Ngenechen

Supreme being of the Mapuche, the fourfold 'ruler of the people' embodied as paired elder and young man and woman who hold cosmic balance.

Domains

• creation
• sovereignty

Powers

• Rule and sustain the Mapuche people and the world
• Embody himself as old man, old woman, youth and maiden

Epithets

• Ngünechen mapudungun · Ngenechen'ruler/owner of the people' (ngen 'owner' + che 'people') — the supreme power invoked in the ngillatun fertility rite, addressed in fourfold paired form as old man/old woman, young man/young womanFaron, Louis C. Hawks of the Sun: Mapuche Morality and its Ritual Attributes, Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1964 (secondary scholarship); Guevara, Tomás. Folklore araucano, Santiago, 1911 (primary ethnography)
• Chaw Dios Mapudungun · Chaw Dios · cultFather God / Old Man GodNgenechen, Wikipedia; Mapuche religion, Wikipedia (secondary)
• Nuke Dios Mapudungun · Ñuke Dios · cultMother God / Old Woman GodNgenechen, Wikipedia; Mapuche religion, Wikipedia (secondary)

Relations

• equated with: FüchaReciprocal of mapuche_fucha.equated-with (alphabetical family sweep). (auto reciprocal)

Sources

• existence: Guevara, Historia de Chile (1925); Latcham (1924); recorded Mapuche oral tradition (secondary)