to pass small twigs through the tongue or the ears, to draw blood as a sacrifice to the deities (see Molina)
a penitential ritual that involved drawing sticks (tlacohtli) through the tongue [causing bloodletting]
See an image that represents tlacoquixtia in the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities, 2020-present).
"the word I translate as ‘sacrificer’ is intetlacoquixticatzin" (early seventeenth century, Central Mexico)
titlacoqujxtiz oppa, ceppa monacazco, ceppa monenepilco: oc cenca ipampa in tetlaxincaiotl = thou art twice [daily] to pass twigs, once through thy ear [lobe], once through thy tongue, especially because of adultery (central Mexico, sixteenth century)