Maya Day-keeping
The 260-day Tzolk'in, your day-sign and the living tradition of the ajq'ij.
Course names, family names and outlines are shown in English. Lessons use English when a published translation is unavailable; the lesson shows a notice when this happens.
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Level 1Units: 6
Level 1 · Unit 1
The living count
Meet the Maya day-keepers of highland Guatemala and the 260-day count they keep: 13 numbers and 20 day-signs, running without a break.
- The day-keepers
- 13 × 20 = 260
- A count without breaks
- Many peoples, many voices
- Checkpoint: the living count
Level 1 · Unit 2
The 20 day-signs
Learn the 20 day-signs in order, how numbers and signs advance together, and how the count links to the Haab', Calendar Round and 2012.
- Day-signs 1 to 10
- Day-signs 11 to 20
- How the count advances
- Haab', Calendar Round and 2012
- Checkpoint: the 20 day-signs
Level 1 · Unit 3
Numbers of the count
Learn the K'iche' number words from 1 to 13, read numbers written in Maya bars and dots, and say whole day names such as Wajxaqib' B'atz'.
- Counting 1 to 7 in K'iche'
- Counting 8 to 13 in K'iche'
- Bars and dots
- Numbers in names
- Checkpoint: numbers of the count
Level 1 · Unit 4
Patterns in the 260 days
Find the rhythms inside the count: how often each number and sign appears, how numbers rise by 7 every 20 days, and how 13-day runs fill a 260-day table.
- Thirteen of each sign
- Plus seven every twenty days
- Runs of thirteen
- The 260-day table
- Checkpoint: patterns in the 260 days
Level 1 · Unit 5
Your day in the count
Find the day of a date by stepping from a known anchor, test whether a converter follows the traditional count, and talk about a day-sign with care.
- One date, one day
- Checking a converter
- Once or twice a year
- Talking about a day-sign
- Checkpoint: your day in the count
Level 1 · Unit 6
Level 1 in practice
Practise Level 1 as a whole: walk through real weeks, switch between Yukatek and K'iche' names, read a calendar strip and spot common mix-ups.
- Walking through the days
- Two names, one day
- Reading a calendar strip
- Common mix-ups
- Checkpoint: Level 1 in practice
Level 2Units: 6
Level 2 · Unit 1
The Haab' and the Long Count
See how the 365-day Haab' and the Calendar Round fit together, read Long Count dates, and learn how correlations link Maya dates to ours.
- Inside the Haab'
- The Calendar Round up close
- Long Count units
- Correlations and living use
- Checkpoint: the Haab' and the Long Count
Level 2 · Unit 2
Counting days yourself
Jump forwards and backwards through the 260-day count with simple remainders, and see how the count is used for birth days and today.
- Jumping ahead
- Counting back and the 260-day return
- Birth days and the nawal
- Dreamspell and the count today
- Checkpoint: counting days yourself
Level 2 · Unit 3
The Maya cross
Build the five-sign birth cross taught by some K'iche' day-keepers, counting 8 day-signs forward and back, and learn which parts vary by teacher.
- A cross of five signs
- Counting to the destiny sign
- Counting back to the conception sign
- Putting the cross together
- Checkpoint: the Maya cross
Level 2 · Unit 4
Checking Calendar Round dates
See why only one in five pairings of a 260-day name and a Haab' position can occur, and use that rule to check, repair and step Calendar Round dates.
- One pairing in five
- Five sign groups
- Spotting impossible dates
- Repairing and stepping dates
- Checkpoint: checking Calendar Round dates
Level 2 · Unit 5
Year bearers and the 52 years
Follow the year bearer from one Haab' year to the next, see why four signs and 13 numbers make a 52-year cycle, and meet the year bearer in highland life.
- The day that starts the year
- From one year to the next
- Fifty-two years
- The year bearer in highland life
- Checkpoint: year bearers and the 52 years
Level 2 · Unit 6
From Long Count to Calendar Round
Turn a Long Count date straight into its 260-day name and Haab' position, and see why period endings fall on Ajaw days and how k'atuns are named.
- The k'in shortcut
- The number and the Haab'
- Tun endings
- Naming the k'atuns
- Checkpoint: from Long Count to Calendar Round
Level 3Units: 6
Level 3 · Unit 1
Dreamspell and the traditional count
Tell José Argüelles's modern Dreamspell and its 13-moon year apart from the living Maya count, and see why their days never line up.
- A modern system
- The 13-moon year
- Why the counts drift apart
- 21 December 2012 in two counts
- Checkpoint: Dreamspell and the traditional count
Level 3 · Unit 2
Day-keeping in ceremony
Learn the ajq'ij's role in highland Guatemala, fire ceremonies and Wajxaqib' B'atz', and how to appreciate the tradition without appropriating it.
- The ajq'ij in community life
- Fire, offerings and sacred places
- Wajxaqib' B'atz'
- Appreciation, not appropriation
- Checkpoint: day-keeping in ceremony
Level 3 · Unit 3
Case studies
Work through invented birth dates: find each day, build the ±8 cross, write the Long Count and Haab', and share the results responsibly.
- Case study: finding the day
- Case study: the cross
- Case study: Long Count and Haab'
- Case study: sharing responsibly
- Checkpoint: case studies
Level 3 · Unit 4
The count in the Maya books
Meet the four surviving Maya screenfold books, see how their 260-day almanacs and Venus table work, and learn how the books were lost and later studied.
- Four surviving books
- Almanacs of 260 days
- The Venus table
- Reading the books today
- Checkpoint: the count in the Maya books
Level 3 · Unit 5
Checking sources
Test Maya calendar claims like a careful researcher: spot the correlation, Haab' numbering and naming system a source uses, and sort evidence from myth.
- Which correlation?
- Which Haab' numbering?
- Which names?
- Evidence and myth
- Checkpoint: checking sources
Level 3 · Unit 6
Case studies: the whole picture
Bring the whole course together with new invented cases: full dates in both counts, the cross, year bearers and k'atuns, checking converters, and sharing with care.
- Case study: Noor's full date
- Case study: Tomás, counting back
- Case study: the year around a birth
- Case study: a converter and a request
- Checkpoint: case studies, the whole picture