Xipe Totec
Aztec/Mexica · deity · cosmogonic · Recorded classification
Flayed life-death-rebirth god of spring renewal, agriculture and goldsmiths; honored at Tlacaxipehualiztli.
Parentage
- parent: Ometeotl
Variant accounts
- red-identity-boundaryHistoria de los Mexicanos chapter 1 calls its eldest red son Camaxtli among the peoples of Huexotzinco and Tlaxcala. Equating that son with Xipe Totec requires a separate identification argument; the passage alone does not establish it.Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas, chapter 1 (sixteenth-century account); Phillips 1883, pp. 616–617 (primary)
Domains
- agricultural renewal
- spring and vegetation
- goldsmithing
- maize and seeds
Powers
- Renew vegetation by shedding the flayed skin
- Patronize goldsmiths and the working of precious metal
- Preside over gladiatorial (striping) sacrifice
Epithets
- Yohuallāhuan Night Drinker (he who drinks by night)Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Book 1 (The Gods), on Xipe Totec / the feast Tlacaxipehualiztli (primary)
Relations
- sibling: QuetzalcoatlAs the Red Tezcatlipoca, one of the four sons of the primordial creator pair.Miller & Taube, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (1993) (secondary)
- sibling: TezcatlipocaThe Red and the Black Tezcatlipoca, brothers among the four sons of the creator pair.Miller & Taube, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (1993) (secondary)
- sibling: HuitzilopochtliBrothers among the four sons of the primordial creator pair.Miller & Taube, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (1993) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Books I, II, IX (primary)