According to an ancient Mexican belief, to reach the underworld you must cross a river with the help of a dog. Fans of Pixar’s Coco know that this is not just any dog, but a xoloitzcuintle, one of the oldest dog breeds in the world, traditionally attributed the ability to guide the souls of the deceased on their final journey to the afterlife.
This autumn, you don’t need to travel to Mexico to discover this fascinating journey, as Las Rozas Village transports us once again to the culture of this North American country. Under the title Day of the Dead. A Journey Between Worlds, the Madrid-based Village invites visitors to dive into the spiritual and artistic universe of this festival, recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. An opportunity to look beyond its well-known aesthetics and uncover the stories, the symbols, and the ancestral knowledges hidden behind a celebration that has generations turning the memory of the departed into a reason for gathering.
The Las Rozas Village experience unfolds in four stages that symbolically recreate the passage between life and death. The first, Death, introduces us to a vision of the afterlife that does not view death as a definitive rupture. The second, The Guide, centers on the xoloitzcuintle, that distinctive hairless dog which, according to Mexica mythology, helped souls cross the waters that separate the earthly world from Mictlán, the underworld. Next comes The Guardian of the Threshold, depicted by the jaguar, one of the most powerful animals in the Mesopotamian, er, Mesoamerican imaginary, associated with the night, with power, and with the supernatural world. The journey ultimately leads to The Altar, where offerings and personal objects materialize one of the most moving ideas of the Day of the Dead: that the bond with those who have departed remains alive as long as someone keeps their memory alive.
