Mayan_Cyclical_Calendar

Mayan Cyclical Calendar Since their earliest recorded history, the ancient Maya were sincerely interested in the perception of time. Their cultural basis was formed on the comprehension and interpretation of time. They were the earliest civilizations with a recorded concept of zero and notational placement, thus forming the foundation of understanding time. To begin to identify with the Mayan peoples, one must understand the basics of their cyclical and linear time conception. The Mayan calendar has been described as genius, with intricate forms of dating interlocking with one perception to the next. Their numbers consisted of zero, a shell-like shape, a dot for one unit, and a bar for five units. These were simple symbols used in their hieroglyphics, yet they indicate an extremely advanced mathematical system. The first of these organized calendar parts was the elementary system of a 260 day cycle- the Sacred Almanac or Tzolkin, meaning ‘count of days’, still used today in areas of Guatemala. This was the fundamental basis of establishing birthdates, rituals, prophecies and divine interventions. It was independent of any astrological or celestial cycle. It was divided up into twenty blocks, each given a different name and consisting of thirteen time, each, days, cycle, calendar, year, one, years, system, solar, mayan, long, day, date, count, 20, 13, understanding, sacred, record, next, concept, baktuns, ancient, almanac, zero, yet, understand, tzolkin, round, recorded, ran, periods, perception, over