Lady Xoc's Bloodletting Rite           The bloodletting rite of Lady Xoc, of Yaxchilan, Chiapas, Mexico. While her husband, the king Shield Jaguar, holds a large torch above her, she pulls a thorn-lined rope through her tongue. Her blood drips into a woven basket containing blood stained paper, the stringray spine that pierced her tongue, and the end of the rope. The bloody paper will be burnt as offering to the gods to prove her royal lineage.