18 - Xocotl Huetzi

The ceremonies of Xocotl Huetzi look forward to the end of Xopan, and the beginning of the dry season. In them, the lords of the forest, of water and life, are felled, and the way is prepared for the lords of fire and heat. Xocotl Huetzi acknowledges the balance of city and farm with the forests and wild places, whereby the forests provide water, air, and life to us, and we give the forests the maintenance they need, such as fires to burn underbrush, hunting to prevent animals such as deer from overpopulating, and in the new world in which we live, protection, so that the forests are not exploited and cut down for farms, suburbs, mining, wood, and other forms of dishonorable harvest. During Xocotl Huetzi our debt is to Tepeyollotl and the wild places, and we must find ways to return to them all the abundance they have given to us. 

The Ceremonies of Xocotl Huetzi

An altar is made, at the center of which is placed a branch from a fruit tree, amid offerings of flowers and food. Atop the branch is placed an image of Tepeyollotl, made of dough or amaranth seeds, and before the branch is placed another of Xiuhtecuhtli. Fruit and presents are tied to the branch.

Guests are invited, and after they have drunk and eaten, the branch is given offerings of food and drink, and is blessed with smoke of copal. The fruit and presents tied to the tree are distributed to the guests, and the image of Tepeyollotl is broken up and fed to the guests as well. Those who feel so called prick their earlobes or fingers with maguey thorns, and smear their blood on strips of paper, which are fed to a flame which burns before the image of Xiuhtecuhtli, in gratitude for His gift of fire and in honor of Tepeyollotl, who protects the wild places and who has died for our sake.