in this activity, please scroll down and complete the form.

A Brief History of the Chile’s Indigenous Mapuche People

The name Mapuche encompasses several different indigenous groups inhabiting southern Chile and Argentina, each sharing the Mapudungun language, along with many customs and traditions. The heartland of the Mapuche rests between the Itata and Toltén rivers, in Chile’s south-central zone. Archaeologists have found evidence that suggests the Mapuche occupied this area early as 600 to 500 B.C.

Pre-Conquest

In the pre-Spanish period, the Mapuche lived in scattered farming villages throughout Chile’s Central Valley. Each settlement had a cacique, or chief, whose authority did not generally extend beyond his own village. The Mapuche cultivated corn (maize), beans, squash, potatoes, chili peppers, and other vegetables, fished and hunted for guinea pigs for meat. They kept llamas as pack animals and as a source of wool.  A man’s wealth was determined based on the size of his llama herd.

Spanish Resistance

After the conquest of Peru, Spanish troops led by Pedro de Valdivia headed south to Santiago and then southern Chile, where several cities were established within Mapuche territory. The Mapuche resisted the Spanish invasion, and conflicts between the two groups lasted over 350 years during the Arauco War. Although many Mapuche died from violence and disease, their attacks on Spanish forts and cities in southern Chile had some success. South-central Chile continued to belong largely to the Mapuche until 1882, during the Chilean occupation of the Araucanía. Now an independent nation, Chile was in the process of incorporating more territories, including the Araucanía region — land of the Mapuche. During this occupation, famine and disease hit the Mapuche people hard and the population dropped sharply. Many Mapuche were forced off their land. As adapting to Chilean society became a matter of life and death, the Mapuche were forced to incorporate themselves into this young South American nation.

Cultural Practices

In the native language Mapudungun, ‘Mapuche’ translates to ‘people of the earth’. As their name would suggest, many Mapuche practices and beliefs are deeply connected to the natural world and the Mapuche’s ancestral land. Healing ceremonies and the use of Mapuche herbal medicine, for example, are two common cultural practices. The Mapuche shaman, the machi, occupies one of the most important roles in Mapuche society. The machi, who are usually female, perform ceremonies for warding off illness or evil and protecting the community and their harvest. Machis are knowledgeable about natural medicine and the different remedies their region’s biodiversity provides. The tradition of Mapuche medicine is one of the most visible aspects of the culture present in Chile today, used as both primary and alternative treatment to western medicine.

The Mapuche also have a rich tradition of textiles, a practice that existed far before the Spanish conquest. The women in Mapuche communities would pass on weaving techniques and patterns to younger generations. These textiles, often ponchos and blankets, were considered an important trading good. In addition to their textile production, the Mapuche were also known for their metalwork and in the mid-18th century, many Mapuche started to produce silver finery.

The Mapuche Today

Today, around 10% of Chileans identify as Mapuche, though many more claim some ancestry. Some 1.5 million Mapuche live in Chile with an additional 200,000 living in Argentina. The Mapuche, like many indigenous groups around the world, are in constant demand for the return of their ancestral land. Recent protests in Chile’s capital of Santiago and isolated violence in southern Chile make it a pressing contemporary political issue in the country today.

Besides the return of their land, Mapuche are also fighting for cultural preservation. Small steps like the teaching of Mapudungun in schools, the publishing of Mapuche books and investment in Mapuche artisan traditions reflect a small, yet significant, push to better incorporate Mapuche culture into Chilean society. Moreover, in recent years, Chile has seen a rise in ethnotourism in the south where it is possible to visit traditional Mapuche rukas or houses, learn Mapudungun and better understand some of the principal beliefs of the Mapuche people.

If you are interested in visiting the Mapuche Ceremonial Center in La Pintana (Santiago) and learning more about the Mapuche culture, please fill out the form below!

Mari Mari!

(Mapundungun: Welcome!)