"Waehiwolf, in Scandinavian mythology, is a spiritual Ix-ing who still creates fear in many people's minds. Superstition teaches that Waehrwolf is a hu- man being (manor woman) that is capable of changing itself into a wolf. This wolf is unusually large and savage, and is known mainly by his riding-belt, an in- disi)ensable article, as it serves him in changing from one form to another, and which he seeks to hide, as well as he may, under his hair. As soon as he looses the belt he becomes a human being again. If the wf)lf is shot at and the belt is hit, there lies, instead of the animal, a naked man or woman. In this manner witches are said to have been caught who went out hunting for prey, and especially children. — VoUmer, Worlerb. d. Ml/thol. s. v.
"Waeinaemoeinen, in the mythology of the "Finns, is one of the supreme gods, who is said to be seen in the seven princijial stars of the Great Bear constella- tion. He takes the souls of the departed up with him, and if it is possible for such a soul to strike the Great 13ear, it becomes partaker of eternal hajipiness. He is related to Ilmarainen, god of air and water. The name of the father of both is Kawe, and he is the only being- sprung from himself. The sons discovered and made the arts and sciences — Ilmarainen, the art of working iron; Waeinaemoeinen invented the kamlele (a fiddle- like instrument), and with it poetry and song, hunting, fishing, and war, of which he was worshipped as the god generally. He was the spirit whence all life pro- ceeded, the master of favorable spells, the adversary and the conqueror of all personifications of evil, and the sovereign possessor of all science. He sent the celestial fire to man, and invented incantations. Persons of all classes needed to invoke his protection. The sweat which dropped from his body was a balm for all dis- eases. He alone furnished efficacious assistance against the charms of the sorcerers, and an appeal to him was an effectual resource against the eycroachments of dremons. — VoUmer, Wdrterh. d. Mythol, s. v.; Lenormant, Chal- da'dii M(i(jir, p. 240 sq.
"Waeipaes is a ghost of the earth among the Finns, who at one time made a long journey with his playfc'llow, and afterwards rested himself upon rocks. From their sweat snakes are said to have spnnig.
"Wael (or "Waal), .John Bai^tist de, a Flemish eui;raver of the 17th century, of whom little is known, is said to have executed some etchings, among which are
a set of prints representing the History of the Prodirjal Son. See Spooner, Bior;. Hist, of the Fine A i-ts, s. v.
Waeyen, Jan van der. See Waajen.
Wafer is the rendering, in the A. V., of nn'^BiJ, tsejihichith (from HEiS, to Jlatteu'). a pancake (Exod. xvi, 31), and of p''p"l, rakik (from pp"i, to viake thin), a cake (xxix, 2, 23; Lev. ii, 4; vii, 12; viii, 20; Numb, vi, 15, 19; 1 Chron. xxiii, 29). See Bake. We learn from the above passages that such thin cakes made of fine flour, usually without leaven, and anointed with oil, were used by the Hebrews in connection with their offerings. See Sacrifice. The custom, to some extent, is still maintained bj' the Jews. See Passover.
WAFER, in ecclesiastical terminology, is the bread used in the eucharist by the Romanists and Lutherans. In the ancient Church, so long as the people continued to make oblations of bread and wine, the elements for tlie use of the eucharist were taken out of them ; and, conse- quently, so long was the common leavened bread in or- dinary use employed for that purpose. The use of wa- fers and unleavened bread was not known in the Church imtil the 11th century. It has been conjectured that the change crept in from the people's leaving off their oblations, and the clergy being compelled to provide the bread themselves. Under pretence of decency and respect, they changed it from leaven to unleaven. and from a loaf that might be broken, to a nice and delicate wafer, which was formed in the figure of a denarius, or penny, either to represent the pence for which our Saviour was betrayed, or because the people, instead of offering a loaf of bread as formerly, were ordered to offer a penny, which was to be expended \\\w\\ some- thing pertaining to the sacrifice of the altar. This alteration in the eucharistical bread occasioned great disputes between the F^astern and Western churches, which separated about it; the Western Church going so far to the extreme as almost to lose the nature of the sacramental element by introducing a thing that could hardly be called bread, instead of that which our Lord had appointed to be the representative of his body in the eucharist. The wafer now in use in the Roman Church is a small thin portion of unleavened bread, bearing upon it either the figure of Christ or the ini- tials I. H. S. In the Church of F^ngland -wafers have been used from the earliest times of Christianity, and are still not uncommonly used; but the rubric of the present Prayer-book maintains that the best and purest wheaten bread that may be conveniently obtained will suffice.
"Wafthnidlier, in Norse mythology, is a giant, an inhabitant of the country of the Jotes. Odin had a combat with him.