Tzolkin: Encyclopedia - Tzolkin

Tzolkin

Tzolkin (or tzolk'in, in the revised orthography which is now preferred) is the name bestowed by Mayanist scholars upon the version of the 260-day Mesoamerican calendar which was used by the Maya civilization.

The tzolk'in is the most fundamental and widely-attested of all the Maya calendars, and was a pre-eminent component in the society and rituals of the ancient Maya. The tzolk'in calendar remains in use amongst several Maya communities in the Guatemalan highlands.

The word was coined based on the Yucatec language, with an intended meaning of "count of days". The actual names of this calendar as used by the pre-Columbian Maya are not known. The Aztec calendar equivalent was called by them tonalpohualli, in the Nahuatl language.

Tzolkin - Tzolk'in table of named days

The tzolk'in calendar combines a cycle of twenty named days with another cycle of thirteen numbers (the trecena), to produce 260 unique days (i.e., 20 × 13 = 260). Each successive named day was numbered from 1 up to 13 and then starting again at 1. There were 20 individual named days, as shown in the table below:

NOTES:
1. the sequence number of the named day in the Tzolk'in calendar
2. Day name, in the standardised and revised orthography of the Guatemalan Academia de Lenguas Mayas
3. An example glyph (logogram) for the named day, typical of monumental inscriptions ("cartouche" version). Note that for most of these several alternate forms also exist.
4. Example glyph, Maya codex style. When drawn or painted, most often a more economical style was employed; the meaning is the same. Again, variations to codex-style glyphs also exist.
5. Day name, as recorded from 16th century Yucatec language accounts, according to Diego de Landa; this orthography has (until recently) been widely used
6. In most cases, the actual day name as spoken in the time of the Classic Period (c. 200-900) when most inscriptions were made is not known. The versions given here (in Classical Maya, the main language of the inscriptions) are reconstructed based on phonological comparisons; a '?' symbol indicates the reconstruction is tentative.
7. Each named day had a common association or identification with particular natural phenomena

• 1 Imix is the first day of the Tzolkin.
• 2 Ik
• 3 Akbal
• 4 Kan
• 5 Chicchan
• 6 Cimi
• 7 Manik
• 8 Lama
• 9 Muluc
• 10 Oc
• 11 Chuen
• 12 Eb
• 13 Ben is the 13th day of the Tzolkin
• 1 Ix is the 14th day of the Tzolkin
• 2 Men
• 3 Cib
• 4 Cabab
• 5 Eznab
• 6 Cauac
• 7 Ahau
• 8 Imix
• 9 Ik
• 10 Akbal
• 11 Kan

...

• 9 Cib
• 10 Cabab
• 11 Eznab
• 12 Cauac
• 13 Ahau is the 260th day of the Tzolkin.

It was used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events and for divination.

Tzolkin is part of Maya Long Count Calendar.

See also

• Maya calendar

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Tzolkin", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki