XIPE TOTEC: MEANING, MYTHOLOGY AND TEMPLES - HISTORY - 2024

Xipe Tótec, whose name means in Nahuatl "our lord the flayed one", was the Aztec god of agriculture, disease, vegetation, the East, and goldsmiths. This deity represents the renewal and spiritual nature of people, as well as the abandonment of what is not useful.

According to mythology, Xipe Tótec skinned while alive and gouged out his eyes so that humanity could feed on his skin. In addition, the god used a musical instrument in the form of a sunbeam, the chicahuaztli, to attract rain and make the corn crops more abundant.

Xipe Totec in the Bourbon Codex - Source: Unknown / Public domain

According to experts, the origin of this god was Yope, one of the cultures settled in present-day Mexico before the arrival of the Spanish. It was one of the four Tezcatlipocas, the gods who made the universe. In addition to the Mexica, Xipe Tótec was also present in the Zapotec pantheon.

Xipe Tótec was the protagonist of one of the most important festivals for the Mexica. This was celebrated in March, during the spring equinox. During it, military victories were commemorated and the god was honored through a skinning ritual called Tlacaxipehualiztli.

Xipe Tótec, "Our Lord the Flayed One"

Xipe Tótec, also called Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca -Tezcatlipoca Rojo, was, according to mythology, the son of the first two gods, Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl. As such, he was the brother of Huitzilopochtli and one of the four Tezcatlipocas who created the universe.

Huitzilopochtli. Source: This image was created with Adobe Photoshop.

His name can be translated from Nahuatl as “our lord the flayed one”. For the Mexica, he was the deity in charge of the regeneration of corn and war, new vegetation and spring. Thus, he was considered a god of fertility, in addition to being the patron of goldsmiths.

The Mexica began to worship Xipe Tótec during the mandate of Axayácatl, between 1469 and 1481.

According to the chronicles of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, the Mexica represented Xipe Tótec wearing a skin dyed yellow. This skin had belonged to a warrior who sacrificed himself to worship the god.

The face, for its part, had 3 red lines painted and its head was adorned with a crown. In her hand she held a shield (chimalli) and completed her clothing with a skirt made of sapote leaves.

Representation

Illustration by Xipe Tótec. Katepanomegas / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

Xipe Tótec, within Aztec beliefs, represented the masculine part of the world, fertility, tender corn, abundance, love and fertility.

The god appeared in his representations with a chicahuaztli, a kind of rattle used to summon rain. In addition, his figure appeared covered with the flayed skin of a human and, on some occasions, had some animal attributes.

On her head she wore a colored hood, with tassels hanging down her back. Her clothing was completed with green skirts that covered her to the knees. The god wore gold earmuffs and his hair was divided by two braids.

Myth

The mythology about Xipe Tótec tells how, at the beginning of creation, the god tore out his own eyes and skinned himself alive so that the corn could germinate and, thus, humanity could feed itself.

Experts consider that this story was loaded with symbolism: the skin would represent the covering of the seed while it germinates, as well as the covering of the corn when it is removed to eat the cereal.

As a reward for the sacrifice of Xipe Tótec, the rest of the gods granted him a pure spirit. This was reflected in her golden blanket.

Worship of Xipe Tótec

Xipe Tótec, National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Wolfgang Sauber / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Some old chronicles allow to know how was the festival that was celebrated in the month of March to honor Xipe Tótec. This celebration, called Tlacaxipehualiztli, included the performance of human sacrifices. The victims were skinned and the meat was used as clothing for the priests.

Although there is no confirmation, historians think that those sacrificed were warriors from other peoples captured in combat and that they were kept in captivity especially for the Tlacaxipehualiztli. Likewise, it is believed that those who captured these warriors kept their skins to wear.

One of the fragments of the hymn to Xipe Tótec said the following: “I am the tender plant of corn, from your mountains your god comes to see you, my life will be refreshed and the new man will be strengthened. He who commands the war was born ”.

Xipe Tótec in different cultures

The Aztec Empire considered the south to be an evil place, something that some experts explain by the aridity of the southern lands of Puebla and Morelos. For that reason, they had protective gods that safeguarded them from any danger. Among them was Xipe Tótec, whom they associated with rebirth and vegetation.

The Aztecs were not the only ones to adopt Xipe Tótec as their god. In the northwest of the Valley of Mexico, they also worshiped the god. Thus, life-size representations of this flayed deity have been found.

Likewise, a smaller figure has been found holding a Zapotec-style glass in one of its hands.

These findings have led specialists to affirm that the cult of Xipe Tótec was born in Oaxaca, where the Mixtecs and Zapotecs resided.

The people who are pointed out as the initiator of the Xipe cult were the yopes. These inhabited a strip on the Pacific coast and were never conquered by the Mexica.

First temple dedicated Xipe Tótec

A new archaeological find made in 2019 offered new details about the Xipe Tótec cult. Thus, that year a temple dedicated to the god was found in the archaeological area of ​​Ndachjian-Tehuacán (south of Puebla), an area inhabited by the Popolocas, a people who descended from the Olmecs.

The temple, according to research, is the oldest dedicated to Xipe Tótec and dates back to the 10th or 11th century. In total, it is supposed to be 12 meters long and three and a half meters high.

The excavations uncovered two sacrificial altars, as well as three stone sculptures. Two of these sculptures represent skinned skulls and weigh about 200 kilograms. The third, for its part, is a torso covered with a skin.

The Popolocas honored Xipe Tótec so that he would improve the fertility of their lands and increase harvests.

References

1. Original towns. Xipe Totec. Obtained from pueblosoriginario.com
2. EcuRed. Xipe Totec. Obtained from ecured.cu
3. Corona, Sonia. Found in Mexico the first temple to the god of skinning, Xipe Tótec. Obtained from elpais.com
4. Cartwright, Mark. Xipe Totec. Retrieved from ancient.eu
5. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Xipe Totec. Retrieved from britannica.com
6. Meehan, Evan. Xipe Totec. Retrieved from mythopedia.com
7. Maestri, Nicoletta. Xipe Totec: Grisly Aztec God of Fertility and Agriculture. Retrieved from thoughtco.com