Calendar and Prophecies
The Maya kept time with a combination of several cycles that meshed
together to mark the movement of the sun, moon and Venus. Mayan calendar of rituals,
known as the Tzolkin, was composed of 260 days. This Mayan calendar pairs the numbers from 1
through 13 with a sequence of the 20 day-names shown below. It works something
like our days of the week pairing with the numbers of the month. Thus 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-Men etc. It will take 260 days before the cycle gets
back to 1-Imix again (13 x 20).
The symbols shown below represent the 20 day-names and are identified with
their Yucatec names, pronunciation and approximate translation. The name,
meaning and symbol can vary in different Maya languages. Also, each day can be
represented with more elaborate glyphs known as "Head Variants" - a formal
writing system which can be loosely compared to our script alphabet versus our
print alphabet.
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
The Classic Mayan civilization was unique and left us a way to incorporate
higher dimensional knowledge of time and creation by leaving us the Tzolkin
calendar. Mayan calendars we use today. The present calendar
ends in the year 2012.
By tracking the movements of the Moon, Venus, and other heavenly bodies, the
Mayans realized that there were cycles in the Cosmos. From this came their
reckoning of time, and a calendar that accurately measures the solar year to
within minutes.
The "Calendar Round" is like two gears that inter-mesh, one smaller than the
other. One of the 'gears' is called the tzolkin, or Sacred Round. The other is
the haab, or Calendar Round.
The Tzolkin consisted of 13 months each 20 days long, and the Haab of 18
months each 20 days long, and five rest days, thus making 365 days. The date was
written using both rounds. For example, "6 lk 10 Camber" might be the same as if
we wrote "20 June 30 Gemini." (Haab - Calendar round / 20 June, and Tzolkin -
Sacred round / 30 Gemini.) As both thesewheels turned so passed the Mayan calendar years.
Every 52 years the cycle began again. It was on one of these auspicious years
that Cortez landed, thus giving credence to his god image.
Archeologists - claim that the Maya began counting time as of August 31, 3114
B.C. This is called the zero year and is likened to January 1, AD. All dates in
the Long Count begin there, so the date of the beginning of this time cycle is
written 13-0-0-0-0. That means 13 cycles of 400 years will have passed before
the next cycle begins, which is December 27, 2012. The new cycle will begin as
1-0-0-0-0.
A day was called a "kin", and still is today. A 20 day month was a "uinal",
one solar year was a "tun", 20 tuns a "katun", and 20 katuns were a "baktun", 13
of which take us back to the August 13, 3114 B.C. date.
Another notable date is 9-9-2-4-8 or July 29, 615 AD when the great King of
Palenque, Lord Pakal ascended to the throne.
These dates are carved in stone throughout the Mayan territory, and the
numbers can be seen by anyone. Using a vestigial system (they counted all the
fingers and toes) and only three characters (we use ten) the Maya could string
together very large numbers, these were read from the bottom up. So Pakal
ascended on 9-9-2-4-8, that would read:
9 baktuns - 3600 years
9 katuns - 180 years
2 tuns - 730 days
4 uinals - 80 days
8 kin - 8 days
These numbers, if we begin at August 13, 3114 BC, will
give us a date in the 7th century that corresponds to the date Pakal took the
throne in Palenque.
The Maya also understood the concept of zero, and wrote it like a shell.
With the new century almost upon us time takes on more meaning. January 1,
2000 would be written 12-19-6-1-0 in the Long Count.
