This representation shows a priest personifying the god known in Nahuatl as Xipe Toltec –which can be translated as “our flayed lord” - a deity related to the renewal of vegetation in the spring.
The worship which he was given include a skinning ritual: sacrificial victims destined for his worship had their entire skin removed, once dead, from the height of the thighs or knees to the top of the head. During the festivities dedicated to Xipe, some priests dressed for several days with the skins of those who had been sacrificed; once the celebration was over, the false skins were buried inside caves.
Dressing in the skin of the sacrificed victim symbolized the cyclical renewal of the earth's crust or skin. The nose ring worn by this representation has the schematic shape of a butterfly, an insect that also connotes regeneration as it transforms from a larva to an animal that flies.
