Jaguar warrior

Jaguar warriors or jaguar knights, ocēlōtl oˈseːloːt͡ɬ (singular) or ocēlōmeh oseːˈloːmeʔ (plural) were members of the Aztec military elite. They were a type of Aztec warrior called a cuāuhocēlōtl kwaːwoˈseːloːt͡ɬ (derived from cuāuhtli ˈkwaːʍt͡ɬi ("eagle") and ocēlōtl ("jaguar")). They were an elite military unit similar to the eagle warriors. The jaguar motif was used due to the belief the jaguar represented Tezcatlipoca. Aztecs also wore this dress at war because they believed the animal's strengths would be given to them during battles. Jaguar warriors were used at the battlefront in military campaigns. They were also used to capture prisoners for sacrifice to the Aztec gods. Many statues and images (in pre-Columbian and post-Columbian codices) of these warriors have survived. They fought with a wooden club studded with obsidian volcanic glass blades, called a macuahuitl. They also used spears and atlatls. To become a jaguar warrior, a member of the Aztec army had to capture a total of four enemies from battles. This was said to honor their gods in a way far greater than killing enemy soldiers in the battlefield. For a warrior to kill an enemy was considered clumsy. The formal education of the Aztecs was to train and teach young boys how to function in their society as warriors. The Aztecs had no standing army, so every boy not of noble birth was trained to become a warrior. All boys who were between the ages of ten and twenty years old would attend one of the two schools. These two schools were the Telpochcalli (the neighborhood school for commoners) and the Calmecac, the exclusive school for nobles. At the Telpochcalli students would learn the art of warfare, and would become warriors. At the Calmecac students would be trained to become military leaders, priests, government officials, etc. At the age of 15, sons of commoners would be sent to a Telpochcalli within their neighborhood. Here, boys would be trained in the art of warfare and accustomed to military life.