Xipe Totec
Xipe-Totec | |
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God of ritual flaying and agriculture, lord of seasons, regeneration and crafts, patron of goldsmiths. Huitzilopochtli (Codex Zumarraga)[2] | |
Children | None |
In
Xipe Totec connected agricultural renewal with warfare.
This deity is of uncertain origin. Xipe Totec was widely worshipped in central
In January 2019, Mexican archaeologists from the
Etymology
Xipe Totec or Xipetotec
Originally the name of the first son of the creative couple
It's difficult to discern if Camaxtle is the same Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca-Xipetotec or Yayauhqui
Attributes
Xipe Totec appears in codices with his right hand upraised and his left hand extending towards the front.[25] Xipe Totec is represented wearing flayed human skin, usually with the flayed skin of the hands falling loose from the wrists.[26] His hands are bent in a position that appears to possibly hold a ceremonial object.[27] His body is often painted yellow on one side and tan on the other.[26] His mouth, lips, neck, hands and legs are sometimes painted red. In some cases, some parts of the human skin covering is painted yellowish-gray. The eyes are not visible, the mouth is open and the ears are perforated.[27] He frequently had vertical stripes running down from his forehead to his chin, running across the eyes.[11] He was sometimes depicted with a yellow shield and carrying a container filled with seeds.[28] One Xipe Totec sculpture was carved from volcanic rock, and portrays a man standing on a small pedestal. The chest has an incision, made in order to extract the heart of the victim before flaying. It is likely that sculptures of Xipe Totec were ritually dressed in the flayed skin of sacrificial victims and wore sandals.[29][30] In most of Xipe Totec sculptures, artists always make emphasis in his sacrificial and renewal nature by portraying the different layers of skin.
Symbolism
Xipe Totec emerging from 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.[15] New vegetation was represented by putting on the new skin of a flayed captive because it symbolized the vegetation the earth puts on when the rain comes.[31] The living god lay concealed underneath the superficial veneer of death, ready to burst forth like a germinating seed.[32] The deity also had a malevolent side as Xipe Totec was said to cause rashes, pimples, inflammations and eye infections.[15]
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.[33] People wishing to be cured made offerings to him at Yopico.[11]
Annual festival
The annual festival of Xipe Totec was celebrated on the
The goldsmiths also participated in Tlacaxipehualizti. They had a feast called Yopico every year in the temple during the month of Tlacaxipehualizti. A satrap was adorned in the skin taken from one of the captives in order to appear like Xipe Totec. On the dress, they put a crown made of rich feathers, which was also a wig of false hair. Gold ornaments were put in the nose and nasal septum. Rattles were put in the right hand and a gold shield was put in the left hand, while red sandals were put on their feet decorated with quail-feathers. They also wore skirts made of rich feathers and a wide gold necklace. They were seated and offered Xipe Totec an uncooked tart of ground maize, many ears of corn that had been broken apart in order to get to the seeds, along with fruits and flowers. The deity was honored with a dance and ended in a war exercise.[43]
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 Xipe Totec show a stitched-up wound in the chest.[44]
"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
"Arrow sacrifice" was another method used by the worshippers of Xipe Totec. 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.[45] The spilling of the victim's blood to the ground was symbolic of the desired abundant rainfall, with a hopeful result of plentiful crops.[47] After the victim was shot with the arrows, the heart was removed with a stone knife. The flayer then made a laceration from the lower head to the heels and removed the skin in one piece. These ceremonies went on for twenty days, meanwhile the votaries of the god wore the skins.[48]
Another instance of sacrifice was done by a group of metalworkers who were located in the town of Azcapotzalco, who held Xipe Totec in special veneration.[49] Xipe was a patron to all metalworkers (teocuitlapizque), but he was particularly associated with the goldsmiths.[50] Among this group, those who stole gold or silver were sacrificed to Xipe Totec. Before this sacrifice, the victims were taken through the streets as a warning to others.[49]
Other forms of sacrifice were sometimes used; at times the victim was cast into a firepit and burned, others had their throats cut.[45]
See also
Notes
- ^ "Xipe Totec | Aztec deity | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
- ^ ISBN 970-07-3149-9.
- ^ a b Robelo 1905, p. 768.
- ^ Marshall Saville, 1929, p. 155.
- ^ Fernández 1992, 1996, pp.60-63. Matos Moctezuma 1988, p.181. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.54-5. Neumann 1976, pp.252.
- ^ Ceram, C. W. (1967). Gods, Graves, and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology. Translated by Garside, E. B.; Wilkins, Sophie (2nd ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 411.
- ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.426.
- ^ Evans and Webster 2001, p. 107.
- ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.423.
- ^ Toby Evans & David Webster, 2001, p.107
- ^ a b c d e f g Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.188.
- ISBN 978-1-136-80185-3.
- ^ worldhistory.org
- ]
- ^ a b c Fernández 1992, 1996, p.62.
- )
- ^ Fernández 1992, 1996, p.60.
- ^ Wade, Lizzie, Archaeologists have found a temple to the ‘Flayed Lord’ in Mexico, Science, January 4, 2019
- TheGuardian.com. 3 January 2019.
- ^ Fernández 1992, 1996, p.60. Neumann 1976, p.255.
- ^ Brinton, Daniel G. (April 17, 2021). "XV. Hymn to a Night-God".
- ^ Fernández 1992, 1996, p.60-1.
- ^ ISBN 968-38-0306-7.
- ISBN 968-35-0093-5.
- ^ Marshall Saville, 1929, p.155.
- ^ a b Fernández 1992, 1996, p.60. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.422.
- ^ a b Marshall H. Saville 1929, p.156.
- ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.468.
- ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.171.
- ^ Marshall H. Saville 1929, p.155.
- ^ Michael D. Coe & Rex Koontz 1962, 1977, 1984, 1994, 2002, 2008, p.207.
- ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.324
- ^ Matos Moctezuma 1988, p.188.
- ^ Marshall Saville, p. 167.
- ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.422, 468. Smith 1996, 2003, p.252.
- ^ Marshall Saville, 1929, p. 171.
- ^ Franke J. Neumann 1976, p. 254. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.422. Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.188.
- ^ Marshall Saville, 1929, p. 167-168.
- ^ a b Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.422
- ^ Franke J. Neumann 1976, p. 254.
- ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.478
- ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.423
- ^ Marshall Saville, 1929, p. 169-170.
- ^ a b Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.422.
- ^ a b c Smith 1996, 2003, p.218.
- ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.451-2.
- ^ Marshall Saville, 1929, p.164.
- ^ Marshall Saville, 1929, p.173-174.
- ^ a b Marshall Saville, 1929, p.165.
- ^ Franke J. Neumann 1976, p. 255.
References
- OCLC 2008901003.
- Evans, Toby & Webster, David (2001). Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central American Encyclopedia. New York: ISBN 978-0-8153-0887-4.
- Fernández, Adela (1996) [1992]. Dioses Prehispánicos de México (in Spanish). Mexico City: Panorama Editorial. OCLC 59601185.
- OCLC 17968786.
- OCLC 56096386.
- Milbrath, Susan; Carlos Peraza Lopez (2003). "Revisiting Mayapan: Mexico's last Maya capital". Ancient Mesoamerica. 14. S2CID 154673143.
- OCLC 28801551.
- Museo de América. "Museo de América (Catalogue - item 1991/11/48)" (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
- Neumann, Franke J. (February 1976). "The Flayed God and His Rattle-Stick: A Shamanic Element in Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican Religion". History of Religions. 15 (3). Chicago, IL: S2CID 162229413.
- Robelo, Cecilio Agustín (1905). Diccionario de Mitología Nahua (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Biblioteca Porrúa. Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnología. ISBN 978-9684327955.
- Saville, Marshall (1929). "Saville 'Aztecan God Xipe Totec". Indian Notes(1929). Museum of the American Indian: 151–174.
- Smith, Michael E. (2003) [1996]. The Aztecs (second ed.). Malden MA; Oxford and Carlton, Australia: OCLC 59452395.
Further reading
- Mencos, Elisa (2010). B. Arroyo; A. Linares; L. Paiz (eds.). "Las representaciones de Xipe Totec en la frontera sur Mesoamericana" [The Representations of Xipe Totec on the southern frontier of Mesoamerica] (PDF). XXIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2009 (in Spanish). Guatemala City: Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología: 1259–1266. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-03. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
- Pareyon, Gabriel (2006). "La música en la fiesta del dios Xipe Totec" (PDF). Proceedings of the 3rd National Forum of Mexican Music, 3 (2007) (in Spanish). Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas: 2–17. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 20, 2011.
External links
- Media related to Xipe Totec at Wikimedia Commons