Maya calendar

Have you ever seen a calendar before? It's like a big piece of paper with all the days, weeks, and months in a year written down so we know what day it is and what we need to do. The Maya people used a calendar too, but it was a little different than what we use today.

First, they had two calendars - one for keeping track of time and another for religious purposes. The timekeeping calendar had 365 days in it, just like ours, and it was divided into 18 months of 20 days each, plus a five-day period at the end that was considered unlucky.

The religious calendar had 260 days in it, which might seem like a strange number. But the Maya believed that there were 20 different gods that controlled the days, and each one of these gods had a number associated with them. So they combined the 20 gods with the 13 numbers to make 260 possible combinations.

Every day was really important to the Maya, so they would use both calendars together to figure out what was going on. For example, if you were born on a certain day, your name would be based on the combination of the number god that ruled that day, and you would have certain traits associated with that name.

The Maya also believed that the world went through cycles, and these cycles were based on their calendar. They thought that every 52 years, the cycle would repeat itself, and this was a time for big celebrations and renewals.

Overall, the Maya calendar was a very important part of their lives and culture. It helped them keep track of time, plan for important events, and connect with their gods and spirits.