Reading the Maya Calendar

The Maya calendar system records a series of recurring cycles of time based on the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets. Any given date repeats at cyclic intervals, just as, for example, January 1st in the Gregorian calendar repeats every time the Earth completes a revolution around the Sun. A complete Maya Long Count cycle is 5,125 years long. The Maya Long Count system establishes an absolute chronology in which any given date is unique, such as December 21, 2012, in the Gregorian system. The Long Count calendar keeps track of the days that have passed since the mythical starting date of the Maya creation, August 11, 3114 BCE.

20 k’in = 1 uinal or 20 days 18 uinal = 1 tun or 360 days 20 tun = 1 katun or 7,200 days 20 katun = 1 baktun or 144,000 days The basic unit of time is the day, or k’in.

The Long Count date is written in column format as shown in the example on the left, with cycles of time as follows:

12.19.19.17.19 | 3 Kawak | 2 K'ank’in | G8

This date corresponds to December 20th, 2012 in the Gregorian calendar, and is read as follows: baktun.katun.tun.uinal.k’in | Tzolk’in | Haab | Lord of the Night