We’re so excited to share a guest blog post by Consuelo Terra & Greta di Girolamo, creators of “Millaray Huichalaf: The Protectress of the Sacred River,” one of eight stories in Movements & Moments. Movements & Moments collects nonfiction comics about Indigenous resistance in the Global South.
“Millaray Huichalaf” tells the story of an exceptional child born to the Mapuche community in south-central Chile. This child, Millaray, grows up to lead a movement to protect her people’s environmental resources.
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Protest banner hanging in the spiritual site of Mapu Kintuantü.
It is not easy to be a Mapuche machi who defends a sacred river on which her people depend for survival. Millaray Huichalaf took on this role from a young age, at great personal cost. Her story has all the hallmarks of an epic heroine’s journey, where the monsters are neocolonialism, extractivism, the climate crisis, racism, criminalization, as well as historical and structural injustices.
The magical helpers are the ngen (guardian spirits of nature) and the newen (force) of her territory.
Cover of “Millaray Huichalaf”; the authors with machi Millaray Huichalaf and her baby daughter.
Researching in the context of 2020 and 2021 was not easy due to the pandemic. Lockdown and travel restrictions delayed our trip to visit machi Millaray. We came close to not being able to travel at all, but we finally made it, after six months of trying.
Getting to know machi Millaray and her lof (community) was a unique experience that brought the comic to life. We wholeheartedly dove into this project, paying particular attention to cultural differences and accepting how much we did not know. We believe this is why the machi and the lof came to trust us, and decided to share their kimun (knowledge) and their feelings very openly with us. We feel incredibly grateful to have been able to share in this process with them, and the experience has been deeply enriching.
Preparations for Wetxipantü, the Mapuche New Year celebrations.
During our trip, we were granted the life-changing opportunity of participating in Wetxipantü (the Mapuche New Year), a ceremony celebrated during the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere.
Making our way to the Pilmaiken river at dawn.
At dawn, after making some offerings and chanting, the community goes down to the river and bathes in the cold winter waters, to renew their energies for the year to come. It made us happy to forge significant ties with the territory and with the people who inhabit it. We hope that this project will be a useful tool in their continued fight for autonomy over their lands.
Greta Di Girolamo is a journalist who works on independent projects related to childhood, ecology, feminism, and human rights. She had the original idea for “Millaray Huichalaf” and was responsible for the research, interviews, production, and script of the story. To learn more about her work, visit her instagram account: @lagretalmar. Consuelo Terra is a journalist, illustrator, and comics creator. She created the artwork and contributed to the script and research for “Millaray Huichalaf.” To learn more about her work, visit her instagram account: @consuterra.
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