| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| Goddess name "Vrtra" | Hindu / Vedic | demonic god of chaos. A primordial being who existed before the formation of the cosmos and who was slain by the mother goddess SARASVATI.... |
"Väinämöinen" | Finland | The old and wise man, who possessed a potent, magical voice. The central character in Finnish folklore and he is the main character in the Kalevala. |
"Wabun" | Hiawatha | Son of Mudjekeewis, East-Wind, the Native American Apollo. Young and beautiful, he chases darkness with his arrows over hill and valley, wakes the villager, calls the Thunder, and brings the Morning. He married Wabun-Annung, and transplanted her to heaven, where she became the Morning Star. Hiawatha |
| King name "Waking a Witch" | Britain | If a witch was obdurate, the most effectual way of obtaining a confession was by what was termed "waking her." For this purpose an iron bridle or hoop was bound across her face with four prongs thrust into her mouth. The "bridle" was fastened behind to the wall by a chain in such a manner that the victim was unable to lie down; and in this position she was kept sometimes for several days, while men were constantly by to keep her awake. Britain |
| Goddess name "Warna" | Scilly Isles | Goddess of healing charms and ship wreckers. |
| God name "Watauinewa" | Tierra del Fuego | The Ancient of Days, "The One Who Does Not Change." The supreme omnipresent and beneficent god of the Yahgan, Tierra del Fuego |
"Welchanos" | Greek | Minor divinity of vegetation and fertility. Greek |
| God name "Wen-chang" | Chinese | God of literature and writing. Chinese |
| God name "Wenchang Wen-ch'ang" | China | Wen Ch'ang, god of literature. China |
| Spirit name "Wendigo" | Anishinaabe | A spirit in Anishinaabe mythology. It has also become a stock horror character much like the vampire or werewolf, although these fictional depictions often do not bear much resemblance to the original mythology. |
"Werwolf" | Europe | Werewolf. A bogie who roams about devouring infants, sometimes under the form of a man, sometimes as a wolf followed by dogs, sometimes as a white dog, sometimes as a black goat, and occasionally invisible. Its skin is bullet-proof, unless the bullet has been blessed in a chapel dedicated to St. Hubert. This superstition was once common to almost all Europe, and still lingers in Brittany, Limousin, Aurergne, Servia, Wallachia, and White Russia. In the fifteenth century a council of theologians, convoked by the Emperor Sigismund, gravely decided that the Werwolf was a reality. |
| Deities name "Whiro" | Polynesian / Maori | God of death. Regarded as an errant son of the creator deities, RANGINUI and PAPATUANUKU, Whiro stands as the chief antagonist of TANEMAHUTA, the creator god of light. He is, therefore, the personification of darkness and evil. During the time of creation from chaos, Whiro is said to have fought an epic battle against Tanemahuta in the newly formed heavens. He was vanquished and forced to descend into the underworld where he became ruler over the dead and chief among the lesser underworld deities who are responsible for various forms of disease and sickness. In the temporal world the lizard, a symbol of death, embodies him, and various creatures of the night, including the owl and the bat, are earthly representatives from his kingdom, as are such malignant insect pests as the mosquito. This deity is not to be confused with the legendary human voyager and adventurer of the same name whose traditions have, in the past, often been muddled with those of the god.... |
"Wild Huntsman" | German | The German tradition is that a spectral hunter with dogs frequents the Black Forest to chase the wild animals. The English name is "Herne the Hunter," who was once a keeper in windsor Forest. In Winter time, at midnight, he walks about Herne's Oak, and blasts trees and cattle. He wears horns, and rattles a chain in a "most hideous manner". Another legend is that a certain Jew would not suffer Jesus to drink out of a horse-trough, but pointed to some water in a hoof-print as good enough for "such an enemy of Moses," and that this man is the "Wild Huntsman." Various |
| God name "Willow Pattern" | s | The tradition. The mandarin had an only daughter named Li-chi, who fell in love with Chang, a young man who lived in the island home represented at the top of the pattern, and who had been her father's secretary. The father overheard them one day making vows of love under the orange-tree, and sternly forbade the unequal match; but the lovers contrived to elope, lay concealed for a while in the gardener's cottage, and thence made their escape in a boat to the island home of the young lover. The enraged mandarin pursued them with a whip, and would have beaten them to death had not the gods rewarded their fidelity by changing them both into turtle-doves. The picture is called the willow pattern not only because it is a tale of disastrous love, but because the elopement occurred "when the willow begins to shed its leaves." |
| God name "Wong Taisin (the great immortal Wong)" | Chinese | God. Probably an incarnation or avatara of the god HUANG TI (the yellow emperor), he is considered benevolent. Closely åśśociated with a district in Kowloon which is named after him. His cult arrived in Hong Kong in 1915 from Kwangtung in the form of a painting brought by a man and his son. It was installed in a small temple in Wanchai. In 1921 a larger sanctuary was built, from public funds, facing the sea and backed by Lion Rock.... |
| God name "Xaman Ek" | Aztec | The god of the North Star merchants, business, economy, trade. Aztec |
| God name "Xil Sga'nagwai" | Haida Indian / Queen Charlotte Island, Canada | Medicine god. Said to appear as a raven.... |
"Xiuhtecuhtli" | Aztec | The personification of life after death, warmth in the cold, light in darkness and food during famine. He was usually depicted with a red or yellow face and a censer on his head. His wife was Chalchiuhtlicue. Aztec |
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