World Calendars
Maya calendar today
The Maya of Central America kept three calendars at once: a count of days since creation, a 260-day cycle and a 365-day year. The same combination of the last two returns only every 52 years.
13.0.14.1.13
Tzolk'in 7 B'en, Haab' 6 Keh
- In the Gregorian calendar
- Wednesday 11 November 2026
- This day began
- At midnight, as Wednesday 11 November 2026 begins
- This day ends
- At midnight, as Thursday 12 November 2026 begins
- Count began
- 11 August 3114 BC, creation day, 0.0.0.0.0 (Gregorian calendar counted backwards)
- Used
- Across Mesoamerica; the 260-day count is still kept in highland Guatemala
- How it works
- Days since creation, written in five places, like 13.0.14.0.0
- Years count from
- Creation day, 11 August 3114 BC
- Unusual detail
- The count reached 13.0.0.0.0 on 21 December 2012 and carried on
How the three counts work
The Long Count numbers the days since the start of the current creation, written as five places. Most places count to 20, but the winal counts to 18, so that a tun is 360 days, close to a year.
| Unit | Made of | Days |
|---|---|---|
| K'in | - | 1 |
| Winal | 20 k'in | 20 |
| Tun | 18 winal | 360 |
| K'atun | 20 tun | 7,200 (about 20 years) |
| B'ak'tun | 20 k'atun | 144,000 (about 394 years) |
The Tzolk'in pairs a number from 1 to 13 with one of 20 day names, so the same pair returns every 260 days. The Haab' is a 365-day year of 18 named months of 20 days, plus 5 days called Wayeb'. Together they repeat only every 18,980 days, 52 Haab' years: the Calendar Round. A full Maya date gives all three, for example the creation date 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk'u.
The correlation, and why astrology sites disagree
To turn a Maya date into ours, you need to know which of our days was the Maya creation day. That link is the correlation constant. This site uses the GMT correlation, named after Goodman, Martínez and Thompson, which puts creation on 11 August 3114 BC (proleptic Gregorian). It fits the colonial records, the eclipse and Venus tables of the Dresden Codex, and radiocarbon dates from Tikal, and it matches the K'iche' day count still kept in the highlands of Guatemala. A variant two days later (584285) is sometimes used; about 30 other correlations have been proposed and none fits all the evidence.
Many astrology sites show the Dreamspell count, a modern system that leaves 29 February out of its day count. Its day signs do not match the Maya count on this page.
A short history
The Long Count was used across Mesoamerica. One of the earliest dates found is on Stela C at Tres Zapotes, 7.16.6.16.18, which falls in 32 BC. The first monument that is unmistakably Maya, Tikal Stela 29, is dated 8.12.14.8.15, in 292 CE.
On 21 December 2012 the count reached 13.0.0.0.0 and the 14th b'ak'tun began. Maya scholars such as Susan Milbrath said there is no record that the Maya expected the world to end then. The next day was 13.0.0.0.1.
Sources
How this site calculates the date: GMT correlation 584283, accepted by most scholars and matching the K'iche' day count kept in Guatemala.