WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 333 



rjillatun, the tribal religious ceremonial, prayers are directed to chau 

 chau, God as the father of all. "We believed that rjsnechen came to 

 earth when we had done our planting and that he moved through the 

 fields then ; that even today he wanders about on the earth and does 

 good to people." With God, it was believed, lived a woman, known 

 as ray ku/e, but she was not a goddess, informants insisted. She is 

 addressed in the prayers of the qillatun as papai, the mother of all. 

 "That was our old belief," said a woman in her late fifties ; "today we 

 believe that ray chau has living with Him, in addition to ray kuj*e, a 

 virgin who has a son called Jesus. Ray ku/e wears a blue dress ; ray 

 chau, a blue chiripe [pants] and a red poncho. I do not know how 

 the virgin is dressed. There is only one God. He rules the world 

 and gives us good health and food and long life. I liked our old way 

 best, when we believed in ray chau and ray ku/e." 



There was no belief in minor deities. Something akin to veneration 

 was shown to stones resembling figurines. (Whether the belief is 

 an old one was not ascertained.) The cacique in Collon Cura is said 

 to have in his possession a stone, approximately 12 inches high, that 

 has red-blue eyes and red lips. At the qillatun a new silk band is 

 tied about its forehead and secured at the back of the head with a 

 knot, just as men secure their headbands ; a sash is tied about its 

 waist; a silver knife placed gaucho-style at its back; and a small 

 arrowhead put in its arms. "I am afraid of the stone; it is sacred. 

 Some years ago one of the sons of the cacique sold it to a man from 

 Buenos Aires but advised him to safeguard it behind several locks. 

 This the man did. But one night the figurine walked out, killed the 

 Buenos Aires man, and came back to the seller's home in Collon Cura. 

 In the morning it made a terrifying noise ; it so frightened the man 

 who had sold it that he died the following day." When we asked where 

 in Collon Cura we might see the figurine, the informant replied, "It 

 is a dangerous thing for you to try to see it. Stay around until the 

 time of our qillatun when everyone attending the rjillatun can see it. 

 But be respectful toward it. One time a woman like you [non- 

 Araucanian] was invited to take part in it [the qillatun]. She said, 

 'Why should I take part in it? I have no interest in the qillatun.' And 

 then she made some flippant remarks about the qillatun and also about 

 the figurine. She went away. An electric storm rose. Lightning 

 struck her. She fell down and was dead for a few hours. After that 

 the right side of her face was lamed." She added, "I know of no 

 other sacred stones in use." 



Old Araucanian men and women today express awe when they 

 come upon two weather-beaten stones representing figures found in 



