The Obituary
Xipe Totec, “our lord the flayed one,” was the Aztec god of spring, agriculture, renewal, and goldsmiths, worshipped across Mesoamerica. His central rite, the festival of Tlacaxipehualiztli, had captives sacrificed and flayed, their skins worn by priests for twenty days until they rotted away, mirroring the seed that sheds its dry husk to sprout. Statues show him clad in a second skin, with the dead hands dangling at the wrists. His cult ended with the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan in 1521.
Worth remembering
- Priests wore the flayed skins of sacrificed captives for twenty days, symbolizing the husk shed by sprouting seed.
- His spring festival, Tlacaxipehualiztli, the 'flaying of men,' featured gladiatorial sacrifice of war captives.
Sources
- Xipe Totec was the Aztec god of spring, agriculture, and renewal Wikipedia
- His festival Tlacaxipehualiztli involved priests wearing the flayed skins of victims Encyclopaedia Britannica
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.