Download the Aztec Calendar Handbook, Randall C. Jimðfiâ

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Download the Aztec Calendar Handbook, Randall C. Jimðfiâ The Aztec Calendar Handbook, Randall C. JimГ©nez, Richard B. GrГ¤eber, Aztec Calendar Handbook, 2001, 0966116313, 9780966116311, 97 pages. New Book Bridges Ancient Wisdom with Modern Technology! The ancient wisdom ascribed is found behind the creation of a 500-year-old artifact, the Aztec Calendar. To the Natives it was Teoilhuicatl Apaluaztli Ollin Tonal Machiotl meaning the Great and Venerable Mechanism of the Universe. Dr. Randall C. Jimenez, a former San Jose State University educator, and Richard B. Graeber, an engineering documentation specialist, have collaborated to create the first Technical Manual for the Aztec Calendar ever produced. [Note: The Aztec name was given to the Mechican Indians (ch as in chevron; sometimes spelled Mexican) by the writer W. H. Prescott in the early 19th century.] The Aztec Calendar Handbook, involving thousands of man-hours of effort to create, takes a blueprint style approach to a Historical Reference primer. Illustrated with over 150 technical drawings showing enlargement details, cut-away views, and computer-generated art, this new guidebook has been called the "ultimate" Aztec Calendar reference treatise. Distilled from over 240 sources and quoting direct eyewitnesses from the 1500's, it further includes a glossary of over 230 native words. This attractive book is made with parchment paper and has a leather-grained cover, making it resemble an ancient manuscript.The research for writing the Aztec Calendar Handbook was assisted by custom software to convert Native date designators into our modern calendar dating system. In this way, a researcher is able to convert and track the dates of events from surviving native history books, known as codices. Mountains of information could be processed more efficiently and accurately when correlating indigenous dates. Inversely, a Julian date can also be converted into the Mayan long-count system. It is then possible for the Mechican calendar-labeling scheme to be transposed over the count to generate a person's Aztec tonallo or spiritual name from their birth date. According to Native tradition, our current long-count cycle will be complete on the winter solstice 2012. A long-count cycle, credited to the Olmec/-Maya, is 5125 years and started in the year 3113BC. No one is really sure what will happen when the cycle ends, but the material in this book offers a solid foundation for figuring it out. By looking at myths, legends & history with an Aztec's perception of God, this new Manual provides needed answers to some important questions. Would you like to know about how and when the Maya influenced the design of the Aztec Calendar? Have you ever seen the Hopi version of the Plumed Serpent? Would you like to put the last 12,000 years into perspective? If so, then your library needs the Aztec Calendar Handbook. You will find yourself referring to it over and over again. No stone has been left unturned.. DOWNLOAD HERE http://bit.ly/1aeJRgx Lost history of Aztec and Maya , Charles Phillips, David M. Jones, 2005, Aztec mythology, 256 pages. A highly readable, authoritative history of Mesoamerica and its many peoples, from the Olmecs and Maya to the Toltecs and Aztecs ... Discvoer Mesoamerican myths and legends .... The Aztec calendar, Issues 1-10 , United States. Embassy (Mexico), 1978, , . Coyolxauhqui The Mexica Milky Way, MarГ•a del Carmen Aguilera GarcГ•a, Henry B. Nicholson, 2001, Aztec mythology, 134 pages. The Aztec calendar and other solar monuments , Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, Felipe R. SolГ•s OlguГ•n, 2004, History, 164 pages. The Aztec Book of Destiny , Rick Holmer, Jul 8, 2005, Religion, 414 pages. The Aztec Book of Destiny summarizes traditional Mesoamerican beliefs about the spiritual nature of time and its influence on one's personality and fate. The ancient Aztec .... Tamoanchan, Tlalocan Places of Mist, Alfredo LГіpez Austin, Jul 1, 1997, Social Science, 322 pages. Two mysterious places existed in the world vision of the Aztecs -- Tamoanchan and Tlalocan. Though considered important cosmological places, references to them in Aztec .... The Codex Borgia A Full-color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript, Gisele DГ•az, Alan Rodgers, Bruce E. Byland, 1993, Art, 77 pages. First republication of remarkable repainting of great Mexican codex, dated to ca. AD 1400. 76 large full-color plates show gods, kings, warriors, mythical creatures, and .... The Aztec Calendar Math and Design, Charles William Johnson, Sep 1, 2005, Mathematics, 212 pages. The Aztec Calendar: Math and Designs explores the inner workings of the Mexican Sun Stone. The author analyzes the central meaning to the calendar as of the different .... The Gods of MГ©xico , Cottie Arthur Burland, 1967, Aztecs, 219 pages. The Aztecs , Brenda Ralph Lewis, Oct 1, 1999, History, 106 pages. The Aztec empire centered on Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City) embraced nearly all the peoples of central America during the 15th and early 16th centuries. Renowned for their .... The Fifth Sun Aztec Gods, Aztec World, Burr Cartwright Brundage, Sep 1, 1983, History, 269 pages. Time, History, and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico , Ross Hassig, Apr 15, 2001, History, 220 pages. Based on their enormously complex calendars that recorded cycles of many kinds, the Aztecs and other ancient Mesoamerican civilizations are generally believed to have had a .... The Aztecs People of the Sun, Alfonso Caso, 1958, Aztecs, 125 pages. The Venus Calendar Observatory at Aztec New Mexico , Allan Macgillivray III, 2010, History, 156 pages. Between the 10th and 14th century's AD a grand civilization developed in what are now the 4 corners of the USA, encompassing approximately 10,000 square miles. Many scholars .... Mapping time the calendar and its history, Edward Graham Richards, 1998, Foreign Language Study, 438 pages. Explores the history and the underlying basis for the important calendars of the world, from ancient times to modern, and provides descriptions of calendars devised by the .... Bridges: The Aztec , William Caper, , Aztecs, 32 pages. The Aztec were fierce warriors. Hundreds of years ago, they ruled in Mexico. Their capital city gleamed in the sun. Their temples reached toward the sky. Learn about these .... http://gejusuhufo.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/5g2jhdl.pdf http://gejusuhufo.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/lebll2.pdf http://gejusuhufo.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/10ifd4k.pdf http://gejusuhufo.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/57gofc7.pdf http://gejusuhufo.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/lebll2.pdf http://gejusuhufo.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/cjhemd.pdf http://gejusuhufo.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/166c3m7.pdf http://gejusuhufo.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/40d2iog.pdf http://gejusuhufo.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/24a55d3.pdf http://gejusuhufo.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/2n8khnn.pdf.
Recommended publications
  • Calendrical Calculations: the Millennium Edition Edward M
    Errata and Notes for Calendrical Calculations: The Millennium Edition Edward M. Reingold and Nachum Dershowitz Cambridge University Press, 2001 4:45pm, December 7, 2006 Do I contradict myself ? Very well then I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.) —Walt Whitman: Song of Myself All those complaints that they mutter about. are on account of many places I have corrected. The Creator knows that in most cases I was misled by following. others whom I will spare the embarrassment of mention. But even were I at fault, I do not claim that I reached my ultimate perfection from the outset, nor that I never erred. Just the opposite, I always retract anything the contrary of which becomes clear to me, whether in my writings or my nature. —Maimonides: Letter to his student Joseph ben Yehuda (circa 1190), Iggerot HaRambam, I. Shilat, Maaliyot, Maaleh Adumim, 1987, volume 1, page 295 [in Judeo-Arabic] If you find errors not given below or can suggest improvements to the book, please send us the details (email to [email protected] or hard copy to Edward M. Reingold, Department of Computer Science, Illinois Institute of Technology, 10 West 31st Street, Suite 236, Chicago, IL 60616-3729 U.S.A.). If you have occasion to refer to errors below in corresponding with the authors, please refer to the item by page and line numbers in the book, not by item number. Unless otherwise indicated, line counts used in describing the errata are positive counting down from the first line of text on the page, excluding the header, and negative counting up from the last line of text on the page including footnote lines.
    [Show full text]
  • Culture Box Aims to Provide Resources for Approaching Mexico in a Multidisciplinary Way, Featuring Items That Tell Stories of Mexico’S Past and Present
    MEXICO INTRODUCTION: Mexico is the large country that shares a common border with the United States about 2,000 miles long. Ancient ruins such as Teotihuacan (Aztec) and Chichen Itza (Mayan) are scattered throughout the country. This culture box aims to provide resources for approaching Mexico in a multidisciplinary way, featuring items that tell stories of Mexico’s past and present. WHAT THIS BOX INCLUDES: 1. Copper Plate 2. Mexican Peso, Woven Coin Purse 3. Miniature Tamale 4. Miniature Indigenous Women 5. Game – Loteria (2) 6. Muñeca Maria 7. Spanish Vocabulary Cards 8. La Virgen de Guadalupe 9. Oaxacan Crafted Turtle 10. Clay Pendants 11. Aztec Calendar 12. Tablitas Mágicas 13. Maracas 14. Spin Drum Culture Box: Mexico COPPER PLATE DESCRIPTION This copper plate features the Aztec calendar. This sort of plate is sold in gift shops and can be used as decoration. The Aztec calendar is the system that was used by Pre-Columbian people of Central Mexico, and is still used by Nahuatl speaking people today. There are two types of Aztec calendars: the sacred calendar with 260 days (tonalpohualli in Nahuatl); and the agricultural calendar with 365 days (xiuhpohualli in Nahuatl). The tonalpohualli is regarded as the sacred calendar because it divides the days and rituals between the Aztec gods. According to the Aztecs, the universe is very delicate and equilibrium is in constant danger of being disrupted, and the calendar tells how time is divided between the gods. Culture Box: Mexico MEXICAN PESO, COIN PURSE DESCRIPTION The Mexican Peso is one of the oldest currencies in North America.
    [Show full text]
  • Selling Mexico: Race, Gender, and American Influence in Cancún, 1970-2000
    © Copyright by Tracy A. Butler May, 2016 SELLING MEXICO: RACE, GENDER, AND AMERICAN INFLUENCE IN CANCÚN, 1970-2000 _______________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________ By Tracy A. Butler May, 2016 ii SELLING MEXICO: RACE, GENDER, AND AMERICAN INFLUENCE IN CANCÚN, 1970-2000 _________________________ Tracy A. Butler APPROVED: _________________________ Thomas F. O’Brien Ph.D. Committee Chair _________________________ John Mason Hart, Ph.D. _________________________ Susan Kellogg, Ph.D. _________________________ Jason Ruiz, Ph.D. American Studies, University of Notre Dame _________________________ Steven G. Craig, Ph.D. Interim Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Department of Economics iii SELLING MEXICO: RACE, GENDER, AND AMERICAN INFLUENCE IN CANCÚN, 1970-2000 _______________ An Abstract of a Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________ By Tracy A. Butler May, 2016 iv ABSTRACT Selling Mexico highlights the importance of Cancún, Mexico‘s top international tourism resort, in modern Mexican history. It promotes a deeper understanding of Mexico‘s social, economic, and cultural history in the late twentieth century. In particular, this study focuses on the rise of mass middle-class tourism American tourism to Mexico between 1970 and 2000. It closely examines Cancún‘s central role in buttressing Mexico to its status as a regional tourism pioneer in the latter half of the twentieth century. More broadly, it also illuminates Mexico‘s leadership in tourism among countries in the Global South.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mayan Long Count Calendar Thomas Chanier
    The Mayan Long Count Calendar Thomas Chanier To cite this version: Thomas Chanier. The Mayan Long Count Calendar. 2015. hal-00750006v12 HAL Id: hal-00750006 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00750006v12 Preprint submitted on 16 Dec 2015 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. The Mayan Long Count Calendar Thomas Chanier∗1 1 Universit´ede Bretagne Occidentale, 6 avenue Victor le Gorgeu, F-29285 Brest Cedex, France The Mayan Codices, bark-paper books from the Late Postclassic period (1300 to 1521 CE) contain many astronomical tables correlated to ritual cycles, evidence of the achievement of Mayan naked- eye astronomy and mathematics in connection to religion. In this study, a calendar supernumber is calculated by computing the least common multiple of 8 canonical astronomical periods. The three major calendar cycles, the Calendar Round, the Kawil and the Long Count Calendar are shown to derive from this supernumber. The 360-day Tun, the 365-day civil year Haab' and the 3276-day Kawil-direction-color cycle are determined from the prime factorization of the 8 canonical astronomical input parameters. The 260-day religious year Tzolk'in and the Long Count Periods (the 360-day Tun, the 7200-day Katun and the 144000-day Baktun) result from arithmetical calculations on the calendar supernumber.
    [Show full text]
  • {TEXTBOOK} the Mayan and Other Ancient Calendars Pdf Free Download
    THE MAYAN AND OTHER ANCIENT CALENDARS PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Geoff Stray | 64 pages | 16 Oct 2007 | Wooden Books | 9781904263609 | English | Powys, United Kingdom The Mayan Calendar | Calendars Four days per month were dedicated to Ahura Mazda and seven were named after the six Amesha Spentas. Three were dedicated to the female divinities, Daena yazata of religion and personified conscious , Ashi yazata of fortune and Arshtat justice. The Parthians Arsacid dynasty adopted the same calendar system with minor modifications, and dated their era from BC, the date they succeeded the Seleucids. Their names for the months and days are Parthian equivalents of the Avestan ones used previously, differing slightly from the Middle Persian names used by the Sassanians. When in April of AD the Parthian dynasty fell and was replaced by the Sasanid, the new king, Ardashir I , abolished the official Babylonian calendar and replaced it with the Zoroastrian. This involved a correction to the places of the gahanbar , which had slipped back in the seasons since they were fixed. These were placed eight months later, as were the epagemonai , the 'Gatha' or 'Gah' days after the ancient Zoroastrian hymns of the same name. Other countries, such as the Armenians and Choresmians, did not accept the change. Toghril Beg , the founder of the Seljuq dynasty , had made Esfahan the capital of his domains and his grandson Malik-Shah was the ruler of that city from Other leading astronomers were also brought to the Observatory in Esfahan and for 18 years Khayyam led the scientists and produced work of outstanding quality. During this time Khayyam led work on compiling astronomical tables and he also contributed to calendar reform in Cowell quotes the Calcutta Review No When the Malik Shah determined to reform the calendar, Omar was one of the eight learned men employed to do it, the result was the Jalali era so called from Jalal-ud-din, one of the king's names - 'a computation of time,' says Gibbon, 'which surpasses the Julian, and approaches the accuracy of the Gregorian style.
    [Show full text]
  • Notes on the Calendar and the Almanac
    1914.] Notes on Calendar and Almanac. 11 NOTES ON THE CALENDAR AND THE ALMANAC. BY GEORGE EMERY LITTLEFIELD. In answering the question, why do the officers of pub- he libraries and bibliophiles so highly esteem and strive to make collections of old calendars and almanacs, it may be said that the calendar was coeval with and had a great influence upon civilization. Indeed, the slow but gradual formation of what we know as a calendar is an excellent illustration of the progress of civilization. At first it was a very crude scheme for recording the passing of time, deduced from irregular observations of the rising and setting of a few fixed stars, by a people who had but recently emerged from barbarism. The resultant table was of very little value and required constant revision and correction. It was only by long and patient study and observation, by gaining knowledge from repeated failures, that finally was produced the accurate and scientific register, which today bears the name of calendar. Furthermore, the material and shape of the tablet upon which the calendar was engraved or printed, was a constant .temptation to artists to decorate it with pen- cil or brush, which caused it to become a valuable me- dium for inculcating in the minds of the people, ideas of the sublime and beautiful, and never more so than at the present time. As regards the almanac, it also is of ancient memory, as we have positive evidence of its existence more than twelve hundred years before the Christian era. To its compilation scientists, philosophers, theologians, poets 12 American Antiquarian Sodety.
    [Show full text]
  • The Correlation Between the Colonial Northern Zapotec and Gregorian Calendars
    C H A P T E R O N E JOHN JUSTESON A N D DAVID TAVÁREZ The Correlation between the Colonial Northern Zapotec and Gregorian Calendars INTRODUCTION This paper provides evidence for the correlation between dates in the Gregorian calendar and dates in the Zapotec calendar, as it was in the northern Sierra of Oaxaca near the end of the seventeenth century.1 It concerns specifically the correlation of two calendrical cycles that are not only found in the Zapotec calendar system but that are widely distributed in Mesoamerica: the 260-day ritual calendar and the 365-day calendar (the VAGUE YEAR). Based on the data provided by Córdova (1578a: 204–212), the sixteenth- century Zapotec ritual calendar can be seen as a permutation of two inde- pendent cycles, each of which advances once a day: a thirteen-day cycle (the TRECENA, referred to by Córdova as the cocii¯), whose successive days are named by successive numerals from 1 to 13; and a twenty-day cycle (the VEIN- TENA), whose successive days are named by a fixed sequence of roots, mostly of 17 JOHN JUSTESON AND DAVID TAVÁREZ TABLE 1.1. Colonial Zapotec day names, mostly as extracted by Kaufman (2000a) from Córdova (1578a), and from calendars reported by Alcina Franch (1993) for the Villa Alta and Choapan regions of Northern Zapotec. Capital E transcribes a letter that appears sometimes as e¯ and sometimes as I¯; EE is for ee¯ varying with ii¯. The symbol = joins the compounded units within a compound word. Meanings are due to Kaufman, informed by Urcid (1992, 2001).
    [Show full text]
  • A Bibliography on the Agriculture of the American Indians
    hm »Huwu mii'jiot ©ntrftjíí UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION NO. 447 Waahlntlton, D. C. Issued January 1942 A BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS Compiled by EVERETT E. EDWARDS and WAYNE D. RASMUSSEN Bureau of Agricultural Economics UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION No. 447 Washington, D. C. Issued January 1942 A BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS Compiled by EVERETT E. EDWARDS AND WAYNE D. RASMUSSEN Bureau of Agricultural Economics UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1942 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents. Washington, D. C. Pnce 15 cents CONTENTS Pag« Preface V Introduction 1 Comprehensive histories^ 7 Agriculture of the American Indians : Comprehensive references 14 Agriculture of particular regions and tribes 24 Specific crops and animals 45 Agriculture on Indian reservations in the United States 64 »r Uncultivated plants used by the American Indians: Food and industrial plants 78 «•s Medicinal plants 89 ^ Index 97 in Ú á PREFACE The scope of this bibliography is delineated in the table of contents. The section of comprehensive references on the pre- Columbian agriculture of the American Indian is of special interest to the general reader. The section on the centers of advanced agricultural development supplies references for the research worker who wishes to know about the methods used by the Indian in terrace farming, irrigation, conservation, and other evidences of progress beyond primitive cultivation. The section on the particular crops domesticated and raised by the Indian will, it is hoped, be helpful to the scientist in carrying on research incident to the history and improvement of these crops.
    [Show full text]
  • An Aztec "Calendar Stone" in Yale University Museum
    American Anthropologist NEW SERIES VOL. 12 OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1910 No. 4 AN AZTEC "CALENDAR STONE" IN YALE UNIVER- SITY MUSEUM BY GEORGE GRANT MAcCURDY stone was of Orrin Brothers and THIS valuable bought Nichols, proprietors of a show called the "Aztec Fair, Mexico Past and Present." The purchase was made in 1887 by Professor O. C. Marsh of Yale University at a sheriff's sale in New Haven, Conn., where the "Aztec Fair" was showing at the time; and the stone was given by Professor Marsh to the Peabody Museum of Yale University in 1898. In the printed "Guide to the Aztec Fair," the piece in question is described at No. 101 as "The 'temalacatl' (gladiator's stone). This stone, with a hole through the centre and covered with curious hieroglyphics, is one that victims destined to be sacrificed were fastened to by the arms or limbs, a rope passing through the hole securing them. They were also used for the fol- lowing purpose: Two of these stones were placed a few feet apart and a warrior fastened to each by the ankle. They were then compelled to fight one another until one or both were killed. There are only three of them known to exist-one at the National Museum in Mexico city, one in the institute at Oaxaca, and the one in our possession, which was lately unearthed in the valley of Mexico. Consequently this relic is without price." This statement does not specify which stone in the National Museum of Mexico and which in the institute at Oaxaca is to be compared with the Yale specimen.
    [Show full text]
  • Alexander Von Humboldt's Views of the Cultures of the World
    The Art of Science: Alexander von Humboldt’s Views of the Cultures of the World An Introduction by Vera M. Kutzinski and Ottmar Ette Since the turn of the century, a happy revolution has taken place in our conception of the civilizations of diff erent peoples, and of the factors that either obstruct or encourage progress. We have come to know certain peoples whose customs, institutions, and arts diff er as much from those of the Greeks and Romans as the original forms of extinct animals diff er from those species that are the focus of descriptive natural history. The Asiatick Society of Calcutta has cast a vivid light on the history of the peoples of Asia. The monuments of Egypt, which are nowadays described with ad- mirable exactitude, have been compared to monuments in the most distant lands, and my study of the indigenous peoples of the Americas appears at a time when we no longer consider as unworthy of our attention anything that diverges from the style that the Greeks bequeathed to us through their inimitable models. (2) With these remarks in the 1813 introduction to his Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, Alexander von Hum- boldt took a clear and contentious stand within the centuries- long polemic known as the “Dispute on the New World.” This debate began with the so- called discovery and conquest of America and became more pointed during the course of the eighteenth century in the writings of the Comte de Buff on, Cornelius de Pauw, the Abbot Raynal, and many others.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica and Their Heritage
    The Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica and their Heritage Gertrudis Cabrera Franklin Elementary School INTRODUCTION What This Unit Will Teach The topic of my curriculum unit is “The Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica and their Heritage.” The region occupied by the ancient Aztec and Maya, nowadays generally referred to as Mesoamerica, is an area comprising southern and eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, western and southern Honduras, and the Pacific side of Central America as far south as Costa Rica. I want to take my students into an amazing voyage of discovery to the land of their ancestors. By studying different aspects of the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica, I intend to introduce my students to their own history. The goal of this unit is to create a link of communication and knowledge between their heritage and their present lives. In Ancient Mesoamerica, people shared a series of cultural characteristic, such as the two calendars of 260 and 365 days that permutated in a cycle approximating fifty-two years. They developed hieroglyphic writings, created screen fold books and built masonry ball courts. Even though the people that inhabited this area were of many distinct cultures, who spoke different languages, nevertheless there was extensive contact through out the region over time due to migration, trade, conquest and pilgrimage (Taube 7). In comparison with some civilizations of the Old World, such as Sumer and Egypt, the civilizations of Mesoamerica are of relative recent origin. The first great culture of this region was the Olmec. By twelfth century BC the Olmec were constructing ceremonial centers of worship and massive sculptures representing their gods and leaders.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mayan Calendar, the Solar - Agricultural Year, and Correlation Questions by David Bolles Milford, CT
    The Mayan Calendar, The Solar - Agricultural Year, and Correlation Questions By David Bolles Milford, CT. It is generally accepted by Mayanists today that the Mayan calendar was a “floating” calendar, in which no attention was given to keeping the calendar in sync with the solar - agricultural year. As Michael Coe in his book The Maya puts it, the Maya had “a ‘Vague Year’ of 365 days, so called because the actual length of the solar year is about a quarter-day more, a circumstance that leads us to intercalate one day every four years to keep our calendar in march with the sun, but which was ignored by the Maya.” 1 Earlier Thompson wrote that “The Maya made no attempt to intercalate days in the count of the years to bring the year of 365 days into conformity with the solar year. Such a correction would have played havoc with the whole orderly plan of the calendar and would have disorganized the elaborate system of lowest multiples of different time cycles, which were of the highest importance for divinatory and ritualistic purposes.” 2 However, while working with the Yucatecan Mayan Colonial literature such as the Books of Chilam Balam one gets the distinct impression that the Mayan scribes who originally wrote this material were well aware of how their calendar worked. Among the various points about their calendar there are two assertions in particular which stand out: 1) that the first day of Poop fell on July 16 th of the Julian calendar (= July 26 th of the Gregorian calendar in the 1500’s and 1600’s), and 2) that the katun which they were using, often called an Ahau Katun , was composed of 24 years.
    [Show full text]