THE SACRED JAGUAR...

Considered the most sacred animal to the ancient Maya, the jaguar has appeared countless times in pottery, temple inscriptions, and stelae. This predator was seen as a key link to the Underworld due to the fact that jaguars roam their territory at night, just as stealthily as they do during the daylight. Mary Miller and Karl Taube explain this concept further in their book, An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, “The daytime sun, often represented as patron of the number 4, can be represented with jaguar features, but the nighttime sun, the Jaguar God of the Underworld, patron of the number 7, is clearly a jaguar in his full-body depictions and generally has jaguar ears in all representations.”

For the Maya, the nighttime represented the Underworld as well as their ancestors while daytime represented Earth and all that was living in it. The ease with which the jaguar dominated its territory both during day and night hours, suggested to the Maya that this animal was sacred and connected to the Gods. Such was the impact that the jaguar had on this ancient civilization that aristocratic families began producing clothing and other religious attire including pelts, claws and even teeth to wear as adornments. This was done in order to establish high and priestly power among kings and chiefs.

Cushions made of jaguar skin and the pelts especially symbolized the reigning lord. It is curious to note that many of the kings’ stone thrones were built to resemble the shape of jaguars, sometimes even double-headed, such as the throne at such as the one found at the Governor's Palace in Uxmal, Mexico. The aristocratic Maya also went as far as to incorporate the name “Jaguar” into their family name. For instance, there is evidence of the family names, Scroll Jaguar, Bird Jaguar, and Moon Jaguar. Balam was used in present day Guatemala, for instance K'uk B'alam was the name of the founder of Palenque's Classic Dynasty. Meanwhile, Bolom was used in present Chiapas, such as Bolom Dzacab who was the god of the Mayan kings.

Not only was the jaguar viewed as a liaison to the underworld, but it was also granted the title God of fertility. Such title came about from the fact that the Maya considered the underworld to be the source of their fresh water since they saw that their fresh water sprouted up from underground pools. Soon they connected this fertility with the vegetation that was being produced from the water and so both fertility and vegetation were thought to have come from the Underworld and thus being directly associated to the jaguar. This specific jaguar god is known as the Water Lily Jaguar because it is depicted with a water lily on its head which is symbolical of fertility and vegetation.

As a result of the jaguar being a highly sacred animal, they were sacrificed and offered to their deities during religious rituals. An event such as this one took place in Copan, where it is known that 16 jaguars were sacrificed in response of the newly established 16th ruler of the dynasty.

Perhaps the reason as to why the Maya felt so connected to the jaguar was because they noticed that both the human race and the jaguar are considered to be at the top level of the food chain, thus in a sense, they viewed the jaguar as an equal when it came to asserting power over the rain forest. Furthermore, the Heroe Twin of the Maya in the Popol Vuh, Hunahpu and Ixbalanque, were said to wear jaguar spots and are depicted with jaguar features. Karl Taube analyzes the ancient Maya religious text: The Popol Vuh, in Aztec and Maya Myths, and describes the physical characteristics of these Hero Twins, “The hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque appear commonly in Classic Maya art and writing. Hunahpu is typically marked by large black spots on his cheeks and body. Xbalanque, on the other hand, displays jaguar skin patches around his mouth and on his torso and limbs.” The jaguar-like description of the hero twins in these texts shows that the jaguar was indeed respected and placed upon a pedestal alongside other Maya deities.

Bibliography:

Taube, Karl. 2003, Aztec & Maya Myths, pp. 64. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. 

Miller, Mary and Taube, Karl. 2004, An Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, pp. 102-104. Thames and Hudson Ltd, London.