O Mayan calendar, Haab, has 365 days divided into 18 months that contain 20 days each.
Likewise, the Haab is combined with a sacred calendar, the Tzolkin, with 260 days.
Origin
The Mayan calendar differs from the Western calendar in its conception of time.
For Westerners, time is something that started at some point and goes on and on and on. Only one big event will make time run out.
However, for the Mayan civilization time is circular: an event that occurred in the past will repeat itself. Just as the cycles of nature repeat themselves, like the sun rises every day, the events of our individual life also repeat themselves.
In this way, the Maya adjusted the cycles of personal life such as birth, puberty, maturity, and death to the larger cycles of nature.
Like the Western calendar, the Mayan solar calendar, called the Haab, it has 365 days. However, these are divided into 18 months of 20 days each, which gives a total of 360 days.
The remaining five days complete the calendar, do not belong to any month and are considered unfavorable for carrying out certain tasks.
Also, there is the Tzolkin, the ceremonial calendar. It has 260 days divided into three groups of months with 20 days, where each day is counted from 1 to 13. It was used to manage agricultural activities, as they encompass the hottest seasons of the year, when it is possible to plant.
This model is based on human gestation that lasts approximately 260 days. Therefore, this calendar was the key to knowing which day was favorable to mark the beginning of the war, offering sacrifices, performing weddings, etc. Each day had a special meaning according to astrology.
Together the calendars Haab and Tzolkin form the Circular Calendar. This lasted 52 years, which would be like the century for us. Once this 52-year cycle ended, another cycle began and so on.
There was a third calendar called the "Long Account Calendar". As the name says it was broader than the previous ones. This calendar counted the time from the origin of the Mayans to the supposed end of the world and was not used in everyday life.
THE Mayan civilization it is famous for achievements in the arts, mathematics and medicine. Your calendar is proof of that, as these ancient people demonstrated incredible knowledge of exact sciences.
Among the Mayan civilization, Aztec and inca - ancient pre-Columbian civilizations - the Mayan calendar is considered the best, the most elaborate, as well as being probably the oldest. Its use goes back to the year 550 a. Ç. The Aztecs also copied it to their time count.
It was developed through observation of the stars and mathematical calculations. Then the calendar was recorded on engravings that were made on the walls of their temples to display important events.
Read about the Calendar History and Origin.
2012: The End of the World?
The end of the world is a theme that fascinates many people. Thus, throughout history, several dates were announced that indicated the end of time.
In 2012, more precisely on December 21st, some believed that a catastrophe was supposed to happen, as interpreted by the Mayan calendar.
The news raised an alarm for a number of people. In one Chinese province, people rushed to buy candles. In Russia, the prime minister was forced to ask the population to calm down when there was a considerable increase in the purchase of canned goods.
The finding of this forecast date resulted, however, from a misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar.
Experts read it until they finally discovered that the date only indicated the beginning of a new era on the calendar, dispelling the misunderstanding.
The date did not suggest the end of time, but the end of a period. This, in fact, was a repeating cycle, like the change of centuries in the modern age.
This is because the Mayan calendar starts in the year 3114 a. Ç. and changes cycle - the so-called Baktuns - every 394 years. The 2012 summer solstice on December 21st marks the end of the Baktun.
Also read about the Leap year and the Division of the Centuries.
Curiosities
- The Mayan solar calendar, Haab, is 4 seconds more accurate than the currently used calendar.
- The Mayans developed 17 different ways to tell time.
read more:
- Mayan art
- First Peoples of America
- Andean America
