Haab Months

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "Haab Months." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/categories/haab-months.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). Haab Months. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/categories/haab-months

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-haab-months,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {Haab Months},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/categories/haab-months},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The haab is the Maya solar calendar of 365 days: eighteen months of twenty days each, Pop, Wo, Sip, Sotz and the rest through Kumku, followed by a five-day period called Wayeb regarded as unlucky and dangerous. Because the haab carries no leap-year adjustment, its months slowly drift against the true solar year over long spans of time. Combined with the 260-day tzolkin it produces the Calendar Round, a fifty-two year cycle after which a given date pairing recurs. This category holds the nineteen named periods, each carrying its own patron deity and rites, recorded in the Dresden Codex and in colonial Yucatec sources such as Diego de Landa's account, and confirmed independently by dated inscriptions.

Facts

Overview

Size of the Traditional Set

18 named months of 20 days, plus the 5-day Wayeb 1

Peoples and Traditions Covered

Kept across many distinct Maya peoples and languages, Yucatec, Ch'olan, K'iche', Kaqchikel, Ixil and others, not one culture. Day-keepers in the Guatemalan highlands maintain the counts today. 1

Structure

A 365-day year of eighteen twenty-day months followed by the five-day Wayeb, with no leap day, so it drifts against the true solar year. Meshed with the 260-day tzolkin it yields the 52-year Calendar Round. 1

Status

Status Today

Living tradition, practised today 1

Learn More

The Months of the Maya Solar Calendar

The haab is the Maya solar calendar of three hundred and sixty-five days: eighteen months of twenty days each, followed by a short period of five days called Wayeb, regarded as unlucky and dangerous. Each of the eighteen named months (Pop, Wo, Sip, and the rest), runs its twenty days, and the year turns through them alongside the separate 260-day ritual count.

Combined with the 260-day tzolkin, the haab produces the Calendar Round, a cycle of fifty-two years after which a given tzolkin-and-haab date recurs, a fundamental unit of Mesoamerican timekeeping.

The Solar Year and the Wayeb

The haab approximates the solar year but, lacking a leap day, drifts slowly against the true seasons over long spans. The five-day Wayeb at the year's end was a liminal, ill-omened time, marked by rituals of caution. The haab worked together with the tzolkin and, for long spans, the Long Count.

The atlas gives each haab month its place in the year and its associations, and treats the Wayeb period. The haab belongs with the Maya calendrical material, the tzolkin day-signs and tones, and the Long Count, under Calendars & Time.

Cross-Tradition Connections