Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

 

MAYA
CALENDAR
CONVERTER

 

“Each day in the sacred Maya calendar has a meaning. It tells us about the relationship among all things, including the animals, the land, humans, and everything in the cosmos.”  —Hermelinda Sapon Pu, K’iche’ Maya, Day Keeper

Any date in the Gregorian calendar can be converted into a corresponding one in the Maya calendar system. A particular day, month, and year can be expressed as a Long Count date using baktun, katun, tun, uinal, and k’in units of time together with a Haab and a Tzolk’in calendar dates. Use this interactive tool to convert Gregorian calendar dates into the Maya calendar system.

Find the meaning of each day in the Tzolk’in calendar system (PDF).

Instructions:

To convert a date, begin by selecting the month from the drop down menu, next type in the day and year. Click the Convert Button to view the corresponding Maya Long Count date, both visually and numerically. You can change the date by using the +1 and -1 buttons or enter in a new date and use the convert button again. You can enter a new date and press the Convert Button to convert any other date between 3000 BCE and 4000 CE. For BCE dates enter a negative year number. For example, November 26, 2360 BCE would be entered as November 26, -2360.

“Each day in the sacred Maya calendar has a meaning. It tells us about the relationship among all things, including the animals, the land, humans, and everything in the cosmos.”  —Hermelinda Sapon Pu, K’iche’ Maya, Day Keeper

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

MONTH:

DAY:

YEAR:

Long Count Date

 

0 baktun
0 X 144,000 days = 0 days
0 katun
0 X 7,200 days = 0 days
0 tun
0 X 360 days = 0 days
0 uinal
0 X 20 days = 0 days
0 k'in
0 X 1 day = 0 days

Tzolk'in Date:    

Haab Date:    

Lord of the Night: G

 
 

Maya Calendar Converter

Reading the Maya Calendar

The Maya calendar system records a series of recurring cycles of time based on the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets. Any given date repeats at cyclic intervals, just as, for example, January 1st in the Gregorian calendar repeats every time the Earth completes a revolution around the Sun. A complete Maya Long Count cycle is 5,125 years long. The Maya Long Count system establishes an absolute chronology in which any given date is unique, such as December 21, 2012, in the Gregorian system. The Long Count calendar keeps track of the days that have passed since the mythical starting date of the Maya creation, August 11, 3114 BCE.

The basic unit of time is the day, or k’in.

20 k’in = 1 uinal or 20 days

18 uinal = 1 tun or 360 days

20 tun = 1 katun or 7,200 days

20 katun = 1 baktun or 144,000 days

The Long Count date is written in column format as shown in the example on the left, with cycles of time as follows:
12.19.19.17.19 | 3 Kawak | 2 K'ank’in | G8 
This date corresponds to December 20th, 2012 in the Gregorian calendar, and is read as follows: baktun.katun.tun.uinal.k’in | Tzolk’in | Haab | Lord of the Night

A chart labeling each of the Mayan calendar glyphs

Initial Series Introductory Glyph: This symbol identifies this date as belonging to the Long Count system

Baktun: A number (12 in this example) along with the symbol of “baktun”

Katun: A number (19 in this example) along with the symbol for “katun”

Tun: A number (19 in this example) along with the symbol for “tun”

Uinal: A number (17 in this example) along with the symbol for “uinal”

K’in: A number (19 in this example) along with the symbol for “k‘in”

Tzolk’in date: A number (3 in this example) along with the Tzolk’in day glyph (Kawak in this example)

Haab date: A number (2 in this example) along with the Haab day glyph (K'ank’in in this example)

Lord of the Night (G8 in this example): A glyph that represents one the nine deities of the Maya Underworld.