Using the first known major settlement of the Mayan culture as a setting, this program illuminates several important rites and rituals of the Mayans who lived there through the interpretations of the many inscriptions found on the walls of its main buildings. The life and death of significant rulers such as Halach Vinic, the Solar Prince, and Kuk Quetzl, the last lord of Palenque, are examined. Rituals that are explained and reenacted include the daily blood ritual, at which Mayan warriors, slicing into their own flesh, hoped to secure everlasting life and perpetuate the seasonal corn crop essential to the culture’s existence. The concept of humankind as a sacred bridge between the heavens and the "slithering earth" reveals the significance of human sacrifice in religious rituals, a point clearly reinforced through interpretations of inscriptions indicating the sacrifice and burial of Mayan children in the tomb of Halach Vinic in AD 693. (Spanish with English subtitles, 29 minutes)