Of the religious innovations of the Mayas during the classical period
the calendar
is perhaps the most well known. Indeed the depth of Maya knowledge of
celestial bodies, mathematics and the calendar has tended to exacerbate
the view that they were a peaceful people. Observations of the planets
and stars were associated with the migration of the seasons. As at
Teotihuacan, the Maya urban centers integrated their concern with
agricultural cycles into their urban design and ceremonial events.
In particular, observations of the planet Venus played a central role in
determining the ‘long count’ calendar. The disappearance and
reappearance of Venus would be recorded in multi-year counts – as in the
Dresden Codex, which could integrate Venus cycles with the cycles of the
sun and moon, as well as other planets and star constellations.
They could predict eclipses of the sun and the movements of the moon and
Venus, and they measured time in three ways:
• in tzolkins (sacred or almanac years) composed of 13 periods of 20
days;
• in haabs ('vague' solar years) of 18 - 20 day 'months,' which were
followed by a special fiveday portentous' period called the uayeb; the
last day of each 'month' was known as the 'seating' of the next month,
in line with the Mayan belief that the future influences the present;
• in units of one, 20,360,7200 and 144,000 days.
