i remember you said you were interested in mayan astrology.
quote:
More On the Mayan Calendar In addition to the Chol Qij (260 day sacred calendar) and the Haab (365 day civil calendar) - that is to say, in addition to the 'Mayan Horoscope' - there are various other Mayan calendar counts which often appear on monuments, stelae, pottery, codices, etc. Two of these will be described here: the Long Count and the Nine Gods of the Lower World count.
The Long Count
The Long Count is a continuous count of days since the zero date August 9th , 3114 BC. However, the Mayans divide this period into subperiods as follows:
1 Qij = 1 day
1 Winaq = 20 Qij = 20 days
1 Tun = 18 Winaq = 360 days
1 Katun = 20 Tun = 7200 days
1 Baqtun = 20 Katun = 144,000 days
The Mayan numerical system is based on 20, but presumably there are 18 Winaq in one Tun (rather than the expected 20) to bring the number of days in one Tun roughly into line with the length of the tropical year. The Long Count for a given date is usually written as a series of integers separated by periods: the first number is the number of the Baqtun, the second the number of the Katun, the third the number of the Tun, the fourth the number of the Winaq, and the last the number of the Qij. For example, today's Long Count is 12. 19. 15. 0. 12, which is a shorthand way of writing:
12 Baqtun = 12 x 144,000 = 1728000 days
19 Katun = 19 x 7,200 = 136800 days
15 Tun = 15 x 360 = 5400 days
0 Winaq = 0 x 20 = 0 days
12 Qij = 12 days
Total = 1870212 days since August 9th, 3114 BC.
A total of 13 Baqtuns is considered to make up a complete cycle of time, so when 13.0.0.0.0 is reached the Long Count begins again from zero (i.e. the next day after 13.0.0.0.0 is 0.0.0.0.1). This next happens on December 21st, 2012. Although some non-Mayans have ascribed apocalyptic significance to this date, the Mayans themselves do not consider this date especially significant, any more than the start of the third millennium had significance for us. To the Mayans the Chol Qij, and the 52 year combined cycle of Chol Qij and Haab (that Chol Qij days-*** -Haab dates coincide after a period of 52 years) is of greater mantic importance than the Long Count. Vis-a-vis the zero date of the Long Count - August 9, 3114 BC - there is no existing record of what supposedly happened on this date to make it so significant. Some non-Mayans have speculated that it is the Mayan creation date; others that it is the date that the legendary Quetzalcoatl arrived. Since the earliest known version of the 260-day calendar dates from about 600 BC, or 2500 years after the beginning of the Long Count, it's possible that this zero date is an invention.
Normally in a dated Mayan inscription the first glyph - the top one in the inscription on the left - is an introductory glyph which indicates that what follows is a date. Typically the Long Count is shown by the next five glyphs: the Baqtun (in column A, row 1 at left) which here carries the coefficient of 12; to the right of the Baqtun is the Katun (in column B, row 1) with the coefficient of 19; then the Tun (in column A, row 2) with the coefficient of 15; next the Winaq (in column B, row 2) with the coefficient of 0; then the Qij (in column A, row 3) with the coefficient of 12
After the Long Count comes the Chol Qij coefficient and day ( 10 E here, in column B, row 3) and then the Haab day and month ( 0 Pax here, in column A, row 4). The final glyph in the inscription (in column B, row 4) is the nine gods count.
The Nine Gods of the Lower World
In addition to the 13 gods of the upper world, there is a separate Mayan pantheon, lineage of priests, set of propitiatory rituals, and calendar count dedicated to the 9 gods of the lower world (there is no competition between the different pantheons and their respective priesthoods - there are just different orders, as there are in the Roman Catholic church).
To the indigenous people of the Mayan area, the power, wisdom, sanction and protection of the Bolontiku - the nine gods of the lower world - were invoked for all earthly and spiritual transactions - for healing, divination, success in agriculture, trade, politics and war; for help in personal matters such as love, childbearing, grief; for carrying (telepathic) messages over distance; and so on.
Each of the nine has his or her own specialty (there are four female deities and five males). The Bolontiku communicate with their votaries through what we would call channeling and prophetic dreams, which to the Maya were as much a part of everyday life as the telephone and television are to us. Propitiatory rituals dedicated to the Bolontiku are called 'primicias' and are usually held nine times a year (not timed with the Chol Qij). An altar is constructed of sticks with an arch of green boughs above it. Items to be blessed are placed on the altar, and also 9 gourd cups filled with sweetened corn gruel, as an offering. After an invocation, the participants are brushed 9 times by the priest with 9 herbs passed through copal incense smoke, to protect them from the power of the 9 spirits (who come with the winds and sometimes make sensitive participants in the primicia faint). Then 9 cantos are recited responsively by the priest and participants, two times to each of the cardinal directions, and the final time to the earth. Then the priest thanks the 9 gods for all their blessings, and the participants retire to allow the spirits to come in and bless the items on the altar. Afterwards the altar is dismantled and the gruel in the 9 cups - now blessed - is distributed among the participants and taken to bless crops, livestock, and nature spirits.
Each day is ruled by one of the Bolontiku in succession, and the final glyph in the inscription at left (in column B, row 4) is that of today's ruler, god number 3. The ruler of the day a person was born is considered to be like a guardian angel or patron saint for that person.
Other Calendar Counts
Practically every dated Mayan inscription includes glyphs for the Long Count, Chol Qij, Haab, and Bolontiku. There are several other calendar counts (not calculated by this program) which appear in Mayan inscriptions with less frequency, and these are known as the Supplementary Series of glyphs. The most common of these are glyphs which indicate the age of the moon as counted from the previous new moon (the period from a new moon to the next new moon is 29 or 30 days); whether that particular lunar month had 29 or 30 days; and also which new moon it was (in a repeating cycle of six new moons - this information is useful in forecasting eclipses). Occasionally there appear other supplementary glyphs, such as a 7-day count whose meaning is unknown.
Consistency
As mentioned before in the discussion of the year bearer, the only Chol Qij days which can fall on 0 Pop, the first day of the Haab, are E, Noj, Iq, and Kej. Therefore a date such as '10 Batz 0 Pop' can never occur (0 Pop of the Haab can never fall on Batz of the Chol Qij). Moreover, the Chol Qij, Haab, and Bolontiku counts have to gee with the Long Count date and each other - i.e. counting back to zero from the given Long Count date, running the 260-day, 365-day, and 9-day cycles back to the beginning, you have to arrive at 13.0.0.0.0 - 4 Ajpu - 8 Kumju - God 9, the beginning date of the Mayan calendar (August 9th , 3114 BC in ours). This consistency sometimes enables scholars to decipher inscriptions where some of the glyphs are illegible.
Correlation of the Mayan and Gregorian Calendars
There is some disagreement about how the Mayan calendar should be correlated with the Gregorian calendar. Most Mayanists (such as Michael Coe, Linda Schele and David Freidel) use a correlation which differs from the one used by present-day Mayan Indians. The two correlations differ by two days: in the academics' version the zero date - 13.0.0.0.0. - 4 Ajpu - 8 Kumju - God 9 - correlates with August 11th , 3114 BC in the Gregorian calendar; whereas by the reckoning of the Mayan Indians themselves, the zero date correlates with August 9th, 3114 BC Gregorian. The version used in this program is that of the Mayan Indians, not the academics. The only objective evidence available on which of the two counts is the correct one is in the moon's age as given in the supplementary series of glyphs (where these occur); but there is sufficient imprecision in these to make it difficult to decide - on this basis alone - whether the academics or the Indians are correct.
Unfortunately, different Mayan Indian sources are in disagreement among themselves. Although there is fairly universal agreement on the Chol Qij and Long Count in calendars and almanacs published by Mayan groups in Guatemala, there is some dispute on the starting point of the Haab. Some present-day Mayan Indians (such as those who taught Barbara Tedlock in Momostenango, Guatemala as well as those who do the 8 Batz ritual in the cavern near Coban, Guatemala) use a version of the Haab which is 40 days (2 Haab months) in advance of the version used in this program; however, that version does not gee with a 4 Ajpu 8 Kumju Long Count starting date as found on the ancient inscriptions (counting back to the zero date of the Long Count 13.0.0.0.0 yields 4 Ajpu for the Chol Qij as it's supposed to, but not 8 Kumju for the Haab). The authority for the version used in this program is a pamphlet titled 'Calendario Maya' - a complete Mayan calendar with Long Count, Chol Qij, and Haab for every day of the year 1999. Unfortunately this pamphlet has no publisher's name or address (it was obtained from a Mayan bookseller in Coban) but it is obviously a Mayan production. The Chol Qij and Long Count in this pamphlet agree with those of other current Mayan versions, but the Haab also gees with an 8 Kumju starting date for the Long Count. Therefore I assume this is the correct version of the Mayan calendar and its correlation with the Gregorian calendar, and it is the one used in this program.
For further information on the Mayan calendar, see Anthony Aveni's book 'Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico' (U of Texas Press).
Lindaland
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posted January 28, 2008 06:39 PM
posted January 29, 2008 02:54 AM
posted January 29, 2008 05:02 AM
posted January 30, 2008 09:29 AM
Thanks for that. 
maybe it was the Yucatan Peninsula.
posted January 30, 2008 06:25 PM
let's spread the word around... and cheers to the biggest