Native American Cats

Native American Cats:

Lord Of The Forest

The jaguar was the largest and most culturally significant of the spotted variety of the native American cats in Central and South America.
 

Throughout pre-Columbian America the jaguar was worshiped and feared for its ability as a hunter. Its nocturnal prowling through the moist, lowland forests led it to be mystically associated with the night, the underworld, rain, and fertility.

The hunter, the warrior, the ruler, and the priest wore jaguar skins in order to share the power of the jaguar. Mayan priests often had jaguar names and sat on symbolic jaguar seats, while warriors dressed in jaguar skins,

Jaguars were important elements in ancient Aztec culture of the native American cats. The Spanish legend of this drawing from the Codex Magliabecchiano  says: "This figure is that of a merchant who, when he died, was cremated and buried with his property and jaguar skins, as many as he had of them; they put them all around him, the gold, jewels, and fine stones which they had..."  Feline figures are found in nearly all Native American cultures. In Costa Rica, the jaguar was often portrayed on ceremonial grinding stones.

 

THE LORD STILL RULES

Of the native American cats, the jaguar remains a powerful symbol throughout Central and South America.

The Magic Endures

Jaguar images and costumes were outlawed by the Catholic church in the seventeenth century because of their association with Indian religious, military, and political structures. However, the jaguar has survived as an important aspect in ritual celebrations in Central America today. It now represents a blend of Indian and European elements, combining pre-Columbian rituals with events and symbols of Christian significance.

Masked festivals in Central America often coincide with important Catholic holidays. This photo shows a dance celebrating Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Sacrament, at the small town of Suchiapa, Mexico. Actors wear masks, such as the one below, representing jaguars or tigres. This celebration takes place in the rainy season and demonstrates the continued association of the jaguar with rain and fertility.

The Face Of The Jaguar

Shamans,or priests, believed they had the ability to become jaguars, transforming into them at will and taking on their powers of the native American cats.

Native American peoples of the southwestern parts of the United States have carved small animals from stone, bone and shell since ancient times. Today, the best known carvers come from the pueblo of Zuni, a small village located in western New Mexico. These stone carvings are called fetishes, and contemporary Zuni artists carve many different kinds.

Some Zuni carvings represent animals that are traditionally associated with a specific direction. These animals guard the Zuni world. The mountain lion, who guards the north, is the most powerful.

The other animal guardians are the bear (west), the badger (south), the wolf (east), the eagle (up), and the mole (down). Each direction is associated with a particular color: yellow (north), blue (west), red (south), white (east), multicolored (up), and black (down).

Four of the directional animals and two others protect the hunt for Zuni hunters. These are the mountain lion (north), the coyote (west), the bobcat (south), the wolf (east), the eagle (up), and the mole (down). Zuni men carry carvings of these six animals for success in hunting.

Zuni carvers have traditionally represented each animal in a certain way. Once one knows what to look for, one can quickly tell which animal a carving represents.

Let's look at how Zuni artists make a mountain lion. Mountain lions have long bodies, round heads, and little round ears. Zuni carvers usually carve the mountain lion's long tail along its back, so it won't break off.

Bobcats look different. These native American cats have shorter bodies and short tails. Zuni carvers usually make bobcats with their tails pointed backward.

The "Big Cats": frequently seen, but often unrecognized figures in ancient Native American rock art, are that of the mountain lion, and the jaguar, powerful helpers to the Creator and guides to the spirit world. Ancient Native American cultures represented the mountain the lion in varied and often highly stylized ways, so that the lion is often mistaken for a dog, coyote or other animal. Rarely do we think of the obvious solution: to ask indigenous well-informed Native Americans! 

The jaguar was the most feared and respected beast in the Mesoamerican world (the mountain lion of the southwest was his counterpart)of native American cats. The jaguar gods of the Maya were associated with night, caves and the underworld, like the jaguar itself, and were sometimes associated with shamanic transformations. The skin of the jaguar was used in many costumes, to denote high rank, power, authority and an association with the gods. In Mayan murals, it is usually the ruler who wears those stylish jaguar sandals!

In Mayan art on wall and cave murals, and on vases, the jaguar is sometimes shown in its naturally occurring color phases of black (The Jaguar God of the Underworld) or light (The Jaguar God of the Upper World). Both jaguar gods were regarded as necessary beings, without as much value judgment or labeling as to their aspects of good or evil. Both were associated with the Creator as his helpers in forming the world, and they helped promote the changes necessary for continuation of the world.

Twin Aspect of Lion, Vanished Kiva Mural From Pottery Mound, New Mexico.

Because of the dominance of the theme of twins, many other animals have been used in Southwestern rock art to depict the dualism of nature, especially the serpent and the lion.

The Twin lions shown to the left are from a site in the Baja recently discovered by Earl Maynard. They depict the Mesoamerican belief in the Lion of the Underworld(night) and the Lion of the Upper World(day).

In ancestral Puebloan belief, these are also representations of Elder Brother and Younger Brother. 

Twin Lions, Gila River, Arizona

Clues to watch for, that will tell you he is Lion: small rounded ears, ball shaped feet, or a tail either curling upward (Numeta, The Lion of the Upper World) or curving downward (Hatakulya, The Lion of the Underworld.)

When the tail is shown straight out, with other clues pointing to his identification as Lion, then this is probably a depiction of both aspects (or twin features) of the Above World and Underworld Lion, rolled into one mighty feline of another of the native American cats.

The jaguar is a common symbol of strength and power in central and South America. Like the lion in Europe and Africa, jaguars were associated with royalty and strength and bravery in warfare.

In Maya civilization, the jaguar served to communicate between the living and the dead as well as protect the royal household.

The glyphs for these names would each have a jaguar native American cats depicted in them. Please note this may not be what the Maya actually called themselves; The pronunciation may have been more phonetic. I am not real clear on the reading of Maya glyphs and took the names from one author's method. I'll add a link to a site on Maya studies for a better description when I find a good one).

Aztec civilization also had the same image of the jaguar as representative of the ruler and as a warrior.

This is best seen in the elite military order of the Jaguar Knights. This order could be joined by anyone, noble or commoner. Admission was obtained through the number of captives taken for sacrifice.

Each captive taken advanced a warrior along different orders, and the forth allowed admission to the elite Jaguar Knights, and all the privileges the title entailed. Among these were exemption from taxation and tribute, taking part in war councils, invitations to dine in the royal palace.

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