Xipe Totec, the Aztec god of spring and regeneration, appears in many Mesoamerican cults. Xipe Totec was believed by the Aztecs to be the god that invented war. Xipe of Xipe-Totec is een godheid uit de Azteekse mythologie.Hij was een god die heerste over de drie-eenheid van leven, dood en wederopstanding.Hij regeerde over de landbouw en de seizoenen.Zijn macht werd zeer gevreesd, want de offers die hij vroeg waren hoog. His mouth, lips, neck, hands and legs are sometimes painted red. No need to register, buy now! Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.422. Xipe Totec was the divine embodiment of life emerging from the dead land and of the new plant sprouting from the seed.In this sculpture, the face of a living being is seen behind the mouth and eye openings of the sacrificial victim, whose skin is laced together by cords at the back of the wearer’s skull. Xipe Totec was widely worshipped in central Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest, and …

In most artistic portrayals, Xipe Totec wore a suit of flayed skin that was typically yellow or golden in color; his own exposed skin was usually shown in red.
Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.188. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.422.Michael D. Coe & Rex Koontz 1962, 1977, 1984, 1994, 2002, 2008, p.207.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.422, 468. This deity is of uncertain origin. His statues and stone masks always show him wearing a freshly flayed skin. In some cases, some parts of the human skin covering is painted yellowish … Xipe Totec, the Aztec god of spring and regeneration, appears in many Mesoamerican cults. Neumann 1976, pp.252.Fernández 1992, 1996, p.60. Similar lacing is also seen on the chest, amid the vigorously articulated body covering. Please review our new visitor guidelines and facility updates prior to your visit. As a symbol of the new vegetation, Xipe Totec wore the skin of a human victim—the “new skin” that covered the Earth in the spring. During the corn-planting festival, Xipe Totec was worshipped by a priest who, dressed in the skin of a flayed victim, ritually enacted the death-and-renewal cycle of the earth. Xipe Totec's suits of flesh were quite intricate and included stitching over the chest where the sacrificial victim’s heart was removed prior to the flaying. In Toltec art, Xipe is associated with bats and sometimes bat icons decorate the statues. According to the Codex Ramirez, Xipe Totec was “born of a ruddy color all over,” thus explaining his title of Red Tezcatlipoca. Matos Moctezuma 1988, p.181. The "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. Huge collection, amazing choice, 100+ million high quality, affordable RF and RM images. His hands are bent in a position that appears to possibly hold a ceremonial object. His body is often painted yellow on one side and tan on the other.


He was considered the god of spring, the patron god of seeds and planting and the patron of metal workers (especially goldsmiths) and gemstone workers. Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.54-5. Xipe Totec was venerated by the Toltecs and Aztecs. Xipe Totec is represented wearing flayed human skin, usually with the flayed skin of the hands falling loose from the wrists. Xipe Totec (pron. Smith 1996, 2003, p.252.Franke J. Neumann 1976, p. 254. A fertility deity, Xipe Totec vividly conveys the concept of death and rebirth by wearing the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim.

The suit's hands hung loosely at the wrist, and Xipe Totec’s own hands were left uncover… He had a temple called Yopico within the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan. 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.Another instance of sacrifice was done by a group of metalworkers who were located in the town of Other forms of sacrifice were sometimes used; at times the victim was cast into a firepit and burned, others had their throats cut.Fernández 1992, 1996, pp.60-63. Xi-pe To-tec) or ‘Flayed One’ in Nahuatl, was a major god in ancient Mesoamerican culture and particularly important for the Toltecs and Aztecs. Xipe Totec was widely worshipped in central Xipe Totec appears in codices with his right hand upraised and his left hand extending towards the front.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.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.The annual festival of Xipe Totec was celebrated on the Various methods of human sacrifice were used to honour this god. A fertility deity, Xipe Totec vividly conveys the concept of death and rebirth by wearing the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim. This clay sculpture of Xipe closely resembles Aztec stone figures in the smooth modeling, sturdy body, and rounded lips and eyes.purchased by Kimbell Art Foundation, Fort Worth, 1979.The Kimbell is open. Meaning literally “our lord, the flayed one,” Xipe Totec is also associated with the arrival of spring, when the earth covers itself with a new coat of vegetation and exchanges its dead skin for a new one. Xipe Totec also often holds a cup in one hand and a shield in the other; but in some depictions, Xipe holds a chicahuaztli, a staff terminating in a point with a hollow rattling head filled with pebbles or seeds. Find the perfect a statue of xipe totec stock photo.