 | This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (December 2009)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Chilean mythology includes the mythology, beliefs and folklore of the Chilean people.
| This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (December 2009)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Chilean mythology includes the mythology, beliefs and folklore of the Chilean people.
Chilean mythology covers of a large collection of myths and legends from the beliefs of Chile's indigenous groups (Mapuche, Tehuelche, Changos, Diaguitas, Picunches, Pehuenches, Huilliches, Poyas and more).
Their mythology shows a significant influence by European colonization, mainly during the Spanish colonial period. These influences have helped Chilean mythology to evolve and become distinct from other local mythologies such as Chilota mythology. The variety of sources of these beliefs has in some causes caused syncretism or the fusion of different beings, coming from these diverse mythological origins, complimenting and differentiating Chilean mythology.
Similarly, the differences in landscapes and climates in the Chilean territory have configured defined geographical areas that experienced different historical circumstances. This favored the appearance of different and new beliefs and myths that enriched the mythology of this territory.
In the study classification of ″Chilean mythology″, the myths are typically categorized geographically into Northern, Central, Easter Island and Southern Zones.
These myths and legends involve characters closely related to the desert, religious devotion and mining. Examples include the myth of Alicanto, la Lola, el Yastay, the Achaches, the Umpillay, and the Quilpaná. Other legends are Juan Soldado, the treasure of Guayacán, the Payachatas, La Tirana and the virgin of Andacollo. The northern myths draw upon the Inca and pre-Incan civilizations, but they became distinguished through a rooted base in Spanish colonialism.
These myths assimilated of many mythological characters from Mapuche tribal beliefs.
The Spanish initially settled in the central zone, the most populated, leading to a unique mixture.
This zone hosts many legends modified from the oral tradition. Some of the mythical figures include Pedro Urdemales, la Calchona, la Llorona, el Culebrón, el Chonchón and the Piuchén. Legends include the Inca Lagoon, the Burial of Cacique Vitacura and Rere's Bell. Additionally, stories discuss the appearance of the devil and encounters with witches.
Another is the legend of the treasure of Juan Fernández, in the Juan Fernández archipelago.
The most important myth source is Easter Island. The inhabitants of Easter Island, the Polynesian Rapa Nui people, created singular explanations about the creation of man and their land. Examples of these myths include: Make-Make and Aku-Aku.
This zone was also influenced by Mapuche indigenous beliefs. Legends include the City of the Caesars, The Three Pascuales, and spirits of Mapuche beliefs like Pillán, the Wangulén, the Wekufes, the Anchimallén, Tented and Caicos, and the Cuero.
The Chiloé Archipelago has its own stories, due to the geographical isolation and the union of indigenous and Spanish traditions. Natural phenomena such as mist, strong winds, thick forests, and rough seas feature in legends there. The most important are the Caleuche and the Trauco, followed by the Fiura, the Pincoya, the Invunche, the Camahueto, the Basilisco chilote, and the Millalobo.
The most important sources are:
Marcela Donoso, a Chilean painter, made a set of oil paintings describing 30 Chilean myths. A book includes these paintings.
Easter Island is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.
The Valparaíso Region is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. With the country's second highest population of 1,790,219 in 2017, and fourth smallest area of 16,396.1 km2 (6,331 sq mi), the region is Chile's second most densely populated after the Santiago Metropolitan Region to the southeast. The region also includes the remote Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.
The Rapa Nui are the Polynesian peoples indigenous to Easter Island. The easternmost Polynesian culture, the descendants of the original people of Easter Island make up about 60% of the current Easter Island population and have a significant portion of their population residing in mainland Chile. They speak both the traditional Rapa Nui language and the primary language of Chile, Spanish. At the 2017 census there were 7,750 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast.
The Cherufe is a large man-eating mythical creature found in the Mapuche religion of the indigenous Mapuche people of south-central Chile.
Rapa Nui National Park is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located on Easter Island, Chile. Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name of Easter Island; its Spanish name is Isla de Pascua. The island is located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern extremity of the Polynesian Triangle. The island was taken over by Chile in 1888. Its fame and World Heritage status arise from the 887 extant stone statues known by the name "moai", whose creation is attributed to the early Rapa Nui people who inhabited the island starting between 300 and 1200 AD. Much of the island has been declared as Rapa Nui National Park which, on 22 March 1996, UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site under cultural criteria (i), (iii), & (v). The Rapa Nui National Park is now under the administrative control of the Ma´u Henua Polynesian Indigenous Community, which is the first autonomous institute on the island. The indigenous Rapa Nui people have regained authority over their ancestral lands and are in charge of the management, preservation and protection of their patrimony. On the first of December 2017, the ex-President Michelle Bachelet returned ancestral lands in the form of the Rapa Nui National Park to the indigenous people. For the first time in history, the revenue generated by the National Park is invested in the island and used to conserve the natural heritage.
Hotu Matuꞌa was the legendary first settler and ariki mau of Easter Island and ancestor of the Rapa Nui people. Hotu Matuꞌa and his two canoe colonising party were Polynesians from the now unknown land of Hiva. They landed at Anakena beach and his people spread out across the island, sub-divided it between clans claiming descent from his sons, and lived for more than a thousand years in their isolated island home at the southeastern tip of the Polynesian Triangle.
The mythology and religion of the indigenous Mapuche people of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina is an extensive and ancient belief system. A series of unique legends and myths are common to the various groups that make up the Mapuche people. These myths tell of the creation of the world and the various deities and spirits that reside in it.
The Chilote mythology or Chilota mythology is formed by the myths, legends and beliefs of the people who live in the Chiloé Archipelago, in the south of Chile. This mythology reflects the importance of the sea in the life of Chilotes.
Coi Coi-Vilu or Caicai-Vilu/Cai Cai Vilu is the Mapuche god of water and, according to Mapuche myths, supreme ruler of the sea and of all sea-dwellers. This snake was a central figure in the Origin Of The Chiloean Archipelago. In Mapuche mythology, Coi Coi-Vilu is son of Peripillan.
Spanish is the official and administrative language of Chile. Spoken by 99.3% of the population in the form of Chilean Spanish, as well as Andean Spanish and Chilean Catalan, Spanish in Chile also receives the title of "castellano." Although an officially recognized Hispanic language does not exist at the governmental level, the Constitution itself- as well as all official documents- is written in this language.
Rapa Nui mythology, also known as Pascuense mythology or Easter Island mythology, refers to the native myths, legends, and beliefs of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island in the south eastern Pacific Ocean.
The Alicanto is a mythological nocturnal bird of the desert of Atacama, pertaining to Chilean mythology. Legend says that the alicanto's wings shine at night with beautiful, metallic colors, and their eyes emit strange lights. The color of the wings may indicate the type of ore it eats, golden if from a gold mine and silvery if from a silver mine. Some descriptions also portray the color of the wings as copper-green.
Geologically one of the youngest inhabited territories on Earth, Easter Island, located in the mid-Pacific Ocean, was, for most of its history, one of the most isolated. Its inhabitants, the Rapa Nui, have endured famines, epidemics of disease and cannibalism, civil war, environmental collapse, slave raids, various colonial contacts, and have seen their population crash on more than one occasion. The ensuing cultural legacy has brought the island notoriety out of proportion to the number of its inhabitants.
Father Sebastian Englert OFM Cap., was a Capuchin Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest, missionary, linguist and ethnologist from Germany. He is known for his pioneering work on Easter Island, where the Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum is named after him.
The Conquest of Chile is a period in Chilean historiography that starts with the arrival of Pedro de Valdivia to Chile in 1541 and ends with the death of Martín García Óñez de Loyola in the Battle of Curalaba in 1598, and the destruction of the Seven Cities in 1598–1604 in the Araucanía region.
Tricontinental Chile is a geopolitical concept denoting Chile's unique position with its mainland in South America, Easter Island in Oceania (Polynesia) and the Chilean Antarctic Territory in Antarctica.
The maritime history of Chile begins with the independence of Chile, but traces it origin in the colonial era and has ultimately origin in the seafaring tradition of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and the Mediterranean as well as from indigenous peoples of Chile.
As an archaeological culture, the Mapuche people of southern Chile and Argentina have a long history which dates back to 600–500 BC. The Mapuche society underwent great transformations after Spanish contact in the mid–16th century. These changes included the adoption of Old World crops and animals and the onset of a rich Spanish–Mapuche trade in La Frontera and Valdivia. Despite these contacts Mapuche were never completely subjugated by the Spanish Empire. Between the 18th and 19th century Mapuche culture and people spread eastwards into the Pampas and the Patagonian plains. This vast new territory allowed Mapuche groups to control a substantial part of the salt and cattle trade in the Southern Cone.
Uoke is a tectonic and destroyer deity in Rapa Nui mythology.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the Chilean island and special territory of Easter Island in March 2020.
| History |
|  | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geography | |||||||||||
| Politics |
| ||||||||||
| Economy | |||||||||||
| Society |
| ||||||||||