Wayob
Wayob is the plural form of way (or uay), a Maya word with a basic meaning of 'sleep(ing)', but which in Yucatec Maya is a term specifically denoting the Mesoamerican nagual, that is, a person who can transform into an animal while asleep in order to do harm, or else the resulting animal transformation itself.[1] Already in Classic Maya belief, way animals, identifiable by a special hieroglyph, had an important role to play.
In Maya ethnography
In Yucatec ethnography, the animal transformation involved is usually a common domestic or domesticated animal, but may also be a ghost or apparition, for example 'a creature with wings of straw mats'.
In the Classic Period
A Classic Maya hieroglyph is read as way (wa-ya) by Houston and Stuart. These authors assert that a glyph representing a stylised, frontal 'Ahau' (Ajaw) face half covered by a jaguar-pelt represents the way, with syllabic wa and ya elements attached to the main sign clarifying its meaning.[8] Many way animals are distinguished by (i) a shoulder cape or scarf tied in front; (ii) a splashing of jaguar spots or other jaguar characteristics; (iii) the attribute of an upturned 'jar of darkness'; and (iv) fire elements.[9]
The Classic wayob include a far wider array of shapes than the 20th-century ones from Yucatán (insofar as the latter have been reported), with specific names assigned to each of them. They include not only many mammals (especially jaguars) and birds, but also apparitions and spooks: hybrids of deer and spider monkey, walking skeletons, a self-decapitating man, a young man within a fire, etc.
At times, the name of the way is followed by an 'emblem glyph' giving the name of a specific Maya kingdom (or perhaps its ruling family).[11] The skeletal way prominent on a Tonina stucco wall carries the severed head of a defeated opponent.[12]
See also
- Familiar spirit
- Huay Chivo
- Power animal
- Tonal (mythology)
- Tutelary spirit
References
Citations
- ^ Diccionario Maya Cordemex 1980, p. 916.
- ^ Redfield & Villa Rojas 1934, pp. 178–180.
- ^ Roys 1965, pp. 166–171.
- ^ Calvin 1997, p. 870.
- ^ Pitt-Rivers 1970, p. 186.
- ^ Villa Rojas 1947, p. 584.
- ^ Diccionario Multilingue Svanal Bats'i K'opetik Siglo xxi editores argentina, S.A. 2005 p 175
- ^ Houston & Stuart 1989.
- ^ See figures in Robicsek & Hales 1981, pp. 28–34.
- ^ Grube & Nahm 1994.
- ^ Freidel, Schele & Parker 1993, pp. 191–2.
- ^ Freidel, Schele & Parker 1993, pp. 320–3.
Works cited
- Barrera Vásquez, Alfredo; Bastarrachea Manzano, Juan Ramón; Brito Sansores, William, eds. (1980). Diccionario Maya Cordemex: maya-español, español-maya. with collaborations by Refugio Vermont Salas, David Dzul Góngora, and Domingo Dzul Poot. Mérida, Mexico: Ediciones Cordemex. OCLC 7550928. (in Spanish and Mayan languages)
- Calvin, Inga (1997). "Where the Wayob Live: A Further Examination of Classic Maya Supernaturals". In Justin Kerr (ed.). The Maya Vase Book: A Corpus of Rollout Photographs of Maya Vases. Vol. 5. New York: Kerr Associates. pp. 868–883.
- OCLC 27430287.
- Grube, Nikolai; Nahm, Werner (1994). "A Census of Xibalba". In Justin Kerr (ed.). The Maya Vase Book. Vol. 4. New York: Kerr Associates.
- OCLC 248784010.
- Pitt-Rivers, Julian (1970). "Spiritual Power in Central America: The Naguals of Chiapas". In Mary Douglas (ed.). Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations. pp. 183–206. Reprint, London: Routledge, 2004.
- Redfield, Robert; Villa Rojas, Alfonso (1934) [1964]. Chan Kom, A Maya Village. OCLC 634014054.
- Robicsek, Francis; Hales, Donald M. (1981). The Maya Book of the Dead: The Ceramic Codex. University of Virginia Art Museum. OCLC 9073379.
- Roys, Ralph Loveland (1965). Ritual of the Bacabs. OCLC 492341.
- Villa Rojas, Alfonso (December 1947). "Kinship and Nagualism in a Tzeltal Community, Southeastern Mexico". American Anthropologist. 49 (4): 578–587. OCLC 481352036.
Further reading
- Brinton, Daniel Garrison (1894). Nagualism, a study in native American folk-lore and history. Philadelphia: MacCalla. OCLC 465085853.
- Kerr, Justin (5 February 2007). "A Possible Origin of the Form of the "Way" Glyph" (PDF online publication of contributed paper). FAMSI Journal of the Ancient Americas. Crystal River, FL.: Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- Köhler, Ulrich (1995). Chonbilal Ch'ulelal, Alma vendida. Elementos fundamentales de la cosmología y religión mesoamericanas en una oración maya-tzotzil (in Spanish). Mexico City: Universidad Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas. OCLC 36295597.
- OCLC 27667317.