Wak

Wak es el nombre del pájaro que come la serpiente que trae en su barriga el sapo que comió anteriormente; éste, a su vez, lleva en su boca el piojo que comunica a los dos muchachos el mensaje que los Rajawal Xib'alb'a (Señores de Xib'alb'a) quieren que juegen la pelota en siete días. Según observa el lingüista k'iche' Sam Colop (2008: 96n142), el canto del Wak "es un juego de palabras: el ave se llama Wak y en su canto dice: wak k'o, wak k'o que literalmente quiere decir 'aquí estoy, aquí estoy....' Conforme a Tedlock (1996:270), es una especie de halcón cazador de serpientes."

According to Mayanist scholar Allen J. Christenson (2007: 145n366), the name Wak "is closely related to the Nahuatl word for falcon, oactli. It is likely the bird known as the Laughing Falcon (Herpetotheres cachinnans), which makes a sound similar to this call (Tedlock 1996, 270 n. 114). Bassie-Sweet points out that the call of the laughing falcon is an indication of the coming of the rains in Mesoamerica (personal communication). She suggests that the twins’ clearing of the maize field implies the dry season when the fields are cleared for burning. The subsequent descent into Xibalba would coincide with this period of death and sterility. The call of the laughing falcon may presage the return of rain and agricultural rebirth."

Whereas the name of the bird provides evidence of Mesoamerican linguistic and cultural contact, its colonial-era spelling, vac, suggests how Spanish missionaries may have interpreted K'iche' phonics. Christenson (2007: 45) notes in his scholarly introduction that vac is a good example of K'iche' linguistic features: "Long and short vowels are treated as separate letters in Quiché and should be distinguished when written. The Ximénez transcription of the Popol Vuh seldom makes such distinctions. For example, the word transcribed as vach might be read with a long vowel vach ('my companion'), or with a short vowel väch ('my face')."

Image credit: Ken Ericson, public domain.