The Tzolkin is the 260-day sacred calendar of the Maya. Each day has a number from 1 to 13 and one of twenty day names, such as 4 Ajaw. This tool finds the Tzolkin day for your date of birth or any other date from 1583 to 2999, with the date in the 365-day Haab and in the Long Count, using the GMT correlation, 584283, which most scholars accept.
How it works
The Maya calendars are counts of days. To place a Western date in them, we need to know which of our days matches a known Maya day, and that link is called the correlation.
- A day count. The date is turned into its Julian day number, the plain count of days astronomers use.
- The correlation. The GMT correlation (after Goodman, Martinez and Thompson) puts the Maya date 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 8 Kumkʼu on Julian day 584283, which is 11 August 3114 BC in our calendar run backwards.
- The counts. From there the day number runs through 1 to 13 and the day name through the twenty names, so the same pair returns every 260 days (13 times 20). The Haab has eighteen months of 20 days and five extra days. The Long Count writes the total as baktuns of 144,000 days, katuns of 7,200, tuns of 360, uinals of 20 and single days.
We checked the tool against an independent calendar program for 136,858 dates, every day from 1900 to 2100 and every seventh day from 1583 to 2999, with no differences, and against published dates: 21 December 2012 is 13.0.0.0.0, 4 Ajaw 3 Kʼankʼin, and 6 November 2026 is 13.0.14.1.8, 2 Lamat 1 Keh.
Reading the result
The result gives the Tzolkin day and its place among the 260, the Haab date and the Long Count, the usual gloss of the day name, and the next two dates on which the same Tzolkin day comes round. The glosses, such as “jaguar” for Ix or “wind, breath, life force” for Ikʼ, are the meanings given in Wikipedia’s Tzolkʼin article; many are scholars’ reconstructions, and some are uncertain.
Where traditions differ
- The correlation. A few scholars have argued for other correlations; one, 584285 (Lounsbury’s), starts the count two days later in our calendar, so each date falls two days earlier in the 260-day count: 1 January 1583, for example, is 13 Kibʼ by the GMT correlation and 11 Ix by 584285. The tool shows what your date would be under it.
- The Dreamspell. The modern Dreamspell system of José Argüelles, which he described as a new and syncretic creation, borrows the names but is not the traditional count, so it can give a different day.
- Spellings. We use the modern spellings, such as Ajaw and Kʼan, with the older Yucatec spellings, such as Ahau and Kan, beside them.
What it does not do
It does not read your personality from your day sign, a modern practice, and it does not convert dates in the old Julian calendar: enter dates before 1583 in the Gregorian calendar, or not at all.
Frequently asked questions
↳ What is my Mayan day sign?
The day name of your birth date in the 260-day Tzolkin count, one of twenty, such as Imix, Ikʼ or Ajaw, paired with a number from 1 to 13. Enter your date of birth to find it.
↳ What is the GMT correlation?
The link between Maya dates and our calendar, named after Goodman, Martinez and Thompson. It puts the start of the current Long Count, 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 8 Kumkʼu, on Julian day 584283, 11 August 3114 BC. It is the correlation most scholars accept.
↳ Why do other sites give a different day sign?
Usually because they use the Dreamspell, a modern system with its own count, or a different correlation. This tool follows the traditional count with the GMT correlation, and also shows the 584285 result.
↳ What happened on 21 December 2012?
In the Long Count it was 13.0.0.0.0, the end of the thirteenth baktun, a cycle of 144,000 days. It was a calendar milestone, not an event, and the count simply continued with 13.0.0.0.1.
↳ Is the Tzolkin still used?
Yes. Calendar diviners in the highlands of Guatemala still keep the 260-day count, as anthropologists such as Barbara Tedlock have described.