THE MAYAN CALENDER
The Maya culture is really amazing; it not only boasts extremely advanced knowledge, but it also had a calendar system which governed the center of their lives. Of all the calendars made by Mesoamerican cultures, the Maya calendar is definitely the most sophisticated.
During your visits to the archaeological sites of Yucatán, have you seen in the shops some small souvenirs such as key chains or necklaces with Maya symbols? These are the months of the Maya calendar! But do you know what they mean?
The precision of the Maya calendars lies in the fact that the count of the days (called “Kin” in Maya) is continuous and uninterrupted, beginning with “day zero” which they consider as the starting date.
Interesting fact: they had several calendars, each one dedicated to a particular topic. The two most important of these were the “Tzolkin”, of 260 days, and the “Haab”, of 365 days; and from the moment of birth, everyone’s life was governed by these calendar counts.
Wouldn’t it be easier to have just one calendar instead of several? Probably yes, but let’s look at why each of these was significant.
Tzolkin, the 260 days calendar:
This calendar was the most used by the Maya people, for it governed the timing for agriculture, family customs, and religious ceremonies, for the life of the Maya man and woman was predetermined by the “Tzolkin” date upon which he or she was born.
Haab, the 365 days calendar:
This calendar was used to measure the solar year, in other words, it quantified the rotations of the earth around the sun in 365 days. This calendar divided the year into 18 months, called “Uinal”, each of which had 20 days, with five additional days known as “Uayeb”. Each Kin is written using a number from 0 to 19, and each Uinal was represented by a glyph (except the Uayeb days which were numbered from 0 to 4).
As well as these two calendars, they had one which marked the beginning of time, or at least when they started keeping track of it in writing. For this they had the “long count” or “beginning series”, where all the days since a specific start date were recorded. According to various studies, this date was determined to be the equivalent of August 13, 3114 BC in the Gregorian calend ISIBLE Planets’ Synodic Periods
The Maya had extremely accurate measurements of the synodic periods of visible planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. While Mercury’s synodic period fits easily within the 819-day count, the other planets’ synodic periods posed a challenge. However, Linden and Bricker’s research reveals that each visible planet’s synodic period precisely aligns with a specific number of 819-day count cycles. This discovery also unveils a compelling link to the 260-day Tzolkin calendar.
Incorporating Visible Planets’ Synodic Periods:
The Maya had extremely accurate measurements of the synodic periods of visible planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. While Mercury’s synodic period fits easily within the 819-day count, the other planets’ synodic periods posed a challenge. However, Linden and Bricker’s research reveals that each visible planet’s synodic period precisely aligns with a specific number of 819-day count cycles. This discovery also unveils a compelling link to the 260-day Tzolkin calendar.
Deciphering the Elusive 819-Day Count
For decades, researchers have struggled to associate the 819-day cycle, simply known as the 819-day count, with any known events or phenomena. Tulane University anthropologists John Linden and Victoria Bricker now believe they have cracked the code by examining the calendar over a 45-year period and relating it to the time it takes for celestial objects to return to approximately the same point in the sky, known as the synodic period.
A New Pattern Emerges
While previous research attempted to establish planetary connections for the 819-day count, its four-part directional color scheme was too short to fit well with the synodic periods of visible planets. By extending the calendar to 20 819-day periods, a pattern emerges in which the synodic periods of all visible planets correspond to seasonal points on the larger 819-day calendar.
sources:hydertafi.blog.com
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