Maya Calendar - Tzolk'in

The tzolk'in (in modern Maya orthography; also commonly written tzolkin) is the name commonly employed by Mayanist researchers for the Maya Sacred Round or 260-day calendar. The word tzolk'in is a neologism coined in Yucatec Maya, to mean "count of days" (Coe 1992). The various names of this calendar as used by precolumbian Maya peoples are still debated by scholars. The Aztec calendar equivalent was called Tonalpohualli, in the Nahuatl language.

The tzolk'in calendar combines twenty day names with the thirteen numbers of the trecena cycle to produce 260 unique days. It is used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events and for divination. Each successive day is numbered from 1 up to 13 and then starting again at 1. Separately from this, every day is given a name in sequence from a list of 20 day names:

Tzolk'in calendar: named days and associated glyphs
Seq.
Num. 1		 Day
Name 2		 Glyph
example 3		 16th C.
Yucatec 4		 reconstructed
Classic Maya 5		 Seq.
Num. 1		 Day
Name 2		 Glyph
example 3		 16th C.
Yucatec 4		 reconstructed
Classic Maya 5
01 Imix' Imix Imix (?) / Ha' (?) 11 Chuwen Chuen (unknown)
02 Ik' Ik Ik' 12 Eb' Eb (unknown)
03 Ak'b'al Akbal Ak'b'al (?) 13 B'en Ben C'klab
04 K'an Kan K'an (?) 14 Ix Ix Hix (?)
05 Chikchan Chicchan (unknown) 15 Men Men (unknown)
06 Kimi Cimi Cham (?) 16 K'ib' Cib (unknown)
07 Manik' Manik Manich' (?) 17 Kab'an Caban Chab' (?)
08 Lamat Lamat Ek' (?) 18 Etz'nab' Etznab (unknown)
09 Muluk Muluc (unknown) 19 Kawak Cauac (unknown)
10 Ok Oc (unknown) 20 Ajaw Ahau Ajaw
NOTES:
  1. The sequence number of the named day in the Tzolk'in calendar
  2. Day name, in the standardized and revised orthography of the Guatemalan Academia de Lenguas Mayas
  3. An example glyph (logogram) for the named day. Note that for most of these several different forms are recorded; the ones shown here are typical of carved monumental inscriptions (these are "cartouche" versions)
  4. Day name, as recorded from 16th century Yukatek Maya accounts, principally Diego de Landa; this orthography has (until recently) been widely used
  5. In most cases, the actual day name as spoken in the time of the Classic Period (ca. 200–900) when most inscriptions were made is not known. The versions given here (in Classic Maya, the main language of the inscriptions) are reconstructed on the basis of phonological evidence, if available; a '?' symbol indicates the reconstruction is tentative.

Some systems started the count with 1 Imix', followed by 2 Ik', 3 Ak'b'al, etc. up to 13 B'en. The trecena day numbers then start again at 1 while the named-day sequence continues onwards, so the next days in the sequence are 1 Ix, 2 Men, 3 K'ib', 4 Kab'an, 5 Etz'nab', 6 Kawak, and 7 Ajaw. With all twenty named days used, these now began to repeat the cycle while the number sequence continues, so the next day after 7 Ajaw is 8 Imix'. The repetition of these interlocking 13- and 20-day cycles therefore takes 260 days to complete (that is, for every possible combination of number/named day to occur once).

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