THE LONGCOUNT CALENDARFirst Great Cycle 23.614 B.C. - 18.489 B.C.
Second Great Cycle 18.489 B.C. - 13.364 B.C.
Third Great Cycle 13.364 B.C. - 8.239 B.C.
Fourth Great Cycle 8.239 B.C. - 3.114 B.C.
Fifth Great Cycle 3.114 B.C. - 2.012 A.D. (Our TimePeriod)
Great Cycle : Measure the lenghtTo be able to measure the lengh of a Great Cycle, the Maya invented the so-called Longcount. This longcount is divided into several periods of time :
Baktun: 144.000 days (= 20 Katun)
Katun: 7.200 days (= 20 Tun)
Tun: 360 days (= 18 Uinal)
Uinal: 20 days (= 20 Kin)
Kin: 1 day
Vigesimal system of counting daysThis system is based on the vigesimal system of counting days.
The longcount works from right to left and can be represented as simple flip-over scorebord :
baktun katun tun uinal kin
0 0 0 0 0Where the baktun counts 13 flaps, the katun 20, the tun 20 the uinal 18 and the kin 20. You've already learned from Xolotl Huascar that the Maya were familiar with the number zero, so all the flaps start to count with zero.
Since 13 august 3114 BC* till today, September 17th 2009:
12 baktun have past, 19 katun, 16 tun, 12 uinal and 10 kin
So the longcount for September 17th 2009 will look like this:
12.19.16.12.10
The Longcount for
December 21th 2012 will look like this:
13.00.00.00.00Read Article : Mayan 2012 Prophecies