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Jaguar Nights Mayan Aztec Calendar book series

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LONG COUNT CALENDAR MATH

alt="Mayan Aztec glyphs Long Count with numbers by Michael Giza"

There is nothing mystical or super-accurate about the Long Count Calendar. It counts one day of time for each day that passes, just as ours does. The number 123,679 on the odometer tells us how many miles the car has been driven; the date of 13.0.5.4.1(14 February 2018, to the right) tells us how many days have passed since the Mayan creation date:

13.0.4.3.16 = (13x144,000) + (0x7,200) + (5x360) + (4x20) + (1x1) =
1,872,000 + 0 + 1,800+ 80 + 1 = 1,873,881 days (about 5,134 years).

Each Long Count date is accompanied by the Haab and Tzolkin dates. Instead of the days since creation, these calendars track repeating cycles. They act as a shorthand date, fixing time within a 52-year period, approximately a lifetime.

For example, on Valentine’s Day 2018, the Haab-Tzolkin date is 19-Pax 13-Imix (the bottom two glyph segments to the right). The next identical combination is 1 February 2070. 19-Pax 13-Imix can refer to 14 February 2018, or 1 February 2070 (or other dates about 52 years apart). But with the Long Count 13.2.17.17.1 appended, it can only be 2070, because 2018 is 13.0.4.3.16.

The last number of the Long Count always corresponds to the Tzolkin day. These days follow the same sequence; if the count ends in 00, it is Ahau; if it ends in 01, it’s Imix; 02 is Ik; and so forth—through all twenty day-signs (indicated by the numbers 0-19).

Although usually only five place-signs of the Long Count were used, designa- tions of larger periods of time could denote a future date which resonated with the founding of a city or the start of a new ruler’s reign. These periods are:

It has been approximately 1 Alautun since the dinosaurs died out.

See also: Long Count Calendar, Calendar Correlation, New Fire vs Long Count Calendar


All material on this site is copyright (c) by Gevera Bert Piedmont except where noted. Jaguar logo and other graphics from Jaguar Nights copyright (c) by Michael A. Giza, used with permission. All rights reserved. Contact me for permission to republish. Information on this site is for entertainment purposes only. Enjoy! })i({

Page created: 13.0.6.1.9 9-Muluc 2-Kankin (19 December 2018)
Page modified: 13.0.6.1.11 11-Chuen 4-Kankin (21 December 2018)