After taking a trip to Cancun and visiting Chichen Itza and Tulum, I learned many interesting facts about the Mayan civilization. While we were on the way to Tulum, we stopped by a mercado (store) and bought a Mayan calendar replica.
It is amazing how the Mayans developed a calendar that is so accurate and sophisticated. It is based on an uninterrupted, continuous count of days called Kin. The two most important counts were 260 and 365 days.
The 260 day Tzolkin calendar was the most used by the Mayans. It was utilized to regulate the timing of their agricultural activities, religious ceremonies, and family affairs. It is composed of numbers 1 to 13 and 20 names for days which are represented by individual glyphs.
The 365 day Haab Calendar is based on the yearly journey of earth around the sun. This calendar was dividied into 18 named “months” of 20 days each. The overflow of five days was named Wayeb.
