[Aztlan] Man-eating jaguars

[nhopkins at mailer.fsu.edu]

In response to Justin, I don't think there is any doubt that people 
killed jaguars; what was in doubt was the other way around.  There are 
still (or at least have been until very recently) rituals in which 
people donned jaguar skins and engaged in "dances" or ritual combat 
(e.g., in Tila, the Jaguars vs. Bulls, obviously symbolic of the native 
vs. European cultures).  Not really incidentally, the term for the skin 
of the jaguar that is worn in these dances is i-bujk i-ch'ujlel, "the 
shirt of his soul," that is, the skin of the jaguar is the clothing 
his/the man's soul wears (and this is probably true of other animals as 
well).

Nick Hopkins       
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