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No. 3 in my miniseries Warrior rabbits of history: a 16th century Aztec jaguar knight (or jaguar warrior).

The Aztecs obviously were of the opinion that when going into battle, you should look absolutely freaking fabulous. The higher the rank, the better you'd look. So you can probably already tell that the fabulous jaguar knights were among the elites.

These were the warriors who had taken many prisoners in battle. Prisoners that could be sacrificed to the gods - an aspect of Aztec society that was so important that they could go to war just to get more sacrificial victims. That is one of the reasons the Spaniards got so many indigenous allies to help fight the Aztecs. I guess you just don't get popular with the neighbors when you keep ripping their hearts out in honor of the gods.

This jaguar warrior rabbit is not wearing an actual jaguar pelt, but a wooden helmet and a tlahuztli. Which is something as wonderfully cosy as a cotton onesie. The weapon is called a macuahuitl. It's a wooden club with shards of obsidian (volcanic glass) attached. Ouch! The Mesoamerican civilizations of the 16th century did know about metallurgy, but didn't use it for weapons or tools. Maybe because obsidian shards naturally become so insanely sharp that metal simply wasn't needed.

Fun fact: Rabbits have an interesting role in Aztec mythology in the form of Centzon Tōtōchtin - the 400 drunk rabbits. It's exactly what it sounds like. A big bunch of rabbits having frequent drunk parties. Thus we have the expression to be as drunk as 400 rabbits. Good times.

More in this series:

Description
No. 3 in my miniseries Warrior rabbits of history: a 16th century Aztec jaguar knight (or jaguar warrior).

The Aztecs obviously were of the opinion that when going into battle, you should look absolutely freaking fabulous. The higher the rank, the better you'd look. So you can probably already tell that the fabulous jaguar knights were among the elites.

These were the warriors who had taken many prisoners in battle. Prisoners that could be sacrificed to the gods - an aspect of Aztec society that was so important that they could go to war just to get more sacrificial victims. That is one of the reasons the Spaniards got so many indigenous allies to help fight the Aztecs. I guess you just don't get popular with the neighbors when you keep ripping their hearts out in honor of the gods.

This jaguar warrior rabbit is not wearing an actual jaguar pelt, but a wooden helmet and a tlahuztli. Which is something as wonderfully cosy as a cotton onesie. The weapon is called a macuahuitl. It's a wooden club with shards of obsidian (volcanic glass) attached. Ouch! The Mesoamerican civilizations of the 16th century did know about metallurgy, but didn't use it for weapons or tools. Maybe because obsidian shards naturally become so insanely sharp that metal simply wasn't needed.

Fun fact: Rabbits have an interesting role in Aztec mythology in the form of Centzon Tōtōchtin - the 400 drunk rabbits. It's exactly what it sounds like. A big bunch of rabbits having frequent drunk parties. Thus we have the expression to be as drunk as 400 rabbits. Good times.

More in this series: