Xipe Totec

In Aztec mythology and religion, Xipe Totec ("Fleeced-Lord") was a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, disease, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths and the seasons.Fernández 1992, 1996, pp.60-63. Matos Moctezuma 1988, p.181. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.54-5. Fleeced-Lord was also known by the alternative names Tlatlauhca, Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca ("Red Smoking Mirror") and Youalahuan ("the Night Drinker").Fernández 1992, 1996, p.60. Neumann 1976, p.255. The Tlaxcaltecs and the Huexotzincas worshipped a version of the deity under the name of Camaxtli,Fernández 1992, 1996, p.60-1. and the god has been identified with Yopi, a Zapotec god represented on Classic Period urns.Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.188. The female equivalent of Fleeced-Lord was the goddess Xilonen-Chicomecoatl.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.426.
Fleeced-Lord flayed himself to give food to humanity, symbolic of the way maize seeds lose their outer layer before germination and of snakes shedding their skin. Without his skin, he was depicted as a golden god. Fleeced-Lord was believed by the Aztecs to be the god that invented war.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.423. He had a temple called Yopico within the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan.
This deity is of uncertain origin. Fleeced-Lord was widely worshipped in central Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest, and was known throughout most of Mesoamerica.Fernández 1992, 1996, p.60. Representations of the god have been found as far away as Mayapan in the Yucatán Peninsula.Milbrath & Peraza Lope 2003, pp.19, 23, 26. The worship of Fleeced-Lord was common along the Gulf Coast during the Early Postclassic. The deity probably became an important Aztec god as a result of the Aztec conquest of the Gulf Coast in the middle of the fifteenth century.
==Attributes==
Fleeced-Lord is represented wearing a flayed human skin, usually with the flayed skin of the hands falling loose from the wrists. His body is often painted yellow on one side and tan on the other,Fernández 1992, 1996, p.60. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.422. although sometimes the body of the god is painted red under the flayed skin.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.422. He frequently had vertical stripes running down from his forehead to his chin, running across the eyes. He was sometimes depicted with a yellow shield and carrying a container filled with seeds.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.468. It is likely that sculptures of Fleeced-Lord were ritually dressed in the flayed skin of sacrificial victims.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.171.
==Symbolism==
The worshippers of Fleeced-Lord emerging from the rotting, flayed skin after twenty days symbolised rebirth and the renewal of the seasons, the casting off of the old and the growth of new vegetation.Fernández 1992, 1996, p.62. The living god lay concealed underneath the superficial veneer of death, ready to burst forth like a germinating seed.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.324 The deity also had a malevolent side and Fleeced-Lord was said to afflict mortals with rashes, abscesses and skin and eye infections.
The flayed skins were believed to have curative properties when touched and mothers took their children to touch such skins in order to relieve their ailments.Matos Moctezuma 1988, p.188. People wishing to be cured made offerings to him at Yopico.
==Annual festival==
The annual festival of Fleeced-Lord was celebrated on the spring equinox before the onset of the rainy season, it was known as Tlacaxipehualiztli ("flaying of men in honour of Xipe") and fell in March at the time of the Conquest.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.422, 468. Smith 1996, 2003, p.252. Annually, slaves or captives were selected as sacrifices to Fleeced-Lord.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.422 After having the heart cut out, the body was carefully flayed to produce a nearly whole skin which was then worn by the priests for twenty days during the fertility rituals that followed the sacrifice. The skins were often adorned with bright feathers and gold jewellery when worn.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.478 The Tlacaxipehualiztli festival both began and culminated with a "gladiator sacrifice" ritual.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.422. Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.188. During the festival, victorious warrior wearing flayed skins carried out mock skirmishes throughout Tenochtitlan, they passed through the city begging alms and blessed whoever gave them food or other offerings. When the twenty day festival was over, the flayed skins were removed and stored in special containers with tight-fitting lids designed to stop the stench of putrefaction from escaping. These containers were then stored in a chamber beneath the temple.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.423
Some accounts indicate that a thigh bone from the sacrifice was defleshed and used by the priest to touch spectators in a fertility blessing. Paintings and several clay figures have been found which illustrate the flaying method and the appearance of priests wearing flayed skins.
==Human sacrifice==
Various methods of human sacrifice were used to honour this god. The flayed skins were often taken from sacrificial victims who had their hearts cut out, and some representations of Fleeced-Lord show a stitched-up wound in the chest.
"Gladiator sacrifice" is the name given to the form of sacrifice in which an especially courageous war captive was given mock weapons, tied to a large circular stone and forced to fight against a fully armed Aztec warrior. As a weapon he was given a macuahuitl (a wooden sword with blades formed from obsidian) with the obsidian blades replaced with feathers.Smith 1996, 2003, p.218. A white cord was tied either around his waist or his ankle, binding him to the sacred temalacatl stone.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.451-2. At the end of the Tlacaxipehualiztli festival, gladiator sacrifice (known as tlauauaniliztli) was carried out by five Aztec warriors; two jaguar warriors, two eagle warriors and a fifth, left-handed warrior.
"Arrow sacrifice" was another method used by the worshippers of Fleeced-Lord. The sacrificial victim was bound spread-eagled to a wooden frame, he was then shot with many arrows so that his blood spilled onto the ground.
Other forms of sacrifice were sometimes used; at times the victim was cast into a firepit and burned, others had their throats cut.
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Category:Aztec gods