Toxcatl

Toxcatl can refer to two things:

1. The festival practiced annually by the Aztecs, in which an impersonator of their false idol Tezcatlipoca is slain, and many other mistresses are slain. They have been partially fasting for a year. During this festival, people dance and play the drums, and an idol of Huitzilopochtli is made out of corn flour and children's blood.
2. The Toxcatl that took place while the Spanish were in Tenochtitlan, when Pedro de Alvardo attacked the innocent and unarmed dancers and musicians while they were in the temple. He and his men attacked the drummer, cutting off both arms and head, and as for the dancers, they slashed at their stomachs, causing them to trip over their own dragging entrails and intestines as they ran through pools of blood which were the result of the massacre.