Faron - Symbolic Values

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Symbolic Values and the Integration of SocietyAmong the Mapuche ofChile

LOUIS C. FARONUniversity of Pittsburgh

INTRODUCTIONH E M apuche are best known to anthropologists by the generic termT Araucanian, under which are subsumed the now extinct Picunche, theheavily accu ltu ra ted Huilliche, and the M apu che , the (people of the land.Th e Mapuche live on more th an 2,000 small reservations in so uthe rn C entralChile, where they engage in field agriculture and raise cattle, horses, sheep,and other animals. Their population is estimated at 200,000, and they occupy

an area roughly the size of Delaw are. After resisting W hite soldiers an d settle rsfor approximately three hundred years, they were finally defeated in theRebe llion of 1880-82 an d placed on reservations . The ir socie ty underwen tnum erous im po rtan t stru ctu ral changes, an d cultural modifications took placeas well, as a result of the reservation system (see Far on 1956, 1961a, 1 9 6 1 ~ ) ;b u t th ey ha ve survived as one of the largest functioning indigenous societiesin the New World. In this paper I would like to analyze a most significantaspect of the cu ltur al an d social am bie nt of the contem porary M apuche, onewhich has considerable implications for an y consideration of social sta bi lit yor change.Following Durkh eim, Radcliffe-Brown w rote long ago th a t it is in ancestor-worship th a t we can m ost easily discover an d de m on stra te the social functionof a religious cu lt (1952: 163). Since the p rop itia tion of a nce stra l spirit s iscentral t o the scheme of M apuche morality (see Fa ron 1961b), i t could possiblybe argued that concern with ancestral spirits in some way conditions mostasp ects of M apu che social life. However, this line of inquiry might easily bogdown in a morass of tort uo us evaluations and judgm ents, as does Durkhe imsclassification of phen om ena in to sacred an d profane categories, and , in an ycase, would no t seem to resu lt in the creatio n of a to ta l impression of the rela-tionship between Mapuche ideational and social systems. But it may be pos-sible to discover a m ore fund am en tal principle th an a ncestor propitiation inM apuche society, in which th e to ta l struc ture of symbolic values ma y berelated to the social order. This is the line of inquiry pursued here.I n D urkheims tre atm en t of the sacred an d profane, one encoun ters a con-sideration of w ha t are clearly moral values of soc iety. It is according to thesevalues th at the sacred and profane categories are defined. B ut one is confrontedwith much a priori reasoning an d tort uo us arg um en t to th e end of establishingall phenom ena in categories of e ither sacred or profane dimensions. T h e per-vasive notion of dualism am ong the M apuche, a t lea st a t first glance, wouldseem to lend itself to orthodox Durkheimian classification. A sacred-profane

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1152 Am erican A nt%ropoZagist [6 4, 1962dichotomy certainly exists in Mapuche thoug ht. B u t by no means all Mapuchevalues, even paired a s they are in set s of co mp leme ntary opposites, are amen-able to dichotomization in Durkheims terms. Thus, the sacred-profane classi-fication is no t fully applicable to th e Map uche sy ste m of values or, a t least ,does not encompass it. This, it might be said, is well enough-interpretativedifficulties serving to ind icate the empirical limits of analysis in th e framewo rkof a sacred-profane dichotomization of the Mapuche world view. But thisac tua lly leaves ve ry mu ch t o be desired, because th e limits of analysis seem tobe reached or approached a t the outset.From a number of exam ples of th is kind of d ifficulty which sugg est them -selves, I select the possible classification of sham ans as sacred and sorcerersas profane. With respect to the Mapuche, this is a pointless classification,since both shamans and sorcerers have a numinous quality, and since evensorcerers, clearly evil on most occasions an d in m ost contexts, a t times hav ethe im po rta nt role of opera ting on th e positive side of th e moral universe w hencalled upon to exact vengeance. Durkheimian thinking would probably denythis interpretation, bu t the alternative route it suggests is, I feel, unattr acti veand dangerous. It would tak e one entirely outside th e limits of M apuch ethinking, the relationship between the conceptual model and its empiricalfoundation becoming m ost tenuous. Sacred phenomena are viewed as good b ythe Mapuche, but not all good is sacred. Sacred-profane and good-evil con-cepts actually cu t across one ano the r when una dulterate d Durkeimian reason-ing is brou ght to bear on them.T h e value of a ny an thropo logical concep t is measured by i ts usefulness inunderstanding and ordering social and cultural phenomena. Since thesephenomena are social and cultural an d do no t exist in a vacuum, they m ustbe ordered in correspondence to the manner in which they are viewed by thepeople themselves. Th is is no t to say th at th e Mapu che need visualize a tot alstructural order, but that their partial, piecemeal, and seemingly orderlessviews be consistent with wha tever conceptual order is imposed upon theirsocial and cultural system by the anthropologist. I take my cue, therefore,from the Mapuche themselves.T h e in ter pr eta tiv e difficulties of the sacred-profane app roach are resolvableonce i t is recognized t h at the underlying motif of M apuche tho ug ht it no ta comprehensive good-evil or sacred-profane set of references but, rather, adualistic world view into which good-evil, sacred-profane, and other anti-thetical categories ar e subsu ma ble as relative a nd pa rtia l expressions of t hetotal order of society. Numerous sets of value symbols are amenable toarrangement consistent with Mapuche notions of this dualistic ordering ofth e universe an d, of especial in ter es t here, the stru ctu re of symbolic valuesmay be related significantly to the ordering of social institutions.

TH E CONCEPTS OF IHANDEDNESS AND COMPLEMENTARY DUALISMTh e most com prehensive theoretical framework for this kin d of analysishas been suggested by R ober t Her tz, a stud ent of Durkheim, an d more recently


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F A R O N ] Symbolic Values among the Mapuche 1153has been refined an d applied to great adva ntag e by R odney N eedham i n theanalysis of Southeast Asian, Indonesian, and African material. Hertz dealtwith the phenomenon of com pleme ntary opposition in his essay, T he P re-eminence of the R igh t H an d: A St ud y of Religious Po lari ty (1960), andnoted that in many if not all societies honors, designations, prerogativeswere accorded to the right hand, whereas the left ha nd held an ancillary if n otdespised position. Enlarging on this theme, Needham writes:The symbolic oppositionof right and left and a dualistic categorization of phenomena are so com-mon as to seem natural proclivitiesof the human mind. What is to be noted here is the particularway in which these notions are symbolically related to the divisions of . . . [a particular] society. . 1958:97).T he theoretical in terest which underlies this kind of an alysis is phrased byNeedham as follows:. . o determine through a considerationof symbolic usages whether or not there are more abstractstructural principles underlying both social relations . . .and other aspects o f . . ulture whichare not obviously connected with them (1958:89).T he result m ay provide a tota l stru ctura l analysis.W hether i t does or no t would seem to depend on the typ e of de scent systemand the structural relations surrounding marriage. Needham suggests thatthe relationship between value system and social structure is most completeand significant in societies organized around systems of prescriptive allianceand th a t m arriage preferences . . . ave no structural entailmen ts in the totalsocial system com parable to those of a pres criptiv e system . . . (1958:75).Th e Mapu che have a system of strongly preferential m atri lat era l alliance. Itis my co ntention t h a t the symbolic an d social order of the M apuche a re relatedin a m ost signficant ma nner a nd t h a t they, therefore, m ay be viewed as repre-se nt at io ns of a single conceptual scheme-one in which the dualism noted inthe ideational constru ct of com plem enta ry opposition is reflected in a dualisticordering of social ins titu tion s. I feel also th a t these notions of d ualism arerevealed in the system of preferred matrilateral marriage.

If the phenomen on of com plem enta ry dualism in association with a right-left polarity of symbolic values is to be used as a n ana lyt ic tool, i t mu st beable to satisfy certain requirements. For one thing, it must comprise a sym-bolic arra ng em en t of sets of socially significant polarities. T h a t is, the polaropposites m us t be logical cons tructs w hich togeth er form some sor t of con-ceptual unit. If this much is satisfied, a cu ltural analysis of the valu e syste mis possible. B ut more th an this is needed for the sor t of int erp reta tio n at te m pt edhere. These conceptual units must in turn have some significant relationshipto the institutions of society as conceived by the people themselves. I n thecase of the M apuc he, this relationship is m ost clearly seen in the area of rit ua lbelief a nd ac tio n where the re exists an association of num erous ideas an dvalues with righ t an d left hands, which enable a H ertz ian type of analysis tobe made. Handed ness serves to symbolize the polarity in thou gh t, values, an dtheir social correlates. By analogy, this dualism is discoverable outside theimmediate ritual sphere.


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1154 American Anthropologist [64, 1962T he general problem a t hand is th a t of relating seemingly dis para te ethno-graphic da ta to one another so th a t the y ma ke sense taken singly or together.Now, in Mapuche society , as in ma ny others, i t is apparent th at the systemof ki nsh ip and m arriag e largely dom ina tes th e field of social relatio nship s (seeFaron 1961a, 1961b, 1962); th at th e na ture of th e m arital bond, therefore, isa significant factor in social interaction. M apuc he m arr y kin in a stronglypreferential syste m which is m atri late ral an d which involves set s of re lative lystable wife-giving and wife-receiving, patrilineal descent groups. It is clearth at this system entai ls prohibi tions which c onst i tute m oral rules, There isalso a further connection between marriage-linked lineages (reservationgroups) and ritual congregationalism which, over and above a number ofobvious concordance s betwee n ma rriage a nd o the r social institutio ns, is ex-pressive of a unified system of morality (see Faron 1961c, Chaps. 8, 9). Inorder to ma ke more th an a series of piecemeal func tiona l sta te m en ts of therelationship between Mapuche morality and its expression in various socialinstitutions an integrating concept, such as com plemen tary dualism, is needed.Mapuche social relationships are in fact shot through with notions ofcom plem enta ry opposition. M a n y of these ar e clearly discernible, some assacred-profane, good-evil, superior-inferior, and so forth-all in analo gic orexplicit association with a right-left dichotom y. W here the pree minenc e of theright h and exists as a co nce pt of s ymbolic importan ce in society, we may ex pect

to find notions of superior, good, health, and so forth, associated with theright. T he logic of dualis tic reasoning places c om plem enta ry notion s of inferior,sickness, and so on, with the left. Even in the absence of unmistakable (i.e.,verbalized) association with handedn ess, a n ordering of othe r values ma y beobtained by analogy with reference to right and left . Indeed, a Hertzianana lysis is possible ev en in th e ab sence of specific m ent ion of hande dn ess (cf.Nee dham 1960a: 115).SYMBOLISM AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN MAPUCHELAND

Per hap s the clearest association between phenom ena which belong on theright and those which belong on the left is seen in the symbolic attachmentsof good an d evil in the M ap uche sch em e of religious mor ality . Some of th emo st obvious of these are tab ula ted below an d the n discussed for exemplifica-tion.I n Araucanian , kuk means hand, wele means lef t , and man meansright. Welekuk a n d mankuk, or simply wele an d m an, with ku k understood,signify respectively left hand a n d right hand. There is a n unmistaka blean d li teral connection between left and evil, an d right a nd good. For exam ple,piukeman (piuke: heart) is an expression equivalent to kume piuke (kume:good) an d means pure in heart , free from evil. Wesa (evil) an d wele (left)are also used interchangeably. WeZenkin, for example, refers to leftness andmeans a hea rt p alpita tion which forebodes evil or misfortune. Similarly,zuelethungun (left talk) means to speak evil (especially of ones self in con-templation of suicide). An evil-headed or crazy person (possessed of evil


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F A R O N ] Symbolic Values among the Mapuche 1155forces) is alternately called wesa lonko (Zonko: head) or wele lonko. In a smallnu m be r of o th er words, there is also this literal connection betwee n hande dnessand qualities of good an d evil, bu t permissible improv isations actu ally wouldextend the number of such words infinitely. For the most part, however, theassociation is analogical in a conceptual scheme in which phenomena associatedwith evil are linked to th e left half of the universe an d those associated withgood linked with the right. The right hand column in Table 1 conta ins obvi-ously good phenomena and the left their complementary opposites, as theseentries are paired b y the M apuche. The y consti tute a partial expression of theover-all dualistic order of the M apuch e universe.

TABLE. MAPUCKEYMBOLIC TTACHMENTSO RIGHT N D LEFTHANDLeft Right

evildeathnightsicknesswekufe (evil spirits)sorcererunderworld (refiu)kai kaipovertyhunger

goodlifedayhealthancestral spiritsshamanafterworld (wenumapu)lren trenabundancefullness

Th ere are oth er clear-cut right-left associations from which analogies m aybe drawn. W hen, for example, ancestral spirits app ear as H awk s of the Sun,in answer to a ritual summons or in a dream, they may make peculiarly sig-nificant gyrations to indicate the propitiousness of some ac t or plan or th eeffectiveness of rit ua l supp lication. W ha tev er the mo tiv ati on , if t he y circle tothe rig ht it is take n as a good omen, as a n indication th a t ev ents will go well,th at p ray ers have been or will be answered. If they circle to the left, prayerswill not be answered, evil is foreshadowed Some human error, some sin, isindicated. Perh aps a sorcerer remained undiscovered a t a fune ral or fertilityrite. If so, furt her pro pitiation is called for, th e stigma of im pu rity or ritualimperfection lingering until a compensatory ritual is held. The Mapuche donot, however, erect insurmountable barriers to their own well-being. Badomens or visions of evil usually occur before or during, rat he r th an afte r, thestaging of som e cerem ony , their mitigatio n prov iding one of th e mo tives forholding the ceremony, or prolonging and perfecting it.A similar association of rig ht a nd le ft with good an d evil occurs when any -one is startled by a birds song near a t hand. If the bird is to ones right, itsignifies the presence of a n ancestral sp irit a nd presages good fort une . If onthe left, i t is taken to represent the embodiment of evil and to presage evil.


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1156 American Anthropologisl [64, 1962Wh en one dream s of tak in g a left fork in the road , instead of a right turn , thisis also in terp rete d as a n evil omen. Stories of moral import are geared to thisleft-right theme, insofar as persons who turn right e njo y riches, huge q uan titiesof food served in banquet style, and general good fortune. Those who takethe left turn suffer poverty, hunger, and general misfortune. Not until thesteps are retraced (similar to the repetition of ritu al praye r) and t he rightfork gained do persons throw off the a ur a of evil an d come to en joy th e blessingof good fortune.The ritual priest (fiiZlatuje)cuts off the r igh t ea r of th e sacrificial sheepand holds it aloft in his righ t hand , while offering pra yer to ancestors an d thepa nth eo n of M apuc he gods. Th e blood of the sheep is placed in a specialwooden bowl to th e rig ht of the m ain al ta r, the sacred leaves of which areperiodically aspersed with it during the fiillatun fertility rite. Likewise, thesheeps hear t is cut o ut a nd held aloft in the ri gh t ha nd of the fiillatufe, whopasses i t to his chiefly assis tant s lined u p along his right (an d th e righ t of th ealtar), who, as the fiillatufe, bite into it, hold it up in their right hands, andoffer ancestral prayer. By the time the heart has stopped twitching, it isplaced in the crotch of the main a lta r. Th e rig ht ea r of a sheep is also severedin the honchotun ritua l, a sort of blood brotherhood, which may occur du ringfiillatun, in which the two participants swear lifelong friendship and mutualobligation on the sheeps blood.

Th ere seems to be a clear enough association between good phen om ena a n dthe right hand, so that ancestral spirits, shamans, lren hen (the magic moun-tain), da y, an d life itself m ay be placed on th e right a nd , their complemen taryopposites, urekufe, sorcerers, Rai kai (usually an evil serpent or sea bird),night, a nd the d ea th in which forces of evil deal, on th e left. I n these instancesthere is always some association between rightness and leftness and, respec-tively, good and evil. M an y oth er sets of symbolic values may also be orderedwith reference to a right-left dichotomy.While all the above-mentioned entries would seem to serve well as a clear-cu t orderin g of sym bolic values associated w ith good and evil, there are ot he rpairs of opposites which, while linked in Map uche thinking , are no t clearlygood or evil, either to th e Western m ind or to th e Map uche themselves. Y etthey are classifiable as either right or left hand symbols by analogy to theprevious list, an d by the ir relatively superior or inferior qu alities, as these areverbalized by the Mapuche. Most of these entries have special significancefor ritual occasions and , in this context, are com monly verbalized with regardto right-left associations (Table 2) .This list concerns mostly natural elements and directions, as these areordered in to a dualistic scheme. T her e are ear th , lan d, sacred soil, known an dunknown land; sky, heaven, and celestial bodies; colors. West, north,winter, cold, below, blue, sin, outside, are all in some way connected to deathand, therefore, analogically related to the evil forces which cause it and theleftness which symbolizes it. Ea st, so uth , summ er, w arm, land, above, yellow,


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F A R O N ] Symbolic Values among the Mapuche 1157TABLE. OTHERMAPUCHERIGHT-LEFTSSOCIATIONS

Left Rightwestnorthwintercoldmoon(water)speechoceanbelowblueblacklaymansin(outside)

eastsouthsummerwarmsunbloodritual languagelandaboveyellowwhitepriestexpiation (ritual)ceremonial fieldwhite, expiation, altar, and ceremonial field are associated with good and theright hand. In some cases the association is direct and literal but, in all cases,these sets of opposing yet complementary values are analogically connectedwith right and left. Sun, blood, ritual speech, and priest are all associated posi-tively with ancestral spirits and the gods. East is the orientation for all ritualaction and, ideally, the entrance to Mapuche houses should face east. West isassociated with death, as is the ocean which ancestral spirits must cross beforearriving safely in the afterworld. The ocean is the spirits final barrier in itsjourney to nomelafken (lajken: ocean; nome: other side) or as it is sometimesrendered wenumapu (wenu: above; mapu: land). The north is the origin ofcold, harsh winter rains, starvation, and general hardship. It is also the place oforigin of the Inca and the Spaniards, the collective winka. Moon is placed inopposition to sun and in the left-hand column because of its connection withfemale menses. Below and above are literally inferior and superior categorieswhich serve to qualify the characteristics of many phenomena, and they areanalogically compatible with evil and good, left and right. Minche (below)mapu (land) refers to the grave, similar to the way in which re& (underworld)refers to the subterranean region inhabited by witches and all forces of evil.Minche connotes as well defeat in either physical or supernatural combat.Wenu (above) is clearly associated with sun, the haven of ancestral spirits, thedomain of the gods, and so forth, and is placed on the right by analogy to goodconnotations. Black and blue (not always differentiated) are associated withrain and/or death. Black and dark blue banners symbolize rain in the iiillatunagricultural fertility rite; white banners and sky-blue banners with yellowfigures symbolize sun and good weather. The funera1 wake (Kurikawin: blackassemblage) and mourning in general are symbolized by black. The cold, rainy,


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1158 American Anthropologist [64, 1962death-dealing mo nth of A ugust may be called kurikuyen (black m on th or blackmoo n). C ertain relatives of the affinal catego ry m ay be called kuripapai (blackwomen), and so on.T h e following sets of com plem entary opposites involve, for th e m ost pa rt ,categories of inferior (left) and superior (right) s tat us es, althoug h, with respectto winka (outsider) a nd incest, we ar e again confro nted w ith notions of evil. Ihave grouped the following categorical sets separately into Table 3 in order topresent them as the final step in dem on strat ing th at the same dualistic princi-ple inheres in the ordering of social phen om ena as t h a t which has been shown tocharac terize the com plem entary opposition of symb olic values. M an y prob-lems of inte rpr etatio n are cleared u p or a t least placed in new perspective b yapplying this conceptual scheme to Mapuche values and their social correlates.T h e left-hand column contains inferior categories relative to the right-handcolumn.

TABLE . MAPUCHENFERIOR-SUPERIORN D LEFT-RIGHTAND SSOCIATIONSLeft Right

woman/childkonajuniorsubordinate lineagegif t-receiverwife-receiverincestwinkareservation

manlonkoseniordominant lineagegif t-giverwife-givermarriage (with MBD)Mapucheritual congregation

There is a differential evalua tion of th e sexes in Map uche society which isconsistent with a left-right (woman-man) dualistic set of symbols. There arema ny indications of male superiority a nd association w ith th e right, a s well aswith good and the sacred. Ancestral spirits, for example, are dealt with asthough they all were male (elders and chiefs: Zolzko), and these have a closeworking relationship with the son s of the gods. Fem ale ancestors a re soondropped from the roster of propitiated ancestral spirits an d are eventu ally sub-sumed int o the general ancestral category, kuijiche. I t is the male of the god-setwho is pro pitia ted an d supplicated first; then prayers are directed to his wife,who is propitiated only once or a t least much less often th an her divine hus-band . Non e of this seems incon gruen t with a patrilineal, patrilocal, and pa tri-potestal society.There are other indications of male dominance and a clear association be-tween females and inferio rity, if no t evil, Bu t there is a relat iv ity of symbolisminvolved here which should no t be overlooked. Women, for example, are barredfrom par ticipation in the council of elders (males) which discusses procedural


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F A R O N ] Symbolic Values among the Mapuche 1159plans for iiillatun and which offers private (i.e., among themselves as represen-tatives of their respective lineages) prayers to ancestral spirits during thepreparatory phase of fertility ceremonies. Women are clearly associated withsorcery and are considered the most able sorcerers by virtue of being females,and, by analogy, may be placed on the black, cold, death-ridden side of theconceptual universe.An interesting matter of the relativity of these sets of values enters a t thispoint. It is that male shamans are not considered fully masculine by theMapuche. Some are suspected of being homosexual. All or most dress inwomens clothing (cf. Needham 1960b : 6-27) during their performance.Others are blind, crippled, or mentally unstable. All of these characteristics arenonmasculine in Mapuche eyes and, furthermore, are associated with the oc-cult part of the universe of which sorcery is a part . But this is not to say thatshamans are viewed as aligned with the forces of evil. For the Mapuche, sha-man-sorcerer comprises a logical set of complementary forces symbolizing,respectively, good and evil, with right and left associations. It is inconsistentwith Mapuche thought to include males in shamanistic roles, even thungul-mackin (the shamans male helper) having occult powers which are not whollymasculine. Therefore, male practitioners are attributed female characteristics.The shaman is not the logical opposite of the ritual priest (iiillatufe) in Mapu-che thinking, even though shamans sometimes complement the activities of thefiillatufe in aillatun. The iiillatufe has quite a different relationship to thesupernatural than the shaman; he does not enter the spirit world, but is tied toit formally by virtue of bir th into a particular patrilineal descent group and inthe line of succession of chiefs. He is, therefore, a t the same time political,lineal, and spiritual leader of the dominant lineage of his natal reservation, thegroup which is most clearly responsible for the staging of iiillatun, caring forinvited participants and honored guests, and bearing heaviest responsibility ofa moral nature for the successful enactment of the ceremony. The shaman hasa quite different role.

The kona-lonko dichotomy also points up the relativity of these sets of com-plementary categories. Lonko (chiefs and other elders) are clearly in a sociallysuperior position with respect to their male kinsmen. Formerly, they exactedtribute from them and others in their following and, even today, receiveobligatory prestations on certain ritual occasions. They are also accorded theprivilege of at tending work parties in which they appear as titular heads, doinglittle or no work themselves. The lonko who is also iiillatufe receives abundantquantit ies of food, not as payment for his services to the congregation (as is thecase with the shaman), nor as a gift, bu t rather as his due levy-with the under-standing that this food will be distributed for ritual purposes.Kona andlonko are relatedas junior and senior, bu t the junior-senior dichot-omy is expressed in a number of other ways as well. The use of kinship termsexpresses the superiority of the senior members of Mapuche society (uncles,fathers, grandfathers) to whom respect is accorded by all others. The samekinship idiom is extended to groups of relatives in the marriage alliance system.


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1160 A merican A nthrofologist [64, 962Males of the w ife-giving un it are called weku (maternal uncle), which is arespectful designation, whereas males of the wife-receiving group a re callediiillan (the one who has purchased), a t best a designation of inferior socialstatus.Titiev mentioned th at there was a feeling of la te nt hostility with respec tto Aillan, and that this person is considered as a potential traitor (1951:48).I would say th a t these facts might be interpreted to greater ad vantage a sindicating th a t cer tain wife-receiving groups or segments of an y large wife-receiving group are placed in a relatively suspect social position in which morethan mere social inferiority is implied. These are the wife-receiving groupswhich hav e not maintained sustained marriage ties in the ma trilate ral system,or those jus t initia tin g such alliance, an d which, because of th at , might be sus-pected of actually practicing homicidal sorcery. It is members of such receivinggroups who must p u t in an appearance a t funeral ceremonies of the lineage whoformerly provided t hem with w ives or else bear t he br un t of general suspicionand possible retaliation. It is their failure to meet the former obligations ofritual p artici patio n which lays suspicion upon th em , ju st as the fulfilment ofsuch obligation has t he opposite effect with respec t to un its w hich maintain edsustained and multiple intermarriages over several generations. I n their obliga-tion to bury in-matried women in the same ground as lineal ancestors is sym-bolized a dualistic separation of t he two descent groups an d the co m m itm en tof the socially inferior group to sustain the responsibility an d cost which buria lentails.With respect to the subordinate lineage-dominant lineage set, little moreneed be said. Th e sub ord ina te lineages are localized on the reservation b ysufferance of the do m inan t one. Mem bers of subord inate lineages look to th edominant one for political and ritual leadership (on well-functioning reserva-tions) and , in an y case, are forced to trace descent back t o the tim e of theoriginal chief in order to validate certain of their reserva tion righ ts. T he greate rrights of the do m ina nt lineage have w orked their effect on both the size and thecomposition of dom inan t and su bord inate lineages throughout Mapucheland,and it will be easily understood that it is from the subordinate lineages thatmost young people emigrate t o the cities an d farm s of Chile an d A rgentina,being accorded fewer real opportunities th an m embers of dom inan t lineages togain a living on their na ta l reservation. I n some cases, when feelings ru n high,mem bers of these subordinated lineages are called by the opprobrious nam ewinka, usually reserved for Whites.T he superiority of gift-givers to gift-receivers is not absolute, although inan y partic ular situa tion gift-receivers are in a n inferior position, mom entarilyat least, With respect to ceremonies such as trafkin and konchotun, in whichgift-giving is im po rtant, t he persons involved alt er na te periodically (yearly) asgiver and receiver. But the recipient at any phase of the cycle is unde r moralobligation to retu rn th e gift at the ne xt jun ctu re, placing himself i n.an inferiorposition un til th e completion of t he nex t phase of the cycle; symbolizing amutual though cyclically asymmetrical obligation. Since a gift must be recip-


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F A R O N ] Symbolic Values among the Mapuche 1161rocated, the receiver is in a position of formal obligation to the giver. When thereturn is made the other party becomes recipient in turn; and so on.When gifts are placed in the coffin, a practice called rokif i , the obligations ofthe living to the dead are expressed, bu t the proper bestowal of rokiii binds thedeparted spirit to watch over the living. The relative, and shifting, inferiority-superiority of gift-receivers and gift-givers is an integral part of the network ofmarriage alliances.Let us turn to a brief consideration of wife-giving and wife-receiving. Ti-tievs assertion that there is equal exchange of marriage wealth (1951: 01) iswholly inconsistent with Mapuche values and their social correlates. The in-feriority of the group which pays bride-price is symbolized in a number of ways(see Faron 1961c; 1962). Rather than being equal, there is a great, symbolicallysignificant, and obligatory imbalance in goods transferred a t the occasion ofmarriage, consistent with the relative inferiority of the wife-receiving group.

There is no direct exchange of women between Mapuche lineages, thesystem being one of generalized exchange, strong preference accounting for thevast majority of marriages being contracted with matrilaterally linked groups(see Faron 1961~).On the face of it , this is a triadic structure in which areinvolved ones own lineage, ones wife-giving lineage, and the wife-receivinggroup into which ones lineage sisters marry. This relationship is symbolized inthe kinship terminology, in which wife-receivers are designated as iiillan (theone who has purchased) and wife-givers as weku (maternal uncle). Onesown lineage consists of brothers, fathers, etc. The terms used for ones ownlineage members are potentially extensible to all Mapuche who do not fall intoa marriage-linked category which, more than a sentimental attachment tofellow Mapuche, expresses the structural boundaries of the marriage system.But the necessarily triadic structure involved in this kind of exchange systemreduces to dyadic component relationships with respect to any marriage-linkedunits, affinals always standing in either the iiillan or the weku category, aswife-receiver and wife-giver, with respect to each other.

Now for the problem of why the Mapuche insist tha t marriage withmothers brothers daughter is the ideal union, one which they say was law( admapu) a generation or so ago. As I have indicated elsewhere (Faron 1961a,c), genealogies do not show that marriage with a real mothers brothersdaughter takes place with significant frequency; that it is in fact a rare occur-rence. Since all marriageable women are called by the same term, Wake, menmarry, in the absence of exact genealogical knowledge, classificatory mothersbrothers daughters in a generalized system of exchange. Therefore, theanthropologists acceptance of this statement as literal truth is unfortunate(cf. Tit iev 1951:38 e t passim). But what does the Mapuche expression of thisideal marriage form mean? Elsewhere (Faron 1962) I have suggested that thisis a cultural device for expressing a relationship of great importance in the mostintimate familial terms possible, the implication being tha t this is a mechanismfor achieving or expressing solidary relationships. This is only a partial expla-nation of what such expression might mean to the Mapuche. A fuller explana-


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1162 American Anthropologist [64, 1962tion now suggests itself; one which relates t o the n otion of incest an d which isunderstandable in term s of t he dualistic ordering of t he social system . I t issimply t h a t the cultural ideal of mothers brothers da ug hte r marriage symbol-izes complete observance of the m atr ila ter al rule (adm ap u) by which marriageis no t only preferred between two stable, interm arryin g lineages but is pro-scribed between males and the groups into which their lineage sisters, daugh-ters, and granddaughters marry. Mothers brothers daughter marriage is a

P

FIG. . Geographic orientations of the Mapuche.shorthand or symbolic expression of both lineage exogamy and matrilateralpreference, in complem entary opposition to incest, which would result from it sinfraction.I have already ind icated the general sense of the concept w inka, a termreserved especially for non-Mapu che, although sometimes used in anger or fearwith respect to nonrelated or out-group Mapuche. For the Mapuche, all theindigenous peoples of the world ar e M ap uche ; all colonizers winka. T he ir ques-tions about Mapuche in the United States or in other countries call this tothe anthropologists a tte nti on . There seems to be a fairly clear-cut dichotomyhere.Re lated to the concept of outs ider or stranger, how ever, is the notion of


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FARON] Symbolic Values among the Mapuche 1163geographical divisions in Mapucheland itself, that is, among Mapuche. Theword Mapuche means people of the land, and all Indians classified as Arau-canian call themselves Mapuche, standing as each does in the center of his ownlittle world. Mapuche residing to the north are referred to as Picunche (picurt:north), to the south, Huilliche (huilli: south), to the east, Puenche, and to thewest, along the coast, Lafkenche (Zajhen: ocean). Some writers have takenthese geographico-directional classifications to mean that fixed political andethnic divisions existed among the pre-reservation Mapuche. There seems nogood evidence in the literature in support of this conclusion. Rather, these areclearly relative terms by which all Mapuche are able to orient themselves andsort out blocks of other Mapuche if necessary. Non-Mapuche are never classi-fied in these terms-are never called che (people)-remaining an undiff erenti-ated totality, winka. This, then, is the wide-angle view: there are Mapuche onthe one hand and winka on the other. There are also regional or geographicalorientations among the Mapuche themselves. And within the ritual congrega-tion there are other important classifications made: ones lineage mates, oneswife-receivers (iiillan), and ones wife-givers (weku). Figure 1 depicts thisconceptualization of s tructural categories in Mapucheland.The correspondence between region and ritual congregation is great, if notalways complete. The reservations are alien political and economic constructsof Chilean derivation to which the Mapuche have made accommodations. Theregion, however, is the seat of ritual responsibility, the locus in which matri-lateral marriage alliances form their t ightest web for any person or group, thestage on which the drama of life and death is enacted (see Faron, 1961c, Chaps.8, 9). The region as ritual congregation has moral unity, offers protectionagainst the most malevolent forces of evil, is the center of ritual sacrifice toancestral spirits. I t is the center of the Mapuche world. I ts dimensions areunknown to the outsider; it is apart and sacred to its membership. I t is funda-mental to the continuity of Mapuche religious morality.

NOTESl I express my th anks to Rodney N eedham fo r introducing me to the Hertzian scheme and forgiving the manuscript of th is paper a critical reading.* While the historical sources do not contain detailed enough da ta useful to the kind of inter-pretation attempted here, one repeatedly reads that shamans used to forecast the outcome ofmilitary and oth er ventu res according to the flight of birds. C ould these have been Haw ks of th eSun ? Could their flight have co nstitu ted the right-left g yrations alluded t o abov e?

REFERENCES CITEDDURKHEIM,.FARON,. C.n.d. Th e Elementary Forms of the R eligious Life. Glencoe, Th e Free P ress.1956 Araucanian patri-organization and the Omaha system. American Anthropologist

1961a T he Dako ta-Omaha continuum in Map uche society. Journal of the Ro yal Anthropo-58: 35-56.logical Ins titu te 91: (1:)11-22.


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1164 American Anthropologist [64, 196211961b On ancestor propitiation among th e Mapuche of Central Chile. American Anthropol-ogist 58:824-30.1961c Mapuche social struc ture. Urbana, University of Illinois.1962 Ma trilatera l marriage among the Mapuche (Araucanians) of C entra l Chile. Soci-

ologus 12: 54-66,1960 Death and the right hand, R. and C. Needham, T rans. Glencoe, T he Free Press.1958 A struc tural analysis of Puru m society. American Anthropologist 60: 5-101.1960a Alliance and classification amo ng th e Lam et. Sociologus 10:97-118.1960b T he left hand of the Mugwe: a n analytical note on the struc ture of Meru symbolism.

HERTZ,R.NEEDHAM, .

Africa 30:20-33.RADCLIFFE-BROWN,. R.1952 Stru cture and function in primitive society. Glencoe, Th e Free Press.TITIEV, .

1951 Araucanian cu ltu re in transition. Occasional Con tributions, Museum of Anthropol-ogy No. 15. University of Michigan.

Faron - Symbolic Values

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