Wihwin
The wihwin is a fanged, amphibious sea horse of the Miskito Coast that leaves the water in the hot dry season to hunt people in the hills, returning with the rains.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Caribbean folklore
- Region
- Central America (place of origin)
- Symbols
- Horse
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Horse is image-domain The horse denotes harnessed striving power, mount of gods, sun and sea alike, carrying the dead as psychopomp and the living into their conquests.
why
The wihwin is a fanged, amphibious sea horse of the Miskito Coast that leaves the water in the hot dry season to hunt people in the hills, returning with the rains.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Emerges seasonally from the sea
why
In the hot and dry seasons it leaves the sea and stalks the hills, hunting humans to devour, and when the rainy season comes it goes back to the water.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Circle carries both readings
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Wihwin."
- George M. Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, s.v. "Wihwin."
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Wihwin."