Description

This is a cornhusk figure that appears as a person dressed as a jaguar holding a chain on a small base. This jaguar figure is actually a small representation of a participant in the La Tigrada parade that happens every August in La Chilapa, Guerrero, Mexico. In this parade, the townspeople, along with surrounding communities, celebrate age old traditions and honor the Virgin of the Assumption, venerated in the city's cathedral. The festival connects with Mesoamerican mythology and rituals designed to bring rainfall to ensure plenty of crops. The chain attached to the figure serves to imitate the sound of thunder, a sign of rain. Though the figure looks like a jaguar, it is actually called a tigre, or tiger, in the context of the parade.