Mayan calendar.
The Mayan calendar is probably the oldest calendar in the world. It is not - strictly speaking - the work of the Maya, but their predecessors, Olmecs, the creators of the so-called. "Kultura - Mother" (discovered in the southern Mexican states of Vera Cruz and Tabasco), and even the Pre-Olmecs.
"Kultura-Matka" developed in the first millennium BC. and gave rise to the development of later American cultures: The Totonaks, Toltecs, Mixtecs, Maya and Aztecs.
Meanwhile, the oldest calendar in the world - the famous "Solar Gate" in Tiwanaku, Bolivia - has about 16 thousand years, and according to the American scientist, professor Artur Poznansky, even 17-20 thousand years! However, they are learned, like for example. dr H. S. Mellamy, who Tiahuanaco (and so the "Sunny Gate") they consider it "the cradle of all civilizations on Earth", specifying the time of its creation as 25 thousand years BC. Let's say - exaggeration. The fact is, however, that the age of American astronomy is estimated to be roughly 10 thousand years. So there is no doubt, it's about culture, which has developed over time, when the inhabitants of the so-called. The Old World still lived in caves.
Astronomical knowledge (and mathematical) ancient Olmecs (and probably the Pre-Olmecs), as well as the later Maya, she was huge. Suffice it to say, that according to the Mayan calendar - the year was 365,2420 day, according to our - 365,2425, while according to the calculations of modern astronomers - 365,2422. So the Mayans were wrong only by Fr. 0,0002 day, and the creators of the Gregorian calendar, which we are using now, The 0,0003 day. They also calculated the lunar month exactly, mistaking only Fr.… 0,00027 on the current arrangements. No wonder either, that the calendar they created is the most accurate calendar in the world!
The Mayan calendar was also patronized by the gods. Each of its parts was "carried" by the heavenly "porter", who was also her patron. If it happened, that this divine guardian of time was a deity with a malicious disposition - one should expect dangerous consequences. The nature of god, under whose auspices the day ran, month or year, determined success or failure in a given period. The gods decided everything, about every day and moment of man. They too - as it was believed - were the creators of the calendar time count. The Mayan calendar developed under the sign of the sun. At first he was counting 360 days and consisted of 18 20-day months. With time, however, it was realized, that the solar year is longer, so introduced (similar to Egypt) 5 extra days - xma kaba kin - days without a name, sometimes referred to as the "month" of uayeb. They were considered unlucky as in Egypt).
It was a secular calendar - haab - that played an enormous role in the daily life of the Maya. His months were divided into 20 days, numbered from 0 do 19 (The Maya knew the concept of zero).
Here are the months of this calendar and their hieroglyphic counterparts (last - additional - uayeb had, as we know, 5 days):
