Xochipilli: God of Fun and Flowers

X is for Xochipilli

I’m weaving folklore and book reviews into a single offering, shaped to reach a wider audience drawn to both. In years past, interest has surfaced in fragments of each; now, I’m gathering those threads into April alone, so the rest of the year remains quiet and deliberate.

If you came only for today’s book review, you may follow the link here.

An ancient Aztec god so secure in himself that he’s the god of love, flowers and fun? There has to be more…

Folklore

Florentine Codex [sixteenth century]

The fourteenth chapter tells of a god who was named Macuilxochitl, which means “five flowers,” and he was also named Xochipilli, which means “the noble who gives flowers” or “who is in charge of giving flowers”

This god called Macuilxochitl was believed to be a god, like the one mentioned above who is the god of fire. In particular, he was the god of those who lived in the lords’ houses or in the nobles’ palaces. They held a festival in honor of this god, and his festival was called Xochilhuitl; this festival was counted among the movable feasts that are in the fourth book, which deals with the art of divination.

For four days before this feast, all those who celebrated it fasted, both men and women. And if a man had intercourse with a woman during this period of fasting, or a woman [had it] with a man during this fast, they said that they were tarnishing their fast and that this god was very offended at this; and that is why he would attack those who did so with diseases of the private parts, such as hemorrhoids, rotting of one’s privy member, boils and tumors, et cetera. And since they believed that these diseases were punishments inflicted by this god, because of what has been described above, they made him vows and promises so that he might be appeased and stop afflicting [them] with those diseases.

When this god’s festival was approaching—[a festival] called Xochilhuitl, which means “the festival of flowers”—everyone would fast for four days, as has been mentioned. Some people would not eat chilli, or chile, and they would only eat at noon. At midnight, they would drink a maize porridge that was called tlacuilolatulli, which means “painted porridge,” with a flower placed on top, in the middle of it. This fasting was called “the fast of flowers.”

Moreover, those who fasted without refraining from eating chilli or any of the other tasty things that they usually eat would eat only once a day. Others fasted by eating unleavened bread, meaning that the maize used to make the bread that they ate was not boiled with quicklime before grinding it, which is a way of fermenting it. But instead they ground the dry maize, made bread with this flour, and cooked it on the comal; and they did not eat chilli or anything else with it. They only ate once a day, at noon.

When the fifth day came, it was the festival of this god. For this festival, one [man] was dressed in this god’s garments, as if he were his image or person—one who signified the god himself. They performed a dance with this [person], accompanied by songs, teponaztli, and a drum. At noon on this festival day, they beheaded many quails, pouring the blood before this god and his image. Others drew blood from their [outer] ears before him. Others pierced their tongues with a maguey thorn and passed many thin reeds through that hole, pouring out blood. They also made other offerings to him in his temple. They also performed a ceremony for which they made five tamales. These are like round loaves of bread made of maize, neither too thick nor too round, which were called “fasting bread.” They were large, with an arrow stuck on top, which they called xuchmitl, This was an offering from the whole town. Those individuals who so wished would offer, on a wooden dish, five small tamales, like the ones mentioned above—which we said were large—with chilmolli in another bowl. They would also offer, on some wooden dishes, two cakes that they call tzoalli, instead of offering ulli—black tar—which others would offer; and one of these small cakes was black, while the other was red. The rest of the people would offer various things: some offered toasted maize; others, toasted maize mixed with honey and flour of amaranth seeds; others, a bread made in the shape of lightning as it falls from the sky, which they call xonecuilli. Others offered bread made in the shape of a butterfly; others offered unleavened bread, which they call yotlaxcalli. Others offered some cakes made of amaranth seeds; others offered some cakes made in the shape of a round shield, made with those same seeds. Others made arrows; others, swords made with a dough prepared from the same seeds; others offered dolls made with that same dough.

During this same festival, all of the nobles and calpixques from the region of Mexico, which bordered the [surrounding] towns at war, would bring the captives they had to Mexico—either the ones they had bought or those they themselves had captured. And they handed them over to the calpixques, so that they would keep them under guard until the time came when they had to be sacrificed before the idols. And if one of these slaves happened to run away before the time came for his sacrifice, the same calpixqui who had him under his charge was obliged to buy another one, to replace the one who had escaped.

The image of this god was like a naked man who is flayed or dyed vermilion red. And his mouth and chin were dyed black and white and light blue, while his face was dyed vermilion red. He had a crown that was dyed light green, with some tufts of feathers of the same color. He had some tassels that hung from the crown down his back. On his back he carried an emblem, or plumage, which was like a banner stuck on a hill, and it had some green tufts of feathers at the top. He had a red cape fastened around the middle of his body, which hung down to his thighs. This cape had a fringe from which some small seashells hung. He wore on his feet some very elaborately made shoes, or sandals. In his left hand, he held a round shield, which was white and had four stones arranged two by two in its center.

He had a scepter fashioned in the shape of a heart, which had some tufts of green feathers at the top, while other tufts of green and yellow feathers also hung from the bottom.

Herbal Magick: A Witch’s Guide to Herbal Enchantments, Folklore, and Divination by Gerina Dunwich

Corn
Botanical name: Zea mays
Pagan name: sacred mother
Plant type: annual
Planetary ruler: Venus
Elemental ruler: Earth
Sacred to: Centeotl, Ceres, Chicomecohuatl, Cinteotl,
Kornjunfer, Krumine, Mother Corn, Onatha,
Osiris, Robigo, Robigus, Selu, Xilonen,
Xochipilli

Xochipilli: Aztec god of maize.

*More can be read in the book.

Further Reading:

• Xōchipilli
• Xochipilli: Psychedelic Plants, Song, and Ritual in Aztec Religion
• Xochipilli
• Xochipilli
• Xochipilli
• Xochipilli
• Xōchipilli: Fun-Loving Aztec God of Sex, Drugs, and Music
• How were Xochipilli and Xochiquetzal linked?

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

Xochipilli is the Aztec god of flowers, pleasure, love, music, games, fertility, the arts, feasting… the list is endless. Yet not many books about Aztec gods feature him. His name means “Flower Prince” or “Prince of Flowers. He is the twin – or male counterpart – of Xochiquetzal, the goddess of beauty, love and flowers – and much better known in various sources. Which poses the question: why is Xochipilli overlooked?

He is depicted as a youthful, care-free, handsome pleasure-seeker with a mischievous streak. Feasts are held in his honour, before which people fasted and only drank a thin maize porridge with a flower in its centre (known as the “fast of flowers”). They offered him sacrifices of blood and corn-based food such as tamales, as he was the god of maize. He was usually seen naked, with red skin, a green crown with green feathers stuck to it, an emblem on his back much like a banner sticking out of a hill covered in green plumage, he wore a cape around his middle which had a fringe from which small seashells hung. He also liked wearing elaborate sandals. Even his sceptre matched his outfit, having bit of a heart shape to it.

The famous statue of him currently housed in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City – seated cross-legged on a low pedestal, arms resting on knees with head raised toward the sky, a necklace of shells, wrist and arm bracelets, a feathered headdress with birds on either side, the base adorned with a flower pattern – can be seen in copied statues in gardens and other places across the American continents. Some interpret this statue as representing the figure in the throes of the ecstasy brought on by hallucinogens. As the god of plants, it’s probably not a stretch, and the statue is covered with hallucinogenic mushrooms, flowers from psychotropic plants and animal skins. But it seems more like he is happily singing like the god of music he is, being a vibrant symbol of life, than stoned out of his mind.

Another reason why he’s probably been excluded from books in the previous century is because he has been interpreted as the patron of homosexuals and male prostitutes. His female counterpart is the patroness of prostitutes, and is talked about on podcasts, in books and more, but that is #girlpower. Yet, isn’t Xochipilli and Xochiquetzal two sides of the same coin? Some have argued that Xochipilli has been worshipped in both his masculine and feminine forms by nobles, artists and others since pre-Columbian times. And as they are called each other’s counterparts, I think this theory a sound one.

There’s a lot about this god we don’t know because of censoring over the centuries, but the plants he presided over certainly took care of unwanted pregnancies, STDs, pain and more – which is why during rituals and feasts surrounding Xochipilli the worshippers entered a “Flowery Dream” after days of abstinence, fasting and more in preparation to worship the god of pleasure.

*Yes, I know that “Aztec” isn’t what the people called themselves, but as it’s been the name used interchangeably for several tribes since 1810, I’m sticking to it.

Xochipilli in Modern Culture

Music: Xochipilli, subtitled “An Imagined Aztec Music” by Carlos Chávez [1940].

Its original title was Xochipilli-Macuilxóchitl, which is the double name of an Aztec god in two of his aspects, meaning “Flower Prince” and “Five Flower”

Learn more here.

Dungeons and Dragons: Spelljammer [role-playing game]

Spelljammer is a campaign setting originally published for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2nd edition) role-playing game, which features a fantastic (as opposed to scientific) outer space environment.

Spelljammer introduced into the AD&D universe a comprehensive system of fantasy astrophysics, including the Ptolemaic concept of crystal celestial spheres. Crystal spheres may contain multiple worlds and are navigable using ships equipped with “spelljamming helms”. Ships powered by spelljamming helms are capable of flying into not only the sky but into space. With their own fields of gravity and atmosphere, the ships have open decks and tend not to resemble the spaceships of science fiction, but instead look more like galleons, animals, birds, fish or even more wildly fantastic shapes.

The Spelljammer setting is designed to allow the usual sword and sorcery adventures of Dungeons & Dragons to take place within the framework of outer space tropes. Flying ships travel through the vast expanses of interplanetary space, visiting moons and planets and other stellar objects.

Learn more here.

Xochipilli, the “Prince of Flowers”, is a god of beauty, happiness, music, and gambling from the Aztec pantheon. Xochipilli has a mercurial disposition. Sometimes he takes great pleasure in helping his worshipers, other times he inflicts great hardships on them for little reason. Anyone sacrificing an important magic item to him by throwing it into the street and walking away stands a small chance of attracting his attention. If the person is about to take an impressively large gamble, this chance increases significantly. If he responds to the sacrifice, Xochipilli will aid the worshiper by improving his chances at a critical moment. Omens from Xochipilli include unexplained music, a run of good or bad luck, and the sudden urge to sing. Xochipilli appears as a well-proportioned young man with the head of a decaying corpse. Xochipilli always gets a second chance to succeed when he has failed at a task. Anyone who attempts to strike him has a proportionately smaller chance of succeeding in their attack. Unlike other deities, the gods of the Aztecs do not maintain realms on the outer planes. Instead, many choose to live in wildspace, and it is quite possible for spelljammers to visit their homes. Whether it is wise to do so uninvited is another matter entirely.

Learn more here.

Xochipilli in My Writing

Origin of the Fae: Xochipilli

As many other deities, Xochipilli is gender-fluid. Though they are usually found in their male incarnation, mostly because of mortal constrictions on females and the rigid outlook of some pantheons. Xochipilli is a strong magic-user, on par with Isis and Hecate. Though he doesn’t advertise it, blood sacrifice makes the strongest spells, and he has plenty of it from his worshippers through the ages. He loves having fun, singing and dancing being his favourite pastimes. He is the god of flowers, among other things, and there’s nothing more beautiful than a field of marigolds.

The type of party he would organise, for the fun of it.

See this immortal in action in my writing:

A Way Back Into Love (Irascible Immortals #9)

On a high mountain looking down on a human city standing in for all, Isis and Xochipilli took hands. Flowers and butterflies sprung to existence and got pulled into the whirlwind forming around them. She could feel him pull power from her. The whirlwind rushed down to the city and replaced ugly graffiti with flowers and floating debris with butterflies.

A Way Back Into Love, Irascible Immortals #9, Ronel Janse van Vuuren

If this tale has lingered with you, I would be glad to hear it.
Where did you first encounter this creature – through story, superstition, memory, or something half-remembered?
If you know other versions of its myth, feel free to leave them in the record below. Folklore survives by being spoken again.
Further fragments and interpretations of this creature can be found in my Pinterest grimoire.

If you wish to support the time and craft behind these folklore posts – researching old tales, gathering fragments, and shaping them into something worth reading – you may do so by buying me a coffee. It can be a single offering, or something you return to whenever the spirit moves you.