"Nahual-Uay"

A common word in the ethnographic Literature in Mexico, Nahual derives from the Nahuatl term nahualli, signifying a form-changer sorcerer or witch. The concept Nahual recalls European concepts of witchcraft, it is clearly of native origin and is closely tied to native concepts of shamanic power and transformation. Uay in Mayan languages commonly refers to sorcerer and form changers, can also mean dreaming or sleep. This may well refer to the widespread Maya belief that the soul or spirit companion, travels in dreams while one is asleep. In fact, the words Nahual in the Mexican highland and Uay in Yucatan peninsula still appears in the local Spanish as an expression of alarm and fear.

Javier Dzul, Mexican -Maya born Choreographer and Dancer, New York City, 1996.