The Complete Idiot's Guide to 2012 - Dr. Synthia Andrews Nd [35]
Celestial Connection
The Haab is compared to the “wandering 365-day year” of Ancient Egypt. The Ancient Egyptian solar calendar was nearly identical to the Maya. It had 12 months of 30 days each, equaling 360 days. At the end of the 360 days was a short month of 5 days, called the epagomenes.
The Maya were perfectly aware of the true length of the year. However, they were more concerned with synchronizing their calendar with larger cycles. They kept track of seasons by watching the changing lengths of the days; they didn’t need to correlate this to a specific date. Keeping the Haab in sync with the Tzolk’in and staying linked to the 400-year earth/sun cycle was more important. We will probably never know the true reason why the Maya didn’t adjust the Haab to the seasons, but we can be sure they knew about the issue!
Five Days of the Wayeb Celebration
The five Wayeb days at the end of the 18-month Haab calendar are called the nameless days, the extra-days, or the soulless days. The Wayeb was a time for both year-end rituals and New Year celebrations. On the last day of the year, all the hearth fires were extinguished to release the energy of the old year. People refrained from eating hot food, ate small amounts, abstained from sex, and tried to stay home (not like our New Year celebration!). Rituals were used to assist the completion of the past cycles.
Fires were relit during the second half of the Wayeb period to welcome the New Year. Celebrations continued until the start of the next Haab. Much speculation occurred at this time as to what the new year bearer would bring (more about year bearers in the next section).
Year Bearers
Since the Haab was primarily a civil calendar, it was used to mark civil occasions. Each Haab year was given a name that related to the Tzolk’in calendar. The Tzolk’in day-sign of the first day of the New Year became the year bearer for the next Haab cycle. The calendars mesh in such a way that the New Year can only land on four possible Tzolk’in day-signs. These are called the four year bearers and relate to the four directions and the Bacab gods who hold up the four corners of the world.
Calendar Round
As we move out from the center of the clockworks, the Calendar round is the first large cycle of the Mayan timekeeping system. It synchronizes the Tzolk’in and the Haab calendars.
Mayan dates always reflect both calendars. The Tzolk’in day was written first and the Haab day second. For example, a date would be written as 1 Kan 2 Zotz. This tells us the date is the first day of the Tzolk’in “week” of Kan and the third day of the Haab month of Zotz (remember the first day of the month is a zero day).
Celestial Connection
The Calendar round was the longest period of time recorded by the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican peoples except the Maya. Only the Maya and their pre-Classical predecessors, the Olmec, kept longer counts.
The Tzolk’in and the Haab calendars synchronize every 52 Haab, which is about 52 years. This means that any given Tzolk’in/Haab date happens once every 52 years. For example, if a day is “1 Kan 2 Zotz,” the next time the calendar day will fall on 1 Kan 2 Zotz will be 52 years later.
Perfect Marriage
The Haab and the Tzolk’in calendars cycle around each other like gears of different sizes. Look at the previous illustration again to get a sense of how this works. Even as the numbers rotate within the Tzolk’in day-signs, the Tzolk’in travels around the Haab.
As we’ve said, the Calendar round is based on the length of both the Tzolk’in year (260 days) and the Haab year (365 days). The smallest number that can be divided evenly by both 260 and 365 is 18,980, or approximately 52 years. Among other things, the Calendar round offers an individual 18,980 separate perspectives for divination.
Year Calculations
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