The Basics of the Mayan Calendar

The Maya understood 17 different Calendars based on the Cosmos. Some of these calendars go back as far as ten million years and are so difficultthat you would need an astronomer, astrologer, geologist, and a mathematician just to work out the calculations. The calendars that are most
important to beings of earth are the Haab, the Tun-Uc and the Tzolk'in.
The Tzolk'in is the most important and the one with the most influence.

The Haab is based in the cycles of earth. It has 360 + 5 days, totaling 365 days.
The Haab uses 18 months with 20 days in each month. There is a 19th month
called a Vayeb and uses the 5 extra days. Each month has it's own
name/glyph. Each day uses a sacred sun/glyph.

The Tun-Uc is the moon calendar. It uses 28 day cycles that mirrors the women's moon cycle. This cycle of the moon is broken down into 4 smaller cycles, of 7 day each. These smaller cycles are the four phases of moon cycle. Portal days (p), on the calendar provided marks days using mathematics of 28 and their fore have a connection with the moon cycles.

The Tzolk'in is the Sacred calendar of the Maya and is based on the cycles of the Pleiadies.
The cycle of the Pleiadies uses 26,000 years, but is reflected in the calendar by encompassing 260 days.
It uses the sacred numbers 13 and 20. The 13 represents the numbers and 20 represents the sun/glyphs.


The Tzolk'in has four smaller cycles called seasons of 65 days each guarded by the four suns of Chicchan, Oc, Men and Ahau. There are also Portal days within the Tzolkin that create a double helix pattern using 52 days and the mathematics of 28. This sacred calendar is still being used for divination.

The Maya kept time with a combination of several cycles that meshed together to mark
the movement of the Sun, Moon and Venus. Their ritual calendar, known as the
Tzolkin, was composed of 260 days. It pairs the numbers from 1 through 13
with a sequence of the 20 day-names shown below.



 IMIX
ee mesh
waterlily/ world		  IK'
eek'
wind		 AK'BAL
ok bol 
night-house		 K'AN
k' on 
maize		  CHIKCHAN
cheek chon
snake		  KIMI
kee me
death		 MANIK'
ma neek'
 hand		 LAMAT
la mot 
Venus
 MULUK'
mul ok'
water		 OK
ak 
dog		  CHUEN
chew in
monkey		  EB
eb
tooth		 BEN
ben 
reed		 IX
eesh 
jaguar		 MEN
men 
eagle		 KIB
keeb 
soul
   
   
    KABAN
kah bon
earth 		 ETZ'NAB
ehts' nob 
flint, knife		 KAWAK
kah wok 
storm		 AHAW
ah how 
Lord		    


It works something like our days of the week pairing with the numbers of the month. You might have
1-Imix (similar to Sunday the 1st) followed by 2-Ik (just as you would have Monday the 2nd). When you get to 13-Ben, the next day would start the numbers over again, thus 1-Ix, 2-Ben etc. It will take 260 days before the cycle gets back to 1-Imix again (13 x 20). The symbols shown above represent the 20 day-names and are identified with their Yucatec names, pronunciation and approximate translation.

The Tzolkin calendar was meshed with a 365-day solar cycle called the "Haab". The calendar consisted of 18 months with 20 days (numbered 0-19) and a short "month" of only 5 days that was called the Wayeb and was considered to be a dangerous time. It took 52 years for the Tzolkin and Haab calendars to move through a complete cycle. These are the Mayan words for periods of time:

Day = Kin (keen)
Month of 20 days = Uinal (wee nal)
Year of 360 days = Tun (toon)
20 Tuns = K'atun (k' ah toon)
20 K'atuns = Baktun (bock toon)



 

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