-- from roger_jen
This is the Maya stela "H", at the Copan ruins in Honduras, near the border with Guatemala. Copan was a Maya city of artists and sculptors that was abandoned around 900 AD.
"This magnificent stela depicts Waxaklahun-Ubah-K'awil in the role of the Maize
God as he danced at Creation. In the Classic-period story of Creation, the Maize
Gods are the central characters in the drama that explains the processes of
death and rebirth through confrontation with the Lords of Death in Xibalba.
Classic-period imagery shows the Maize Gods being reborn from a snake, growing
from infancy to adulthood, and being dressed in full regalia by beautiful young
women. This regalia included a net skirt, a fish monster-and-shell belt, and a
huge backrack carrying one of three animals who would become the Throne Stones
of the Cosmic Hearth.
Once fully dressed, the Maize Gods danced in the
company of dwarves and began the activities that led to the Fourth Creation.
Waxaklahun-Ubah-K'awil reenacts this dance on Stela H, and to reinforce his
identity, he wears a huge zoomorphic Maize God headdress with the leaves and ear
of the plant arching over his head."
Linda Schele & Peter Mathews,
The Code of Kings: The Language of Seven Sacred Maya Temples and Tombs, p. 154
More photos of the Maya world.