Zalkin Calendar in Mayan Calendar

Also known as the divine calendar, Mayan scientists gave a Mayan version of the 260-day calendar in Central America (Tzolkin), and in the new orthography, the name Tzolk'in is the first choice. The name is based on Jugatun language and extended to "days" (COE 1992). The exact name of this calendar in pre-Columbian Maya period is still unknown, while the corresponding calendar in Aztec Navarra is called Thonnard Povali calendar.

Trecena cycle consisting of 20 days and 65,438+03 days constitutes 260 independent days, which are used to decide the time of religious and ritual activities and for divination. Judging from the 20 statues and figures from 1 to 13, the combination cycle is continuous, similar to heavenly stems and earthly branches in China. Through continuous combination, 260 kinds of combination icons are obtained, representing 260 days. The exact origin of Zalkin calendar is still unknown, but there are several theories.

According to one theory, the Zalkin calendar is derived from the mathematical operation of 13 and 20, which is a very important number for the Mayans. 20 is the cardinal number in the Mayan numeral system, which comes from the total number of human fingers and toes (see Mayan numerals for details), while 13 symbolizes the series in the celestial world where the gods live, and the multiplication of the two numbers is equal to 260.

Another theory mentions that the interval of 260 days comes from human pregnancy, which is close to the average number of days from the first menstrual period to the time when you should come and not come to give birth, instead of the 40 weeks (280 days) from the last menstrual period to delivery in Nigel's law, so some people speculate that the Zalkin calendar was originally formulated by midwives to estimate the expected date of delivery of babies. The Mayans believed that every day in Zalkin symbolized what it influenced. The Mayans had a shaman called the Sun Watcher, who predicted the future by studying the calendar of Zalkin. When a child is born, the date manager will analyze the Zalkin calendar to predict the future fate of the child. For example, children born on Ak'b'al Day will be considered feminine, rich and talkative. A child born on Ak'b'al Day is also considered to have the ability to communicate with the supernatural world, so he/she may become a shaman or wedding spokesman in the future.