In Mapuche mythology

Mapuche mythology

The beliefs of the Mapuche and their mythology, stories about to the world and creatures born of the extensive and old religious beliefs, next to a series of common legend and myths that belong to the different groups that compose the Mapuche ethnic group .-Description:In the mythology and beliefs...

, Ngen are spirit

Spirit

The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...

s of nature

Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...

 of the Mapuche

Mapuche

The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...

 beliefs. In Mapudungun

Mapudungun

The Mapuche language, Mapudungun is a language isolate spoken in south-central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also spelled Mapuzugun and sometimes called Mapudungu or Araucanian...

, the word ngen means "owner".

Legend

The Ngen are those that manage, govern and arrange the different features of nature; but also those that nature takes care of and protects. The Ngen were created by the Pu-am (the representation of the universal soul

Soul

A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...

), who wanted the Ngen to assure the order and the laws of admapu (rules of the Mapuche tradition); and that they prevented that a commotion such as the one caused by the battle of the pillan

Pillan

The Pillan is a powerful and respected male spirit in Mapuche mythology....

before the beginning of the time. The Ngen receive orders of the Pu-am and of Antü

Antu (mapuche mythology)

Antu is the name that is designated in the Mapuche, the principal pillan spirit. Antü is the most powerful Pillan, who governs the others pillans. In the Mapuche mythology, Antu is the Sun, and is married with Kueyen a Wangulen spirit that represents the moon....

 (the most powerful pillan spirit).

If a Mapuche needs to obtain something from nature, they must respect and give an offering to the specific Ngen spirit.

The Ngen take on forms that are based on humans, animals, and plants. Each type of Ngen spirit receives a specific name.

• Ngenechen
  Ngenechen
  Ngenechen is one of the most important Ngen spirits within traditional mapuche religion; and is the most important deity in the present beliefs of the Mapuche people....
  
  (Ngen-che): spirit or deity who governs human beings
• Ngen-mapu: owners of the Earth
• Ngen-wingkul: owners of the hills or volcanos
• Ngen-kütral: owner of the fire
• Ngen-ko: owners of the water
• Ngen-kürüf: owners of the winds
• Ngen-mawida: owners of the forest
• Ngen-kulliñ: owners of the animals
• Ngen-lawen: owner of the medicinal herbs
• Ngen-kura: owners of the stones
• Ngen-rüpü: owners of the paths created by nature or the footsteps of wild animals