Mapuche Native American Religions

Names: Mapuche religion, Admapu (law/customs), Mapuche kimün (knowledge), Ngillatun ceremonies.
Scope: Practiced by Mapuche peoples of Araucanía (Chile) and Patagonia (Argentina).
Nature: Animistic and shamanic, emphasizing balance with nature, ancestor veneration, and the role of the machi (shaman).

Origins: Pre-Columbian traditions rooted in Araucanian culture.
Colonial era: Mapuche resisted Spanish conquest; missionaries sought conversion but syncretism persisted.
Modern: Despite assimilation pressures, Mapuche rituals, machi healers, and Ngillatun continue as central identity markers.

Oral traditions: Epics, myths, songs.
Archaeology: Sacred sites, petroglyphs, ritual artifacts.
Ethnography: 19th–20th century studies, contemporary Indigenous testimonies.
Living practice: Machi ceremonies, Ngillatun gatherings, pilgrimages to sacred sites.

Supreme being: Ngünechen (lord of the people), sometimes a dual male-female entity.
Nature spirits: Pillan (ancestral/thunder spirits), Ngen (owners/guardians of water, forests, animals, mountains).
Malevolent beings: Wekufe (chaotic, disease-bringing spirits).
Ancestors: Revered as guiding spiritual presence.

Cosmos: Divided into multiple levels:
- Wenu Mapu (upper world of good spirits),
- Nag Mapu (earthly world),
- Minche Mapu (underworld, wekufe).
Myths: Origin stories of floods, serpent battles (Trentren Vilu vs. Caicai Vilu).
Balance: Maintaining reciprocity with spirits ensures fertility, health, order.

Ngillatun: Major communal ceremony for fertility, healing, and balance; offerings of animals, food, and drink to spirits.
Machi rituals: Healing ceremonies using drum (kultrun), chants, herbal medicine.
Sacrifice: Historically, llamas or livestock offered; today symbolic offerings.
Everyday practices: Libations of chicha, offerings before hunting or farming.

Sacred sites: Hills, rivers, forests, cemeteries.
Rewe: Machi’s sacred altar/pole representing the cosmos.
Objects: Kultrun drum (cosmogram of universe), silver jewelry, staffs, ceremonial clothing.
Natural spaces: Springs, volcanoes, and forests seen as inhabited by ngen spirits.

Religion embedded in Admapu (sacred law/customs).
Ceremonies regulate agricultural and social cycles.
Ritual reinforces kinship and alliance between communities.
Morality enforced by spirits (ngen reward respect, wekufe punish transgressions).

Beliefs: Souls travel to Wenu Mapu (sky world) or risk wandering if neglected.
Funerary rites: Offerings, songs, and community feasts for the deceased.
Ancestors: Remain active guides; improper burial leads to unrest.
Shamanic role: Machi ensures soul’s safe passage.

Kultrun drum: Represents four quarters of world, cosmic order.
Silver jewelry: Protection and clan identity.
Serpent myth: Trentren (land, life) vs. Caicai (sea, chaos) symbolizes balance.
Colors/directions: Four corners of kultrun tied to winds, seasons, cosmic powers.
Performance: Ceremonial songs, dances, storytelling.

Spanish conquest: Suppression of rituals; missionaries equated wekufe with devils.
Colonial/Republican Chile & Argentina: Mapuche religion delegitimized but persisted underground.
Syncretism: Saints sometimes equated with ngen or Pillan.
Modern revival: Ngillatun, machi ceremonies widely practiced; Mapuche activism reclaims spiritual identity and sacred land.
Global influence: Pachamama-like Earth reverence in Mapuche thought contributes to Indigenous environmental movements.