Mayan calendar how old is it

Oc Chuen Eb Ben Ix Men Cib Caban Etznab The next time Cimi rolls around, 20 days later, it will be 10 Cimi instead of 3 Cimi. The next 3 Cimi will not occur until or 13 x 20 days have passed. This day cycle also had good-luck or bad-luck associations connected with each day, and for this reason, it became known as the "divinatory year.

The Haab was the civil calendar of the Mayas. It consisted of 18 "months" of 20 days each, followed by 5 extra days, known as Uayeb. This gives a year length of days. Pop 7. Yaxkin Mac 2. Mol Kankin 3. Zip 9. Chen Muan 4. Zotz Yax Pax 5. They used some 20 calendars altogether. But three calendars were of prime importance to the Mayans — the Long Count, the Tzolkin divine calendar and the Haab civil calendar. These are all cyclical calendars used simultaneously.

The cycle ends on December 21, , in the Gregorian calendar or June 21, , as per the Julian Calendar. It is not a solar calendar that can be compared to the Gregorian calendar.

The Gregorian calendar is a lunisolar calendar of days and a leap year. The long count year is of days. It tells us about the relationship among all things, including the animals, the land, humans, and everything in the cosmos. Tzolk'in Date:. Lord of the Night G8 in this example : A glyph that represents one the nine deities of the Maya Underworld.

Skip to main content. The year period of time was called a "bundle" and meant the same to the Maya as our century does to us. The Sacred Round of days is composed of two smaller cycles: the numbers 1 through 13, coupled with 20 different day names. Each of the day names is represented by a god who carries time across the sky, thus marking the passage of night and day.

Some of these are animal gods, such as Chuen the dog , and Ahau the eagle , and archaeologists have pointed out that the Maya sequence of animals can be matched in similar sequence to the lunar zodiacs of many East and Southeast Asian civilizations. Glyphs for two of the eighteen months of the Vague Year: Pop left and Zotz. In the day tzolkin , time does not run along a line, but moves in a repeating circle similar to a spiral. The two cycles of 13 and 20 intermesh and are repeated without interruption.

Thus, the calendar would begin with 1 Imix, 2 Ik, 3 Akbal, and so on to 13 Ben, after which the cycle continues with 1 Ix, 2 Men, etc.

This time the day Imix would be numbered 8 Imix, and the last day in this day cycle would be 13 Ahau. No one is certain how such an unusual calendar came into being. The day cycle may tie several celestial events together, including the configuration of Mars, appearances of Venus, or eclipse seasons.

It may even represent the interval between conception and birth of a human baby. The day calendar was used to determine important activities related to the gods and humans. It was used to name individuals, predict the future, decide on auspicious dates for battles, marriages, and so on.