Xipe Totec

The Aztec people had many gods that they believed in. Xipe Totec or "our lord the flayed one" was one of their gods. He was the god of renewal and new life. He was commonly portrayed wearing the freshly flayed skin of a sacrificial victim. He was highly involved in the sacrificing rituals as he was the one to receive the skins of the body. He wore the skins as a symbol of new vegetation to represent the "new skin" the Earth receives when Spring comes. In statues he is always portrayed with the skin of hands hanging from his wrists.