On the evening of March 21, day of the beginning of the spring equinox, is observed in the northern staircase Castillo at Chichen Itza, a solar projection of a serpent, consisting of seven triangles of light, inverted, as a result of the shadow cast by the nine platforms that building, at sunset.
For starters, the first shadows of the higher bodies of the pyramid begin to draw isosceles triangles that make up the body of the feathered serpent. Gradually the shadow moves towards the snakelike head located at the bottom of the balustrade.
During this magical moment serpent Kukulcan descends the stairs of the pyramid of Chichen Itza Castle in Mexico.
Shortly thereafter begins to dissipate the figure of Kukulcan to end a process that takes about 45 minutes from start to finish.
Thousands of people attend the event when the serpent descends 365 steps (as many as the days of the year). It is a place to visit once in their life.
The ancient Maya, naturally observant, not only turned their attention to the stars, but realized the changing seasons and realized correspondence important moments of the agricultural cycle with posocion sun and celestial phenomena. Realizing that was not enough to observe such phenomena, but must register and calculate to establish the chronological pace determined, the need arises for them to invent signs to represent the celestial bodies, periods of time and counting. So they created writing, numbers, mathematical calculation, and ultimately, the Gregorian Calendar, same as we use today
Generally, the constructions of the Maya the cardinal points and the path of the stars orientabana, for the sun, moon and stars were part of his cosmological conception. Among the archaeological evidence that left stand Dzilchaltun, Uxmal, Chichen Itza and Tulum, the latter only two hours from Cancun, everyone is a true sign of their great ingenuity to design and construct buildings in exact coordination with the natural phenomenon that wanted to highlight as the case of the equinox.
The Equinox, a phenomenon in which the sun is positioned exactly over Ecuador, causes the length of day and night are exactly alike. This happens twice a year in spring on March 21 and September 23 autumn. On the equinox were the most important to the Maya, as marked in the spring cycle of preparing the land for siembray, in September, the period when the fruit of ripe corn would be next to be collected.
The Mayans recorded this phenomenon in the design and construction of buildings and can be seen in those qu have a deviation of 17 degrees true north. The most representative of these buildings, which could combine their knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, chronology, geometry and religion, is the pyramid of Kukulkan or Castillo at Chichen Itza, where every March 21 thousands of people gather from around the world to witness the greatness of the Mayan heritage. This is where the fusion of heaven and earth, of science and magic, which from the beginning of the equinox and from the stairs north of the castle, a projection occurs serpentine seven inverted triangles of light as a result of the shadow occurs nine platforms of the building.
