The Indigenous People New Year

Aymara | Kolla | Mapuche | Quechua

Not only Earth changes, but also the seeds blossom and the animals change their fur.
According the ancient worldview, we must think about the period that goes away and to purify to us with the new sun that born.

The Quechua, Aymara, Kolla and Mapuche people, celebrate the New Year indicated by the winter solstice, like a time of renovation and purification.
In the winter solstice the sun moves away from the Earth, being the shortest day of the year, and the longest night. After that moment, the sun - Chau Antu and the Tata Inti - initiates its approach towards the earth. This is the end of the harvest time and the principle of the sowing time.
Depending on each ancient people, this year is celebrated between 20 and 25 of June. In Southern Chile, the Kawésqar and Yagán people don’t have this custom.

The Kolla people: Huata Mosoj
The Kolla people that live in the Chilean Altiplano has a lot of rituals and festivities unknown to most of the rest of the world. They also celebrate the winter solstice called Huata Mosoj. The ceremony that beginning in the dawn it is directed by the yariti or the Kolla spiritual leader.
For more information: Kolla Region

The Quechua people: Qoyllor Rit'i
At the beginning of June, the Qoyllor Rit'i is celebrated.
The Qoyllor Rit'i is one of the most important indigenous ceremonies in Latin America and it is the official start of the Inti Raymi that is celebrated in the end of june.
The Qoyllor Rit'i conserves their ancestral practices such as the ritual of the purification or " Shining snowy brigth start”. The moon calendar define the exact date of the ceremony that is performed at 4.700 mtrs in the snowcapped of Apu Ausangat, Perú.

The Quechua people: Inti Raymi in Ollagüe
On 24 june the Inti Raymi festival is performed in Cuzco by the Quechua people. However, this year, the ceremony will be celebrated in Ollagüe located on the frontier between Bolivia and Chile .
In this festival is recreated the ceremony that was held by the Incas on the winter solstice.

The Aymara people: Machaqa-mara
On 21 june the Andean people celebrate the Aymara-Qhiswa New Year (the Mara-t'aqa) now called either the Machaqa-mara or the Musuq-wata (separation of the year).
In Tiwanako, Bolivia the return of the sun (Wilka Kuti) is celebrated between 20 and 21 june.
The harvest time or Choquellamallu finish between May and June.
On 3 may, according of the Andean Calendar, the Pusi Wara or Southern cross is celebretead.
Within the Andean worldview, the man cannot live without paying to the Earth. It is a philosophy of reciprocity to live in harmony, that is reflected in the Andean New Year.

The Mapuche people : We Tripantu
We: New; tripan: rise; Antü: Sun. It means, the New Sun Rises. For the Mapuche People this is the end of a cycle and the beginning of another one. In the Southern hemisphere it is also the winter solstice.
According to the moon calendar We Tripantü is celebrated around June 24 of the Gregorian calendar .
Once the moon has taken position (around 24 june), the people go to take a bath in waters that are warm because of the changes in the solar system. Then the sun rises for the mapuche people again.
The following days the mapuche people have a lot of the activities. The young and the adults have a meeting (nütram) or conversation to remember the past and the history of their brothers.The people go to their family to celebrate different rites such as pierce their children' ears, eat sopaipillas or dance.

Related sites:
Qoyllor Rit'i en Perutravels
We Tripantu
Inti Raymi

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