Yalaana

Yalaana (11-Death) is the Huijatao, "Great Seer", of the Sanctuary of Lyobaa, the maximum religious authority of the Zapotec people. She has oracular powers and attends the cult of the deities of the underworld, Pitao Pezeelao and Xonaxi Quecuya, patron deities of Lyobaa.

Along with Lady 9-Grass and Lord 1-Death, they're the Three Great Southern Oracles, three oracular priests that oversee and mediate the conflicts and disputes for power of the Cemanahuac Southlands.

Name
Yalaana is the Zapotec calendar name for the day 11-Death. This is the same calendar name as the goddess of the underworld, Xonaxi Quecuya, whose cult is attended by the Huijatao. A male Huijatao would usually take on the calendar name of the god of the underworld, Pezeelao (13-Lord). The same occurred in the case of the other two oracular priests, Lady 9-Grass and Lord 1-Death, who shared names with the Mixtec goddess of death and the Mixtec god of the sun respectively.

The title Huijatao could be taken as her given name, meaning "Great Seer", from huija: "seer", and tao: "great".

Trivia

 * Although the Huijatao was designed by the author as a woman, historical sources point that this rank was exclusive to male priests. An explanation by the author reveals the reason behind this:"'I once read somewhere that the Oracle could be a woman, so I designed my Huijatao as one. As time passed, I never found that source again, and all the sources I read afterwards actually state that the Huijatao of Lyobaa was exclusively male. I must have confused facts with another Oracle, Lady 9-Grass, who was in fact a woman.""I decided to keep her as a woman for various reasons: I like her design as it is, and it didn't feel right to erase a female character from the cast in favor of a man.""Another thing is, modern historians have often questioned the veracity of the Spaniard records, as they tend to interpretate things from their own perspective and cultural bias. That becomes clear by the fact that they compared the Huijatao with the Roman Pope. A similar misconception likely occurred in records about female rulers in Zapotec city-states, so I personally believe a female Huijatao might have been possible, although probably a rare scenario.""Historical accuracy would demand a male Huijatao, but History is subject to revisions and reinterpretations.'"