Unusual Aztec Statue: Xipe Totec

After breakfast this morning I was surfing through some Aztec and Mayan archeological sites and came across the following image. It in my opinion is very interesting in that it shows an Aztec god wearing what appears to me to be a primates skin and not a human skin which is often how the deity is described. Now, there are various statues showing Xipe Totec [The god in question] but the following representation caught my eye. I thought some here would appreciate the find.

What peaked my curiosity were the feet and hands of the supposed human skin their god is wearing. Now according to what we understand or are told rather the deity wears the skin of a human body over his as part of a ritualistic representation of renewal. The question I have is where did they come up with the design for his feet and hands? I know some will say "obviously a monkey" Well to me they look very ape or chimp like. There are no Chimps or Apes in the new world. Only much smaller monkeys. Sure it could be a Mexican Black handed Spider monkey but they are much too small for a normal sized human to wear their skin.

So here again we have a conflict with what we are told: The god wears the skin of Human victims vs what we see with our own eyes. The god is "Wearing what appears to be an Apes or Chimps skin"

So which is it?


Your thoughts?

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/dfcf23f1a097.jpg[/atsimg]
The Story of Xipe Totec

Xipe Totec is associated with many different things to the Aztecs....

Xipe was primarily a god of renewal and regeneration; symbolized by the flaying and wearing of the skins of sacrificial victims. As a god of renewal and regeneration, Xipe Totec was a god of the earth and agriculture. Renewal and regeneration is important to agricultural cultures, who often believe that rains are sent by the gods and that the fertility of the earth is god's work.

As for Xipe's involvement in cults, it has been hypothesized that Xipe's origins relate to a cult that believed that Xipe was a lord of liberation; suggesting that the skin and flesh of the human body is what is keeping the soul hostage, making Xipe Totec a lord of bondage.

I don't know about the rest of him.....but trying to figure out "his junk" is baffling enough!
Nice find by the way, very interesting indeed!
S+F!

It almost looks like a human emerging from a primates skin more than a skin suit of some sorts. Could this be a representation of the evolution from ape to man?

reply to post by SLAYER69


Maybe it's when the "gods" made the hybrids from ape and man? Looks like a DNA twist on the chest. Interesting.

reply to post by BlackOops


I was thinking the SAME thing. DNA sequence in the middle of the chest.MHO.





Star for synchronicity.



Slayer,Star and Flag for the unknown.............

Could that braid on his chest represent the double helix of DNA? It looks to me very much as if the human limbs are emerging from the more anthropoid looking limbs, evolution or engineering? very interesting find. S&F
seed

WHOA, you are absolutely right! I love looking at artifacts, and alot are interesting, but this is mind-blowing. I don't know of any monkeys that have hands or feet like that, does South America have ANY apes?

Those look spot on to a chimp, even the position and posture of the thumbs. That's crazy.

reply to post by SLAYER69


I definitely think that statue has what appears to be an "ape" skin over top his own skin.
Not human whatsoever.

Even has the thumbs in the anatomically correct position to be ape, or chimp.


Just another representation of what the people at the time believed their god wore.
Or symbolized.

reply to post by SLAYER69


Nice find Slayer.

Just by looking at the feet of both the statue and his suit I'd say you have a point...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2f320f827c17.jpg[/atsimg]

Peace

reply to post by mustard seed


Xipe Totec


I had to look to see if I could find another image of the Demon God. This image has a "similar" chest like DNA thing going on.

Bizarre.......

Originally posted by SLAYER69
Your thoughts?

I was thinking it was a representation of the end of the Aztec Second Sun. During the Second Sun, people grew wicked and didn't properly worship, so the god of Judgment, Tezcatlipoca, changed everybody into monkeys. Then Quetzecoatl blew all the monkeys away with a hurricane. In another version of the Five Suns myth, the end of the Fourth Sun came about as a result of a massive worldwide hurricane, and a few people survived by transforming themselves into monkeys and hiding in the jungle.

It could also depict transition like snake's or butterflies, moving from one stage/fase to another.
I think the feet and hands look a little like the texture is not skin, more like a reptile or or other scub like creature

Thank you for this interesting post. Also the site your link leads to is special. But I have not found this amazing picture you have presented in that site. Can you give a more direct link to this picture? What quotes does it originally come with?

reply to post by bestintentions


Sorry here you go...

Xipe Totec

Xipe Totec is represented wearing a flayed human skin, usually with the flayed skin of the hands falling loose from the wrists. His body is often painted yellow on one side and tan on the other,[9] although sometimes the body of the god is painted red under the flayed skin.[10]

He frequently had vertical stripes running down from his forehead to his chin, running across the eyes.[4] He was sometimes depicted with a yellow shield and carrying a container filled with seeds.[11] It is likely that sculptures of Xipe Totec were ritually dressed in the flayed skin of sacrificial victims.[12]

Just shooting freely here:

Another possibility would be there was another (humanlike) race around at those times, some Neanderthaler like species, wich they used as skin donors.

S&F for this one Slayer. I have to agree with BlackOops, Sonnny & Mustard, in that the item on Xipe's chest does indeed look like a DNA strand. What I also observed is that the 2 symbols above his "junk", as one poster put it, are the fallopian tubes of a woman (top) and the vas deferens (seminal tubes) of a man (below)

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0d564ac9deba.png[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/142acedb8621.jpg[/atsimg]


What the thing is that is covering said "junk" is a mystery I shall have to ponder on for a while . It would make sense to me if someone said that he is a god of fertility, but then, why the monkey suit??

Or perhaps the people who made this statue were part of a more moderate streaming within the same religion that didn't believe in sacrificing humans?

Peace

The "DNA string" could also be how they tighten the skin around the body, by twisting it until it is a tight fit.

Although i kind of agree that it somehow symbolically depicts transition from "lesser or other" life form to man.

reply to post by operation mindcrime


So...?

You agree that it isn't Human Flesh?

reply to post by EartOccupant


I thought about a reptilian angle [As in a Alligator or Croc not Alien] but it also has hands. So that takes us back to some sort of primate.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by operation mindcrime

 

So...?

You agree that it isn't Human Flesh?

Like I said in my first post, it's undeniable that the feet of the statue and the suit are not compatible. Def. a primate suit.

Peace