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 The mythology and religion of the indigenous Mapuche people of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina is an extensive and ancient belief system. A series of unique legends and myths are common to the various groups that make up the Mapuc ...

. The word wekufe comes from the

Mapudungun Mapuche (, Mapuche & Spanish: , or Mapudungun; from ' 'land' and ' 'speak, speech') is an Araucanian language related to Huilliche spoken in south-central Chile and west-central Argentina by the Mapuche people (from ''mapu'' 'land' and ''che ...

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

Concept

In the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

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 largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

when the Mapuche people had gained the concept of

evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

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 folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

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 In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

, 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 religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

s of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

or other mythologies. The missionaries who followed the Spanish

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

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 or world-view or ''Weltanschauung'' is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and point of view. A worldview can include natural p ...

). 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; singular ''pillán'' and plural ''pillanes'' in Spanish) is a powerful and respected male spirit in Mapuche mythology. According to legend, the Pillan are good spirits, but they can also cause disasters, since t ...

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. Its ...

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 {{about, Mapuche mythology, other uses, NGEN (disambiguation) In Mapuche mythology, Ngen or " Ngen-ko " are spirits of nature of the Mapuche beliefs. In Mapudungun, the word ''ngen'' means "owner". Legend The Ngen are those that manage, govern an ...

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.

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 name of ...

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 Neuquén and Río Negro. Some also include La Pampa Province and the Patagones ...

and

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

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

Mendoza Province Mendoza, officially 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 republic o ...

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.

References

Article based on: * 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 Chilean culture South American mythology Argentine culture