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The Haab or 365 Day Mayan Solar Calendar is More Accurate Than Our CalendarThe Haab calculated the equinoxes, zenith passages, or anything to do with the earths journey around the sun. This period represents about one tropical or solar year, which is the length of time it takes for the sun to return to the same exact position. The year could vary slightly every year. The Maya were aware of the true length of a year and made corrections to allow for these deviations from the actual solar year. This Mayan Solar calendar consists of eighteen months of twenty days each, with a five-day "extra" month at the end called Wayeb'. The five extra days were considered a dangerous time. Boundaries between the world and the underworld dissolved. Many superstitions were adapted to protect against this exposure. It's estimated that this Solar calendar was first used around 550 BC. Even today the Maya use this calendar to track the seasons in order to time agricultural activities like planting and harvesting. The Haab was meshed with the Tzolkin calendar to form the Calendar Round a 52 year calendar that was widely followed in ancient Mesoamerica. This calendar would be closet to our calendar, the Gregorian calendar. Pope Gregory XIII decreed our calendar in 1582. There has been a lot of controversy about the present calendar and how it is not in sync with the natural cycles of the world. Jose Arguelles worked hard to change our present calendar to one that more closely mirrored the natural cycles. But, he was unable to convince the church to put us back into sync with nature and natural time. Arguelles calendar, Dreamspell was based on a 13 moon, 28 day calendar. His calendar had a fixed start date of July 26, which allowed for an extra day every four years maintaining this start day. The Haabadvances by a day against our present calendar every four years, which the ancient Maya noted. References: The Mayan Factor Jose Arguelles Wikipedia Bricker, Victoria (1982). "The Origin of the Maya Solar Calendar" |
