This is the Mayan 260-day calendar used by most Mesoamerican societies at the time. This calendar was primarily used by the Mayans in order to determine the times for religious ceremonies. The Tzolk’in calendar consists of 20 days combined with the thirteen numbers of the “trecena” cycle. The days are named in sequence similar to the modern weekly cycle, and are repeated thirteen times for a grand total of 260 each Tzolk’in year. The origins of the calendar are not clear, but seeing how the numbers twenty and thirteen were very important in Mayan culture may give a hint to an explanation for 260 days (13 X 20 = 260). Also the pregnancy cycle for a woman is approximately 260, which may be another reason for why the calendar revolves around this number.
Haab’
This calendar consisted of 360 days followed by 5 extra days at the end of the year know as Wayeb’ giving a Haab’ year a grand total of 365 days. This calendar is presumed to have its starting point on the winter solstice. The calendar has eighteen named months each having twenty numbered days in them. This calendar was primarily used by the people for keeping track of the seasons. However, because the calendar did not include the extra quarter day in the tropical year, it became more and more inaccurate as the years passed. The five days at the end known as the Wayeb’ were thought to be dangerous and full of misfortune. These days were thought to mark the time of the year when the boundaries between the mortal and realm and the underworld banished. With no barrier to keep the evil from the underworld, people avoided having to go outside during this time of the year.
Name and Meaning
- Pop = Mat
- Yax =Green Storm
- Wo = Black Conjunction
- Sac = White Storm
- Sip = Red Conjunction
- Keh = Red Storm
- Sotz' = Bat
- Mak = Enclosed
- Sek = ?
- K'ank'in = Yellow Sun
- Xul = Dog
- Muwan = Owl
- Yaxk'in = New Sun
- Pax = Planting Time
- Mol = Water
- K'ayab' = Turtle
- Ch'en = Black Storm
- Kumk'u = Granary
Venus Cycle
The Mayans had highly advanced in astronomy and had no trouble mapping out Venus’ cycle with extreme accuracy. The Mayans achieved this by studying the starts many years until the completion of the cycles of the stars. Venus was viewed as a symbol of war, so the cycle was used to determine the times when was war favorable. Through divination and the placement of Venus in the sky, Mayans would consider going to war or not.
The Long Count
Because the combination of days and months between the Haab’ and Tzolk’in would repeat every 52 years, the Mayans figured they would need another way to identify dates over longer periods of time. Thus, the Long Count was formulated which consisted in the naming of years. Unlike the modern numbering system using the decimal scheme, they used a modified version using a 20 base scheme. One day was known as “K’in.” Twenty of these days were know as a “Winal.” Eighteen Winals made a “Tun,” and twenty Tuns made a “K’atun.”
Baktun = 20 katuns = 144,000 days or about 400 years (394.52 of our years)
Katun = 20 Tuns = 7,200 days or about 20 years (19.73 of our years)
Tun = 18 Uinals = 360 days or about 1 year (less 5 days of one of our years)
Uinal = 20 Kins = 20 days or 1 Maya month
Kin = 1 Day = 24.017 hours
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