In October 2024, together with Dr. Margarita Alvarado, I traveled to the beautiful city of Buenos Aires to visit some museums that have collections of Mapuche silverware and produce an approach that would allow us to have a greater breadth in terms of knowledge of them now in the state of Argentina. As a result of that experience, we were very surprised by the great quantity and quality of the Mapuche jewelry we saw, and very grateful for the tremendous welcome and willingness to show us their collections.
Our host Roberto Vega prepared a tour of several museums, an extraordinary goldsmith's workshop, and also introduced us to two private collectors and a third private collection. We were amazed to see a large quantity of Mapuche silverware, the quality of it and the maintenance and care of the different jewels.
In each of the collections we visited, we were able to see and handle the pieces of interest to us, and we exchanged with the collectors, and museum technicians and directors a series of valuable aspects such as: technical characteristics of the construction, analysis of the forms and their graphics; the use and function of the jewels, as well as the cultural identity foundation of them from the point of view of the Mapuche Vision.
During one of the visits, the host took out a beautiful silver mask from one of his pieces of furniture and handed it to me to see and analyze. I was excited and surprised to have in my hands a jewel that was in motion within the social and spiritual activities of my people. Personally, I knew several silver masks that in Mapudungun (the Mapuche language) are called Kollón. Today they are scarce and most are found in collections. For many years I have researched the Mapuche foundations of the use of Kollón in our work as a People and in this way the idea of building this article was born, which I am pleased to share with those people who are sensitive to the cultures of the Native Peoples.
The Kollón studied highlights the following:
Technical data:
· Its weight is 222 grams of 0.90 fine silver.
· The thickness of the silver sheet with which the Kollón was made is approximately 1 mm. around its entire circumference.
· The length of the Kollón is 21.8 cm.
· The width of the Kollón is 15.6 cm.
Techniques applied in its construction:
· Melting of silver coins for the construction of the sheet
· Stretching of the same through hammering until obtaining the necessary sheet for the construction of the Kollón.
· Hammering of the sheet after reheating it to soften it. This technique was formerly carried out on hard woods to give the Kollón the shape of a face, and pieces of iron were also used on which they were hammered to achieve more exact shapes.
· Chiseling, as the shape of a human face progressed, different chisels were used: this chiseling was done on iron.
· Polishing, in the past, different stones of great hardness were used to polish jewelry, and in the 19th century, files of various shapes and finesse began to be used.
The Kollón is not a mask in itself and is not used to scare away "evil spirits"
Since time immemorial, the Mapuche People have defined a series of norms and protocols for their internal functioning linked to our Mapuche religion, with economic activities such as planting or collecting different foods, building ruka [the Mapuche dwelling], and palín games, etc.
The use of the Kollón defines and determines a function in the various activities that are carried out, also the person who has and uses the mask is called Kollón, which is only a distinctive feature. The Kollón person is knowledgeable and in control of the rules and protocols that govern the activity and therefore, within his responsibilities is the organization of the event as well as being a strict controller of compliance in the Community with all the indications that he himself –the Kollón person– determines.
Since before the first Inca invasion of our territories [around 1350 by the Western Christian calendar] this distinctive mask has been used in almost all the spiritual, social and political activities of our People. In the scenario of those times, our knowledge and mastery of the elements were very basic, therefore we made use of the material means that we had in the territories, constructing the Kollón mask from vegetable fibers.
The arrival of the conquerors to our territories brought with them new and until then unknown elements based on the doctrine of conquest that they brought: Enslavement, which manifested itself in the mining area and in the agricultural area. All this allowed us to learn about, delve into and master metals to build tools and objects, firstly to work the wood in this way to make a wooden Kollón using iron tools and heating the metal to make holes for the eyes and mouth; this was without a doubt a huge leap in quality.
The Spanish brought with them a series of animals that were unknown in these territories, such as cattle, horses, sheep and goats, which were dispersed throughout the Mapuche territory and multiplied exponentially. The domination of this livestock mass occurred in violent stages of war and with a flourishing livestock economic exchange during long periods of peace. All these changes that occurred during the 16th and 17th centuries allowed us to build the Kollones with the leather of these animals; the techniques used were basic. The leather was degreased and rubbed; the holes for the eyes, nose and mouth were cut out, and then it was soaked in water and salt to later be placed on a trunk in the shape of a human face, leaving it to dry in the shade to finally place the leather threads that held it to the head.
During the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, great and varied transformations took place in the Mapuche People:
1.- The economic development of livestock was consolidated with an increasing exchange and purchase and sale in the Marketing Points defined in various Parliaments between the Mapuche and Spanish representatives in Gulu Mapu [future state of Chile].
2.- The volume of livestock to be marketed grew and made it impossible to maintain the exchange through barter, and the Viceroyalty of Peru was forced to request authorization from the Spanish king for the construction of a Mint for the minting of silver coins taken from the silver mines in Potosí [current state of Bolivia]. In this way, silver coins arrived for the general captaincy of Santiago, all of the current Argentine territory, and for the Mapuche People through the sale of livestock.
3.- A new social and political stratification based on the economic concentration of cattle raising that is taking place within the Mapuche People, therefore the rules and protocols of organization and structures are modified and a pyramidal stratification begins, passing from the Lofche [patrilineal consanguineous families] to the Rewes [association of Lofche under the direction of a Lonko of Rewe permanently] and later to the Aillarrewes [association of nine Rewes under the permanent command of a Lonko of Aillarewe]. This new form of organization structured and controlled the functioning within the Mapuche People; in this sense the greatest responsibility fell on the authority of the Lonkos of Rewes and Aillarewes.
4.- During these centuries, the National and People's Unity between the Puelche [Mapuche in the present state of Argentina] and the Guluches [Mapuche in the present state of Chile] was increasingly consolidated. Thousands of heads of cattle were brought from the Puel Mapu through the different mountain passes, fattened in the Gulu Mapu and later sold in silver coins at the different commercial points. It was the territorial control and the centralization of power within the Mapuche People, which allowed the appearance of the Kollón de plata.
5.- With the signing of agreements, alliances and later the formation of Confederations, particularly in the 19th century, tension was put on the nascent national states of Chile and Argentina, who placed in their State doctrine the claim of the annexation of the Mapuche territories.
6.- During the course of the 19th century, the greatest development and splendor of Mapuche silverwork took place, having a political expression, which is shown first in the harnessing of horses and later in the silver ornaments among the Lonkos and also in the different objects that were used in the Traum [meetings of the main Lonkos] for making the big decisions, among them the construction and use of silver Kollones.
7.- It is worth highlighting the work of the silversmiths that the main Lonkos had within their structures. They concentrated the knowledge and experience of the work in the construction of jewelry. The knowledge of new tools and techniques allowed Mapuche silverwork to reach its maximum splendor during the 19th century and without a doubt the construction of the Kollón de plata is an example of this.
As a summary
The Kollón-person is more than a mask, he is the organizer and controller of the norms and protocols that in the different situations in which he has to act has as a mission: that the whole community develops in a harmonious and precise way the roles and functions that each of the participants must perform.
In the last historical period that our people have had to live through – from the first Inca invasion to the constitution of the national states of Argentina and Chile – the organizing sense of the Kollón has not changed, even though in the different scenarios the material for its construction has varied from vegetable fibers to the use of silver for its construction…
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