nature of sympathetic magic to secure rainfall.
TEMPLES
At least three buildings were erected to the honour of Xipe at Mexico.56 The first of these, known as yopico (“in Yopi land”), has already been alluded to, and was probably the principal place connected with his worship. It was at this temple that the ceremonies of the tlacaxipeuliztli festival took place. The second, called yopico calmecac, appears to have been situated in the quarter of Tlatelolco, and, as its name implies, was evidently a monastery or place of instruction. At another edifice, the yopoci tzompantli, the heads of the victims slain at the festival of the god were exhibited. In front of the first of these stood the temalacatl, the stone to which the captives were secured when they fought with the Mexican warriors before they were finally sacrificed.
PRIESTHOOD
The Xipe yopico teohua, or priesthood dedicated to the service of Xipe, is enumerated among the various classes of priests charged with the service of the gods,57 and held in their keeping Xipe’s insignia and the accessories for his festival. They resided in the yopico calmecac or monastery.
NATURE AND STATUS
Xipe is pre-eminently a god of seed-time and planting.58 He is the Tlaltecutli, or “Lord of the Earth,” and in a secondary sense, the god of the warrior’s death on the stone of combat, because of the association between the food-supply and military service for the purpose of gaining captives. There can