Mayan+Calendar

MAYAN CALENDAR
Mayan civilization was founded upon their spiritual beliefs and their desire to understand time. The invention of the Mayan calendar showed how much these people relied on the cosmos and movements of the planets. Maya priests used these movements of heavenly bodies to map out a passage of time. By doing this they learned which days were favorable for events like rituals, marriages, trade, war, and other things. The calendars were essential for everything from political strategies, to social reformations. Every time a new king arose he had to abide by the calendar because each day included an intricate record of divine actions. Each king developed somewhat of a relationship to this consistently moving time scale and lived by it until he died. [3] The Maya calendar was made out of giant stone slabs and consisted of interlocking wheels (Figure 2). The wheels turned each day to reveal a new character or position in the permutations of the time cycle. This is why most kings developed a relationship with the calendar because they had to abide by it. It helped them rule in a sense; knowing when to wage war, or plant and harvest crops. When a king was born or passed away that date was marked and was a great importance to the history of the royal dynasty. This is why Maya history shows links to the present and the Otherworld, and therefore to the past and future. [3]

The Mayan calendar involved three different dating systems which all worked alongside each other. They were the Long Count, the //Tzolkin// or divine calendar, and the //Haab// or civil calendar. [3]

A typical Mayan date looked like this: **12.15.4.17.3, 2 Kawak, 6 Pop**.
 * 12.15.4.17.3 is the Long Count date
 * 2 Kawak is the //Tzolkin// date
 * 6 Pop is the //Haab// date [2]

The Long Count is the one people are becoming more familiar with nowadays (Figure 1). With the upcoming year of 2012 a lot of people have taken more attention to it. The question that needs to be asked then, is why do people believe the world is going to end based on this calendar? The Long Count is a linear calendar of unique days which do not repeat themselves like the //Tzolkin// or //Haab//. The beginning of the calendar starts on August 11, 3114 BC, a date when the Mayans believed the universe began. It spans over a time of 5,125 years and ends on December 21, 2012, this is said to be the end of the universe according to Maya legend. We have evidence that the world is older than 3000BC, therefore there is a lot of problems with the Mayans' theory. They still had a better concept of time than any other civilization of that era however. The basic unit is the k'in, or day. This is also the last component of the Long Count. After the k'in comes the winal which is 20 k'in or days. A tun is 18 winal or 360 days. One k'atun is equal to 20 tun, which is about 20 years, and finally the bak'tun, 20 katun or 394 years. This is how the makers of the calendars would read and map out the dates. [2][3] The //Tzolkin // was a 260-day calendar which had nothing to do with any astronomical phenomenon, but was what the kings used to regulate religious events and was inter-meshed with the //Haab //. The //Tzolkin // month and day names changed every single day, which is different to that of the //Haab //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">. Our calendar today uses a single week of seven days, the Mayan //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Tzolkin //<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> used two different lengths of week. Each and everyday presented a new character, and will continue to do so until time itself runs out. Every fifty-two years a complete cycle of all the different days and months occurred in both calendars which resulted in a very intense religious activity. [1][2]

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The //Haab// was a 365-day calendar and this one is based on the solar year that we go by today. There were 18 "months" of 20 days each in the //Haab// with five so-called unlucky days, or Uayeb, at the very end. This gives a year length of 365 days. The //Haab// had different names for each of the 18 months; each one represented by a symbol, like the "Xul" in Figure 3. The days of the month were numbered differently compared to that of the //Tzolkin//. The month names changed every 20 days instead of daily. The first month Pop began with 0 Pop, followed by 1 Pop, 2 Pop, and so on. After 19 Pop, it starts back over at 0 but for the next month Wo. [1][2]



<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">So why the obsession with the dating of these calendars?
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Understanding Mayan religion is very important to understanding their calendar. It was made by the priests and everyday involved a different religious practice. Working out all the calculations and knowing the organization of the cosmos proved that the Maya practiced the worship of time itself. They looked to them as guidance in hopes that their faith in it would bring them power and success. [1] To understand the reasons behind their understanding of time I suggest reading up on some of the other Wikis below.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Further readings related to this subject: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Mayan Religion- Sarah Galicki <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Mayan Religion- Sarah Leary <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Mayan Religious Thought- Christine Medina <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">European Technology- Megan Franken

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<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">// Sources // <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">D. Coe, Michael. __The Maya__. 8th ed. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2011. Print. [1]

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Douma, Michael, Smith Sally. "The Mayan Calendar." __Calendars Through the Ages__. Ed. Sally Smith. 2008. IDEA. 29 Nov. 2011 <[]>. [2]

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Scarre, Christopher; M. Fagan, Brian. __Ancient Civilizations__. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc, 2008. Print. [3]

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Photo 1 by: [] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Photo 2 by: [] <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Photo 3 by: []