baktun

A baktun is a unit of time used in the ancient Mayan calendar, approximately equal to 144,000 days or about 394 years. The Mayans organized their calendar into cycles, with a baktun representing a significant period within this system. They tracked these periods for timing religious events and historical record-keeping. The completion of a baktun was an important milestone, often marked with ceremonies. In modern discussions, the baktun gained attention due to the 2012 phenomenon, associated with the end of a baktun cycle, which many mistakenly thought predicted apocalyptic events.