Mayan calendars are one of the most sophisticated inventions of the most advanced civilization in pre-Colombian America. The Mayans lived – and still live – in southern Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala (where they make up over 80% of the population). Their civilization reached its height between 600 B.C.E. and 900 C.E., during which time they originated a complex system of hieroglyphic writing, astronomy, astrology, and mathematics which were written down in thousands of books. All but four of these books were burned by the Spanish conquerors in the sixteenth century. While the Mayan state had largely collapsed six centuries before the arrival of the Spanish; and the remnants of Mayan thought and culture which still existed in the sixteenth century were suppressed by the Spanish invaders and the Catholic Church; still to this day many descendants of the Mayans have preserved their calendar counts intact. The most famous of the Mayans calendar counts is the Chol Qij (called the Tzolkin in Yucatecan Mayan), or count of days. The Chol Qij is a 260 day calendar used to time ceremonies; to elect propitious days to act; and to divine for answers to specific questions.
While most archeologists believe that the Mayans of today have largely lost their ancient traditions, the fact is that modern Mayans still hold onto many of their mysteries: they merely hide them from outsiders. Modern Mayan day-counters (diviners) interviewed for this article told the author that their teachers told them that they had seen with their own eyes ancient Mayan books which still exist, having escaped the auto-da-fe of the 1500’s. Most of the information which has been published on the Chol Qij – including all the baseless nonsense emanating from the New Age community – has been collected by non-Mayan ladinos. This information is fragmentary, and must be regarded as whatever information a people who were defeated yet defiant have chosen to reveal to the conquerors.
The Mayans calendar of the Chol Qij is made up of twenty named days in combination with thirteen numerical coefficients ranging from 1 to 13. The day names are represented by glyphs which are often suggestive of the meaning. For example, Keme (Death) is represented by a skull glyph; and Tzi (Dog) is a dog’s head. Other glyphs are more abstract, or not as representative. Qej, for example, means Deer but its glyph is a man’s hand. The days of the Chol Qij follow a serial order; and so do the numerical coefficients. Thus 20 days x 13 coefficients = 260 possible combinations of day with coefficient. The use of the number thirteen is an invocation of the Oxlahuntiku (the thirteen Mayan gods of the Upper World). There are other Mayan calendars which invoke the nine Mayan gods of the Lower World (earth). The numbers nine and thirteen figure prominently in all Mayan ceremonies and prayers. The symbolism of the 20 Chol Qij days includes a storyline recounting of different parts of the Mayan creation myth as it is described in the Popul Vuh (Book of the Nation – the Mayan bible). This creation story is a tale of two brothers, Junajpu and Ixbalankej, who revenged their father’s assassination by challenging and triumphing over the Lords of Hell (Xibalba). These twins were raised into the heavens as the sun and the moon. The 260 day period, like our zodiac is the basis of Mayan astrology: it is considered that a person’s personality type and destiny are governed by the particular day of the Chol Qij on which he or she was born.
Of the various Mayan calendars, the Chol Qij is the most sacred. Other Mayans calendar counts – such as the Long Count – are of lesser mantic significance.
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