Buzz
The Maya calendar, often mistakenly referred to as the 'Mayan' calendar, gained significant attention as the year 2012 neared its end, fueled by speculations about its prediction of the world's end on December 21 of that year. However, the Maya calendar merely marked the conclusion of a particular cycle and the commencement of a new one. The complete Maya calendar is intricate, comprising various interlocking and repeating cycles. By comprehending the components of these cycles and their interactions, you can decipher the Maya calendar and juxtapose it with the widely used Gregorian calendar.
Key Steps
Exploring the Haab, Tzolkin, and Long Calendars
Familiarize yourself with the divisions of the Haab calendar. The Haab calendar represents one of the Maya methods for timekeeping. It is roughly aligned with the solar cycle, making it relatively familiar to users of the Gregorian calendar.
- The term “Haab” translates to “year.”
- Each Haab consists of 18 months (uinals) of 20 days each, totaling 360 days, or one tun. Additionally, each Haab includes one month of 5 days (Wayeb). Together, this yields 365 days, approximating the solar year (365 ¼ days).
- A tun, also known as a vague year, provides only an approximation of the solar year, as it does not incorporate the ¼ day or a leap day every four years, unlike the Gregorian calendar.
Using the Haab calendar for counting. Counting in the Haab calendar involves 20-day cycles known as uinals and a 5-day month called Wayeb. This counting starts from day 0 and ends at day 19 or 4, respectively. The Haab calendar consists of 19 months listed as follows: Pop, Wo, Sip, Sotz, Sak, Xul, Yaxkin, Mol, Chen, Yax, Sak, Keh, Mak, Kankin, Muwan, Pax, Kayab, Kumku, and Wayeb.
Utilizing the Tzolkin calendar for counting. The Tzolkin calendar comprises 20 days that cycle 13 times within a Tzolkin year, distinct from a Haab calendar year. Each day within each cycle bears a number ranging from 1 to 13. Consequently, the total length of a Tzolkin year amounts to 260 days.
Counting with the days of the Tzolkin calendar. Each day within the Tzolkin cycle holds sacred significance, often honoring specific deities and bearing unique names. The sequence of days includes: Imix, Ik, Akbal, Kan, Chicchan, Kimi, Manik, Lamat, Muluk, Ok, Chuwen, Eb, Ben, Ix, Men, Kib, Caban, Etznab, Kawak, and Ajaw.
Combining the Haab and Tzolkin Calendars to form a complete date or calendar round. Most Maya dates are expressed as combinations of the Haab and Tzolkin calendars. These two calendars interlock, creating extended cycles between repetitions of each date. A full calendar round encompasses 52 repetitions of 365 days, totaling 18,980 days. This results in combination dates such as 4 Ajaw 3 Kankin and 7 Manik 10 Kankin.
Employing the Long Calendar for longer time spans. In addition to the calendar round, the Maya calendar features larger cycles for measuring longer periods of time. This calendar, referred to as the “Long Calendar,” spans 5125 1/3 years. Comprising five cycles, akin to the Gregorian calendar’s representation of days, months, years, centuries, and millennia, the Long Calendar includes: Kin (days), Uinal (20 kin/days each), Tun (18 uinal or 360 days each), Katun (20 tun or 7200 days each), and Baktun (20 katun or 144,000 days each).
Bringing it All Together
Deciphering the Maya long count date. The Maya calendar interprets any date based on its distance from a fixed starting point, which represents the commencement of a Maya creation era. This fixed date is denoted as 13.0.0.0.0.
- Each number (separated by a dot) in the expression 13.0.0.0.0 signifies a position within the five cycles of the Long Calendar, in the sequence of baktun, katun, tun, uinal, and kin.
- The Maya creation era repeats, with each cycle initiating from the start date 13.0.0.0.0. The reason why the cycle commences with 13 baktun rather than 0 remains unknown.
Grasping the recording and interpretation of dates using the Gregorian calendar. Widely adopted across the globe, the Gregorian calendar offers a familiar method for timekeeping. For instance, consider the date Monday, December 29th, 2008:
- “Monday” represents one day within a recurring cycle of 7 days constituting a week.
- The date (29, in this instance) denotes a specific position within the unit of a month, which may span 28, 29, 30, or 31 days.
- The year (2008) indicates the number of years since a fixed reference point (the conventional birth of Christ at year 0).
Contrast this familiar system with the equivalent date presented in the Maya calendar. The date “Monday, December 29th, 2008” would translate to “7 Manik 10 Kankin 12.19.15.17.7” in accordance with the Maya calendar. The components of this date include:
- Manik signifies the day within a named cycle of 20 days utilized in the Tzolkin calendar.
- The subsequent 7 denotes the date's placement within a cycle of 13 days employed in the Tzolkin calendar.
- Kankin denotes one of 18 months within a cycle used in the Haab calendar.
- 10 indicates the date's position within a cycle of 20 days constituting one uinal, or month.
- 12.19.15.17.7 represents the count of years since a fixed reference point, the commencement of a Maya cycle: 12 baktun, 19 katun, 15 tun, 15 uinal, and 7 kin.
Expressing the initiation date of the Maya creation cycle. The start date of the current Maya creation cycle, 13.0.0.0.0, corresponds to December 21, 2012, in the Gregorian calendar. Similarly, the start date of the preceding cycle (which concluded on December 20, 2012), 13.0.0.0.0, corresponds to August 11 (or 13), 3114 BC/BCE, in the Gregorian calendar.
- December 21, 2012, following the conclusion of a lengthy cycle in the Maya calendar, would be expressed as 4 Ajaw 3 Kankin 13.0.0.0.0 using the comprehensive calendar representation. Likewise, the previous day, December 20, 2012, would have been rendered as 3 Kawak 2 Kankin 12.19.19.17.19.
Utilize a calendar conversion tool. Numerous online resources offer tools for converting dates from the Gregorian calendar to the Maya calendar. These tools facilitate quick and effortless referencing of the Maya calendar, eliminating the need for complex calculations or reference charts.
Pointers
-
While commonly used in popular media, the term 'Mayan' is technically incorrect; the correct adjective is 'Maya'.
-
Traditionally, the Maya calendar was documented using a system of glyphs. Nonetheless, specialists, including archaeologists, have devised a method for converting Maya dates using Arabic numerals and Roman letters.
