Colegio Santa Cruz - Temuco

Prof. Ximena Escobar Presencia Transformadora

Taller de Inglés - 2023

Guia de aprendizaje N° 2
Traditions and festivities
Chilean Culture: The Mapuche We Tripantu celebration

Name Level I° Date

Objetivo de aprendizaje: Comprender información central de textos escritos en contexto

relacionados con sus intereses para conocer la manera en que otras culturas abordan
dichos contextos.

We tripantu

Preparation:

1. Look for the meaning of these words and then write them under the picture.

Harvest Stream Dawn Sow

Historically June 24 marks the winter solstice, which in Chile

means that the shortest day of winter is upon us. From here on
out, the days can only get brighter, a fact that’s not lost on one of
Chile’s most dominant indigenous communities, the Mapuche
people. The winter solstice coincides with the amazing celebration
of We Tripantu, where Mapuche communities up and down the
length of Chile welcome the birth of the new sun, it is something
really meaningful for them.

What’s It All About?

For Chile’s indigenous Mapuche people, We Tripantu is a kind of

New Year celebration. The coming of the shortest day and the
longest night symbolizes the end of the harvesting period of the
previous year and the beginning of the new sowing cycle. According to the Mapuche vision of the
world, the new sun is born in winter and begins to grow throughout the spring before reaching
the prime of its life at the height of summer and fading away again as fall draws on. That’s what
makes the winter solstice so powerful and important and since it marks the moment of the sun’s
rebirth.

Celebrations and Music

“Sólo el amor despierta la vida” (Padre Teodosio)

 Colegio Santa Cruz - Temuco
Prof. Ximena Escobar Presencia Transformadora
Taller de Inglés - 2023
We Tripantu celebrations may officially begin with the winter solstice on the 21st of
June but they well and truly kick off on the evening of the 23rd of June, where family members
and the extended community gather together around a fire or stove to eat, drink and tell
traditional stories. Folk music is played throughout the night on Mapuche instruments like the
tructruca horn, the pifilca flute and the cultrún drum. As the first birds begin to sing around
dawn, people head down to nearby rivers and streams to wash and cleanse away anything
negative they’ve picked up throughout the year; disease, evil thoughts, bad spirits... it all gets
washed away with the river, leaving bathers ready to be renewed by the young sun as it rises for
the first time that year, and the faces of the people look wishful.

Food

Food is an important part of any celebration and We Tripantu is no exception. Meats - including
chicken, pork, lamb, beef and even horse - are roasted on the fire and traditional delicacies are
prepared paciently. Those celebrating drink muday, a cloudy alcoholic drink made from
fermented maize or wheat and eat catutos (fried or boiled dough treats dipped in honey),
sopaipillas (deep-fried discs of pumpkin dough) and a kind of dense unleavened bread cooked in
the embers of the fire. Mote, made from boiled, husked wheat, is also eaten to celebrate We
Tripantu.

Sport, games and dancing

Throughout the day of the 24th June, adults and children alike take part in games and dancing.
Small children play awar kuden, a betting game using colourful dried beans. Older children and
teenagers play palín, a game similar to hockey where two teams of five to fifteen players use
curved sticks to hit a leather ball. All members of the community join in with traditional Mapuche
dances like the purrún and the mazatún.

2. According to the text answer the following questions:

a. When is “We Tripantu" celebrated? and which season it coincides with?

b. What kind of celebration “We Tripantu” is?

c. What is the meaning of the shortest day and the longest day?

d. When does this celebration begin?

e. What do they do in the rivers and streams?

f. Mention the drinks and food which they consume in this celebration.

g. What the game “palin” consist of?

3. Circle,underline or highlight. True or False for the following sentences. Justify if the
statement is false.

a. The winter solstice is the longest false true

day in the year.

“Sólo el amor despierta la vida” (Padre Teodosio)

 Colegio Santa Cruz - Temuco
Prof. Ximena Escobar Presencia Transformadora
Taller de Inglés - 2023

b. This celebration symbolizes the false true

new harvest

c. The pifilca and the cultrún are false true

kind of guitars.

d. They celebrate with a lot of food. false true

e. The palín and hockey are alike. false true

4. Adjectives suffixed with -ful. Identify these kind of word from the text and then search for
the meaning

Ex: Historically means historicamente.

5. Write your opinion about the text. Consider the following points:
● What information called your attention.
● Why this festivity is important for Mapuche people.
● Do you consider this celebration relevant for our country? why?

6. Choose 10-15 interesting words from the text and then write a short story using them. Or, it
could be a news report, poem, or another kind of written piece.

Reading text taken and adapted from : www.cascada.travel

“Sólo el amor despierta la vida” (Padre Teodosio)