User talk:Mmentzer

Miranda 06:51, 6 March 2012 (UTC) Can't figure out how to show my page. Miranda 06:54, 6 March 2012 (UTC) O, there we go. =Ancient Maya Astrology= Most information on the astrology of the ancient Maya civilization comes from the Classic through Post-Classic and early Colonial periods, including information from Chichen Itza in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. The ancient Maya, as evident in many aspects of their culture, were preoccupied with time. Maya astronomers had advanced mathematical skills. However, the focus on their observations was on myths, placing their interpretations in the realm of astrology.

Through their consistent and daily observations of the night sky, Maya observers identified many significant patterns in nature. Some of these became the basis for the complex Maya calendar. These patterns became linked to Maya mythology, Maya religion and political propaganda.

Their observation and recoding methods are evident in the Maya codices, which record detailed astronomical information. Unfortunately, only a few remain. Among these is the Dresden Codex, which contains detailed information about the movements of planets and both solar and lunar eclipses.

The astronomical observations of the Maya were linked in all aspects of life: from the Maya religion, to Maya mythology, the Maya calendar and even Maya rulers. The Maya observed many astronomical features of the sky. From the sun and moon, to the planets, they recorded everything they saw. The quadripartite cosmology of the Maya suggests that they had a geocentric focused worldview with four corners, themselves in the middle. They observed other astronomical phenomena, including the weather. The astronomer would analyze the data from the almanacs, looking any for patterns. Once found, they used their advanced mathematical skills to calculate future phenomena. This article focuses on the three brightest objects in the sky.

The Sun
The creation of the sun is described in the transformation of the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh. The importance of the solar year, 365 days, is evident in the in the calendar of the haab', which is a tun of 360 plus 5 unlucky days at the end of the year. The Sun or K'in influenced the Maya in daily life, but more than meaning sun, the K'in was time, itself. Without the sun they knew that plants would not grow, thus the agriculture of the Maya depended on knowing the patterns of the sun and weather. The Maya tracked the ecliptic of the sun, and noticed both the solstices, the equinoxes, and the solar zenith of the sun. Most importantly, they tracked when an eclipse would occur. Many festivals and rituals were performed in conjunction with the sun, including the building of monuments, some creating spectacles that have been interpreted as designed to produce a hierophany. One example is the Temple of Kulkulkan, also known as El Castillo, at Chichen Itza. A play of light and shadow that appears to be a serpent on a staircase is still drawing many people there today. The alignment of the temple atop the pyramid may be a relation to the solar zenith and solar nadir. The astronomical observatory, El Caracol, has windows oriented towards the equinoxes and is irregularly shaped towards the solstices, with a view of the zenith sunset. The sun's path is shown in art, usually in the form of an umbilicus or a serpent, as in the designs the doorway of the North Temple of El Castillo. Thus, through the observation of the sun, they worshiped the sun god Kinich Ahau, depictions of the sun god are seen from temples, to images in the Dresden Codex, or in literature, such as the in the stories of Chilam Balam.

The Moon
The moon was considered the sun of the night. The creation of the moon is described in the transformation of the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh. The word for the month comes from the name of the moon. A numerical value of twenty is attributed to the moon glyph, and a unial is a period of twenty days. For 13 moons of 20 kins may have been the origin for the 260 day calendar, as 13 of the 20 name days associate to descriptions of those 13 months. The description of the moon as a young woman, in the early phase of the moon, to grandmother, in the later phase of the moon. The Maya calculated the lunar calendar of 81 synodic periods, which averages 29.5 days. The Maya tracked lunar eclipses, in conjunction with solar eclipses within tables of the Dresden Codex. The Maya moon goddess is not often depicted in stone, but many images of a young goddess are typically on ceramics, she is associated with a rabbit, and crescent.

Venus
Venus was known as chac ek, or noh ek, the "Great Star," and is the only planet for which we know a Maya name. This planet is the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon, and Maya observations of its movements were detailed and accurate. The Maya viewed the sideral cycle of Venus as approximately 584 days, observing it as morning star and evening star for an average of 260 days each. The period between these events is approximately sixty-four days. In the Dresden Codex the cycle of Venus is laid out over five pages of one 584 cycle per page. The synodic period of Venus is five complete cycles of Venus, or approximately eight solar years. The accurate record keeping of this planet over the years, led to the observance of its' complete cycle. This is evident in the Temple of the Jaguars at Chichen Itza, which shows the five cycles of Venus, with eight scenes of battles. This shows the division of the synodic cycle into eight solar years. With a star-war being fought in accordance with Venus cycles. Also, the data shows that they fought in the dry season and avoided fighting when Venus was invisible during superior conjunction. The helical rise of Venus seemed to be the most important to the Maya for they aligned it with 1 Ahau on the Tzolkin. They noticed that this rise took place, blindly, or during the retrograde period, the time when the planet goes in the opposite direction the rest of the planets. The feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, know as Kuk'ulk'an at Chichen Itza, may be linked to Venus as the morning star, as stories tell of his transformation into this star.