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The
Tzolkin consisted of 13 months each 20 days long, and the Haab of
18 months each 20 days long,
and five rest days, thus making 365 days. The date was written using
both rounds. As both these
wheels turned so passed the Mayan years. Every 52 years the cycle
began again.
The
Maya began counting time as of August 31, 3114 B.C. This is called
the zero year. All dates in the Long Count begin there, so the date
of the beginning of this time cycle is written 13-0-0-0-0. That
means 13 cycles of 400 years will have passed before the next cycle
begins, which is December 27, 2012. The new cycle will begin as
1-0-0-0-0.
A day was called a "kin", and still is today. A 20 day month was
a "uinal", one solar year was a "tun", 20 tuns a "katun", and 20
katuns were a "baktun", 13 of which take us back to the August 13,
3114 B.C. date. Another notable date is 9-9-2-4-8 or July 29, 615
AD when the great King of Palenque, Lord Pakal ascended to the throne.Using
a vestigial system (they counted all the fingers and toes) and only
three characters (we use ten) the Maya could string together very
large numbers, these were read from the bottom up. So Pakal ascended
on 9-9-2-4-8, that would read:
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9
baktuns - 3600 years
9 katuns - 180 years
2 tuns - 730 days
4 uinals - 80 days
8 kin - 8 days
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