conceptos del calendario maya

El Haab': calendario civil maya de 365 días

El Haab' es el calendario solar maya — 365 días que marcan el año agrícola. Dieciocho meses de 20 días más un Wayeb' de cinco días completan el conteo, emparejado con el Tzolk'in para formar la Rueda Calendárica de 52 años.

Structure: 18 winals plus Wayeb'

The Haab' is built from winals, 20-day months. Eighteen winals give 360 days; the final five days, Wayeb', complete the 365. There is no leap correction, so the Haab' drifts roughly a quarter-day per year against the tropical year — academics call it a vague year. Days inside a winal are numbered 0–19 in Classic inscriptions (the 0 day represents the seating of that month). Most algorithms use 0–19; some popular calendars shift to 1–20 — pick a convention and stick with it.

The 19 Haab' months

The 18 named winals run: Pop, Wo', Sip, Sotz', Sek, Xul, Yaxk'in, Mol, Ch'en, Yax, Sak, Keh, Mak, K'ank'in, Muwan, Pax, K'ayab, Kumk'u, followed by Wayeb'. Pop opens the year — 0 Pop is the Maya New Year. Each month has glyphic associations with seasons, deities, and farming tasks. Yucatec spellings shown above are the academic standard; older sources use Spanish-derived spellings (Uo, Zip, Zotz, Cumku, Uayeb) you will see across the web.

Wayeb': the five nameless days

The Wayeb' (or Uayeb) closes the Haab' year. Considered ominous and liminal — a no-time between years — these days were treated with caution. People avoided travel, public business, even bathing. The transition from Wayeb' to 0 Pop was the Maya New Year, marked by ceremonies that installed a new Year Bearer. Modern day-keepers still observe Wayeb' as a period for retreat and reflection.

Why the Haab' matters in astrology

The Haab' itself is not a personality calendar — it is a civic timekeeper. But two roles tie it to astrology. First, the Year Bearer (Mam) is the Tzolk'in sign that lands on 0 Pop; only four signs can ever serve, rotating each year. Second, the Haab'-Tzolk'in pair forms the Calendar Round, an 18,980-day (52-year) cycle in which any specific date like 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk'u recurs only once per lifetime.

Haab' and the Tzolk'in: how they mesh

A complete Maya date pairs Haab' and Tzolk'in: e.g. 1 Ix 0 Pop. The Tzolk'in advances by one each day; so does the Haab'. Their lowest common multiple (LCM 260, 365) is 18,980 days — a Calendar Round of about 52 solar years. Pre-Long-Count Mesoamerican cultures used this pair alone for chronology, sufficient inside a human lifetime.

Preguntas frecuentes

  • Is the Haab' a leap-year calendar?

    No. The Haab' has a fixed 365 days, with no leap correction, so it drifts about one day every four years against the tropical year.

  • Why are Haab' days numbered from 0?

    Classic Maya numbered the days of each month 0 through 19, where 0 represented the seating of the next month — a transitional concept. Some Postclassic codices and modern uses shift to 1–20.

  • What is Wayeb'?

    Wayeb' is the 5-day period at the end of the Haab' year. Considered unlucky, it was treated as a liminal no-time before the new year began.

  • When is the Maya New Year?

    0 Pop is Maya New Year. In the proleptic Gregorian calendar with the GMT correlation, the date drifts each year because the Haab' has no leap day.

  • How is the Haab' different from the Tzolk'in?

    Haab' is the civil 365-day solar calendar; Tzolk'in is the sacred 260-day calendar. Astrology runs on the Tzolk'in; agriculture and civic life on the Haab'.