Mexican archaeologists have found in the state of Puebla in central Mexico, a temple dedicated to one of the gods worshiped by the Indians of Mesoamerica, Shipa Toteku (Lord-with-skinned-skin), according to the website of the National Institute of Anthropology and History. They also found stone sculptures depicting Sipe-Totek, by which, among other things, they determined the belonging of the sanctuary.
The Shipe-Totec cult was widespread among the peoples living in the west and in the center of modern Mexico, as well as on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Sipe-Totek was the god of agriculture, seasonal renewal, the cycle of life and death, the patron saint of jewelers. In addition, however, he sent people with inflammation and eye diseases, and he also invented war. Shipe-Totek tore off his skin to feed people, just as the outer shell of a corn cob peels off. God was depicted as wearing ripped off human skin (and sometimes himself with skinned off), and his body was half yellow, half yellowish brown.
Shipe-Totek was celebrated on the days of the vernal equinox. During the celebration, prisoners of war captured in advance were tied to the altar, armed with fake weapons and forced to depict gladiatorial battles with well-armed soldiers. After they inevitably lost their battles, they were flayed alive on another altar. Over the next 20 days, the flayed skin was worn by the priests of the deity, who performed rituals dedicated to fertility. The skin was often decorated with feathers and gold ornaments, and after the celebrations, it was put in boxes with tight lids to prevent the stench, and stored in a special room under the temple of the deity. It is known that Sipe Totek had a temple within the Templo Major temple complex in Tenochtitlan.
In the field season of the past year, archaeologists led by Noemi Castillo discovered in the city of Tehuacan the ruins of a temple dedicated to Shipa Totek - a pyramidal base, to the north and south of it two altars for sacrifices, and three stone sculptures of the god. The images were of two skinned skulls and a torso covered with the victim's skin. According to archaeologists, the heads were about 70 centimeters high each and weighed about 200 kilograms. They were carved from volcanic rock, possibly rhyolite.
