Pincoya

The Pincoya, goddess of the Chilotan Seas, with a long head of platinum blond hair, incomparable beauty, cheerful and sensual, rises from the depths of the sea.

Legends

Naked and pure, she personifies the fertility of marine species. Through her ritual dance she provides the chilote (resident of Chiloé) with an abundance or deficiency of fish and seafood. If she performs her dance facing the sea, it means that these shores will have an abundance of fish, and when she dances facing the mountains, her back to the sea, sea food will be scarce. Chiloean mythology is appreciative of the Pincoya, felt to be humane, beautiful and feminine.

One story is told of a fisherman from Buta Chauques in the Chiloetan archipelego. When Miguel Angel Conuecar did not return from fishing, his two younger brothers, José Alberto and Juan Carlos recounted that their brother landed on a small rocky island from which he looked and pointed with his right hand the Pincoya. They saw their brother throw himself into the sea heading to where the goddess was and they both disappeared. They believed he had drowned. Months later Miguel Angel appeared disguised, very cheerful and fortunate in everything he realized. What had this young fisherman done in all the time he was missing? He never said. However, on moonlit nights, he would go to the beach and sit tirelessly gazing at the spot where he disappeared with the Pincoya. Was he in love? It was a secret which was never revealed. Miguel Angel was happy, no other woman in his locality interested him. Was his love the Pincoya? There were many questions which only he could answer.

According to other legends, the Pincoya is one of two sisters, the other being the Sirena chilota (a type of Mermaid), and their brother el the Pincoy, all three who drowned and now continue on as ghosts who lead travelers to a large phantom ship, the Caleuche, sailing the seas at night around the southern island of Chiloé in southern Chile. The ship appears briefly intact with sounds of a party onboard, but quickly vanishes. Myth has it that once onboard the dead can resume an existence as if they were alive again.

A poor neighborhood in Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile is named after her.

Reference

• Martinez Vilches, Oscar, Chiloe Misterioso (in Spanish). Pub. Ediciones de la Voz de Chiloe (circa 1998)