On Easter Island or Rapa Nui, the Tapati festival is playful and magical. In the center of the country, Cuasimodo is celebrated, in which a Catholic priest brings communion to the sick escorted by horsemen wearing a handkerchief. In Chiloé, the solidarity minga celebrates the construction or relocation of a neighbor's house.
There is no lack of reasons, each productive sector has one in different places and dates. In addition to the corn, cherry, chicha or watermelon festivals, there are gastronomic festivals with fruits of the sea and of the land, popular games and songs. It is a great diversity of festivities, secular or religious, around a main celebration: the Fiestas Patrias that, for several days, commemorate the Independence of Chile to the rhythm of the cueca, the national dance, and toasts with red wine, chicha and empanadas.
Hundreds of thousands of people participate throughout the country in these traditional Chilean festivities, which are also visited by tourists from all over the world.
Tapati Party of Rapa Nui
With the skin as a support, like the canvas of a painting, the painted bodies are works of art in motion on Easter Island. This is the Tapati festival, which every February elects a queen after sports, artistic and traditional cultural competitions. The competing alliances prepare typical costumes, songs and dances and share stories by orally transmitting their ancestral histories.
Physical prowess is put to the test in haka pei, when the most daring youngsters hurtle down a hillside on banana tree trunks at high speed. Body painting, called takona, is one of the main features of the activity. The islanders compete by painting themselves with natural pigments and native symbols.
Carnival
Also in February, in San Miguel de Azapa, Putre and Socoroma, a ceremony is held to figuratively unearth Ño Carnavalón. Symbol of joy, fertility and fortune, the character and his carnival attract thousands of inhabitants of the highland towns. It is a traditional mestizo festival that is celebrated 40 days before the Catholic Lent, to resurrect the legendary mythical character that augurs happiness all year round. It is, at the same time, a salute to the pachamama (mother earth) and the tata inti (father sun, both in native languages), with music, dances and fruits of the area that promise abundance.
Valdivian Week
There are more Chilean festivals and celebrations in February. In southern Chile, in the area of ancient lakes and forests, the founding of the city of Valdivia is celebrated. "In the Calle-Calle river the moon is bathing", says a song to highlight the beauty of the surroundings. To commemorate the milestone, which occurred on February 9, 1552, dozens of boats give life to a river corso, which captivates Valdivians and visitors who come from other corners of Chile and from abroad.
The decorated ships compete for a prize for the most glamorous and are the perfect setting to crown a beauty queen. A fireworks show closes the festival, while on the banks of the Calle-Calle river, artistic presentations, gastronomy and beer are enjoyed, recalling the cultural influence of the German immigrants who populated the area since the 19th century.
Grape harvest festivals
The prestige of Chilean wine is celebrated in a special way in the central zone of the country. Preparations begin with the arrival of summer and the celebrations culminate in the last weeks of March. The festival in the city of Curicó is the oldest and begins with a religious ceremony to bless the first musts and give way to the floats. The grape harvest also chooses its queen, who is weighed in bottles of wine on a scale, while the grape treading competition takes place, with teams competing for 10 minutes over the grapes until they turn them into juice. Clapping and shouts of encouragement accompany the movements, sometimes funny, but always festive.
Festivals of culture
April is the month of Chilean festivals organized by the National Council for Culture and the Arts, called Chile+Cultura. These are citizen activities throughout the country, bringing culture closer to the people and opening spaces for the dissemination of artists' works. Musicians, poets, painters, filmmakers, actors and dancers show their work to mass audiences.
Indigenous New Year
The Aymara, Quechua, Atacameño, Diaguita, Kolla, Rapa Nui and Mapuche peoples follow their own ancestral calendar. For them, the new year begins with the winter solstice and is celebrated between June 21 and 24. The harvest in the fields is over, the land must rest, prepare for sowing, and renew its fertility. It is a new cycle of life and indigenous cultures are grateful to nature. There are precedents that indicate that in a large part of the territory indigenous peoples are commemorating this date.
The same is true of the Mapuche people, who perform ceremonies in various regions of the country. Between the 21st and 24th of June, the wetripantu or wiñol tripantu is commemorated, which means new year or turn of the year, respectively. On the same dates, machaq mara (new year) or mara taq'a (division of the year) are celebrated for the Aymara people. The inti raymi, understood as the new year for the Quechua people, and the aringa ora or koro, for the Rapa Nui people, understood as the celebration of the annual cycle of life.
Feast of St. Peter
On June 29, fishermen, divers, shellfish gatherers and sea workers celebrate St. Peter, their patron saint, according to Catholic belief. On board a boat surrounded by other small boats, the figure of the apostle is prayed for abundant fishing, good health and a benevolent sea. Numerous people from the cities and foreign tourists share the festivity. The celebration includes a mass accompanied by dances. The offerings are fruits of the sea and work tools. The saint presides over his feast on an altar and is paraded through the streets and coves. From the sea, the sirens of the boats sound greeting his passing.
Festival of La Tirana
La Tirana is a town in the Tarapacá Region, located in the province of Tamarugal. But as a festival transcends this place, becoming the most famous of Chile, visited by pilgrims and tourists. The celebration begins on July 11 with the wax mass and ends with the farewell of the dances on July 18 or 19, depending on the number of dances. Every year, dancers and musicians give life to a religious dance that reflects the submission of evil (the devil) and the capital sins before the virgin, figure before whom they arrive surrendered.
The diablada was incorporated into this festivity in the 1940s, imitating the organization of the Bolivian diabladas. The oldest dances are El baile chino, Los chunchos, Cuyacas, Los indios and Los gitanos. The corps de ballet, with disturbing costumes and masks, moves to the rhythm of drums and flutes. The step is set by the caporal of the brotherhood with a whistle, while the activity shows signs of religious syncretism and also salutes the Virgin of Carmen.
In the town there are records of celebrations almost from the XVII century, but the celebration itself takes shape with the Chileanization. The first dances are of Chilean mining origin, together with Altiplanic dances and Bolivian or Peruvian origin, which in turn imitate the Spanish religious festivals.
Winter Carnivals
The cold winter of the extreme south is warmed up with parties and carnivals. In July, Puerto Williams, the southernmost city in the world, celebrates the Snow Festival. Locals and tourists all participate. The same month, nearby Punta Arenas organizes the carnival called Invernada en la Patagonia. Floats and murgas (street bands) go through the center of the city, several candidates compete for the queen's scepter and fireworks light up the closing night by the Strait of Magellan.
National Holidays
In Chile, the national day is September 18 and also serves to anticipate spring in the fondas or ramadas, temporary sheds that host equally occasional taverns, which offer typical foods, empanadas, chicha and red wine, where cuecas and cumbias are also danced. Along with the commemoration of the first government junta in 1810, the 19th is also a holiday on the occasion of the glories of the Army, with all the uniformed branches parading in the main cities.
The houses display the national flag, the children fly kites, play spinning top and "bolitas" (marbles), compete in hopscotch (yew on a line) and in the stick. Races are held in the Chilean style, that is, with riders running without saddles, holding on to the mane, and in the croissants there are rodeos.
Feast of the Virgin of Andacollo
Copper, Chile's main basic wealth, is the protagonist of a sample of popular religiosity. Andacollo, a town in the Coquimbo Region, was a settlement of the El Molle culture, of Inca influence, which developed agriculture and mineral exploitation. In Quechua, "anta" means copper and "coya" means sovereign. Hence, the virgin of Andacollo is venerated as the queen of copper.
Very popular with locals and foreigners, the activity is celebrated every year between December 24 and 26 with dances and mandas to the patron saint.
Christmas
Every December 24, the birth of Jesus is remembered in Chile with a family dinner, as well as Easter bread - sponge cake with glazed or candied fruit - and cola de mono, a concoction that mixes brandy, milk, sugar, coffee and cinnamon. It is a traditional chilean holiday dedicated especially to children, who receive gifts from the Old Man Easter, the name given in the country to Santa Claus or Santa Claus.
Those present appear after midnight under a pine tree from which hang lights and decorations that simulate candles and snow, given the European origin of the holiday. At the foot of the tree, a manger is usually installed, the representation with figures of the birth of the Catholic messiah.
New Year’s Day
January 1 is welcomed in Chile with spectacular fireworks festivals in different cities of the country. The most traditional fireworks are those of the port of Valparaíso, admired from midnight on December 31 by thousands of people looking for the best viewpoint on the hills of the city. Chileans and foreigners embrace, drink champagne, wish each other prosperity and many practice superstitious rituals.
Some eat lentils, others write the bad things of the old year on a piece of paper that they later burn, and quite a few walk around the neighborhood with suitcases as an omen that they will travel during the year. There are also those who wear special clothes for the occasion.
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