The Baktun in the Mayan Long Count Calendar

Here’s a link to an article I found helpful and clear in describing the Long Count Calendar. It’s called Calendars & the Long Count System. I like that this website has a nifty little chart that starts with the day, called a “Kin,” in Mayan to the “Baktun,” which is approximately 395 years.

The December 21, 2012 date represents 13 Baktuns in the Mayan Long Count Calendar. I will be discussing the Mayan 2012 prediction during my talk, Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012? on Wednesday, October 26th, at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The event is sponsored by the Edgar Cayce Forum.

What does 4 Ahaw mean? It is part of the Mayan Year 2012 prophecy

OK, so we know that 4 Ahaw is part of the Mayan calendar called the Tzolk’in. What is the Tzolk’in?

An online Wikipedia article entitled Tzolk’in describes the Tzolk’in as:

The tzolk’in, the basic cycle of the Maya calendar, is a pre-eminent component in the society and rituals of the ancient and the modern Maya. The tzolk’in is still in use by several Maya communities in the Guatemalan highlands.

The article goes on to say that “Ahaw” (also spelled Ahau in English) means, “lord, ruler, sun.”

I will be discussing the Mayan 2012 prediction during my talk, Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012? on Wednesday, October 26th, at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The event is sponsored by the Edgar Cayce Forum.

The Mayan Long Count Calendar ends on 4 Ahaw of the Tzolk’in Calendar … what does that mean?

The Tzolk’in (also spelled Tzolkin) is the Mayan ceremonial calendar. It consists of 260 days. Some believe the 260 days represent the human gestational cycle–about 9 months.

The third date in the Mayan 2012 prophecy is a date in the Tzolk’in calendar: 4 Ahaw.

I will be discussing the Mayan 2012 prediction during my talk, Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012? on Wednesday, October 26th, at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The event is sponsored by the Edgar Cayce Forum.

Are the Haab and T’zolkin calendar dates used for cross-referencing?

(Yesterday’s post continued …) I do not think the Maya included Haab and T’zolkin calendar dates with the 13.0.0.0.0 Bak’tun Long Count Calendar date in the December 21, 2012 prediction for cross-referencing, which, according to my thesaurus means as an annotation or footnote or postscript, in other words, as something separate from the prophecy. I think the Haab and T’zolkin calendar dates are part of the prophecy. In other words, the two extra calendar dates are important to the prophecy since the whole next 5,280 year cycle–or even the 25,800 year cycle–begins on a date that is colored by the meaning of these Haab and T’zolkin dates.

Maybe I just don’t understand the meaning of the word, “cross-referencing.”

Did the ancient Maya put 3 dates on the 2012 Monument 6 for cross-referencing?

What’s this I see? In my search to clarify the meaning of the Mayan Haab month K’ank’in (also spelled kankin), I did a Google search for, “uniiw kankin haab.” One of the items that came up was for a Google book by Geoff Stray called, “2012 in Your Pocket.” It looks like a good and comprehensive read that includes an explanation of the ancient Maya, the Mayan calendars, and 2012.

However, I wonder if the author understands why there are two dates, 3rd Uniiw and 4 Ahaw, because he says that Monument 6 in the Tortuguera Mayan ruins, which was erected in AD 669, “is inscribed with glyphs from the three calendars, cross-referencing the end date in 2012.”

Cross-referencing?

Does he think the Maya put in the other two dates with the Mayan Long Count Calendar date of 13.0.0.0.0 Bak’tuns (the December 21, 2012 in our calendar) to cross-reference the date with the other two Mayan calendars, the Haab and T’zolkin? More tomorrow …

The Mayan Haab Calendar month of K’ank’in can mean “skeleton”

I just found a Mayan calendar website, called The Mayan Calendar, that says that K’ank’in (also known as Uniiw, the month in which the December 21, 2012 Mayan Long Count date occurs), means not only “yellow sun” but also “ribs” and “skeleton.” Hm, it is beginning to sound a bit ominous after all.

A discussion of the Mayan Calendar as it relates to the 2012 prophecy will be part of my lecture called, “Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012?” I will be speaking at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26th. The event is sponsored by The Edgar Cayce Forum.

Is 3rd Uniiw in the Mayan Haab calendar (the date corresponding to our December 12, 2012) a portent of doom?

We no longer think of the number ten when we say December. I wonder if the ancient Maya, when they said the day was the 3rd of Uniiw, also called K’ank’in, did not know that Uniiw meant “the yellow sun.” Was it just the name of a month to them as December is to us?

Or did the ancient Maya believe that the day was influenced by the meaning of the month it was in? If so, a day in the yellow sun month sounds like an OK month to me.

According to a very informative Wikipedia article entitled, Haab, in their Haab calendar, the ancient Maya do have a month named Tzek, which means “death,” and another month, “Ch’en” that means, “black storm.” I would think that if December 21, 2012, corresponded to the Mayan month of Tzek or Ch’en, there would be more cause for alarm. However, a date in the month of “Yellow sun” does not seem very ominous to me.

During my talk on October 26th at 7:30 p.m. for the Edgar Cayce Forum at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach, Virginia, I will include information gathered during interviews with Mayan Elders. The lecture is called: Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012?

Uniiw (Uniw) or K’ank’in (Kankin) Mayan calendar Haab

I’ve been looking on the internet, trying to find an explanation for the 14th month of the Mayan Haab calendar being called both Uniiw (also spelled Uniw) and/or K’ank’in (also spelled Kankin). I know I’ve seen the explanation somewhere before. I think one name is used by one group of Maya and the other name is used by another group of Maya. But, I’m not sure and I don’t know which group uses which name. Does anyone out there know why “Uniiw” is written with “K’ank’in” beside it? Or why the Tortuguera Monument 6 2012 prophecy uses Uniiw (as translated by David Stuart) while just about every online description of the Maya calendars uses K’ank’in (or Kankin)?

December 21, 2012 falls on the 3rd day of the month of Uniiw in the Mayan year-long calendar known as the Haab

By the way, in referring to yesterday’s post on the Haab Mayan calendar date of December 21, 2012, the month of Uniiw (or K’ank’in) means “yellow sun” in the ancient Mayan language.

In the same way, December, in our calendrical system, means “ten,” because December was the 10th month of the year in the original Roman calendar until two more winter months of January and February were added.

I will be speaking on the topic of “Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012?” at the Edgar Cayce Forum on October 26th at 7:30 p.m. at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach.

The December 21, 2012 date is Uniiw (K’ank’in) 3 in the Mayan Haab Calendar

There are three dates on Monument 6 in the Tortuguero Mayan ruin in the Mexican state of Tobasco, in the Yucatan Peninsula. The “third of Uniiw (K’ank’in) refers to a date in the 365 day Mayan calendar called the “Haab.” Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia’s online article on the Haab:

The Haab’ is part of the Maya calendric system. It was the Maya version of the 365-day calendar known to many of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. Unlike the Tzolk’in, another Mayan Calendar system with no obvious relation to an astronomical or geophysical cycle, the Haab’ approximated the solar year.

The Haab’ comprises eighteen “months” of twenty days each, plus an additional period of five days (“nameless days”) at the end of the year known as Wayeb’ (or Uayeb in 16th C. orthography).

Haab’