#repost @micorazonmexica Chicome Itzcuintli (Mexico City). Detail of a work that includes a representation of Colima dogs. https://www.etsy.com/people/w3cmjiqy
To quote the artist:
“This is a scene in process from a painting that shows the journey of the dead through the levels of Mictlan, the Underworld. The first of these levels is Itzcuintlan, Land of Dogs, in the banks of the Chicnauhapan Lagoon, where the souls of the dead find a dog to guide them through the dangers of this journey. Hundreds of funerary offering vessels in the form of dogs have been found in the Mexican state of Colima. These Colima dogs are portrayed in different positions, and sometimes they wear human masks to show their deep relation with un even after death.
Here is an excerpt from the text that accompanies this scene: "On its banks they created great packs of dogs, red dogs, white dogs, and black dogs. Itzcuintlan, they called it, the first of the Nine Layers, The Place of Dogs. They spoke to the Teyollia of Oxomoco and Cipactonal, and a rope They gave Them. “At Itzcuintlan thou must find thy guide, thy helper, a dog, to cross the land of the dead. Tie a rope about their neck, so that thou shalt not lose thy way. Ask not Iztacitzcuintli, the white dog, for they shall refuse thee. ‘I will not help Thee,’ the white dog shall say,’for I fear to soil my fur in the dark waters of Chicnahuapan.’ Ask not Tlilitzcuintli, the black dog, for they shall reply, ‘gladly would I serve Thee, but I fear that in the dark waters of the river, Thou shalt lose me, and shalt not see me, and Thou shall lose Thy way.’ Instead, ask only of Tlatlauhitzcuintli, the red dog, for they shall reply, ‘in love shall I be Thy guide. Through the dark lands of Mictlan shall I guide Thee, throughout the four years of Thy journey shall I accompany Thee, until Thy soul is polished and Thou art found worthy to stand before the throne of Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl.’”
