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The Haab Calendar and the Calendar Round

The Haab Calendar and the Calendar Round

mayan calendar in stone



mayan calendar in stoneThe Haab calendar is very similar to the Gregorian calendar that we use today. It's based on the cycle of the sun, and was used for agricultural, economic and accounting activities. Much like the Tzolk'in calendar, it's also comprised of uinals, and each day has its own hieroglyph and number. However, instead of using 13 uinals for 260 days, the Haab calendar has 18 uinals, giving it 360 days.

Astronomers noticed that 360 days wasn't enough time for the sun to make it through a full solar cycle. They argued that the calendar should follow the cycle as closely as it could in order to be as accurate as possible. However, Mayan mathematicians didn't see it that way. They wanted to keep things simple, in increments of 20, just like their math system. The astronomers and mathematicians finally agreed on the 18 uinals, with five "nameless days" called the wayeb [source: The Maya Calendar].

The wayeb, or uayeb, is considered one "month" of five days, and it's thought to be a very dangerous time. The Mayans believed the gods rested during this time, leaving the Earth unprotected. The Mayans performed ceremonies and rituals during the wayeb in hopes that the gods would return once again [source: The Mayan Calendar Portal].

While this calendar was longer than the Tzolk'in, the Mayans wanted to create a calendar that would record even more time. For this reason, the Tzolk'in and Haab calendars were combined to form the Calendar Round.

In the Calendar Round, the 260 days of the Tzolk'in calendar are paired with the 360 days and five nameless days of the Haab calendar. The two calendars are matched the same way the Tzolk'in day names and numbers are (think back to the illustration of the gears on the second page). This gives the Calendar Round 18,890 unique days, a time period of around 52 years.

Neither the Tzolk'in nor the Haab calendars measured more than one year. The Mayans wanted to record history, and decided to create a calendar that would give them a longer span than a year. At the time, the Calendar Round was the longest calendar in Mesoamerica. Historians of the time, however, wanted to record Mayan history for generations to come in the future. They wanted a calendar that would take them through hundreds, even thousands, of years (what we would describe as centuries and millennia). Enter the Long Count calendar.

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