Navidad () is one of the six

communes A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Cardenal Caro Province Cardenal Caro Province () is one of the three provinces of the central Chilean region of O'Higgins (VI). The capital of Cardenal Caro is Pichilemu. Name The province is named after Cardinal José María Caro Rodríguez, native of Pichilemu, and ...

O'Higgins Region The Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region (, ), often shortened to O'Higgins Region (), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is subdivided into three provinces. It is named in honour of Bernardo O'Higgins Riquel ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. It borders the commune of

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

(

Valparaíso Region The Valparaíso Region (, ) is one of Chile's 16 Regions of Chile, first order administrative divisions.Valparaíso Region, 2006 With the country's second-highest population of 1,790,219 , and fourth-smallest area of , the region is Chile's sec ...

) and San Pedro (

Santiago Metropolitan Region Santiago Metropolitan Region () is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions. It is the country's only landlocked administrative region and contains the nation's capital, Santiago. Most commercial and administrative centers are loc ...

) in the north, the commune of

Litueche Litueche (; originally called ''El Rosario'', ''Rosario Lo Solís'' or simply ''Rosario'') is a Chilean town and commune in Cardenal Caro Province, O'Higgins Region. It is served by Litueche Airport. Demographics According to the 2002 census ...

to the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The commune has approximately 20 kilometres of coastline.

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of the Chilean National Statistics Institute, Navidad spans an area of and has 5,422 inhabitants (2,878 men and 2,544 women). Of these, 712 (13.1%) lived in

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s and 4,710 (86.9%) in

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

s. The population fell by only 1 person between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Geography

The landscape of the commune is predominantly plateau, rolling hills and ravines, common features of the central coastline of Chile. The

Rapel River Rapel River is a List of rivers in Chile, river of Chile located in the O'Higgins Region. It begins at the confluence of the rivers Cachapoal River, Cachapoal and Tinguiririca River, Tinguiririca in an area best known as ''La Junta''. At present d ...

is the main water source, though there are also some small streams and lagoons, such as ''El Culenar''. Navidad has attracted visitors due to a geological feature, the

Navidad Formation Navidad Formation () is a marine Neogene sedimentary geologic formation, formation located in Central Chile. The formation is known for its diverse and abundant fossil record and is considered the reference unit for the marine Neogene in Chile. Or ...

, marine rock

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

containing

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

ised marine life dating from the late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

to the early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

in the 19th century. The French scientist and painter

Claudio Gay Claude Gay, often named Claudio Gay in Spanish texts, (18 March 1800 – 29 November 1873), was a French botanist, naturalist and illustrator. This explorer carried out some of the first investigations about Chilean flora, fauna, geology and geo ...

was also commissioned by the Chilean government to study the area, as was the German geologist Rodolfo Philippi.

Origin and history

The modern town and commune boundaries were established on September 28, 1936, with the municipality authorities placed in the town of Navidad, the largest in the commune. In 1585, the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friar Diego de Medellín, third bishop of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, was concerned about the local people and wrote to the King of Spain about Navidad, Rapel,

Matanzas Matanzas (Cuban ; ) is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas Province, Matanzas. Known for its poets, culture, and Afro-American religions, Afro-Cuban folklore, it is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Mat ...

and other settlements in the area, providing proof of the early origins of the name. One tradition holds that one Christmas Eve in the sixteenth century, the first Franciscan friars came to the port of

and celebrated Christmas there, staying in the valley for several days. They called the place ''Navidad'', the Spanish word for Christmas. Other versions of the story claim that the name ''Navidad'' originated with the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and the Jesuit convent located in

Bucalemu Bucalemu () is a Chilean town, located from Pichilemu, in the Cardenal Caro Province, O'Higgins Region. It belongs to the Paredones commune and, according to the 1992 census, Bucalemu has 1,532 inhabitants. In Bucalemu's lagoon, it is common to ...

. Jesuits played an important role in the conversion and education of the native people, teaching not just religion but also various artisan skills. None of these versions is confirmed.

Administration

As a commune, Navidad is a third-level

administrative division of Chile The administrative division or territorial organization of Chile exemplifies characteristics of a unitary state. State administration is functionally and geographically decentralized, as appropriate for each authority in accordance with the law ...

administered by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

and led by an

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

, who is directly elected every four years. The 2021-2024 alcalde is Yanko Blumen Antivilo.

Tourism

The climate of Navidad is Mediterranean, with rain from April to October and a dry summer. The coastline is very windy with big waves, making it a popular location for

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

.Surfing in Chile
This is chile August 01, 2009, retrieved August 11, 2013 Navidad has a strong farming tradition, and one interesting activity that can be observed here is the ''( Trilla a yegua suelta)'' festival, where

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

s are driven loose over harvested wheat to separate the grain from the

chaff Chaff (; ) is dry, scale-like plant material such as the protective seed casings of cereal grains, the scale-like parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff cannot be digested by humans, but it may be fed to livestock, ploughed into soil ...

Localities

Some of the localities located in Navidad: Rapel, Licancheu, Culenar, Navidad, Las Brisas,

La Boca La Boca (; "the Mouth", probably of the Matanza River) is a neighborhood (''Barrios of Buenos Aires, barrio'') of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. Its location near the Port of Buenos Aires meant the neighbourhood became a melting pot of ...

, Vega de La Boca, Matanzas, Pupuya, Pupuya Sur, El Fullingue, Centinela, El Manzano, Tumán, La Polcura, Valle negro, Puertecillo, Valle Hidango, El Manzano, San Vicente de Pucalán, Quiñecaben, La Aguada, Lagunillas, El Chorrillo, Potrero de San Rafael, La Patagûilla, El Maitén, Vega de Pupuya

References

External links

*
Municipality of Navidad
{{Communes in O'Higgins Region Populated places in Cardenal Caro Province Beaches of Chile Populated coastal places in Chile Surfing locations in Chile Communes of Chile Landforms of O'Higgins Region Coasts of O'Higgins Region