Mayan Calendars

It is a New Year! New Years are representative of the start of a new calendar. The new calendar year is a time to think of progress and creating a new vision through the seasons. On a vacation from within the year of 2024 I had a moment to visit the Mayan Ruins and Chichen Itza in Mexico. The Mayan people were known for their ability to practice astronomy to create crops and currency, as did many ancient populations. Ancient Civilizations monitored patterns of the sun to be able to know when the seasons were changing and used buildings and natural resources to do so.

The practice of astronomy was critical for ancient civilization to know when to cultivate crops and expect changes in weather. Mayan civilizations used volcanic rock (obsidian) to see the suns specific position and to minimize the brightness of the sun. The sun and moon tracking, as well as tracking timing and angel of the sun the Mayan people were able to track seasons and weather patterns.

The practice of tracking the moon was how the Mayans created a precise calendar. The shapes of the sacred tombs were also significant in understanding the passing of seasons. The temples having four sides and the sun peaks through windows of the pyramids is how the angels of the sun was tracked. Based on where the sun was located, the people knew when seasons were changing and and the exact time that different celestial bodies pass each other. During our most recent solar eclipse I noted how we use filmed glasses to minimize the suns impact, the same as Mayan people used obsidian rock.