What Were Jaguar & Eagle Knights Wearing?

 All non-noble Aztec boys were expected to train as warriors from the age of ten and to begin being warriors at 17. To become an elite warrior such as a Jaguar Knight it was necessary to capture four enemy warriors (that were then sacrificed). In fact, capturing, rather than killing the enemy was a prime goal and this was a disadvantage when they fought the Spaniards who generally just aimed to kill the enemy outright. (By the way, the term 'knight' has little to do with the European meaning).

  I have been reading up on what the elite warriors actually wore. Apparently, the Maya at that time did wear jaguar skins but the Aztec jaguar warriors did not; their outfits were made of padded cotton. This makes sense when one considers that there are only so many jaguars. Elite Aztec outfits had feathers sown on to them (not necessarily eagle ones). I wouldn't be surprised if some wealthy Aztec warriors did have suits from real jaguar skins as it is always possible that there were exceptions. I gained the impression that perhaps even Jaguar Knights might have had feathers sewn on, but I am not sure. The feathers had some sacred significance.

  The helmets were generally made of wood. The whole outfit of a Jaguar Knight was colored to copy the jaguar skin pattern. That raises the question of how naturalistic or stylized the pattern was. I am guessing it was a bit of both. Every outfit was handmade so there was probably a lot of variation.

 The Reamsa Jaguar warriors appear to be wearing animal skins and don't have that wooden helmet look which would have encased the head under the face and enclosing the face as if being devoured by the beast.

  The wearing of loin cloths is also unclear with some representations not showing them visible. Others worn on the outside of the outfit and others poking through the front, where there is presumably an opening for urinating. Generally, there does not seem to be the same deal at the back, but most pictures only show the front of the outfit. I have come to the conclusion that to defecate the warrior probably had to take the outfit off. I suppose this would not have been as bad as it was for European knights in armor who probably just messed in their suits if it was difficult or dangerous to take time to remove the outfit.

  Also, the Jaguar warrior outfit often but not invariably had tails.

 Other elite warriors could have other animal representations including coyote and various monstrous beasts. Favorite colors were red, blue, green and yellow.

 BELOW is an early pictorial reference. It shows the feathers on the Eagle Knight with extra feathers representing a tail, something I had not seen depicted before. Shown also is the loin cloth projecting at front and the tie ups at back. It is interesting that the sandals (or thongs?) and back straps are shown as red. I see the tradition of putting faces on suns is not confined to infants today. Also, there is a strong resemblance to the boy's outfit in 'Where the Wild Things Are'!