Centro de Documentación Mapuche Documentation Center
THE MAPUCHE UNIVERSE
Equilibrium and harmony
                                                                                       Armando Marileo Lefío
                                                                                       Ngenpin

Foreword

This paper presents some analytical tools that can help to understand the Mapuche culture and universe. It is an invitation to travel in time and space to connect with the mapuche natural and supernatural worlds.

We shall become immersed in a very ancient culture and partake in a different way of understanding the world and the interconnections between people, ancestors, wise elders (men and women), energies and powers that act as guardians of wisdom, culture, memory, dreams, equilibrium and harmony. The above will be studied from an authentic and real perspective, based on information proffered by elders of our community who support my project of reconstructing the Mapuche Universe.

According to our ancestors’ outlook, the diverse elements that constitute our worldview interact and depend on each other in a holistic and systemic manner. Inhabitants, land, nature and powers belonging to both the natural and the supernatural dimensions coexist, producing harmony and equilibrium in the “Nag Mapu”. Our powerful kinship with the environment we inhabit generates a permanent search for a sense of equality, reciprocity and harmony, which constitutes our main endeavour in life. Culture, principles, laws, behaviour codes and relationship systems are the means by which we pursue that endeavour. Our permanent aim of achieving environmental equilibrium and harmony is the logical equivalent of our aim of attaining harmony and balance in our own lives, both personally and collectively, and  feelings of emotional, physical, social, cultural, religious  and mental well being that such equilibrium can instigate, thus keeping our world, the mapuche universe, as “a world in harmony and equilibrium” .

KIÑE TROI (Chapter 1)

The Nag Mapu dimension.

1. Concepts and definitions

I will begin by defining two concepts that are needed to encapsulate the harmonious relationship between land, human being and nature: “Nag Mapu” and “Mapu”

NAG MAPU: a space located between the WENU MAPU and the MIÑCHE MAPU. It represents the equilibrium and harmony between two poles of positive and negative energies. NAG MAPU= LAND BELOW (Nag: below / Mapu: land)

The Nag Mapu dimension has no limits or frontiers. It does not stand for a specific territory. It is a broad and incalculable space whose existence can be intellectually conceived but not measured.

A concrete space must be defined as a territory, a life-giving space, a place that spiritually and somatically nourishes its dwellers; only insofar as it is concrete does it become MAPU or PÜLLÜ (land and soil or spirit) and WALL MAPU (territorial spatial dimension).

The NAG MAPU dimension can be summarised in the phrase: “space of interrelations between MAN – LAND – NATURE – POWERS AND ENERGIES.”

That dimension clearly defines our habitat as that specific place that harbours our people, together with animals, water, air, plants and even forces and positive and negative energies.  Such a space is known as MAPU or PÜLLÜ.

MAPU or PÜLLÜ: It has a profound sense for our ancestors. It is the mother that gives life, protects and sends forth its children. It is not limited to the nourishing cultivated soil. It encompasses everything that exists or lives on that soil: trees, animals, insects, birds, water courses, fountains, volcanoes, rocks, mountains, persons, spirits, air. The MAPU is all of them together. That is our land, our ancestors tell us.

In that sense everything in nature is our kindred. The mapuche know that we belong to the earth and the earth belongs to us.  That is sufficient reason to abide by considerations of respect, protection and harmony in our relationships with every other being sharing our environment and nourished by mother earth.

That is why we, as inhabitants of the MAPU, call ourselves “MAPUCHE”, “people of the earth/land” (MAPU- earth/land, CHE – people). In other words we are children of the earth/land. As the elders say: mapu ta choyüeiñmeu, mapumu ta llgiyin, feimu ta mapuchengeiñ. “We were born and stem from the land, that is why we are Mapuche.

There is yet another reason why we are Mapuche. That is because we live in the dimension of the NAG MAPU and in the MAPU itself, and all such who inhabit the MAPU have a right to claim the name: MAPU-CHE or NAG-MAPU-CHE.

Conversely the (positive) spirits, powers or forces that inhabit the WENU MAPU or  KA MAPU are called Wenu Kuse, Wenu Fücha, or Puelmapu kuse or Puelmapu Fücha (“old man and woman from above” or “old man and woman from the originary land”). And all the spirits of the Miñche Mapu and La-afken Mapu have their own names.

A third argument is provided by the historical narrative about the creation of the mapuche world or Wanglen, according to which we were created by superior spirits and left on earth… “green grass sprouted from the woman’s blood, then the grass turned into trees that gave fruit. Flowers blossomed later, from which butterflies and birds were born until the earth was filled with the variety of species…” it also says: “man and woman were created in order to carry out the task of caring for and giving forth the land to their kindred.”

Bearing in mind that the elements MAN – LAND – NATURE – POWERS AND SPIRITS are always interacting, coexisting and sharing the MAPU habitat, for millennia  the mapuche have searched a harmonious and reciprocating relationship with all those different actors.
In order to further that aim, our ancestors had the initial task of mentally organising, understanding and explaining our own existence, our guiding principles and our  raison d’étre. They had to explain their own origin, where they came from and where they were going to. Their life in common with other beings gave sense to their lives. They were able to find a reason for being in a project of collectively searching for an equilibrium and harmonious coexistence with all the other inhabitants of the earth mother or Mapu Ñuke.

That was and continues to be the main task for all of us who issue from this land, because, without doubt, concepts such as the above mark the difference between peoples and cultures.

That task enabled our people to define an individual and a collective role vis a vis earth, nature, its powers and spirits and even an attitude to itself as a people. Nevertheless, building a utopia, socialising and assimilating it and projecting it in time must have been no mean task and a mightily long process. Nor is it easy for us today to continue that process, distorted as we are by so many elements foreign to our culture.

Many factors are involved in the effort of bringing such a process to fruition, space and time among them. With regard to time we estimate the whole process must have taken 10.000 to 15.000 years. Our ancestors built a utopia, a culture, a language, a conception of the world and an approach to science in a completely original manner, without influences from other cultures or peoples. That cannot be achieved in a mere 600 or 1.000 years.

Defining and determining the behaviour and evolution of such a process required a profound process of learning, questioning, enquiring, studying, analysing, understanding, accepting and developing empathy and affinity so that a relationship based on coexistence, harmony and reciprocity with all other actors in the mapuche universe.

Evidently, such an experience must have involved a huge accumulation of knowledge, experience, rapport and insight. That is what made it possible for the mapuche to conceive and adopt behaviour codes, laws and principles in tight relationship with their world, i.e. the land, its energies, ancestors, powers and spirits.

SUMMARY

a. The land is a physical and material space constituted by PÜLLÜ (soil and spirit) and the space and territory known as the WALL MAPU (flat circular space).
b. Sacred space: inhabited by the primordial family, the energies, the Ngen (owners) and the Alwe (ancestors).
c. In that space we conceive the origin of the mapuche, the institution and location of the primordial family and the Lofche.
d. Concrete space: the place where the mapuche people live their daily life.
e. The place of cultural constitution and the consolidation of a way of life and interaction as well as a world view and life project.
f. A space of encounter, coexistence, and a harmonious and well balanced  relationship with all forms of life harboured by it.
g. The earth is our mother because it gives us life, protects us and projects us beyond time and all natural entities are our kindred.

2.- A SPACE OF INTERRELATEDNESS AND KINSHIP

Our elders have told us that from ancestral times every natural phenomenon had studied and analysed, in its movement, change and evolution. Such is the case of the sun, moon, stars, day and night and of the alterations and balances that they instigate in nature and the earth.

It was those natural phenomena, as well as the need to interrelate with different beings and to evolve a project of communal living, that brought our culture to put systems in place that would enable it to bring such a sense of order and organisation into its individual and collective world, so that a continuously harmonious relationship with all other beings nourished by mother earth could be sustained and projected into the future.

Our planet has given birth to hundreds of originary cultures, many of which no longer exist, or at least not in their original shape, after being exterminated or assimilated, or after fusing with other cultures or evolving far beyond their cultural roots. Many originary cultures still extant today are distorted by cultural elements alien to them, including distortions regarding how their own cultural origins are explained.

In the case of the mapuche, our grandparents have always been clear on this subject: they owe their existence and their nurture to a gift of the earth. This powerful conviction rooted their sense of identity in the earth/land; the Ñuke Mapu gave them their reason for being.

One question still remains unanswered, however. Among all the different explanations of origins, is there only one that is true?

3.- THE MEANING OF WOMEN IN THE MAPUCHE UNIVERSE.

According to the “Mapuche creation” historical narrative, woman was created first, and all other elements in nature stem from her. This conception has existed for millennia, with women being the main protagonists in mapuche culture and daily life.

That condition bestows special privileges and meanings on women within our culture.

a. She possesses a tight kinship with nature and especially with the earth in her role as mother- Ñuke, origin and nourisher of life.
b. She is the originary reproducing principle of the species, representing fertility.
c. Her fertility cycle is directly dependent on the lunar cycle.
d. She is the one chosen by the powers and spirits to take on the role of MACHI, i.e. the intercessor between the mapuche and the life-giving and protecting powers and spirits of nature. She is responsible for permanently searching the equilibrium and harmony between people and nature, expressed to start with in the re-establishment of the spiritual and physical balance of the person (CHE), as that is a pre-condition for the re-establishment of harmony in the Nag Mapu (land). When that equilibrium has been tipped out of balance, the MACHI performs a Nguillatun: a collective ceremony directed at reordering the overall equilibriums between people and nature.
e. Women have the role of orienting, guiding and projecting mapuche culture in time.
f. Women represent the point of convergence of the nuclear family as well as the four lineages of the extended family. That is why the whole family is dislocated when the mother or the older woman in the household dies, requiring that her offspring chose among the females of the next generation the one called upon to keep holding the family together.
g. They are the ones in charge of raising and educating the children.
h. They have created and invented all the designs embedded in mapuche arts and crafts: weaving, pottery, jewellery, woodcarving, basketry. All those designs represent women’s wisdom and embed all our personal, family and cultural history.
i. The main motifs in traditional mapuche design are those provided by female experience, such as giving birth, women’s relationship with nature, etc. In the case of the Machi, her designs portray the spirits and powers that possess her.
j. In the Tuwün or family tree, the female members of the extended family are given equal importance to the male ones.
k. Women feature prominently in our collective history and in our explanations of origins. Women-made designs, such as the Treng Treng and the Kai kai, are responsible for explaining the primeval equilibrium and its rupture. Others explain our science, the constellations, our calculations of the world’s dimensions or Meliñon Mapu, and the geographical divisions of the land.
l. Two female figures have a leadership role in the primeval family (our divine makers): Kuse (old woman) and Ullche young woman, alongside Fücha (old man) and Weche (young man). Thas leading role is permanently being re-enacted in all our ceremonies.
m. Women are also in charge of the administration of the household and in many cases are the main decision makers in agriculture.
 

MEN AND WOMEN: A COMPLEMENTARY RELATIONSHIP FOR EQUILIBRIUM AND HARMONY IN THE NAG MAP DIMENSION.

For the mapuche people, the land is a dimension or space where a myriad creatures and spirits coexist and interact, among whom we find animals, trees, rivers, persons, spirits and both positive and negative powers. Within that context it is the fundamental task of mapuche men and women to maintain a harmonious relationship with all beings nurtured by mother earth.
To attain that end it has been necessary to legislate and establish norms, patterns and codes of social, cultural, religious and political conduct. Men, women, old people and children are responsible for adhering to such codes. Women do so in their capacity as generators and nurturers of life, men in theirs of protection and projection of life and culture, old people by virtue of their experience, knowledge and wisdom, and children insofar as they are ultimately responsible for the future.
There is no rivalry or power struggle between mapuche men and women. Neither is there imposition, control or domination of one by the other. Theirs is a relationship of equilibrium and cooperation.
That is because mapuche culture is intrinsically inimical to competition and power. It is premised on solidarity and reciprocity, and it is guided by a communal project of “preserving the earth and nature for all time” in which both men and women have a key role to play.
Let us scrutinise two historical narratives about this subject.
The first mapuche creation narrative tells us that women and men were created separately and independently. Woman was created first and since she lacked company, man was subsequently created from a star, that is, from a spirit.
None of them was created to be subservient to the other. But rather, as the story says: “…to complement each other, in solidarity and reciprocity, free and responsible for the duty of preserving nature and the earth.”
A second tale explains that originally there were two powers: one of earth, called Treng Treng and one of water called Kai Kai. Those two powers gave back to the Nag Mapu a harmony that had been lost due to transgressions by the descendants of the first man and woman.
Only four people survived that episode: two elders (man and woman) and two youngsters (man and woman).  The old couple were preserved so that they could impart knowledge and wisdom and the youngsters so that they could be Llituche (“generators of people”), i.e. continuers of the species.
Both stories are tightly related by the idea of responsibility, equilibrium and preservation. And they also stress the importance of children in mapuche culture, as the ultimate bearers of the culture’s fate.

THE EPEW OR HISTORICAL NARRATIVES: A MIRROR OF MAPUCHE IDENTITY

Mapuche culture is organised in a network of systems geared at structuring behaviour, norms, laws, etc. Such systems allow an ordered promotion and projection of our culture. One such system is that of the EPEW: historical narratives (both real and fictional) that we call “mirrors for our identity”.

Among us, those narratives are not treated as tales, legends or myths. For the mapuche they are real events, they reflect our true spiritual being, as in the already mentioned case of the Wanglen, the mapuche creation.
That narrative truly reflects our essence. It enables us to recreate, remember and permanently adjust our world, guided by its explanations of our origins.
Translated literally, the term Epew means “almost seeing oneself (EPE=almost; PEW=to see or find oneself).
In other words, the Epew is our reflection, the portrait of our identity, our way of being, our conception of the world, our guide and projection.
The Epew give us feedback on our past history, and enable us to revisit our social, cultural and religious history, so that we can orientate our conduct without losing touch with what we are. They are like an old photo album or trunk brimming with the memories and secrets of generations, which upon being opened connect us with past times, and guide our view of future times. They open up the sluices of the past to make it act on our present and project us towards the future, specially via our children, or Llituche (“generators of people”)
The Epew are constructed collectively and inspired by specific events. Culturally they are related to life in relation with nature and especially animals and birds. They tend to be based on confrontations between the mighty and the weak, with the weak being usually the victors, while the powerful are subject to ridicule, as in the case of the Epew of “the fox and the frog.” So, doubtlessly, these narratives, whether they are real or imaginary, give us great wisdom, guidance and learning for life.

II.- POLICIES AND PRINCIPLES OF SELF REGULATION:

a) Communication systems

One of the most important achievements of our ancestors was the development of a communication system wholly reliant on the languages of the earth and nature, i.e. natural codes, sounds, messages and means of communication.
In the cycle of the seasons or stages of the year, messages are constantly being delivered by birds, rivers, the rain and wind, leaves and insects such as crickets. Those messages can guide our action, to the extent that we are able to decode them. Otherwise we remain puzzled.
If our ancestors had not managed to understand such messages from nature they might have been unable to determine our role in nature, our reason for being and our destiny. Fortunately, they realised the fundamental importance of understanding the messages from the earth and nature, so that by deciphering the sounds of rivers, the whistling of the wind, the howling of the sea, the singing of birds, the sounds of leaves, insects and animals the mapudugun was created: the “speech of the earth”, a very specific way of communicating.
Our grandparents say: “The universe as a whole, the whole of nature and the earth is an open book. They guide us, help us to foresee danger and teach us. All that is required to receive that message is paying attention and opening up our hearts.”
Birdsong has a specific melody or sound depending on its intended message. At dawn, mists or reddish clouds determine the day’s weather. Mists waving over the mountains like smoke coming out of a RUKA (house) indicate that the spirits of nature are beginning their daily activity.
The noise of the sea, the direction of the wind or the flight of seagulls and the angle of the moon can enable us to determine with much precision the day and even the time of the coming rain. The blossoming of the QUILAS (chusquea quila) announces a big event, maybe a famine or a war. The position of the moon at certain times of the year tells us what economic activities should be pursued and when: sowing, castrating, ear piercing, logging or even travelling into another dimension through the “Door of Time”.
Everything has a message which can be deciphered, depending on the time of year and on one’s wish to learn from nature’s mysteries and challenges.
Decoded by our ancestors, such messages enabled them to create a means of communication called MAPUDUGUN, which belongs to the land and not to us, because it was not us who created its sounds but nature itself. We only borrowed them in order to create a language suitable to the task of communicating back with nature.
Mapudugun belongs to the earth and nature, it is the talk of nature, and it is one of the most important tools for the preservation of our culture, our territory, the AD MAPU and our conception of the universe.

b) Belief systems.

The mapuche have created a set of ecological beliefs devoted to explaining the diverse phenomena  encountered in daily life in a manner which furthers the aim of regulating behaviour in harmony with nature. Thus we find the PIAM, EPEW, PEUMA ands KÜIMI, among others.

Piam: Conceptually they are close to “sayings” and aphorisms. It is characteristic of a Piam, however, that it allows us to analyse, question and organise our conduct. Every Piam stems from activities that are related to nature, to self-reflection and to spiritual energies.

For example:

? “Do not destroy nests or kill chicks. Otherwise they will eat your harvest when you grow up”.
? “Do not get up after sunrise as you will thus be calling poverty. You might get married to an older person who will never allow you to rise early”.
? “Do not bathe or wash your hair by night, you might become orphaned”.

Those three examples allow us to understand the pedagogical meaning of PIAM.
Epew: As I have already said, they are like an old photo album or trunk storing the memories and secrets of generations which upon being opened connect us with past times, and guide our view of future times..
Peuma: Dreams. They represent or portray life in the other land. Through dreams we receive messages from the spirits of the ancestors, or advice and guidance on how best to procure or recover harmony with nature. Dreams can also predict the future, good and bad things. Paying attention, and good faith, is all that’s needed.

Behaviour and self-control systems.

All our communication and belief systems automatically generate patterns, norms and rules which regulate communal life both collectively and individually. Those norms or self-control regulations are organised in a tiered system which has the following levels:

a) General level: the Mapuche (people of the land).
b) Territorial level: Ad Mapu.
c) Regional level: Kiñelmapu.
d) Local level: Lofche.
e) Family unit: Reñmawen.

From the more general to the specific ones, all laws are related to the earth, the primeval family, and the powers and energies of nature. These are some rules:
 


a) Value systems and first principles.
As other originary peoples, the mapuche are sustained by our own value system, which guides and promotes our specific style of communal living, our sense of identity and our self-regulation.
In order to further my task of reconstructing the mapuche world and recreating the essential elements of our culture as well as our ancestors’ values, it is convenient to depart – by way of manifesto or constitutional chart – from the fundamental principles of our people. Those are the principles that guide our collective and individual life, i.e. our relationship with the earth, nature and supernatural forces, our philosophy, religion and theology as well as our connection with the spirits of our ancestors.

Religion: the mapuche keep and promote our own particular way of conceiving, understanding and living together with the life-giving spirits. According to our religious experience we believe in the manifestation of a divine family that created the mapuche family: Kuse – Fücha – Ülche – Weche.
Family: the Mapuche profoundly loves and respects life and the family, which is believed to exist in complete correspondence with the divine family. It is also the institution that makes collective relationships and cultural projection possible.
The land (earth): We conceive of the earth as a communal good, a means of interrelation and a sharing space with all creatures sustained by it.
Identity: The mapuche have a clear sense of identity, based on the earth, which makes us call ourselves “mapuche”, a people born from the earth/land and nurtured and protected by it.
Self belonging: We acknowledge the earth as mother and nature as sister. Hence, we permanently search for harmony and equilibrium, to which effect norms and codes of self regulation and behaviour have been established.
Equality and rights: promotion and defence of equality and the rights of natural beings: plants, animals, birds, people, children, elders. Defence of all forms of life’s right to live unthreatened and free.
Origins: the mapuche conceive of our origins from our very own cultural perspective, according to which we sprouted from the earth: “Mapu ta Choyüei´-meu” is the way our elders put it.
World view: We have our own particular conception of the world and the universe, stemming from our own specific ideas of time and space.
Reciprocity and solidarity: the mapuche promote and propose our very own life style based on mutuality and solidarity with all beings on earth.
Culture: The ways in which our family and community interrelate, live together and project themselves are principally based on the value of “respect.”
Cultural memory: The mapuche maintain and project our cultural memory across generations in an oral manner. The elders are those in charge of organising and transmitting that memory and knowledge to the younger generations who in turn must do the same when they reach old age, and so it has always been.
b) Educational systems:
The main responsibility of the ngenpin, machi, pelom, the elders and wise old men and women in our community is to preside over the proper functioning of the community’s religious activities. They also have another important responsibility: the education of the younger generations so that they can become able to contribute to the community at the social and political levels.  Parents, and especially mothers, have the duty actually to impart the lessons - under the traditional authorities’ supervision - using a traditional method of “learning by doing” which combines theory and practice.

Theoretical schooling:
By theoretical schooling we understand the transmission of the cumulative knowledge and wisdom of our culture using a score of different methodologies, whilst carefully taking age and levels of development into consideration. Some methods used by us are:
 

Empirical learning:
It is at this level that children begin to take responsibility for their actions and develop self-respect and confidence, especially with regard to tasks that they have gradually to commit themselves to.

Observing and taking part in daily chores.
 


Receiving minor responsibilities.
 


Taking part in religious ceremonies.
 


Taking part in social activities.

Werken: being a messenger, learning the rules of etiquette when faced with a mapuche authority.
Weupin: listening to major cultural, religious and political speeches.
Pentuku: learning the correct formulas for greeting authorities and elders.
Mafün: knowing and participating in the mapuche wedding protocols.
It is also of major importance in our education system that children are acquainted with the main traditional authorities and dignitaries in their Kiñelmapu (place), as well as their functions and roles, and the correct way to address them.
The final aim of our learning system is to mould the mapuche child in accordance with the “mapuche model” of a person, whose characteristics are as follows:
 
 
 
 
KIMCHE Respectful, cautious, wise, quiet, intelligent, humble and creative
NORCHE Correct, honest, transparent, balanced, lucid.
NEWENCHE  Firm, solid, strong, perseverant, dynamic, efficacious, critical, powerful
KÜMCHE Good, generous, cooperative, just, loyal
LIFCHE Pure in mind, heart and spirit, perfect
POYENCHE Loved, appreciated, admired.
AYINCHE Loved, esteemed.
ZAKINCHE Chosen, preferred, held in high regard, well considered.
YEWENCHE Respected, honoured, venerated.
OTHERS,,,,