Haab

The following is translation of each month name and a brief list of what was to be celebrated during
each:

Pop - Mat (symbol of community and marriage)

The first month of the year, preceded by fasting and abstinence. On the first day of the year there
was gift giving and drinking.

Uo - Frog
Physicians and shamans made offerings to Itzamna, the god of magic and patron of priests.
Predictions for the year were made and individual priests were assigned their festival obligations for
the year.

Zip - Red -- (perhaps red conjunction?)

A month to honor the god of hunting, Ek Zip. Hunters and fisherman blessed their tools and
performed blood letting ceremonies.

Zotz - Bat
Bee keepers prepared themselves for the coming activities by fasting. It may have also been
associated with the beginning of the darkest months of the year in fall.

Tzec - no known translation

The bee keeper festival occurred. Offerings were made to images of the four Chaaks (rain gods), and
the rims of offering plates were covered in honey. Hive owners shared honey with the community.

Xul - Dog
The festival of Chicc-kaban, dedicated to Kulkulcan, the Feather Serpent. It was marked by
processions to primary community temples, accompanied by troupes of comedians. Offerings were
made at the temple and much incense was burned. The comedians continued to visit neighborhoods
throughout the month, performing and bringing offerings back to the temple. At the end of the
month, Kulkulcan was said to descend from the the heavens and collect the offerings.

Yaxkin - First (or Green) Sun

Preparations for the festivals during the next month. Instruments were anointed and many items
were painted blue. Children were all given nine light raps on their knuckles to assure they would
become skilled craftsmen like their parents.

Mol - Water or Jade

A month to make wooden effigies of the gods. Wood was chosen with care and carving was done
with ceremony and blood letting. Carvers worked continuously, their families bringing them food
and water, until the images were complete.

Chen - Cave or Well

The wooden effigies they had made the month before were delivered to shrines and valuable
offerings were made to them as a way of "activating" them. Afterwards, the artisans were honored
by feasting and drinking. In glyphs, the patron of this month is the Moon Goddess.
Yax - Green or First
The temples were renovated or repaired as needed. Ceremonies honoring Chaak the rain god and
prayers for the maize fields were performed. In glyphs, the patron of this month is Venus.

Zac - White
The hunters had their second festival of the year, this one to ask for the forgiveness of the gods for
shedding the blood of animals.

Keh - Red (or perhaps Deer)

No specific festival is recorded for this month, though some scholars believe it may have been
connected to ceremonies honoring deer.

Mac - To Enclose, to Cover

Ceremonies led by the elders of the community honored Chaak and Itzamna. Fires were lit atop the
temples and the hearts of birds and animals were thrown into the flames. When they were
completely burned, a bucket of water was poured on them as if rain from Chaak had extinguished
them.

Kankin - Yellow Sun

No festival is recorded for this month. J. Eric Thompson believed that the glyph Kankin represents
the rib cage of a dog, and that this month was somehow associated with canines.

Muwan - The Moan Bird (relative of the owl)

During this month the owners of cacao plantations gave thanks to the gods who protected their
trees. Dogs and blue iguanas were sacrificed in the groves and each of the officers was given a cacao
branch.

Pax - Planting Time

This month was filled with ceremonies honoring warriors. Community members escorted the war
chief to the temple and feasts and dances were conducted in his honor. Dogs were sacrificed and
prayers for victory in future battles were made.

Kayab - Turtle
There are no recorded festivals associated with this month. Glyph associations point to the young
Moon Goddess as the patron and perhaps ceremonies honoring child birth and midwives were
conducted.

Kumku - Ripe Maize

No festivals are recorded for this month, but its name suggests harvest ceremonies occurred.

Wayeb - Misfortunate or Nameless Days

Considered bad luck days, during which one should do nothing of significance. Many would neither
bath nor leave their houses. No activities were planned, less something evil befall them.
The Haab
The Haab is a 365-day solar calendar which is divided into 18 months of 20 days each and
one month which is only 5 days long (Uayeb). The calendar has an outer ring of Mayan
glyphs (pictures) which represent each of the 19 months. Each day is represented by a
number in the month followed by the name of the month. Each glyph represents a personality
associated with the month.

The Haab is somewhat inaccurate as it is exactly 365 days long. An actual tropical or solar
year, the time it takes Earth to orbit the Sun, takes about 365.24219 days on average. In
today’s Gregorian calendar, we adjust for this discrepancy by making almost every fourth
year a leap year, when an extra day—a leap day—is added on the 29th of February.

The Tzolkin
The Tzolkin, meaning “the distribution of the days,” is also called the Divine Calendar and
the Sacred Round. It is a 260-day calendar with 20 periods of 13 days, and it is used to
determine the time of religious and ceremonial events. The days in each period are numbered
from one to 13. Each day is also given a name (glyph) from a sequence of 20 day names.

The Long Count

The Long Count is an astronomical calendar which is used to track longer periods of time.
The Maya called it the “universal cycle.” Each such cycle is calculated to be 2,880,000 days
long (about 7885 solar years). The Mayans believed that the universe is destroyed and then
recreated at the start of each universal cycle. This belief caused the 2012 phenomenon
described above, and it still inspires a myriad of prophecies about the end of the world.

The “creation date” for the current cycle is 4 Ahau, 8 Kumku. According to the most common
conversion, this date is equivalent to August 11, 3114 BCE in the Gregorian calendar and
September 6, 3114 BCE in the Julian calendar.