The Haabʼ () is part of the Maya calendric system. It was a 365-day calendar used by many of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica.
Description
+Haabʼ months: names in glyphsKettunen and Helmke (2005), pp.47–48 in sequenceNo.Seq.Name of monthGlyph examplesglyph meaningNo.Seq.Name of monthGlyph examplesglyph meaning 1Pop mat 10Yax green storm 2Woʼ black conjunction 11Sakʼ white storm 3Sip red conjunction 12Keh red storm 4Sotzʼ bat 13Mak enclosed 5Sek death 14Kʼankʼin yellow sun 6Xul dog 15Muwan owl 7Yaxkʼin new sun 16Pax planting time 8Mol water 17Kʼayabʼ turtle 9Chʼen black storm 18Kumkʼu granary 19Wayebʼ five unlucky days The Haabʼ comprises eighteen months of twenty days each, plus an additional period of five days ("nameless days") at the end of the year known as Wayeb''' (or Uayeb'' in 16th-century orthography).
Bricker (1982) estimates that the Haabʼ was first used around 500 BCE with a starting point of the winter solstice.Zero Pop actually fell on the same day as the solstice on −575 December 27, −574 December 27, −573 December 27, and −572 December 26 (astronomical year numbering, Universal Time), if one does not account for the fact that the Maya region is in roughly time zone UT−6. See
The Haabʼ month names are most commonly referred to by their names in colonial-era Yucatec (Yukatek). In sequence, these (in the revised orthographyAgain, per Kettunen and Helmke (2005)) are as seen on the right: Each day in the Haabʼ calendar was identified by a day number within the month followed by the name of the month. Day numbers began with a glyph translated as the "seating of" a named month, which is usually regarded as day 0 of that month, although a minority treat it as day 20 of the month preceding the named month. In the latter case, the seating of Pop is day 5 of Wayebʼ. For the majority, the first day of the year was Seating Pop. This was followed by 1 Pop, 2 Pop ... 19 Pop, Seating Wo, 1 Wo and so on.
Inscriptions on The Temple of the Cross at Palenque shows clearly that the Maya were aware of the true length of the year, even though they did not employ the use of leap days in their system of calculations generally. J.Eric Thompson wrote that the Maya knew of the drift between the Haabʼ and the solar year and that they made "calculations as to the rate at which the error accumulated, but these were merely noted as corrections they were not used to change the calendar."
Five unlucky days The five nameless days at the end of the calendar, called Wayebʼ, was thought to be a dangerous time. Foster (2002) writes "During Wayeb, portals between the mortal realm and the Underworld dissolved. No boundaries prevented the ill-intending deities from causing disasters." To ward off these evil spirits, the Mayans had customs and rituals they practised during Wayebʼ. For example, the Mayans would not leave their homes and wash their hair.
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