Xipe Totec

Xipe Totec
Pre-Columbian Mexican god of spring and of new vegetation; he is also the patron of precious metals.

Originating with the Zapotec Indians, he was adopted by the Aztecs. A symbol of new vegetation, he is always depicted in art wearing a freshly flayed skin, representing the "new skin" that covers the earth in spring. In the second ritual month of the Aztec calendar, priests sacrificed human victims by removing their hearts or shooting them with arrows, flayed the bodies, and put on the skins, which were dyed yellow and called "golden clothes."

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▪ Aztec deity
Nahuatl“Our Lord the Flayed One”
 Mesoamerican god of spring and new vegetation and patron of goldsmiths. Xipe Totec was venerated by the Toltecs (Toltec) and Aztecs (Aztec). As a symbol of the new vegetation, Xipe Totec wore the skin of a human victim—the “new skin” that covered the Earth in the spring. His statues and stone masks always show him wearing a freshly flayed skin.

      Representations of Xipe Totec first appeared at Xolalpan, near Teotihuacán, and at Texcoco, in connection with the Mazapan culture—that is, during the post-Classic Toltec phase (9th–12th century AD). The Aztecs adopted his cult during the reign of Axayacatl (1469–81). During Tlacaxipehualiztli (“Flaying of Men”), the second ritual month of the Aztec year, the priests killed human (human sacrifice) victims by removing their hearts. They flayed the bodies and put on the skins, which were dyed yellow and called teocuitlaquemitl (“golden clothes”). Other victims were fastened to a frame and put to death with arrows; their blood dripping down was believed to symbolize the fertile spring rains. A hymn sung in honour of Xipe Totec called him Yoalli Tlauana (“Night Drinker”) because beneficent rains fell during the night; it thanked him for bringing the Feathered Serpent, who was the symbol of plenty, and for averting drought.

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Universalium. 2010.

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