Why are the Mayan and Ancient Chinese calendar so similar?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The ancient Chinese calendar and the Mayan calendar have so much in common that they are unlikely to have been created independently of each other, says David H. Kelly. David's article on this topic was published in Pre-Columbiana magazine.

Kelly, an archaeologist and epigraphist, worked at the University of Calgary in Canada. He gained fame in the 1960s for his great contributions to the deciphering of Maya writing. His article "Asian Components in the Invention of the Mayan Calendar" was written 30 years ago, but it was only recently that it was first published in Pre-Columbiana.

Kelly's hypothesis is widely considered controversial. He argued that the calendars indicate contacts between Eurasia and Mesoamerica more than 1,000 years ago, which contradicts the well-established theory that such contact occurred only a few hundred years ago.

Kelly has supported the controversial theory of early overseas contacts, this theory has many supporters. The similarities between the calendars are only part of the evidence for early Mayan-Chinese contact.

Another researcher who coincidentally has nearly the same name, David B. Kelly, a linguist at Showa University in Tokyo, used a computer program to analyze the similarities between the two calendar systems. His talk, entitled "Comparison of Chinese and Mesoamerican Calendars," was published in the latest issue of Pre-Columbiana.

Similarity

In both calendar systems, days are associated with various elements (water, fire, earth, and so on) and animals. It is possible that the same calendar system has been redesigned by each culture in its own way.

We will consider just a few of the similarities given by scientists as examples.

Animals

The same days in both calendars are associated with a deer, a dog, and a monkey. Animals of other days are also similar. For example, one day in the Mayan calendar is associated with a jaguar, and the same in the Chinese calendar is associated with a tiger. Another day is associated with the crocodile in the Mayan calendar, and in the Chinese with the dragon. The associations are essentially similar, although the specific manifestations differ depending on the local fauna or the knowledge of the people. Domestic animals such as horses, sheep, cows and pigs are absent from the Mayan calendar.

Another example of the similarity between calendars is the combined symbolism of the rabbit and the moon.

“On the eighth day of the Aztecs, the day of the Rabbit, Mayauel, the goddess of the moon and the heady drink pulque, ruled,” writes Kelly. Images of a rabbit on the moon appeared in Mesoamerica in the 6th century. - Images of a rabbit on the moon preparing the elixir of immortality first appeared in China during the Han dynasty, in the 1st century BC. or a little earlier."

The Chinese system is also consistent with the Eurasian one. In the Old World, calendar systems were mixed up. Kelly cited Greek, Indian, and other systems as examples of how calendars in different cultures have similar roots, although they differ in shape.

He concluded that the Chinese and Mayan calendars have the same origin and did not evolve independently of each other. He also showed that even if some elements of the Mayan calendar do not correspond to the Chinese calendar, they are consistent with other Eurasian systems, which supports the theory of early contact.

Elements

David B. Kelly used INTERCAL, a computer program developed by astronomer Denis Eliott, to find similarities between the Mayan calendar days and the Chinese five elements (fire, water, earth, metal, and wood).

It should be noted that the start date of the Mayan calendar is a subject of controversy. No one knows for sure when the countdown began, it is generally accepted that on August 11, 3114 BC.

David B. Kelly started from this date and found nine similarities between the two systems in any of the 60-day periods, all associated with the names of the days and animals.

After that, he shifted the start date by four days, until August 7, 3114, and found 30 similarities in any of the 60-day periods, including element similarities.

Elliott warned that his program would become less accurate as the start date moved back in time.

Nonetheless, David B. Kelly writes, "Despite the lack of complete similarity, the possibility of a systematic relationship between certain Mesoamerican weekday names and Chinese Celestial Stems (elements) and Earthly Branches (animals) is tantalizing, to say the least."

Symbolism

Kelly faced the daunting task of unraveling the knots of changing associations over time. He gave several examples of how associations that, at first glance, do not correspond to each other, can have some kind of connection.

For example, the Pipil Maya list from Guatemala has the Tortoise in 19th position; the Malay list also includes the Tortoise in 19th position; other Maya and Aztec lists have thunderstorms in 19th position; and the Indian ones - the dog in the 19th position.

“The relationship between thunderstorm, dog and turtle is generally considered controversial,” Kelly writes. - However, the goddess of the 19th Aztec day was Chantico, the goddess of fire who was turned into a dog by the other gods. The concept of the lightning dog is common throughout Asia and also in Mexico, this is a Buddhist influence. The illustration in the Tibetan manuscript shows a lightning dog sitting on a turtle, which perfectly combines the concepts associated with the 19th position in the list of animals. The Mayan Madrid Codex also depicts a dog sitting on a turtle - a biological oddity."

Both scientists noted linguistic similarities between the names of calendar days.

David B. Kelly wrote: “The similarities are evident in linguistics. Words for decimal order in some Maya dialects and words for decimal order in some Chinese dialects are almost interchangeable. In my opinion, the correspondences that I have described are convincing evidence of cultural contacts between the people of Eurasia and the people of ancient Guatemala or Mexico."

He suggested that such contact could have occurred around the end of the first or beginning of the second century AD.