WEBVTT - The Dog with the Burning Brand 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:05.240 My welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:14.480 of My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.840 your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:21.160 and today we got an art question to start off with. Uh, 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:23.599 have you out there? Have you ever been wandering through 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:27.760 a museum and looking at old paintings, especially maybe paintings 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:32.360 from the medieval Europe or from the Renaissance period, and 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.680 you happen to come across a dog holding in its 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:38.959 mouth maybe what looks like a big, old rolled up 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:42.920 newspaper that's on fire, or as as many people on 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:47.000 the Internet have characterized it, smoking a joint or smoking 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.440 a hand rolled cigarette. You know, I have to admit 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:52.879 that I had I had never noticed this before, and 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.480 I'm I'm not an our expert by any stretch of 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.200 the imagination, but I feel like I've I've walked through 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:02.360 a number of really good art museums. I I've enjoyed 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:07.240 in the past diving into sort of detail oriented topics 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:12.280 that involve paintings, and yet I have never witnessed the 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:17.800 joint smoking dog or the firebrand bearing dog before until 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.480 it was brought to my attention by an an art 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:25.319 net dot com blog post or article that we were 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.640 talking about, right, So, I don't know how you came 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:29.160 across this, but you were the one who sent it 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:32.000 to me. And this was a blog post by an 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:36.760 American art critic named Ben Davis. Uh. That's very funny, 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.880 and it is addressing the question of why are there 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:44.680 so many medieval and Renaissance paintings that depict what looks 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:46.759 like a dog smoking a joint. That is the way 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.680 the author phrases it, and it's it's quite amusing because 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:53.080 it includes images examples of this and when you start 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:56.280 looking at them, yeah, it looks like these dogs that 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:00.160 they're doing something. They're either holding some sort of a 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.040 a joint like object, or at the very least, they 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.000 have fire. They have fire in a way that seems 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.720 totally out of keeping with what dogs actually want and 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:13.120 do in reality. So a few examples. There is one 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:16.960 painting from the sixteen sixties by an artist named Wanda 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.840 Pereha that features a very cute dog laid out on 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:23.799 the ground with stubby little four legs tucked up under 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.840 his pawnchy chest, and there is a bouquet of white 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.360 flowers tossed to the ground in front of him, and 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.520 then between his jaws he is clutching a foot long 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.240 white cylinder that is on fire on the end opposite 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.880 of his mouth. And yes, it does look like some 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.360 kind of giant cigarette or something of that kind, but 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:44.600 it could also be maybe a candle. I don't know. 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:47.760 It's just a white thing that's on fire. Yeah, And 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:50.800 the dog has a very relaxed vibe doing this, and 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.680 it's just kind of a chalky, relaxed dog that doesn't 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.000 look like like I'm going to burn your city down 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.520 or anything like that. He's just hanging out. This is 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:02.120 a smooth chalk. All these that I'm mentioning are featured 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.840 in that that article by Ben Davis, by the way. 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:07.720 But so there's another painting from the sixteen eighties by 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:11.799 Claudio Coello, and it is a portrait of a certain 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.880 religious figure, but excluding the central figure for a second. 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.920 In the bottom left of the frame, there's a black 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.480 and white dog with a kind of skunk coloration pattern, 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:25.720 and he is biting what looks like a fence post 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.480 that's on fire, and you can see his little under 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:32.679 fangs in the lower canines holding fast to that burning steak. Yeah, 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:34.480 Now this one looks a little more fierce, a little 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:38.480 more mischievous even uh. There he's also next to a 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.240 spherical object. I forget what you call these um in 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:45.720 religious iconography of Catholicism, but it reminds me of a globe, 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:47.680 and so I get kind of this feeling of the 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:51.440 dog threatening to torch the earth. Well, and that also 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:54.200 seems to be a theme, because here's yet another one 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:56.840 that was in Davis's post. So this is by jose 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:01.800 guild Castro from eighteen seventeens, a later painting, but once 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.520 again there is a person at the center of this painting. 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.440 But in the lower right corner there is a bizarre scene. 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.600 There's this big old blue sphere like a big azure 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:14.480 beach ball, and then on top of the ball there 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.560 is a dog. Except this dog looks ferocious. He is 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.960 showing all his sharp little teeth and he's digging into 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:24.040 the ball with his claws, and once again he's holding 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:27.200 a burning stick in his mouth, except this time he's 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.000 holding the stick so that the business end, the end 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.080 that's on fire, is stabbing into the blue ball like 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.080 he's trying to burn a hole in it. So, so 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.680 what's up here well, Davis explains, actually, uh, this is 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:44.880 religious iconography. These are animals that mean something. Uh. So 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.520 I mentioned that in most of these artworks the central 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.040 subject is a person rather than a dog. And then 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.120 there's a dog with a with a burning stick or 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.440 a cigarette or whatever down in the corner. The person 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:58.080 in the middle of the painting is almost always one 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:02.159 of two people. It is either St. Jayne Santa Juana 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:07.040 of of Aza or her son St. Dominic Santo Domingo, 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.680 who was a very important figure in the history of 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:14.279 the Catholic Church lived from the twelfth to the thirteenth century, 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.680 and he was a Catholic priest who founded the Dominican 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:22.200 Order in twelve sixteen. Uh to read from davis quote, 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:26.159 thereby setting the world on fire metaphorically in terms of 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:29.440 spreading the faith. As a matter of fact, Dominican preachers 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:33.520 were sometimes called Dominique khans or the dogs of the 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:37.320 Lord Goodness. It's a very good medieval pun for you. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.400 But so, according to legend, St. Dominic's mother St. Jane 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.960 was granted a premonition in the form of a vision 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:49.680 from God, and in her vision she saw that she 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.960 was pregnant, but with a dog, and the dog carried 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:56.840 a flaming tortun in its mouth, and then when she 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:59.640 in the vision gave birth to the dog, it was 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.480 run and around. It darted all over the place with 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:05.960 the torch and set fire to everything. And this was 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:09.279 interpreted to me and that her son would metaphorically set 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.040 the world on fire, meaning he would preach a message 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.560 that would reach the ends of the earth. And so 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.360 by establishing the Dominican Order, I think, you know, they 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:19.800 were largely well. They had a number of concerns, but 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.159 one of them was like preaching against heresies of the 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.240 Middle Ages. So if you're a heretic, you need to 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.680 watch out for the dog with the flaming brand because 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.280 it is coming to set the world on fire. Now, 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.800 I have to say, in some of these images I 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.680 totally get this vibe, you know, particularly that one that 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:39.200 where he's not he's not actually making contact with the 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:41.479 globe like object that he seems to be threatening to do. 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.040 So I can see it. This is a vision dog. 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:48.480 This is a dog that is bringing prophecy from divine realms. 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:51.360 But that first guy that that that that chunky one 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.440 we were talking about, I don't know he he doesn't 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:56.600 look like he's wandered out of any vision. He looks 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:00.839 like the painter had a much beloved dog his life 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.160 and decided, well, if I'm going to put in this 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.680 dog of prophecy, I'm gonna put my dog Schakers in there. 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.200 And uh, and that's who I want to paint. You know, 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.720 this is something I often wonder looking at old paintings 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:15.360 and sculptures of religious figures. So if there's a a 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.920 painting of of John the Baptist where he looks really hunky, 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.160 is it because this person, you know, the painter was 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.080 filled with religious fervor for this scene involving John the 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:28.080 Baptist and really wanted to depict that. Or is it 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:30.960 because he like had a friend or a model or 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.520 something that he really wanted to paint and he's like, 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:38.000 who can I I'll say, this guy is John the Baptist. Yeah. Yeah, 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.960 And ultimately I think in some cases that is the reality. 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.880 You have painters who want to paint, say the human 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.280 form and it are you know, obsessed with the with 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:50.440 anatomy and the and how to properly relate that in 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:52.360 the painting. But how are you going to do that 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.920 and get paid? You know, Uh, but well this could 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.000 be this could be the dog version, right. Yeah, so 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:00.240 this is like you're saying, this is his dog that 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.320 he loves, and he was just wants to paint the dog. 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:04.440 He's like, how can I? Oh, I know this is 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:08.160 the dog of the vision of St. Jayne. Yeah, and 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:10.280 he's looking right at you. It's a beautiful painting. It's 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.480 a very lifelike rendering of this dog. Yeah, Wanda Parade, 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.520 two thumbs up. I love your chalk. Now, all of 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:20.880 this talk of holy dogs and uh Catholic tradition, you 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.840 know this. This is all well and good, but uh, 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.040 one one question that that certainly arises is do we 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:31.360 find anything like this anywhere else in the world, Because 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:33.560 on one hand, like I said, this is not something 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.400 dogs do. This is not something around yeah, carry fire 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.559 around it. In fact, I was looking around to find 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.760 any account of this happening, certainly any like videos of like, oh, 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:45.880 here's our dog. He likes to carry a flaming brand 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:49.440 around the house, and I found virtually nothing. The closest 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.760 I came was a video that allegedly is of a 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.600 dog swooping in to grab a lit firework before it 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.560 can blast off. Yeah, exactly the same here I was. 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.160 I was thinking, is this a natural phenomenon or their 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.880 observed conditions where a dog will commonly pick up a 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.720 flaming stick? And I was looking all over the place 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.760 and found nothing really except I found a couple of 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:14.720 instances of people talking about dogs that had specifically been 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.680 trained to carry a flaming torch or something. But it 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.040 was just in the context of dogs being trained to 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.000 do all kinds of tricks like jump through a flaming 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.800 hoop or anything like that. So I think carrying a 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.400 flaming torch is something you could train a dog to do, 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:29.440 in the sense that you can train a dog to 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:32.400 do just about anything. So it would stand a reason 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:34.520 it would seem possible that maybe this is just a 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.240 one off, you know, it's certainly if we believe this, uh, 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.599 this story, that this is a dog of vision and prophecy, 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.120 you know, just sort of random dream imagery that comes together, uh, 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:46.240 you know, or some sort of a vision, some sort 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.880 of hallucination, whatever, the you know, the the real world 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:54.760 situation might be that maybe this is just something that 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.760 occurs once in human traditions and we're not likely to 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:01.240 expect to see it pop up anywhere else, and yet 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.560 I found one. I found another dog with a with 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.600 a flaming stick. Uh, And I'm not I'm still not 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:09.320 sure exactly what to make of it. How much of 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:12.560 it we can sort of chalk up to, uh, you know, 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:17.600 cultural convergent evolution or if if if Ultimately we can 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:22.040 get down to certain realities about dogs and humans, humanities, 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.240 relationship with the dog. Um. You know, I think maybe 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:27.559 it's a little bit of both of those, so you 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:29.400 might So you're wondering, where is this? Where do we 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:31.240 have to go to find this other dog with the 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:34.760 flaming brand? Well, we have to travel once more to 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:38.480 pre Columbian um Mesoamerica. We have to travel to the 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:42.440 Aztec world and also the Mayan world and look to 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:47.560 the fire carrying dog in these cultures as well. Okay, 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:49.599 I'm ready to go. All right, Well, let's start with 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:51.160 the Aztecs and I'll come back to some of the 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:55.240 Mayan examples, but uh, just to refresh the Aztec world. 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:59.800 This flourished in the central Mexico from around thirteen hundred 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.840 to fifteen twenty one. They rose out of obscurity among 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:08.640 various indigenous peoples of the region and became a dominant power. Now, 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.920 civilizations are of course a human affair, but of course 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:16.280 they always entail other species, including domesticated plants and animals. 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.720 So we've discussed the importance of maize to the Aztecs 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.719 as well as other crops, but they also had some 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:27.080 domesticated animals. The their domestic animals included turkeys, which I 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.960 believe we discussed Aztecs and their turkeys in the past. 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:36.000 Also bees. I think there are some cases for ducks 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.800 and geese and maybe quail, but I see that in 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:40.960 some sources. But on the other so, I'm I'm not 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.640 entirely certain that that is a definite or or maybe 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:49.160 even a universal reality of of of Aztecs. Maybe there 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.440 were certain regions where they may have had some domestic 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.000 ducks and geese, but for the most part, when you 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:56.880 talk about the domesticated animals of the Aztecs, you're talking 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.920 about the turkey, you're talking about bees, and you're talking 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:05.240 about the dog, the old reliable, the dogs always there. Yes, yeah, 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.800 and and and I really think it's important to keep 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.440 in mind through all this that I think that's that 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.840 seems to be a universal thing. I think that Ultimately, 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:19.240 the way that like medieval Europeans viewed the dog is 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.960 largely in keeping with the way Aztecs and minds viewed 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.160 the dog as well. They're gonna be some differences as 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.319 well discuss, but I think ultimately there's a lot about 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.000 the dog being man's best friend in all of this. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:34.200 You know, the dog is the creature that sticks by you, 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:38.480 and and maybe ultimately like that is where we get 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:40.959 this idea of the dog carrying the flame, because who 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.520 else is going to carry the flame for humanity? Is 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:45.719 it going to be the cat? Now? So I was 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.880 reading about all of this in The Use and Significance 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:54.000 of Animals in Aztec Rituals by Maria Convalineri from twenty 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.280 from two thousand and nine, and she points out a 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:58.559 few important things here. First of all, she points out 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:02.319 that the Aztecs were really latively poor in domesticated animals 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.840 compared to various other cultures we might look to. Common 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:09.319 people would only eat meat on special occasions. They had 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:13.320 no draft animals. The turkey was ultimately their greatest domestic 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:16.559 meat source, and their eggs also provided protein. But they 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:20.120 also had dogs, and not merely one variety of dogs 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.240 or just dogs in the generic sense. They had several 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.480 varieties of dog, and one of these was apparently used 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:31.120 almost exclusively for food. And this was true of the 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:35.120 Mayans as well, as Alan Jay Christensen points out in 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.640 pople Vou, the Sacred Book of the Maya Volume one, 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.720 the Mayans also depended on the dog, the turkey, and 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.120 the honey bee. And these dogs were quote small, fat, 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.480 nearly hairless. Uh, and they didn't bark. But that but 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:50.360 here's the important thing to drive home is that they 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.200 weren't just it wasn't just a food species. They were 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.760 both food and pet. This was a creature that would 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.760 that was a companion that was a pet. But then 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:04.240 also under certain circumstances, again not every day, but but 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:08.560 but when necessary, it was also a food species. Now 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:11.960 some of the details of the Aztec dog, they were 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:16.800 apparently I'm reading three different rough varieties. There's the medium 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:20.800 sized furred dog. The it's quintly and this was also 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:22.840 a hunting dog. So that's an important thing to keep 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:25.840 in mind too, like the dog also has this purpose 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:27.720 and cultures around the world where it's helping us a 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:32.320 choir food. Then there is the medium sized hairless dog. 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:35.760 And this is the Showlitz quintly And this is um 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.560 this this would have been a dog that would have 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.880 been used as one of these these pets slash food dogs. 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.680 And then there's also a short legged, furred dog and 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.480 this is the cloud chee chee. And I'm reading that 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:50.960 this one might have also been a meat dog at 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:55.360 times as well. Now, according to UH Confelinary, it seems 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.080 that the hairless variety was primarily the food dog, at 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.960 least in some read but again only for special occasions. UH. 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:07.040 And there are Aztec depictions of their wrinkled hairless faces, 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.320 and these are worth looking up like it's it's undeniable, 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:11.840 Like this is not a um um, you know, a 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:15.200 loupine or type of a dog face. This is not 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.960 the face of a coyote. Coyotes were of course also 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.680 around in the wild. No, this is the face of 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:24.120 the domestic dog. And I do think we need to 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.280 be careful, of course, not to equate the consumption of 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.880 dog meat with cruelty to animals in this context, at 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.680 least no more than we might equate any traditional historic 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:38.880 meat consumption to cruelty, Because, as Confelinary stresses, these dogs 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:42.040 were also pets. Uh, certainly with the furred varieties, but 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:44.560 even the hairless ones, they would have been well treated, 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.280 and they fulfilled the role of both pet and food. 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.000 And there was a religious reason to treat dogs well, 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:53.840 be they you know, hunting dog or a dog that 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.480 would be used for for for food. At some point, 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.640 dogs were seen as psychopomps by the as text, which 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.160 is to say, it was the role of the dog 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:07.360 to shepherd the human soul across the ninefold stream to 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:14.240 reach the center of the underworld, the afterlife of Midland. Interesting. Yeah, 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:16.720 and in some accounts, you have to be very particular 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.600 about the color of the dog. I found this interesting. Uh. 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.960 The idea was that white dogs have just bathed, and 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.520 therefore they're not gonna enter the waters. They're not gonna 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:27.600 get you across the ninefold stream to the center of 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.760 the afterlife. Um. Black dogs, on the other hand, they 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:33.480 will cross, but they can only carry their own souls. 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:37.200 What you need is like a yellow dog. That's the 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.680 dog that's gonna get you across the ninefold stream. Uh, 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:44.680 that's gonna carry its own soul, but also yours. Interesting. Now, 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:49.080 Confolinari shares a great quote from twentieth century pre Columbian 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:52.000 art expert Elizabeth P. Benson on all of this, it 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.960 kind of sums up and extrapolates on why the dog. 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:59.440 Why is the dog the psychopomph? Benson wrote, dogs are 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:03.080 appropriate escorts for the dead. They walk with their noses 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:06.360 to the ground. They dig in the earth, barry bones 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:10.840 and hunt in burrows. They eat carrion and make themselves 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:14.040 smell of it. They have night vision. They howl at night. 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.879 They know what is there in the darkness relating to 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:21.280 the earth, the dead, things to sounds and smells that 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:26.120 are imperceptible to humans. Dogs have esoteric knowledge and special 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:30.639 connections with the underworld. Oh that's a wonderful observation about 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:34.560 the the inferred supernatural power of a dog, just because 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.719 of the different kind of sense realms a dog can 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:40.800 occupy that the dog detects something in the darkness before 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.520 you do. They hear it before you do. They might 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.040 be able to see or smell things that you can't see, 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:49.600 or smell, or certainly smell things you can't smell. So 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.840 you would you would agree with this as a dog owner? 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.400 Oh yeah, pretty much. Any dog owner, I think would 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:59.080 have the experience of the dog knows something around the 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:01.720 house is going on before you do. They know that 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:05.000 somebody is approaching the front door before you do, or 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.240 you take maybe you go out back in the darkness 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.639 and in the nighttime, and the dog knows something is 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.600 there that you don't detect in any way, and maybe 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.880 it's a possum on top of the offense or something. Um. 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.560 But but yeah, yeah, the the dog is aware of 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.119 things before you're aware of them, and sometimes things that 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:27.080 you never become aware of. Maybe it um it. It's 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:29.440 attention perks up and it barks at something in the 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:31.919 darkness that comes and goes and then it's gone and 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.680 you never see what it is. That could, given the 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:37.080 right mindset, leads someone to believe that the dog is 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.639 maybe interacting with spirits or interacting with with with something 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:44.280 beyond the human sense realm. Yeah, yeah, And of course 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.080 even if you're not going to the spiritual uh extreme 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:52.080 of that interpretation, undoubtedly the dog is a protector. The 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:56.119 dog is raising an alarm. Even if it can't bark, 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:58.639 it'll raise some sort of an alarm that's something is 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.359 perhaps there that shouldn't be Uh, it's gonna play a 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:07.879 role in protecting, uh, the domicile, perhaps also helping to 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.919 protect the crops to some degree. Yeah, so that's important 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:13.200 to keep in mind here as well. But there's another 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.119 thing mentioned in Benson's quote that is also interesting about 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:20.640 the association with with say death and carrion. I mean, 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:24.280 so as as beautiful and sweet and pure as as 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.320 dogs are, at least in my mind, they're also they're 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:31.359 interested in disgusting dead things that humans, that will make 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.120 the human senses revolt and that will make you want 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.520 to stay away. But the dog wants to approach. So 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:39.320 it makes sense. This is this is a world they 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:43.199 understand we may be repelled by. And therefore, who's going 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:45.400 to guide you through the realms of death? You're good, 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:47.719 old dog. Now. One of the issues here is that 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:50.600 the dog, if this dog is gonna guide you through 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.600 the afterlife, it also needs to cross over with you 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:55.720 as well. It needs to be buried with you. And 0:19:55.760 --> 0:20:06.119 thus dogs were also used in ritual sacrifice by the Aztects. 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:08.920 But where does fire come into all this, you're probably wondering. 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.320 So far this dog has not been running around with fire. Well, 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:15.160 we're gonna We're gonna get to that here um those 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:17.720 certainly the idea of the dog guiding you through a 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.639 dark underworld like that that already leans itself to interpretations 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:24.520 of a dog carrying some sort of fire, a dog 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:27.480 lighting the way and being your guide through the darkness. 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:30.639 So the next fact worth mentioning in all this current 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:35.880 concerns the Aztec god Sholatl, described guy by confolin Ary 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:42.560 as skeletal, dog faced, or dog bodied. Now Sholatl is 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:46.680 the twin of quetzal Codal, also described as the god 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:50.320 of monsters and the patron deity of twins, both human 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.520 twins and also just sort of general twinning in nature 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.639 anytime something seems to have a dual existence or nature, 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:00.359 and the connection here does seem to be to the 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:02.960 domestic dog too. When we're talking about this this god 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:06.320 being dog faced or dog bodied, it's not the coyotes face. 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:08.639 It's you know, which was a wild scavenger, and it 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:12.720 is also sometimes associated with the god of the smoking 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:18.520 near uh ts Catl Polka. Depictions of Cholatto, including one 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:22.359 discovered during the construction of the Mexico City subway system, 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:27.720 includes details clearly associated with the hairless, wrinkle face domestic dog. 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:31.399 So to be clear, food pet dog reflected in the 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:34.320 divine image here, not a wild dog or even a 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:38.240 hunting dog. This is uh, this is the the hairless, 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:41.159 wrinkly dog that is the face or even the body 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:44.400 of the divine So you've got a picture here of this, 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.040 this carving of the dog face. Yeah, and it is 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:50.080 unmistakably doggy because you see the wrinkles in the skin, 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:53.639 and you see the kind of relatively stubby snout compared 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.800 to what you'd see with like a wool for a coyote. Yeah. Yeah, 0:21:56.840 --> 0:21:59.360 absolutely so. So there doesn't seem to be any mystery 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:03.399 here concern earning this god's connection to the domestic dog. 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:06.520 So to the Aztecs, dogs were important. They were valued 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:10.280 for their companionship, their loyalty, their food value, their protective 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:13.200 nature to both the family and the crops. They were 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:16.040