142 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



spoken of as wenumapu — a word used also when speaking of sky, 

 celestial regions, heaven. Several informants thought the abode might 

 be the place called pillaii, but an old Panguipulli man was certain that 

 it was not there. "God is in wenumapu," he insisted ; "in pillaii are 

 the deceased prophets, the old women who used to beat the kultruq in 

 the qillatun, and other good persons. Pillaii is in all the volcanoes 

 around here [Andes]." (Cf. also p. i66.) 



There was no belief that deities of minor importance lived in ani- 

 mals, plants, or minerals. Quoting an Alepue man : "We believed in 

 one God in heaven, always, even in our old religion before we knew 

 of Christianity ; we prayed to no animals, nor to the sun — the sun is 

 a natural thing. Nor did we think that there were spirits in trees or 

 rocks or water." "The Mapuche in early days believed in the true 

 God," said a Coiiaripe informant ; "they prayed to Him in the qillatun ; 

 it was the same God we pray to today. Those who write about us 

 today say that we did pray to other beings than God, but we Mapuche 

 know that we did not." 



PRIVATE PERSONAL PRAYER, PERSONAL SUPERNATURAL POWERS 



Not only do persons offer prayers as individuals, apart from group 

 prayer, but on occasions, one or several persons make minor sacrificial 

 offerings jointly with private prayer. When thunder and lightning 

 occur in the daytime, someone in the ruka will throw a handful of 

 wheat or corn either onto the fireside or on hot coals that have been 

 removed to the outside of the ruka. "I put mine in an olla and set it 

 outdoors, and say, *Fei, chau' [here, God], which means, 'God be 

 merciful to us,' or, 'God, I offer this to You so that this storm will 

 pass by without injuring anyone.' " The offering is made only once 

 during a thunderstorm and is not made at night. School boys and 

 girls II to 15 years of age had made the offering; those 8 and 9 years 

 old had not. 



When a 4-footed animal is slaughtered, the one doing so will 

 sprinkle a little of the blood heavenward and say a prayer for an in- 

 crease in his herd and flocks. "I saw my father take the steaming 

 blood of a cow and sprinkle it toward heaven as an offering to God. 

 This done, he went on with the slaughtering." Old persons in Pangui- 

 pulli area still throw a spoonful of broth or stew or a little piece of 

 any prepared food on the fire before beginning a meal : "It is like a 

 prayer of thanksgiving for what we have, and of asking for that 

 which we may still need." This custom was not known to Alepue 

 informants. 



