Dia de los Perros: The Mystery and Mythos of Dogs

This article originally appeared in the San Francisco Bay Area dog monthly Bay Woof, under one of my pseudonyms, Colin Ortiz.

When you think about it, it's not surprising that dogs and doglike creatures are so prevalent in the ancient wisdom traditions. Since the first wild dog crept out of a moonless night to join prehistoric folk ‘round their campfire, our species has related canines with the mysterious unseen world. This belief has generated both affection and fear in the minds of human beings for ages.

On the positive side, finally a powerful ally had appeared to accompany us on our anxious patrols into the shadows. Dogs – with their special gifts of heightened hearing and smell, strength, courage, speed, loyalty, and intimidating built-in weapons – were embraced as furry demigods who could be counted as comrades in encounters with dark forces. As comforters, protectors, and living advanced warning systems against all things that go bump in the night, dogs became bonded with humans in one of the tightest symbiotic relationships on Earth. It’s a bond that has survived for 15,000 years.

In the twilight zones of our hearts, where the mysteries of the changing seasons and the hovering presence of the afterworld are felt on chilly October evenings, we still yearn for the sound of four steady paws padding out before us into the unknown.

For most of recorded history, humans have valued the comforting presence of dogs so highly that we’ve even tried to take them with us beyond the portals of this life, knowing they would aid us in whatever journey awaited. For instance, ancient Egyptians often mummified dogs so they’d be there to help them along in the afterlife.

In a similar vein, Aztecs often were cremated with small dogs tied around their necks. Joseph Campbell wrote of this ritual in Hero with a Thousand Faces: “The departed swam on this small animal when he passed the river of the underworld.” After four years of passage, braving “mountains that clash,” “a giant serpent,” “eight deserts of freezing cold,” and “winds of the obsidian knives,” together man and dog would arrive before the god of the underworld, who would admit them both to “the Ninth Abyss” (but only if their paperwork was in order). To this day, many who celebrate Dia de los Muertos add a clay dog to the altar in a nod to this ancient custom.

Indigenous Americans also honored dogs in their pantheon of mythic beings. Their trickster god, Coyote, provided them with one of Nature’s most powerful forces – fire – having used his cunning to steal it on their behalf.

Of course, dogs have not always benefited from the human belief that they are privy to the ultimate mysteries. The Greeks and Romans regarded canines so highly that they stamped their visages on coins, but they also sacrificed them to placate the Immortals.

Despite our generally positive feelings about dogs. clearly our psychic relationship with them has been macabre in many ways— especially where they play on our doubts and fears. On Wednesday— Caninoids from the Underworlds in Dia de Los Muertos II.