Saturday, July 3, 2010

The Mayan Calendar

The calendar Imagery among the Maya is so prominent that some experts believe that they had an obsessive fascination with time rivaling that of present –day humans. They used two calendar systems, the Long Count Calendar and The Calendar round. The Long Count was perfected in Classical times that are AD 250-900, and its dates record the number of days that have elapsed since a mythological starting point corresponding to 3114 BC in our calendar. In fact the Maya believed that the world had been created and destroyed at least three times, the last creations having begun on August 13, 3114 BC, and the next being due on December 24, 2011.




Long count dates are precise counts of elapsed time based on the 360 -day year, which they called a tun, divided into 18 months of 20-day unials. The Mayan numbering system is based on 20, not ten, so a year was counted in groups of 20 tuns, termed a katun, and 20 katuns termed a baktun.
A Long Count date is made up of five numbers. The first figure records the baktun (400- year span).  The second is the katun (20-year span), the third a tun (360-day span, the fourth a uinal (20- day span0 and the last a kin, a single day.  The oldest recorded date is July 6, AD292, from Stela 29 at Tikal in northern Guatemala.
The Calendar Round simply names the day in two different calendars. The first is the sacred round of 260 days, the Tzolkin, composed of 20 day names and 13 numbers,  It is pictured as a set of interlocking cog wheels representing circular time: one with numbers from one to 13, the other with 20 named days,
Imix -
 Day one,
Ik   – Day two,
Akbak – Day three etc.
Supplementing this is the Haab (also called the Vague Year), a year of 365 days made up of 182 day months and then a five day period at the end of the year. It takes 18950 days, or 52 365 day years, for a combination of these two methods to repeat itself.

7 comments:

  1. Dear Sir,

    In my point of view the mayan calendar calculation are 12.19.17.19.19 is the last date in the 12th bhaktun, it is December 20, 2012, the very last date in the 12th bhaktun, so shouldn't the actual end be 13.19.17.19.19 since thats the actual end of the 13th bhaktun and the beginning of a new cycle?

    Anyway if you believe 13.0.0.0.0 is the end or beginning, 2012 still isn't the end according to the Mayans, they say its the Age of the Ether, the age of the 6th Sun, the last time this happened was 3114 BCE

    Anyway the Maya had other units besides a bhaktun, like a alautun, which is equal to 63.081429 million years (the age of the Dinosaurs?)....too bad much of the Maya scriptures were destroyed...

    If you go by a 13-bhaktun Cycle, this is what you'll get for the Ages of mankind:
    World 0
    13.0.0.0.0 - October 19, 28740 BCE
    1.0.0.0.0 - January 22, 28345 BCE
    2.0.0.0.0 - April 26, 27951 BCE
    3.0.0.0.0 - July 30, 27557 BCE
    4.0.0.0.0 - November 1, 27163 BCE
    5.0.0.0.0 - February 4, 26768 BCE
    6.0.0.0.0 - May 9, 26374 BCE
    7.0.0.0.0 - August 11, 25980 BCE
    8.0.0.0.0 - November 14, 25586 BCE
    9.0.0.0.0 - February 16, 25191 BCE
    10.0.0.0.0 - May 22, 24797 BCE
    11.0.0.0.0 - August 24, 24403 BCE
    12.0.0.0.0 - November 27, 24009 BCE
    13.0.0.0.0 - March 1, 23614 BCE
    World 1
    13.0.0.0.0 - March 1, 23614 BCE
    1.0.0.0.0 - June 3, 23220 BCE
    2.0.0.0.0 - September 6, 22826 BCE
    3.0.0.0.0 - December 9, 22432 BCE
    4.0.0.0.0 - March 14, 22037 BCE
    5.0.0.0.0 - June 16, 21643 BCE
    6.0.0.0.0 - September 19, 21249 BCE
    7.0.0.0.0 - December 22, 20855 BCE
    8.0.0.0.0 - March 26, 20460 BCE
    9.0.0.0.0 - June 29, 20066 BCE
    10.0.0.0.0 - October 1, 19672 BCE
    11.0.0.0.0 - January 4, 19277 BCE
    12.0.0.0.0 - April 8, 18883 BCE
    13.0.0.0.0 - July 12, 18489 BCE
    World 2
    13.0.0.0.0 - July 12, 18489 BCE
    1.0.0.0.0 - October 14, 18095 BCE
    2.0.0.0.0 - January 16, 17700 BCE
    3.0.0.0.0 - April 20, 17306 BCE
    4.0.0.0.0 - July 23, 16912 BCE
    5.0.0.0.0 - October 26, 16518 BCE
    6.0.0.0.0 - January 28, 16123 BCE
    7.0.0.0.0 - May 3, 15729 BCE
    8.0.0.0.0 - August 5, 15335 BCE
    9.0.0.0.0 - November 8, 14941 BCE
    10.0.0.0.0 - February 10, 14546 BCE
    11.0.0.0.0 - May 15, 14152 BCE
    12.0.0.0.0 - August 18, 13758 BCE
    13.0.0.0.0 - November 20, 13364 BCE
    World 3
    13.0.0.0.0 - November 20, 13364 BCE
    1.0.0.0.0 - February 23, 12969 BCE
    2.0.0.0.0 - May 28, 12575 BCE
    3.0.0.0.0 - August 31, 12181 BCE
    4.0.0.0.0 - December 3, 11787 BCE
    5.0.0.0.0 - March 7, 11392 BCE
    6.0.0.0.0 - June 10, 10998 BCE
    7.0.0.0.0 - September 11, 10604 BCE
    8.0.0.0.0 - December 15, 10210 BCE
    9.0.0.0.0 - March 19, 9815 BCE
    10.0.0.0.0 - June 22, 9421 BCE
    11.0.0.0.0 - September 24, 9027 BCE
    12.0.0.0.0 - December 28, 8633 BCE
    13.0.0.0.0 - April 1, 8238 BCE
    World 4
    13.0.0.0.0 - April 1, 8238 BCE
    1.0.0.0.0 - July 4, 7844 BCE
    2.0.0.0.0 - October 7, 7450 BCE
    3.0.0.0.0 - January 9, 7055 BCE
    4.0.0.0.0 - April 14, 6661 BCE
    5.0.0.0.0 - July 17, 6267 BCE
    6.0.0.0.0 - October 20, 5873 BCE
    7.0.0.0.0 - January 22, 5478 BCE
    8.0.0.0.0 - April 26, 5084 BCE
    9.0.0.0.0 - July 30, 4690 BCE
    10.0.0.0.0 - November 1, 4296 BCE
    11.0.0.0.0 - February 3, 3901 BCE
    12.0.0.0.0 - May 8, 3507 BCE
    13.0.0.0.0 - August 11, 3114 BCE

    ReplyDelete
  2. World 5
    13.0.0.0.0 - August 11, 3114 BCE
    1.0.0.0.0 - November 13, 2719 BCE
    2.0.0.0.0 - February 16, 2324 BCE
    3.0.0.0.0 - May 21, 1930 BCE
    4.0.0.0.0 - August 23, 1536 BCE
    5.0.0.0.0 - November 26, 1142 BCE
    6.0.0.0.0 - February 28, 747 BCE
    7.0.0.0.0 - June 3, 353 BCE
    8.0.0.0.0 - September 5, 41 CE
    9.0.0.0.0 - December 9, 435 CE
    10.0.0.0.0 - March 13, 830 CE
    11.0.0.0.0 - June 15, 1224 CE
    12.0.0.0.0 - September 18, 1618 CE
    13.0.0.0.0 - December 21, 2012 CE
    World 6
    13.0.0.0.0 - December 21, 2012 CE
    1.0.0.0.0 - March 26, 2407 CE
    2.0.0.0.0 - June 28, 2801 CE
    3.0.0.0.0 - October 1, 3195 CE
    4.0.0.0.0 - January 3, 3590 CE
    5.0.0.0.0 - April 7, 3984 CE
    6.0.0.0.0 - July 11, 4378 CE
    7.0.0.0.0 - October 13, 4772 CE
    8.0.0.0.0 - January 16, 5167 CE
    9.0.0.0.0 - April 20, 5561 CE
    10.0.0.0.0 - July 24, 5955 CE
    11.0.0.0.0 - October 26, 6349 CE
    12.0.0.0.0 - January 29, 6744 CE
    13.0.0.0.0 - May 3, 7138 CE
    World 7
    13.0.0.0.0 - May 3, 7138 CE
    1.0.0.0.0 - August 5, 7532 CE
    2.0.0.0.0 - November 8, 7926 CE
    3.0.0.0.0 - February 10, 8321 CE
    4.0.0.0.0 - May 16, 8715 CE
    5.0.0.0.0 - August 18, 9109 CE
    6.0.0.0.0 - November 21, 9503 CE
    7.0.0.0.0 - February 22, 9898 CE
    8.0.0.0.0 - May 27, 10292 CE
    9.0.0.0.0 - August 30, 10686 CE
    10.0.0.0.0 - December 2, 11080 CE
    11.0.0.0.0 - March 7, 11475 CE
    12.0.0.0.0 - June 9, 11869 CE
    13.0.0.0.0 - September 12, 12263 CE

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear தனசேகரன் alias வெல்க பாரதம்,
    Thanks for the details provided, as for the convenience ( easy to understand ) I have simplified my post. If you are interested to know more I will publish a detailed one soon.

    Thanks for the pain taken.

    R.Rajkumar

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear தனசேகரன் alias வெல்க பாரதம்,
    The oldest record date is 8.12.14.8.15 or July 6, AD292 from Stela 29 at Tikal in Northern Guatemala.
    R.Rajkumar

    ReplyDelete
  5. nice info.. but i'mnot to sure how to use it

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.