Calchona and Machucho. "Sheep/dog-like" beings

 

Calchona. From [5]

Calchona is part of the Mapuche folklore.
She is a creature that looks like a large black sheep, or a woolly black dog, that roams around at night.[1]

The name Calchona derives from Mapuche language (Mapudungun) word “kalch”, which means pubic hair, and refers quite graphically to the creature's long, curly fleece.[2]

Harmless, she, for it is female, a witch, is said to be the outcome of magic spells gone awry.

The popular tale is the following: she, the witch used some creams which she applied on her skin to mutate into a black sheep. She would then go out -no one knows why- every night. Her suspicious husband, spying on her, for he believed she might be a witch, saw her transform into a sheep. So he threw away her magic ointments. When she returned she could not undo the spell and was forced to remain a sheep forever. She roams the night and bleats asking for food.[3]

Read more here (in Spanish) from page 7 onwards:



Machucho

The Mapuche at Chiloé also mention the “Machucho”, a nocturnal goat-like being that bleats like a goat and has a similar body build; like Calchona, it is a creature of the night and considered piguchén or degenerate.[4]

Both creatures, Calchona and Machucho are sheep/goat-like and resemble another similar creature, Huallipen (see our post on it Here).

Bibliography.

[1] Soldano, A., (2006). Leyendas nativas argentinas de la Patagonia: Recopilaciones. B. Aires: Ed. Dunken. pp. 36.
[2] Alvarez, G., (1969). Op. Cit. Glossario. pp. 297.
[3] Vicuña Cifuentes, J., (1910). Supersticiones. Estudios del Folklore recogidos de la tradición oral chilena. Santiago: Imprenta universitaria.pp. 7+
[4] Latcham, R., (1924). Op. Cit. pp. 386.
[5] Art copyright © by -º-PriMm0-º-. Online.

---

Lea este post en español

---

Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia

2010 International Year of Biodiversity Copyright 2009-2010 by Austin Whittall © 

Huallipen, the "sheep-calf"

 

Huallipen is a strange carnivorous amphibian that, according to the Mapuche folklore, can be seen on river banks, lake shores and also by the sea.

Its name is due to its weird appearance and comes from the Mapuche word “Wallipén” (sheep-calf). It has the head of a calf, the body of a lamb, unsightly fur, crooked short front legs and its hind quarters are like those of a seal.[1]

Harmless on land, in the water it is very agile and dangerous, attacking people and animals fiercely.

There is a mutant variety of sheep that produce four or five horned rams; this mutation is known as polycerism (many horns). The sheep that were introduced into Chile and Argentina by the Spaniards in the XVIth century carried this mutation. The Mapuche called them melimüta (meli = four, müta = horn) and they believed that these rams, could “defend the herd from the "huaille peñ" [sic] which occasionally feeds on lambs”.[2]

Latcham in explaining its origin pointed out that the Huallipen combined two animals unknown in Chile before the Spanish Conquest (cows and sheep). He assumed that it, like Nahuel (the Patagonian jaguar), had a totemic origin symbolizing very old bonds between the lamb and the calf clans; he failed however to explain the use of two European creatures in ancient Mapuche clans prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.[3]

A likely explanation is that the Mapuche soon after the Conquest upon seeing these Old World animals used them as a reference to describe this weird American creature to their conquerors.

Alternatively there may have been pre-Hispanic “sheep-like” creatures in America; an option we will look into in a future post.

Huallipen may be related to two other animals, very much like it, the sheep-like Calchona and the goat-like machucho. See my post on them Here.

The creature may have also been identified by the Tehuelche people of Northern Patagonia, who named it Chueiquehuecu.

Bibliography.

[1] Rothschild, D., et al. (1996). Protegiendo lo nuestro: Pueblos indígenas y biodiversidad. Quito: SAIIC. pp. 43-44.
[2] Guevara, T., (1925). Historia de Chile: Chile prehispano. Santiago: Balcells. Chap.I.
[3] Latcham, R., (1924). La organización social y las creencias religiosas de los antiguos araucanos. Santiago: Cervantes. pp. 566 and 575.

Copyright 2009 by Austin Whittall ©

Patagonian Monsters