A Dog’s (for) Dinner...

The Aztecs only domesticated two animals, dogs and turkeys, both of which were eaten (usually only at feasts). Dogs were well fed (enlarge the main picture to see what on...). Above all the Aztecs enjoyed eating small, hairless, mute dogs brought to Aztec markets from the town of Acolman - the ‘itzcuintli’, a relative of the chihuahua (Pic 1). Though meat was a relative luxury, the Aztec diet was ‘ample, nutritious and well-balanced’, in part at least thanks to some unusually efficient and nutritious foods: the Aztecs were anything but fussy - they ate ‘practically every living thing that walked, swam, flew or crawled...’ (Professor Bernard Ortiz de Montellano). (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

Pic 1: The ‘itzcuintli’ hairless dog (Click on image to enlarge)

They had a great respect for the quality of faithfulness in dogs: when a nobleman died, a dog was often killed and buried with him to guide him on the long journey across rivers and mountains to the next world. In the case of a commoner a pottery model of a dog was often used instead. Aztecs believed that it took 4 years to reach the soul’s final resting place, Mictlan.

Pic 2: Dog - number 10 in the cycle of 20 Aztec ‘day’ signs (Click on image to enlarge)

Despite its association with death, Dog was a generally favourable calendar sign, a predictor of success in work, wealth and fertility.

A legacy from Aztec times? The modern Mexican Spanish word for ‘to put [an animal] down’ is ‘sacrificar’ - mis-translated as ‘to sacrifice’ in the Mexican film Temporada de Patos.

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