Baktun

A baktun is a cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar. A Baktun consists of 20 Katun, each 7200 days, for a total of 144,000 days ( 394.26 tropical years ).

The thirteenth baktun ended on December 21, 2012 ( 13.0.0.0.0, December 20, 2012: 12.19.19.17.19 ), which the fourteenth Baktun began (December 22, 2012: 13.0.0.0.1, December 23, 2012: 13.0.0.0.2 etc.). The interest on this date stems inter alia from the fact that the Creation of the Maya also falls on these dates (August 11, 3114 BC: 13.0.0.0.0, the first Baktun of the calendar was once deviating 13 instead of 0 Baktun Baktun called ) and this number combination is repeated in 2012 for the first time.

20 Baktun give a pictun, which does not start on 20 Baktun, but back to 0 after completion of 19 Baktun Baktun of the calendar.

Although the end of a baktun often associated with religious rituals and the construction of a memorial stone, there are remarkably few memorial stones from the end of the tenth baktun ( 10.0.0.0.0 after the Long Count or 830 AD). Only in Oxpemul, a little important city, as well as Uaxactún, a city on the rise, stones were found.