Mapuche textiles

[1] In the Araucanía region in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as reported by various chroniclers of Chile, the Mapuche worked to have Hispanic clothing and fabrics included as a trophy of war in treaties with the Spanish.

[3] The oldest historical documents that refer to textile art among the indigenous peoples of southern Chilean and Argentine territory, date from the sixteenth century and consist of chronicles of European explorers and settlers.

Knowledge of both weaving techniques and textile patterns particular to the locality were usually transmitted within the family, with mothers, grandmothers, and aunts teaching a girl the skills they had learned from their own elders.

Tissue volumes made by Aboriginal women and marketed in the Araucanía and the north of Argentine Patagonia were really considerable and constitute a vital economic resource for indigenous families.

Most Mapuche women and their families now wear garments with foreign designs and tailored with materials of industrial origin, but they continue to weave ponchos, blankets, bands and belts for regular use.

[9] Many Mapuche women continue to weave fabrics according to the customs of their ancestors and transmit their knowledge in the same way: within domestic life, from mother to daughter, and from grandmothers to granddaughters.