比較古代中國與馬雅的曆法

根據陳久金先生研究，夏曆每年10個月，屬陽曆。直到春秋，杞國仍沿用夏曆。馬雅文化可遠溯至奧梅克文化(1200-600B.C.)，馬雅曆法則有太陽曆、神聖曆與長紀年法。太陽曆用於農事，神聖曆用於宗教，長紀年法用於宗教與歷史。阿茲特克人（13~16世紀）將這三種系統略加修改，一直沿用至被西班牙人征服。馬雅的曆法與其宇宙觀和神話傳說有著密切的關係。為了平衡宇宙中各個神明的鬥爭，馬雅人必須細心分配每年、每月、甚至於每日的一些時間給各神明，再加上馬雅人未能克服分數計算，因而不設閏年。總結來說，馬雅曆法與中國曆法有以下相似之處：(1)雙方都用干支式紀日。(2)雙方都用動、植物生肖紀日（馬雅有20生肖）。(3)雙方都有類似甲子的觀念（馬雅一甲子為52年）。（4）馬雅曆特別崇拜金星，不過古代中國也很看重金星的研究（如「殷星」與長沙馬王堆《五星占》）。(5)雙方都視過年為不吉（中國年獸vs.馬雅凶日）。(6)雙方的曆法到了晚期仍都帶有「物候」特徵。中國與馬雅曆法亦有其相異之處：(1)中國曆法本質為陰、陽合曆，馬雅曆法本質為太陽及金星曆。(2)馬雅曆罕置閏日、閏月，不置閏年。(3)日數、星期數、月份數與中國不同。馬雅人視13及20為重要數字。根據考古研究，張光直認為，中國先民與馬雅先民可能源自一共同祖先。但因證據不夠充分，只能視為假說。

關鍵字

太陽曆；神聖曆；長紀年法；宇宙觀；夏曆；甲子；干支式紀日

並列摘要

According to the Chinese historian of science, Dr. Chen, Jou-jin, the Xia (2100-1600B.C.) Calendar is a sort of ten-month sun calendar. Until the Spring and Autumn Period (770-221B.C.), the Kingdom of Chi (杞國) still kept using the Xia system. The origin of the Mayan calendar could be dated back to the Olmec culture (1200-600B.C.), there are three kinds of Mayan calendar: the Tzolkin (divine calendar), the Haab (the civic) and the Long Count (religion and history).The Aztecs just modified them a little, kept using them until the Spanish conquest in the 16(superscript th) century. The Mayan calendar has close relationship with its universe view as well as its creation stories. In order to balance the various great forces (like wind and fire) of the universe, and to keep any one dominate force from breaking the balance, the Mayan astronomers have to distribute time of each year, each month, even each day to their Gods very carefully. And probably due to lacking the concept of fraction, it seems that they seldom or never deal with leap year. To sum up, the Mayan calendar has much similarity to the Chinese one, especially seems strikingly on the concept of Chia-Tze (the 60-year cycle) vs. the Mayan Xiuhmolpilli/Bundle (the 52-year cycle); the second striking similar point is the practice of ten-month sun calendar, although there are differences about the number of dates in each month. Both of them use animal signs and numbers to mark days; both of them respect Venus (especially the Shang Dynasty, c.a.1600-1046B.C.); and both of them see the last five days of a year as unlucky/omen days, etc. Their main differences between these two systems including the Venus cycle in the Mayan calendar which is not obvious in the Chinese lunar-sun dual system; the Mayan lacks a way to count the leap year; and the number of days/weeks/months in a year are different from the Chinese calendar. Judged from the viewpoint of comparing calendars as well as other archaeological evidence, whether the Chinese and the Mayans have a common cultural root, or it is simply a similarity of human thoughts need to be investigated further in the future.