Rewe
The rewe is the carved altar pole of the Mapuche, a notched wooden post raised in the ceremonial ground and in front of the machi's home, its steps climbed by the machi during rituals to draw close to the upper world of the spirits. The notches are a ladder, and the rewe is understood as the axis linking the worlds, planted at the point where the sacred and the human meet; it is often topped with carved figures of the beings or animals that guide the machi. Each machi's rewe is raised with ceremony, receives offerings and chants, and marks the ritual space where the community gathers for the n