Lorenzo Aillapán Cayuleo, el hombre pájaro
Patricia Domínguez
He is Lorenzo Aillapán, the bird man or Üñümche, who has invented a unique genre, which combines ancestral memory, colonial memory and the imitation of birds. At age 9 he was consecrated as a bird man in his dreams, where a bird with long jaws drew blood from a finger. Lorenzo lives in Puerto Saavedra, in the IX Región of the Araucanía in Chile (Region that was to the south of the Biobío river, that for many years was the limit of the colonization of the Spaniards with the Mapuche population, the last original peoples to be conquered in South America.) This region is currently occupied mainly by industrial forest plantations of radiata and eucalyptus pines, which have displaced native and sacred medicinal forests.
Lorenzo says that no bird sings for singing. They do not speak, but deliver signals, onomatopoeic messages to understand the changes that take place in the ecosystem. Some birds warn of visits that approach, others announce if the fishing was abundant or not, others of ladies who are bathing in the river, others of earthquakes that are approaching. Some birds, such as the turtledove and the pigeon, are giving up singing, because their nests and their eggs fall from the sparse branches of radiata pines. The birds accuse the changes of the territory, so one finds out about the change of the forests. Lorenzo is one of the most interesting representatives of the Chilean ethno-ornithology, where the traditional knowledge of ornithology is combined with environmental ethics. And his art exists to be sung.
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Hoy día me entrego En palabras, en oración, en meditación, Primer Gran Espíritu de la Fecundidad Universal, Yo soy Lorenzo Aillapán Cayuleo. Te pido que llegue tu poder en mi mente, en mi cabeza en mi corazón, en mi cuerpo, en mi sangre y permanezca para siempre. Para que yo sea sabio, para que yo sea justiciero, para que yo sea bondadoso, para que yo sea poderoso (no en dinero, ni en tierras) sino que te pido esto, Primer Gran Espíritu de la Fecundidad Universal, para que la enfermedad, la mala energía, SE VAYA. Y mi familia y todos mis amigos, incluso ustedes que los acabo de conocer, todos ellos estén bien. Estén tranquilos. Esa es mi visión. Esa es la forma de la oración. Eso a mi me lo enseñaron los filósofos. Tienes que orar así. Tiene que llevarlo como la comida que come en la mañana. Aunque nosotros no desayunamos. Que come al mediodía, que come en la tarde y que come en la noche. La oración tiene que ser en la mañana. El primer alimento que consumo. Sea pan sea mate sea te. Ese, va a la par con la meditación. Eso debe llevarlo a diario. Y si no lo haces, te vas a enfermar. Te vas a debilitar. Y eso se lo enseño a las personas pero me dicen que es muy dificil. Pero hombre le digo! Si quieres te lo entrego escrito! Apréndalo!
– Lorenzo Aillapán Cayuleo, el hombre pájaro
"Today I deliver myself In words, in prayer, in meditation, First Great Spirit of Universal Fertility, I am Lorenzo Aillapán Cayuleo. I ask that your power arrives in my mind, in my head, in my heart, in my body, in my blood and remains forever. So that I may be wise, so that I may be just, so that I may be kind, so that I may be powerful (not in money, nor in land) but I ask you this, First Great Spirit of Universal Fertility, so that sickness and bad energy LEAVE. And my family and all my friends, even you, whom I’ve just met, that all of you be well, that all of you be calm. This is my vision.This is the form of the prayer. This the philosophers taught me. You have to pray like this. You have to take it as you take the food you eat in the morning. Although we don't breakfast. That you eat at noon, that you eat in the afternoon and that you eat at night. Prayer must be in the morning. The first meal I consume. Be it bread be it maté be it tea. This goes hand in hand with meditation. This you should take daily. And if you don't, you’ll fall ill. You will weaken. And I teach this to people but they tell me that it is very difficult. But, man, I tell them! If you want, I shall give it to you in writing! Learn it!"
– Lorenzo Aillapán Cayuleo, el hombre pájaro