The wekufe, also known as huecufe, wekufü, watuku, huecufu, huecubo, huecubu, huecuvu, huecuve, huecovoe, giiecubu, güecubo, güecugu, uecuvu, güecufu; is an important type of harmful spirit or demon in

Mapuche mythology Mapuche religion is the traditional Native American religion of the Mapuche people. It is practiced primarily in south-central Chile and southwest Argentina. The tradition has no formal leadership or organizational structure and displays much in ...

. The word wekufe comes from the

Mapudungun Mapuche ( , ; from 'land' and 'people', meaning 'the people of the land') or Mapudungun (from 'land' and 'speak, speech', meaning 'the speech of the land'; also spelled Mapuzugun and Mapudungu) is either a language isolate or member of the s ...

word ''wekufü'' meaning "demon, outside being".

Concept

In the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

language,

, the word wekufe can be attributed to any person that tells lies or is deceptive. It was only after the arrival of

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

when the Mapuche people had gained the concept of

evil Evil, as a concept, is usually defined as profoundly immoral behavior, and it is related to acts that cause unnecessary pain and suffering to others. Evil is commonly seen as the opposite, or sometimes absence, of good. It can be an extreme ...

that the word became associated with demons. Since that time the idea behind wekufe has broadened to include multiple meanings, either as a subject, quality or agent depending on the speaker's reference point or the situation that it is used in. The word is generally used as a generic name in order to describe creatures from Mapuche

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

that usually have harmful intentions towards human beings. These beings can have solid, material bodies, evanescent ghost-like bodies or be extracorporeal spirit-like entities. They project from or originate in the wekufe's

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

, which is characterized by its propensity to disturb and/or destroy the balance of the world's natural order. In this way they cause illness, destruction, death, and other calamities amongst the Mapuche. Wekufes are often incorrectly likened to beings with similar characteristics such as the gualichos or the

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

s of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

or other mythologies. The missionaries who followed the Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

s to America interpreted the Mapuche beliefs regarding both wekufes and gualichos in the context of their own religion. They used the word wekufe as a synonym for the devil, demons, and other evil or diabolical forces.

Wekufe legend

Mapuche legends say that wekufes come from ''Minchenmapu'', which is located to the west beyond Mapu (the Mapuche word for land, although in this instance it refers to the land described by the traditional Mapuche

worldview A worldview (also world-view) or is said to be the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and Perspective (cognitive), point of view. However, whe ...

). These beings originated from the forces or energies that disturb and/or destroy the world's natural order. Unlike other living beings or spirits that possess their own soul, wekufes are soulless. Wekufes entered the Mapu world as a consequence of the mythical battle amongst the

Pillán The Pillan (of Mapudungun origin; , plural ) are powerful and respected male spirits in Mapuche mythology. According to legend, the Pillan are good spirits, but they can also cause disasters, since they also punish (or they allow the ''wekufe'' ...

spirits, which resulted in the breaking of the Admapu (system of rules that define Mapuche behaviour) and the destruction of the perfect harmony of the Wenumapu (world of goodness). This battle also disrupted the land of Minchenmapu allowing the wekufes and the Laftraches, which had previously been confined there, to escape and roam the Mapu and live in the Mag Mapu (the world of evil, to the west of Mapu). The best known of the wekufes are Trelke-wekufe (''El Cuero'' or cow hide), and Canillo, both of which are powerful wekufes with the ability to change into solid form.

Relationship with kalkus

The Mapuche believe that many wekufes allow themselves to be manipulated by

kalku Kalku or Calcu, in Mapuche mythology, is a sorcerer or witch who works with black magic and negative powers or forces. The essentially benevolent shamans are more often referred to as '' machi'', to avoid confusion with the malevolent kalku. I ...

s (Mapuche sorcerers, equivalent to witches or wizards who work with black magic), who use them as a mystic medium for obtaining power. The wekufes allow the kalkus to use them to cause the illness or death of certain chosen people. It is said that a powerful kalku will inherit a wekufe spirit from an ancestor who was also a kalku. However, in order to be able to use a wekufe, a kalku must voluntarily become the servant of the wekufe. In order to use a wekufe to make someone ill, a kalku must introduce the wekufe into the body of the victim. This is generally achieved by using a small fragment of wood, or straw, or part of a lizard's body, or directly through an attack by ghost-like forms or disembodied spirits that direct the disruptive wekufe energy towards the victim.

Relationship with the dead

The wekufe also have the power to capture and enslave the pillú (spirit of the recently deceased that is reluctant to leave its body) before it transforms into an alwe (more mature spirit). A kalku can also take advantage of this power by using a wekufe as a means for trapping a pillú. Once it is trapped a pillú can also be used to hurt other people.

Relationship with ancient spirits

Wekufes can also be controlled by the Pillan and Ngen spirits, or at least these spirits will allow the wekufes to harm a Mapuche if they have broken one of the spirit's rules by: behaving badly, not carrying out the guillatún ritual (a form of prayer thanking the spirits for their beneficence, asking for well being etc.), mocking or disbelieving a Machi (Mapuche shaman), eating food that was caught or harvested without previously asking for permission from the Ngen of the animal, vegetable, or mineral that was consumed, or most importantly by not respecting the laws of the admapu.

Protection and healing

In the Mapuche tradition a person who has a wekufe in their body is called kalüleluuk'len ("to be in the body") in the sacred, secret language of the Machi. The machitún ceremony must be performed in order to release the wekufe. As long as the Mapuche people obey the admapu laws and perform the guillatún ceremony, then the Ngen and Pillán spirits will continue to keep the wekufe under control. Equally, in order to identify and gain protection from a kalku that may be using a wekufe, one should be cautious of people wearing black as this is the only color worn by kalkus. In the more southerly regions, it was said that the wekufe, serving the Pillán, bringing disease to the hut (''ruca''), the cattle, and the fields could only be exorcised by burning the or

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

branches.

Other uses for the word wekufe

The term ''Uecuvu Mapu'' or ''Wekufe Mapu'' is often translated as ''Land of the Devil'' and it is also used in

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper na ...

to indicate especially inhospitable areas in

Comahue Comahue is a sub-region of Argentina slightly to the south of the country's centre that covers the northern part of Argentine Patagonia and includes the provinces of Argentina, provinces of Neuquén Province, Neuquén and Río Negro Province, Rí ...

and

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

. For example, the cold, deserted area located around coordinates between the south east of

Mendoza Province Mendoza (), officially the Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the r ...

and

La Pampa Province La Pampa () is a sparsely populated province of Argentina, located in the Pampas in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise San Luis, Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén and Mendoza. History In ...

in Argentina. Another "Uecuvu Mapu" is located on the desolate and windy plateaus of central Patagonia.

Explanatory notes

References

Bibliography

* Aukanaw. La Ciencia Secreta de los Mapuche, Biblioteca Nueva Era Rosario – Argentina. Adherida al Directorio Promineo. *Ana Mariella Bacigalupo. Shamans of the foye tree: gender, power, and healing among Chilean Mapuche. University of Texas Press, 2007. , *Alberto Trivero. Trentrenfilú, Proyecto de Documentación Ñuke Mapu. 1999. (in Spanish). {{Mapuche Mapuche demons Paranormal Culture of Chile South American mythology Culture of Argentina