Mayan Culture: Mayan Calendar

Mayan civilization is one that has fascinated people for hundreds of years. The Mayans were a complex culture that sprang up in the areas of Central America stretching through Belize, Honduras and Guatemala. Known mostly for their calendar and their architecture the Mayans were highly religious people who manipulated time to their benefit until the strange fall of their culture around 900 A.D.

The Mayan calendar is perhaps the most discussed aspect of their culture in the modern world. According to myth the Mayans predict the end of this world on 12.21.2012. While that fact remains to be seen, what is known for sure about the Mayan culture is their time keeping measures.

According to the World Civilizations website, the Mayan people had several calendars. The first is the "tzolkin" sacred calendar which has 260 days consisting of a cycle of 13 numbered days and 20 named days. The second calendar is the "tun" which has 360 days with an additional five unlucky days. The "tun" was the calendar used for ceremonial practices. The third calendar is the "katun" which is the combination of 20 365 day cycles or 20 "tuns". The fourth calendar was based on the cycle of Venus and additional calendars focused on the cycles of their Gods.

The Mayans were a polytheistic people. The Mayans believed that their Gods could be ever changing both in shape and in good or evil disposition. The Mayans believed that there had been several cycles of man already on this earth and they were in the fifth cycle of man on Earth. The Mayan civilization centered on religion with all their city centers being the focused on such and being ruled by priests. As a part of the Mayan religion there was much blood sacrifice for the Gods in the form of the Priests bloodletting and others being held down while their hearts still beating were cut out of their chests.

Though most of the Mayan literature was destroyed in the 1500's A.D. by the Spanish the architecture is still standing and gives us many clues to the way of life of the Mayans. When you study the architecture you can see similarities in the calendar and building ideals through the number of steps or pillars on a certain religious building. The center of Mayan towns were most likely inhabited by priests with people coming from the outlying farms for festivals and ceremonies. Due to the climate of the rainforest it is likely that the Mayans lived about 30 people every mile working the land. The Mayans had high turn over for their land without much to sustain the soil besides the trees that had previously been in place which the Mayans had to cut down and burn to make the soil.

With so much shifting going on with the soil and the disposition of the Gods it is no wonder the Mayans were so specific about their calendar. One has to have a hold on something so why not time. You may move around a lot but you can always look up and see the big dipper and the position of the stars.

Source:

http://www.wsu.edu:8001/~dee/CIVAMRCA/MAYAS.HTM