Xipe Totec figure

Figure of the god Xipe Totec, volcanic porous rock and pigment, Mexica (Aztec), c. 1350-1521 CE, height 46 cms., Museum der Kulturen, Basel, Switzerland.

This cult statue represents the Aztec god Xipe Totec, ‘Our Lord, the Owner of the Skin’, shown as wearing the skin of a flayed man. Flaying was probably used as an agricultural metaphor for removing the vegetation from the Earth’s surface (slash and burn) in spring and preparation for the planting of maize. Flaying was of course also practised on animals, for example for preparing codices... Flaying might have formed part of the ritual execution of warriors... but there is no proof for such a practice.

From Aztecs, eds. Doris Kurella, Martin Berger and Inés de Castro, with INAH, Mexico - catalogue for the exhibition Azteken, Linden Museum, Stuttgart, Hirmer Publishers, Germany, 2019, p. 332.

Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.