The Mayan
Calendar
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See Also : 2012 - The end of the World? - 2012 - Speculation and Theories involving the year 2012 - Eschatology and End Times Beliefs - 2012 The End? - An examination of the Mayans
What is the Mayan Calendar?
The Maya
calendar is a system of complex and
highly developed calendars
created by the Maya Civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. This
series of calendars, includes a sacred 260-day calendar, called the
Tzol'kin, a 365-day calendar called the Haab, and a 52-Haab cycle
called the Calendar Round, which synchronised the Tzol'kin and Haab
cycles.
The importance of
time in the Maya culture
The Maya
believed that time was cyclical
instead of the western
conception of linear time. This means that they thought that time
repeated itself, so therefore, if they knew the past they could predict
the future. By understanding time, they Maya could gain power over
their world.
The Tzol’kin
The
Tzol'kin calendar combines twenty day
names with thirteen numbers
to produce 260 unique days. It was used to determine the time of
religious and ceremonial events and for divination.
Divination
The Maya
believed that each day of the
Tzol’kin had a character that
influenced events. The Maya had a shaman-priest, whose name meant day
keeper, that read the Tzol’kin to predict the future. When a child was
born, the day keeper would interpret the Tzol’kin cycle to predict the
baby’s destiny. For example, a child born on the day of Ak’abal was
thought to be feminine, wealthy, verbally skillful, and possibly a
liar, cheat or complainer. The birthday of Ak’abal was also thought to
give the child the ability to communicate with the supernatural world,
so he or she might become a priest shaman or a marriage spokesman. In
the Maya highlands, babies were even named after the day they were born
on.
Origin of the
Tzol’kin
The exact
origin of the Tzol’kin is not known,
but there are several
theories. One theory is that the calendar came from mathematical
operations based on the numbers thirteen and twenty, which were
important numbers to the Maya. The number twenty was the basis of the
Maya counting system, taken from the number of human fingers and toes.
(See Maya numerals). Thirteen symbolized the number of levels in the
Upperworld where gods lived. The numbers multiplied together equal 260.
Another theory is that the 260-day period came from the length of human
pregnancy. It is postulated that midwives originally developed the
calendar to predict babies’ expected birth dates.
The Haab
The Haab
was the Maya solar calendar made up
of eighteen months of
twenty days each and a five day month at the end of the year known as
Wayeb or Uayeb that was called "the nameless days." Victoria Bricker
estimates that the Haab was first used around 550 B.C.E. with the
starting point of the winter solstice. The Haab was the foundation of
the agrarian calendar and the month names are based on the seasons and
agricultural events. For example the thirteenth month, Mac, may refer
to the end of the rainy season and the fourteenth month, Kankin, may
refer to ripe crops in the fall.
Wayeb
The five
nameless days at the end of the
calendar called Wayeb were
thought to be a dangerous time. Lynn Foster writes that, "During Wayeb,
portals between the mortal realm and the Underworld dissolved. No
boundaries prevented the ill-intending deities from causing disasters."
To ward off these evil spirits, the Maya had customs and rituals they
practiced during Wayeb. For example, people avoided leaving their
houses or washing or combing their hair.
The long count
calendar
There was
also a Long Count calendar which
started at [0.0.0.0.0] (with
Maya record) on August 11, 3114 BC according to the "Goodman,
Martinez-Hernandez, and Thompson" correlation (nicknamed "GMT"), the
most widely accepted correlation between the Maya and Gregorian
calendar. This cycle is 1,872,000 days in length, terminates on the
Winter Solstice of (December 21) AD 2012 and is designated [13.0.0.0.0]
or [0.0.0.0.0], since the Maya believed that time is somehow
periodical. Another widely-used correlation, that of Lounsbury,
correlates the start-day to August 13, 3114 BC and the terminal date to
December 23, AD
The end of the
world?
The turn
of the great cycle is conjectured to
have been of great
significance to the Maya, but does not necessarily mark the end of the
world. According to the Popol Vuh, a sacred book of the Maya, they were
living in the fourth world. The Popal Vuh describes the first three
worlds that the gods failed in making and the creation of the
successful fourth world were men were placed. They Maya believed that
the fourth world would end in catastrophe and the fifth and final world
would be created that would signal the end of mankind.
The Venus cycle
Another
important calendar for the Maya was
the Venus cycle. The Maya
were excellent astronomers, and could calculate the Venus cycle with
only a two-hour margin of error. The Maya were able to achieve such
accuracy by careful observation over many years. The Venus cycle was
especially important because the Maya believed it was associated with
war and used it to divine good times for coronations and war. Maya
rulers planned for wars to begin when Venus rose. The Maya also tracked
other planet’s movements such as Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayan_calendar
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