Xipe Totec

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Xipe Totec, meaning "Our Lord the Flayed One" in Nahuatl, was a Mesoamerican deity revered by the Toltecs and Aztecs for his association with spring and new vegetation. As patron of goldsmiths, Xipe Totec's significance extended beyond fertility, symbolizing the revitalization of the earth through the cycles of life and death. In his role as a harbinger of spring, Xipe Totec donned the skin of a human sacrifice, representing the renewal that came with each new season. His statues and stone masks consistently depict him wearing the freshly flayed skin of a victim, a stark yet powerful reminder of the cycles of nature.