Tzolkin

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The Tzolkin calendar is a part of the Mayan calendar that the Maya used for ritual purposes and may have been adopted by the Olmecs . In Tzolkin (counting the days) each day (Kin) is designated by a combination of a number with a protective deity . For example, a date in the Tzolkin calendar has the form: 6 Edznab .

Tzolkin section in Codex Dresdensis, beginning with day 1 'Manik'. Drawn by Lacambalam.

Day counting

When counting the day, the numbers run cyclically from 1 to 13 (months of Tzolkin) and at the same time the 20 day names (protective gods) in the order: Imix , Ik , Akbal , Kan , Chicchán , Cimí , Manik , Lamat , Muluc , Oc , Chuen , Eb , Ben , Ix , Men , Cib , Cabán , Etznab , Cauac , Ahau . The symbols of the 20 gods correspond to the 20 days of a month, their number also corresponds to the sum of the fingers and toes of a person. The 13 indicates the number of main joints in a human body, so it is made up of six arm and leg joints and the neck. This would make it possible to clearly display every 260 days of a cycle in body symbols. It is similar in the Haab , the solar year, which has 18 months with 20 days = 360 + 1 month with 5 days and is linked to the Tzolkin for the “ long count ”.

  • Standard glyphs for the days

  • Imix

  • Ik

  • Akbal

  • Can

  • Chicchán

  • Cimí

  • Manic

  • Lamat

  • Muluk

  • OK

  • Chuwen

  • Eb

  • Ben

  • Ix

  • Men

  • Kib

  • Kaban

  • Etznab

  • Kawak

  • Ahau

  • 13 numbers

  • Hun

  • Approx

  • Ox

  • Can

  • Ho

  • Uac

  • Uuc

  • Uaxac

  • Bolon

  • Lahun

  • Buluk

  • Laka

  • Oxlahun

This results in the following sequence of day names, which consists of 13 times 20 days ( Imix to Ahau ) and repeats itself after 260 days.

1 Imix 2 Ik 3 Akbal 4 ch 5 Chicchán 6 Cimí 7 manic 8 lamat 9 Muluc 10 Oc 11 chuen 12 Eb 13 Ben
1 Ix 2 men 3 Cib 4 caban 5 Etznab 6 Cauac 7 Ahau 8 Imix 9 Ik 10 Akbal 11 ch 12 Chicchán 13 Cimí
1 manic 2 lamat 3 Muluc 4 Oc 5 chuen 6 Eb 7 Ben 8 Ix 9 men 10 Cib 11 Cabán 12 Etznab 13 Cauac
1 Ahau 2 Imix 3 Ik 4 Akbal 5 ch 6 Chicchán 7 Cimí 8 manic 9 lamat 10 Muluc 11 Oc 12 chuen 13 Eb
1 ben 2 Ix 3 men 4 Cib 5 caban 6 Etznab 7 Cauac 8 Ahau 9 Imix 10 Ik 11 Akbal 12 ch 13 Chicchán
1 Cimí 2 manic 3 lamat 4 Muluc 5 Oc 6 chuen 7 Eb 8 Ben 9 Ix 10 men 11 Cib 12 Cabán 13 Etznab
1 cauac 2 Ahau 3 Imix 4 Ik 5 Akbal 6 ch 7 Chicchán 8 Cimí 9 manic 10 lamat 11 Muluc 12 Oc 13 chuen
1 Eb 2 Ben 3 Ix 4 men 5 Cib 6 caban 7 Etznab 8 Cauac 9 Ahau 10 Imix 11 Ik 12 Akbal 13 ch
1 Chicchán 2 Cimí 3 manic 4 lamat 5 Muluc 6 Oc 7 chuen 8 Eb 9 Ben 10 Ix 11 men 12 Cib 13 Cabán
1 Etznab 2 cauac 3 Ahau 4 Imix 5 Ik 6 Akbal 7 ch 8 Chicchán 9 Cimí 10 manic 11 lamat 12 Muluc 13 Oc
1 chuen 2 Eb 3 Ben 4 Ix 5 men 6 Cib 7 Cabán 8 Etznab 9 Cauac 10 Ahau 11 Imix 12 Ik 13 Akbal
1 ch 2 Chicchán 3 Cimí 4 manic 5 lamat 6 Muluc 7 Oc 8 chuen 9 Eb 10 Ben 11 Ix 12 men 13 Cib
1 caban 2 Etznab 3 cauac 4 Ahau 5 Imix 6 Ik 7 Akbal 8 ch 9 Chicchán 10 Cimí 11 manic 12 lamat 13 Muluc
1 oc 2 chuen 3 Eb 4 Ben 5 Ix 6 men 7 Cib 8 Cabán 9 Etznab 10 cauac 11 Ahau 12 Imix 13 Ik
1 Akbal 2 ch 3 Chicchán 4 Cimí 5 manic 6 lamat 7 Muluc 8 Oc 9 chuen 10 Eb 11 Ben 12 Ix 13 men
1 Cib 2 caban 3 Etznab 4 cauac 5 Ahau 6 Imix 7 Ik 8 Akbal 9 ch 10 Chicchán 11 Cimí 12 manic 13 lamat
1 Muluc 2 Oc 3 chuen 4 Eb 5 Ben 6 Ix 7 men 8 Cib 9 Cabán 10 Etznab 11 Cauac 12 Ahau 13 Imix
1 Ik 2 Akbal 3 ch 4 Chicchán 5 Cimí 6 manic 7 lamat 8 Muluc 9 Oc 10 chuen 11 Eb 12 ben 13 Ix
1 men 2 Cib 3 caban 4 Etznab 5 cauac 6 Ahau 7 Imix 8 Ik 9 Akbal 10 ch 11 Chicchán 12 Cimí 13 manic
1 lamat 2 Muluc 3 Oc 4 chuen 5 Eb 6 Ben 7 Ix 8 men 9 Cib 10 caban 11 Etznab 12 Cauac 13 Ahau

As can be seen from the above scheme, there are 40 days between days with the same name and consecutive number (for example 5 Etznab and 6 Etznab ).

Origin of the 260-day cycle

In the construction of the 260-day cycle, astronomical and mythological conditions are intertwined with the agricultural period of the maize . For this purpose, the Tzolkin was originally firmly anchored (February 6 to October 23, Gregorian). According to the statements of the authors Krygier and Rohark, the first four days correspond to the days of creation, with the fourth day being called 4 K'an. After another 40 = 2 × 20 days at the spring equinox on March 21st. The milpa was slashed and burned on day 5 K'an. After another 40 days to the first zenith passage of the sun on April 30th. the first sowing took place on day 6 K'an. Then 52 = 4 × 13 days passed before the preparation for the second sowing. After another 52 days at the second zenith passage of the sun, the corn on the cob of the first Milpa was bent. Finally, the harvest came on the last day, after 73 days. The fact that the day K'an occurs several times is due to the multiple of 20. Interesting detail: K'an means "corn".

literature

  • Hans Ludendorff: About the origin of the Tzolkin period in the Maya calendar. W. de Gruyter, Berlin 1930, OCLC 14100863 .

See also

Web links

Commons : Tzolkin calendar  - Mayan types of Tzolkin

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tzolkin on mayakalender.com, accessed on February 26, 2014.
  2. ↑ The Maya calendar on gertomat.de, accessed on February 26, 2014.
  3. ↑ Mario Krygier, Jens Rohark: 2nd seminar: The Holy Tzolkin in: Fascination 2012 - The book on the Mayan calendar. docupoint, Magdeburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-939-66582-3 , p. 37ff.