Date of Issue: 29 December 2016
Size: 24 mm x 36 mm
Perforation: 13½
Printing: Offset Lithography
Print Run: 200,000
Printer: Casa de Moneda
Designer: Mauricio Navarro
Color: 4 Pantone
PEOPLES ORIGINATING: SELK'NAM:
This postal issue is based on photographs of the German priest and anthropologist Martin Gusinde, who witnessed the decline of the men of Tierra del Fuego, already decimated by the aggressive contact with Western civilization and on the verge of extinction.
Between 1918 and 1924, Gusinde carried out four expeditions to Tierra de Fuego, conducting a thorough study of the culture of the Solk'snam, Yámanas and Kaweskar. During his travels, Gusinde vigorously denounced the extermination of the Patagonian peoples by settlers, ranchers and white adventurers, took hundreds of photographs and field notes on daily life and the rites and ceremonies of these ethnic groups, and gathered a large collection of objects ethnographic.
The Onas celebrated rites of male initiation during which the elders revealed the tribal secrets to the young or Klóketen. Such an initiatory rite was called Hain and it took place around the age of 18, giving young people the category of adults. The rites were based on a myth that told how in a mythical time women kept dominated men disguising themselves as spirits and how Sol discovered the position; For that reason, all the women, except his wife Luna, were murdered and since then, the men appropriated the deception and continued to represent it to dominate the women in turn.
10 Chilean Peso - Selk'nam Tanu (The Enigmatic)
It represented his authority, acting as messenger and witness of what was happening in the Hain. It exhibited an extraordinary figure. He wore paintings that symbolized one of the four heavens. Very tall, its body was almost rectangular in width, the upper part had a conical shape. The structure, held by men, was made with moored bows covered with guanaco skin and filled with reeds, herbs and leaves. Only the calves and the feet of the "actor" showed up. In mythical times, the woman who presented it was transformed into a small whale, reason from the underworld inside the Hain men whistle. She walked on her back, taking side steps with a slowness, fighting with the heavy load of her dress, always accompanied by an old man to guide her and prevent her from stumbling.
20 Chilean Peso - Selk'nam Halaháches (Kotaix, Clown With Horns)
Called Halaháches by women and Kotaix by men, it is in a sense the opposite of Xalpen (female underground spirit, of great importance in the Hain ceremony). It is a male spirit of heaven. It takes the supremacy away from Xalpen. When the Hain appears, she immediately returns to the depths of the earth. Sometimes, in the midst of Xalpen's outbursts, the men begin to call him, seconded by the women who sing his name to welcome him because they know that by introducing himself he will make Xalpen disappear. In turn prepare a number of snowballs to throw them as it has a changing character and can kill men. Halaháches is grotesque and inspires fear, but if he is in good spirits it is comical. When he leaves Hain with a great leap, the audience sees a being with long horns, rather thick, which turn quickly, bellicose and grim. Horns according to mythology, are the mythical ancestor that played this role and was transformed into a fish with horns. He holds his chin with his left hand and his elbow raised, while clutching a long stick with the other he describes semicircles in sweeping movements. It advances with wide lateral jumps separating the leg, with the torso inclined forward and the knees a little flexed. The body is white and has red stripes, with its mask fitted to the head and neck. The chin is never released and never varies its posture or its fixed gaze. It happens continuously from one side to the other and, in its lateral jumps, it always moves with the right arm. It is agile to dodge the snowballs thrown by women. Unlike Xalpen, Halaháches annihilates men in full view of the public on stage. He is killing them two at a time. Giving them deadly blows with a club. He pulls out of Hain, dragging them in pairs to his future victims and kills them in the midst of an onslaught of snow shells and female cries.Finished the task, drag them back to the ceremonial hut, where the small Olum will act quickly his miracles.
30 Chilean Peso - Selk'nam Matan (Kill. Dancer Spirit)
Matan is the great dancer of Hain. When he descends from heaven he is enthusiastically acclaimed by the public and even more when he executes his amazing vertical jumps. It is presented with four drawings, painted differently, representing each of the "heavens" (cardinal points). A shaman precedes Matan to announce his arrival to the women, who rush to the edge of the stage acclaiming his name. Matan enters with a big jump. The women ask him to come closer to them, he captivates everyone present.
50 Chilean Peso - Selk'nam Shoort Jóichik (Dynamic Spirit)
Shoort is the most dynamic spirit of Hain, and the most feared by women. His wife is Xalpen, with whom he lives the land. The only spirit that acts every day (weather permitting); and he is also the only spirit that is interested in the camp between women and children. It appears with different attributes, sometimes of two. There are seven "main shoorts", for each of the seven posts of the ceremonial hut and therefore each of the seven "heavens" of territorial filiation and lineage of each selknam and haush. There are eight denominations that are attributed to the Shoort, according to the time of the day it is presented. So, if he does it in the early afternoon, his attire will represent the time lapse that the sun travels in the sky in that trance. To each of the Shoort corresponds an individual name and a drawing with distinctive paint. In all cases it will be adorned with circles drawn with chalk. The painting of the mask is a complement to body painting. Formerly the mask could be conical, as in most other spirits; but in 1923 it resembled a pointed cap that encircled his head and neck.
The spirit of the Shoort was of stone, the one who presented it should not give signs of breathing. It always appears with the fists closed, the back of the hand turned outwards. When he leaves the Hain and when he enters again, he stops, looks at the audience and makes the same gesture: he raises his arms with his fists upwards as if to flex his biceps. The movements are rigid and sharp enough to intimidate the public. Before Shoort leaves Hain for his daily visit to the camp, the men announce it with songs. The women then, with the exception of the mothers of the Kloketen-the only ones that the spirit treats with consideration, stay in their huts and hide themselves covering themselves with guanaco skins. When Shoort arrives, he is always accompanied by a Shaman who does not separate from his side, perhaps to confer greater authority on him. If there is snow on the ground, the shaman will discreetly cover the footsteps of the "spirit" as it advances, since it can not leave traces of human feet.
Not all Shoort go directly to the camp: the one who does it is required a great training and aptitude. As he moves between women and children, he can not afford the slightest carelessness, since any gesture that revealed his status as a man would betray "the secret". These visits bring moments of great tension for the women, it comes to threaten them and punish them if they have not maintained the behavior of a submissive wife, hard-working and industrious.
If for any reason, a man is not satisfied with the behavior of his wife, he entrusts it to Shoort in Hain's hut. In the next visit to the camp, the spirit will seek it, perhaps only try to intimidate her by shaking the hut or throwing a basket while she huddles under a guanaco cloak. It may be that he pokes her with a stick, or that he hits her with greater fury and, in the worst case, comes to knock him down. Accommodates the punishment to what the husband or other men have told him, as well as his own opinion or state of mind.
When Shoort leaves the camp, the women - the mothers of the Klóketen ahead - rush towards the edge of the meadow. They sing, to say goodbye. Before entering the Hain again, Shoort flexes the biceps and then disappears on one side with a great leap forward throwing his feet back as if plunging into the ground.
100 Chilean Peso - Selk'nam Kulan (The Unfaithful Wife)
Kulan is the "fatal woman" of Hain. Interesting character in a patriarchal society that tried to control women, she made love with anyone. Hidden in the woods, stalks those who are your liking and seduces them. He often takes his lovers to heaven for several days, forcing them to maintain uninterrupted sexual relations with her. To maintain the vigor of these men, feed them with emperor penguin eggs, birds that always accompany it. Sr often presents in Hain, always at night, only sometimes men announce their descent from the skies by singing. On the stage he wears a conical mask, commonly painted red, with a white stripe that goes from the tip of his head to the genitals he has covered by a loincloth. Her delicate breasts (stuffed leather bags) barely hint. Because she is young and thin, she is personified by a klóketen. Once the men do not serve their purpose, he returns them to their camp, the men come back staggering, sprinkled with penguin dung. They never remember what happened to them when they were in heaven. Reason why their wives do not ask them questions, they have limited themselves to singing a song to encourage her to return and release the men. The husband of the lusty Kulan is Koshménk "the cuckold"
1000 Chilean Peso - Selk'nam Ulen (Elegant Male Jester)
Male spirit of the northern sector of the Island of Tierra del Fuego. Fast and agile as the wind, visible only partially demonstrating its surprising speed. The body of dark red color and on it horizontal white lines, leaving short intermediate sections. Vertically from the neck through the navel drops a white line. The mask is lighter red with three white lines on top. His participation in the Hain ceremony is more theatrical than ritual, that is, more profane than sacred.
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