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The Maya sacred calendar
your birthday, in Maya time.
How the count works
How the count works
thirteen numbers, twenty days.
The Maya kept several calendars at once. The one behind the search for "Mayan zodiac signs" is the sacred 260-day count, which scholars call the Tzolkʼin. Twenty named days turn alongside the numbers 1 to 13, like two interlocking wheels, so each pairing comes round once every 260 days.
The Maya did not cast horoscopes. But every day had a sign and a character, and in the highlands of Guatemala, Kʼicheʼ daykeepers still keep this count today, unbroken. The day you were born on is your day sign.
Your sign is a number and a day name together, like 4 Ajaw. Some sites call the number your tone. It is written the Maya way: a dot is one and a bar is five. So 4 is four dots, and 13 is two bars with three dots above them.
Your sign's place is our own pairing: a Maya site in Belize matched to the meaning of each day. It is a reason to go and stand there, not an ancient association.
All twenty day signs
All twenty day signs
every day has a sign.
The 365-day calendar
The 365-day calendar
the nineteen months.
Alongside the sacred count, the Maya kept the Haabʼ: eighteen months of twenty days, followed by the five days of Wayeb. Lists of "19 Mayan zodiac signs" use these month names. They are calendar months, with no ancient personality readings attached.
The festival notes below come from Diego de Landa, the friar who burned Maya books in 1562. His account describes 16th-century Yucatán, not ancient Belize. These are our own summaries of that record, read with its author's role in mind.
The older spellings sit beside the month names, along with their Classic-period readings. A meaning appears only where we can cite it; otherwise we say meaning uncertain. The dates below follow our 584283 correlation, and the Haabʼ date in your result uses your civil birthday, even after sunset.
Pop
Classic name: Kʼanjalaw? / Kʼanjalab?
mat
Meaning source
Kettunen & Helmke, Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th ed. (2020), p. 115, pohp; Mesoweb, English to Classic Maya vocabulary, mat: pop.
New Year brought fresh household goods and the discarding of old ones.
In 2026: 30 Mar to 18 Apr
Wo
also written Uo
Classic name: Ikʼat / Wooh(iil)
meaning uncertain
Priests purified and consulted their books at Pocam.
In 2026: 19 Apr to 8 May
Sip
also written Zip
Classic name: Chakat
meaning uncertain
Healers honoured Ixchel; hunters and fishermen held separate ceremonies.
In 2026: 9 May to 28 May
Sotzʼ
also written Zotz, Zotzʼ
Classic name: Suutzʼ
bat
Meaning source
Kettunen & Helmke, Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th ed. (2020), pp. 58 and 116, suutzʼ.
Beekeepers began fasting ahead of their coming festival.
In 2026: 29 May to 17 Jun
Sek
also written Tzec
Classic name: Kasew / Kusew
meaning uncertain
Beekeepers honoured the Bacabs and sought plentiful honey.
In 2026: 18 Jun to 7 Jul
Xul
Classic name: ?
meaning uncertain
At Maní, Kukulkan received five days and nights of offerings.
In 2026: 8 Jul to 27 Jul
Yaxkʼin
also written Yaxkin
Classic name: Yaxkʼin
meaning uncertain
Tools were anointed; children received knuckle taps to encourage skill.
In 2026: 28 Jul to 16 Aug
Mol
Classic name: Mol / Molol / Molow
meaning uncertain
Beekeepers sought flowers, while artisans carved wooden images of deities.
In 2026: 17 Aug to 5 Sep
Chʼen
also written Chen
Classic name: Ikʼsihom
black in the Classic name (ikʼ)
Meaning source
Kettunen & Helmke, Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th ed. (2020), Table XII, p. 58; p. 105, ikʼ.
Newly carved images were completed and ceremonially blessed.
In 2026: 6 Sep to 25 Sep
Yax
Classic name: Yaxsihom
green in the Classic name (yax)
Meaning source
Kettunen & Helmke, Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th ed. (2020), Table XIII, p. 59; p. 121, yax: blue-green.
Oc-na renewed temples in honour of the rain deities, the Chacs.
In 2026: 26 Sep to 15 Oct
Sak
also written Zac
Classic name: Saksihom
white
Meaning source
Kettunen & Helmke, Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th ed. (2020), Table XIII, p. 59; p. 115, sak.
Hunters sought pardon for the blood their hunting had spilled.
In 2026: 16 Oct to 4 Nov
Keh
also written Ceh
Classic name: Chaksihom
red in the Classic name (chak)
Meaning source
Kettunen & Helmke, Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th ed. (2020), Table XIII, p. 59; p. 100, chak.
Landa records no festival for this month.
In 2026: 5 Nov to 24 Nov
Mak
also written Mac
Classic name: Mak
meaning uncertain
Elders performed a rain ceremony for Itzamná and the Chacs.
In 2026: 25 Nov to 14 Dec
Kʼankʼin
also written Kankin
Classic name: Uniw
meaning uncertain
Landa records no festival for this month.
In 2026: 1 Jan to 3 Jan and 15 Dec to 31 Dec
Muwan
also written Muan
Classic name: Muwaan / Muwan
a supernatural bird of prey
Meaning source
Kettunen & Helmke, Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th ed. (2020), p. 112, muwaan.
Cacao growers honoured Ek Chuah, Chac and Hobnil.
In 2026: 4 Jan to 23 Jan
Pax
Classic name: Pax
meaning uncertain
Pacum-chac honoured the Nacon, the war leader, with warrior dances.
In 2026: 24 Jan to 12 Feb
Kʼayab
also written Kayab
Classic name: Kʼanasiiy
meaning uncertain
The Sabacil-than feasts continued through this month before New Year.
In 2026: 13 Feb to 4 Mar
Kumkʼu
also written Cumku, Cumhu
Classic name: ? Ohl
meaning uncertain
The Sabacil-than feasts continued through this month before New Year.
In 2026: 5 Mar to 24 Mar
Wayeb
also written Uayeb
Classic name: Wayhaab? / Kolajaw
meaning uncertain
For five days, people avoided heavy work, washing and unnecessary outings.
In 2026: 25 Mar to 29 Mar
The months move
The months move
why fixed birthday dates do not work.
The Haabʼ always lasts 365 days, with no leap day. The Gregorian calendar adds leap days, so a Haabʼ month moves about one day earlier in it every four years. Your birth year matters: 28 October was 13 Yax in 1950 but 12 Sak in 2026.
That is why a fixed list of birthday ranges cannot give everyone's Haabʼ month. Our calculator counts from your full date, and the month list shows the ranges for the current year. A month that crosses New Year can have two separate ranges within that year.
A note on accuracy
why your sign might differ by a day or two.
To turn a modern date into a Maya one, scholars need a single fixed number, the correlation constant, and they still debate it by a few days. The most widely used is 584283. The Wayeb handbook uses 584285, and Simon Martin and Joel Skidmore have argued for 584286.
We use 584283 because it matches the count living Kʼicheʼ daykeepers keep. A calculator built on another constant can land you one to three days along the count.
Many online calculators use something else entirely: the Dreamspell, a modern system created by José Argüelles, who counts its years from 1987. It skips 29 February, so it drifts away from the traditional count every leap year, and it often gives a completely different sign.
The Maya day also begins at sunset, not at midnight. If you were born in the evening after the sun went down, choose "Born after sunset?" and your sign moves to the next day.
Questions travelers ask
Mayan zodiac signs, answered
Is there really a Mayan zodiac?
Not in the sense of a horoscope. The Maya had no star signs. What they did have is the sacred 260-day count, the Tzolkʼin, in which every day has a sign and a character. Your birthday falls on one of those days, and that is what people mean by a Mayan zodiac sign.
What is my Mayan zodiac sign?
Enter your birthday in the calculator at the top of this page. It finds the day you were born on in the 260-day count, using the same correlation as living Kʼicheʼ daykeepers, and gives you your number and day sign, such as 4 Ajaw.
How many Mayan zodiac signs are there?
There are twenty day signs, from Imix to Ajaw, each paired with a number from 1 to 13, which makes 260 combinations. Lists of nineteen signs use the months of the 365-day Haabʼ calendar instead, a different calendar from the sacred count.
Why do Mayan zodiac sign calculators give different answers?
Two reasons. Scholars still debate the correlation between the Maya and European calendars by up to three days, and many calculators use the Dreamspell, a modern system that skips 29 February and drifts away from the traditional count. We use 584283, the count daykeepers keep today.
What does the number, or tone, mean?
The number from 1 to 13 is the day's position in a count of thirteen that runs alongside the twenty day names. Some sites call it your tone. Daykeepers read the number and the day sign together, so 4 Ajaw and 9 Ajaw are different days with different readings.
What are the 19 Mayan zodiac signs?
These lists use the nineteen months of the Haabʼ: eighteen twenty-day months plus the five days of Wayeb. They are separate from the twenty day signs of the sacred count. The months do not come with ancient personality readings, and their Gregorian date ranges depend on the year.
What is Zotz in the Mayan zodiac?
Zotz is an older spelling of Sotzʼ, a month of the Maya Haabʼ calendar whose name means bat. It is a calendar month. To find whether your birthday falls in Sotzʼ, use your birth year as well as the month and day, because the Gregorian dates shift over time.
Why do Mayan zodiac sign dates change?
The Haabʼ has 365 days and never adds a leap day. The Gregorian calendar does, so Haabʼ months shift by about one day every four years against it. A fixed birthday range misses that difference. Your full birth date is needed to calculate your Haabʼ month.
Sources
Sources
where this comes from.
- Simon Martin and Joel Skidmore, "Exploring the 584286 Correlation between the Maya and European Calendars", The PARI Journal 13(2), 2012.The correlation debate, and the evidence that the tzolkʼin day begins at sunset.
- Harri Kettunen and Christophe Helmke, Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th revised edition, Wayeb, 2020.Day and month names (Tables X to XIII), Classic readings and the cited dictionary entries for month meanings.
- Kʼicheʼ Day Keepers of Komon Tohil, Zunil, "The Meaning of the Days in the Maya Sacred Calendar", Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Living Maya Time.The meanings on this page are our own retelling of their text.
- Sylvanus G. Morley, An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 57, 1915.The day-sign glyphs, traced from Figure 16. Public domain.
- Diego de Landa, Relación de las cosas de Yucatán, in William Gates, Yucatan Before and After the Conquest (1937), Chapter XL.The month festival record for 16th-century Yucatán, paraphrased in our own words.
- Sylvanus G. Morley, An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs, Bulletin 57 (1915), Figure 19.The month glyphs, traced from Figure 19. Public domain.
- Mesoweb, English to Classic Maya vocabulary.An additional reference for Pop, meaning mat.