Maya Calendar
The Maya developed a sophisticated calendar. The ritualcalendar that developed in Mesoamerica used a count of 260days. This calendar gave each day a name, much like our daysof the week. There were 20 day names, each represented by aunique symbol. The days were numbered from 1 to 13. Sincethere are 20 day names, after the count of thirteen wasreached, the next day was numbered 1 again. The 260-day orsacred count calendar was in use throughout Mesoamerica forcenturies, probably before the beginning of writing.| Maya Day Names & Approximate Meanings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Imix | Waterlily | Chuwen | Frog |
| Ik' | Wind | Eb | Skull |
| Ak'bal | Night | Ben | Corn stalk |
| K'an | Corn | Ix | Jaguar |
| Chikchan | Snake | Men | Eagle |
| Kimi | Death head | Kib | Shell |
| Manik' | Hand | Kaban | Earth |
| Lamat | Venus | Etz'nab | Flint |
| Muluk | Water | Kawak | Storm cloud |
| Ok | Dog | Ahaw | Lord |
The Maya also tracked a vague solar year in which theycounted 365 days per year. Because they could not usefractions, the "quarter" day left over every year causedtheir calendar to drift with regard to the actual solaryear. The 365-day year contained months were also givennames. numbers 0-19 before they changed, so that the countgoes Zero Pohp to 19 Pohp, then continues with Zero Wo.
| Month Names and Approximate Meanings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pohp | Mat | Yax | Green ?? |
| Wo | ?? | Zak | White ?? |
| Sip | ?? | Keh | Red ?? |
| Sotz' | Bat | Mak | ?? |
| Sek | ?? | K'ank'in | ?? |
| Xul | Dog | Muwan | Owl |
| Yaxk'in | New Sun | Pax | ?? |
| Mol | Water | K'ayab | Turtle |
| Ch'en | Black ?? | Kumk'u | ?? |
To the eighteen regular months the Maya appended a specialfive-day month called Wayeb composed of 5 days which wereconsidered unnamed and unlucky. Thus the days were counted:One Imix, Zero Pohp, Two Ik, One Pohp. When the thirteenthday was reached the next day was Thirteen Ben, Twelve Pohp;then One Ix, Thirteen Pohp, Two Men, Fourteen Pohp. AfterSeven Ahaw, Nineteen Pohp, the next day was Eight Imix, ZeroWo.
If you have a Java-enabled browser, you will see an interactivecalender converter routine below. Fill in the Gregorian Date in the top fields (day, month number, year) and press `Convert' tofind the Maya calender date corresponding to that. Please note that the order isday, month, year.
You don't seem to have a Java-enabled browser.. Here's what theconverter looks like: This Java applet uses the 584,283 correlation. If you prefer the584,285 correlation, you have to subtract 2 days from the date you wantto convert. For instance: Jan 1, 1996 would become Dec 30, 1995. Please seethis page for an example. In addition, the Maya used special glyphs to indicate timeperiods, the kin represented one day. Winals are periods of20-days which we now call a month. The Tun was a year of360 days and the K'atun was a time period of 20 years of 360days each. As we will see later, the K'atun ending was aspecial time period celebrated by the Maya. It has itsparallel in the modern world, the period of time which wecall a decade. The Maya also counted 400-year periodscalled Baktuns. The Maya used these time periods in aspecial day count which is now called the Long count. Todaya typical long count date is written thus: 9.14.12.2.17.This represents 9 baktuns, 14 k'atuns, 12 tuns, 2 winals and17 k'ins.[Special note: All names given here are in the neworthography developed by native Maya of Guatemala. Theirsystem is being accepted by many various organizations ofMaya and similar forms of this orthography are being adoptedby other Maya groups. In reality, this system probablymakes it easier for English speakers to pronounce the actualwords. Given the Maya propensity for words and language itis only a natural development.] 
Please note that this is just a picture.. you need a Java-enabledbrowser.Note about this applet
