The Maya loved musical instruments and created great varieties of whistles, flutes, and rattles. These were used by professional musicians in ceremonial processions to help stir up the frenzy needed for occasions such as bloodletting. Vessels and bowls also contained rattles, which may have been intended to call the gods. This vessel shows a man holding a bowl in an acrobatic pose that would have, in reality, required great dexterity. He wears a thickly ornamented collar or yoke and a waist band to which is attached a hanging cloth. His headdress, ear spools and ritual scarification indicate he is someone of importance, either a ruler or high priest. Six holes in the middle of the bowl help resonate the sound. At the rear is the head of a fierce snake, very realistically carved with features of a fer-de-lance or perhaps other poisonous viper of the region? Most intriguing are the beautiful glyphs on the sides and bottom of the bowl. When holding the vessel so the snake's head is pointing straight up, we see three kneeling figures, two facing each other, and another looking the opposite direction. Their arms and especially hands are in positions suggesting movement. These may represent underworld gods, or perhaps priests in the process of performing a ritual act. It is astonishing to imagine so much power, purpose and mystery in an object that can be held on the palm of the hand. Only a culture rich in symbolism and complex beliefs could produce an object endowed with such presence as this wonderful vessel.