46 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 33 



holding a small child in his lap or having an older one stand between 

 his knees while he chatted with it. Children reciprocate parental 

 affection. Often they were seen running toward father or mother 

 who were returning home from gardens, fields, or trips. An 8-year- 

 old girl chose as her project in school to knit a cap for her father. 

 Parents proudly pointed at objects in the ruka that a child had made 

 for either parent. "Mapuche idolize their children," said a non- 

 Araucanian herbalist, who had been in all rukas in Alepiie area. "I 

 have noticed that they allow children to do as they please at home. 

 Seldom are children corrected and less seldom slapped or punished." 

 No child was known to have been treated cruelly, except, on rare occa- 

 sions, by an intoxicated father. One schoolboy whose father had 

 deserted his family wrote in answer to the question, "Who is your 

 father's favorite boy?" "My papa does not like his children." 



Members of a family have affectionate interest in each other. When 

 a family was preparing to be photographed, they all helped one an- 

 other to look well groomed. One father helped a 19-year-old daughter 

 place a silver headband properly on her head; another daughter 

 fetched the mother's silver decorations; one of the girls told the 

 14-year-old brother to straighten his collar; the father made certain 

 that the hats on the boys were properly tilted so that no shadows would 

 darken their faces. 



If a member of the family is sick, all other members are downcast. 

 All stay in the ruka, and all will sit up most of the night. "I was in 

 a ruka recently," said a non-Araucanian herbalist, "where the mother 

 had sat up with a sick child continuously for three days and three 

 nights. She was so exhausted that she nodded in sleep even while I 

 was telling her what to do for the child. I have seen the same thing 

 many times." Children are absent from school whenever there is 

 sickness in the family. 



Having a favorite child is not customary. Children of school age, 

 however, know that the youngest child is often a father's favorite, 

 and the oldest or the youngest son, the mother's, but never to the 

 exclusion of other children. An ii-year-old boy wrote: "My mama 

 loves my oldest brother most, but she loves me much and I love her 

 much." Informants were not acquainted with the llopu, a special 

 relationship between a boy and his maternal uncle, noted by Cooper's 

 sources (1946, p. 724). An endearing name used by a small child 

 when addressing its father, its mother, and its aunts, today — formerly 

 its father's other wives — and also men to whom it owes love or re- 

 spect is chacha or chachai. A teen-age son and an older one address 

 their father as chau within the family circle. In general conversation 



