Xipe Totec (pronounced Shee-PAY-toh-teck) was the Aztec god of fertility, fertility and agricultural renewal, as well as the patron saint of goldsmiths and other artisans. However, the name of this god actually means "our Lord of skinners" or "Lord of our skinners", which is closely related to the ritual celebration of Sipe and violence and death.
Xipe Totec takes its name from the myth that God peeled off his skin for human consumption. For the Aztecs, the removal of a layer of his skin by Xipe Totec symbolizes the event that must occur to produce the new growth that covers the earth every spring. More specifically, peeling is like the cycle of American corn in that it sheds its outer seed mulch as it prepares to germinate.
Key takeaways
· Xipe Totec ("Our King of Skinners") was the Aztec god of fertility, affluence and agricultural renewal
· He is most often depicted as a priest or shaman wearing another person's skin
· He is one of the four gods that make up the Aztec underworld
· Cult activities dedicated to Xipe Totec are gladiators and arrow festivals
Hippe and the cult of death
In Aztec mythology, Xipe was the son of the double god Ometeotl, a powerful fertility god and the oldest god in the Aztec pantheon. Xipe is one of four gods closely associated with death and the Aztec underworld: Mictlantecuhtli and his female counterparts Mictecacihuatl, Coatlicue, and Xipe Totec. The death worship surrounding these four gods was celebrated throughout the Aztec calendar year with many celebrations directly related to death and ancestor worship.
In the Aztec universe, death is not terrible, because the afterlife is a continuation of life in another realm. Those who die of natural causes only reach Mictlan (the underworld) after the soul has gone through nine levels of difficulties, which is a four-year journey. There, they forever remain the state in which they once lived. In contrast, those who die or die on the battlefield will spend eternity in the realms of Omejocan and Tralocan, two heavens.
Xipei cult activities
The cult event in honor of Xipe Totec includes two spectacular forms of sacrifice: the gladiator sacrifice and the arrow sacrifice. The gladiator sacrifice consisted of tying a particularly brave captive warrior to a huge carved round stone and forcing him into a mock battle with an experienced Mexican soldier. The victim is given a sword (macuahuitl) to fight, but the obsidian blade of the sword is replaced by a feather. His opponents are heavily armed, well-dressed and ready to fight.
In the "Arrow Sacrifice", the victim is unfolded and tied to a wooden frame, and then shot with arrows, causing his blood to drip to the ground.
Sacrifice and peeling
However, Xipe Totec is most often associated with a sacrifice by Mexican archaeologist Alfredo López Austin, known as the "master of the skin". The victims of this sacrifice will be killed, and then skinned - their skin is stripped off in large pieces. These skins are painted during ceremonies and then worn by others, in this way they will become a living image of Xipe Totec ("teotl ixiptla").
Ceremonies held in the early spring months of Tlacaxipeualiztli include the "Peeling Man Day" named after the month. The ceremony was witnessed by rulers or nobles of entire cities and rival tribes. In this ceremony, enslaved people or captured warriors of surrounding tribes are dressed up as "living images" of Sipetotek. The victims incarnate as gods and are guided through a series of rituals, playing Sipetotek, before offering them sacrifices and distributing their body parts to the community.
Pan-Central American Xipe Totec image
The plate depicts the god of the earth and spring and is known as Xipe Totec, "our Lord skinner". Museo Nacional de Antropologia (Museum of Anthropology), Aztec civilization, 15th century, Mexico City, Mexico City. DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI / DE AGOSTINI Images Gallery / Getty Images
The image of Xipe Totec is easily recognizable in statues, figurines and other portraits, as his body is depicted as completely covered by the skin of the sacrificed victim. Other "living images" depicted in masks and statues used by Aztec clergy show dead faces, crescent-shaped eyes and open mouths; Skinned hands, sometimes decorated with fish scales, were often draped over God's hands.
The mouth and lips of the peeled Xipe mask extend widely around the imitator's mouth, sometimes with bare teeth or a somewhat protruding tongue. Usually, a painted hand covers an open mouth. Hippe wears a red "swallowtail" headdress, a red ribbon or conical hat, and a zabut-leaf skirt. He wears a flat, disc-shaped collar, which some scholars interpret as the neck of a skinned victim, and his face has red and yellow stripes.
Xipe Totec also often holds a cup in one hand and a shield in the other; But in some descriptions, Xipe holds a chichahuaztli, a dot with a hollow rattling head at the end, filled with pebbles or seeds. In Toltec art, Xipe is associated with bats, and sometimes bat icons decorate statues.
The origin of Sibe
The Aztec god Xipe Totec is apparently a late version of the pan-Mesoamerican god, and striking images of earlier versions of Xipe appear in places such as the classic Mayan representation on Copan Stela3, and may be related to the Mayan god Q, who died violently and executed.
Swedish archaeologist Sigvald Linné also found a crushed version of Xipe Totec in Teotihuacan, illustrating stylistic features of Zapotec art in Oaxaca. The four-foot (1.2 m) tall statue has been reconstructed and is currently on display at the National Museum of Anthropology (INAH) in Mexico City.
It is believed that Xipe Totec was introduced to the Aztec Pantheon during the kingdom of Emperor Axayácatl (reigned 1468-1481). This deity is the patron saint of the city of Cempoala, the capital of the Totonak people in the postclassic period, and is believed to have been adopted from there.