Tlacaxipehualiztli

Aztec religion

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July 14, 2026

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Tlacaxipehualiztli was a significant ritual in Aztec religion, celebrated during the second month of their year. This ceremony, meaning "Flaying of Men," honored the god Xipe Totec, who symbolized spring and new vegetation.1

During Tlacaxipehualiztli, priests would sacrifice human victims, remove their hearts, and then flay the bodies. The priests would wear these skins, dyed yellow, as a representation of the new skin covering the Earth in spring. Other victims were killed with arrows, their blood symbolizing fertile spring rains. This ritual underscored the Aztec belief in the connection between sacrifice, renewal, and the agricultural cycle.1

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Xipe Totec
During Tlacaxipehualiztli (“Flaying of Men”), the second ritual month of the Aztec year, the priests killed human victims by removing their hearts. They flayed the bodies and put on the skins, which were dyed yellow and called teocuitlaquemitl (“golden clothes”). Other victims were fastened to a…
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During Tlacaxipehualiztli (“Flaying of Men”), the second ritual month of the Aztec year, the priests killed human victims by removing their hearts. They flayed the bodies and put on the skins, which were dyed yellow and called teocuitlaquemitl (“golden clothes”). Other victims were fastened to a…
Read More