Wekufe

Wekufes are described as originating from the forces or energies that disturb and destroy the world's natural order. In Mapuche cosmology sources state they come from lands to the west—Minchenmapu, beyond Mapu—and after a mythical battle among the Pillán spirits that broke the Admapu, they entered the world; they are also associated with Mag Mapu (a land of evil to the west of Mapu) and roam Mapu. Their presence is framed as a consequence and continuing agent of cosmological imbalance tied to a rupture of ritual and social law.

Descriptions emphasize variable physicality: wekufes may be extracorporeal or ghost‑like, evanescent spirits, or manifest as solid, material beings. Sources name particular powerful wekufe figures (for example Trelke-wekufe / El Cuero and Canillo) as capable of taking material form, but overall the category is not fixed to a single morphology and includes both formless disruptive energy and monstrous embodied creatures.

Wekufes are characterized by a propensity to disturb or destroy the world's natural order and are held responsible for illness, destruction, death, and other calamities among the Mapuche. They are described as soulless and can capture and enslave human spirits (pillú) before those spirits become alwe. Human sorcerers (kalkus) may cultivate relationships with wekufes—kalkus must voluntarily become servants of a wekufe and can use them as a mystic medium to cause sickness or death. Methods of harm reported in sources include introduction of the wekufe into a victim's body via small objects (a fragment of wood, straw, or part of a lizard) or by attacks of ghost‑like forms that direct disruptive wekufe energy. Pillán and Ngen spirits are described as able to control or permit wekufe activity when social or ritual rules are broken.