Chasing the seasons

Chasing the seasons: Pehuenche experiences of rapid socioecological change in the Southern Andes Seasonal cycles in Pehuenche territoryClimate change has a direct impact on the seasons.These changes can produce a significant impact on Indigenous communities living in close interdependence with the territory.Furthermore, these impacts are often entangled and reinforced by other socio-ecological processes altering the way communities organise themselves.The commune of Lonquimay, located in the southern Andes in Chile, illustrates this situation.It has been socially, politically, and economically marginalised, and today it is the second poorest commune in La Araucana, Chile's poorest region.At the same time, Lonquimay is very susceptible to environmental changes and especially vulnerable to drought.In writing about the changing seasons in Lonquimay, I spoke with Jessica Rupayan about her experiences.The quotes in this chapter are hers.More than half of Lonquimay's population are Pehuenche people living in rural areas.The Pehuenche are a sub-group of the Mapuche People, who have cohabited with the millenary pehuen tree (Araucaria araucana), whose common English name is the Monkey Puzzle tree.These trees provided them shelter and food, especially during colonisation times.Its seed, the pion, has a high nutritional value, and its resin has medicinal properties.Thanks to this, and other factors that are difficult to perceive for those who have not lived with these ecosystems and their spirits, the pehuen is considered a sacred tree.Pehuenche means 'people of the pehuen' in the Mapuche language.Pehuenche life is inscribed in diverse activities that rhythmically shape seasonality.The Pehuenche's economy and culture are based on a two-level transhumance 1 cycle: pukemtuwe (cold season) and walgtuwe (warm season).These levels refer to both space and time.The pukemtuwe corresponds to the coldest season.It is also the lower altitude zone where the Pehuenche live and spend most of the year -each community has its pukemtuwe, which is subdivided into family plots.During the pukemtuwe season, work is focused on caring for the house, animals, and crops.The walgtuwe coincides with the warmer season and Transhumance is a type of pastoralism based on the seasonal movement of livestock

Geography · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond · Indigenous Cultures and History

• Changing Seasonality

  Sina Bremer, Scott Bremer et al.•Changing Seasonality•2023

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• Socio-ecological changes in the Southern Andes

  Open Access•Rosario Carmona, Carla Marchant et al.•Time & Society•2025

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