The indigenous world is circular. Based upon the movements of the sun. Based upon the energy that the presence and absence of the sun creates in nature. When the Mapuche celebrate the wetripantu (the so-called Mapuche “new year,” in fact the celebration of winter solstice or literally new sunrise; we: new, tripan: to come out, antü: sun.)The same cycle of energy can be noted in the perspective of a year.

We Tripantu – New Year within the culture of Mapuche is in the end of June when South America enters a state of winter. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice occurs on December 21 or 22 each year in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere.

At this moment everything around us starts to create new energy. The We Tripantu initiates the Pükem (time for rain) at a point of zero. And the nature prepares itself with a flow of positive energy for the spring to come. When the sun is dawning we are at the maximum flow of positive energy. After the sun has gone up the positive energy starts to diminish, and at noon – when the sun is at its peak – we are again at a point of zero.

This is when the negative energy starts to flow, with its maximum in the sunset. It then diminishes in the same manner as the positive in order to create a new point of zero at midnight.
In these days of December in the northern hemisphere, earth, nature and the universe, begin the renewal and initiation of new cycles of life and bring dreams and hopes.

References
Boccara, G. The Mapuche People in Post-Dictatorship Chile, Etudes rurales 3/2002 (n° 163-164), p. 283-303. URL : www.cairn.info/revue-etudes-rurales-2002-3-page-283.htm.
Marileo, A. Mapuche Ngenpin (*) .”Año Nuevo en el hemisferio norte” http://www.mapuche.info/?kat=6&sida=206
”Año Nuevo en el hemisferio norte - Indigenous New Year in the northern hemisphere”
(*) The highest title of cultural and religious knowledge within the Mapuche people