translated from Spanish: Peruvian Viringo: how this hairless dog became Peru’s cultural heritage

Although the name Sumac means “pretty” in the Quechua language, native to Peru, there is one thing that cannot be denied: it is ugly.
It is a “Peruvian hairless bitch”, wrinkled skin and some scattered locks.
Sumac and his other hairless friend, Munay – meaning “loved by everyone” – spend their days wandering around their home: the ancient pyramid of Huaca Pucllana, in Lima.
This unique dog breed – which a few decades ago was on the brink of extinction – now inhabits some of the most important and historical places in Peru. This is because in 2000 the government of that country declared dogs without fur part of the national cultural heritage.
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A year later, the government announced that at least one dog of this breed – also called Viringo Peruano-, had to live in each of the archaeological museums along the Peruvian coast.
The goal, says Huaca Pucllana archaeologist Mirella Ganoza, was to recover a piece of Peruvian culture before it completely vanished.
“What we started to realize is that having them here was having something of our own,” she says.
“It’s a way of showing our identity,” he adds.
“Satanic Creatures”
They are called “primitive dogs” because they are among a small set of breeds whose genetic characteristics have not changed in thousands of years. The hairless dog was once an essential part of Peru’s culture dating back thousands of years back to pre-Columbian times.
The so-called Peruvian Viringo often appeared in the paintings, ceramics and iconography of the Inca, Moche, Wari and Chimú cultures, always portrayed as a companion and as bald as an eagle.
Breeders call them “primitive dogs” because they are among a small set of breeds whose genetic characteristics have not changed for thousands of years of existence.
So much so that they have even come to be said to be “as important as Machu Picchu” to Peruvian culture.
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When the Spanish conquistadors arrived on the shores of Peru in 1532, these dogs were very common.
With their teeth and tongues protruding, and their skin black and stained, when the Spaniards saw these animals without fur they thought they were very ugly, and decided that they were evil and that they should be eliminated.
Sumac and Munay wear T-shirts with the colors of the Peruvian flag.” They (the Spaniards) thought they were satanic, that’s what Catholics called them,” says Mirella Ganoza. “They thought these dogs had something sinister inside them because they were so strange.”
Over the centuries, dogs died slowly and disappeared from the public consciousness.
They were no longer beloved Peruvian pets, but bald street dogs ignored and disengaged from culture. The archaeologist recalls that as a child she was told that they were “Chinese dogs” brought by a wave of immigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Return point
But that began to change in the 1990s when some organizations began defending dogs and thus re-entered the homes and hearts of Peruvians.
Sumac has become a dog much loved by the workers of the archaeological site. Then, when the Peruvian government established the law requiring dogs like Sumac and Munay to live on archaeological museum sites, it was a turning point.
Today, the breed is widely adored throughout Peru.
The country established the National Committee for the Protection of the Peruvian Dog Without Hair and on June 12th -date on which this can was recognized as an official breed-, its day is officially celebrated.
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“They love me very much”
In the ancient pyramid of Huaca Pucllana, Sumac and Munay are loved by tourists and park workers.
The dogs roam this huge pyramid of clay and adobe, built around 500 AD by a pre-Inca indigenous civilization. They run along their fence, barking at dogs and passing people.
Dogs wear T-shirts with the colors of the Peruvian flag. Sumac, three, jumps around the park’s workers, while Munay, 10, approaches tourists asking for love, with the nervous tail between their legs.
They follow archaeologists as they continue to excavate the ruins and tour guides occasionally stop to explain the history of the breed.
The history of the race of Sumac and Munay is part of the guided tours of the museum. Sumac and Munay have even adopted a “mother”: park worker Delia Zyomee Huemon, 53, who hugs Sumac while the dog playfully chews the sleeve of her jacket.
“In the morning I clean their beds and prepare their food. I also have to clean other animals’ pens and they always follow me,” he says, looking at the dog. “They love me very much.”
While dogs can sometimes be naughty, they embody something bigger for the park, mirella Ganoza argues.
“The idea was to convey this information about our culture,” Ganoza says. “By having the dogs present here, with the simple fact that people see them, we pass on their story.”

Original source in Spanish