Most people around the globe look at some form of a calendar every single
day. Business executives check to see when their meetings are scheduled. The
busy mom confirms soccer practices and piano lessons. College students
ensure that their papers are turned in on time and they have plenty of time to
study for exams. For the people of ancient Maya, calendars were just as
important to daily life as they are to people today.
The Mayans originated in a region called Mesoamerica, or Middle America. This region lies in
between Mexico and South America and was home to many other cultures, including
the Aztec, Olmec, Teotihuacan and Toltec. The Mayans
lived in what are todayGuatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Southern Mexico (Yucatan, Campeche,
Quintana Roo Tabasco and Chiapas).
Mayan history is broken into three periods:
·
Formative or
Pre-classic - 2000 B.C. until A.D. 300
·
Classic - 300 until
900
Mesoamericans began writing during the
mid-Pre-classic period. The Mayans were the first to keep any sort of historical
record, and the beginnings of the calendar were born. The Mayans used stelae, or stone monuments, to carve their civil
events, calendars and astronomy knowledge. They also inscribed their religious
beliefs and mythology on pottery.
The Mayans placed great value in recording
their people's history. While they weren't the first civilization to ever use a
calendar, they did devise four separate calendars that lasted for discrete time
periods. Depending on their needs, the Mayans used different calendars or some
combination of two calendars to record each event. Their Long Count calendar, which we'll learn about in more
detail later, expires in 2012, leading some to believe that it coincides with
an apocalyptic event.
But in order to decipher these different
calendars, you'll first need a brief lesson in Mayan math.
Mayan
Numbers and Math
Along with their calendars -- the Tzolk'in,
the Haab and the Long Count -- the Mayans also created their own math system. They used
a series of dots and bars to signify numbers. One dot equaled one unit, while
one bar equaled five units. A shell symbol signified zero.
In a system similar to the one we use now, the
Mayans used place values to designate large numbers. However, the similarities
between math systems end there.
Mayans' place values are vertical, whereas
ours are horizontal. For instance, we write the number 27 horizontally -- the
number two, then the number seven to the right of it. The Mayans, however,
would write 27 vertically -- their symbol for seven (a line representing five
units with two dots over it) would be on the bottom, and the symbol for 20 (a
dot on the line above) would be directly over it. The same applies for other
numbers, like 29.
Numbers held great significance in the Mayan
culture. For example, the number 20 signifies the number of digits a person has
-- 10 fingers and 10 toes. The number 13 refers to the major joints in the
human body where it's believed disease and illness enter and attack: one neck,
two shoulders, two elbows, two wrists, two hips, two knees and two ankles
[source: Garcia]. The number 13 also represented the levels
of heaven where sacred lords ruled the Earth [source: Tzolk'in Calendar].
It's these two numbers, 20 and 13, that are
used to make up the Tzolk'in calendar, the first calendar used by the Mayans.
The
Tzolk'in Calendar
Like
many Mesoamerican calendars, theTzolk'in,
or Sacred Round, calendar
operated on a 260-day cycle. One theory for the significance of its cycle
length is that the 260 days correlate to pregnancy [source: Maya Mystery School].
Another proposes that the calendar represented the length of time to cultivate
corn. However, it's more likely that it was based on the Mayans' reverence for
the numbers 13 and 20.
In the
Gregorian calendar, we have seven days of the week and, depending on the month,
anywhere from 28 to 31 days. The Tzolk'in calendar is made up of a set of 20
day names, symbolized by images calledglyphs,
and 13 numerals called tones. The days are
numbered one through 13, and the names are also given in sequence.
The
beginning of the Tzolk'in calendar begins with the first day name, Imix', and
the number one. The days continue in sequence, with the second day being a
combination of Ik' and the number two; the day names and numbers combine in
sequence until all 13 tones are used.
Once
the calendar reaches the day 13, denoted by B'en and the number 13, the numbers
begin again with one, but the day names move forward with the 14th glyph, Ix.
By rotating like this, the two sets form 260 unique combinations of a day name
and a number. For instance, once you reach the end of the cycle of day names
with 7 Ajaw, the day names begin anew at Imix, and the numerals continue: 8
Imix', 9 Ik', 10 Ak'b'al and so on.
Think
of two interlocking gears, with the 13 numerals spaced around a smaller
circular gear that fits inside of the larger gear of day names denoted in
hieroglyphics. If you lock those gears together at the number one and the day
name Imix', then rotate the gears until you reach one and Imix' again, you'll
get 260 unique days. Those gears spin until the final combination clicks into
place at 13 Ajaw, marking the end of the year.
It's
easy to see the significance the Mayans put in the Tzolk'in calendar. For
example, they believed that the date of your birth determines the
characteristics you'll show in your personality -- much like some people
believe your astrological sign does today.
Holy
men also schedule certain events throughout the year based on the Tzolk'in
calendar. At the beginning of each uinal (period of 20 days), a shaman would
count forward to determine when religious and ceremonial events would occur. He
would then select the dates that would be the most prosperous or luckiest for
the community.
Despite
its myriad functions, the Tzolk'in calendar still couldn't measure a solar
year, the time it takes for the sun to make a complete cycle. Because of this,
the Mayans needed a more accurate calendar to track the length of time that we
regard as a full year.
The
Haab Calendar and the Calendar Round
The Haab
calendar is very
similar to the Gregorian calendar that we use today. It's based on the cycle of
the sun and was used for agricultural, economic and
accounting activities. Much like the Tzolk'in calendar, it's also comprised of
uinals (periods of 20 days), and each day has its own hieroglyph and number.
However, instead of using 13 uinals for 260 days, the Haab calendar has 18
uinals, giving it 360 days.
Mayan
astronomers noticed that 360 days wasn't enough time for the sun to make it
through a full solar cycle. They argued that the calendar should follow the
cycle as closely as possible for accuracy. But Mayan mathematicians disagreed. They wanted to
keep things simple, in increments of 20, just like their math system. The
astronomers and mathematicians finally agreed on the 18 uinals, with five
"nameless days" called the wayeb [source: The Maya Calendar].
The
wayeb, or uayeb, is considered one "month" of five days thought to be
a very dangerous time. The Mayans believed the gods rested during that time,
leaving the Earth unprotected. The Mayans performed
ceremonies and rituals during the wayeb, hoping that the gods would return once
again [source: The Mayan Calendar Portal].
While
this calendar was longer than the Tzolk'in, the Mayans wanted to create a
calendar that would record even more time. For this reason, the Tzolk'in and
Haab calendars were combined to form the Calendar Round.
In the
Calendar Round, the 260 days of the Tzolk'in calendar are paired with the 360
days and five nameless days of the Haab calendar. The two calendars are matched
the same way the Tzolk'in day names and numbers are (see the illustration of
the Tzolk'in calendar on the previous page). This gives the Calendar Round
18,890 unique days, a time period of around 52 years.
At the
time, the Calendar Round was the longest calendar in Mesoamerica. Contemporary
historians, however, wished to record Mayan history for generations to come. To
accomplish that, they needed a calendar that would take them through hundreds,
even thousands, of years.
Enter
the Long Count calendar.
The Long Count Calendar
The Mayans designed the Long Count
calendar to last approximately
5,125.36 years, a time period they referred to as theGreat Cycle [source: Jenkins]. The Long Count calendar is divided into
five distinct units:
·
one day - kin
·
20 days - uinal
·
360 days - tun
·
7,200 days - katun
·
144,000 days - baktun
To find the Long Count date that corresponds
with any Gregorian date, you'll need to count the days from the beginning of
the last Great Cycle. But determining when the last cycle began and matching
that up to a Gregorian date is quite a feat.
English anthropologist Sir Eric Thompson
looked to the Spanish Inquisition to calculate the Mayan-to-Gregorian date
conversion, known as the Thompson Correlation. Events that occurred during the Inquisition were recorded on
both the Mayan Long Count calendar and the Gregorian
calendar. Scholars then gathered dates that matched on both calendars and
compared them to the Dresden Codex, one of four Mayan documents that survived the Inquisition.
This codex confirmed the date long thought by Thompson to be the beginning of
the current Great Cycle -- Aug. 13, 3114 B.C. [source: Mayan Long Count].
Now
that we have the beginning date of the Great Cycle, let's put the Long Count
into practice. We'll take a date that's familiar to many Americans: July 20,
1969, the day Apollo 11 landed on the moon. In the Long Count calendar, this
date is written as 12.17.15.17.0. You'll notice there are five number places in
the date. Reading from left to right, the first place signifies the number of baktuns
since the beginning of the Great Cycle. In this case, there have been 12
baktuns, or 1,728,000 days (144,000 x 12) since Aug. 13, 3114 B.C. The second
place relates to the number of katuns that have taken place. Then, it continues
on to the right with the number of tuns, uinals and kins.
In
recent years, as the conclusion of the Long Count calendar approaches on Dec.
12, 2012, doomsday theorists have predicted the worst. That Gregorian date is
denoted as 13.0.0.0.0 on the Long Count, signaling the end of the current Great
Cycle.
However,
Mayan scholars and natives dismiss the apocalyptic theories, noting that end of
the calendar would be regarded as a time of celebration, much like modern-day
New Year festivities [source: Stevenson].
There are also no Mayan inscriptions or writings that predict the end of the
world when the Great Cycle concludes [source: MacDonald].
The
most notable event slated for that 2012 winter solstice will happen in the sky.
For the first time in around 25,800 years, the sun will align with the center
of the Milky Way galaxy [source: Stevenson].
Although the event sounds impressive, astronomers claim that it won't have any
effect on the Earth. And with that, the next Great Cycle will quietly begin
anew.
