July 26th is not the beginning of the Maya year

As the energy shift on July 26th approaches, I see many announcements of the beginning of the new Maya year. However, for the Maya, the new year has already begun - earlier in the year. This date - unlike July 26th, the beginning of a new solar year - is not fixed. In this article, I'm explaining how this happens. It has to do with the way the months are counted, the length of a calendar year, Sirius and Venus.

Two Tzolkin

Calendars In late 1991, José Argüelles introduced the Dreamspell or 13 Moon calendar: a new calendar based on the classical Tzolkin calendar still used by calendar keepers in the highlands of Guatemala. This Dreamspell calendar eventually became the most common version of the Tzolkin in the Netherlands and other European countries, and has its own counting that differs from the classical Tzolkin. It is important to realize that this Dreamspell calendar is not an original Maya calendar. When you encounter the Tzolkin in Mexico or Guatemala, it is always the classical Tzolkin calendar. The basis of both calendars is the connection between two cycles: our physical solar year of 365 days and the Tzolkin cycle of 260 days.

July 26th: Beginning of the solar year

In the Dreamspell calendar, the solar year of 365 days is divided into thirteen lunar periods of 28 days plus one day, July 25th. The following day, July 26, is chosen as the beginning of the new solar year. This day was also the beginning of a new year in ancient Egypt and coincided with the beginning of the annual flooding of the Nile, the beginning of a new fertile period. The Egyptians associated this date with the rise of Sirius along with the sun. This annual rising is the only astronomical benchmark we have on Earth for the beginning of a new solar year.

The Maya New Year

The Maya do not determine their New Year's Day according to the 13 moon calendar, but according to the Haab calendar, their terrestrial or agricultural calendar of 365 days. This Haab calendar is divided into 18 months of 20 days (Vinal) plus a period of five days (Wayeb), making 360 + 5 days. This calendar always lasts 365 days and does not have a leap day like the Gregorian calendar. For this reason, the beginning of the Maya solar year has no fixed Gregorian date. Since the Gregorian year lasts 366 days once every four years, the Maya solar year begins one day earlier every four years relative to the Gregorian date. Thus, in 2020, a new round of the Haab calendar began on February 20. Then, because a leap day fell on February 29, 2020, the new round of the Haab calendar and the new Maya solar year in 2021 will begin exactly 365 days later on February 19, and so on. In 2025, the new Maya year begins on February 18.

Two year calendars

The connection of the Tzolkin to two different annual calendars (13 moons and Haab) and the counting or not of the leap day makes the interpretation of the Dreamspell and the classical Tzolkin very different. In the classical Tzolkin calendar, each day is counted - including our Gregorian leap day - and each day has its own "sun face" with a daysign (nawal) and a tone (number). Argüelles, however, sees leap day as a day of correction that does not have its own daysign and tone. This creates a mathematical rhythm in the Dreamspell calendar that José Argüelles calls the synchronous order: a cycle that repeats itself every 52 years. This rhythm creates special patterns that give you information about your core qualities, your life path and your life course in a completely different way than in the classical Tzolkin.

The 52 Year Cycle

You may know that 52 is the age at which you become an "elder" and can pass on your wisdom according to various indigenous cultures. In the Dreamspell Count, the day energy of your 52nd birthday is the same as the day energy of the day of your birth. This is the first time this happens, and it happens again 52 years later when you turn 104. According to the classical Tzolkin, you complete this 52-year cycle 13 days before your 52nd birthday. In fact, in 52 Haab years, thirteen leap days are not counted and for a special reason. This is because the peculiarity of this period of 52 Haab years is that it coincides exactly with the orbit of Venus, the most important planet for the Maya. A complete orbit of Venus around the Sun takes exactly 104 Haab years, or 104 Gregorian years minus 26 days. This calculation can be found in the Venus table of the Dresden Codex. This codex contains tables showing the cycles of Venus and Mars and the eclipses upon which the Maya priests based their predictions. So exactly thirteen days before your Gregorian 52nd birthday, you also celebrate a birthday of sorts: your Venus birthday, which falls exactly on half of a complete Venus orbit. This important and exact correlation with Venus is the reason why the Maya would never choose a leap day or a fixed Gregorian date like July 26th to start the New Year. Venus, not Sirius, is the benchmark for the Maya in their calendar count.

Keys to Spiritual Growth

For me, the existence of a classical and a "modern" Tzolkin has always encouraged me to explore and experience both. It is in working with both calendars that I have found keys to spiritual growth. They represent different parts of ourselves, and each with its own energy makes us aware of our wholeness and wisdom. Together, these calendars help you strengthen the connection between your personality and your soul so that you can increasingly choose to live and create from joy rather than survive and create from suffering. The Dreamspell Calendar awakens you. The twenty daysigns and thirteen tones show you that you have a choice. That you can choose the lightness and love within you. They invite you to shine and contribute to the world with your unique qualities. The classic Tzolkin calendar connects you to your deepest drives. They reach beyond the life you are living here and now and help you to remember who you really are and how you can make your drives tangible in this life on a daily basis.

Elvira van Rijn