A rehue (

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 ...

spelling rewe) or kemukemu is a type of

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

-like sacred

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

used by 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 ...

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 ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in many of their ceremonies.

Altar/Axis mundi

The ''rehue'' is a carved tree trunk set in the ground, surrounded by a hedge of colihue (a Chilean native bamboo) and adorned with white, blue or yellow flags and branches of coihue, maitén, lengas and other trees native to the Mapuche homeland. In form it recalls both a ladder and the human

spine Spine or spinal may refer to: Science Biology * Spinal column, also known as the backbone * Dendritic spine, a small membranous protrusion from a neuron's dendrite * Thorns, spines, and prickles, needle-like structures in plants * Spine (zoology), ...

, having a series of steps (sometimes a mystical seven in number) cut into it, rising up from the earth toward a summit sometimes bearing a carving of a human face. It is a Mapuche representation of the

axis mundi In astronomy, is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the is the axis of ...

shamanic Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spiri ...

world tree symbolising connection with the various levels of the cosmos and utilised as such by the machi (Mapuche shamans). The rehue is a symbol of great importance that is used in important celebrations or ceremonies like the Machitún, Guillatún, We Tripantu (Mapuche New Year) and others.

Shamanic ritual tool

Each ''machi'' has a ''rehue'' outside her/his house which she/he climbs in the course of certain ceremonies. This is believed to contain power transmitted to it by '' Ngenechen'', (the supreme being in Mapuche religion) and the machi's attendant '' pillan'' (supernatural beings bearing some similarity to the

familiar spirit In European folklore of the Middle Ages, medieval and early modern periods, familiars (strictly familiar spirits, as "familiar" also meant just "close friend" or companion, and may be seen in the scientific name for dog, ''Canis familiaris'') w ...

s of

Early Modern The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

European

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

Social and Political Unit

Called "rehue" or "regua" in colonial chronicles, the word referred to the grouping of various

families ( lof or lov) who occupied the same locality and shared the same rehue altar. Nine of these rehue would form an

Aillarehue Aillarehue or Ayllarehue (from the Mapudungun: ayllarewe/ayjarewe: "nine rehues"); a confederation of rehues or family-based units (lof) that dominated a region or province. It was the old administrative and territorial division of the Mapuche, H ...

(nine altars), a small confederation that would gather for war or other common purposes and formed a region or province. Juan Ignatius Molina, The Geographical, Natural, and Civil History of Chili, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, London, 1809
/ref>

References

Mapuche culture Religious objects {{Chile-culture-stub