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Aztec animal tattoos, tribal type tattoos of Jaguars and Eagles and other Mesoamerican animals

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The Aztec Ocelot or Jaguar

The Aztec God of the 14th day of the Cosmos
See all 14 photos
The Aztec God of the 14th day of the Cosmos

The Aztec animal world for skin art

This fierce cat was considered one of the Aztec Day Gods
This fierce cat was considered one of the Aztec Day Gods
The ocelot was hunted for its pelt
The ocelot was hunted for its pelt

The Ocelot or Jaguar of the Aztecs

The Fourteenth Aztec day god is an Ocelot or a Jaguar. This cat was very mystical to the Mesoamerican tribes. Its fur pelt was used to cover the thrones of priests and high officials of the tribal rulers. These guys also draped themselves in the skin of the ocelot.

The Aztec sometimes described the night sky as a very large jaguar coat, spotted with stars. Even the Nahuatl name for the ocelot is the same as the Nahuatl name for shaman priests. They are called Ix (pronounced Eesh).

A Jaguar tattoo would be a very powerful tat to have as this animal is the most venerated of the native American and Mesoamerican tribes.

The Lizard

The God of the 4th day of the Aztec Cosmos
The God of the 4th day of the Aztec Cosmos

Red and Blue are the colors of the Aztec Lizard

The lizard is not to be confuse with the serpent of the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl. The lizard stands alone as a qualified day God of the Aztec Cosmos. Red and Blue are the chosen colors for this animal. He does tend to blend into the background a bit, but doesn't it seem as if he knows all and sees all?

Lizards make great tattoos! They can slither around an ankle or crawl on your shoulder. They should be bright and lively looking, don't you think?

Here's a lizard playing ball!

This game was played in most Mesoamerican communities. The place was probably crawling with lizards!
This game was played in most Mesoamerican communities. The place was probably crawling with lizards!

Deer, Rabbit, Dog, Monkey, and Eagles

Some of the other day gods of the Aztec Cosmos (the Sun Stone) were deer, rabbit, dog, monkey and eagle. Here are a few of those designs. These designs are from the Sun Stone itself and a magical little booklet traced and collected by Thomas J Filsinger.

Deer, rabbit, dog, monkey, and eagle illustrations

A little deer head to illustrate with
A little deer head to illustrate with
Rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbit head
Rabbit head
Rabbit with glyphs
Rabbit with glyphs
The Aztec Dog
The Aztec Dog
An Aztec monkey
An Aztec monkey
Another Aztec monkey
Another Aztec monkey
Eagle head
Eagle head
Aztec Eagle
Aztec Eagle

Vote for your favorite!

Which of these animals would make the best tattoo?

  • The Ocelot, Jaguar
  • Lizard
  • Deer
  • Rabbit
  • Dog
  • Monkey
  • Eagle
See results without voting

Read more Aztec hubs by Austinstar...

Comments - Send me a photo of your Aztec tattoos! Or just let me know about them.

habee 2 years ago

Cool hub, Austin!

Austinstar 2 years ago

Thank you Holle. Do you have tattoos? I don't either, LOL.

loveofnight 2 years ago

nice designs......thx 4 share

Austinstar 2 years ago

If you get one done, send me the photo! Thanks for the comments.

Pachuca213 2 years ago

Very good hub! Its nice to see another writer on here who is also familiar with the Nahuatl dialect! By the way, My brother had several Aztec tattoos on his stomach. Very interesting designs I have to say.

Snapa 24 months ago

Thank you for this Hub. I live in Central America and have alot of Mayan tatt design requests. I really love the rabbit, since I have a house bunny. take care.

dhgferyk 16 months ago

awesome...

nameless 5 months ago

Did the Aztecs ever have wolf tattoos

Austinstar 5 months ago

I've never seen one! They did have dog designs, but they were usually small dogs. However I will look around. The big animal for Aztecs was the Jaguar.

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