There are a lot more than those we know the traditions and
customs Mapuches. Many have been assimilated or integrated
to the western culture and many other unfortunately have
gotten lost with the time and discrimination.
The more relevant is Ngüllatün (ngülla: to
request, tün: action) whose duration is of three days and
it's made once a year. It's the action of which requested to
Nguenechén, people's master, God represented in the
sun that is dual: man and woman. It's the moment of the
contact with God.
What is requested is protection, help and climate's regulation
of which the cultivations, animals and their same existence
depend. It's also the moment to thank: mapuches takes
offerings (best animals) that will be sacrificed and burnt
when concluding the meeting.
An indispensable requirement is full moon because is related
with fertility. Date and request are decided by
lonkos. They also designate to which will be in charge
to direct it, lifetime duration charge.
Another encounter reason of smaller importance that previous
one is
Ahuiñ. It's the encounter of travelers that go
in oneself address. They can be hunters, collectors, etc.
They meet to cross for the sorcerers Mojones where the
sorcerers pass controllers are. They make a beat to horse
around the mojón and rotate in sense of the needles of the
clock at the time that they make offerings until the
sorcerer is "satisfied." When crossing to the other side of
the pass they make the same thing but the turns are in the
other sense. The meaning of this action is to erase the
infraction of having been in the heights dedicated to the
peace and the ice that are the houses of the their ancestors
souls. For example in Tromen Pass is a stone of Chilean side
and a pine of Argentinean one.
In what concerns to the legends for being the Mapundungun a
solely oral language the same ones constituted the history,
ownership and Mapuches cosmos vision.
Among them is the story of Trentrén and Caicai.
The same one is located in the times where there were alone
mapuches in the region. They count that once had appeared a
man that had said to be correspondent of
Nguenechén and that everything will flood because
Caicaifilú would get angry and should go to
Trentrén mahuida to survive. But nobody had
paid him attention. That year they made the raining rogation
going to the lake and hitting the water with pehuenes
branches. But it rained so much that never stopped. Then
Caicaifilú (mythological that represents the wrong,
with snake form. Metaphor related to rivers and streams) got
angry and with it line it hit the water so that ascends more
and called
Pillán (deity that lives in volcanoes) of Mahún
(rain). Everything began to be flooded and some that
remembered to the correspondent of
Nguenechén began to ascend to Trentrén (snake
that represents the well and that in the flood saved
mapuches). It's said that from that time they were with dark
color skin for being near
Äntu (sun). Trentrén woke up of so much mess and
curved to help to ascend to mapuches.
Caicai wanted to take out mapuches of the cave where
they were sheltered but
Trentrén hit it and threw it to the bottom of the
lake, dropped a rock above and died. At once stopped to rain
and they made a rogation in gratefulness to
Trentrén to have bran them. It's said that the
mountain is stopped in four paws and if it rained this way
again it would get up again.
Another legend of animals this time is about the encounter
among
ngürü (fox) and choique (ostrich). It counts
how
ngürü was able to win choique trust saying
that if it wanted to have some shoes should only bring a
leather and would make shoes.
Choique like had the paws all hurt of the earth went
to look for it. But
ngürü tied the shoes so strong that choique could not
walk more and finished being devoured.
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