Personified Ailments and Regional Identities in the Eastern Maya Lowlands

ABSTRACT

In this article, Classic Maya (ca. AD 250–900) conceptions of the supernatural are examined, not through the shared pantheon of deities but by focusing on wahy, an alternate category of demonic entities attested in hieroglyphic texts. The changing interpretations of wahy entities in Mayanist studies are reviewed, originally understood as personal animal spirit companions and now viewed as entities that personify illnesses. These were consistently tied to place, and by extension to the royal houses and kingdoms at these localities. Rather than an exhaustive survey of the Maya lowlands, the focus is on archaeological sites in the eastern central lowlands, in what is now Belize. This regional perspective allows an exploration of regional variation in belief systems, drawing on epigraphic, iconographic, and archaeological evidence. By foregrounding place, polity, and regional interaction, wahy are situated within supernatural geography, ritual practice, and ethnomedical discourse, identifying avenues for future research on noncanonical supernatural entities in Mesoamerica.