![]() ![]() Without tracking the movements of the sun, Inomata says, the Maya would not have been able to create the complex, precise calendars that they did. After 52 years, the Calendar Round returns to the original combination of days, and a new cycle begins. The Calendar Round, on the other hand, is a 365-day solar calendar combined with a 260-day cycle. However, the Maya never talked about this completion date in apocalyptic terms. 21, 2012, which some feared would represent the end of the world. The latter cycle completed on the winter solstice of Dec. Larger cycles consist of 400 years and 5,200 years. It is organized in a 20-year cycle, and at the completion of each cycle the Maya held a large ceremony to celebrate the passage of time. The Long Count starts with a fixed date in 3,114 B.C. The two main Maya calendars were the Long Count calendar and the Calendar Round. "The Maya were fascinated with time and the movement of celestial bodies, and the calendar is a major part of their writing system," Inomata says. The Maya are known primarily for their elaborate constructions, including pyramids and palaces, and their writing system, which was the most sophisticated in the New World. Prior to Spanish conquest in the 16th century, Maya civilization prospered in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and western Honduras. Inomata's archaeological research is focused on Maya civilization. Perhaps in no civilization was it more important than with the Maya, explains Takeshi Inomata, a professor of anthropology and the Agnese Nelms Haury Chair in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona. In Japan, some partake in a traditional hot bath, soaking with a Japanese citrus fruit, called yuzu, to greet the winter solstice while protecting against common colds.īut human interest in the movements of the sun is far from new. ![]() At the ancient ruins of Stonehenge in England, thousands gather before sunrise to celebrate. China's Dongzhi (literally "the extreme of the winter") Festival celebrates the winter solstice, along with the imminent return to longer days. Because the Earth's axis is tilted farthest from the sun, winter solstice is the darkest, shortest day of the year.Īround the world, people celebrate the winter solstice. 21, in the Northern Hemisphere, while the Southern Hemisphere experiences its summer solstice. This year's winter solstice will take place on Thursday, Dec. Thanksgiving and finals week have come and gone, but the official start of winter is coming. A graphic reconstruction of the earliest solar temple complex discovered by Takeshi Inomata and his team at Ceibal ![]()
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