Underworld Hag
Selk'nam · deity · mythic perennial · Recorded classification
Female Hain spirit; classed as deity (spirit-class) per schema guidance. Unlike the other Hain spirits, who were impersonated by masked men, Xalpen was never embodied by a performer but represented offstage. Her husband is Shoort; the grotesque-comic Halahaches is another Hain spirit. Documented by Gusinde and Chapman.
Domains
- underworld and initiation
Powers
- devour and then restore the Hain initiates
- devours the Hain initiates underground and then restores them to life
Relations
- spouse: Hain Spirit ShoortReciprocal of selknam_shoort.spouse (alphabetical family sweep). (auto reciprocal)
Sources
- Xalpen is the dreaded female underworld spirit of the Selk'nam Hain initiation, half flesh and half rock and man-eating, wife of the spirit Shoort.: Chapman, Anne. Drama and Power in a Hunting Society, 1982. (secondary); Gusinde, Martin. Die Feuerland-Indianer, Band I: Die Selk'nam, 1931. (secondary)