The Mayan culture is among the most fascinating on the planet. It has gone through substantial alterations over the centuries, and the history of the Maya is extremely fascinating for individuals these days.
The Maya were one of several Mesoamerican civilizations which resided in the lands of Central America right before the Spanish conquerors arrived. The Maya were aware of farming since 3000 BC, and their major source of food was maize and game, and also fish.
At the very start of their progress as being a civilization, the Maya had only a number of methods to tell the time to let them to figure out when it was time to harvest the crops also to celebrate. While the civilization of the ancient Maya advanced, so did their expertise in agriculture, astronomy, architecture and society. As a normal follow up to these events, a necessity came to exist - the necessity to be able to better clearly define moments in time plus mark events during the past, the present and also the future.
The Mayan culture achieved its apogee during the Classical Period, around 250 AD. This can be the time when the Mayan cities come about in their full glory and splendor. During this time period, an advanced calendar system emerged, along with literacy, astronomy and also architectural knowledge which astonish scientists to this day.
The Mayan calendar is in fact a calendar system, where numerous calendar cycles interconnect to form the understanding this ancient civilization had about the cosmos. Although there were numerous different approaches the Maya employed to study the time, it is not correct to mention that the Maya had many different calendars, simply because these calendar cycles were linked with each other and were utilized to describe completely different moments with time.
Generally there were 2 main elements the Maya calendar contained - the so-called Short Court plus Long Court calendar cycles.
The Short Court calendar cycle encompasses 260 days and is regarded as the calendar the Maya employed for their sacred rituals. Being extremely great at watching the sky and the path of other planets in the Solar System, the Maya brought to their sacred calendar count the planetary cycles of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, and, naturally, the Sun and the Moon.
The Maya utilized their Short Court calendar to determine numerous spiritual elements from their religion, including birth energies when somebody was given birth to, in order to figure out when it was time to commemorate, offer a sacrifice to the deities, produce prophecies, as well as practice healing, in addition to divination of people and their destiny when somebody was fortunate enough to be born under an extremely special star when the energies were very powerful.
The Long Court, or the so-called Haab, is a calendar cycle of 365 days, and although it does not specifically match the solar year, it's pretty close. This calendar was applied for more 'normal' activities including following when the crops were ready to be harvested, and setting a point in time for longer periods just like years and also decades.
Though the Mayan calendar is made up of many separate calendar cycles which the Maya put to use in totally different purposes, these elements must be seen as one. The way in which the Maya understood the cosmos and what was occurring around them is astounding to this day.
The Maya were one of several Mesoamerican civilizations which resided in the lands of Central America right before the Spanish conquerors arrived. The Maya were aware of farming since 3000 BC, and their major source of food was maize and game, and also fish.
At the very start of their progress as being a civilization, the Maya had only a number of methods to tell the time to let them to figure out when it was time to harvest the crops also to celebrate. While the civilization of the ancient Maya advanced, so did their expertise in agriculture, astronomy, architecture and society. As a normal follow up to these events, a necessity came to exist - the necessity to be able to better clearly define moments in time plus mark events during the past, the present and also the future.
The Mayan culture achieved its apogee during the Classical Period, around 250 AD. This can be the time when the Mayan cities come about in their full glory and splendor. During this time period, an advanced calendar system emerged, along with literacy, astronomy and also architectural knowledge which astonish scientists to this day.
The Mayan calendar is in fact a calendar system, where numerous calendar cycles interconnect to form the understanding this ancient civilization had about the cosmos. Although there were numerous different approaches the Maya employed to study the time, it is not correct to mention that the Maya had many different calendars, simply because these calendar cycles were linked with each other and were utilized to describe completely different moments with time.
Generally there were 2 main elements the Maya calendar contained - the so-called Short Court plus Long Court calendar cycles.
The Short Court calendar cycle encompasses 260 days and is regarded as the calendar the Maya employed for their sacred rituals. Being extremely great at watching the sky and the path of other planets in the Solar System, the Maya brought to their sacred calendar count the planetary cycles of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, and, naturally, the Sun and the Moon.
The Maya utilized their Short Court calendar to determine numerous spiritual elements from their religion, including birth energies when somebody was given birth to, in order to figure out when it was time to commemorate, offer a sacrifice to the deities, produce prophecies, as well as practice healing, in addition to divination of people and their destiny when somebody was fortunate enough to be born under an extremely special star when the energies were very powerful.
The Long Court, or the so-called Haab, is a calendar cycle of 365 days, and although it does not specifically match the solar year, it's pretty close. This calendar was applied for more 'normal' activities including following when the crops were ready to be harvested, and setting a point in time for longer periods just like years and also decades.
Though the Mayan calendar is made up of many separate calendar cycles which the Maya put to use in totally different purposes, these elements must be seen as one. The way in which the Maya understood the cosmos and what was occurring around them is astounding to this day.
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Read more about the ancient Mayan civilization here: Ancient Mayan History. Those who enjoy getting to know a specific Mayan site, can try Chichen Itza.
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