THE XOLOITZCUINTLE, THE MEXICAN DOG EMBLEMATIC JEWEL OF OUR PAST.

Quetzalcoatl dog

Talking about the xoloitzcuintlli, the Mexican dog whose origins come from before the pre-Columbian era and the conquest of Mexico, makes us go through different aspects, not only historical, but also biological in terms of its genetic history and its amazing survival to this day, as well as trying to clarify the meaning of its name from which it will be clearer to understand the Mexica legends deify him as the twin of Quetzalcoatl.

 Let's start from the beginning. 

Nahuatl, the dominant language spoken by the ancient Mexicans and to this day many communities and peoples of Mexico, defines the name XOLOITZCUINTLI as a word composed of two nouns, namely: XÓLOTl or XOLOTl and ITZCUINTLI.

 XÓLOTL or XOLOTL is a noun that, according to the Dictionary of the Nahuatl Language, means a mythological character who, in order to escape death, began to flee, metamorphosing successively into a double maguey or mexolotl, and into a tadpole called axolotl (Sah)

On the other hand, the word Itzcuintli or Izcuintli means dog or bitch.

The words Itzcuintli tequani, mean sighthound and the words itzcuintli ichcapixqui, shepherd's dog. The same word or noun Itzcuintli or izcuintli referred in the calendar to the 10th day of the month and, finally, it also means the 14th sign in judicial astrology.

Thus, the word XOLOTL or XOLOTL generically and by itself means a mythological character who transforms by escaping death, that is, a being capable of self-transformation, without this definition implying referring to a god or a being of the Aztec underworld, since that is only its etymological meaning.

The word in question, that is, XÓLOTL or XOLOTL or being of self-metamorphosis, although there are authors who accentuate it in the letter "Ó" the truth is that it should not be stressed, firstly because its pronunciation in Nahuatl is not stressed and, secondly, because the orthographic accent comes from the Spanish language but not from Nahuatl.

Now, it is the Mexica legend of creation, which, as a result of mythological events, assigns or baptizes the twin god of the also god Quetzalcoatl, with the name of XOLOT or XÓLOTL for having refused to immolate himself to give life to the new sun, under which contemporary men lived at that time.

It was a necessary sacrifice as described in Nahuatl mythology, establishing that throughout history and time there were multiple creations and destructions, that we do not always live in the same time and that the sun in which we have to live is the fifth, the Fifth Sun. Xolotl refused the sacrifice, vital for the new cycle, that of the new sun, to begin again with his blood, and preferred to flee, but he was persecuted and killed.

 There were different kinds of dogs, long before the arrival of the Spaniards with their own dogs, and this is proved by many written sources, such as, for example, in the Relación de la Ciudad de Mérida, it is said that there are dogs that have no hair and that do not bark; there are others that have thin and sharp teeth.  the small, stiff and raised ears, and that there are also Indians who have other kinds of dogs that do have hair, but that do not bark either, and that are the same size as the others. These dogs are the k'ik 'bil pek, which is a natural hairless dog, the kus and the tsom.

According to the Cordemex Mayan Dictionary these were also pre-Hispanic dogs, although they did have hair.

The generic Mayan or Yucatec term for dog is pek* and tsul* is the name applied to the common dog, the domestic dog. In other languages derived from Maya or Mayense, the dog is called tzi, which comes from Quiché and Pokomchi.

And so different definitions have been made about these terms, as we have expressed here.

In line with most of the codices and researchers, writers and historians, it can be said that the Xolitzcuintle is the dark part of Quetzalcoatl, that Xolotl is the god of the twins and, for this reason, he is associated with everything double, such as the double corn bush and the molcajete, with double ends (texólotl). And also because of the meaning of "double", it is the pattern of the Seventeenth Sign of Days, ollin, movement, formed by two intertwined bands. He is thus represented with face paint of Macuilxóchitl, who is the deity of the ball game and is, therefore, Xolotl god of that game.

To talk about the Xoloitzcuintle is to talk about an emblematic jewel of our pre-Columbian past and it has not only historical significance, but also esoteric, because to this pre-Hispanic dog the ancient Mexicans assigned different symbolisms such as accompanying the dead to the underworld, with sexuality, with the planet Venus, etc. and, today, its descendants are found almost all over the world, with many organizations and breeders for its use and, preservation.

Article by Ricardo Palma Herrera

Cordemex Mayan Dictionary

*1PEK' 1, 9: dog in general 2, 5: dog and bitch 3, 4, 6-11, 12, 13abvJ 13cob: dog 11: mastiff, greyhound, dog; adj sighthound; adj podenco, mutt; Ah Chi'bil Pek'; chak] 101 pek': a fierce biting dog; Ah Chi'bil Pek': [dog] hunter; Malix Pek': Alano; Ah keh pek': hunting [dog]; bil pek', ah bil pek', kikbil pek': hairless [dog]; Ah siilba: dog that enters someone else's house ; Ko'il Pek': Mad dog, with hydrophobia 2. Hot 10M 5: Dog to animal without tail.

*TSUL 2 TSUL 2: perro mestizo 5: perro domestico 10: perro 2. pek' 13: idem