“Haab” itself translates as “year. ” Each haab has 18 months (uinals) of 20 days. This makes a Haab of 360 days, or one tun. In addition, each haab has one month of 5 days (Wayeb). Together, this makes 365, which approximates the solar year (365 ¼ days). A tun is also called a vague year, since it only approximates the solar year—it does not include the ¼ day or a leap day every four years, like the Gregorian calendar does.
Pop Wo Sip Sotz Sak Xul Yaxkin Mol Chen Yax Sak Keh Mak Kankin Muwan Pax Kayab Kumku Wayeb
Scholars do not know why the cycle is 260 days. Some believe this length is related to agricultural cycles, others to the movement of heavenly bodies (such as the planet Venus), and others to the human gestational period.
Imix Ik Akbal Kan Chicchan Kimi Manik Lamat Muluk Ok Chuwen Eb Ben Ix Men Kib Caban Etznab Kawak Ajaw
Kin, or days Uinal (each uinal is equivalent to 20 kin/days) Tun (each tun is equivalent to 18 uinal, or 360 days) Katun (each katun is equivalent to 20 tun or 7200 days) Baktun (each baktun is equivalent to 20 katun, or 144,000 days)
Each number (separated by a dot) in the expression 13. 0. 0. 0. 0 represents a position within the five cycles of the Long Calendar, in the order baktun, katun, tun, uinal, kin. The Maya creation cycle repeats, with each cycle beginning with the start date 13. 0. 0. 0. 0. It is unknown why the cycle begins with 13 baktun rather than 0.
“Monday” signifies one of a cycle of 7 days forming a week. The date (29, in this example), signifies a particular position within the unit of one month, which may be 28, 29, 30, or 31 days in length. The year (2008) signifies a certain number of years since a fixed reference point (the traditional birth of Christ at the year 0).
Manik signifies the day within a named cycle of 20 days used in the Tzolkin calendar. The 7 following signifies the date’s position within a cycle of 13 days used in the Tzolkin calendar. Kankin provides the name of one in a cycle of 18 months used in the Haab calendar. 10 gives the date’s position within a cycle of 20 days forming one uinal, or month. 12. 19. 15. 17. 7 provides the number of years since a fixed reference point, the start of a Maya cycle: 12 baktun, 19 katun, 15 tun, 15 uinal, 7 kin.
December 21, 2012, which came after the end of a long cycle in the Maya calendar, would be written as 4 Ajaw 3 Kankin 13. 0. 0. 0. 0 using the full calendar expression. Similarly, the previous day, December 20, 2012, would have been written as 3 Kawak 2 Kankin 12. 19. 19. 17. 19[9] X Research source
