What Is Your Maya Birth Glyph? Discover Your Day Sign

Every day has a daily signature, and your birth date also has a Maya Glyph attached to it. 

In the ancient Maya tradition, every single day carries a name, a symbol, and a spiritual energy. One of the Maya calendar systems known as the Tzolkin,  a 260-day cycle, assigns one of 20 day signs (glyphs) to each day. The day you were born determines your personal Maya birth glyph, also called your day sign or nawal.

Unlike Western astrology's 12 zodiac signs, the Maya system offers 20 archetypes, each with its own glyph, meaning, and energy. Knowing your day sign is a window into your personality, your gifts, and your life path according to Maya cosmology.

How to Find Your Maya Birth Glyph

Finding your Maya day sign requires converting your Gregorian (Western) birth date into the Tzolkin calendar. The calculation accounts for the continuous cycling of the 260-day sacred calendar since its ancient starting point.

What Does Your Birth Glyph Mean?

Each day sign carries qualities that the Maya believed were imprinted on a person at birth. For example:

• Born under Ix (Jaguar)? You may have a deep connection to nature, strong intuition, and a shamanic quality to your personality.
• Born under Tzikin (Eagle)? You likely have visionary thinking, a love of freedom, and the ability to see the big picture.
• Born under Baatz (Monkey)? Creativity, humor, and a gift for weaving stories and art are your hallmarks.

The Maya didn't see these as fixed destinies — rather as energies and tendencies to work with consciously throughout life.

Wear Your Glyph

Many people feel a deep resonance with their Maya birth glyph once they discover it. At the Birkenbaum store, we create glyph-inspired apparel and gifts that let you carry this ancient symbol with you. Browse our collection of Maya glyph designs from shirts to calendars and find the piece that speaks to your day sign.

The Living Calendar

The Maya Tzolkin calendar is not a relic of the past — it is still actively used by Maya communities in Guatemala and Mexico today. Day keepers (Ajq'ijab') continue to track the sacred calendar and perform ceremonies on significant days. When you discover your birth glyph, you are connecting to a living tradition that has been unbroken for thousands of years.