Research on Mayan Calendar Essay

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Mayan calendar has fascinated not only scholars and archaeologists, but also others interested in its mystical and esoteric dimensions. Because the Mayan calendar and associated hieroglyphic texts refer to an "end date" corresponding to 2012 in the Gregorian system, many people believed that the Mayans had predicted the end of the world (Lorenzi, 2012, p. 1). Yet recent archaeological evidence shows that the Mayan concept of an "end date" did not necessarily imply a "doomsday" scenario (Lorenzi, 2012, p. 1). Although the apocalyptic vision never did come to pass and has been disproven, the Mayan calendar continues to captivate and fascinate because of the mystery surrounding its use and its level of sophistication.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Mayan calendar is its level of sophistication and accuracy. According to the Canadian Museum of History (n.d.), the Mayan calendar originated in the first century BCE but is actually "more exact than the standard calendar the world uses today," (p. 1). Indeed, it is difficult to believe that the imperfect Gregorian calendar has become the global standard instead of the Mayan calendar. The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (2014) offers an online conversion application allowing users to input any date from the Gregorian calendar and have it converted into Mayan terms. This shows that it may still be possible to use the Mayan calendar in the modern world. Indeed, Mayan shamans continue to use their ancient calendar system in specific contexts such as for determining the dates for ceremonies (Canadian Museum of History, n.d.).

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Moreover, Mesoamerican calendar systems like the Mayan calendar are the most sophisticated of any other due to their use of overlapping systems, one of which is non-linear or non-sequential (Canadian Museum of History, n.d.; Rice, 2009). One of the systems is based on a 260-day cycle, and the other, on a 365-day cycle. It is unclear whether these two systems evolved simultaneously or separately and then later combined (Rice, 2009). Time is an inherently mystical concept, but the Mayans seemed to have discovered a means by which to unify the different functions of a calendar. For example, the Mayan calendar is in part based on the harvest seasons corresponding to changes that occur throughout the year and repeat annually. Yet solar and other celestial phenomena like solstices and equinoxes, as well as moon phases, also help to demarcate blocks of time (Rice, 2009). The calendar was also used to mark important ritualistic or social events (Rice, 2009). For this reason, the dual nature of the Mayan calendar is highly complex. Its admission of non-linear as well as linear time becomes another reason the Mayan calendar remains more appealing than most ancient or even modern calendar systems.

The Mayan calendar system was more than just a method of keeping time; it also corresponds to other aspects of the ancient culture, especially its literature, architecture, and cosmology. For example, Rice (2009) describes how the Mayan calendar corresponds with the ancient Popol Vuh text. The text incorporates elements from the celestial….....

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