|
| |
The Maya calendar is actually a system of distinct calendars and almanacs
used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and by some modern
Maya communities in highland Guatemala.
These calendars could be synchronised and interlocked in complex ways, their
combinations giving rise to further, more extensive cycles. The essentials of
the Maya calendric system are based upon a system which had been in common use
throughout the region, dating back to at least the 6th century BCE. It shares
many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican
civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec, and contemporary or later ones
such as the Mixtec and Aztec calendars. Although the Mesoamerican calendar did
not originate with the Maya, their subsequent extensions and refinements of it
were the most sophisticated. Along with those of the Aztecs, the Maya calendars
are the best-documented and most completely understood.
By the Maya mythological tradition, as documented in Colonial Yucatec accounts
and reconstructed from Late Classic and Postclassic inscriptions, the deity
Itzamna is frequently credited with bringing the knowledge of the calendar
system to the ancestral Maya, along with writing in general and other
foundational aspects of Maya culture .
General overview
Calendars v ? d ? e
Common use Chinese · Islamic · Gregorian · ISO · Astro · Julian
Calendar Types
Lunisolar · Solar · Lunar
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Selected usage Armenian · Bahá'í · Bengali · Berber · Buddhist · Coptic ·
Ethiopian · Germanic · Hebrew · Hindu · Indian · Iranian · Irish · Japanese ·
Javanese · Juche · Korean · Malayalam · Maya · Minguo · Nanakshahi · Nepali ·
Nepal Sambat · Tamil · Thai (Lunar – Solar) · Tibetan · Vietnamese· Yoruba ·
Zoroastrian
Calendar Types
Original Julian · Runic
The most important of these calendars is one with a period of 260 days. This
260-day calendar was prevalent across all Mesoamerican societies, and is of
great antiquity (almost certainly the oldest of the calendars). It is still used
in some regions of Oaxaca, and amongst the Maya communities of the Guatemalan
highlands. The Maya version is commonly known to scholars as the Tzolkin, or
Tzolk'in in the revised orthography of the Academia de las Lenguas Mayas de
Guatemala . The Tzolk'in combined with another 365-day calendar (known as the
Haab, or Haab' ), to form a synchronized cycle lasting for 52 Haabs, called the
Calendar Round. Smaller cycles of 13 days (the trecena) and 20 days (the
veintena) were important components of the Tzolk'in and Haab' cycles,
respectively.
A different form of calendar was used to track longer periods of time, and for
the inscription of calendar dates (i.e., identifying when one event occurred in
relation to others). This form, known as the Long Count, is based upon the
number of elapsed days since a mythological starting-point. According to the
correlation between the Long Count and Western calendars accepted by the great
majority of Maya researchers (known as the GMT correlation), this starting-point
is equivalent to 11 August 3114 BCE in the proleptic Gregorian calendar or 6
September in the Julian calendar (?3113 astronomical). The
Goodman-Martinez-Thompson correlation was chosen by Thompson in 1935 based on
earlier correlations by Joseph Goodman in 1905 (11 August), Juan Martínez
Hernández in 1926 (12 August), and John Eric Sydney Thompson in 1927 (13
August). By its linear nature, the Long Count was capable of being extended to
refer to any date far into the future (or past). This calendar involved the use
of a positional notation system, in which each position signified an increasing
multiple of the number of days. The Maya numeral system was essentially
vigesimal (i.e., base-20), and each unit of a given position represented 20
times the unit of the position which preceded it. An important exception was
made for the second place value, which instead represented 18 × 20, or 360 days,
more closely approximating the solar year than would 20 × 20 = 400 days. It
should be noted however that the cycles of the Long Count are independent of the
solar year.
Many Maya Long Count inscriptions are supplemented by what is known as the Lunar
Series, another calendar form which provides information on the lunar phase and
position of the Moon in a half-yearly cycle of lunations.
A 584-day Venus cycle was also maintained, which tracked the appearance and
conjunctions of Venus as the morning and evening stars. Many events in this
cycle were seen as being inauspicious and baleful, and occasionally warfare was
timed to coincide with stages in this cycle.
Other, less-prevalent or poorly-understood cycles, combinations and calendar
progressions were also tracked. An 819-day count is attested in a few
inscriptions; repeating sets of 9- and 13-day intervals associated with
different groups of deities, animals and other significant concepts are also
known.
Maya concepts of time
With the development of the place-notational Long Count calendar (believed to
have been inherited from other Mesoamerican cultures), the Maya had an elegant
system with which events could be recorded in a linear relationship to one
another, and also with respect to the calendar ("linear time") itself. In
theory, this system could readily be extended to delineate any length of time
desired, by simply adding to the number of higher-order place markers used (and
thereby generating an ever-increasing sequence of day-multiples, each day in the
sequence uniquely identified by its Long Count number). In practice, most Maya
Long Count inscriptions confine themselves to noting only the first 5
coefficients in this system (a b'ak'tun-count), since this was more than
adequate to express any historical or current date (with an equivalent span of
approximately 5125 solar years). Even so, example inscriptions exist which noted
or implied lengthier sequences, indicating that the Maya well understood a
linear (past-present-future) conception of time.
However, and in common with other Mesoamerican societies, the repetition of the
various calendric cycles, the natural cycles of observable phenomena, and the
recurrence and renewal of death-rebirth imagery in their mythological traditions
were important and pervasive influences upon Maya societies. This conceptual
view, in which the "cyclical nature" of time is highlighted, was a pre-eminent
one, and many rituals were concerned with the completion and re-occurrences of
various cycles. As the particular calendaric configurations were once again
repeated, so too were the "supernatural" influences with which they were
associated. Thus it was held that particular calendar configurations had a
specific "character" to them, which would influence events on days exhibiting
that configuration. Divinations could then be made from the auguries associated
with a certain configuration, since events taking place on some future date
would be subject to the same influences as its corresponding previous cycle
dates. Events and ceremonies would be timed to coincide with auspicious dates,
and avoid inauspicious ones.
The completion of significant calendar cycles ("period endings"), such as a
k'atun-cycle, were often marked by the erection and dedication of specific
monuments such as twin-pyramid complexes such those in Tikal and Yaxha, but
(mostly in stela inscriptions) commemorating the completion, accompanied by
dedicatory ceremonies.
A cyclical interpretation is also noted in Maya creation accounts, in which the
present world and the humans in it were preceded by other worlds (one to five
others, depending on the tradition) which were fashioned in various forms by the
gods, but subsequently destroyed. The present world also had a tenuous
existence, requiring the supplication and offerings of periodic sacrifice to
maintain the balance of continuing existence. Similar themes are found in the
creation accounts of other Mesoamerican societies.
Tzolk'in
Tzolk'in
Some Mayanists employ the name Tzolk'in (in modern Mayan orthography; also and
formerly commonly written tzolkin) for the Maya Sacred Round or 260-day
calendar. Tzolk'in is a coined in Yukatek Maya, to mean "count of days" (Coe
1992). The actual names of this calendar as used by Precolumbian Maya peoples
are still debated by scholars. The Aztec calendar equivalent was called
Tonalpohualli, in the Nahuatl language.
The Tzolk'in calendar combines twenty day names with the thirteen numbers of the
trecena cycle to produce 260 unique days. It is used to determine the time of
religious and ceremonial events and for divination. Each successive day is
numbered from 1 up to 13 and then starting again at 1. Separately from this,
each day is given a name in sequence from a list of 20 day names:
Tzolk'in calendar: named days and associated glyphs Seq.
No. 1 Day
Name 2 Glyph
example 3 16th C.
Yucatec 4 reconstructed
Classic Maya 5 Seq.
No. 1 Day
Name 2 Glyph
example 3 16th C.
Yucatec 4 reconstructed
Classic Maya 5
01 Imix' Imix Imix (?) / Ha' (?) 11 Chuwen Chuen (unknown)
02 Ik' Ik Ik' 12 Eb' Eb (unknown)
03 Ak'b'al Akbal Ak'b'al (?) 13 B'en Ben (unknown)
04 K'an Kan K'an (?) 14 Ix Ix Hix (?)
05 Chikchan Chicchan (unknown) 15 Men Men (unknown)
06 Kimi Cimi Cham (?) 16 K'ib' Cib (unknown)
07 Manik' Manik Manich' (?) 17 Kab'an Caban Chab' (?)
08 Lamat Lamat Ek' (?) 18 Etz'nab' Etznab (unknown)
09 Muluk Muluc (unknown) 19 Kawak Cauac (unknown)
10 Ok Oc (unknown) 20 Ajaw Ahau Ajaw
NOTES:
The sequence number of the named day in the Tzolk'in calendar
Day name, in the standardised and revised orthography of the Guatemalan Academia
de Lenguas Mayas
An example glyph (logogram) for the named day. Note that for most of these
several different forms are recorded; the ones shown here are typical of carved
monumental inscriptions (these are "cartouche" versions)
Day name, as recorded from 16th century Yukatek Maya accounts, principally Diego
de Landa; this orthography has (until recently) been widely used
In most cases, the actual day name as spoken in the time of the Classic Period
(c. 200–900) when most inscriptions were made is not known. The versions given
here (in Classic Maya, the main language of the inscriptions) are reconstructed
based on phonological evidence, if available; a '?' symbol indicates the
reconstruction is tentative.
Some systems started the count with 1 Imix', followed by 2 Ik', 3 Ak'b'al, etc.
up to 13 B'en. The trecena day numbers then start again at 1 while the named-day
sequence continues onwards, so the next days in the sequence are 1 Ix, 2 Men, 3
K'ib', 4 Kab'an, 5 Etz'nab', 6 Kawak, and 7 Ajaw. With all twenty named days
used, these now began to repeat the cycle while the number sequence continues,
so the next day after 7 Ajaw is 8 Imix'. The repetition of these interlocking
13- and 20-day cycles therefore takes 260 days to complete (that is, for every
possible combination of number/named day to occur once).
Divination
Each day of the Tzolk'in has a Patron Spirit who influences events. Ah K'in, the
Mayan shaman-priest, whose title means "Day Keeper", read the Tzolk'in to
determine the answers to yes/no questions as well as more complex questions
involving health, wealth and family. The Sacred Calendar is also used to set the
most auspicious dates for household, lineage, and community rituals.
When a child is born, the day keeper interprets the Tzolk'in cycle to identify
the baby’s character (similarly done today with a natal chart). For example, a
child born on the day of Ak'b'al is thought to be feminine, wealthy, and
verbally skillful. The birthday of Ak'b'al (along with several other days) is
also thought to give the child the ability to receive messages with the
supernatural world through somatic twitches of "blood lightning", so he or she
might become a Shaman-priest or a Marriage Spokesman.
There are several forms of Maya Calendar divination employing the sacred coral
seeds which each Calendar diviner carries in a small bag with crystals and
'other small things' (Tozzer 1941).
The Precolumbian Maya practiced a form of Bibliomancy, in which they would cast
the seeds upon a calendar to determine the good and bad days for the year.
Precolumbian Maya employed and Modern Maya Ah K'in employ Sortilage, in which
piles of four or five beans are counted from the current calendar day of the
Sacred Round to arrive at the result.
Modern Maya Ah K'in also employ Cartomancy, in which the fifty two cards of the
poker deck represent the fifty two Year Bearers of the Maya Calendar Round.
Maya shamans also perform a wide variety of divinatory arts which do not
specifically depend upon a mastery of the sacred calendar, including crystal,
mirror and water gazing and spirit possession, among others.
Origin of the Tzolk'in
The exact origin of the Tzolk'in is not known, but there are several theories.
One theory is that the calendar came from mathematical operations based on the
numbers thirteen and twenty, which were important numbers to the Maya. The
numbers multiplied together equal 260. Another theory is that the 260-day period
came from the length of human pregnancy. This is close to the average number of
days between the first missed menstrual period and birth, unlike Naegele's rule
which is 40 weeks (280 days) between the last menstrual period and birth. It is
postulated that midwives originally developed the calendar to predict babies'
expected birth dates.
A third theory comes from understanding of astronomy, geography and
paleontology. The mesoamerican calendar probably originated with the Olmecs, and
a settlement existed at Izapa, in southeast Chiapas Mexico, before 1200 BCE.
There, at a latitude of about 15° N, the Sun passes through zenith twice a year,
and there are 260 days between zenithal passages, and gnomons (used generally
for observing the path of the Sun and in particular zenithal passages), were
found at this and other sites. The sacred almanac may well have been set in
motion on August 13, 1359 BCE, in Izapa. Vincent H. Malmstr?m, a geographer who
suggested this location and date, outlines his reasons :
(1) Astronomically, it lay at the only latitude in North America where a 260-day
interval (the length of the "strange" sacred almanac used throughout the region
in pre-Columbian times) can be measured between vertical sun positions -- an
interval which happens to begin on the 13th of August -- the day the peoples of
the Mesoamerica believed that the present world was created; (2) Historically,
it was the only site at this latitude which was old enough to have been the
cradle of the sacred almanac, which at that time (1973) was thought to date to
the 4th or 5th centuries B.C.; and (3) Geographically, it was the only site
along the required parallel of latitude that lay in a tropical lowland
ecological niche where such creatures as alligators, monkeys, and iguanas were
native -- all of which were used as day-names in the sacred almanac.
Malmstr?m also offers strong arguments against both of the former explanations.
Haab'
Haab'
The Haab' was the Maya solar calendar made up of eighteen months of twenty days
each plus a period of five days ("nameless days") at the end of the year known
as Wayeb' (or Uayeb in 16th C. orthography). Bricker (1982) estimates that the
Haab' was first used around 550 BCE with the starting point of the winter
solstice.
The Haab' month names are known today by their corresponding names in
colonial-era Yukatek Maya, as transcribed by 16th century sources (in
particular, Diego de Landa and books such as the Chilam Balam of Chumayel).
Phonemic analyses of Haab' glyph names in pre-Columbian Maya inscriptions have
demonstrated that the names for these twenty-day periods varied considerably
from region to region and from period to period, reflecting differences in the
base language(s) and usage in the Classic and Postclassic eras predating their
recording by Spanish sources.
In sequence, these Haab' month names (in modern and revised orthography of their
Yukatek forms) are as follows:
Haab' Months Name Meaning?
Pop mat
Wo black conjunction
Sip red conjunction
Sotz' bat
Sek ?
Xul dog
Yaxk'in new sun
Mol water
Ch'en black storm
Yax green storm
Sac white storm
Keh red storm
Mak enclosed
K'ank'in yellow sun
Muwan owl
Pax planting time
K'ayab' turtle
Kumk'u granary
Wayeb' five unlucky days
? Jones 1984
Each day in the Haab' calendar was identified by a day number within the month
followed by the name of the month. Day numbers began with a glyph translated as
the "seating of" a named month, which is usually regarded as day 0 of that
month, although a minority treat it as day 20 of the month preceding the named
month. In the latter case, the seating of Pop is day 5 of Wayeb'. For the
majority, the first day of the year was 0 Pop (the seating of Pop). This was
followed by 1 Pop, 2 Pop ... 19 Pop, 0 Wo, 1 Wo and so on.
As a calendar for keeping track of the seasons, the Haab' was crude and
inaccurate, since it treated the year as having 365 days, and ignored the extra
quarter day (approximately) in the actual tropical year. This meant that the
seasons moved with respect to the calendar year by a quarter day each year, so
that the calendar months named after particular seasons no longer corresponded
to these seasons after a few centuries. The Haab' is equivalent to the wandering
365-day year of the ancient Egyptians. Some argue that the Maya knew about and
compensated for the quarter day error, even though their calendar did not
include anything comparable to a leap year, a method first implemented by the
Romans.
Wayeb'
The five nameless days at the end of the calendar called Wayeb' were thought to
be a dangerous time. Foster (2002) writes "During Wayeb, portals between the
mortal realm and the Underworld dissolved. No boundaries prevented the
ill-intending deities from causing disasters." To ward off these evil spirits,
the Maya had customs and rituals they practiced during Wayeb'. For example,
people avoided leaving their houses or washing or combing their hair.
Calendar Round
Neither the Tzolk'in nor the Haab' system numbered the years. The combination of
a Tzolk'in date and a Haab' date was enough to identify a date to most people's
satisfaction, as such a combination did not occur again for another 52 years,
above general life expectancy.
Because the two calendars were based on 260 days and 365 days respectively, the
whole cycle would repeat itself every 52 Haab' years exactly. This period was
known as a Calendar Round. The end of the Calendar Round was a period of unrest
and bad luck among the Maya, as they waited in expectation to see if the gods
would grant them another cycle of 52 years.
Long Count
Detail showing three columns of glyphs from 2nd century CE La Mojarra Stela 1.
The left column gives a Long Count date of 8.5.16.9.9, or 156 CE. The two right
columns are glyphs from the Epi-Olmec script. Mesoamerican Long Count calendar
Since Calendar Round dates can only distinguish within 18,980 days, equivalent
to around 52 solar years, the cycle repeats roughly once each lifetime, and
thus, a more refined method of dating was needed if history was to be recorded
accurately. To measure dates, therefore, over periods longer than 52 years,
Mesoamericans devised the Long Count calendar.
The Long Count calendar identifies a date by counting the number of days from
August 11, 3114 BCE. But instead of using a base-10 scheme like Western
numbering, the Long Count days were tallied in a modified base-20 scheme. Thus
0.0.0.1.5 is equal to 25, and 0.0.0.2.0 is equal to 40. The Long Count is not
consistently base-20, however, since the second digit (from the right) only
counts to 17 before resetting to zero. Thus 0.0.1.0.0 does not represent 400
days, but rather only 360 days.
The Mayan name for a day was k'in. Twenty of these k'ins are known as a winal or
uinal. Eighteen winals make one tun. Twenty tuns are known as a k'atun. Twenty
k'atuns make a b'ak'tun.
Table of Long Count units Days Long Count period Long Count period Approx solar
years
1 = 1 K'in
20 = 20 K'in = 1 Winal 1/18th
360 = 18 Winal = 1 Tun 1
7,200 = 20 Tun = 1 K'atun 20
144,000 = 20 K'atun = 1 B'ak'tun 395
There are also four rarely-used higher-order cycles: piktun, kalabtun,
k'inchiltun, and alautun.
Since the Long Count dates are unambiguous, the Long Count was particularly well
suited to use on monuments. The monumental inscriptions would not only include
the 5 digits of the Long Count, but would also include the two tzolk'in
characters followed by the two haab' characters.
The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar forms the basis for a New Age belief, first
forecast by José Arguelles, that a cataclysm will take place on or about 21
December 2012.
Venus Cycle
Transits of Venus
Another important calendar for the Maya was the Venus cycle. The Maya were
skilled astronomers, and could calculate the Venus cycle with extreme accuracy.
There are six pages in the Dresden Codex (one of the Maya codices) devoted to
the accurate calculation of the location of Venus. The Maya were able to achieve
such accuracy by careful observation over many years. The Venus cycle was
especially important because the Maya believed it was associated with war and
used it to divine good times (called electional astrology) for coronations and
war. Maya rulers planned for wars to begin when Venus rose. The Maya also
possibly tracked other planets’ movements, including those of Mars, Mercury, and
Jupiter.
| |
|
