Haab
The Haab is the Mayan solar calendar of 365 days, used along with the sacred 260-day calendar (Tzolkin). It consists of 18 "months" of 20 days each (360 days) plus an additional period of 5 days at the end of the year — the Wayeb, considered dangerous or unstable. Both calendars combined generated the famous Mayan calendar round of 52 years.
Origin and structure
The Haab, like the Tzolkin, has roots in Mesoamerican calendrical pre-Mayan tradition (Olmecs and earlier cultures), being refined by the Mayans in their classical period. It is solar calendar in approximate alignment with the tropical year (365 days, although without correction for the additional 0.25 days that gradually accumulate — there was no leap year correction).
Structure: 18 "months" or winals of 20 days each: Pop, Wo', Sip, Sotz', Sek, Xul, Yaxk'in, Mol, Ch'en, Yax, Sak', Keh, Mak, K'ank'in, Muwan, Pax, K'ayab, Kumk'u. Plus the Wayeb of 5 days at the end. 18 × 20 = 360 + 5 = 365 days. Each Haab day was identified with: month name + position in the month (0-19, since the days of each month started at 0 not 1). Examples: "0 Pop" (Mayan New Year), "13 Yaxk'in", "4 Wayeb".
Wayeb and the calendar round
The 5 days of Wayeb at the end of the year were considered dangerous and ominous: liminal time when the boundaries between worlds weakened, harmful spiritual entities could enter, the world was "out of time". The Mayans took specific measures: avoided important works, did not travel, fasted, prayed extra, kept some preventive rituals. Once the 5 days passed without major catastrophe, the new year was celebrated with great relief.
Calendar round of 52 years: combining Haab + Tzolkin, each specific date (e.g.: "4 Ahau 8 Cumkú" — combining tzolkin date "4 Ahau" with Haab date "8 Cumkú") repeats only every 52 Haab years (18,980 days). For Mesoamerican civilisations, this 52-year cycle was deeply significant — like a "century" symbolic. The Mexicas (Aztecs) celebrated the "New Fire" ceremony every 52 years — believed that the end of cycle could mean the end of the world; if the gods continued the existence (which they had done so far), they renewed the world with the "new fire": extinguished all the lights of the empire and ritually re-lit them from a sacred new fire.
Also known as
- Mayan solar calendar
- Vague year (Haab)
- 365-day calendar