Xipe Totec

Xipe Totec flayed the skin from his own body and gave it to humanity. His sacrifice fed the ancestors of the Aztecs and allowed food to emerge from the earth. The act was linked especially with ripe maize. Its edible kernels appear when the leafy husk, or outer skin, is removed, so the maize plant was compared with the god’s discarded covering.

The account is preserved in the Florentine Codex, where Xipe Totec’s flaying is connected with renewal and the production of food. Other accounts and later explanations place greater emphasis on the ritual meaning of the act than on a full creation story. In this tradition, the god’s suffering provided a model for sacrifice. Food and vegetation could emerge through the removal of an outer covering, and the world could renew itself.

During the festival held for Xipe Totec, priests sacrificed captives by cutting off their skins. They dyed the skins yellow and wore them during ceremonies. These coverings were called “golden clothes”, in honour of ripe maize. The yellow colour recalled the kernels of mature maize. Wearing the skins repeated the image of Xipe Totec’s flaying and joined human offerings to the food that sustained people. The ritual therefore followed the same pattern as the story: a skin was removed, and nourishment followed.