Ancient Maya
The lost civilization
By Georgia
Calendars for cycles of days :
B'olom Ajaw: This calendar is based on the pulsation of the Sun.
Ixim Tun: This argricultural calender is based on the cycle of ixim, or corn.
Cholq'ij, or Tzolkin: This a sacred calendar, a human cycle consisting of 260 days, divided into 13 months and 20 days each month. This calendar has been passed down from generation to generation since the day it was created.
Hab' Tun: This is a well known 360 day calendar which is based on the cycle of cosmic constant and can be considered atronomical.
Ikix: This lunar calender is used by the Mayans to manage the tides as well as womens menstrual cycles.
Hab' (Jun Ab' means "one year") : This is a 400-day year calendar and consists of 5,200 days.
Matuytun: this is a 52 year calendar and uses the cycle of the Pleiades.
Calendars were instremental in the everyday running of Mayan living. They were used particularly in crop planting and harvesting.
The Mayans calenders were based on different planets rotations around the sun. One of these calenders was the rotation of the earth and had exactly 356 day in it. However, every four years the calendar falls one day out of step with the Mayan seasons as they do not count the extra quarter day per year.
Other Calendars
Tiku': This calender is the prophetic cycle based on 52 years. It is divided into two parts: B'olom Tiku' and Oxlajuj Tiku'. The first peroid, B'olom Tiku' contains 9 cycles of the 52 years therefore, 469 years. It is also known as the Nine Hell and is a peroid of darkness for humanity. The second peroid, Oxlayjuj Tiku' has a peroid of 13 cycles of the 52 years. this has a total of 676 years. It is also known as the 13 heavens and is a peroid of light for humanuty.
Najxit Tun: This is a sacred calendar however, its function is yet to be discovered.
Eqomal May: This is a prophetic calendar, the cycle of what is known as the year bearers, or reigning energies.
Ninamay Q'ij: This calendar is the great cycle of Ajaw however, It is not allowed to be spoken of at this time, Nor is it known what this calendar is.
Fixed Ab': This calendar consists of 260 days plus another 5 known as the Wayeb. The 5 Wayeb days are time for introspection, meditation and resolutions. After the sacred Cholq'ij, this is the most used calendar. 18 months and 20 days plus the month of the 5 Wayeb days make up this calendar and each month has a particular meaning. During the Wayeb days mayans fasted, prayed and practised self restraint as it was thought that these 5 days would bring bad luck and illnesses.
Ab'Kaj: The Mayan grandfathers created this numeral system in order to control and manage time based on distance, velocity and movement.
Static Ab': The Ab' calendar consists of 365 days divided into 18 months and 20 days. The last 5 days were called wayeb. In this peroid they would make offerings to Ajaw, The great father, for allowing the Mayans to work for 360 days.
Winaq May Kih, or Oxlujuj Baktun: This is a cycle of 5,200 years.
Many people believe that the Mayans predicted the world would end in 2012. This is not true. After the Mayans had been conquered by the Spainards they were prohibited to continue using many language and calendars. Some Mayans continued the development of the calendar in secret. However, eventually the skill of calendar developing and tracking was lost. The well known Static Ab' calendar stopped being recorded ahead and was left at the date of 2012. This therefore has been misinterpretated as the end of the world.
Calendars based on celestial bodies:
Maeqoq'ij: The cycle of Venus
Maymuluk: The cycle of mars
Mayik kox: The cycle of sirius, the brightest star in the sky.
Calendars for cycles of years:
Ajaw K'atun Choltun: This calendar is a cycle of 260 tun years. Tun means 360 days so, this cycle lasts for 93,600 days. During this cycle the Mayans would evaluate if the cosmic and telluric energies were in harmony. If they were not, they would move to a different location were the harmony existed.
Oxlajuj Majq'ij: this a cycle of 13 baktuns ( a 400-year peroid) and therfore a peroid of 5,200 years.
Waqxaqib' Mayaq'ij: this is a cycle of 8 baktuns and therefore a peroid of 3,200 years
Juwinaq Mayaq'ij: this is a cycle of 20 baktuns and therefore 8,000 years. This calendar can also be known as a piktun.
Calendars
Research of Mayan scripts, Mayan elders and Mayan buildings show that the Mayans use at least twenty calendars. These can be divided into four types:
Calendars that cover cycles of days;
Calendars that cover great cycles of years;
Calendars based on other celestial bodies;
Other calendars.