The Metaphor of "Our Lord the Flayed One"

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As the seasons come and go, there are always exciting events to anticipate where one can unleash creativity through costume design. Beyond the typical symbols that carry a hint of spookiness, there lies a depth of fascination and cultural richness. Take, for instance, the eerie allure of black cats, pointy hats, bats, cauldrons, and skeletons, all perfectly fit into the Halloween season and are even fun for a summer Renaissance faire. These icons harbor intriguing backstories that often remain shrouded in mystery, prompting fear in those unfamiliar with their origins. It's the age-old fear of the unknown, rooted in the human tendency to fear what is not easily understood. This concept is further magnified when elements traverse from one cultural context to another. During a summer expedition in Mexico, our university troop encountered a striking figure at the La Venta field museum, a depiction of the enigmatic deity known as The Flayed One, Xipe Tótec, is a symbol of transformation and rebirth wearing the extraordinary ceremonial attire. Like many other gods in Mesoamerica, Xipe Tótec embodies themes of transformation and regeneration. He intertwines the sacred and the corporeal in a mesmerizing display of symbolism through the ritual of donning the flayed skin of the sacrificed. Reigning as a symbol of fertility, rebirth, family, and agricultural abundance Xipe Tótec's connection to costuming runs deep, reflecting a complex tapestry of beliefs and rituals.

Figures 1 & 2. Precursor God of Xipe Tótec, picture taken in the state of Tabasco in México (Whitehouse 2014).

Background History

The Culhua-Méxica (aka the Aztecs by outside peoples within the Náhua ethnic group) and the Toltecs, cultural subgroups of the indigenous Náhuatl-language group, had a god known as Xipe Tótec or Xipew Totekw (Náhuatl: “Our Lord the Flayed One” or “Our Skinned Lord” ‘xipewa: to peel, remove the skin; to-: our; tekwtli: lord’ (Robelo 1905:768; Fernández 1992).

Also referred to as Youalahuan, the Red Tezcatlipoca, Tlatlauhqui, and Tlatlauhca, the first representations of Xipe Tótec first surfaced at Xolalpan and Texcoco, close to Teotihuacán. He was venerated as a god of spring and new vegetation and celebrated on the Spring Equinox or the beginning of the wet season (Saville 1929). In the Mexica calendar, the day Cuauhtli and the trecena (13 days) beginning with 1-Itzcuintli were protected by Xipe Tótec. (Britannica 2006). He was a patron of goldsmiths by the Toltecs and Mexica, but his previous history went back to the Olmec. Xipe Tótec also had a feminine counterpart, the goddess Xilonen-Chicomecoatl (Ceram 1967:411).

Representations of an older version of Xipe Tótec may have first appeared at or at least near La Venta, the pre-Columbian site in the modern-day state of Tabasco, Mexico. Though his origin is uncertain, Xipe Tótec might have descended from God VI, the Banded-Eye God, from the Olmec culture or the Yope civilization in the southern highlands of Guerrero from 650 to 1100 CE(Joralemon 1971; Soustelle 1984).

Figure 3. Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (NIAH) discovered the first known temple dedicated to Xipe Totec (Photo by Meliton Tapia Davila) (Grossman 2019).

The first artistic representations of the more widely known version of the god, however, date to the Post-classical period (9th to 12th century CE) in the Mazapan culture at Texcoco. As a significant Náhuatl deity, Xipe Tótec was also revered by the Tlaxcaltecans, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Tarascan, and Huastec peoples. Though the god is believed to have risen to greater prominence in the 15th century as a result of the Mexica conquest of the Gulf Coast during Axaycatl's rule, the late Post-classical Maya also adopted Xipe Tótec and representations of the god survive at Oxkintok, Chichen Itza, and Mayapan. A temple was recently identified in the Ndachjian-Tehuacan complex in the east-central state of Pueblo. The indigenous Popoloca Indians initially constructed the complex between the years 1000 and 1260 CE. Although there are several well-known images of Xipe Tótec, including statues, paintings, and masks in museums, this seems to be the first temple devoted to the god. Xipe Tótec is shown as a stone trunk with two skull-shaped stone sculptures discovered by researchers from INAH (The Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History) (Figure 3) (Grossman 2019).

Coe identifies one of the masked faces inscribed as the Lord of Las Limas on Las Limas Monument 1 as the Olmec prototype of Xipe Tótec. Caso and Bernal use those same lines to identify early representations of Xipe Tótec at Monte Albán which seem to often represent scarification (Coe 1973: 5 and Caso and Bernal 1952: 250 as cited in Markman 1989). As it relates to the later post-Classic Toltec phase (9th–12th century CE) representations of Xipe Tótec appeared at Xolalpan, near Teotihuacán, and at Texcoco, in connection with the Mazapan culture (Britannica 2006).

Also in the post-Classic period, a Mayan city called Mayapan was home to a Xipe Tótec cult. The priests venerated the fertility god during his festival celebrations by impersonating the deity by wearing the skins of the deceased killed in gladiator fights (Thompson 1957:9). The deity was also identified on effigy censers, which are made of coarse, unslipped pottery. The effigy is attached to the front of a thick-walled vase which stands on a high pedestal base, both slightly flaring out (Thompson 1957:1; Braswell 2012: 299-302).

Myths and Traditions

While most historians agree that the Banded-Eye God or God VI is a god in their own right, there is a school of thought that believes that they are a manifestation of the Maize Deity. This also connects to the Olmec’s God IV who is depicted as a were-jaguar infant or dwarf, associated with rain and agriculture. Joralemon sees it as an early form of later rain deities, such as the central Mexican Tlaloc and Mayan Chaac (Joralemon 1971).

Xipe Tótec was considered: the deity of life, death, and resurrection, the god of warfare, agriculture, vegetation, the East, diseases, and spring, the patron god of seeds and planting and the patron of metal workers (especially goldsmiths) and gemstone workers (Miller & Taube 2013:32; Fernández 1992). The East was considered the masculine part of the universe, the dawn was the region of youth and young maize. He represents renewal, the shedding of what is no longer useful, the regeneration of the spiritual nature in people, as well as the changing from dry soil into fertile soil. Xipe Tótec used the chicahuaztli (the staff in the shape of a sunbeam, in the upper part of which there was a bronze sphere that contained seeds or metal pellets) by rattling to initiate lightning to attract rain focused on the growth of corn. In the artwork, the instrument often was represented as a snake (Stevenson 1968; Heyden 1986: 40).

In multiple Mesoamerican mythologies, Xipe Tótec was the son of the primordial androgynous god Ometeotl and, specifically in Náhua mythology, he was the brother of those other three major gods Tezcatlipoca, Huizilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl. Sometimes credited with being a creator god along with his brothers, Xipe Tótec was also closely associated with death, which resulted in him being considered the source of diseases among mankind. He is often called or equated to the Red Tezcatlipoca because he is usually portrayed with a ruddy-red skin suit with yellow horizontal stripes on his face (and the reverse), patron of Cuauhtli (eagle), the unfavorable 15th Mexica day name, and he was represented by the date 1 Océlotl (Figures 5 & 6) (Miller & Taube 2013).

As a symbol of the new vegetation, Xipe Tótec wore the skin of a sacrificed human victim. The skinsuit is supposed to be a representation of the “new skin” that covered the Earth in the spring. Therefore, his statues and stone masks always show him wearing freshly flayed skin.

The Mexicas adopted his cult during the reign of Axayacatl (1469–1481). During the 20-day month of Tlacaxipehualiztli (“Flaying of Men”), which is the second ritual month of the Mexica year and was celebrated in March, the transition to the wet season was a grand celebration entailed the dressing of several captive slaves as living gods. The festival's centerpiece ceremony involved the gladiatorial sacrifice of war prisoners by the priests removing their hearts. The following day, two bands: one representing Xipe Tótec and the other honoring valiant soldiers, performed a “cane game” (Neumann 1976:254; Moctezuma & Olguín 2002: 422; Miller & Taube 1993 [2013]:188). Those representing Xipe Tótec dressed in the skins of the war prisoners who were killed the previous day, so the fresh blood was still flowing. The opposing band was composed of daring soldiers who were fearless, and who took part in the combat with the others. Following the game, the people dressed as humans went door-to-door requesting presents or alms from people inside in exchange for their love of Xipe Tótec.

Slaves or captives sacrificed to Xipe Tótec had their hearts cut out and then were carefully flayed to produce a whole skin, which would then be dyed yellow and called teocuitlaquemitl (“golden clothes”) which was then worn by the priests for twenty days during the fertility rituals that followed the sacrifice (Matos Moctezuma & Olguín 2002:422). This ceremony, known as 'Neteotquiliztli', translates to "impersonation of a god" (Neumann 1976:254) and the skins were frequently adorned with feathers and gold jewelry (Matos Moctezuma & Olguín 2002:478). Every year, goldsmiths participated in Tlacaxipehualiztli by hosting a feast called Yopico. A satrap (a provincial governor) wore newly flayed skin adorned with a feather crown, wig, gold ornaments, rattles in the right hand, a gold shield in the left, red sandals, skirts, and a wide gold necklace to resemble the God (Cartwright 2013). Other victims were fastened to a frame and put to death with arrows; their blood dripping down was believed to symbolize the fertile spring rains. A hymn sung in honor of Xipe Tótec called him Yoalli Tlauana (“Night Drinker”) because beneficial rains fell during the night; it thanked him for bringing the Feathered Serpent, who was the symbol of plenty, and for averting drought. (Britannica 2006). They then presented Xipe Tótec with an uncooked tart of ground maize, broken corn ears, fruits, and flowers (Saville 1929:169-170). A dance was performed in honor of the deity, and the festival was closed with a war exercise (Saville 1929:169-170). After the festival, the flayed skins were kept in containers beneath the temple (Matos Moctezuma & Olguín 2002:423)

More Examples of Artistic Depictions

Like the black stripe face painting on the impersonators, there were Xipe Tótec vessels and effigy censers of the god Tlaloc that have black stripes and spots, and black-trickle ceramics (Figures 7 & 8). Trickle-ware was a common form of pottery throughout the Puuk region, to the northwest, during the Late Classic (Braswell 2014:299-301). These vessels are interpreted to have been left as annual offerings for the god in the Balankanche deposits in the Terminal Classic Period in the Maya area, suggesting a shared belief system between the cultural groups in this broader region (Braswell 2014:302-303). Though there are Tlacaxipehualiztli rites for the spring celebration that describe the Xipe Tótec vessels containing human skin Braswell concluded with “we cannot say one way or the other” (Braswell 2014:303). [As any more recent archaeological work is unknown to me personally I also cannot say whether or not it is true if the descriptions are, in fact, true.]

Xipe Tótec was frequently featured in both masks, statues, and paintings. He is purposefully shown horrifically, with a bloated face. Sometimes the faces are striped, as worn by the impersonators (Figures 7 & 8), with sunken eyes, and double lips. As shown in his statue representations he drapes the skin of one of his sacrificed victims over his own, which is intricately tied with strings at the back and his wrists with the hands dangling beside his, and on the chest displaying the incision made where the victim's heart was cut out. (Cartwright 2013; Joralemon 1971; Markman & Markman 1989).

Discussion

Several researchers have discussed why Xipe Tótec is a god with aspects of spring, fertility, and a protector of children while being quite brutal. The entire practice of sacrifice was, of course, seen much differently by people in the Americas. Royalty ritually pierced their tongues or their penises and caught their blood on white cloth strips, which would be burned publically.

Symbolic of rebirth and the renewal of the seasons, after twenty days, Xipe Tótec would emerge from the rotting, flayed skin, casting off the old and depicting the growth of new vegetation (Fernández 1992). Putting on the new skin of a flayed captive symbolized the new vegetation that the earth puts on when it rains (Coe & Koontz 1962). The living god lay hidden beneath the surface of death, ready to sprout like a germinating seed (Matos Moctezuma & Olguín 2002:324). As for the illness aspect, Xipe Tótec was also said to cause rashes, pimples, inflammations, and eye infections (Fernández 1992). But, when touched, the flayed skins were thought to have curative properties, and mothers took their children to touch such skins to relieve their ailments (Matos Moctezuma & Olguín 2002:188). Others who want to be cured made offerings to him at Yopico (Miller & Taube 1993).

The metaphor underlying the rite is the same as the key metaphor offered by many gods in Mesoamerican spirituality. The ceremony and the art that depicts it forces us to evaluate the exterior covering and the essence of a living being separately. Most literally, the god is the essence; he is "the flayed one" who is revealed by the removal of his covering or mask following the consistent logic of Mesoamerican sacrifice. At the sacrificial moment, he opens or removes the outer to reveal the inner, which is metaphorically the essence of life itself. (Markman & Markman 1989:80). When another donned that now-removed covering or mask in ritual, the wearer almost literally found himself within the skin of the god (Nicholson 1972:217). After the skin of a possible impersonator's sacrificed body was flayed, the flesh was cooked and eaten in a form of communion that reversed the metaphor by putting the god's essence within the ritual participant. (Markman & Markman 1989:81).

What stands out more and more is that while Xipe Tótec is a complexly used deity in ritual, he could be a perfect venerated figure for the Halloween season. To understand the ancient aspects of the holiday that our modern Western culture has all but forgotten. Protection of children and adults, fertility and life cycles, something to remember as nature seems to go comatose all around us, and sacrifice, to help others. When the summer season ends it’s good to remember that everything will come back. I don’t think that his appearance or the story should be appropriated or commodified. I just hope people can appreciate and learn more aspects behind a culture and mythology that not many people have learned about, especially for something that can look a bit “scary”. It’s like a guard dog, the sweetest to their friends, but savage to enemies.

The Metaphor of "Our Lord the Flayed One"

Background History

More Examples of Artistic Depictions

Discussion

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