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The date 2012 has come to the notice of many of us because of it's associations with the ancient Mayan calendar. December 21st, 2012 is the final day of what is called The Long Count.
One of the most sacred numbers in the Mayan system is the number 1,872,000 (5,128 years). This is the length of The Great Circle, which is the distance between two significant astronomical events. The current cycle that we are on (The Great Circle) will come to an end on Winter Solstice 2012 (December 21, 2012), when we will have completed the cycle that was begun in 3114 BC and will start a new one. The Mayan Long Count is the means of tracking our journey through the Great Circle.
The Mayan represented numbers with different pictographs and symbols. The 2010 Long Count flute has been decorated over it's entire length with intricate relief carvings that represent the day the Long Count calendar comes to an end.
The Mayans did not represent 1,872,000 as one number, but rather as a collection of smaller numbers. These smaller numbers were represented by certain pictographs used in conjunction with a series of numbering symbols.
A series of dots and dashes could be used to count with, a dash representing the number 5 and the dot being the number 1. So to write the number 13 they would use two dashes and three dots.
However, they used a pictographic system for counting days, and they had a specific pictograph to represent different chunks of time, in the same way that we break our calendar down into days, weeks, months and years. The Mayans used Kins, Uinals, Tuns, Katuns, and Baktuns.
Kin = 1 day
Uinal = 20 Kin (days)
Tun = 360 Kin (days)
Katun = 7200 Kin (days)
Baktun = 144,000 Kin (days)
So to represent a number as large as 1,872,000, the Mayan did not simply write it out with dashes and dots, but rather they used the dashes and dots to indicate how many Kin, Uinal, Tun, Katun and Baktun make up the number.
This is why, when reading about the end of the Mayan Long Count, we find the number 13.0.0.0.0. expressed. Here is what it means:
13 Baktuns
0 Katuns
0 Tuns
0 Uinals
0 Kins
The number zero is represented by a pictograph of a shell. So if a Baktun is 144,000 days, then 13 Baktun is 1,872,000 days. But to represent this number, one does not simply write 13 Baktuns. It is also necessary to indicate how many Katuns, Tuns, Uinals and Kins are part of the equation. In the same way that we would indicate the date by telling the day, the month and the year (i.e. 12/21/2012).
So to represent 1,872,000, the Mayan would have the number 13 next to the pictograph of Baktun. But they would also have the shell (0) next to each of the other appropriate pictographs (Katuns, Tuns, Uinals and Kins).
The Long Count is not the only Mayan calendar. They have others: The Tzolkin calendar (which is a religious calendar) and the Haab calendar, which is a 365 day calendar that is used in conjunction with other calendars.
And let's not forget The Lord Of The Night. To quote from the website www.pauahtun.org: "J. Eric S. Thompson first determined that this cycle was used as a component of Mayan dates back in the thirties. He speculated (and it is still a speculation) that the nine-day cycle of G glyphs corresponded to a nine-god association of nine Lords of the Night in common usage among the Aztecs. Each day in the Calendar is under the influence of a particular Lord of the Night (G-Lords), and the cycle began on day 0 of the Mayan calendar. "
Confused yet? I wouldn't be surprised! Mayan time keeping is an intricate and multi-layered discipline, and this explanation only scratches the surface. But the purpose is to explain why the Long Count flute has the designs that it does. So on this flute you will find the following symbols (from the mouthpiece down):
13 Baktuns
0 Katuns
0 Tuns
0 Uinals
0 Kins
4 Ahau (Tzolkin calendar)
3 Kankin (Haab calendar)
Lord Of The Night (G9)
Regardless of what one believes about the Mayan people and the significance of The Long Count itself in relation to our modern era, the idea has both beauty and symmetry and the pictographs are compelling and exotic, and they make for a beautiful and unusual flute.
These photos show the flute being rotated to display the wrapped carving.
The 2012 Scott August Long Count TuningTM is made from premium quality hard Maple, dyed to capture the mood of ancient jade.
Price: $375 To pre-order one of these flutes call 707-839-5199 or E-MAIL me.
Here is a sound sample of Scott August playing a piece he composed on the Long Count Flute. It is called "Lord Of The Night (solo version)".
The Mayan Long Count Flute
2012 Scott August Signature Flute
"Each year that Geoffrey Ellis and I have collaborated on a signature flute we have tried to produce something completely unique in both the design and scale of the flute. Before we started to work on the 2012 signature flute my thoughts had already turned toward doing something to honor and celebrate the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar, December 21, 2012.
Beginning with the first book I ever read about the Mayans I have been fascinated by their calendars. They have three. Two that are similar to a couple of Aztec calendars, the 365 day solar Haab calendar, and the 260 day zolk'in calendar, which work together like gears of different sizes. In order for them to return to the same combination takes 52 years, the Mayan version of a century. For the Aztecs the celebration of the new century was the New Fire ceremony. The New Fire ceremony can be found in cultures throughout Meso America and the Pueblo Southwest, although most are celebrated on a yearly cycle.
The other calendar used by the Mayans is called the Long Count and was used for expressing dates longer than 52 years. The Long Count cycle is thought to be 5,125 years long. and by most accounts we are currently living during in the fourth repetition of the Long count. (The long count calendar system is not unique to the Mayan. Most Meso American cultures, including the Aztecs had a similar calendar and its origins appear to go back to the Olmecs, the first and oldest "high culture" of Meso America.)
In the Popol Vuh, the oldest surviving Mayan story of creation, each repetition of the Long Count is considered a world, and we are currently in is the fourth world, i.e. the fourth Long Count. (The Pueblos of the American Southwest also believe we are in the fourth world.) In the first world the Mayan gods of creation, including the deity "Heart of Sky" created the Earth out the void and began their first attempts to create humans. The current Long Count began on the date August 11th, 3114 BC by the Gregorian calendar according to some calculations and will end on December 21st, 2012.
There is speculation about whether or not the world will end in an Apocalypse on that date or if the fifth Long Count will start and we will enter a new world, a new era. Either way, it is a date of great importance in the Mayan culture and is provoking interest among the rest of the world.
When Geoffrey and I began to talk about the 2012 Scott August Signature Flute, I was very excited to do something that reflected this auspicious event, both in the flute's look and in its sound. I put the idea to Geoffrey about doing a Long Count flute that would have glyphs from the Mayan number system on the flute which would display the date that the calendar ends. I also wanted to have a tuning that would evoke the mystery and power of the Mayan culture at its height during the Classic period (c. 250-900 AD).
We poked around online and found some references to the glyphs illustrating the ending Long Count date of 13.0.0.0.0, what we would call December 21, 2012. Geoffrey did some more research while I was on the road and came up with the designs. (See details below)
In the meantime I went through my collection of flutes based on Aztec, Mayan and Quechua artifacts. None of them had the scale I was looking for. However, an alternate fingering on the Anasazi (Ancient Pueblo) flute that I use to produce some very uncommon pitches was exactly the evocative sound I was hearing in my head. I played it for Geoffrey, both on the Anasazi flute and on a piano and we both decided this was the perfect scale to use.
The flute has four holes and is based on the root note of A and produces the pitches: A-C#-D#-E-G-A. Expressed as intervals the notes are Root - Maj 3rd - Augmented 4th (flatted 5th) - 5th - Min 7th - Octave.
This is a rare and exotic flute, with a mysterious scale and sound. Perfect for the End of Time or the beginning of a New Era!"
Want to know more about the Mayan Long Count? Read on!
