Hi, I'm Raquel, a Mapuche from Temuco. Welcome to the Araucaria.
Mapuches are one of the biggest native people in Southern America. My nomad ancestors settled down between the rivers Biobio and Tolten in Chile and in the south of Argentina, where they worked the land. Since then, we live out of the agriculture and fishing. Mapuche means "Earth people" (Mapu means land, and Che means people), but we are also known as Araucanians which means "rebel", as we haven't been easily conquered, always trying to preserve our lands. Nowadays, we love in small parts of land called "reductions" in Chile and "reserves" in Argentina.
Family has always been the most important centre of our organization. The chief of all our small tribes is known as LONKO. His figure is very important because he gives counsel and solution to problems that people may come across between them. We play PALIN, a game that strengthens friendship among us. The main issue is to meet and celebrate, usually accompanied by religious ceremonies, dancing and plenty of food! Imagine what a strong hook that is that Mapuches who have migrated from villages to cities, come back, even for a day. And I'm sure that from Wenumapu - God's land- they celebrate it as well.
We are rather small and have small heads, however anthropologists have pointed our origin in the Polinesia. Women, we usually make tow plaits for a hair-style and our most typical clothes are poncho and leather boots, but also vivid colors sash that we use to tie blankets. Well, we also use jeans and coats, just like any of you guys. By the way, our language is Mapudungun, which according to some specialists is an isolated language, a mixture between Aimara, Mapuche and Quitxua. I don't care where it comes from, but I don't want it to get lost in the immensity of English and Spanish, two very strong languages (especially with globalization).
