the elder sister of the god Tlaloc. A woman was slain in her honour, robed with the same ornaments as were worn by the images of this divinity.
“The night preceding this festival, the women, old, young, and children, gave themselves up to singing and dancing, marching in a ring, linked by cords which they each held by an end, which they called xochimecatl, and which were garlanded with the absinthe flowers of the country, called iztauhyatl. Old men led the songs and dances, while in the midst of the ring stood the poor woman doomed to death, richly dressed in the manner of the image of the goddess. All the women, in company with her who was to die, watched, sang and danced