The Calendar and Astronomy of the Ancient Maya Civilization

This class will teach students about the invention of the Maya calendar which divided the year into 20 months of 13 days each and an end period of five days. The calendar was almost as accurate as the Gregorian Calendar year earlier which was only adopted in Europe in 1582. But not only did they have a yearly calendar called the "haab"  but a "sacred" calendar of 260 days. These calendars would come together every 52 years. Another calendar was called a "long count" and could plot dates in a cycle up to 5,125 years. These were all based upon powers of twenty, an important number in the Mayan math system.
We will cover how the calendar linked to gods in the Maya pantheon. It will also show how it was used in practical ways such as allowing farmers to know when to plant and harvest crops. We will also examine some of the Maya architectural structures like the "caracol" at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico and other temples that were oriented to events like the summer and winter solstice and winter and fall equinox.
The class will show some of the sites of the Maya and show how cities and buildings were oriented to important astronomic events. It will also show how their calendar related to their religious beliefs.
The class will have some outside videos and sites to look at for further exploration. It will also allow students to convert dates in our calendar into their Maya equivalents.