Werejaguar
Sign in to saveAlso known as Were-jaguar
thumb|A stone Olmec werejaguar, showing common werejaguar characteristics including a downturned mouth, almond-shaped eyes, pleated ears, a headdress with headband, and a crossed-bars icon on the chest The werejaguar was both an Olmec motif and a supernatural entity, perhaps a deity.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- mythical creature
- Subclass of
- shapeshifter
- Part of
- Olmec mythology
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~13 min read
Encyclopedic overview
15 sectionsContents
- Description
- Werejaguar motif
- Werejaguar as a rain deity
- Beyond the term "werejaguar"
- Depictions
- Origins
- The Stirling hypothesis
- Jaguar as victor
- Genetic defects
- Werejaguar as toad
- Werejaguar as harpy eagle
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
thumb|A stone Olmec werejaguar, showing common werejaguar characteristics including a downturned mouth, almond-shaped eyes, pleated ears, a headdress with headband, and a crossed-bars icon on the chest The werejaguar was both an Olmec motif and a supernatural entity, perhaps a deity.
The werejaguar motif is characterized by almond-shaped eyes, a downturned open mouth, and a cleft head. It appears widely in the Olmec archaeological record, and in many cases, under the principle of pars pro toto, the werejaguar motif represents the werejaguar supernatural. The werejaguar supernatural incorporates the werejaguar motif as well as other features, although various academics define the werejaguar supernatural differently. The werejaguar supernatural was once considered to be the primary deity of the Olmec culture but is now thought to be only one of many.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Werejaguar” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.