Mayan Calendar Description
The Mayan civilization--specifically their calendar--has become a popular topic for discussion in recent years. This is primarily due to the precision of the calendar as a prophetic tool and its eerie predictions surrounding 2012 A.D., when the calendar officially ends--and with it, the world as we know it.
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Geography
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The Mayan calendar was widely used throughout the Americas prior to the arrival of Spanish conquistadors. Cultures as far north as modern-day Texas and as far south as Panama used the Mayan calendar as well.
Time Frame
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Unlike the Gregorian calendar and many other calendars around the world, the Mayan calendar has a beginning and an end. The Mayans believed in a Long Count, which began in 3115 B.C.E. and will end in 2012 A.D.
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Nine Cycles
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The Mayan calendar revolves around nine cycles of creation, or nine levels of consciousness. These nine underworlds are hablatuns, alautuns, kinchiltuns, kalabtuns, piktuns, baktuns, katuns, tuns and uinals. These are also represented by the nine-step pyramids of Mayan architecture.
Function
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The Mayan calendar functioned as a prophetic tool. The Mayans believed that human behavior and the course of events were directly influenced by "ruling energies" of cosmic consciousness. The ruling energies cycled through the Mayan calendar and were an integral part of community planning.
Features
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The Mayan calendar calculates the date by using two different numbers. One day is made of two numbers, one from a set of symbols called a uinal and the other number taken from the Mayan 13-day cycle. Thus, each day is represented by two numbers, a pattern similar to two interconnected cogwheels.
Significance
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The greatest significance of the Mayan calendar is that it does more than record the count of days. The Mayans believed that the progression of human spirituality and our understanding of the cosmos were peeled away over time like onion layers. They believed that time is speeding up, and that at different periods in time different levels of spiritual enlightenment are being revealed to humanity.
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References
- Photo Credit Global Oneness
