Ben (Aj): The Young Maize Day, Thirteenth Sign of the Maya Calendar

Prepared by the Mayan Astrology Calculator editors · Sources below · Reviewed 10 October 2026 · Calculation: gmt584283-proleptic-gregorian-v1

Quick answer. Ben is the thirteenth of the 20 day signs in the 260-day Maya calendar; in K'iche' it is Aj. Across Mesoamerica the matching day is usually "Reed", but K'iche' aj also means a young ear of maize. David Stuart's 2025 study traces the Ben glyph to a maize cob with two husks, worn on the head of the ancient Maize God. "Reed" is a later reading, not the day's original meaning among the early Maya. Dreamspell calls this slot "Red Skywalker". [1][3][5]

Ben at a glance

Position in the 20-day cycle	13 of 20 [1]
How often it returns	Every 20 days; a pairing such as 13 Ben returns every 260 days [2]
Yucatec name	Ben (also Been; same in 16th-century spelling) [1][5]
Classic-period reading	Unknown [1]
Highland Guatemala (K'iche')	Aj; Ah in colonial calendars [3]
Other names	Be'en (Tzeltal, Chuj, Q'anjob'al), possibly Bin (Ch'ol) [5]
Meaning of the K'iche' word	aj, "reed, cane" and "young ear of maize" [5][6]
What the glyph depicts	A trefoil: a maize cob flanked by husks, from the Maize God's headdress [5]
Central Mexican counterpart	Acatl, "reed" [5][6]
Haab' days it can share	Only day 1, 6, 11 or 16 of a Haab' month [1]
How we calculate it	GMT correlation 584283, proleptic Gregorian dates [8]
Dreamspell alias (modern, José & Lloydine Argüelles, from 1987)	"Red Skywalker", seal 13; a separate system with a different count [9][10]

Your day sign is only half of your birth signature. The number from 1 to 13 is the other half.

Where Ben sits in the 260-day count

Ben follows Eb and precedes Ix; 12 Eb is followed by 13 Ben, and the next day starts the numbers over at 1 Ix. [1] In the 365-day Haab' Ben can only fall on positions 1, 6, 11 or 16 of a month, the same set as Ak'bal, Lamat and Etz'nab. [1]

The names: Ben and Aj

The lowland name has no clear meaning. Stuart notes that Ben or Be'en was the day name in Yucatec, Tzeltal, Chuj and Q'anjob'al, with a possible Ch'ol cognate Bin, and that "these similar forms have no obvious etymology". In modern Chuj, Be'e'n is reported as the name of a deity. [5] Thompson found the Yucatec root "somewhat sterile", supplying mainly words about going or departing. [6]

The highland name is clearer and has two senses. Aj is "universally translated as 'reed' (caña)", Stuart writes, but it also means elote, a fresh maize cob. The colonial friar Ximénez glossed ah both as "la caña" and "la mazorca tierna" (young ear of corn). [5] Thompson reported the same pair for the K'iche', "with an apparent preference for reed or cane", and noted that the Ixil, Jakaltek and Santa Eulalia lists also tie the day to cane or maize. [6] Stuart suggests the two meanings may come from two originally separate Proto-Mayan words. [5]

The glyph: from maize cob to abstract sign

In the Classic period the Ben glyph was uniform: a horizontal line, vertical lines below and two small loops above. Stuart shows that it is an abstraction of an earlier trefoil, "almost flower-like", seen on Stela 114 at Calakmul and in paintings at Uaxactun and Río Azul. [5]

He then traces that trefoil back to Middle Formative imagery, where it marks a leafy maize cob on the head of the Maize God, a motif that also became the jewel of the so-called Jester God on royal headbands. A unique head variant of Ben shows a young face with the "IL" mark often found on the Maize God. [5] Thompson had noticed a similar personified Ben on Piedras Negras Lintel 3 and concluded in 1950 that "Ben represents the growing maize plant, whereas kan is the grain of ripe maize". [6] Stuart says Thompson was "generally right". [5]

Why "Reed"?

The Aztec day in this position was Acatl, "reed". Stuart argues that the Nahua "Reed" sign still carries "vestiges of the old trefoil maize design", inherited through Zapotec and Ñuiñe writing. He asks whether "Reed" elsewhere in Mesoamerica arose as "an imperfect borrowing from Mayan aj, giving preference to one possible translation over another", and concludes that "'Reed' was not the original meaning of the thirteenth day among the early Maya". [5]

Many websites, including earlier versions of this one, label Ben "Reed". On this site we keep it as a cross-cultural alias and describe the Maya day by its maize imagery.

Aj in highland tradition

The 260-day count is still kept in highland Guatemala by Ajq'ijab' (daykeepers), whose very title contains the word for "day" (q'ij). [2] Records of Aj are favorable:

• 1854 manuscript. Vicente Hernández Spina's calendar calls Aj "again a good day", consecrated to the gods of agriculture and to those over flocks and domestic animals. [3]
• 20th-century fieldwork. Weeks, Sachse and Prager, summarizing Bunzel (1952) and Tedlock (1992), describe Aj as "symbolic of destiny as embodied in the nawal; the day of one's destiny". [3]
• Children and fields. Thompson noted that the K'iche' regarded the day as very favorable for children, and that in Jakaltenango it was good for prayers for the cornfields. [6]
• A personal name. The name Wuqub' Aj, "Seven Reed/Cane", appears in the Popol Vuh; Christenson notes that it is "a day in the traditional 260 day calendar". [7]

These are records of community practice, not forecasts for people born on Ben. We are not daykeepers. Our reports use the image of young maize, growth that is not yet ripe, as modern reflective writing.

Traditional Ben vs Dreamspell "Red Skywalker"

"Red Skywalker" is seal 13 in the Dreamspell, a modern system begun by José and Lloydine Argüelles in 1987 and published as a kit in 1990. [10] Dreamspell gives it the keywords Space, Explores and Wakefulness. [9] "Skywalker" is Dreamspell's own name; it does not translate Ben or Aj.

The counts differ too. Dreamspell fixes 26 July 1987 as "Kin 34, White Galactic Wizard" and skips 29 February. [10][11] 22 Oct 2026 is 13 Ben in the traditional count; Dreamspell calls it Kin 57, Red Overtone Earth. The next Dreamspell "Red Skywalker" day, 18 Oct 2026 (Kin 53, Red Magnetic Skywalker), is 9 Muluk in the traditional count. [Link: Dreamspell vs traditional converter → /dreamspell-vs-traditional-maya-calendar]

Colors, directions and "elements"

• Direction. Prehispanic calendars assigned the days to east, north, west and south in turn, which places the thirteenth day in the east. [4] Contemporary K'iche' practice gives the east to Aq'ab'al instead. [4]
• Color. "Red" follows the east–red pairing of colonial Yucatec texts; assigning it to one day is a modern reconstruction. [12] Dreamspell also colors this seal red. [9]
• Element. Some charts, including earlier versions of this site, give Ben the element "fire". We found no traditional source for Greek-style elements on day signs; on this site it appears only as a labeled modern convention.

Upcoming Ben days

Calculated with the GMT 584283 correlation, the same method as our calculator, as of 10 October 2026: [8]

Gregorian date	Tzolk'in (traditional)	Haab'	Dreamspell, for comparison only
22 Oct 2026	13 Ben	6 Sak'	Kin 57, Red Overtone Earth
11 Nov 2026	7 Ben	6 Keh	Kin 77, Red Crystal Earth
1 Dec 2026	1 Ben	6 Mak	Kin 97, Red Rhythmic Earth
21 Dec 2026	8 Ben	6 K'ank'in	Kin 117, Red Cosmic Earth
10 Jan 2027	2 Ben	6 Muwan	Kin 137, Red Resonant Earth
30 Jan 2027	9 Ben	6 Pax	Kin 157, Red Magnetic Earth
19 Feb 2027	3 Ben	6 K'ayab	Kin 177, Red Galactic Earth

Each falls on day 6 of its Haab' month, one of the four positions (1, 6, 11, 16) open to Ben. [1]

Ben with each of the 13 numbers

• 1 Ben · next: 1 Dec 2026
• 2 Ben · next: 10 Jan 2027
• 3 Ben · next: 19 Feb 2027
• 4 Ben · next: 31 Mar 2027
• 5 Ben · next: 10 May 2027
• 6 Ben · next: 19 Jun 2027
• 7 Ben · next: 11 Nov 2026
• 8 Ben · next: 21 Dec 2026
• 9 Ben · next: 30 Jan 2027
• 10 Ben · next: 11 Mar 2027
• 11 Ben · next: 20 Apr 2027
• 12 Ben · next: 30 May 2027
• 13 Ben · next: 22 Oct 2026

Each number links to its page. 7 Ben is 7 Aj, the day behind the Popol Vuh name Wuqub' Aj. [7]

Ben and relationships

Our compatibility tool compares two full birth signatures with a modern reflective method, not a documented historical Maya formula. [Compare two birth dates → /compatibility]

Read your own signature in depth

Calculate your full signature free, with no sign-up. Under the result you can add an 11-page personal PDF report ($7, one-time).

FAQ

Are Ben and Aj the same day? Yes. Ben (Been) is the Yucatec name and Aj the K'iche' name for the thirteenth day. [1][3]

Is Ben the reed sign? Partly. K'iche' aj means both "reed" and "young maize", and Stuart argues the glyph began as a maize cob; "Reed" became the main reading outside the Maya area. [5]

What does Ben mean? The Yucatec word has no clear meaning. The glyph represents young maize on the Maize God's head. [5][6]

Is "Red Skywalker" the same as Ben? It fills the same slot in Dreamspell's list, but Dreamspell's count differs, so a "Red Skywalker" birthday is usually not a Ben day. [9][10]

Why does another calculator give me a different day sign? It may use the Dreamspell count, or a correlation constant other than 584283, which shifts results by a day or two. [8][13]

Is Ben a zodiac sign? No. It names a day that recurs every 20 days. → How we calculate

Sources

1. Kettunen, Harri, and Christophe Helmke. Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, 17th rev. ed. Wayeb, 2020, pp. 49, 51, 57. https://www.mesoweb.org/resources/handbook/IMH2020.pdf
2. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. "The Calendar System." Living Maya Time. https://maya.nmai.si.edu/calendar/calendar-system
3. Weeks, John M., Frauke Sachse, and Christian M. Prager. Maya Daykeeping: Three Calendars from Highland Guatemala. University Press of Colorado, 2009, pp. 3 (Table 1.1), 15. https://www.upcolorado.com/media/acfupload/9780870819969.pdf
4. Estrada Peña, Canek. "Anima' ri cho, anima' ri plo: Imox y el agua entre los k'iche'." Estudios de Cultura Maya 45 (2015): 191–224, pp. 202–203. https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/2813/281336894007.pdf
5. Stuart, David. "Day Sign Notes: Ben / Aj." Maya Decipherment, 16 Oct 2025. https://mayadecipherment.com/2025/10/16/day-sign-notes-ben-aj/
6. Thompson, J. Eric S. Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: An Introduction. Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1950, pp. 81–82.
7. Christenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh: Sacred Book of the Quiché Maya People. Electronic edition, Mesoweb, 2007, p. 283, n. 882. https://www.mesoweb.com/publications/Christenson/PopolVuh.pdf
8. Mayan Astrology Calculator. "Calculation Methodology and Cultural Scope." https://mayanastrologycalculator.com/methodology
9. Foundation for the Law of Time. "Learning the 13 Galactic Tones and 20 Solar Seals." https://lawoftime.org/infobooth/sealsandtones.html
10. "Dreamspell." Wikipedia (citing Argüelles & Argüelles, Dreamspell kit, 1990). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamspell
11. Argüelles, José. Rinri Project Newsletter II.2.1. Foundation for the Law of Time. https://www.lawoftime.org/pdfs/Rinri-II-2.1.pdf
12. Stuart, David. "Day Sign Notes: Imix / Imox." Maya Decipherment, 14 Aug 2025 (on the colors of the imix che' world trees). https://mayadecipherment.com/2025/08/14/day-sign-notes-imix-imox/
13. Van Stone, Mark. "2012 FAQ." FAMSI. https://www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/faq.html

Reviewed: 10 October 2026 · Calculation: gmt584283-proleptic-gregorian-v1 · Corrections: contact us