The Uncanny Accuracy of Maya Timekeeping–

Remember when the world was predicted to end because the Maya Calendar didn’t go beyond December 21, 2012? Of course, that was nothing but hype based on ignorance of the Maya timekeeping. Time is a cycle to the Maya; it’s not a line. The December date was actually symbolic of the beginning of a new cycle: B’Ak’Tun 13.0.0.0.0.

The ancient Maya were the ultimate timekeepers. Compared to the atomic clock, the most accurate in the world, their calendars were much more accurate than our own. According to atomic clocks, the earth takes 365.242198 days to revolve around the sun. The Gregorian calendar, the one we use every day, sets that time at 365.2425 days. We have an error rate of 3.02 days every ten-thousand years. The Maya calculated the earth’s rotation at 362.24229 days resulting in a much lower error rate: 1.98 days every ten-thousand years. How’s that for an ancient, “primitive” culture?

They accomplished this by studying the stars and planets and extrapolating time using elaborate mathematical formulas. Although they had over twenty calendars, they primarily used three: the Haab, the Tzolk’in, and the Long Count.

The Haab refers to as a vague year calendar. It was based on the movement of the earth. It totaled 365 days and was used primarily for planting crops or other more mundane activities. The Tzolk’in was known as the sacred calendar and consisted of 260 days, based on the cycles of the Pleiades, or Seven Sister star cluster. This calendar was (and still is) used for divination.

Together, these two calendars make the Calendar Round. Imagine a set of gears. The smaller Haab was the inner wheel, encircled by the Tzolk’in. They moved together to mark off each day, marching on and on throughout the B’Ak’Tun, which equals 5125.36 years. The numbers are staggering, especially when you consider they had no computers or calculators—only diligent observation, counting, and recording.

The Long Count was established to record history. Its intended use is to record time from an initial date: 0.0.0.0.0, or August 12, 3114 by our own system. December 21, 2012 is 13.0.0.0.0. This date has been misinterpreted to be the end of the Long Count or a prediction of the end of time. It is not the end of time; it is the end of a cycle.

For the Maya, each day is a gift—not to be taken for granted. Even today, every morning, a shaman performs the ceremony ushering in the day. Like a child, each day has a name; each month a patron god. The Maya were cyclical timekeepers. We are linear timekeepers. They believed events repeated: famine, plague, drought, wars, and natural disasters all came in cycles. It is our own perception of linear time that contributes to the doomsday predictions.

A recent archaeological discovery at Xultun in Guatemala’s Peten region, uncovered a room with twelve-hundred year-old drawings. The discovery’s name is the Saturno House murals, after the leader of the research team, William Saturno of Boston University. The walls are covered in numbers and hieroglyphs noting lunar cycles and their corresponding patron god. The scientists believe it was a system for calculating lunar years. According to Saturno, they believe these findings are “actual records kept by a scribe, whose job was to be the official record keeper.” He likened it to a Maya “geek math problem” and the walls as “blackboards.”

In addition to lunar cycles, they found calculations relating to Venus, Mercury, and Mars that indicate dates seven-thousand years into the future. Of particular interests was a list of numbers that indicated B’Ak’Tun well past 13, in fact up to 17 B’Ak’Tun. They believe this offers proof of time well past December 21, 2012.

Meanwhile, the modern Maya celebrate the winter solstice, December 21, 2012, as the beginning of a new era—a new B’Ak’Tun—one in which many of the trials of the last one will end for them. We must remember, the current B’Ak’Tun has seen the collapse of their ancient civilization, the Spanish conquest, the oppression of their culture, a devastating thirty-year civil war in Guatemala, which ended in 1996, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands indigenous Maya. They hope the new B’Ak’Tun will usher in a renaissance for their culture. And, it has. The Maya are reclaiming their language and teaching future generations how to write using their glyph system. They are reclaiming land taken by large corporations coveting their minerals. The Maya have begun to reclaim newly excavated treasures including their magnificent jade artifacts. The Maya are re-emerging from the horrors of the civil war proud and strong.

So, just as Western civilizations celebrate January 1 as the beginning of a new year, full of promise and resolutions, the Maya celebrate December 21, 2012 as a new era. And, just like people all over the world, they hope for a better tomorrow.

A Google search for “Maya calendars” will provide a number of links to websites containing more information. Thanks for visiting!