Mayan calendar was introduced by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. However, this calendar is still used by some modern Maya communities that are located in highland Guatemala. This specific calendar is, in fact, a system of distinct almanacs and calendars. This unique invention by the ancient Mayans has remarkable accuracy and complexity. The Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá is the root of the Mayan calendar. This pyramid has 4 stairways. Each of these stairways has ninety-one steps. Including a platform at the top, the total count is 365 - the total number of days in a calendar year.
Because of the unique features of this calendar, it started becoming popular. Very soon, other Mesoamerican nations also adopted the same. These nations include the Toltec, Aztecs, etc. All of these nations adopted the mechanics of the Mayan calendar, without making any alterations. However, they did alter the names of the months and the days of the week.
There are three different dating systems that this calendar uses. Those include the Haab, the Tzolkin, and the Long Count. The Haab stands for civil calendar. The Tzolkin stands for divine calendar. Among these three systems of Mayan calendar, only the last one (The Haab) has a direct connection with the length of the year. The examples of these dating systems are as follows:
• The Haab date - 4 Zotz
• The Tzolkin date - 3 Cimi
• The Long Count date - 12.18.16.2.6
The Long Count
The kin, which means day, is the basic unit. It is also the last element of the Long Count. Other elements of this dating system include baktun (1 baktun = 20 katun = 144,000 days = approx. 394 years), katun (1 katun = 20 tun = 7,200 days = approx. 20 years), and tun (1 tun = 18 uinal = 360 days = approx. 1 year).
The first date in the long count of Mayan calendar is 13.0.0.0.0. This date is also considered the Mayans' idea of the date of the creation as well as the destruction of the world. This date will again come as per this calendar on the 21 or 23 December AD 2012, which was considered by the Mayans as the date of destruction for this world.
4 Ahau is the first date as per this particular dating system of Mayan calendar. However, the years of the Tzolkin calendar are not counted. As per this dating system, there are two different lengths of a week that includes the following:
• A week of 20 days, where each day has been named with a specific name, and
• A week of 13 days, where days are not named but are numbered from one to thirteen.
The Mayans had also been using a civil calendar. It was known as the Haab. As per this dating system of Mayan calendar, there are 18 months of twenty days each. However, each month also contains 5 extra days. The extra days are referred to as the Uayeb. The length of year as per this calendar is 365 which is equivalent to the length of the year as per the common calendar.
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