Mayan calendar

The current date of the Gregorian calendar, August 1, 2019, is identical to one of the two Mayan calendar dates:

(11.11.19.) 13.0.6.12.14, 13 Hish 2 Yakshin - correlation JD 584283;

(11.11.19.) 13.0.6.12.12, 11 EB 0 Yakshin - correlation JD 584285.

The correlations of JD 584283 and JD 584285 mean the following. Maya counted the time in cycles of 13 baktuns (13 × 144,000 days). The starting date of the current cycle is (1.11.19.) 0.0.0.0.0, 4 Ahau, 8 Kumhu . The problem arises when determining the equivalent Julian date of this beginning. This led to a pair of correlations that are only two days behind each other. If the long counting system were still used, this problem would have been easier to resolve, but it was not used by the Maya during the time of the Spanish conquest.

The belief in the JD 584283 correlation ( Monday noon, September 6, 3114 BC) is based on the dates of the calendar circle, which were used during the conquest and are used by some alpine Maya today. The correlation of JD 584285 (noon on Wednesday , September 8, 3114 BC) is based on the association of astronomical events recorded by the classical Maya and the known time when they occurred. The JD 584285 correlation assumes that a shift of 2 days has occurred over time.

The JD 584283 correlation was more widely accepted until recently, when a turn in the direction of JD 584285 correlation began. The latter was confirmed by the discovery of the stela in Quirigua and the Dresden Code , the creation of which lags behind each other the date of the eclipse, which coincides with the correlation JD 584285.

Tzolkin , or tzolkin ( eng. Tzolk'in ) - a ritual period of 260 days , which is a combination of periods of 20 and 13 days. Each day has a number from 1 to 13, in addition, days have names that repeat with period 20. Each day has its own symbol, the so-called Solar Seal.

The numbers and names of the days change simultaneously. The names of the days of Tzolkin:

Let's give an example.

On the left is the ordinal number of the day (one of 13), in the middle is the name of the day (one of 20), on the right in brackets is the ordinal number of the day, under which the day is indicated in the table above.

We start counting days:

• 1 - Imish (1);
• 2 - IR (2);
• 3 - Akbal (3);
• 4 - Caen (4);
• 5 - Chik-chan (5);
• 6 - Kimi (6);
• 7 - Manik (7);
• 8 - Lamat (8);
• 9 - Muluk (9);
• 10 - Ok (10);
• 11 - Chuen (11);
• 12 - AB (12);
• 13 - Ben (13).

As soon as the day number has reached 13, the counting of day numbers begins anew, but the 20-day cycle of days continues:

• 1 - Hish (14);
• 2 - Men (15);
• 3 - Kib (16);
• 4 - Boar (17);
• 5 - Etsnab (18);
• 6 - Kavak (19);
• 7 - Ahau (20).

At the end of the 20-day cycle, the counting of day numbers continues (until it reaches 13), and the 20-day cycle begins anew:

• 8 - Imish (1);
• 9 - IR (2);
• 10 - Akbal (3) and so on.

Combinations of day numbers and day names are repeated with a period of 260 days. Tzolkin is considered completed when the last day of the 20-day cycle (Ahau) corresponds to number 13.

Tzolkin calendar: day names and corresponding glyphs

For 2008 there are two beginnings of Tzolkin:

• April 9, 2008 (up to December 24, 2008 inclusive);
• December 25, 2008 (until September 10, 2009 inclusive).

In 2009, there is one beginning of Tzolkin:

• September 11, 2009 (until May 28, 2010 inclusive).

2010:

• May 29, 2010 (until February 12, 2011 inclusive).

2011:

• February 13, 2011 (up to October 30, 2011 inclusive);
• October 31, 2011 (until July 16, 2012 inclusive).

year 2012:

• July 17, 2012 (until April 2, 2013 inclusive).

year 2013:

• April 3, 2013 (up to December 18, 2013 inclusive).
• December 19, 2013 (until September 4, 2014 inclusive).

year 2014:

• September 5, 2014 (up to May 22, 2015 inclusive).

2015:

• May 23, 2015 (until February 6, 2016, inclusive).

2016:

• February 7, 2016 (until October 23, 2016, inclusive).
• October 24, 2016 (until July 10, 2017 inclusive).

2017:

• July 11, 2017 (until March 27, 2018 inclusive).

At the same time, the haab time account was entered . Haab ( Haab ) - the civil Mayan calendar. It was a solar calendar consisting of 365 days.

Haab is divided into 19 months: in 18 of them there were 20 days each, and in one - only 5 additional “days without names” (it was added so that the total number of days was 365). These 5 days were called Vayeb . They were considered unlucky.

Days within a month are numbered from 0 to 19.

This calendar was the basis of agricultural work and the daily life of the Maya. Inventive Indians combined two calendars in the so-called "calendar circle". Thus, any date was composed of the elements of both calendars. Dates in the “calendar circle” were repeated only after 52 years.

The combination of tzolkin and haab was repeated every 18980 = 52 × 365 days. The Aztecs believed that 4 Ahau 8 Kumkhu should be the end of the world, and they waited every 52 years for this date ^[3] .

For long periods of time, the Mayans used the so-called long count , which is the number of days expressed in a mixed 20, 18, and 13- digit number system . The minimum unit in a Long bill is kin (day). Larger units:

• 1 uinal = 20 days;
• 1 tun = 18 vials = 360 days (approximately 1 year);
• 1 Katun = 20 Tun = 7200 days (19 years 265 days);
• 1 Baktun = 20 Katun = 144,000 days (394 years 190 days; 400 tuns);
• 1 pictun = 20 baktuns = 2,880,000 days (7890 years, 150 days; 8000 tunes);
• 1 kalabtun = 20 pictuns = 57,600,000 days (156,164 years, 140 days; 160,000 tunes);
• 1 Kincilbtun = 20 Qalabtun = 1 152 000 000 days (3 156 164 years 140 days; 3 200 000 tuna);
• 1 alautun = 20 kinchilbtunov = 23,040,000,000 days (63,123,287 years 245 days; 64,000,000 tuna);
• 1 Hablatun = 20 Alautuns = 460,800,000,000 days (1,262,465,753 years, 155 days, 1,280,000,000 tuna, only at Spinden).

Keen, Tun and Katun take values ​​from 0 to 19. Uinal takes values ​​from 0 to 17.

Long account units

For example, on January 25, 2012 in the Mayan calendar with a correlation of 584285 looks like this: 12.19.19.1.8, 8 Kimi, 18 Muan . This entry presents together the Long Score, Tzolkin and Haab. In deciphering these records mean the following:

• long count: baktun 12, katun 19, tun 19, winal 1, kin 8;
• Tzolkin: the 8th day of the 13-day week, the day of Kimi of the 20-day period (unal);
• haab: the 18th day of the month of moan.

Thus, the total cycle of a long count is 13 baktuns = 1,872,000 days (which is 5125 years and 4 and a half months). The beginning of an era is indicated not 0.0.0.0.0, but 13.0.0.0.0. Thus, this date - 13.0.0.0.0, as well as all other dates of the long invoice, is repeated 1 time in 5125 years. However, it is known that the Mayans did not at all limit the time of the Universe existence to 5125 years (thirteen "four hundred years" make up so much). The record on stela 1 from the ancient settlement of Koba ( Yucatan ) indicates that between the beginning of the current world epoch and a certain "beginning of beginnings" a period passed, the duration of which in days is expressed, in our calculation, thirty-two digits ^[4] .

It is known that the current cycle of the long count, or the Era of the Fifth Sun, began 0.0.0.0.0, 4 Ahau, 8 Kumhu . This happened on August 11, 3114 BC. er with a correlation of 584283, or on August 13, 3114 BC. er with a correlation of 584285. Thus, the current cycle ended in December 2012. December 20, 2012 (correlation 584283) or December 22, 2012 (correlation 584285) on the Mayan calendar will be the date 12.19.19.19.19, 3 Kawak, 2 K'ank'in , and the next day, December 21, 2012 (correlation 584283 ) or December 23, 2012 (correlation 584285), a new Era began, 13.0.0.0.0, 4 Ahau, 3 K'ank'in .

With the advent of the New Era, various cataclysms are connected, right up to the end of the world . Sandra Noble ( Eng. Sandra Noble ), executive director of the Mesoamerican research organization FAMSI , noted that "for the ancient Maya, the completion of the full cycle was a great holiday ( Eng. whole cycle ) ". She considers the interpretation of December 2012 as the end of the world “to be a real falsification and an opportunity for many people to enrich themselves by this”. ^[5] For more details, see the Phenomenon of 2012 .

For a long time, scientists did not know which date of the Gregorian calendar corresponds to the date from the Mayan calendar, from which the last counted the count of years. Subsequently, for a long time, there were two hypotheses:

• Spinden's hypothesis G. D. - October 13, 3373 BC. er ^[6] or October 14, 3373 BC. er ^[7]
• The hypothesis of Goodman - Martinez - Thompson - September 7, 3113 BC. er ^{[7] [6]} This hypothesis was shared by Hernandez M., Thompson D. E., Morley S. G., Martinez.

The difference between the two hypotheses is about 260 years.

Another interpretation of the Goodman-Martinez-Thompson hypothesis is August 13, 3114 BC. er (JD 584284.5).

The Spinden G. D. hypothesis also has a second interpretation.

A radiocarbon study of the wood of the upper beams of the doorways of the Tikal temples (the Mayan dates for the construction of these temples were known) prompted most scientists to consider the correct hypothesis of Goodman-Martinez-Thompson ^{[8] [6]} , but it does not answer all the questions.

The myth is based on the fact that some inscriptions of the Temple of the Cross in Palenque (where one of the astronomical observatories was located) contain information that 1508 calendar years (haab) correspond to 1507 solar years ^[9] . Thus, the length of the year calculated by Mayan astronomers is ≈365.242203 days, which more closely corresponds to the current average tropical year ≈365.242189 days, than the length of the year in the Gregorian calendar is 365.2425 days.

However, the Mayan priests, knowing about this inaccuracy, did not begin to make adjustments to the calendar. As a result, the names of the months, which originally designated the types of agricultural work, have ceased to correspond to the appropriate seasons ^[10] .

In the postclassical period

• 10.9.0.0.0, 2 Ahau 13 Mack ( August 7, 1007 ) - Uxmal , founder Ah Suytok Tutul Shiv was founded.
• 10.10.0.0.0, 13 Ahau 13 Mole ( May 2, 1027 ) - the League Mayapan was born.
• 10.18.10.0.0, 9 Ahau 13 Vo ( November 13, 1194 ) - the conspiracy of Hunak Keel , Kokoms expel Itza from Chichen Itza , the time of the League Mayapan ends.
• 10.19.0.0.0, 8 Ahau 8 Kumkhu ( September 21, 1204 ) —Mayyapan hegemony begins, with the help of Ah Kanul .
• 11.12.0.0.0, 8 Ahau 3 Mole ( December 26, 1460 ) - the city of Mayapan Tutul was destroyed by shivs , and all large cities are left by their inhabitants.
• 11.13.0.0.0, 6 Ahau 3 Sip ( September 12, 1480 ) - a destructive hurricane is described, and a general sea rage is recorded among the population.
• 11.15.0.0.0, 2 Ahau 8 Sac ( February 17, 1520 ) - after the expeditions of Hernandez de Cordoba , Grihalva and Cortes , an epidemic of smallpox occurs, which has destroyed most of the population.
• 11.17.0.0.0, 11 Ahau 8 Pop ( July 20, 1559 ) - Francisco de Montejo , his son and nephew, conquer the Yucatan peninsula and establish Merida and Valladolid .
• 12.4.0.0.0, 10 Ahau 18 Vo ( July 27, 1697 ) - Tayasal - the last refuge of the Church , destroyed by Martin de Ursua ^[11] .

• Aztec calendar
• Inca calendar

• Talah V.N. , Kuprienko S.A. America is original. Sources on the history of the Maya, Nahua (Asteks) and the Incas / Ed. V.N. Talakh, S.A. Kuprienko. - K .: Vidavets Kupriinko SA, 2013. - 370 p. - ISBN 978-617-7085-00-2 .
• Tyurin E. A. , Zubarev V.G. , Butovsky A.Yu., “History of ancient Central and South America”

• Calendar // Encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Pure Fiction Look , May 11, 2012
• Calculating a long account of the Mayan Calendar
• Mayan Calendar "World of Indians", December 2014.