154 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



are dropped on the fireplace where they are consumed — they are consumed after 

 the hens, and the hens are consumed after the lambs. Before the women's offer- 

 ings are burnt, the following prayers are said in Mapuche : "God Father who 

 art in heaven, you see what we are doing here today, that we are offering you 

 this sacrifice ; forgive us our faults ; give us food and a good year ; do not punish 

 us since today we offer you this lamb and all these cereals and vegetables which 

 you, God Father, gave us. We beg you, God Father, that you give us a good 

 year, that you will not punish us with intense heat, that you will let the seeds 

 sprout well so that there will be a good harvest, that there will be no sickness 

 among your children whom you now see here; that there will be no mishap 

 among your sons and daughters in their work in the fields and on the sea where 

 your sons work. Fill our lives with good living. We beg, also, you, God Mother, 

 to pray to God Father for us. We call also on you, the caciques who have left 

 us, and who now see us from heaven where you are." Every married man has 

 brought a tortilla [about 12 inches in diameter] and a cantaro of mudai. At 

 present the mudai is made of corn, or wheat and barley, ground on the metate; 

 formerly, the women chewed the corn and spat it into an olla and let it ferment 

 into mudai. 



Between the two dances during the fourth act, each sergeant distributes pieces 

 of tortillas, which he has cut from those offered at the maqui, to men, women 

 and children from his locality who danced — those who were merely onlookers 

 do not receive any. After that, he passes mudai to the same persons. The mudai 

 which is not drunk is poured out. Nothing is taken home. 



Children join in all dancing and are present everywhere. They must be orderly 

 and show respect by their conduct. The machi are present but merely as other 

 persons are; they have no duties at the rjillatun nor are they shown any special 

 respect. 



At the end of the qillatun the machi bid each other goodbye. All others say 

 goodbye to each other — just like we do after Mass — some merely embrace, 

 others kiss, everybody shakes hands. 



BLACK ART 



Black art, or witchcraft, is resorted to as a means of revenge or 

 because of jealousy. Once it is suspected that black art has been in- 

 flicted on a person or his property, retaliation is sought through the 

 same means. Kalku — witches, both men and women — practice it 

 either directly or through a medium (cf. pp. 70, 155). If it is inflicted 

 on persons, the result is physical or mental ill health (cf. pp. no, 

 124) ; if on property, fields of wheat are usually involved. The me- 

 dium employed is known only to the kalku using it, unless he has told 

 some of his fellow kalku about it. Panguipulli informants knew that 

 several kalku met periodically secretly "in the deep woods where no 

 one else goes," and there laid their plans to do injury to someone. 

 Such meetings are called reniruka. 



If a wheat field is to be damaged, the medium used is the meat of 

 any 4-footed animal and/or eggs, which are bewitched and buried 



