On the surface of things, a calendar with 260 days seems absurd. Of what use could it be? Obviously, there 365 days in a year—who needs a calendar missing 105 days?
The ritual calendar of ancient Mesoamerica is just such a calendar, however. This is the famed Mayan Calendar, of which we hear so much about these days related to the year 2012. And it’s the Tonalpoalli, the sacred Day Count, as it was known in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs.
The 260-day ritual calendar runs concurrently, side-by-side with the 365-day solar calendar. It doesn’t replace the solar calendar but it does infuse its days with more meaning. Each of the 260 days is experienced as being influenced by a particular spiritual force, such as the god of rain or the goddess of fertility.
What makes the 260-day calendar so fascinating to students is its unexpected synchronization to certain important astronomical cycles, notably those of the sun, Venus and Mars.
To begin with, we need to recall that there was a long-standing traditional ceremony in Pre-Columbian Mexico called the New Fire ceremony, in which time started over. This is often referred to as their version of a “century” and was treated no less consequently.
This 52-year century provides us with a baseline from which to proceed—
365 days x 52 = 18,980 days
This synchronizes to the Day Count of 260 days every 73 cycles of the ritual calendar—
260 days x 73 = 18,980 days
This synchronization can be thought of as the odometer in your car turning over and re-starting at zero: in this case, both the 365-day and 260-day calendars start over on the same day precisely after 52 years.
These cycles are further synchronized with the synodic revolution of Venus, which is 584 days long. After Venus makes 65 such revolutions, it falls into perfect rhythm with two New Fire ceremonies (104 solar years) and 146 cycles of the ritual calendar—
584 days x 65 Venus cycles = 37,9860 days
365 days x 104 years = 37,9860 days
260 days x 146 Day Count cycles = 37,9860 days
Beyond this, there is a final astronomical correlation to the Day Count. The synodic revolution of Mars is 780 days long, which is, of course, precisely three times the length of the ritual calendar—
260 days x 3 Day Count cycles = 780 days
Is the study of the Tonalpoalli vastly deeper than the above? Yes, vastly.
But it is these surprising correlations that have captured the imagination of all those who have undertaken the deeper study.
William Douglas Horden is the co-author of The Toltec I Ching.
And to watch the count move through time and space, comparing the 260 days to four cycles of 64 verses, the I-Ching with a remaining four days…Amazing. As a Yaqui child, our signs show up through the sacred calender, on the day of first breathe and the patterns which follow through life.
My name is 13-Deer, and we are living the final days of the Fifth Sun!
Jay Ohskanutu Abaroa-Peters’h—Yes, time and space: so many moderns have lost the sense of spirit’s presence moving through nature. I also greatly appreciate your recognizing the confluence of the sacred calendar and the I Ching! It is a remnant of the great mother culture that, millennia ago, gave birth to the native peoples of both ancient Asia and the Americas. My name is 13-Movement, and may the coming Sixth Sun bring peace and prospering to all! Blessings to you and all your relations, William.