Complicated Calendars
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The Maya city of Chichén Itzá, of which this precise arrangement of columns is but a small part, was itself laid out like an enormous calendar.
The Mayans have a complex system of calendars, and each calendar has a different purpose. Some of the more commonly known Mayan calendars are:
- The Tzolk'in Calendar: Used primarily in crop rotation, this calendar allows one 260-day period to ready the land and one 260-day period to grow and harvest the corn. It was also considered a sacred calendar by the Mayans and determined when their rituals occurred. The Tzolk'in uses 20 days signs coupled with 13 number signs to produce the 260 uniquely identified days.
- The Haab Calendar: This calendar lasts 360 days and breaks down into 18 20-day months, with a five-day waiting period at the end that was considered extremely unlucky called the wayeb (also sometimes spelled uayeb). Similar to the Gregorian calendar we use today, the Haab calendar follows the cycle of the sun.
- The Calendar Round: The Calendar Round gave the Mayans a way to record history in longer increments. By combining the Tzolk'in and Haab calendars, they had 18,980 uniquely designated days, or in other words, 52 years.
Fifty-two years was longer than the Mayans' average life span at the time of the Calendar Round's creation. However, Mayan historians wanted to create a calendar that could be used to record history for centuries. This led to the Long Count calendar. The Long Count multiplies up from the other calendar systems and incorporates an era called the Great Cycle, which lasts approximately 5,125 years [source: Malmström]. The idea that the world is on its way to an end comes from the Long Count.
