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2.4.) For the Maya, time was often expressed as space. This is true for their architecture, but it is also true for their general cosmology and general way of thinking. |
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2.5.) The more that is discovered about the Maya, the more astronomical cycles are discovered enmeshed in their calendar, cosmology, and history. As their knowledge grew, the Maya apparently added cycles to their calendric knowledge, both in the sense of extending existing cycles to remote epochs and in the sense of adding newly discovered knowledge in the form of new cycles. |
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9.5.1.1
Structural Details |
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I must first define what is meant by the Maya calendar. The Maya included a great many phenomena in their calendric knowledge. Not all of this information was used to record dates, however. What I shall consider as the Maya calendar is the system for recording dates, and I shall use the most developed form of that system. |
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The Maya conceived of time as operating in cycles. For the purposes of their calendar, the Maya used three cycles. One of the cycle systems is used, in practice, like a linear count, along the lines of the Julian Day number system. |
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1.) The tzolkin, or Sacred Calendar. A continuous cycle of (1320 =) 260 days. There are two parts to a tzolkin expression. The first is a day number, from 1 to 13, and the second is a day name, of which there are 20. An example would be 4 Ahau. |
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2.) The haab, or vague year. A continuous cycle of 365 days, organized as (1820 + 5 =) 365 days. There are two parts to a haab expression. The first is a day number, from 0 to 19, and the second is a uinal name, of which there are 19. An example would be 7 Kayab. The last uinal is the five-day period known as Uayeb. |
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3.) The Long Count. The Maya eventually came to write dates with many positions in a vegisimal notation. Most dates are written with just five positions, given the names: |
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3.1.) kin. 1 day. |
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3.2.) uinal. 20 kin = 20 days. |
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3.3.) tun. 18 uinal = 360 days. |
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3.4.) katun. 20 tun = 7,200 days. |
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3.5.) baktun. 20 katun = 144,000 days. |
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Except for the tun unit, all positions in this system are based on a vegisimal system (base 20). The choice of 18 was probably made for this position to give a number close to 365. |
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The newer term uinic is also used for uinal. The word means human being. The Maya conceived of the month as being like a person, with the 20 toes and fingers corresponding to the 20 days of the month. The Maya counting system clearly began with a body count. The predominant type of footwear in an climatic area may be a strong determinant of the number system eventually adopted. |
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