Tzolk'in
Encyclopedia
Tzolk'in is the name bestowed by Mayanists on the 260-day Mesoamerican calendar
used by the Maya civilization
of pre-Columbian
Mesoamerica
.
The tzolk'in, the basic cycle of the Maya calendar
, is a pre-eminent component in the society and rituals of the ancient and the modern Maya. The tzolk'in is still in use by several Maya
communities in the Guatemala
n highlands. Its use is marginal but spreading in this region, although opposition from Evangelical
Christian converts continues in some communities.
The word, meaning "division of days", is a western invention coined in Yukatek Maya
. The corresponding words used by the K'iche' and Kaqchikel peoples of Guatemala, which have maintained an unbroken count for over 500 years, are, respectively, Aj Ilabal Q’ij 'the sense of the day' and Chol Q'ij, 'the organization of time'. The actual names of this calendar as used by the pre-Columbian Maya are not widely known. The corresponding Postclassic Aztec
calendar, was called tonalpohualli
, in the Nahuatl language.
), to produce 260 unique days (i.e., 20 × 13 = 260). Each successive named day was numbered from 1 up to 13 and then starting again at 1. There were 20 individual named days, as shown in the table below:
The Tzolkin does not have a generally-recognized start and end, although there are specific references in the books of Chilam Balam to 1 Imix as the beginning day.
Each of the twenty days has its specific primary association connected to the day name's meaning.
(which, though written in the early post-conquest period, is probably based on older texts). For instance, when Ixbalanque
has set an impossible task for Ix Quic of collecting a netful of corn from one stalk and Ix Quic successfully completes it, she leaves the imprint of her net in the ground, and the day "net" is the opening of the Venus cycle which follows "ahau" ("ajpu" in K'iche'), just as her child is the heir of Hun Hunajpu.
The uses to which the ancient Maya applied the calendar are unknown, nonetheless modern Maya communities employ the calendar as follows:
in the Oaxaca
n highlands at sites such as Monte Albán
, dating from mid 1st-millennium BCE
. A few earlier-dated inscriptions and artifacts have what appear to be calendric glyphs, such as at San José Mogote
and in the Olmec
Gulf Coast
region. However, either the dating method or the calendric nature of the glyphs are disputed by scholars.
The original purpose of such a calendar, with no obvious relation to any astronomical or geophysical cycle, is not securely known, but there are several theories. One theory is that the calendar came from mathematical operations based on the numbers thirteen and twenty, which were important numbers to the Maya, (Thompson 1950: An Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphic Writing). The number twenty was the basis of the Maya counting system, taken from the total number of human digits. (See Maya numerals
). Thirteen symbolized the number of levels in the Upperworld where the gods lived, and is also cited by modern daykeepers as the number of "joints" in the human body (ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and neck). The numbers multiplied together equal 260.
Barbara Tedlock, studied this system in the contemporary K'iche Maya community of the municipality of Momostenango
in highland Guatemala. She underwent a formal apprenticeship in calendar divination with a local adept, and was initiated as a diviner in 1976. She says: "The Momostecan calendar embraces both the 260-day cycle and the 365-day solar year, with the four Classic Maya Year-bearers, or Mam, systematically linking the two. The 260-day cycle is conceived as linked firmly to worldly or earthly affairs, mirroring no astronomical period but rather the period of human gestation. Past ethnographic accounts of this cycle contain various conflicting opinions as to what its first day is, but a comparison of the present results and those of previous studies indicates that there is no fixed first day."
Anthony Aveni seerts, "Once a Maya genius may have recognized that somewhere deep within the calendar system lay the miraculous union, the magical crossing point of a host of time cycles: 9 moons, 13 times 20, a birth cycle, a planting cycle, a Venus cycle, a sun cycle, an eclipse cycle. The number 260 was tailor made for the Maya". Others have observed that the "Venus Table" in the Dresden Codex
, is an accurate ephemeris for predicting Venus positions. Others have also observed a basis for the 260 day cycle in the agricultural cycle of highland Guatemala
, which is also about 260 days. There may also be a relation to the average length of time it takes between appearances of the planet Venus as morning or evening star, which is in round numbers 263 days. Aveni notes that "the average duration between successive halves of the eclipse season, at 173 ½ days, fits into the tzolkin in the ratio of 3 to 2." This may seem contrived, but the Maya did employ the tzolkin to predict positions of Venus and eclipses.
Another theory is that the 260-day period is the length of human pregnancy
. This is close to the average number of days between the first missed menstrual period and birth, unlike Naegele's rule
which is 40 weeks (280 days) between the last menstrual period and birth. It is postulated that midwives
originally developed the calendar to predict babies' expected birth dates.
Vincent Malmström identifies a correlation between the 260-day cycle and the 260-day gap between zenith
and transits of the sun
. According to this hypothesis, the 260-day cycle originated in the narrow latitudinal band
(14º42'N to 15ºN) in which the sun is vertically overhead about 12–13 August and again 260 days later about 30 April-l May (Malmström identifies the proto-Classic Izapa
n culture as one suitable candidate at this latitude). This period may have been used for the planting schedule of maize
. However, others object to this conception, noting that while the 260-day calendar runs continuously the interval between autumn-spring and spring-autumn positions alternates between 260 and 105 days, and that the earliest-known calendric inscriptions are from considerably further north of this zone. Consequently this theory is not widely supported.
It is of course also possible that the number 260 has multiple sources.
invention of the "Dreamspell
" calendar, developed by the esoteric author Jose Arguelles
. The Dreamspell calendar is sometimes mistakenly identified as an authentic interpretation or extension of the original Maya calendar, although Arguelles himself acknowledges the Dreamspell calendar is a new and syncretic creation, inspired by elements from mesoamerican and non-mesoamerican sources.
In 1987, before the Harmonic Convergence, inspired by a single paragraph of Dr. Arguelles book "The Mayan Factor" (wherein he refers to each day as a "tone"), singer/songwriter and sound healer, Alyras (aka Mirai), translated the Tzolk'in's harmonic values into sound, with the tutelage of Barbara Hero.Eschewing extensions of the Tzolk'in, Alyras opted for strict mathematical adherence to the Tzolk'in's fundamental structure and sequences, in order to present a truly authentic sonic expression of its inner workings. (See "Ascension: The Tzolk'in Series" and "The Radiant Tzolk'in" for both audio and audiovisual expressions of the Tzolk'in, respectively).
Mesoamerican calendars
Mesoamerican calendars are the calendrical systems devised and used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. In addition to the basic function of a calendar—defining and organizing periods of time in a way that allows events to be fixed, ordered and noted relative to each other and some...
used by the Maya civilization
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
of pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
.
The tzolk'in, the basic cycle of the Maya calendar
Maya calendar
The Maya calendar is a system of calendars and almanacs used in the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and in many modern Maya communities in highland Guatemala. and in Chiapas....
, is a pre-eminent component in the society and rituals of the ancient and the modern Maya. The tzolk'in is still in use by several Maya
Maya peoples
The Maya people constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term...
communities in the Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n highlands. Its use is marginal but spreading in this region, although opposition from Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Christian converts continues in some communities.
The word, meaning "division of days", is a western invention coined in Yukatek Maya
Yukatek Maya language
Yucatec Maya , called Màaya t'àan by its speakers, is a Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize...
. The corresponding words used by the K'iche' and Kaqchikel peoples of Guatemala, which have maintained an unbroken count for over 500 years, are, respectively, Aj Ilabal Q’ij 'the sense of the day' and Chol Q'ij, 'the organization of time'. The actual names of this calendar as used by the pre-Columbian Maya are not widely known. The corresponding Postclassic Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
calendar, was called tonalpohualli
Tonalpohualli
The tonalpohualli, a Nahuatl word meaning "count of days", is a 260-day sacred period in use in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, especially among the Aztecs. This calendrical period is neither solar nor lunar, but rather consists of 20 trecena, or 13-day periods...
, in the Nahuatl language.
The Twenty Day Names
The tzolk'in calendar combines a cycle of twenty named days with another cycle of thirteen numbers (the trecenaTrecena
A trecena is a 13-day period used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican calendars. The 260-day calendar was divided into 20 trecenas. Trecena is derived from the Spanish chroniclers and translates to 'a group of thirteen' in the same way that a dozen relates to the number twelve...
), to produce 260 unique days (i.e., 20 × 13 = 260). Each successive named day was numbered from 1 up to 13 and then starting again at 1. There were 20 individual named days, as shown in the table below:
| Seq. No. 1 |
Day Name 2 |
Inscription glyph example 3 |
Codex glyph example 4 |
16th C. Yucatec 5 |
Reconstructed Classic Maya Classic Maya language The Classic Maya language is the oldest historically attested member of the Mayan language family. It is the main language documented in the pre-Columbian inscriptions of the Classic Era Maya civilization.- Relationships :... 6 |
Associated natural phenomena or meaning 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Imix' |  |
 |
Imix | Imix (?) / Ha' (?) | waterlily, crocodile |
| 02 | Ik' |  |
 |
Ik | Ik' | wind, breath, life force |
| 03 | Ak'b'al |  |
 |
Akbal | Ak'b'al (?) | darkness, night, early dawn |
| 04 | K'an |  |
 |
Kan | K'an (?) | Net, sacrifice |
| 05 | Chikchan |  |
 |
Chicchan | (unknown) | cosmological snake Snake Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales... |
| 06 | Kimi |  |
 |
Cimi | Cham (?) | death |
| 07 | Manik' |  |
 |
Manik | Manich' (?) | deer Deer Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year... |
| 08 | Lamat |  |
 |
Lamat | Ek' (?) | Venus Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows... , star, ripe(ness), maize Maize Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable... seeds |
| 09 | Muluk |  |
 |
Muluc | (unknown) | jade Jade Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:... , water, offering |
| 10 | Ok |  |
 |
Oc | (unknown) | dog |
| 11 | Chuwen |  |
 |
Chuen | (unknown) | howler monkey Howler monkey Howler monkeys are among the largest of the New World monkeys. Fifteen species are currently recognised. Previously classified in the family Cebidae, they are now placed in the family Atelidae. These monkeys are native to South and Central American forests... |
| 12 | Eb' |  |
 |
Eb | (unknown) | rain |
| 13 | B'en |  |
 |
Ben | (unknown) | green/young maize Maize Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable... , seed |
| 14 | Ix |  |
 |
Ix | Hix (?) | jaguar Jaguar The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico... |
| 15 | Men |  |
 |
Men | (unknown) | eagle Eagle Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in... |
| 16 | Kib' |  |
 |
Cib | (unknown) | wax Wax thumb|right|[[Cetyl palmitate]], a typical wax ester.Wax refers to a class of chemical compounds that are plastic near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents... |
| 17 | Kab'an |  |
 |
Caban | Chab' (?) | earth Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets... |
| 18 | Etz'nab' |  |
 |
Etznab | (unknown) | flint Flint Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and... |
| 19 | Kawak |  |
 |
Cauac | (unknown) | rain storm |
| 20 | Ajaw |  |
 |
Ahau | Ajaw | lord Lord Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'... , ruler, sun |
NOTES: 1. the sequence number of the named day in the Tzolk'in calendar 2. Day name, in the standardized and revised orthography of the Guatemalan Academia de Lenguas Mayas 3. An example glyph (logogram Logogram A logogram, or logograph, is a grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme . This stands in contrast to phonograms, which represent phonemes or combinations of phonemes, and determinatives, which mark semantic categories.Logograms are often commonly known also as "ideograms"... ) for the named day, typical of monumental inscriptions ("cartouche Cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh... " version). Note that for most of these several alternate forms also exist. 4. Example glyph, Maya codex Maya codices Maya codices are folding books stemming from the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, written in Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican bark cloth, made from the inner bark of certain trees, the main being the wild fig tree or Amate . Paper, generally known by the Nahuatl word amatl, was named by... style. When drawn or painted, most often a more economical style was employed; the meaning is the same. Again, variations to codex-style glyphs also exist. 5. Day name, as recorded from 16th century Yucatec language accounts, according to Diego de Landa Diego de Landa Diego de Landa Calderón was a Spanish Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán. He left future generations with a mixed legacy in his writings, which contain much valuable information on pre-Columbian Maya civilization, and his actions which destroyed much of that civilization's... ; this orthography has (until recently) been widely used 6. In most cases, the actual day name as spoken in the time of the Classic Period (c. 200 200 Year 200 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus... -900 900 Year 900 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.- Asia :* April 21 – Namwaran and his children, Lady Angkatan and Bukah, are granted pardon by the Datu of Tondo, as represented Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pila, which released them of all their debts as inscribed in the... ) when most inscriptions were made is not known. The versions given here (in Classical Maya Classic Maya language The Classic Maya language is the oldest historically attested member of the Mayan language family. It is the main language documented in the pre-Columbian inscriptions of the Classic Era Maya civilization.- Relationships :... , the main language of the inscriptions) are reconstructed based on phonological comparisons; a '?' symbol indicates the reconstruction is tentative. 7. Each named day had a common association or identification with particular natural phenomena |
||||||
The Tzolkin does not have a generally-recognized start and end, although there are specific references in the books of Chilam Balam to 1 Imix as the beginning day.
Each of the twenty days has its specific primary association connected to the day name's meaning.
- Imix : 'Crocodile' - the reptilian body of the planet earth, or world
- Ik : 'Wind' - breath, life. Also violence.
- Akbal : 'Night-house' - darkness, the underworld, realm of the nocturnal jaguar-sun.
- Kan : 'Maize' - sign of the young maize lord who brings abundance, ripeness. Also lizard, net.
- Chicchan : 'Snake' - the celestial serpent
- Cimi : 'Death'
- Manik : 'Deer' - sign of the Lord of the Hunt
- Lamat : 'Rabbit' - sign of the planet Venus, sunset. The glyph may depict four grains of maize. Invoked by the feminine name "Ixq'anil" by XquicXquicXquic is a mythological figure known from the 16th century Quiché Maya manuscript Popol Vuh. She was the daughter of Cuchumaquic, one of the lords of Xibalba, the Maya Underworld...
. - Muluc : 'Water' - symbolised by jade, an aspect of the water deities, fish. Invoked by the feminine name "Ixtoj" by XquicXquicXquic is a mythological figure known from the 16th century Quiché Maya manuscript Popol Vuh. She was the daughter of Cuchumaquic, one of the lords of Xibalba, the Maya Underworld...
. - Oc : 'Dog' - who guides the night sun through the underworld.
- Chuen : 'Monkey' - the great craftsman, patron of arts and knowledge. Also thread.
- Eb : 'Grass' or 'Point' - associated with rain and storms.
- Ben : 'Reed' - who fosters the growth of corn, cane, and man.
- Ix : 'Jaguar' - the night sun. Also maize. Associated with the goddess IxchelIxchelIxchel or Ix Chel is the 16th-century name of the aged jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine in the ancient Maya culture. She corresponds, more or less, to Toci Yoalticitl ‘Our Grandmother the Nocturnal Physician’, an Aztec earth goddess inhabiting the sweatbath, and is related to another...
. - Men : 'Eagle' - the wise one, bird, moon
- Cib : 'Owl/Vulture' - death-birds of night and day. Also wax, soul, insect.
- Caban : 'Earthquake' - formidable power. Also season, thought.
- Etz'nab : 'Knife' - the obsidian sacrificial blade.
- Cauac : 'Rain' or 'Storm' - the celestial dragon serpents and the chacs, gods of thunder and lightning.
- Ahau : 'Lord' - the radiant sun god. Also associated with the Mayan hero twins.
Uses
The Tzolk'in was extensively used in Mayan inscriptions and codices. Symbolism related to the Tzolk'in is also observed in the Popol VuhPopol Vuh
Popol Vuh is a corpus of mytho-historical narratives of the Post Classic Quiché kingdom in Guatemala's western highlands. The title translates as "Book of the Community," "Book of Counsel," or more literally as "Book of the People."...
(which, though written in the early post-conquest period, is probably based on older texts). For instance, when Ixbalanque
Maya Hero Twins
The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial Quiché document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in Quiché, the Twins have also been identified in the art of the...
has set an impossible task for Ix Quic of collecting a netful of corn from one stalk and Ix Quic successfully completes it, she leaves the imprint of her net in the ground, and the day "net" is the opening of the Venus cycle which follows "ahau" ("ajpu" in K'iche'), just as her child is the heir of Hun Hunajpu.
The uses to which the ancient Maya applied the calendar are unknown, nonetheless modern Maya communities employ the calendar as follows:
- For MaizeMaizeMaize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
cultivation.(The zenithZenithThe zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e...
transit days may have been significant for agriculture along the south coast of GuatemalaGuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
because April 30 occurs just before the rainy season. Modern Maya plant their corn at the end of April or early in May. In the August 13 zenithZenithThe zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e...
transit the Maya initiate its current era in this day', approximating the harvest of the dried corn. - For modern GuatemalaGuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n highlanders, the 260 days are employed in training the Aj K'ij, or 'calendar diviner'. Nine months after commencing training in divination, the novice is "reborn" and initiated into office. The tzolk'in is explainable, in principle, as a calendar of midwives, since it counts 260 days from the 20 day period of the conception, from when the heart of the fetus starts to beat, until birth. - For rituals performed every 260 days. Most famous of these is the "Initiation" celebration of 8 Chuwen, Waxakib' B'atz, in the K'iche town of Santa Cruz del QuicheSanta Cruz del QuichéSanta Cruz del Quiché is a city in Guatemala. It serves as the capital of El Quiché department and the municipal seat of Santa Cruz del Quiché municipality.The city is located at , at an elevation of 2,021 m above sea level...
. - For days which are suitable for certain actions. For instance, a low-numbered Ak'ab'al or B'en would be a good day for a wedding, whereas K'an would be a good day for building or maintaining a house.
- For divinationDivinationDivination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
based on casting lotsCasting lotsCasting lots may refer to:*Sortition, the casting or drawing of lots to make a fair form of selection*Cleromancy, the casting or drawing of lots as a form of divination...
and counting forward through the calendar from the current 'year bearer' to arrive at a day which is then interpreted. This is not pure cleromancyCleromancyCleromancy is a form of divination using sortition, casting of lots, or casting bones or stones, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but are sometimes believed to reveal the will of God, or other supernatural entities.-In...
because somatic twitches of "blood lightning" can either be specifically consulted or arise spontaneously during the process. - For traditional Mayan names, which are based on calendar days, often birthdays. As in astrologyAstrologyAstrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, personal characteristics are associated with birthdays (see Mayan astrology for details).
Origins
The 260-day calendar spread throughout the Mesoamerican cultural region, and it is regarded as being the oldest and most important of the calendar systems attested in the region, with an origin pre-dating its first appearances in Maya inscriptions. It is uncertain which Mesoamerican culture first developed this calendar. Stelae with the earliest known Long Count dates come from this general area. Some of the oldest calendric inscriptions are from early strata of ZapotecZapotec civilization
The Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca of southern Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows their culture goes back at least 2500 years...
in the Oaxaca
Oaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
n highlands at sites such as Monte Albán
Monte Albán
Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca...
, dating from mid 1st-millennium BCE
500s BC
-Events and trends:* 509 BC– Overthrow of Roman monarchy, and beginning of Republican period. First pair of Roman consuls elected. Tarquinian conspiracy formed, but discovered and the conspirators executed. Forces of Veii and Tarquinii, led by the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus defeated...
. A few earlier-dated inscriptions and artifacts have what appear to be calendric glyphs, such as at San José Mogote
San Jose Mogote
San José Mogote is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Zapotec, a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in the region of what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca. A forerunner to the better-known Zapotec site of Monte Albán, San José Mogote was the largest and most important settlement in the...
and in the Olmec
Olmec
The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast of Mexico
The Gulf Coast of Mexico stretches along the Gulf of Mexico from the border with the United states at Matamoros, Tamaulipas all the way to the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula at Cancún. It includes the coastal regions along the Bay of Campeche. Major cities include Veracruz, Tampico, and...
region. However, either the dating method or the calendric nature of the glyphs are disputed by scholars.
The original purpose of such a calendar, with no obvious relation to any astronomical or geophysical cycle, is not securely known, but there are several theories. One theory is that the calendar came from mathematical operations based on the numbers thirteen and twenty, which were important numbers to the Maya, (Thompson 1950: An Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphic Writing). The number twenty was the basis of the Maya counting system, taken from the total number of human digits. (See Maya numerals
Maya numerals
Maya Numerals were a vigesimal numeral system used by the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization.The numerals are made up of three symbols; zero , one and five...
). Thirteen symbolized the number of levels in the Upperworld where the gods lived, and is also cited by modern daykeepers as the number of "joints" in the human body (ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and neck). The numbers multiplied together equal 260.
Barbara Tedlock, studied this system in the contemporary K'iche Maya community of the municipality of Momostenango
Momostenango
Momostenango is a municipality in the Totonicapán department of Guatemala. The municipality is situated in the North-West of Totonicapán, in the Western highlands of Guatemala.-Population:Momostenango's population is predominantly of Maya K'iche' descent...
in highland Guatemala. She underwent a formal apprenticeship in calendar divination with a local adept, and was initiated as a diviner in 1976. She says: "The Momostecan calendar embraces both the 260-day cycle and the 365-day solar year, with the four Classic Maya Year-bearers, or Mam, systematically linking the two. The 260-day cycle is conceived as linked firmly to worldly or earthly affairs, mirroring no astronomical period but rather the period of human gestation. Past ethnographic accounts of this cycle contain various conflicting opinions as to what its first day is, but a comparison of the present results and those of previous studies indicates that there is no fixed first day."
Anthony Aveni seerts, "Once a Maya genius may have recognized that somewhere deep within the calendar system lay the miraculous union, the magical crossing point of a host of time cycles: 9 moons, 13 times 20, a birth cycle, a planting cycle, a Venus cycle, a sun cycle, an eclipse cycle. The number 260 was tailor made for the Maya". Others have observed that the "Venus Table" in the Dresden Codex
Dresden Codex
The Dresden Codex, also known as the Codex Dresdensis, is a pre-Columbian Maya book of the eleventh or twelfth century of the Yucatecan Maya in Chichén Itzá. The Maya codex is believed to be a copy of an original text of some three or four hundred years earlier...
, is an accurate ephemeris for predicting Venus positions. Others have also observed a basis for the 260 day cycle in the agricultural cycle of highland Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, which is also about 260 days. There may also be a relation to the average length of time it takes between appearances of the planet Venus as morning or evening star, which is in round numbers 263 days. Aveni notes that "the average duration between successive halves of the eclipse season, at 173 ½ days, fits into the tzolkin in the ratio of 3 to 2." This may seem contrived, but the Maya did employ the tzolkin to predict positions of Venus and eclipses.
Another theory is that the 260-day period is the length of human pregnancy
Gestation
Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
. This is close to the average number of days between the first missed menstrual period and birth, unlike Naegele's rule
Naegele's rule
Naegele's Rule is a standard way of calculating the due date for a pregnancy. The rule estimates the expected date of delivery by adding one year, subtracting three months, and adding seven days to the first day of a woman's last menstrual period...
which is 40 weeks (280 days) between the last menstrual period and birth. It is postulated that midwives
Midwifery
Midwifery is a health care profession in which providers offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and during the postpartum period. They also help care for the newborn and assist the mother with breastfeeding....
originally developed the calendar to predict babies' expected birth dates.
Vincent Malmström identifies a correlation between the 260-day cycle and the 260-day gap between zenith
Zenith
The zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e...
and transits of the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
. According to this hypothesis, the 260-day cycle originated in the narrow latitudinal band
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
(14º42'N to 15ºN) in which the sun is vertically overhead about 12–13 August and again 260 days later about 30 April-l May (Malmström identifies the proto-Classic Izapa
Izapa
Izapa is a very large pre-Columbian archaeological site located in the Mexican state of Chiapas; it was occupied during the Late Formative period. The site is situated on the Izapa River, a tributary of the Suchiate River, near the base of the Tacaná volcano), the fourth largest mountain in...
n culture as one suitable candidate at this latitude). This period may have been used for the planting schedule of maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
. However, others object to this conception, noting that while the 260-day calendar runs continuously the interval between autumn-spring and spring-autumn positions alternates between 260 and 105 days, and that the earliest-known calendric inscriptions are from considerably further north of this zone. Consequently this theory is not widely supported.
It is of course also possible that the number 260 has multiple sources.
The Tzolk'in and the New Age Movement
The Tzolk'in is the basis for the modern, New AgeNew Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
invention of the "Dreamspell
Dreamspell
The Dreamspell is an esoteric calendar based on a modern interpretation of the Maya calendar by New Age spiritualist, Mayanist philosopher, and author José Argüelles, initiated in 1987 and released as a board game in 1993.-General overview of the calendar:...
" calendar, developed by the esoteric author Jose Arguelles
Jose Arguelles
Joseph Anthony Arguelles , better known as José Argüelles, was a world-renowned author, artist, visionary and educator. He was the founder of Planet Art Network and the Foundation for the Law of Time. He held a Ph.D...
. The Dreamspell calendar is sometimes mistakenly identified as an authentic interpretation or extension of the original Maya calendar, although Arguelles himself acknowledges the Dreamspell calendar is a new and syncretic creation, inspired by elements from mesoamerican and non-mesoamerican sources.
In 1987, before the Harmonic Convergence, inspired by a single paragraph of Dr. Arguelles book "The Mayan Factor" (wherein he refers to each day as a "tone"), singer/songwriter and sound healer, Alyras (aka Mirai), translated the Tzolk'in's harmonic values into sound, with the tutelage of Barbara Hero.Eschewing extensions of the Tzolk'in, Alyras opted for strict mathematical adherence to the Tzolk'in's fundamental structure and sequences, in order to present a truly authentic sonic expression of its inner workings. (See "Ascension: The Tzolk'in Series" and "The Radiant Tzolk'in" for both audio and audiovisual expressions of the Tzolk'in, respectively).
See also
- Maya calendarMaya calendarThe Maya calendar is a system of calendars and almanacs used in the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and in many modern Maya communities in highland Guatemala. and in Chiapas....
- Maya calendrical divinationMaya calendrical divinationMaya calendrical divination is a subset of traditional beliefs, rituals and divinatory practices that are held or performed among various Maya communities in Guatemala and southern Mexico...
- Maya scriptMaya scriptThe Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs or Maya hieroglyphs, is the writing system of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, presently the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered...
- Haab'Haab'The Haab is part of the Maya calendric system. It was the Maya version of the 365-day calendar known to many of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica...
- Mesoamerican calendarsMesoamerican calendarsMesoamerican calendars are the calendrical systems devised and used by the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. In addition to the basic function of a calendar—defining and organizing periods of time in a way that allows events to be fixed, ordered and noted relative to each other and some...
- TonalpohualliTonalpohualliThe tonalpohualli, a Nahuatl word meaning "count of days", is a 260-day sacred period in use in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, especially among the Aztecs. This calendrical period is neither solar nor lunar, but rather consists of 20 trecena, or 13-day periods...
External links
- Maya Calendar with Names and color Glyphs
- Maya Calendar Round (CR) made of two parts: Ritual (Tzolk'in) Calendar and the Haab
- "Essentials of the Mayan Sacred Calendar", elaborating on the fundamentals of the Music of the Tzolk'in.
- Tzolkin Sacred Mayan calendar - compute tzolkin signs for any day
- Red Galáctica (Tzolk'in Maya)