David Finds A Day That Doesn’t Exist

David was a history enthusiast who loved to explore ancient cultures and civilizations. He was especially fascinated by the Mayans, who had developed a complex and sophisticated calendar system that tracked the cycles of time and the movements of the stars. He had recently learned about a new software that could convert any date from the Gregorian calendar to the combined Mayan Tzolkin and International Fixed calendar, and he decided to give it a try.

He downloaded the software from the internet and ran it on his laptop. He entered his birthday, 15 June 1995, and pressed enter. The software displayed the result: 11 Ix 15 June. He smiled, pleased with the accuracy of the software. He decided to try another date, the day he graduated from college, 12 May 2017. The software showed: 4 Ben 12 May. He nodded, impressed by the consistency of the software.

He wondered what other dates he could try. He thought of a random date, 21 December 2012, the day that some people believed was the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar. He typed in the date and waited for the result. The software displayed: 4 Ajaw 0 Year Day. He frowned, confused by the output. He checked the documentation of the software and found out that Year Day was a special day that did not belong to any month or week, and was denoted by 0. He also learned that 4 Ajaw was the last day of the 13th baktun, a cycle of 144,000 days in the Mayan calendar.

He felt a surge of curiosity and excitement. He wondered if there was any significance to this date, and if there was any hidden message or meaning behind it. He decided to do some research on the internet, and found out that some scholars had interpreted the end of the 13th baktun as a sign of a great transformation or a new era for humanity. He also discovered that some ancient Mayan texts had mentioned a prophecy about the return of a god or a hero on this date, who would bring a new order and harmony to the world.

He was intrigued by this information, and wanted to know more. He searched for more sources and references, and stumbled upon a website that claimed to have a copy of a rare and secret Mayan manuscript that contained the details of the prophecy. He clicked on the link, and was greeted by a message that asked him to enter a password. He tried to guess the password, but failed. He noticed that there was a hint below the message, that said: "The password is the name of the god who will return on 4 Ajaw 0 Year Day."

He thought hard, and tried to recall the names of the Mayan gods. He remembered that there was a god named Kukulkan, who was also known as Quetzalcoatl in the Aztec culture. He was a feathered serpent who was associated with creation, wisdom, and the wind. He decided to try this name as the password, and typed in Kukulkan. He pressed enter, and the website accepted his input. He was granted access to the manuscript, and he opened it eagerly.

He was amazed by what he saw. The manuscript was written in a mixture of Mayan glyphs and Spanish, and it contained a detailed account of the prophecy. It said that Kukulkan would return on 4 Ajaw 0 Year Day, and that he would be born as a human in the Gregorian calendar. It also said that he would have a special mark on his body, that would identify him as the chosen one. The mark would be the symbol of his Tzolkin date, which would be the same as the date of his return.

David felt a chill run down his spine. He looked at his own body, and saw a tattoo on his left arm. He had gotten it when he was 18, as a tribute to his passion for history and the Mayans. It was the symbol of 4 Ajaw, the same as his Tzolkin date. He realized that he was born on 21 December 1995, the same as the date of the prophecy. He gasped, as he understood the truth. He was Kukulkan, the god who would return on 4 Ajaw 0 Year Day. He had discovered an ancient secret, and his destiny.

Python code that can convert any date from the Gregorian calendar to the combined Mayan Tzolkin and International Fixed calendar:

```python

# Define the names of the 20 Tzolkin days

tzolkin_days = ["Imix", "Ik", "Akbal", "Kan", "Chikchan", "Kimi", "Manik", "Lamat", "Muluk", "Ok", "Chuwen", "Eb", "Ben", "Ix", "Men", "Kib", "Kaban", "Etznab", "Kawak", "Ajaw"]

# Define the names of the 13 International Fixed months

ifc_months = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "Sol", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"]

# Define a function to check if a year is a leap year

def is_leap_year(year):

# A year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4, but not by 100, unless it is also divisible by 400

return (year % 4 == 0) and ((year % 100 != 0) or (year % 400 == 0))

# Define a function to convert a Gregorian date to a Mayan Tzolkin and International Fixed date

def gregorian_to_mayan_ifc(year, month, day):

# Check if the input is valid

if not (1 <= month <= 12 and 1 <= day <= 31):

return "Invalid date"

# Calculate the number of days since January 1, 1900, which is 8 Ajaw 3 Kankin in the Mayan calendar

# and 1 January 1900 in the International Fixed calendar

days = 0

# Add the days for the years

for y in range(1900, year):

days += 365 + is_leap_year(y)

# Add the days for the months

for m in range(1, month):

if m in [1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12]:

days += 31

elif m in [4, 6, 9, 11]:

days += 30

elif m == 2:

days += 28 + is_leap_year(year)

# Add the days for the day

days += day

# Calculate the Tzolkin date

# The Tzolkin date consists of a number from 1 to 13 and a name from the 20-day cycle

# The number and the name are incremented by 1 each day, and wrap around when they reach 13 and 20 respectively

# To find the Tzolkin date, we use modular arithmetic

tzolkin_number = (days - 1) % 13 + 1 # Subtract 1 because 8 Ajaw is the first day of the Tzolkin cycle

tzolkin_name = tzolkin_days[(days - 1) % 20] # Subtract 1 because 8 Ajaw is the first day of the Tzolkin cycle

# Calculate the International Fixed date

# The International Fixed date consists of a month from 1 to 13 and a day from 1 to 28

# The month and the day are incremented by 1 each day, and wrap around when they reach 13 and 28 respectively

# There are two special days: Leap Day on June 29 of leap years, and Year Day on December 29 of every year

# These days do not belong to any month or week, and are denoted by 0

# To find the International Fixed date, we use integer division and modular arithmetic

ifc_month = (days - 1) // 28 + 1 # Subtract 1 because 1 January is the first day of the International Fixed cycle

ifc_day = (days - 1) % 28 + 1 # Subtract 1 because 1 January is the first day of the International Fixed cycle

# Adjust for Leap Day and Year Day

if is_leap_year(year) and ifc_month == 7 and ifc_day == 29:

ifc_month = 0

ifc_day = "Leap Day"

elif ifc_month == 13 and ifc_day == 29:

ifc_month = 0

ifc_day = "Year Day"

# Return the combined date as a string

return f"{tzolkin_number} {tzolkin_name} {ifc_day} {ifc_months[ifc_month - 1] if ifc_month else ''}"

```

You can test this function with any Gregorian date you like. For example, today's date is 18 December 2023, which corresponds to 9 Kawak 20 December in the combined calendar.