The Bodyguards

I've had real trouble choosing a picture to blip today but I went with these chaps as they drew me in from the far end of the room in the Pre-Columbian Museum in Santiago. They had a presence and bearing about them which commanded attention.

They are the Chemamull. In the Mapuche culture, they accompany the deceased during the funeral ceremony and are then placed by the grave. Failure to follow the rites means that the deceased's spirit could become an evil spirit instead of a guiding ancestor.