Who is Long Count?

Long Count is like having a super long birthday party that goes on for thousands of years.

Imagine you have a calendar that counts how many days you've been alive, not just by years, but also by months, weeks, and even special numbers. That’s what the Long Count does, but instead of counting your life, it counts the history of a whole ancient civilization called the Maya.

The Maya used a system that had different levels:

1. Days, like how we count days on a calendar.
2. Weeks, kind of like weeks, but bigger.
3. Years, just like our years.
4. Bigger chunks of time, like decades or centuries.
5. The biggest chunk, it’s like saying "a whole bunch of centuries."

They added up all these parts to track how much time had passed since the beginning of their calendar.

The Long Count helped them plan big events, know when seasons would change, and even predict important days in their history. It was a super smart way for them to keep track of time, like having a giant, ancient timer!