How ‘ritualized’ was Mesoamerican warfare prior to the colonial era, and how did it differ from Spanish traditions of warfare?

[u/BookLover54321]

In When Montezuma Met Cortés, Matthew Restall notes the following about Mesoamerican traditions of warfare:

Contrary to the Aztecs’ reputation for bloodthirstiness, they shared with other Mesoamericans a culture of warfare that was bound by a war season, by rules of conduct, and by an emphasis on individual combat and ritualized killing. (The Aztecs and the Tlaxcalteca Triple Alliance even seem to have engaged in so-called Flower Wars, in which the unpredictable chaos of open battle was replaced by hand-to-hand combat and negotiated casualties.) Unlike the Iberian Peninsula, the Mexican countryside was not studded with castles and fortified towns; by and large, both urban and rural populations did not need to live in fear of sudden attack, slaughter, and enslavement—not until 1519, that is.

Restall says this about Aztec and Tlaxcalteca warfare close to the contact period, but I’m wondering if this extends to other Mesoamerican groups and in other eras as well?

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