Astrology systems · The 20 day signs
Twenty days, three languages, one living calendar
What each Mayan day sign means, from Imix to Ajaw, in the Yucatec glyph names, in the K'iche' names daykeepers use today, and in the Aztec count.
Photo: Ian Livesey / ISO Republic
At a glance
The 20 Mayan day signs, in order, are Imix, Ik', Ak'bal, K'an, Chikchan, Kimi, Manik', Lamat, Muluk, Ok, Chuwen, Eb', B'en, Ix, Men, Kib', Kab'an, Etz'nab', Kawak, Ajaw. Each pairs with a number from 1 to 13. On October 18, 2026 the day is 9 Muluk: Toj in K'iche', from the word for offering, fine and payment.
- Sign on Oct 18, 2026
- 9 MulukToj · Atl (water)
- Trecena
- 1 ImixOct 10, 2026 to Oct 22, 2026
- Each sign in 2027
- 18 or 19 days19 for K'an, Chikchan, Kimi, Manik', Lamat
- Next 8 B'atz'
- Mar 9, 2027K'iche' new cycle
- Counted on
- GMT 584283the living K'iche' count
Find your own day signBirth date in, Tzolk'in sign and number out.
How to read a sign
Each day sign carries three names
Try this today
- Find your birth day sign, then read all three of its names in the table below. Notice which image speaks to you.
- October 18, 2026 is 9 Muluk. Watch the sign change the next day and the number climb, until 13 resets to 1.
Look up a Mayan sign and you will meet several names for the same day. That is not a mistake. It is history.
The Yucatec names, Imix, Ik', Ak'bal and the rest, are the ones recorded in 16th-century Yucatán, and they are how scholars label the glyphs. Their meanings are partly reconstructed: Imix is read as crocodile or the earth, Lamat as rabbit or Venus, and a few remain uncertain (Tzolk'in).
The K'iche' names, Imox, Iq', Aq'ab'al and on to Ajpu, belong to a living tradition. In highland Guatemala, daykeepers called ajq'ijab' still keep the count, which they call the Cholq'ij, for ceremonies and counsel. The sign of your birth day is your nawal.
The Aztec names in Nahuatl, Cipactli to Xochitl, come from the tonalpohualli, the same 260-day count kept in central Mexico.
Then there is the number. A day is never just "Kawak." It is 5 Kawak or 12 Kawak, and the number changes each time the sign returns, every 20 days.
The sky behind it
| # | Yucatec | K'iche' | Aztec | Name means | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Imix | Imox | Cipactli (crocodile) | Crocodile; the earth | Oct 30, 2026 · 8 Imix |
| 2 | Ik' | Iq' | Ehecatl (wind) | Wind; breath, life | Oct 31, 2026 · 9 Ik' |
| 3 | Ak'bal | Aq'ab'al | Calli (house) | Night; darkness | Nov 1, 2026 · 10 Ak'bal |
| 4 | K'an | K'at | Cuetzpalin (lizard) | Maize; also lizard, net | Nov 2, 2026 · 11 K'an |
| 5 | Chikchan | Kan | Coatl (serpent) | Snake | Nov 3, 2026 · 12 Chikchan |
| 6 | Kimi | Kame | Miquiztli (death) | Death | Nov 4, 2026 · 13 Kimi |
| 7 | Manik' | Kej | Mazatl (deer) | Deer | Nov 5, 2026 · 1 Manik' |
| 8 | Lamat | Q'anil | Tochtli (rabbit) | Rabbit; Venus | Nov 6, 2026 · 2 Lamat |
| 9 | Muluk | Toj | Atl (water) | Water; jade | Oct 18, 2026 · 9 Muluk |
| 10 | Ok | Tz'i' | Itzcuintli (dog) | Dog | Oct 19, 2026 · 10 Ok |
| 11 | Chuwen | B'atz' | Ozomahtli (monkey) | Monkey | Oct 20, 2026 · 11 Chuwen |
| 12 | Eb' | E' | Malinalli (grass) | Grass or point; rain | Oct 21, 2026 · 12 Eb' |
| 13 | B'en | Aj | Acatl (reed) | Reed | Oct 22, 2026 · 13 B'en |
| 14 | Ix | I'x | Ocelotl (jaguar) | Jaguar | Oct 23, 2026 · 1 Ix |
| 15 | Men | Tz'ikin | Cuauhtli (eagle) | Eagle | Oct 24, 2026 · 2 Men |
| 16 | Kib' | Ajmaq | Cozcacuauhtli (vulture) | Owl or vulture | Oct 25, 2026 · 3 Kib' |
| 17 | Kab'an | No'j | Ollin (movement) | Earthquake | Oct 26, 2026 · 4 Kab'an |
| 18 | Etz'nab' | Tijax | Tecpatl (flint) | Flint knife | Oct 27, 2026 · 5 Etz'nab' |
| 19 | Kawak | Kawoq | Quiahuitl (rain) | Rain or storm | Oct 28, 2026 · 6 Kawak |
| 20 | Ajaw | Ajpu | Xochitl (flower) | Lord | Oct 29, 2026 · 7 Ajaw |
The living tradition
What the daykeepers of Zunil say about each sign
Try this today
- Read what is said of your birth sign, then of a friend's. Talk about which parts ring true and which do not.
- Treat it the way the daykeepers describe it: a temperament to understand, not a fate to accept.
The meanings on this page come from a short text written by the Group of K'iche' Day Keepers Komon Tohil in Zunil, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, and published by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in its Living Maya Time project. We paraphrase it. It is one community's reading, in their words, not a universal rulebook, and other daykeepers may put things differently.
For each sign they give three things: where the name comes from, what the day is good for, and what people born on it tend to be like. The sign of October 18, 2026, Toj, they trace to the word for offering, fine and payment, and also help, listening and understanding. The nawal of fire. People ask for the strength to avoid mistakes, for an end to suffering, and for hidden things to come into the light.
Some readings are tender, some blunt. People born on Tz'i' are called intelligent, and also jealous. People born on Ajpu are talented and affectionate, and also hot-tempered. That frankness is part of the point. A nawal describes a temperament to work with, not a grade.
The biggest day in their year is 8 B'atz', when the new 260-day cycle begins and new daykeepers are initiated. The daykeeper Andrés Xiloj of Momostenango described daykeepers from across Guatemala gathering there on 8 B'atz' to renew their vows. On the GMT count it falls next on March 9, 2027.
The sky behind it
8 B'atz' dates computed on GMT 584283: Jan 18, 2025, Oct 5, 2025, Jun 22, 2026, Mar 9, 2027, Nov 24, 2027, Aug 10, 2028. The Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala lists January 18, 2025, June 22, 2026 and March 9, 2027, the same days.
Numbers and weeks
The 13-day trecena: how numbers and signs travel together
Try this today
- Find the trecena you were born in, using the calculator. Then read the sign that opens it.
- Pick one trecena in the table and treat its 13 days as a small season of your own: one intention, checked once at the end.
Every day carries a number from 1 to 13, so the count falls naturally into 13-day stretches. Each stretch is named for its first day: the trecena of 1 Imix, then 1 Ix, then 1 Manik', and so on. Trecena is a Spanish word, used by colonial writers describing the Aztec almanacs, where each 13-day period got its own page.
The current round of 260 days began on 1 Imix, October 10, 2026. We are in the trecena of 1 Imix (1 Cipactli in the Aztec count) until October 22, 2026. The next round begins on June 27, 2027.
Notice the order of the trecenas. Because 13 days move you 13 places along the 20 signs, each trecena opens on a sign seven places back: Imix, Ix, Manik', Ajaw, B'en, and so on. All 20 signs get a turn before the round closes.
That is why your birth sign also sits inside a trecena. If you were born on 9 Muluk, you were born in the trecena of 1 Imix. The Mayan zodiac calculator shows yours.
The sky behind it
| Trecena | Aztec | Runs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Imix | 1 Cipactli | Oct 10, 2026 to Oct 22, 2026 |
| 1 Ix | 1 Ocelotl | Oct 23, 2026 to Nov 4, 2026 |
| 1 Manik' | 1 Mazatl | Nov 5, 2026 to Nov 17, 2026 |
| 1 Ajaw | 1 Xochitl | Nov 18, 2026 to Nov 30, 2026 |
| 1 B'en | 1 Acatl | Dec 1, 2026 to Dec 13, 2026 |
| 1 Kimi | 1 Miquiztli | Dec 14, 2026 to Dec 26, 2026 |
| 1 Kawak | 1 Quiahuitl | Dec 27, 2026 to Jan 8, 2027 |
| 1 Eb' | 1 Malinalli | Jan 9, 2027 to Jan 21, 2027 |
| 1 Chikchan | 1 Coatl | Jan 22, 2027 to Feb 3, 2027 |
| 1 Etz'nab' | 1 Tecpatl | Feb 4, 2027 to Feb 16, 2027 |
| 1 Chuwen | 1 Ozomahtli | Feb 17, 2027 to Mar 1, 2027 |
| 1 K'an | 1 Cuetzpalin | Mar 2, 2027 to Mar 14, 2027 |
| 1 Kab'an | 1 Ollin | Mar 15, 2027 to Mar 27, 2027 |
| 1 Ok | 1 Itzcuintli | Mar 28, 2027 to Apr 9, 2027 |
| 1 Ak'bal | 1 Calli | Apr 10, 2027 to Apr 22, 2027 |
| 1 Kib' | 1 Cozcacuauhtli | Apr 23, 2027 to May 5, 2027 |
| 1 Muluk | 1 Atl | May 6, 2027 to May 18, 2027 |
| 1 Ik' | 1 Ehecatl | May 19, 2027 to May 31, 2027 |
| 1 Men | 1 Cuauhtli | Jun 1, 2027 to Jun 13, 2027 |
| 1 Lamat | 1 Tochtli | Jun 14, 2027 to Jun 26, 2027 |
Where the names meet
Same day, different pictures: Maya, K'iche' and Aztec
Try this today
- If your sign has three different pictures, keep all three. Each is a real, documented reading of the same day.
- Read the Popol Vuh's Hero Twins story. It is short, strange and very funny in places.
Lay the three lists side by side and you see a shared calendar with local imagery.
The names agree on Ik', Chikchan, Kimi, Manik', Ok, Ix, Etz'nab' and their partners: wind, serpent, death, deer, dog, jaguar and flint read the same in Yucatec, K'iche' and Nahuatl. Kawak (storm) and Quiahuitl (rain) are close cousins.
Elsewhere the pictures part. Maya Ak'bal is night, while the Aztec day is Calli, a house. Lamat carries a star and is linked with Venus, while the Aztec day is Tochtli, a rabbit. Ajaw, lord, is Xochitl, flower. And the K'iche' names often go their own way: Muluk (water) is Toj, an offering, and Kab'an (earthquake) is No'j, thought.
Some names also live in story. In the K'iche' Popol Vuh, the Hero Twin Junajpu carries the day name Ajpu, and the twins' monkey half-brothers, the artisans Jun B'atz' and Jun Chowen, carry the two names of sign 11 (Popol Vuh).
Myth check
Red Dragon, Yellow Seed: where the colour names come from
Try this today
- Compare a Dreamspell reading with your Tzolk'in day from the calculator. Note where they differ.
- If you love the Dreamspell names, keep them, and call them what they are.
Many apps and sites give your Mayan sign as a colour and a creature: Red Dragon, White Wind, Blue Night, Yellow Seed. Those names come from Dreamspell, a system José and Lloydine Argüelles began in 1987 and released as a board game in 1990 (Wikipedia).
Dreamspell's twenty "solar seals" cycle through four colours and loosely echo the Maya signs, Dragon for Imix, Wind for Ik', Night for Ak'bal. But it keeps its own count. Leap days are set aside as "0.0 Hunab Ku," outside the 260, which the traditional count never does. Over the years the two drift apart, so a Dreamspell result for your birthday usually lands on a different day from the one daykeepers would give you.
Dreamspell is a modern spiritual system with its own following, and that is fine on its own terms. It is just not the Maya calendar. Every date on this page uses the traditional count.
Day sign explorer
Tap a sign, or enter a birth date
All 20 signs with their three names, the K'iche' daykeepers' reading, and when each one comes round next, computed from today's date where you are. It opens on today's sign.
Pick a sign
Sign 9 of 20
Muluk · Toj · Atl
Yucatec gloss: Water; jade. Aztec: Atl, water.
In K’iche’, the daykeepers of Zunil trace Toj to the word for offering, fine and payment, and also help, listening and understanding. The nawal of fire. People ask for the strength to avoid mistakes, for an end to suffering, and for hidden things to come into the light.
Born on Toj: they describe people as gifted in psychology and ethics, natural conciliators, often self-taught.
The Yucatec Muluk is read as water or jade, and so is the Aztec Atl, water. The K'iche' name points to offerings instead.
When Muluk comes round
Today is 9 Muluk. It returns every 20 days, each time with a new number.
Its 13-day trecena, opening on 1 Muluk, next runs May 6, 2027 to May 18, 2027.
More to read
Shorter reads. Each opens in place.
Unlucky days?
The five nameless days of 2027
The Haab' year ends with five extra days, the Wayeb', documented as a dangerous time when people stayed close to home. On the GMT count the 2027 Wayeb' runs March 25, 2027 to March 29, 2027, and the new Haab' year, 0 Pop, begins on March 30, 2027, a 3 Eb' day.
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How often
Your sign comes round 18 or 19 times a year
A sign returns every 20 days, so in a 365-day year it lands 18 times, sometimes 19. In 2027 the five signs that get a 19th day are K'an, Chikchan, Kimi, Manik', Lamat. The exact number-and-sign pair, your Tzolk'in birthday, comes only once every 260 days.
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Quick answers
What do the Mayan day signs mean?
Each of the 20 signs has a name with a literal meaning, such as wind (Ik'), deer (Manik') or jaguar (Ix), and a character that daykeepers read into it. The order is Imix, Ik', Ak'bal, K'an, Chikchan, Kimi, Manik', Lamat, Muluk, Ok, Chuwen, Eb', B'en, Ix, Men, Kib', Kab'an, Etz'nab', Kawak, Ajaw. The table and the explorer on this page give all three names and the K'iche' daykeepers' reading for each.
What is my Mayan nawal?
In K'iche' Maya practice your nawal is the day sign of the day you were born, in the 260-day count. To find it, enter your birth date in the explorer on this page or in the Mayan zodiac calculator, which also gives the number (1 to 13) that goes with it.
What is the most powerful Mayan day sign?
There is no ranking. In daykeeping every sign has work it is good for and a character, and the number paired with it matters too. Ajaw, the lord or sun, closes every Long Count period, and B'atz' opens the K'iche' ceremonial cycle, but that makes them prominent, not better.
What does 8 B'atz' mean?
8 B'atz' (Wajxaqib' B'atz') is the day K'iche' daykeepers begin a new 260-day ceremonial cycle and initiate new daykeepers. It comes every 260 days. The next ones are March 9, 2027 and November 24, 2027.
Are Mayan and Aztec day signs the same?
The structure is the same: 20 signs and 13 numbers in a 260-day count, and the standard reconstruction runs both counts in step. Many images match (wind, serpent, death, deer, dog, jaguar, flint, rain). Others differ: the Maya night sign Ak'bal is Calli, house, in the Aztec count, and Ajaw, lord, is Xochitl, flower.
What does the Mayan sign Ajaw (Ajpu) mean?
Ajaw means lord in Yucatec. The K'iche' daykeepers call it Ajpu, the Lord Sun, and link it to hunter, marksman and walker; they describe people born on it as good, talented and affectionate, and also hot-tempered and quick to judge. The next Ajaw day after October 18, 2026 is October 29, 2026 (7 Ajaw).
What Mayan day sign is today?
On October 18, 2026 it is 9 Muluk, which K'iche' daykeepers call 9 Toj, and which is 9 Atl in the Aztec count. The explorer opens on today's sign for wherever you are.
Are Red Dragon and Blue Hand Mayan signs?
Not in the traditional count. Colour-and-name labels like Red Dragon or Blue Hand come from Dreamspell, a modern system begun by José and Lloydine Argüelles in 1987. It keeps its own count, so its result for your birthday usually differs from the Maya day.
