blood
Blood served a very important purpose in Maya culture. It is believed to contain a “life-force” that was required by supernatural forces. Blood was offered to the gods or deities by auto-sacrificial bloodletting.
Mayans are obsessed with blood - both their own and that of their captives and ritual bloodletting was a major part of any important calendar event.
The ability of bloodletting is based on two intertwined concepts that are prevalent in the Maya belief system.
The first is the notion that the gods had given life to humankind by sacrificing parts of their own bodies.
The second is the central focus of their mythology on human blood, which signifies life among the Maya.
Within the belief system, human blood was partially made up of the blood of the gods, who sacrificed their own divine blood in creating life in humans.
Thus, in order to continually maintain the order of their universe, the Maya believe that blood had to be given back to the gods. The rulers were giving their blood to empower the gods in return for giving them life.
Piercing was accomplished using obsidian prismatic blades, stingray spines, or shark's teeth. Under some circumstances, a rope with attached thorns or obsidian flakes would be pulled through the tongue.
The location of the bloodletting on the body often correlated with an intended result or a corresponding symbolic representation. For example, drawing blood from the genitals, especially the male sex organs, would be done with the intent of increasing or representing human fertility.
One of the best known lintels from Mesoamerica, Yaxchilan Lintel 24 , shows Lady Xoc drawing a barbed rope through her tongue. In front of her, her husband and the ruler of Yaxchilan, Shield Jaguar, is shown holding a torch.
Bloodletting was performed by piercing a soft body part, generally the tongue, and scattering the blood or collecting it on amate, which was subsequently burned. The act of burning the sacrificed blood symbolized the transferral of the offering to the gods via its transformation into the rising smoke.