ning with his own father, culminates in their petrification.
They can thus be observed by the Aónikenk in the immuta-
ble form of rocks or fossil remains.
The mediation of the high aspect is developed during
Elal’s celestial journey to the region of Sun and Moon, his
future in-laws. The couple show their hostility by assigning
him to perform deadly trials for a three-day period—not un-
like the Aónikenk’s shaman’s apprentice, who was required
to spend three days of initiation in caves—before giving him
their daughter. Unlike other suitors, Elal is able to carry out
all the trials with the help of Kukn, the swan goddess.
In sociological terms, Elal’s unsuccessful marriage to the
daughter of Sun expresses the risks of extreme exogamy.
Conversely, the cycle’s next episode, in which Elal’s grand-
mother attempts to seduce him, highlights the Aónikenk’s
abomination of incest in that the grandmother is trans-
formed into a mouse and condemned to live underground.
The gravity and eschatological meaning of this is supported
by one old Aónikenk woman’s assertion: “My grandmother
trod on the mouse whenever she saw it, because it was to
blame for the departure of her powerful grandson, whom she
had raised.”
The transition between the mythical and present eras is
understood as the passage from predifferentiated to clearly
defined reality. The Aónikenk believed that the earth
emerged from the unformed sea, which was forced to the east
by Elal’s unfailing arrows. Elal’s comings and goings from
west to east, resembling the Aónikenk’s seasonal migrations,
endowed their habitat with the contrasting topography of
mountains, woods, plateaus, valleys, lakes, rivers, and is-
lands. The image of an almost empty sky is opposed to that
of one peopled with constellations representing earthly ani-
mals and objects, a tradition shared by many hunting peo-
ples. Molded by Elal, the constellations constitute visible
guides for human action.
The schism between animal, human, and divine natures
is marked by the confinement of each to a defined sphere.
Although there is room for mediation between these spheres
through shamans and witches, easy communication disap-
pears after the mythical era. A rock with the imprints of
Sun’s feet—probably a reference to the petrographs of the
“footprint style” (2500 BCE) of southern Patagonian rupestri-
an art (Gradin, 1971, p. 114)—locates the site where Sun,
exiled by Elal, was supposed to have helped himself up in
order to climb to the sky.
Temporally, the homogeneity of the original, predif-
ferentiated reality—eternal life, continuing winter, and the
unformed sea—is contrasted with the periodicity and alter-
nation suggested by the appearence of the driving forces of
the cycle of death and reproduction, of seasonality (and each
season’s specific activities), and the movements of the tides.
In ontological terms, the lack of differentiation between the
many primordial beings and things—indicated by their
shared humanoid condition—is set against the delineation
of specific identities. On a sociological plane, the antisocial
and incestuous nature—or the “meanness”—of the primor-
dial humanoids is contrasted with human sociability based
on the adequate sharing of goods, collaboration in hunting,
sexual division of labor based on complementarity, prohibi-
tion of incest, and the exogamy of the local group. On an
ethical plane, the formation of an Aónikenk ideal focused on
courage, industriousness, tolerance, hospitality, respect for
the property of others, and reserve in front of outsiders.
CONCLUSION. We are now witnessing the deplorable annihi-
lation of this ethical ideal, extending throughout the south-
ern Tehuelche religious system. Although in mythical terms
the Aónikenk recognized the shock of the changes wrought
by Europeans and their own consequent frustration, they did
so merely by becoming aware of, and not by actively resolv-
ing, the conflict.
The absence of revivalist or revitalizing reactions would
have been compensated for, at the very least, by mythical re-
flection on the meanings of alcoholism, of being deprived of
their hunting lands, and of having to submit to foreign
power. Incorporated as part of the cycle of Elal, the Aó-
nikenk’s great penury is reflected in the final impotence of
the once-powerful deity. Thus one sees a religiosity that,
since it is unable to form new relationships, is signaling the
demise of its foundations as a rationale for cultural practice.
I hope in this article to have begun to fulfill, in at least
a limited fashion, the mission entrusted by the last of the Aó-
nikenk: that of revealing and spreading their “Word,” which
they knew would outlast their own lifetime and that of their
gods, annihilated by history.SEE ALSO Mapuche Religion.BIBLIOGRAPHY
The most complete compilation of Tehuelche mythic texts and
narratives can be found in Folk Literature of the Tehuelche In-
dians, edited by Johannes Wilbert and Karin Simoneau,
“UCLA Latin American Studies,” no. 59 (Los Angeles,
1984). Johannes Wilbert’s introduction (pp. 1–13) provides
a rigorous history of Tehuelche folk literature studies.
Among the versions contributed by authors to the compila-
tion can be recommended those obtained by Tomás Har-
rington (text 49), Rodolfo M. Casamiquela (texts 4, 69, 80,
95, and 104), and Marcelo Bórmida and me (texts 5, 11, 22–
24, 28–44, 46–48, 50–56, 58–60, 62–64, 66–68, 70–73,
75, 78, 79, 83, 85–94, 96–102, and 105–110); these ver-
sions meet the appropriate heuristic requirements in regard
to collection, transcription, identification of informants, and
genealogical proofs. Undoubtedly, the versions contributed
by Manuel Llaras Samitier (texts 1–3, 8–10, 12–14, 25, 45,
65, and 74), especially the cosmogonic ones, are the richest,
although unfortunately they do not always meet the above
requirements.
The cultural links between certain southern Tehuelche, northern
Tehuelche, and Selk’nam (Ona) mythic themes are outlined
by Marcelo Bórmida and me in “Mitología de los Tehuelches
meridionales,” Runa: Archivo para las ciencias del hombreTEHUELCHE RELIGION 9031