Welcome to the Kawésqar Region. Here you will find interesting information about this Chilean Indigenous People.
The region contains four main subjects: People (History, Social Organization, environment), Language (Gramma, Vocabulary), Customs (Spiritual World, Rituals, Mythology) and Art. Use the Interactive Map to take an animated tour of this people´s region. The teachers and students will find contents (texts and images) that be able for Printing.
There is also a Resources section in which you will find a virtual Library with Dictionaries, Texts, Books and a complete Links Directory. In addition you could listen to music or watch documentaries in our Videos, Music and Storytelling sections. Finally if you have a question relating to something other than one of these topics, you can use our Search Engine or the Site Map or write to us through the Contact form. You are cordially invited invited to Subscribe our monthly Newsletter to be informed about the site and our Chilean Indigenous Cultures news.
The Kawésqar worldview is based on a group of malignant beings that populated the earth. These beings are a reflection of the hard climatic and telluric conditions in which they lived.
Ayayema: He is a frightful being. He dominates the natural forces and man. The strong wind of the Northwest, that turns boats and house fires, was seen as a manifestation of this malignant being. Kawtcho: He is a wandering night spirit. It is described as a short man, who by day walks below the Earth, and at night emerges from the edge of the water, announced by the barking of dogs.
Mwono: He inhabits the glaciers and mountaintops. He is the spirit of noise and shows himself in avalanches in fjords and glaciers.
According to its function or - characterized by the use of a poetic text or characteristic subject, but not by one common melody-, the Kawésqar songs can be classified in three groups:
Affective comunicative songs, that express human feelings. They include five song-type: about love, cradle, and joy. They are the largest group and have a great amount of versions.
Imitative songs, that include numerous animals and birds imitations and material imitations of human actions and objects. At the present moment these are reduced to three song-type: the fine wolf, of the liles ducks and the wolf toruno.
Playful songs that consiste of four song-type: playing with the sea, repertoire of 1959; playing round, swing and firing, the repertoire of 1971.
In each of these three groups one song-type is emphasized by its use, functionality and abundance of versions. These are, the songs of love, the fine wolf and playing round, all which is represented in the repertoire of 1959 and 1971.
A generalized weakening of the traditional music expressions has been produced as a result of the dramatic cultural change, disintegration and diminution of the ethnic group .
According to its function or - characterized by the use of a poetic text or characteristic subject, but not by one common melody-, the Kawésqar songs can be classified in three groups:
Affective comunicative songs, that express human feelings. They include five song-type: about love, cradle, and joy. They are the largest group and have a great amount of versions.
Imitative songs, that include numerous animals and birds imitations and material imitations of human actions and objects. At the present moment these are reduced to three song-type: the fine wolf, of the liles ducks and the wolf toruno.
Playful songs that consiste of four song-type: playing with the sea, repertoire of 1959; playing round, swing and firing, the repertoire of 1971.
In each of these three groups one song-type is emphasized by its use, functionality and abundance of versions. These are, the songs of love, the fine wolf and playing round, all which is represented in the repertoire of 1959 and 1971.
A generalized weakening of the traditional music expressions has been produced as a result of the dramatic cultural change, disintegration and diminution of the ethnic group .