Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
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Deity

Tren Tren Vilu

Mapuche Deities
Tren Tren Vilu Mountain Serpent

Tren Tren Vilu is the serpent deity of the earth in Mapuche mythology, described in tradition as the son of the spirit Antu and transformed, like his rival Kai Kai Vilu, also recorded on this atlas, into serpent form. When Kai Kai's cries brought on a great flood that threatened to cover the earth, a voice calling treng, treng, treng rose from within the ground: this was Tren Tren Vilu, who came to the aid of the Mapuche people and fought Kai Kai Vilu to hold back the rising waters, a battle credited in Mapuche tradition with shaping the geography of the Chiloe archipelago and the mountains of southern Chile.

Facts
Attestation
Veneration Today
Actively venerated in a living tradition 1
Historicity
Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 1
Function
Domain / Function
Mountains 1
Identity
Gender
Male 1
Belief
Theology
Polytheistic: many gods 1
Sources
1. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend
Anthony S. Mercatante, revised and expanded by James R. Dow, Facts on File
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