Who fight for noble causes are often forgotten

Mapuche people is in this country since three hundred years ago, we don’t have to forget our roots, because many of us belong to the miscegenation between Natives and Spaniards. We don’t give it the importance, but that people can be our relatives, we can be united by ancestors.

Some of people in that culture are Pehuenches, Huilliches, Moluches, and Picunches. The name of the people is in relation of the geography they live on. For example, Moluche people. Molu means where is the sunset and che means people, so Moluche means people who live where is the sunset.

Schools don’t promote the ethnic cultures in Chile, children are totally engaged with globalization, they want to be like the people on internet; famous, with a perfect skin, expensive clothes, and the best phones.

We don’t improve that things in the Schools, we don’t talk in a daily conversation about Mapuches. The best thing we can do is read information about it, teach to our brothers, cousins, and our friends about it.

I studied in a Mapuche school for three years, one of that years came to the school a woman called “Machi” to do a “We tripantu”, the mapuche’s new year, the day was totally cloudy and for some minutes it was raining. She took some plants and made some prays to her gods, and then when she was finishing the prays and the religious singing, the sky turned from cloudy to sunny. The sun came and show to us all his rays. I think that experience made a change in my life. The feelings of all of us were inexplicable.

Mapuche people have problems with the authorities because of the forest was stolen to them, a teacher told to me how this happened. Spaniards came to the Mapuches communities, they try to exchange alcohol for some yards of forest, Mapuches thought that the Spaniards were crazy because selling yards was ilogic to them. It was just like selling your space of air, obviously we can’t do that. So, Mapuche sold them, thinking that they had cheated these outlanders.

On the other hand, my grandfather told me that some spaniards Middle-class businessmen came to the forest to talk with them, and they forced to sign official papers of their territories, giving them the domain titles. After that, they were forced to move out there.

They have a right to have their land back, her ancestors lived there. The fight between the police and Mapuches is hidden, the state don’t want to the newspaper write about that, because the police is very aggressive against them.

I think we have to be respectful with Mapuche people because they have great stories, mores and traditions. The state of Chile was created after the Mapuches, we are the invader and also we discriminate people with Mapuche names. We must stop the discrimination towards our own roots.

What do you know about the Mapuche?