Animal Figures in the Maya Codices

by Alfred M. Tozzer; Glover M. Allen

Dog (Canis). The dog (Maya, peq) evidently played an important part in the life of the Mayas as it does with other races of men generally. On Pls. 36, 37, we have included certain figures of dogs from several manuscripts. These may represent two breeds, for it is well known that both a hairy and a hairless variety were found by the early discoverers in Mexico.[359-*] Hairiness is more or less clearly indicated in the following figures:—[Pl. 36], figs. 1-7, 12; [Pl. 37], figs. 4, 5. The figures of dogs usually agree in having a black mark about the eyes that frequently is produced as a downward curved tongue from the posterior canthus. Sometimes, as in [Pl. 37], figs. 1-3, 10, this tongue is not blackened. Commonly also black patches are elsewhere distributed on the body, generally on the back. These markings are probably the patches of color separated by white areas that occur frequently in dogs or other animals after long domestication.[359-†] We have included among the figures of dogs two in which the eye is differently represented and which are unspotted ([Pl. 37], figs. 4, 6). These modifications may have some special significance, but otherwise the animals appear most closely to represent dogs.

We have already suggested that the animal attired in man’s clothing, and walking erect in Dresden 25a-28a is likewise a dog, though Stempell believes it to represent the opossum in support of which he calls attention to its prominent vibrissae and slightly curled tail.

The dog played a large part in the religion both of the Mayas and the Mexican peoples. It was connected especially with the idea of death and destruction. The Lacandones of the present time make a small figure of a dog to place on the grave (Tozzer, 1907, p. 47). This is but one of the many survivals of the ancient pre-Columbian religion found among this people. The dog was regarded as the messenger to prepare the way to the other world. Seler (1900-1901, pp. 82-83) gives an interesting parallel of the Nahua idea of the dog and his connection with death. He paraphrases Sahagun as follows: “The native Mexican dogs barked, wagged their tails, in a word, behaved in all respects like our own dogs, were kept by the Mexicans not only as house companions, but above all, for the shambles, and also in Yucatan and on the coast land for sacrifice. The importance that the dog had acquired in the funeral rites may perhaps have originated in the fact that, as the departed of both sexes were accompanied by their effects, the prince by the women and slaves in his service, so the dog was assigned to the grave as his master’s associate, friend, and guard, and that the persistence of this custom in course of time created the belief that the dog stood in some special relation to the kingdom of the dead. It may also be that, simply because it was the practice to burn the dead, the dog was looked on as the Fire God’s animal and the emblem of fire, the natives got accustomed to speak of him as the messenger to prepare the way in the kingdom of the dead, and thus eventually to regard him as such. At the time when the Spaniards made their acquaintance, it was the constant practice of the Mexicans to commit to the grave with the dead a dog who had to be of a red-yellow color, and had a string of unspun cotton round his neck, and was first killed by the thrust of a dart in his throat. The Mexicans believed that four years after death, when the soul had already passed through many dangers on its way to the underworld, it came at last to the bank of a great river, the Chicunauhapan, which encircled the underworld proper. The souls could get across this river only when they were awaited by their little dog, who, recognizing his master on the opposite side, rushed into the water to bring him over.” (Sahagun, 3 Appendix, Chap. 1.)

As might be expected from the foregoing, there are abundant evidences in the manuscripts of the presence of the dog in the various religious rites and especially those which have to do with the other world, the Kingdom of the Dead. In Tro-Cortesianus 35b, 36b, 37a, 37b, the pages showing the rites of the four years, the dog appears in various attitudes. In 35b and 36b, it bears on his back the Imix and Kan signs, in 37a ([Pl. 37], fig. 8) it is shown as beating a drum and singing, in 37b ([Pl. 36], fig. 2) it is beside a bowl containing Kan signs. In all of these places, the dogs seem to be represented among the various birds and animals which are to be sacrificed for the new years. Landa (1864, p. 216)[361-*] states that in the Kan year a dog was sacrificed. In the Muluc year, Landa (1864, p. 222)[361-†] records that they offered dogs made of clay with bread upon their backs and a perrito which had black shoulders and was a virgin. It has already been noted that two of the dogs represented in Tro-Cortesianus 35b and 36b have a Kan and Imix sign fastened to the back. Moreover, we have also pointed out that the Kan sign frequently seems to have the meaning of maize or bread. It will be noted that in Tro-Cortesianus 36b two human feet are shown on each of which is a dog-like animal.[361-‡] These may indicate the dance in which dogs were carried as noted by Landa. Cogolludo (1688, p. 184)[361-§] also mentions a similar dance. Still another reference in Landa (1864, p. 260)[362-*] mentions that in the months Muan and Pax dogs were sacrificed to the deities.

Reference has already been made to the identification of the four priests at the top of Dresden 25-28 as having the heads of dogs rather than of opossums. It may be suggested that in the rôle of the conductor to the other world the dog is represented as carrying on his back in each case the year which has just been completed and therefore is dead. This, of course, would necessitate the identification of god B, the jaguar, god E, and god A as representing in turn the four years.

The dog, according to Sahagun’s account (p. 360) was looked upon as the “Fire God’s animal,” and as an emblem of fire. This idea is seen frequently in the Maya manuscripts where the dog with firebrands in his paws or attached to his tail is coming head downward from a line of constellation signs, as in Dresden 36a ([Pl. 37], fig. 3), 40b ([Pl. 37], fig. 1) or is standing beneath similar signs as in Dresden 39a ([Pl. 37], fig. 2) and probably in Tro-Cortesianus 13a. His tail alone has the firebrand in Tro-Cortesianus 36b. Firebrands are carried by figures which have been identified by us as dogs in Tro-Cortesianus 24c ([Pl. 37], fig. 6), 25c, and 90a. Here the animal is represented as in the air holding his firebrands over a blazing altar beside which god F is seated. In two out of the four cases, F is shown as dead. The dog in these latter examples has his eye composed of the Akbal sign. This same glyph can also be made out with difficulty on the forehead of the dog shown in Dresden 36a ([Pl. 37], fig. 3). As has been noted, Akbal means night and possibly death as well. It is certain that destruction is indicated in the preceding examples as well as in Tro-Cortesianus 87a and 88a ([Pl. 37], fig. 4) where the dog is holding four human figures by the hair.

Beyer (1908, pp. 419-422) has identified the dog as the Pleiades and various other suggestions have been made that the dog represents some constellation. The more common form of spotted dog is shown as a single tonalamatl figure in Tro-Cortesianus 25d and 27d ([Pl. 36], fig. 14) and an unspotted variety in Dresden 7a ([Pl. 37], fig. 10). The dog is frequently shown as copulating with another animal or with a female figure. In Dresden 13c ([Pl. 37], fig. 7) the second figure is a vulture, in Dresden 21b ([Pl. 37], fig. 5) it is a woman and also in Tro-Cortesianus 91c ([Pl. 36], fig. 12).

The same animal appears also in a number of scenes not included in the preceding. In Tro-Cortesianus 88c ([Pl. 36], fig. 1) a dog is seated on a crab and seems to be connected with the idea of the north as this sign is noted above the figure; in Tro-Cortesianus 66b ([Pl. 36], fig. 3) a dog and another animal ([Pl. 32], fig. 3) are seated back to back under a shelter; in Tro-Cortesianus 30b a dog is seated on the right foot of the woman from whose breasts water is streaming; in Dresden 29a ([Pl. 37], fig. 12) god B is shown seated on a dog; and, finally, in Dresden 30a ([Pl. 37], fig. 9) god B holds the bound dog by the tail over an altar.

The dog appears from numerous references to be used in connection with a prayer for rain. Comargo (1843) in his history of Tlaxcallan states that when rain failed, a procession was held in which a number of hairless dogs were carried on decorated litters to a place devoted to their use. There they were sacrificed to the god of water and the bodies were eaten.

The glyphs associated with the dog are interesting as we have, as in the case with the deer, one showing a realistic drawing of a dog’s head in Tro-Cortesianus 91d ([Pl. 37], fig. 13) and several others far more difficult of interpretation. [Pl. 37], fig. 11, seems to stand for the dog as it is found in several places where the dog appears below, Dresden 21b, 40b. It is thought by some to represent the ribs of a dog which appear in somewhat similar fashion in [Pl. 37], fig. 8. Some of the glyphs in the codices for the month Kankin show the same element (text [figs. 8-10]).