Xōchipilli

The following is excerpted from Cassell’s Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit.

Xōchipilli (also Naxcit-Xuchitl), Aztec Prince of Flowers, consort of the goddess Xōchiquetzal. . . . Xōchipilli is a god of flowers and sensual pleasures. He is the patron of entertainers – dancers, singers, actors, jugglers, gymnasts, and game-players (especially of the nexoxochitlaxiliztli, the “game of throwing flowers”). He is also the patron of perfumers. He delights in perfumes containing many exotic essences, called xochitlanamactli. Like other deities, Xōchipilli brings not only joy but also suffering, especially to those who fail to make sacrifices to him. They are likely to be stricken with venereal disease or hemorrhoids. In Nahuatl, hemorrhoids are referred to as xochiciutzlil, “the flowers of the anus.” Offerings to Xōchipilli include toasted corn bread and butterfly-shaped breads.

Xōchipilli was honored with Xōchiquetzal at the Xōchilhuitl festival as well as the Tecuilhuitontli. Held in the seventh month of the Aztec year, the Tecuilhuitontli was an unusual festival in that human sacrifice played no part in it. It was, in the words of Father Durán, “an occasion for enjoying the flowers which abounded in that season,” and in ancient texts was represented by “a man arranging [or men exchanging] flowers.” It was a time when great banquets were held which emphasized dainty and exotic dishes and when flowers, “mantles, breechcloths, and jewels” were exchanged. Hierodules wearing flower garlands and “elaborately embroidered huipils” danced in the streets, while noblemen reclined on couches, “surrounded by flowers, picking one up and laying it down, [then] taking another and abandoning it.”

As the god of dance, Xōchipilli was honored with the cuecuechcuicatl, the “dance of the itch.” This dance was compared by Durán to the Spanish saraband, “with all its wriggling and grimacing and immodest mimicry.” It was performed by hierodules and by transgendered ciluayollo males “dressed as women.” As David F. Greenberg states, Xōchipilli is “the patron of male homosexuality and male prostitution.” His patronage of individuals engaging in these behaviors suggests a complex set of associations including the role of entertainer, the love of exotic foods and perfumes, male gender variance, and same-sex eroticism.

See also the previous posts:
• The Hare of the Agave
• Kiss of the Rabbit God
• The Divine Masculine Principle
• In American Gods, An Otherworldly Depiction of Queer Attraction and Connection
• Totem Animal
• The Great Hare
• Nanabush
• Among the Egyptians
• An Ancient Religion
• A Powerful Hero
• We Are Still Mythical

Images: Artists unknown.