What the Mayans Were interested in?


The Mayans more interested in the:
1) Sun

The sun was associated with Tonatiuh , a red eagle with a large and all-seeing eye. The Mayans managed to calculate the times when the Sun would rise and set. They even determined the length of the solar year to be 365 days. A tropical year is actually 365.2422 days long! How close!


2. The Moon

The Mayans were also interested in the moon. It was represented by a female deity. A waxing (growing) moon resembles a beautiful, ideal woman, while a waning (shrinking) moon was considered to be an old female deity who ruled over childbirth. Around 300 C.E., the Mayans calculated the interval between full moons (lunation). A Mayan astronomer calculated that there was an average lunation of 29.53 days while in Palenque, Mayans calculated that there was an average lunation of 29.53086 days. The actual average lunation is 29.53059 days. The difference is as small as 0.00059 days!

3. Venus

Venus was considered to be connected with the major deity Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl was said to be an essential god when creating mankind. Venus was also known as “Great Star”. The priest-astronomers determined that it took 584 days for Venus to orbit round the Sun, which was close to the actual period of 583.92 days. It is amazing how the Mayans managed to find out about other planets despite the huge distance between Earth and Venus.

4. Star clusters

Certain star clusters and constellations also held special meaning for the Maya. An example would be the Pleiades star cluster. When it appears in the morning sky around planting time, in late April, the Mayans used it as an indication to start preparing for the planting season. Since they could predict the rising of the Pleiades in connection to the appearance of other constellations on the horizon, they always know when to start preparing.

- Problems with calculations
However, do you know that actually small errors like 0.00059 days off in calculations can cause a calendar to be completely not accurate. A possible effect is that the calendar can be a month off every hundred years. But the Mayans continually update their records and predictions so that their calendar remains accurate throughout the generations.