is the god of art, games, dance, flowers, and song in

Aztec mythology Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. Accord ...

. His name contains the Nahuatl words ("flower") and (either "prince" or "child") and hence means "flower prince".

Associations

As the patron of writing and painting, he was called the "Seven-flower", but he could also be referred to as "Five-flower". He was the patron of the game

patolli Patolli () or patole () is one of the oldest known games in America. It was a game of strategy and luck played by commoners and nobles alike. It was reported by the conquistadors that Moctezuma Xocoyotzin often enjoyed watching his nobles play ...

. He is frequently paired with Xochiquetzal, who is seen as his female counterpart. has also been interpreted as the patron of both

homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

and

male prostitutes Male prostitution is the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. It is a form of sex work. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male pro ...

, a role possibly resulting from his being absorbed from the

Toltec The Toltec culture () was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 CE. T ...

civilization. Diaz del Castillo, Bernal. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain. Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Library Reprints, 2008. ISBN 1-4227-8345-6; Trexler, Richard C. Sex and Conquest: Gendered Violence, Political Order, and the European Conquest of the Americas. Paperback ed. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8014-8482-0; Keen, Benjamin. The Aztec Image in Western Thought. Paperback ed. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8135-1572-6; Idell, Albert. The Bernal Diaz Chronicles. New York: Doubleday, 1956. Mendelssohn, Kurt. ''Riddle of the Pyramids.'' Paperback ed. New York: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1986. ISBN 0-500-27388-X; Estrada, Gabriel S. "An Aztec Two-Spirit Cosmology: Re-sounding Nahuatl Masculinities, Elders, Femininities, and Youth." ''Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies.'' 24:2 & 3 (2003).Taylor, Clark L. "Legends, Syncretism, and Continuing Echoes of Homosexuality from Pre-Columbian and Colonial Mexico." In ''Male Homosexuality in Central and South America.'' Paperback ed. Stephen O. Murray, ed. San Francisco: Instituto Obregon, 1987. ISBN 0-942777-58-1 He, among other gods, is depicted wearing a talisman known as an , which was a teardrop-shaped pendant crafted out of mother-of-pearl.

Xochipilli statue

In the mid-19th century, a 16th-century Aztec statue of Xochipilli was unearthed on the side of the volcano

Popocatépetl Popocatépetl (; Nahuatl: ) is an active stratovolcano located in the states of Puebla, Morelos, and Mexico in central Mexico. It lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. At it is the second highest peak in Mexico, after C ...

near

Tlalmanalco Tlalmanalco is a municipality located in the far south-eastern part of the State of Mexico. The municipal seat and second largest town in the municipality is the town of Tlalmanalco de Velázquez The name is from the Nahuatl language, meaning “f ...

. The statue is of a single figure seated upon a temple-like base. Both the statue and the base upon which it sits are covered in carvings of sacred and psychoactive organisms including mushrooms (''

Psilocybe aztecorum ''Psilocybe aztecorum'' is a species of psilocybin mushroom in the family Hymenogastraceae. Known from Arizona, Colorado, central Mexico, India and Costa Rica, the fungus grows on decomposing woody debris and is found in mountainous areas at elev ...

''),

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

(''

Nicotiana tabacum ''Nicotiana tabacum'', or cultivated tobacco, is an Annual plant, annually grown herbaceous plant of the ''Nicotiana'' genus. The plant is tropical in origin, is commonly grown throughout the world, and is often found in Cultivation of tobacco, ...

''), ''Ololiúqui'' ('' Turbina corymbosa''), ''sinicuichi'' ('' Heimia salicifolia''), possibly ''cacahuaxochitl'' ('' Quararibea funebris''), and one unidentified flower. Laurette Séjourné has written: "The texts always use the flower in an entirely spiritual sense, and the aim of the religious colleges was to cause the flower of the body to bloom: This flower can be no other than the soul. The association of the flower with the sun is also evident. One of the hieroglyphs for the sun is a four-petalled flower, and the feasts of the ninth month, dedicated to Huitzilopochtliupo, were entirely given over to flower offerings." The figure himself sits on the base, head tilted up, eyes open, jaw tensed, with his mouth half open and his arms opened to the heavens. The statue is currently housed in the Aztec hall of the

Museo Nacional de Antropología The National Museum of Anthropology ( es, Museo Nacional de Antropología, MNA) is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Located in the area between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street with ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

Entheogen connection

It has been suggested by

Wasson Wasson (c. 1730 – c. 1790s) was an Ojibwa chief during the siege of Fort Detroit in Pontiac's War. Wasson led around 200 warriors, who joined Pontiac's forces on May 31, 1763, remaining as part of the siege until it was abandoned in the autu ...

, Schultes, and Hofmann that the statue of Xochipilli represents a figure in the throes of

entheogen Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwiseRätsch, Christian, ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoac ...

ic ecstasy. The position and expression of the body, in combination with the very clear representations of

hallucinogenic Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorized ...

plants Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude ...

which are known to have been used in sacred contexts by the Aztec support this interpretation. The statue appears to have hugely dilated pupils, suggesting an effect of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Wasson says that in the statue's depiction Xochipilli "is absorbed by ''temicxoch'', 'dream flowers', as the Nahua say describing the awesome experience that follows the ingestion of an entheogen. I can think of nothing like it in the long and rich history of European art: Xochipilli absorbed in ''temicxoch''".

References

External links

*
J. Paul Getty Museum's in-depth interactive exploring the Museo Nacional de Antropología's 15th-century basalt figure of ''Xochipilli''.
Includes a detailed exploration of psychotropic plants depicted.
Erowid's Xochipilli Vault
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xochipilli Aztec gods Arts gods Dance gods Nature gods Love and lust gods Homosexuality and bisexuality deities Fertility gods Music and singing gods

Associations

Xochipilli statue

Entheogen connection

See also

References

External links