The Bird Man, Magical Mate, And The Beauty Of Community (hey that rhymes!)

I have decided, to prove to you all that I don't always just sit around dancing with trees and reflecting on the nature of life, to dedicate this blog to something really cool I got to do this past weekend.

The United States shares some things with Chile-the pacific ocean, relative isolation from other countries, McDonalds. It also shares a rather horrific past of indigenous people murdered, forcefully converted, their land taken away, discrimation, and lots of other sad things that humanity can do sometimes. The Mapuche is the main indigenous group of Chile, and it has suffered mightily at the hands of first the Inca and next the Spanish, and then the Chileans.

But don't you worry, this blog isn't about bemoaning the past...it's about celebrating the beauty of the present and the hope of the future! I'm in an agroecology club here, and the club organized a weekend with two Mapuche leaders to hold traditional ceremonies, drink hella mate, and salute the beauty of community and forging a positive future.

---This calls for a brief interlude to discuss the wondrous beauty that is mate. Mate is an herb that is crushed up, dried, and consumed with water in a gourd. It has quite a history in South America, especially places like Paraguay and Argentina. But what attracted me to mate was not it's bitter, at first kind of gross taste, nor the fact that it helps you pass things through your system like you're a human waterslide (it had just been too long since I made a bowel reference). Nope, what attracted me is the communal way in which mate is consumed.

So you sit in a circle, and one person is the cebador (pourer). He/she fills up the gourd with mate and hot water, and passes it to the first person in the circle, who finishes it and passes it back to the pourer, who refills the gourd and passes it to the second person, and on and on in a perfect circle. Sorry bacteria freaks, but you drink out of the same straw, just adding to this communal tradition. You're not just sharing the herb, you're sharing your intimate bacteria. Don't you even think about wiping off that straw! You can betcha if there's one thing I'll be bringing back to the States, it is blessed mate. Prepare yourself, my friends....---

I'll be posting some serious mate pictures soon. Now, back to the main function.

So yes, about 10 of us spent the night in Bonifacio, a 1.5 hour bus ride from Valdivia very close to where I fasted last week. It's about a 1,000 person pueblo with open pastures, pure ocean views, dirt roads, and something very sacred and pure in the air. The house we stayed in was outfitted with all kinds of Mapuche instruments. I sort of learned to play the katruun, a circular tube with a horn at the end (somewhat similar to the Jewish shofar). After each katruun session you turn it upside down and watch all your expended spit drip out. Mmm....

The night was like the rural indigenous childhood I never had. We sat around in a circle, passing the Mate, mostly listening to the two Mapuche elders speaking of things which sounded very very wise. The whole time I was mostly in awe at just how cool this all was. A big theme of the weekend was rebuilding Mapuche self-esteem and learning the Mapuche language, which is nearly going extinct due to racism and discrimation against all things Mapuche. Their language is beatiful, totally based on 19 symbols, of things in nature and things integral to their culture. It occurred to me here just how important a language is to a people's culture, how much of their sacred identity it forms. It made me very thankful that people like these Mapuche leaders exist and fight mightily to maintain their beautiful traditions and culture.

So far I've neglected to reveal the identity of the one of the two Mapuche elders: El Hombre Pajaro (literally, the bird man). In the Mapuche tradition, there is one hombre pajaro every generation, and we were graced with his presence. He has an ability to communicate with the birds, an incredible knowledge of them. His bird calls and chanting blew me away. He's a poet also, and writes poems about all the birds (I bought the book and managed to spill wine on it, but hopefully it'll just flavor the words even more).

El hombre pajaro led us through a Mapuche ceremony in the morning, where several people played Mapuche instruments, and everyone stood facing the sun, directing their prayers that way. After the ceremony we ate an incredible amount of oysters, homemade sopaipillas (like fried bread), and drank a lot more mate.

At the bus stop on the way back, a middle-aged couple struck up a conversation with us, and insisted on giving us their crackers, a simple gesture which just blew me away. So it is with many people here, so generous, without asking for anything in return.

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."
Look what happens
with a love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky. --Hafiz

Be well, peoples!

Love,
Ryan