Atlixco

Duverger (2003: 131) mentions a baptismal basin installed in the Franciscan convent of Atlixco as a pre-Cortés quauhxicalli [the vessel in which the bloodied heart of the sacrificed victim was deposited] ["un authetique quauhxicalli précortésien"] [cf. Index entry for Mixcoac for another such vessel of Aztec origin]. The grey-stone basin, which has lost the original colour pigmentation, is covered in braided glyph ["du glyphe de la natte"] and the base, in the shape of truncated pyramid, still has the original drain channel to evacuate the precious sacrificial blod ["la rigole ouverte pour que ruisselle vers la terre le précieux sang des sacrifiés"]. Duverger (ibid.) dwells in the obvious association between the pre-Columbian quahxicalli and the sacrificial [i.e., Eucharistic] and cleansing role of the baptismal font and liturgy.