MAYANS AND ZEROS

Introduction  develop the number zero  Predicting the end of time  200 B.C.

Them & Us…  Their decimal system: 1, 20, 400, 8000,  Used system of dots and bars to count  Used pebbles, sticks, and/or rods  Our decimal system: 1, 10, 100, 1000,  We use #’s

Why?  Positional??  The Mayan zero symbol was used to indicate the absence of any units of the various orders of the modified base- twenty system.  avoids confusing one place with another.

How?  # 20  Glyph of a shell

December 21, 2012 A.D End of the Great Mayan Cycle  The sources of Mayan mythology are found in the sky, and the timetable of Creation Day is pinpointed by the end date of the Mayan Great Cycle. What occurs is an alignment between the galactic and solar planes. Specifically, the winter solstice sun will conjunct the Milky Way, which is the edge of our spinning spiral galaxy. Milky Wayspiralgalaxy  At dawn on the winter solstice of A.D. 2012, the sun will be right in this dark- rift, and the orientation is such that the Milky Way rims the horizon at all points around. Thus, the Milky Way "sits" on the earth, touching it at all points around, opening up the cosmic sky portal. The galactic and solar planes are thus aligned. "Sky portal" is just a term to describe the "opened sky" scenario apparent when the Milky Way rims the horizon. This is not to be confused with the "dark-rift" itself.

Shadow Of Seven Triangles  On the equinoxes, the Sun crosses a center point and makes an exact 90-degree angle directly over the Pyramid of Ku'Kulkan (El Castillo) at the sacred site of Chichen Itza on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula (a place that represents the turtle's head on the continent known as Turtle Island or North America).  The Castillo is part of the Mayan calander's Path of the Sun (solar calendar) with 4 stone stairways of 91 steps each plus an upper platform for a total of 365. The Maya had an 18-base for their mathematics and 18 months in a year. The pyramid has nine levels divided by the staircases or 18. The relationship of the Sun to the Earth at this sensitive point creates the phenomenon of the dramatic Shadow of the Seven Triangles, shadow triangles projected on the north staircase with serpent heads at the base. The triangles undulate in an ascending fashion in March and descend during the fall equinox.  Following 360-day Maya solar calendar are five "nameless days." The New Year started after this five-day period, a time unfit for work; a time for ceremony when the old world is symbolically destroyed and a new one created. These 5 days are considered unlucky days comparable to the time of chaos before creation and before world order was established. Ancient Egypt also commemorated these 5 days. Coincidentally(?), on the first of these five days both the Egyptian grain god, Osiris, and the Mayan grain god, Hun Hunahpu, were born.