The Ancient Maya and the Baktun

End of a Cycle

The ancient Maya thought that time was cyclic, and that all eras and events repeated themselves again and again. They called the days kines, and grouped them in many different ways. The Mayan year was perfectly calculated and consisted of 360 days, plus five extra days used to rest and meditate. Through this, the Mayan calendar is more precise than the Gregorian calendar. These years were called tunes, and were grouped in 400 tun periods called B´aktunes. Number 13 was sacred for the Maya, and 13 B´aktunes had to pass to close a complete cycle in time, which gives us the figure of 5200 years. Right now, we are at the end of the last B´aktunes of the current era, number 13, that is, oxialuj B´aktun. However, this should not be regarded as a sign of forecoming disasters, bur as the coming of a new age, a new beginning.

Mayan Spirituality

Mayan spirituality  is based on a cosmovision, or a way to regard the universe, which indicates that everything is connected and that we are one with the earth and the elements of nature. According to this vision of life, all human begins are accompanied since birth by an energy, represented by an animal or natural force called a nahual. There are 20 nahuales, and each person has also a number, ranging from 1 to 13. The nahual plus the number determine the characters people. Contract with nature is done through the Mayan priest or aj´quij (literally “he who counts time”), who is trained to lit the sacred fire in which offerings to the Ajaw –God- and the elements of nature that make up all that exists are burned.

Extract obtained from Destinations