Mayan Calendar and 2012
The
Mayan calendar is a vigesimal or 20-based counting system that some say
was inspired by counting fingers and toes or the 260 days from human
conception to birth. The Maya system uses only three symbols to count
from 0 to 19: zero (a shell-shaped glyph), one (a dot), and five (a
bar). The Meso-American concept of zero pre-dates the Mayan civilization
and is attributed to the Olmec civilization. The Hindu-Arabic numeral
system (base 10) reached Europe in the 11th century.
k'in: one day
winal or uinal: twenty k'ins (20 days)
tun: eighteen winal or uinal (18 x 20 = 360 days)
Wayeb': five days that are nameless and considered unlucky
Haab': 365-day agricultural calendar
The whole cycle would repeat itself every 52 solar
years roughly once a lifetime. Calendar round, has 18,980 days or 73
sacred years or 52 solar years. Tzolkin: 260-day sacred year consists of
13 months of 20 days
Long-Count Calendar day:
round date in the form, e.g., 9.17.0.0.0 13 Ahau 18 Cumku, where the
first five numbers designate the baktuns, katuns, tuns, uinals and kins
in order. The next is the sacred day of the calendar round and the last
is the solar day.
