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. Accordi ...
. His name contains the
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
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. 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, 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. Th ...
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 ...
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
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior.
Th ...
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 el ...
''),
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 ch ...
(''
Nicotiana tabacum
''Nicotiana tabacum'', or cultivated tobacco, is an 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. It grows to heights be ...
''), ''Ololiúqui'' (''
Turbina corymbosa
''Ipomoea corymbosa'' is a species of morning glory, native throughout Latin America from Mexico as far south as Peru and widely naturalised elsewhere. Its common names include Christmasvine, Christmaspops, and snakeplant.
Description and names
...
''), ''sinicuichi'' (''
Heimia salicifolia''), possibly ''cacahuaxochitl'' (''
Quararibea funebris
''Quararibea funebris'' (''flor de cacao'', ''cacahuaxochitl'', funeral tree, ''rosita de cacao''; syn. ''Lexarza funebris'') is a tree native to Mexico. This plant is used as a medicinal plant, and also as one of the essential ingredients in the ...
''), 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 in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...
.
Entheogen connection
It has been suggested by
Wasson,
Schultes Schultes is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Josef August Schultes (1773–1831), Austrian botanist and professor in Vienna, father of Julius
* Julius Hermann Schultes (1804–1840), Austrian botanist in Vienna
* Richard Evans ...
, and
Hofmann
Hoffman is a surname of German and Jewish origin. The original meaning in medieval times was "steward", i.e. one who manages the property of another. In English and other European languages, including Yiddish and Dutch, the name can also be sp ...
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 Psychoact ...
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 categorize ...
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 exclud ...
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''".
See also
*
Quiabelagayo
Quiabelagayo (alternatively written Guiebelagayo or Quiepelagayo) is a Zapotec name associated particularly with the Oaxacan Valley pre-Columbian site of Dainzu (known also as ''Macuilxochitl'' or ''Macuilsuchil''). In Zapotec mythology and reli ...
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