{"id":1347,"date":"2022-11-28T20:47:40","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T20:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lecturaeninglesuach.cl\/?page_id=1347"},"modified":"2025-11-17T19:08:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T19:08:25","slug":"mapuche-world-view","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.lecturainglesuach.cl\/index.php\/mapuche-world-view\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapuche world view"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Non-fiction<\/h6><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=\u00bb3\/4″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=\u00bb.vc_custom_1669657824466{padding-bottom: 30px !important;}\u00bb][vc_column]
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MAPUCHE WORLD VIEW<\/h2><\/div>
THE MAPUCHE CULTURE<\/strong><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=\u00bb1\/2″]
\u201cThe Mapuche World View\u201d tells us about how people understood the world they lived in.<\/h6>\n<\/q>[vc_column_text]Understanding the mapuche world view implies understanding their whole culture. One of the most important ideas in their point of view is that the natural and the supernatural worlds coexist, because the mapuche people assume that the latter is as real and tangible as the former. In the mapuche culture, everything is understood as a duality \u2013 there is \u2018Anth\u00fc<\/strong>\u2019, the sun, and \u2018K\u00fcllem<\/strong>\u2019, the moon; there is man, and there is woman; there is the old man and the child. And most important is the belief that human beings are part of the earth, and people live in harmony and balance with it.<\/p>\n

Before looking into the mapuche spirituality, it is important to notice that when describing the religious tradition of the mapuche people there are no written records of the old legends and myths, since their world view was transmitted orally. This means that their beliefs are not totally homogeneous among the different \u2018Lof<\/strong>\u2019 or communities.<\/p>\n

The world view in the mapuche religious thought can be taught using the \u2018Kultx\u00fcg<\/strong>\u2019 and can be summarized in two planes: a vertical plane, which is spiritual, and a horizontal plane, which is earthly.<\/p>\n

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The Vertical Plane<\/strong><\/p>\n

In general terms, in the vertical plane (fig. 1) the mapuche people describe the \u2018Wall Mapu<\/strong>\u2019 or \u2018all the land\u2019 where they identify the existence of a central earth and two other dimensions or levels.<\/p>\n

The central earth\u2019s name is \u2018Nag Mapu<\/strong>\u2019, which is the visible space where human beings and nature inhabit. The \u2018Wenu Mapu\u2019<\/strong>, above the Nag Mapu, is the sacred and invisible space where the divine family, the good spirits and the ancestors live, and which corresponds to the dimension of goodness. The third dimension is the \u2018Mi\u00f1che Mapu\u2019<\/strong> \u2013 the underworld \u2013 which is below the Nag Mapu and is the space where the bad spirits or evil forces live. These are the three dimensions which shape the structure of the mapuche universe in the vertical plane.<\/p>\n

It is important to notice that the Wenu Mapu<\/strong> is depicted in the kultx\u00fcg as the sacred space where the sun, the moon, the stars and the Divine Family dwell.\u00a0 \u2018Kuse<\/strong>\u2019 or old woman, \u2018F\u00fccha<\/strong>\u2019 or old man, \u2018\u00dclche\u2019 <\/strong>or young woman, and \u2018Weche<\/strong>\u2019 or young man (Fig. 2) compose the family that reproduces the Nag Mapu, and also reproduces itself in the mapuche family on earth. This means that the elder give their wisdom and knowledge to the young people, and they, in turn, hand over what they learnt from the elder to the new generations.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\u00bb1\/2″][vc_column_text css=\u00bb.vc_custom_1763406495161{padding-bottom: 40px !important;}\u00bb]<\/p>\n

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