Ancient religions have stories that speak of the life of the gods. These myths were created to respond to phenomena and circumstances that for our ancestors were inexplicable. In Supercurioso we have seen how the Greeks explained the existence of the Echo based on the myth of a nymph and on this occasion we want to approach Xipe Totec who was a god who shared several mythologies pre-Columbian . We find it in Aztec mythology, zapotec and yopi. Xipe Tótec was the god of the East, of the place where the Sun rises, and also represented the renewal and detachment of all that is no longer useful. Join us to know the legend of Xipe Totec and the sacrifices for skinning. Horrifying!
The legend of Xipe Totec
In Aztec mythology the world was divided among 4 gods of a primal couple following the four cardinal points. Among these four important gods was Xipe Tótec dominating the East. It was the pattern of artisans, dance, agriculture, tender corn, fertility and love, wealth, sacrifice, healing and, in general, the masculine part of the universe. He also presided over the rites of initiation of the warriors.
His name literally meant "our lord the skinned" and he was depicted covered with a flayed human skin that signified renewal and rebirth. This way of presenting it obeyed the legend of Xipe Tótec . The myth of Xipe Tótec He tells us that this god was skinned alive to offer his first food to men. In the beginnings of humanity there was nothing to eat and Xipe Tótec He sacrificed himself to get food. He tore out his eyes and skinned himself alive so that the grain of corn could germinate. This fact seems to have its parallelism in the fact that corn seeds lose their outer layer before germinating and serving as food. It was also related to snakes, since they lose their skin to regenerate and somehow this cutaneous renewal was associated with the cure of some diseases that are attributed to Xipe Tópec .
The sacrifices for skinning
The annual festival or festival in honor of Xipe Tótec It was celebrated at the spring equinox before the arrival of the rains and was called "Tlacaxipehualizti". The main sacrifice was a tribute to his dedication to men; as he had skinned himself to provide food for humans, victims were chosen among the slaves captured in the wars against neighboring towns and were flayed alive. Some historians claim that first the heart was torn and then the skin. The belief was that this action would provide happiness, good harvests and also the cure of certain ailments such as smallpox, eye problems or different dermatoses. Those affected by these diseases were covered with the flayed skin of one of the slaughtered.
That flayed skin symbolized also the "new skin" that would cover and change the earth when spring arrives. Curiously, the Aztecs believed that it was a great honor to be skinned for the god and they chose the best captive warriors and prepared them for days to be sacrificed.
Other human sacrifices dedicated to the god Xipe Totec
In addition to the victims of the skinning, some prisoners / slaves were chosen to face a ritual battle with the village warriors. This unequal combat is known as "gladiator fight". The slave was tied to a ritual stone, given simulated weapons and had to face the warrior who fought with real weapons. It represented the combat between winter and spring, in which the latter always wins.
The last of the human sacrifices dedicated to this divinity was the asaetamiento. The skinned skin, after about 20 days, was thrown into a kind of chamber in which historians believe that the Sun stone.
Next to her, tied with arms crossed, an indeterminate number of slaves were placed to shoot arrows so that the blood that flowed from the wounds fell where the human skins were. The blood symbolized the spring rain on the fields, so necessary to obtain a good harvest.
Attributes of Xipe Totec
In addition to the flayed human skin, which used to be painted yellow in the representations of the god, among the most common attributes was the rattle to call the rain and the snake because it sheds the skin. He wore a cape and a striped hat with tassels and in his hands he carried a sort of scepter containing the seed. To make more realistic the fact that it is covered by a human skin, at the height of the wrists there were faint and lifeless hands that represented the epidermis of the extremities of the skinning.
The Aztecs were not the only ones who worshiped God Xipe Tótec , but also the Mexicas they adopted him as one of their own during the rule of the Axayáctl emperor. Do you concede to Xipe Tótec ? Did you know that you were offered this type of human sacrifices ? If you have more information about this god, share them with us!