Tzolkin Glyph Information

With the twentieth day, the Mayan month ends. Ahau means 'great lord', with whom the Sun God is being meant.

This day can be seen as Sunday in the 'Western World'. In general it stands for lucky day, and all activities can stood under a good omen.

He who is born on Ahau, can count on good favour by the gods.

In ancient writings, the daysign for Ahau was sometimes replaced by a stylish flower, that also served as sign for the sun.

The meaning of the third sign, Akbal, is 'underworld', and 'night'.

It remembers the time of eternal darkness, that reigned before light came to the world. During the darkness, the dark demons of the underworld and death ruled.

In similar, but different form, the glyph of Akbal can be found at entrances to temples, where he symbolises the 'revenge of the underworld'.

The holy day of Ben embodies the divine thirteenness, the god of numbers Oxlahuntiku.

The glyph literally means 'reed', or 'tube', a symbol of the tube-shaped maizeplant, the basis of the Mayan economic culture.

Ben was the day of seed and fertility. All activities that started on a thirteenth day could only be successful.

The god of the day was the young maizegod, in the form of the maize-fishgod. He strides on stilts made of maizeplants, over the fields of fertile land from silt, and seeds the maizeseeds.

Caban is a day of harvest, on which the fruits were gathered that were planted on a day of Ben.

Caban stands for earth, but also for earthquake. The latter was meant more as a warning and remembrance of earth's unpredictability, as earth-dragon in reality.

Ixquic, the young moongoddess and ruler of the number one, reigns over this day in her elaborate form as earth- and maizegoddess.

The glyph Cauac stands for 'thundercloud'.

Due to the offerings the day before, the great thunder- and raingod Chac ruled over the fertile day of Cauac.

He brings the rain, the seed of the sky, that mother nature receives to bring forth new life and make it grow.

Chac is also ruler of the number ten, and, albeit unpredictable and fierce, worshipped as renewer of the life cycle.

The word Chicchan means 'heaven', and 'serpent'.

The Maya from the classical period regarded the milkyway as heaven-serpent. She created the connection between the world of the gods and our world.

The winged heaven-serpent is a primordial goddess, known to most tribes in South-America. The Maya named her 'Kukulkán', the Toltec and Aztec 'Quetzalcóatl'.

She formed the mythical basis of all different lifeforms, by connecting antipoles, such as light and darkness, male and female, heaven and earth. In this way, the winged serpent is a symbol of unity in the whole principal of creation.

The god of dragons himself is represented by Chicchan.

The glyph Chuen stands for the word 'monkey'.

Monkeys and monkey-gods were seen as highly controversial beings. In Mayan mythology there were originally seen as failed preform of human kind.

But also, the divine brothers, Ixbalanqué and Hunahpú, were changed into howler-monkeys, and in that shape, brought handcrafting, the flute, and writing to mankind. In their animal shape, both creatures were also described in the Popul Vuh as being jealous and shameless, constantly expressing their sexual powers.

On the eleventh day therefore, the world was ruled by male energies who ruled since then. Even today, initiation of priests in former Maya territory occurs on a Chuen-day.

The god of the monkeys is Hunchuen, who stimulates all activities that have to do with arts, crafts, and sex, who reigns over this day.

The glyph Cib stands for the owl, who according to the mythology, brings death.

In the life cycle of the Maya, the night followed the day, destruction followed creation.

On this day, completing and destructive energies where amplified, and it is being linked to failure.

The owl was submissive to the reigns of Xibalbá, the demons of the underworld, regents of the number ten.

The glyph Cimi shows a human skull, and means 'death'.

Before the first lifeforms of this world were created, their ending was already recorded, so that future life on earth could exist in the field between life and death.

Since then, on the sixth day, the forces of destruction, sickness and decay reigned.

The glyph shows the reign of Ahpuch, the god of death and ruler of the number ten.

The glyph of Eb means 'skull'.

The day symbolises the cycle of life by decay and renewal.

In the creation history of the Maya, the young god of maize was offered, leading to a miraculous multiplication of the maize plants.

In this case, the skull does not symbolise fear or destruction, but the new life that comes from death.

As god of the day, the young maizegod, ruler of the number eight, was chosen.

Etznab was the day of the blood-offer, and therefore not very loved by the people.

The word Etznab itself stands for 'offering' and 'flint', with relation to the knives of the priests, that were made out of obsidian stone.

Kukulkán, who had an insatiable demand for blood offerings, reigned over this day. To ensure his support and favour, people from every ranking, even kings and priests underwent ritual blood-letting. Human sacrifices to the gods were in abundance on this day, where cruelty and deceipt ruled.

Ik stands for the Mayan word for 'wind'.

On the second day of the history of creation, the wind blew over the primordial sea and brought movement to the world.

It is for this reason that the god with the same name, Ik, the ruler of the number three, is associated with the second day of creation.

Imix, the first day, stands for the primordial dragon, as found in most creation narratives around the world: the first creature of the primordial sea, from where all life came forth. The glyph also symbolises the words 'waterlily' and 'crocodile', what becomes the 'waterlily-dragon' in Mayan mythology.

The Maya regarded the waterlily as the worlds' first flower, and the crocodile as one of the first animals that could leave the primordial sea to add the land to their habitat.

The first day of the Tzolkin begins with the symbol of creation of all life. The reigning goddess of this day is the primordial mother 'Mam', mistress of the primordial water and the number five.

Ix is the short form of the moongod Ixbalanqué and means 'little jaguar'.

According to the Mayan mythology, the fourteenth era, where the young gods reigned, started on the fourteenth day.

The day was devoted to the moongods, who, being lights in the night, bannished darkness. As rulers of the number one, the moongods Ixquic and Ixbalanqué reigned over this day.

The word Kan means, among others, a mythological creature that was regarded to be the first that lived on land. It had a dragon-like shape, consisting of plants and animal parts. The Kan-Cross-Waterlily-monster also symbolises fertile land from silt.

The fourth day stands for the moment life began on earth, and metaphorical, the fourth day also describes the fourth age of mankind. According to Mayan belief, mankind stands at the end of this development-period.

As glyph, Kan means the colour yellow, in it's turn symbolising the ripe, golden maize.

The reigning goddess of the day is also the primordial mother 'Mam', mistress of the primordial water and the number five, taking the place of a fertility- goddess.

The glyph Lamat means 'star', 'heir', or 'rabbit'.

In Mayan mythology, the young moon-god Ixbalanqué escaped from the traps and ambushes of the gods of the underworld, by the help of the rabbit so he could save the life of his brother Ahau, who later became the Sun-god.

The victory over the underworld made the creation of the star-sky and the life-forms on earth possible.

Heirs and rabbits were seen as appearances of the young moon-goddess Uxquic and her son Ixbalanqué. As animal of the moon, and because of their cleverness and courage, they were worshipped by the Maya.

The goddess Ixquic, ruler of the number one, reigned over this day.

Manik means 'deer'.

These animals had a close connection to the god of thunder Tohil, who usually took the shape and form of a deer. Tohil is not a god by itself, but a part of the primordial god Kukulkán, the heaven-snake.

On the seventh day of creation, Tohil appeared as a deer before the future priests and regents of the Maya empire. As leading demon, he made an agreement with mankind. The agreement said that the Maya would be protected and guided by the gods, as long as they provided extensive offerings to them. Also, the Maya would reign over all other tribes.

The offerings had to be blood from diverse creatures, such as animals and humans. The Maya got to keep all hides from animals, and the priests were given permission to officially represent Tohil, if they wore the skin of a deer. Therefore, the remembrance-day of Tohil is also known as the day of deception.

The day Manik was, as day of loss and parting, not very liked by the Maya. The reigning goddess of this day is Kukulkán, in the form of Tohil.

The glyph Men means eagle, the Sun Bird.

On the fifteenth day, the history of creation reached it's peak.

Eventually, the sun-god Ahau-Hunahpú banished darkness with his shining light. Since then, he ruled the day, while his twin brother Ixbalanqué follows him as light during the night.

The god Ahau-Hunahpú was the unlimited ruler of the fifteenth day.

In the classical time, Mayan chiefs dressed themselves preferably with this sign of the sun-god and called themselves the Sun King.

Muluc stands for 'water', in it's function as life-giving element.

After the shaping of the world by the divine twin Ixbalanqué and Hanahpú, the crops were useable and the world started to follow the rhythm of day and night.

The glyphs also stands for 'fish' and 'maize', the staple food of the Maya.

The gods of the day are the young maize-god, lord of the number eight, and the primordial goddess Mam, who reigns over the ocean waters and the number five.

The glyph Oc means 'dog', and stands for the day of the god of the dogs Tzul.

He was the god that scavenged cadavers, the ultimate negative god of the Maya.

The Maya had a revulsion against dogs and the related coyotes, who were seen as savage and cowardly. Their love of scavenge lead to them being part of the destructive demons of the underworld.

The fear of being contaminated by scavenging animals was widespread among the Maya. The day of Oc was therefore seen as day of death, only suitable for burials.

The Maya used the twenty-numbered system for calculations. The tenth day symbolised the mortal half, and was controlled by the god of cadavers, Tzul.