We Tripantu

What it is

The Mapuche read the year by the sun. When the days have drawn in to their shortest and the night runs longest, they hold We Tripantu, the point where light begins to come back. In the southern half of the world that falls in June, not December. Mapuche language speakers do not all use the same word for it. Some call the June solstice celebration Wiñoy Tripantu and use We Tripantu for the new year of the Gregorian calendar, on 1 January. Others use the two names side by side for the solstice itself.

The longest night

Families and whole communities gather on the shortest day. A wood fire is lit and kept alive until sunrise, so it burns right through the dark hours. There is singing and dancing, a meal shared by everyone, and offerings given to the land. Elders speak, handing on stories that carry Mapuche history, thought and politics to those who are younger. Each person has a part to play, and nobody stands outside watching. At daybreak the night closes with a communal breakfast, eaten together as the new cycle opens.

Sun, earth and names

The sun stands at the centre of the night, and across the region it carries many names: Antü in Mapudungun, Inti in Aymara, Rapa in Rapa Nui. As the light returns, Nuke Mapu, the name Mapuche speakers give the earth as a mother, begins to flower again, from the high Andes down to the far south. Quechua speakers call that same earth Pachamama. Writers have placed the Mapuche celebration beside Inti Raymi. What both hold is one idea: the land wakes, and warmth and growth come back with it.

Today and change

We Tripantu belongs to a long Mapuche practice, kept now in southern Chile and Argentina, the two countries that hold the Mapuche homeland. In recent decades the observance has come back into plainer view, part of a wider return to Mapuche cultural life and to campaigning for land rights. The solstice night is where the two meet, with fire, food, music and talk carrying a people's memory into the coming year. For those who keep it, the shortest day is not the loss of light. It is the moment the year turns.

How We Tripantu is kept

Community members gather on the shortest day and stay together through the night. A fire is lit and tended until sunrise. There is singing, dancing, a shared meal and offerings made to the land. Elders tell stories that hold Mapuche history, philosophy and politics, passing them to younger people. The ceremony ends at dawn with a communal breakfast.

When and where

It falls on the June solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere, so the date follows the sun rather than the calendar. In the Mapuche homeland this is the middle of winter, and the night that follows is the longest of the year.

It belongs to the Mapuche homeland, which today lies in southern Chile and southern Argentina. The ceremony is strongest in Mapuche communities there, where families and neighbours keep the night together.

What We Tripantu means

The longest night is also the turning point. From that evening the sun begins to return, and with it warmth, growth and food. Mapuche people read the solstice as the start of a new cycle rather than the end of the old one. The fire that burns until morning stands for a light that has not gone out, and the stories told in the dark carry the community's memory into the year ahead.

Questions people ask about We Tripantu

See also

Twelve GrapesA grape for every chime at midnight on 31 December, welcoming the new yearIntiThe Inca sun deity, honoured with temples, offerings and the June festival Inti RaymiWillkakutiAn Aymara new year at the June solstice, marking the sun's returnChristmasA festival of Jesus's birth, kept on 25 December with gifts, lights and shared meals

Good reading and sources

• We Tripantu on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.