Maboyo

serpent · Dominica · Caribbean

Maboya is the feared evil spirit of the Island Carib (Kalinago), attested since the 1765 Encyclopédie, where Le Romain records that the Caribs of the Antilles dreaded its malign will and carved small grotesque figurines of wood, clay or resin, placed in canoes and huts. The word also came to mean 'evil' generally, and the boyez priest ritually warded the spirit away.

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