The Jaguar and the rainy season

By Oscar Cortes Palma

Probably the Tecuan or Jaguar was the nagual of the god of rain and fertility to the Olmecs, and it also was for the Aztecs or Mexica, as the God of Rain "Tlaloc" had human-feline features.


To understand this we must first know two things about the naguals:
1. That the naguals for Mesoamerican peoples were wise priests believed they could predict the future, which could bring rain, and at night could turn into animals, plus they were intermediaries of the Gods with humans.
2. That they reached the "Christian" naguals accused of being people "demonic" because their gods to be "Idols" false.


But even before the Spaniards arrived in Mesoamerican religion about priests or Naguales called "Tecuan nahualli" in plural there, "Tecuan Nahuallique" they were called so because these priests preferred to transform into beasts, ie jaguars or cougars, and they abounded in Huaxtecan and in warm earth (the current states of Morelos, Guerrero, Michoacan, a little Edomex).


That's why when the natives saw a Jaguar or Puma on the hill, respected him because apart from fearsome, Jaguar could be the nagual of a powerful priest, or perhaps could be the nagual of a god, like Tezcatlipoca, God crippled with a black stripe on his face who used to become Jaguar since it was a night sorcerer.

But probably the Mesoamerican performed dances and rituals in which a sacrifice Jaguar Nagual was simulated to ask the "showers" and these pre-Hispanic dances are the antecedents of the current Jaguar hunting dances, among which is the Dance the Tecuan, which has very modern elements.

But certainly these dances down more ancient dances to go back to pre-Hispanic times, as we can see clearly that the current Tecuan Dance is an adaptation of an older dance, perhaps the Dance of the Zoyacapoteros extinct or perhaps comes Dance of Chilolos Juxtlahuaca that have traits that senior dance Tecuan or can even arise from the Dance of the Tlacololeros,

This because the Dance of the oldest elements Tlacololeros has, for example, in this dance the hunt of a Jaguar that the crops of peasants eat, something that in our Western mentality seems unlikely depicted as the Jaguars are Carnivores are not herbivores, but this thought is explicable if under another way of understanding the world.
For example, residents of Zitlala and Acatlan, Guerrero currently performed dance and fights Tecuanis, because they think it will be a better time and have a legend that supports this belief, and reads: "Long ago there were two governments in their people, one was a woman named Citlali and another was a man named Acatl, both became "Jaguars Naguales" to steal the seeds Tlaloc was in a giant ant hill and protected by tlaloques.

At that time Tlaloc was upset with humans and would not send the rain and not giving seeds to be born plants, so although the "Jaguars Naguales" managed to steal the seeds to Tlaloc, is the discovered time and as punishment, he became so permanent in Jaguars, and then with lightning and rain made to plunge the hill, and falling to the bottom, the Jaguars watered the seeds that would give humans, then angry and blaming each other for the failure of the mission naguals Jaguars began to fight fiercely and began to bleed heavily.
Human meanwhile, watched the fight closely and notice it was raining and sprouting plants, believed to be due to the fight of the "Jaguars Naguales" and blood pouring from them, then they began to imitate them, and thus year with year when the rainy season approaches, disguised as jaguars and make fights, since they believe that this is pleasing to Tlaloc, and the more blood there will be more rain on their land.

That is, the belief that "Tecuani" or "Jaguar" is the nagual of a ruler, priest or God who sacrifices himself for rain agrees with the ritual fights Tecuanis Zitlala and Acatlan Guerrero, and is also consistent with the Dance of the tlacololeros, because in this dance, the dancers represent growers and natural phenomena related to planting, for example, the characters involved are the "The Maizo" whose name may derive from the word "corn" this is the most senior figure in the dance and who kills the Jaguar or Tecuani; and is also the one who gives the orders to his assistant called "El Salvador" who transmits them to the other characters. "El Salvador" is the second in hierarchy after Maizo, he is the one that goes to Maizo and transmits the instructions and orders of this to "Tlacololero". Also participating:

· "The Tapachero". It is the top seed after the land.
· "The Tecorralero". It is responsible for making the stone corrals
· "The Teyolero". It is who snuggles stone for the Tecorralero build the tecorral.
· "The Jitomatero". It is the sower of tomato, or may represent the plant.
· "The Green Chile". It is the sower of green chile, or may represent the plant.
· "The Gale". It represents the wind that brings rain.
· "The Lightning Dry". It represents the lightning that precedes the rain.
· "The Colmenero". He is collecting honey from the hives.
· "The Frijolero" It is the sower of bean or can represent the plant.
· "The wonder". This character represents the dog accompanying the "Tlacololero" to keep track of the Jaguar.
· "The Tecuani". Jaguar is the harvests of the peasants eat.

All these characters dance so that there is good harvest, as we can see we have the land, represented by "Tlacololero" have land workers represented by the "Tecorralero" we have natural phenomena that attract the rain as "The gale" or the "Lightning Dry" we even vegetables that are going to plant as "The Frijolero" "The Jitomatero", "El Chile Verde", ie everything is almost perfect for a good seed, just missing the main character "The water".




And just as we need the main character we spare a character which is curiously the central character of the dance, I mean the "Tecuani or Jaguar".

So it's not unreasonable to believe that the Jaguar represents the Tlacololeros rain. Because if the Jaguar is no rain, their participation in this Dance time is unclear, since the Jaguars eat meat do not eat crops. Jaguar is the herbivore is not carnivorous.



So if we know that the Dance of the Tlacololeros is to ask for a good harvest, but what role does the "Tecuani" or Jaguar in this dance?

Apparently, researchers on this topic not yet have a convincing answer, I suggest one, we take into account what the legend says about the relationship Zitlala "SACRIFICE" JAGUAR NAGUAL "= RAINS = good harvests." Because, if we find that the character representing a rain dance to ask for good harvest, and noticed the Jaguar appears to have no role in sowing, then why not believe that the Jaguar is the representative of lack "the rain "in the Dance of the Tlacololeros? because just as the rains are the essential part for the good seed, also the Jaguar is the essential character of the Dance of the Tlacololeros, and whether the Jaguar is sacrificed, in a dance that calls for good crops this coincides with the Chronicles of the first friars who arrived in Mesoamerica mentioning that naguales priests blood extracted for ofrendarla their gods, and also when native practiced human sacrifices, performed a ritual in which and sacrificed for a while was dressed as a God and so participating in a dance, as it was believed to be the personification of God.

 In addition, the sacrifice of the gods was nothing foreign to Mesoamerica, there is even a legend about the creation of the world which says that Tezcatlipoca, the mightiest of all God, cut his own foot to throw the sea as bait and lay a Cipactli ambushed a powerful and gigantic sea monster, and so helped by his brother Tezcatlipoca Quetzalcoatl, could eliminate Cipactli and create the world.


Finally, I want to mention that one of the naguales priests who survived the Spanish conquest was Martin Ocelotl, originally from Chinantla, was an influential nagual Tecuan why he was tried by the Inquisition and exiled to Spain but disappeared on the road.

© Oscar Cortes Palma Lic. UNAM and Research in Dance History of Tecuan of Morelos and history of the town of Axochiapan. Email axochiapancultural@hotmail.com; cami17_4@hotmail.com; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/axochiapan Utilísese educational confines citing the author.

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