Icons of Empire: Royal Presentation and the Conception of Rule in Aztec México

Textual Evidence of the Xipe Costume

Nicholson (1961:380-383) has argued that the costumes that these figures wore were variants of the costume of the Central Mexican deity called Xipe Totec, a god associated with warfare and conquest (Barnes 1997). ³   As the portrait of Axayacatl is described by Alvarado Tezozomoc (1975:430) he wears a headdress of roseate spoonbill feathers, bears a shield in one hand and a sword ("espadarte") in the other, stands atop the skin of a jaguar ("tigre"), and is decorated with "pyrites of gold, blue, and silver which created luster, colors and resplendence." ⁴   Nicholson (1961:384) also points out that the second ruler to have his portrait carved at Chapultepec, Ahuitzotl, is specifically recorded as having worn the costume of Xipe. The final ruler Alvarado Tezozomoc discusses as having his portrait at Chapultepec is Motecuhzoma Xocoyotl (1975:668-670). His Xipe costume consists of a headdress of tlauhquechol feathers (roseate spoonbill), a gold nosebar and labret, emerald earplugs, jaguar skin bracelets on his right hand and ankle, a shield, and a rattle-staff.

Having some familiarity with the iconography surrounding the deity Xipe Totec, I was puzzled by these descriptions, as they do not generally correspond to its traditional representations. The most extensive descriptions of the costume of the deity Xipe Totec (as differentiated from the costume of his "assistants / impersonators" or xipeme [plural of xipe]) are in Fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s sixteenth century Florentine Codex. In book one (Sahagún 1970[1978]:40) he states that the costume of this deity consists of quail face painting, "rubber on his lips," a pointed yopi- crown, a flayed human skin, loose feathers on his head (tzonchaiaoale), golden ear plugs, a skirt of sapote leaves, bells, a shield with concentric circles and a rattle stick. This description, while somewhat matching his provided illustration (Figure 1, shown above) does not correspond exactly with the costume Aztec rulers are described as wearing at Chapultepec. In most respects, particularly in the tzonchaiaoale (or tzonchayahualli) this description seems to be that of the xipeme as depicted by Sahagún in his illustrations of the festival of Tlacaxipehualiztli (the flaying of people) (Figure 2a and Figure 2b, shown below), where the balls of feathery down are clearly visible on the impersonator’s head. In neither illustration does the figure wear a headdress of roseate spoonbill feathers.

Xipeme do not seem to have been "deity impersonators" in the strict sense of the word, particularly as this phenomenon is understood in Mesoamerica (see Hvidtfeldt 1958). In the unusual rites that occurred during the festival of Tlacaxipehualiztli the flayed skins of sacrificed war prisoners are ’loaned’ out to penitents by their ’owners’ (the individuals who captured the prisoner). These individuals then don the skins and proceed about the city receiving alms and bestowing blessings. At the close of the day they return the skins to the temple or the owner and repeat the process the next day. This seems to have continued for the length of the "month" of Tlacaxipehualiztli.

The xipeme were accorded a certain amount of reverence (aside from people trying to pinch off pieces of their belly-buttons), but do not seem to have been considered incarnations of the god Xipe Totec. Rather, they seem to have occupied a place similar to the assistants of Tlaloc, the tlaloque, as they are described in various sources. ⁵ 

There are a few mentions of the Aztec ruler, Motecuhzoma specifically, dancing in the skin of a flayed lord in Motolinía (1950:64; Klein 1986:143). However, other than Motolinía, and López de Gómara (1943:2:261), who relied heavily on Motolinía’s works, there are no other specific mentions of an Aztec lord dancing in the flayed skin.

Specific descriptions of the ruler’s battle costumes are included in Book 8 of Sahagún’s Florentine Codex (Sahagún 1954[1979]:8:33). At its most basic, the costume is said to include a headdress of red spoonbill feathers with gold and quetzal feathers and a drum worn upon the back. The extended Nahuatl text in this section is somewhat ambiguous, for it contains an almost complete roster of warrior costumes following those said to have been worn by the ruler (at least 16 specific costumes are mentioned). Additionally, it does not elaborate on when and where the ruler might wear a particular costume. The first three costumes discussed are said to belong solely to the ruler. The first was set off by a red cotinga feather headdress, the second by a blue cotinga feather headdress, and the third is referred to as the "ocelototec" (Sahagún 1954:8:33) which can be translated as "our ocelot-lord." Totec, as a term is usually (though not exclusively) applied to Xipe (e.g. Xipe Totec), yet not one of the costumes mentioned in this section of book 8 are specifically said to be the costume of Xipe. The ’non-standard’ Xipe costumes are addressed in the larger work of which this study is a portion. ⁶ 

Sahagún’s Spanish text (for the Florentine Codex is written in two columns, Castilian and Nahuatl) in this section differs somewhat from the Nahuatl in organization and in a few details. Sahagún (2000:2:747-748) begins by simply stating that the señores wore a battle costume that was decorated with "very colorful feathers." ⁷   These costumes are said to have consisted of a corselet of feathers and gold, a helmet of rich feathers with tufts of quetzal feathers in the middle, a wig of green feathers and gold, and a small drum and a carrying rack for the back, both made of gold (Sahagún 2000:2:747). The costume also includes a kilt of fine feathers, a necklace made of large stones of jade and turquoise, and a buckler with a circle of gold around its edge and center and bottom fringe made of fine green and multicolored feathers. While these details generally mirror the Nahuatl, Sahagún goes on to add that this ’standard costume’ might variably include a corselet made of bright red feathers with golden shells scattered on it–all of which reached to the mid-thigh or a corselet made of green feathers and decorated with "rayos hecho de oro" (Sahagún 2000:2:747). He then states that there "were worn" (no specific subject is mentioned) other emblems and armor, including the ocelototec, xiuhtototl, and others.

In Book 9 of the Florentine Codex, there is a detailed description of the Xipe deity costume. The supernatural is not called Xipe, however. He is instead called Totec and Yoallauana. ⁸   This deity, described as the patron of goldsmiths, was adorned with

the skin of a captive when they had flayed him [ . . .]. And in this manner was arrayed. They placed on his head his plumage of precious red spoonbill feathers; the precious red spoonbill feathers served as his headdress. And his gold nose crescent, and his golden ear plugs. And his rattle stick rattled as he grasped it in his right hand; when he thrust it in the ground it rattled. And he had with him his shield with a golden circle. And his sandals were red and adorned with quail feathers. Thus was the quail adornment: quail feathers were strewn on the surface. And there were three paper flags which he carried on his back, which went rustling. And his sapote leaf skirt was made of all precious feathers, those known as pointed quetzal feathers, the color of green chili, arranged-prepared in rows; everywhere there were precious feathers. And his skin collar was of gold beaten thin. And he had his sapote leaf seat (Sahagún 1976(1959):9:69-70).

This costume of Xipe as the patron of goldsmiths is practically the same as that described for the ruler. Yet, the image that Sahagún includes in this book (Figure 3, shown above) is clearly that of one of the deity impersonators who travel throughout the city collecting alms and bestowing blessings.

Where the patron of the goldsmiths bears a shield with a gold circle in the middle, most images of the deity include a shield with concentric circles. ⁹   Yet, the ruler’s Xipe shield has a tripartite motif: jaguar skin, jade symbols, and concentric circles. I have elsewhere (1997:109) identified as the Aubin-type Xipe shield, as its only Pre-Hispanic color depiction is in the Tonalamatl Aubin (1981:14)(Figure 4, shown above). This same shield is carried by Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin in the Codex Vaticanus A "Ríos" (Figure 5, shown below), where this future ruler is also wearing a Xipe costume. A similar shield, of Pre-Hispanic origin, is sculpted on the so-called Chimalli Stone (Figure 6, shown below), now in Cuernavaca.

Eduard Seler (1990:2:92) linked the creation of the Chimalli Stone to the death of Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina (ca. 1470) and the accession of Axayacatl, who was one of the first Aztec rulers to be recorded as wearing the Xipe battle costume. Seler (1990:2:92-93) goes as far as to ’translate’ the inscription on the Chimalli Stone as "’Axayacatl, Xipe’s likeness,’ or the great Xipe, began to reign in the year ’three house’ on the day ’five motion.’" Umberger (1981:167) points out that the style of the sculpture falls with the middle period of the Aztec style and thus supports Seler’s dating of the monument.

Seler also tried to decipher the significance of the shield’s three portions, suggesting that they simply reference the shield of (and thereby the god) Xipe Totec, with the remaining two segments serving as a metaphor for atl-tlachinolli, the Nahua poetic term for warfare (particularly sacred warfare). In Seler’s schema, Xipe is referenced with the concentric circles (which he calls the anauayo), while the wavy lines with the chalchiuitl glyph represent water (atl) and the ocelot skin represented fire (tlachinolli).

Barnes (1997:43-44) has pointed out that the concentric red circles of the Xipe shield (the tlauhteuilacachiuhqui), probably reference the rising sun. If so, the figure of Xipe, when bearing this shield upon his arm, would be a personification of the spirits of the deceased warriors who were responsible for bearing the sun from its birth in east each day, to its zenith (Sahagún 1969:6:162-164)–in effect, an arch warrior. The golden circle which decorates the goldsmith patron’s shield then also references the sun, as gold was teocuitlatl, divine excrement (see Klein 1993).

While Seler’s identification of the anauayo segment of the tripartite shield does not seem to be problematic, I do not think that his atl-tlachinolli translation of the other segments seems likely. Tlachinolli, literally "something (land) burning," is more commonly represented by the headless body of a serpent, often with a fire-butterfly emanating from the scalloped flesh of the cut, or a serpent-like segmented ribbon decorated with repetitive U-shaped elements often used to represent fields in Postclassic codices.¹⁰  I am unaware of any explicit example of fire being represented with an abstract ocelot/jaguar pattern in Central México.¹¹  Barnes (1997:111-112) interprets this ocelotl, or jaguar, segment of the shield as referencing the royal nature of its bearer. Aside from the pan-Mesoamerican association of jaguars with royalty, the Aztec tlatoani was seen as the embodiment of, or a ’place holder’ for the god Tezcatlipoca (Sahagún 19XX:6:41, 44-45 ff). As Tepeyollotl, or "Heart of the Mountain," Tezcatlipoca is portrayed as a jaguar/ocelot. The placement of this jaguar skin pattern on the tripartite shield would then reference the ruler’s divine inhabitancy.

The third section of the shield bears a glyph for chalchiuitl (greenstone/jade) placed upon a background of wavy lines. Seler’s (1992:3:47-49; 1993:4:124, 129) assertion that this is the glyph for chalchiuhatl, or precious fluid (i.e. blood) seems likely. That this portion of the shield references blood, reflects, among other things, the bearer’s royal standing and the ideologic justification for Aztec nobility (see Klein 1987). Also, expanded ideologic concerns aside, if this segment simply stood for water (which was, after all, precious), then the three segments of the shield would represent the three main components of the cosmos, the celestial tier (with the solar reference of the concentric circles), the earthly tier (with the jaguar), and the watery or underworld realm (with the precious water glyphic collocation). Also, as pointed out by Seler (1992:3:49), the three portions of the shield also reference the three "Xipe" costumes said to have been worn by the ruler (as mentioned above). When a shield is present in the depiction of Xipe, then, it seems that the presence of the tripartite shield may reference the ruler, where the other shields with concentric circles reference different aspects of the supernatural and his cult.¹²

When looking at Xipe imagery it will be helpful to contrast Nicholson’s (1961:403) list of diagnostic elements for identifying the Aztec ruler’s Xipe costume: (1) a flayed skin; (2) red spoonbill feather headdress (tlauhqucholtzontli); (3) red spoonbill feather decorated garment (tlauhquecholeuatl); (4) a zapote leaf skirt of quetzal feathers (zapocueitl quetzalli); (5) a shield with a tripartite design (chimalli tlauhteuilacachiuhqui); (6) small back drum device (coztic teocuitlayo huehuetl or yopihuehuetl); (7) a rattle staff (chicahuaztli) (i.e. Figure 5), with the diagnostic costume elements of the Xipeme impersonators, which, seems to be comprised of a (1) flayed skin; (2) headdress of loose feathers (the tzonchayahualli); (3) zapote leaf skirt; and (4) a rattle staff (Figure 2a and Figure 2b).

Thus, the problem, when approaching representations of Xipe Totec, is to discern exactly who, or what, is being portrayed (or to decide if this ambiguity was intentional). A Xipe figure might be a representation of the god itself, a deity impersonator, an ’assistant-type’ impersonator (the xipeme), or the ruler wearing a Xipe battle costume–or, perhaps, any combination of the above.¹³  How would one have known, in Aztec México, whether they were gazing upon the impersonator of Xipe, or upon the ruler dressed in his battle regalia (or their painted/sculpted representations)? The lost Chapultepec sculpture would have provided a useful "baseline" image by which others could be evaluated, but as mentioned, this image is so damaged as to be practically unidentifiable. The specificity with which Alvarado-Tezozomoc and Sahagún describe the ruler’s Xipe Totec costume, and the number of colonial sources that Nicholson (1961) cites as representing this costume either in prose or paint, would suggest that images of the ruler in this costume were well known in Pre-Hispanic and early colonial times, perhaps even common. While my research in this area is still ongoing, I suspect that a number of ceramic figurines thought to simply represent Xipe Totec are actually images of the ruler in his battle costume, and as such greatly expand the number and possible significance of Aztec ruler representations.¹⁴

Endnotes

3. This deity is usually uncritically called a springtime or fertility god. As Nicholson (1972) pointed out, there is little ethnohistoric evidence aside from Eduard Seler’s (1899) hypothesis to support this view. In my own studies of this phenomenon (i.e. Barnes n.d.a; Barnes 1997) I have been unable to find any Pre-Hispanic evidence of a fertility component in the cult of Xipe. See also Broda 1970; Heyden 1986; and Scott 1993.

4. "y con la marmajita dorada, azul y plateada, que hacia aguas y colores, que resplandecia" (Alvarado Tezozomoc 1984:430).

5. See Klein (1980) for a discussion of Tlaloque.

6. In her study of the ruler’s war dress, Ursula Dyckerhoff (1993) presents a useful synopsis of the source material regarding this costume, and a discussion of its variance both in depiction and in description. Her conclusions differ somewhat from mine, yet, she was one of the first people that I have come across to suggest that there were specific categories of Xipe costumes.

7. All translations, Spanish and Nahuatl, by the author unless otherwise noted.

8. "Our Father" and "Night Drinker" respectively, the same names used in the "Hymn of Xipe" recorded in Sahagún’s Primeros Memoriales (1997:146) and Florentine Codex (1976[1959]:9:69-70).

9. The Nahuatl for this golden shield, chimalli teocuitlanahuacayo, may be translated differently. Dyckerhoff (1993:140) prefers "the golden coastal one" as a translation, supposedly using a(tl)-*nahua-c, where nahua means "near" (see Andrews 1975:455). Teocuitla(tl) is gold, but I am more inclined to believe that the root of the second morpheme derives from anahuacayo(tl), or "things which are brought from neighboring places" (Molina 1992:2:6r), or "neighboring." Anderson and Dibble, in their translation, seem to be following the translation of anahua- as offered by Seler (1991:2:28-42), which, when applied to -anahuacayo(tl) could be translated as "having the nature of rings" or "bordered." Therefore, a more precise translation of chimalli teocuitlanahuacayo could variously be "shield of imported gold," "shield with golden borders," or "shield with golden rings," all of which seem both appropriate and likely–particularly when considering the inherent multivalency of Nahua thought and speech.

10. I must thank Gerardo Gutierrez for reminding me of the "field" association of these U-shaped elements. See Boone (2000:50-51) for a discussion of these conventions in the codices, and Seler (1993:4:104-148) for an expansive commentary on these elements and the atl-tlachinolli metaphor. I prefer to see the earth as having had reptilian aspects to the Aztecs (i.e. the spiny body of the earth monster on monuments like the Dedication Stone and the Tizoc Stone), so that the segmented snake body and ribbon of fields are somewhat interchangeable (which also helps explain the ubiquitous and enigmatic Aztec "fire serpent"). A good example of this conflation can be seen on the Teocalli of Sacred Warfare, where the decapitated serpent body representing tlachinolli is shown in profile, with its segmented belly on the bottom and its back covered with these U-shapes. While peripheral to this argument, the appearance of these U-shaped elements on the preconquest Teocalli should remove any doubt that hoofprints left in colonial period plowed fields inspired this glyphic convention.

11. Virginia Miller (personal communication), has stated that this is also the case for the Maya area. While the night sun is represented as a supernatural with jaguar characteristics, this is something different than "fire."

12. Such a supposition would then need to be expanded to explain the Xipe images in the Tonalamatl Aubin, and the Codex Borbonicus, where the tripartite shield is used. The most simple explanation for the shield’s presence would be that the tonalamatl either belonged in, or was copied from an original in, the Aztec royal library. The tripartite shield borne by the jaguar warrior in the Tlacaxipehualiztli scene in the Codex Magliabechiano and the Codex Tudela (but not by the same figures in the other members of the "Magliabechiano group," see Boone 1983:[126]–nor in any other painted work) are not so easily explained.

13. A variation of this question was also raised by Dyckerhoff (1993) wherein she was trying to differentiate between images of Xipe and of the ruler wearing the Xipe battle dress.

14. Klein (1986) sees flayed skins as war trophies, and feels that many of the stone "Xipe" images are actually images of warriors wearing these skins (Klein: personal communication), not images of the supernatural.

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