wayob

Wayob is the plural form of {{Lang|yua|way}} (or {{Lang|yua|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.{{sfn|Diccionario Maya Cordemex|1980|p=916}} 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'.{{sfn|Redfield|Villa Rojas|1934|pp=178–180}} Moreover, in the 16th century, wild animals such as jaguar and grey fox are mentioned as animal shapes of the sorcerer, together with the {{Lang|yua|ah uaay xibalba}} or 'underworld transformer'.{{sfn|Roys|1965|pp=166–171}} Some sort of 'devil's pact' seems to be implied. The Yucatec {{Lang|yua|way}} has its counterparts among other Maya groups. In Tzotzil ethnography, the {{Lang|yua|way}} (here called {{Lang|yua|wayihel}} or chanul{{sfn|Calvin|1997|p=870}}{{sfn|Pitt-Rivers|1970|p=186}}) is more often an animal companion and refers not only to domestic animals, but also to igneous powers such as meteor and lightning. In Tzeltal Cancuc, the {{Lang|yua|nagual}} animal companion is considered a 'caster of disease'.{{sfn|Villa Rojas|1947|p=584}} Other names found are:

{{Lang|yua|lab}}, {{Lang|yua|labil}}, {{Lang|yua|wayixelal}} or {{Lang|yua|vayijelal}}, {{Lang|yua|way}} and {{Lang|yua|wayxel}} or {{Lang|yua|wayjel}}.Diccionario Multilingue Svanal Bats'i K'opetik Siglo xxi editores argentina, S.A. 2005 p 175

In the Classic Period

File:CylinderVessel-BMA.jpg

A Classic Maya hieroglyph is read as {{Lang|yua|way}} ({{Lang|yua|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 {{Lang|yua|way}}, with syllabic {{Lang|yua|wa}} and {{Lang|yua|ya}} elements attached to the main sign clarifying its meaning.{{sfn|Houston|Stuart|1989}} Many {{Lang|yua|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.See figures in {{harvnb|Robicsek|Hales|1981|pp=28–34}}.

The Classic {{Lang|yua|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.{{sfn|Grube|Nahm|1994}} The animal {{Lang|yua|wayob}} are likely to be transformative shapes of human beings, the walking skeletons (Maya Death Gods) more particularly of the {{Lang|yua|ah uaay xibalba}} transformers.

At times, the name of the {{Lang|yua|way}} is followed by an 'emblem glyph' giving the name of a specific Maya kingdom (or perhaps its ruling family).{{sfn|Freidel|Schele|Parker|1993|pp=191–2}} The skeletal {{Lang|yua|way}} prominent on a Tonina stucco wall carries the severed head of a defeated opponent.{{sfn|Freidel|Schele|Parker|1993|pp=320–3}}

References

= Citations =

= Works cited =

{{cite book |editor1-first=Alfredo |editor1-last=Barrera Vásquez |editor2-first=Juan Ramón |editor2-last=Bastarrachea Manzano |editor3-first=William |editor3-last=Brito Sansores |year=1980 |title=Diccionario Maya Cordemex: maya-español, español-maya |others=with collaborations by Refugio Vermont Salas, David Dzul Góngora, and Domingo Dzul Poot |location=Mérida, Mexico |publisher=Ediciones Cordemex |oclc=7550928 |ref={{harvid|Diccionario Maya Cordemex|1980}}}} {{in lang|es|myn}}
{{cite book |last=Calvin |first=Inga |year=1997 |chapter=Where the Wayob Live: A Further Examination of Classic Maya Supernaturals |editor=Justin Kerr |title=The Maya Vase Book: A Corpus of Rollout Photographs of Maya Vases|volume=5 |pages=868–883 |location=New York |publisher= Kerr Associates }}
{{cite book |last=Freidel |first=David A. |author-link=David Freidel |first2=Linda |last2=Schele |author2-link=Linda Schele |first3=Joy |last3=Parker|year=1993 |title=Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path|publisher=William Morrow & Co. |location=New York |isbn=0-688-10081-3 |oclc=27430287}}
{{cite book |last=Grube |first=Nikolai |first2=Werner |last2=Nahm |chapter=A Census of Xibalba |title=The Maya Vase Book |volume=4 |location=New York |year=1994 |editor=Justin Kerr |publisher=Kerr Associates |url=https://archive.org/details/maya-vase-v-4-2004-1994 |url-access=registration}}
{{cite book |last1=Houston |first1=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Houston |first2=David |last2=Stuart |author-link2=David Stuart (Mayanist) |year=1989 |title=The way glyph: evidence for "co-essences" among the Classic Maya |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/bearc/cmr/30.html |format=PDF online facsimile |series=Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing series, no. 30 |location=Barnardsville, NC |publisher=Center for Maya Research |oclc=248784010}}
{{cite book |last=Pitt-Rivers |first=Julian |year=1970 |chapter=Spiritual Power in Central America: The Naguals of Chiapas|editor=Mary Douglas |title=Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations |pages=183–206}} Reprint, London: Routledge, 2004.
{{cite book |last1=Redfield |first1=Robert |first2=Alfonso |last2=Villa Rojas |title=Chan Kom, A Maya Village |publisher=University of Chicago Press |orig-year=1964 |year=1934 |oclc=634014054}}
{{cite book |last1=Robicsek |first1=Francis |first2=Donald M. |last2=Hales |title=The Maya Book of the Dead: The Ceramic Codex |publisher=University of Virginia Art Museum |year=1981 |oclc=9073379}}
{{cite book |last=Roys |first=Ralph Loveland |year=1965 |title=Ritual of the Bacabs |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |oclc=492341}}
{{cite journal |last=Villa Rojas |first=Alfonso |title=Kinship and Nagualism in a Tzeltal Community, Southeastern Mexico |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=49 |issue=4 | date=December 1947 |pages=578–587 |oclc=481352036 |issn=0002-7294 |doi=10.1525/aa.1947.49.4.02a00050}}