Thelma Sullivan noted that we often see a narrow line through the eye of Xipe figures.
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 100.
Xipe Totec was the "god of the sea-shore people, the proper god of the Zapotecs." When he was unhappy with his people, he caused a great array of eye irritations and diseases. To be cured, people agreed to wear the skins of flayed men during the celebration of the feast of Xipe Totec, called the "Feast of the Flaying of Men." (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 1 -- The Gods; No. 14, Part 2, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1950), 16.auh ynic mjtoaia quaujtl eoa: vncan necia, vncan onjxnecia, yn izqujntin oaoanozque temalacac: yoan in quexqujch çan miquiz, moteneoaia qujnquavitleoaltiaia yn oaoanti: vmpa ovico yiopico, yn iteupan Totec: vmpa qujntlaieecalviaia, in quenjn mizquizque, qujmeltequja: çan oc qujntlaiecultiaia: iotlaxcalli, anoço iopitlaxcalli, ynic qujmeletequja = And at the time called Quauitl eua, there on the round sacrificial stone appeared and came into view all those who were to be sacrificed victims. And of all those who were thus to die, it was said: “They raise poles for the striped ones.” They were brought to Yopico, [Xipe] Totec’s temple. There they made them fight in mock battle, in the same manner as they would later die, [when] they would tear their hearts out of them. They counterfeited this with them. [Using] tortillas of ground corn which had not been softened in lime [as mock-haters], they thus cut their hearts out. (16th century, Mexico City)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2—The Ceremonies, No. 14, Part III, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 44.
auh in mamalti motocaiotiaia xipeme, yoan tototecti: in temictiaia, iehoantin in tlamacazque: amo iehoanti qujnmictiaia in maleque = And the captives were called xipeme and tototecti. Those who slew them were the priests. Those who had taken them captive did not kill them... (16th century, Mexico City)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2—The Ceremonies, No. 14, Part III, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 46.
in xipeme, yn onmaqujaia tlacaeoatl = the xipeme, they who had put on the skins of men (16th century, Mexico City)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2—The Ceremonies, No. 14, Part III, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 49.
auh çatepan itoalco, qujquetza in male, qujtlalia quauhtzontapaiolli, ey icxi, tzicujlicxe, ytech qujtlatlalia: yn jamatlatquj, ynjc omochichioaia totec = And thereafter the owner of the captive set up in the courtyard [of his house] a woven twig ball on three small feet. Upon it he placed the paper adornment with which had been adorned the Totec [when he died]. (16th century, Mexico City)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2—The Ceremonies, No. 14, Part III, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 57.