The Maya created the most
elaborate calendar system
of any culture in the world.
They had a solar calendar.
Then they made lunar calendars.
They made calendars for Venus.
They made a nine-day cycle that
we don't really understand yet.
LOGAN HAWKES:
The Mayas used
a very complicated system
of calendars.
They used
some 20 calendars altogether.
There were
three primary calendars
that were critically important
to them.
That would be
the Long Count calendar,
which kept up
with the number of years
in a particular period of time.
There was the Tzolk'in,
which was a spiritual calendar.
It consisted of a 260-day year.
And this calendar was used
to plan ceremonies
and to pay honor and tribute
to particular deities or gods.
The third most important
calendar to the Maya
was the Haab',
and the Haab' told them
when they should plant crops,
when they should harvest.
BARNHART:
The Long Count calendar
is something different
than any other ancient culture's
calendar.
It really is not
a solar calendar.
It can't be compared
to the Gregorian calendar.
The Gregorian calendar
is a lunisolar calendar
that's 365 days and a leap year.
The Long Count's year
is only 360-day.
So it's five days off the Sun.
It also doesn't really seem
to have anything to do
with other planets.
Why did they create it?
HAWKES:
And, in fact, when we look
at the Mayan calendar,
according to them,
this current age,
the fifth age of the Maya,
began in the month of August
in the year 3114 BC.
So, how could they look
that far back and say,
"This is where it all began"?
How did the Maya know this,
if they didn't exist
at that time?
GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
We actually have an answer.
And that is, according
to the Chilam Balam books,
that is when the road
to the stars
descended from the sky
and the nine and the 13 gods
descended from the heavens
to teach the Maya
about various
cultural disciplines
such as mathematics,
such as astronomy,
agriculture.
So when ancient texts speak
about gods
descending from the sky
and teaching mankind,
one has to wonder
if this actually happened
or if it was just fantasy
made up by our ancestors.
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