Of all the calendars devised by man, there is truly nothing like the Maya investigation. They seem to be an ancient people who understood time. How, I am not sure. But their calculations are astonishing, and are not based upon the planets, but upon the cyclical forces of nature that they perceived. They certainly thought dynamically, rather than linearly, suggesting a more Asian foundation compared to European.
The Bearer of the Burden of Time: The Haab' calendar consists of 18 uinals (20-day periods) followed by
a 5-day period called wayeb, deemed unlucky as it disrupts the cycle, totaling 365.2422 solar days.
The number 26 also shows up in the Maya calendar, which is quite remarkable. The calendar consists of a ritual cycle of 260 named days, and a 365-day year. Both are running in a complex, concurrent relationship. These components combine, creating a cycle of 18,980 days, constituting 52 years of 365 days, known as the "Calendar Round," where, at the end, a specific day designated in the 260-day cycle returns to the start, insofar as it recurs in the same position in the year. The 260-day cycle is formed by the combination of numerals 1 through 13, which mesh with a rotating wheel of 20 names in an ordered sequence. If we take 260 days and divide by 5, we end back at 52.
The Maya calendar is complex, shows dynamic thinking, and is far more intriguing from a mathematical perspective. The 365-year cycle was divided by 18 named months of 20 named days, with 5 days of mystic evil omen. The Maya named years based upon the first name of the day that appeared. However, the 365 days could be divided by 5, yielding 73 days (close to the 72-intensity cycle), and the number of named days being 20 was also divisible by 5, resulting in only 4 names combined with 13 numbers that could ever begin a year. These seem to be called "Year Bearers," and were assigned according to the 4 quarters of the world, and were given 4 specific colors. This becomes akin to the saying involving the 4 corners of the world and the 4 winds.
4 Ahau 8 Cumku (August 11, 3114 BCE), is known as the Maya Long Count.
The manner in which the Maya recorded dates shows a highly tuned style of dynamic thinking rather than linear. To specify a date in the "Calendar Round," they used the designated day by its numeral and name distinction, and added the current month by prefixing the number of days that had passed with the corresponding number for that month, using 0–19 rather than 1–20. A date written in this curious manner would occur only once in every Calendar Round, resulting in intervals of 52 years.
Yet the Maya were still concerned about reflecting time in a much longer space dimension. They showed a dynamic thinking process for time, and a keen sense of history that they needed to be able to reflect. The Maya devised the "Long Count," which was based upon a system of a count of 20; they strangely used 18 as the multiplier (18 × 4 = 72). Therefore, the dates were written as: kin (day); uinal (20 days); tun (18 uinals or 360 days); katun (20 tuns or 7,200 days); baktun (20 katuns or 144,000 days). Why the Maya used 18 as the multiplier is unknown. Perhaps they noticed the volatility of history, perhaps instigated by nature.
Yet the Maya were still concerned about reflecting time in a much longer space dimension. They showed a dynamic thinking process for time, and a keen sense of history that they needed to be able to reflect. The Maya devised the "Long Count," which was based upon a system of a count of 20; they strangely used 18 as the multiplier (18 × 4 = 72). Therefore, the dates were written as: kin (day); uinal (20 days); tun (18 uinals or 360 days); katun (20 tuns or 7,200 days); baktun (20 katuns or 144,000 days). Why the Maya used 18 as the multiplier is unknown. Perhaps they noticed the volatility of history, perhaps instigated by nature.
Temple of Kukulkán, the feathered serpent, at Chichén Itzá, Mexico.
The "Long Count" was a means of anchoring time in a continuous time-space dimension, which they could see unfold as such: 1 kin = 1 day, 20 kin = 1 uinal, 18 uinals = 1 tun, 20 tuns = 1 katun, 20 katuns = 1 baktun. The Long Count was not just a calendar alone; the Maya conceived time as a dimension through which history is formed, but also as a cyclical event of self-organizing structure. The basic elements of the Mayan calendar have little to do with astronomy. The Maya seem to have placed great significance on cycles. There is the curious 819-day cycle (13 × 9 × 7 = 819), which also shockingly produces 2.24 years! The hidden order exists—it is not chaos!
The interesting aspect of the Maya calendar is its concurrent and dynamic structure of time, which is closer to what I have described from independent observations, having nothing to do with planetary movements. The use of both the 72 and 26 units of time is striking. The Aztec calendar followed the Maya in many respects, but incorporated a 584-day cycle from the planet Venus, and two 52-year cycles were considered "One Old Age," when the day cycle, the year, and the period of Venus all came together. These were also noted by the Maya, but were more important to the Aztec. All Meso-Americans believed in the cyclical destruction and re-creation of the world in these great sweeping periods of time.
The core of the Maya calendar is that the world is destroyed and reborn time and time again. While they saw the end of this world on December 21st, 2012, that would erupt from earthquakes, that is a separate issue. Lacking the data of the previous cycle from which the Maya started their calendar, there is no way to project forward to even test the theory. Like most religion, this falls into the area of faith, not math.
Calendars based upon the moon cycle of 19 years, known as the Metonic Cycle (named after Meton of Athens in 432 BC), or the solar cycle of 365.25 days, or the 28-year cycle when the same day repeats with the same number under the Julian Calendar, have created interesting math calculations. The Julian calendar cycle = 7,980 years, produced by 19 × 28 × 15. The last 15-year cycle is the Roman tax and census cycle of Indiction. There are calendars based upon Jupiter and its 12-year cycle. But all are cyclical-based.
The core of the Maya calendar is that the world is destroyed and reborn time and time again. While they saw the end of this world on December 21st, 2012, that would erupt from earthquakes, that is a separate issue. Lacking the data of the previous cycle from which the Maya started their calendar, there is no way to project forward to even test the theory. Like most religion, this falls into the area of faith, not math.
Calendars based upon the moon cycle of 19 years, known as the Metonic Cycle (named after Meton of Athens in 432 BC), or the solar cycle of 365.25 days, or the 28-year cycle when the same day repeats with the same number under the Julian Calendar, have created interesting math calculations. The Julian calendar cycle = 7,980 years, produced by 19 × 28 × 15. The last 15-year cycle is the Roman tax and census cycle of Indiction. There are calendars based upon Jupiter and its 12-year cycle. But all are cyclical-based.
Quoted from:
Martin Armstrong (2008) - It's Just Time.
Martin Armstrong (2008) - It's Just Time.
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See also: