Tigre Rope Fighting In Zitlala

Following up on last week’s post discussing the survival of Precolumbian gladiatorial combat in honor of Tlaloc in Mexico, I’ve got a video today that actually shows part of a Tigre whip match at Zitlala.  Now that this activity has come to my attention, it’s something I’ll be watching for videos of in addition to Danza Azteca.  It’s interesting getting to actually see the story behind the jaguar mask and contemplate the deeper meaning behind the fighting.

Courtesy link to ArchaeologyTV’s page on YouTube for this Tigre combat video.

In case you’re wondering, the special rope club used by Tigre fighters in Zitlala are called cuertas.  The modern cuerta itself is actually a “friendlier” version of heavier rawhide and stone clubs used previously, which in turn were descended from stone and shell clubs used when the battles may well have been lethal.  For obvious reasons, the present-day trend has been away from fatal contests, though the underlying meaning of giving of oneself to Tlaloc for a plentiful harvest endures today among those who remember.

January 8, 2009 | Categories: Culture, History, Media, People, Places, Recent History & Events, Religion, Video | Tags: adorar, ArchaeologyTV, autosacrifice, Aztec, Aztec religion, Azteca, ética, battle, belief, blood, bloodletting, boxing, Central America, ceremony, Chaac, Chac, club, Codex, codices, combat, contemporary, contemporáneo, costumbre, creencia, crops, Cucijo, cuerta, cuertas, cultura, culture, devotion, dios, dioses, divine, divinity, Dzahui, Dzavui, Eduardo Verdugo, ethics, eztli, faith, fe, filosofía, gladiatorial combat, god, goddess, gods, Guerrero, harvest, idea, indígena, Indian, indigenous, indio, jaguar, la religión de los aztecas, lightning, mask, Mesoamerica, Mexica, Mexicayotl, Mexico, moral, morality, Nahua, Nahuatl, ocelot, ocelotl, offering, ofrenda, philosophy, photo, piety, prayer, pre-Christian, pre-Columbian, Pre-Hispanic, Precolumbian, rain, reflexión, religion, ritual, sacred violence, sacrifice, sangre, sincrética, storm, supervivencia, survival, syncretic, teología, Teotl, theology, thought, thunder, tigre, Tigre Boxing, Tigre Combat, Tlaloc, Tlaloque, tradicional, traditional, video, violence, whip, worship, Xipe Totec, Zitlala | 2 Comments