Life, Death, and Rebirth: Xipe Totec

Figure 1: Xipe Totec (Source: World History Encyclopedia)

 

Today’s blog post covers what many modern people may consider strange, if not macabre or horrific, which is the ancient Mesoamerican belief and worship of Xipe Totec, the Flayed God (Figure 1). Xipe Totec is most notably associated with the Aztecs, who had a core cultural value pertaining to blood sacrifices, but this god was important to various Mesoamerican groups, including the Olmec, Maya, Toltecs, Zapotecs, and more.  This blog post will discuss what Xipe Totec represented and why among the Mesoamericans worshipped it.  Given the graphic nature of this blog’s content all readers are encouraged to read with an open mind and to take a culturally relativistic approach, meaning consider the cultural traditions, beliefs, values, and views presented herein from the cultural groups’ perspectives, not your own.

 

Xipe Totec is believed to literally mean “Lord of Flaying”, leading to it being called the Flayed God.  This title represents the depictions and responsibilities of this god.  Xipe Totec was considered the god of birth, death, rebirth, as well as skin and eye diseases.  For the latter, Xipe Totec was called upon to cure individuals of any and all skin and eye diseases they suffered from.  Xipe Totec was also the patron of metallurgists and gemstone workers.  While Xipe Totec’s responsibilities were varied they were all related to its core duties: ensuring the Earth’s renewal.  Xipe Totec was associated with the spring, which brought about new growth of plants and animals that sustained Mesoamericans’ livelihood through food and other necessities.  Xipe Totec was depicted wearing golden armor, capes, and clothing that were ornately decorated, leading to the associated occupational classes that fell under his patronage.  He was also depicted wearing the flayed skin of captives, hence the reference to flaying, or removal of skin.  This, too, was central to Xipe Totec’s purpose.

 

Xipe Totec was largely worshipped in the Postclassic Period (AD 1400-1500).  In the spring the Tlacaxipeualiztli festival was celebrated to ensure a bountiful planting and subsequent harvest of maize, a primary staple of Mesoamerican groups’ diets.  The Tlacaxipeualiztli festival was also meant to call upon Xipe Totec’s blessings through its worship.  Forty days preceding the Tlacaxipeualiztli festival an individual would volunteer to serve as the representation of Xipe Totec, thereby wearing elaborate clothing made up of feathers and gold. At the dawn of the Tlacaxipeualiztli festival this human representation of Xipe Totec would be sacrificed, thereby ensuring his automatic placement in “heaven” or the Mesoamerican equivalent.  This explains why individuals would volunteer to play this role as it was one of the few ways to ensure a happy afterlife.  During the Tlacaxipeualiztli festival prisoners of war would engage in a mock battle wherein they would fight other volunteers who portrayed paramount and important gods.  The prisoners of war would be provided nothing to defend themselves or they would be given worthless weapons, dying in the mock battle against the representatives of the paramount gods. This served as part of the sacrificial ritual of the prisoners of war.  Those who survived these battles would still be put to death by way of having their hearts removed.  All sacrificed prisoners of war would be flayed postmortem, and their skins worn by Xipe Totec priests for the next 20 days.  The act of flaying the sacrificed prisoners of war was meant to symbolize the removal of the maize (corn) kernels from their cobs prior to being plants.  After 20 days the skins would be “planted” or placed in the temple to Xipe Totec, symbolizing the planting of the corn and rebirth after death.

 

Taken together, these actions were representations of the planting, harvesting, and consumption cycles of maize that took place annually among Mesoamerican groups.  They were also symbolic of the cycles of the seasons, wherein spring brought about new life, fall brought about death, and so on so forth.  This is why Xipe Totec was such an important part to the ideological values and beliefs of various Mesoamerican groups, and if one pauses and considers these ideas you may find similar ideas related to life, death, and rebirth in your own worldview.

 

References

Allison, C. (2019). More than Skin Deep: Generative Violence, Faceless Men and the Flayed God. Pittsburgh: The Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association.

Cartwright, M. (2013, August 3). Xipe Totec. Retrieved from World History Encyclopedia: https://www.worldhistory.org/Xipe_Totec/

Kimbell Art Museum. (2024). Xipe Totec, c. 900–1200: Nahua. Retrieved from Kimbell Art Museum: https://kimbellart.org/collection/ap-197939

Lambert, A. F. (2013). PRECLASSIC MAYA REPRESENTATIONS OF XIPE TOTEC AT KAMINALJUYÚ. Wayeb Notes, 1-9.

Mikulska, K. (2022). THE DEITY AS A MOSAIC: IMAGES OF THE GOD XIPE TOTEC IN DIVINATORY CODICES FROM CENTRAL MESOAMERICA. Ancient Mesoamerica, 432-458.

Zorich, Z. (2019, May/June). Temple of the Flayed Lord. Archaeology Magazine.

 

The Not-So-Holy Origins of the Phrase “Bless You”

 

Comic strip of a lone individual sneezing and receiving a phone call wherein the caller says, "God bless you" immediately after the sneeze (Image Source: https://what-if.xkcd.com/55/)

If you reside in the United States of America you may be familiar with hearing someone say “Bless you” after someone sneezes.  It is so ubiquitous in American culture that people will seeming say this phrase automatically and to those they know and to complete strangers.  Failure to say it or making a different statement (e.g., Gesundheit, which is common among Germans) elicits some sort of informal sanction, such as a dirty look.  Typically one may not consider the how’s or why’s a specific cultural gesture is undertaken, but this blog post is going to delve into the mystery of why native English speakers, particularly Americans, say “Bless you” after someone sneezes, especially when one realizes this behavior is a cultural particularity (cultural tradition, value, belief, norm, etc. that is found in one or very few cultures).

 

First, many cultural groups around the world have a phrase that is (or expected) to be said after one sneezes.  A review of these phrases demonstrates a general trend, which is one of health.  This means that the majority of the phrases imbue good health or keeping one healthy in the messaging/meaning of the phrase.  English speakers, particularly Americans, however, say “Bless you”, which takes a more religious angle.  This showcases the strong cultural values, particularly related to Christianity, among (or ideally among) Americans, but why do Americans take this approach whereas other cultures, including those with similarly strong Christian values, do not?

 

The answer may lie in the origins of this phrase, which are imprecisely known.  It is rumored that ancient Romans were the originators of the phrase “God bless you”.  It was Pope Gregory I who purportedly first said the phrase, which makes sense as God is central to the Catholic faith.  This origin story, however, is both inaccurate and unsubstantiated.  The ancient Romans may have said, “Banish the omen,” after someone sneezed, and if they did, as that, too, is unsubstantiated, it is unclear why.

 

More popular and supported origins of the phrase “bless you” come from the long held belief in the past that the soul was expelled from the body when one sneezed.  It was believed that the soul was made of air or was as light as air, and it resided in the head.  When one sneezed, thereby expelling air through their nose and mouth, the soul, too, was released, albeit unintentionally.  A soulless body was at risk of various perils, including but not limited to illness, disease, demonic possession, and more (all of which were really bad).  The expulsion of the soul from its resident body also left it at risk of being taken by a demon or even Satan himself.  The phrase “Bless you” was immediately said so as to help the sneezing individual avoid any negative consequences of their sneeze.  As time went on and the superstitious nature of Christianity lost its meaning and popularity the notion of the soul being expelled from the body disappeared, but the importance of saying “Bless you” did not.   

 

Works Cited

Dana. "Why Americans say “Bless you!” when they hear someone sneeze." n.d. MIT International Students Office. Electronic. 6 August 2024.

Mikkelson, Barbara. "Why Do We Say 'Bless You!' When Someone Sneezes? ." 17 April 2001. Snopes.com. Electronic. 6 August 2024.

Morgan, Emily. "Goodbye and Bless You!" 16 September 2020. Medium. Electronic. 6 August 2024.

Science Reference Section, Library of Congress. "Everyday Mysteries." 19 November 2019. Library of Congress. Electronic. 6 August 2024.