Introduction / History

The Chango people have existed 8,000 to 12,000 years.They inhabited a vast area from southern Peru to the entire coast of Chile, extending beyond the current established regions along the Atacama Desert coast. They have been transhumant people who have traveled a lot as a family. They move along the entire coastline looking for resources and subsistence.

The name Chango has been used to refer to many disparate communities of indigenous people living along the northern Chilean and southern Peruvian coast in the pre-Colombian era. Their existence was first documented in the 17th century by Spanish conquerors who perceived little in the way of cultural difference between the local native communities.

Their practices were linked to fishing, seafood, and beach gathering, to the exchange with people from the interior, and after the arrival of the Spaniards, also working in cattle raising and agriculture. A characteristic cultural reference of the Chango people at different times was the manufacture of sea lion leather rafts.

Until September 2020, the ethnic group was not recognized by the State, which only contemplated nine native groups present in the territory: Aymara, Likanantai, Quechua, Collas, Rapa Nui, Mapuche, Kawésqar, Yamana, and Diaguita.

What Are Their Lives Like?

Socially, they do not go beyond the level of “bands”, so they have lived in groups of no more than 30 to 35 people with no differences in roles or social location.

The Chango people underwent a process of transformation as they lost their culture to be incorporated into Chilean culture, adopting elements such as clothing, surnames, and the monetary system. This process, however, overlooked the exchange they had with the interior peoples for subsistence. Today there is a mestizo Chango people, who still defend various of their traditions, among them the Quechua language, which they have tried to preserve.

There is a characteristic term among this people group: "changuear", which means not overexploiting resources in the same area, living off what you hunt, going into the water, preparing and eating food that comes from the sea.

What Are Their Beliefs?

There is little historical information about the Changos’ religious beliefs. It is thought that their ceremonial and ritual activities were linked to the sea, part of a tradition that can be traced back to the Chinchorro culture and the Huentelauquén complex.

Within this belief system, ancestor worship holds a special place. In Pre-Hispanic times, the dead were buried with their tools and other precious objects, from bows and arrows and harpoons to miniature models of boats, implying a belief that they would continue their seagoing ways in the afterlife. Cemeteries are most commonly found on beaches and have shallow sandy graves and separate male-female burial sites.

What Are Their Needs?

One of the needs the Changos recognize as essential is that their children have access to education, something that, due to their marginalization, had not been possible.

They also need an encounter with the Creator of the sea and of the natural resources with which they have lived throughout their history, and which have allowed them to survive.

Another need is that roads continue to be built to give them access to other communities. That telephone and radio coverage, which they have lacked for centuries, reach their region.

These people need visitors from other regions of the world to not only favor them in terms of money but also to share with them the truth of the gospel.

Prayer Items

Pray that the Chilean State provides the Chango people with infrastructure to improve their living conditions in an environment dependent on the sea.
Pray for the spirit of the Lord to move in a Christian church in the Atacama region to reach the Chango people.
Pray that the Changos recognize that there is a God and Creator of all the natural wealth with which they coexist every day.
Pray that telecommunications reach this town soon so that through radio, internet, and social networks, they can hear about Christ.

Scripture Prayers for the Chango in Chile.

References

https://www.soychile.cl/Antofagasta/Sociedad/2020/09/10/672763/
https://www.larazon.cl/2020/12/21/quienes-son-los-changos-el-decimo-pueblo-indigena-en-ser-reconocido-en-chile/#:~:text=En%202020%20el%20Congreso%20chileno%20reconoció%20al%20pueblo,sigl