Case file · Folklore / legend
Trentren and Kaikai, the Mapuche flood
In the Mapuche flood myth, the sea serpent Kaikai Vilu raised the waters to drown the people, while the earth serpent Trentren Vilu raised the hills so that the survivors could climb to safety.
1674 CE · -38.90, -72.70 · status: legend
The account
Each community points to its own 'trentren' hill. The story was recorded by colonial chroniclers in the 17th century (the year used here is approximate) and is often connected with the region's great earthquakes and tsunamis, such as those of 1575 and 1960. The pin is symbolic, in Araucanía.
The sceptical view
A cosmological myth; geologists note that it fits a coast regularly struck by tsunamis.