Kukulkan Pyramid Chichen Itza
From the bottom looking up, the giant serpent head of Chichen Itza’s El Castillo is a stunning beginning to the enormity that surrounds it. Quetzalcoatl—known to the Mayan as Kukulkan—sits eternally at the bottom of the castle, descending every year, twice a year during the spring and autumn equinox to return to his home.
The Legend
Quetzalcoatl, ruler of many ancient cultures, represented life, motion, laughter, health, sexuality, and the arts and crafts of civilization. The legend says that Quetzalcoatl made the Aztecs out of dust and bones and was their ruler. When he was banished by a second deity, he bowed his people he would return and liberate them. Upon his journey, he found the Toltec people, which he also ruled. Once again, he was banished from his own kingdom. At the same time, the Mayan people of what is now the Yucatan Peninsula were waiting for their beloved king, Kukulkan. When Quetzalcoatl arrived, the Mayas believed he was their serpent king. Quetzalcoatl became Kukulkan and ruled the city of Chichen Itza, where he returns to every year.
The Numbers
Each of the four steep staircases consists of 91 steps.
The top platform and 91 steps add to a total of 365 steps, 1 for each day of the year.
The pyramid was build around800 A.D. (550-900 A.D.)
Height: 24m – top platform (+6m with the temple)
The height to the top platform is 24 m, the temple adding another 6 m.
The staircases rise at an angle of 45 degrees to the horizontal, while the average inclination of the stepped pyramid itself is 53.3 degrees. The faces of the individual steps are sloped at a greater angle, approximately 73 degrees.
The temple at the top of the pyramid is 6 m high, 13.42 m wide and 16.5 m long.
Sept 22: Fall equinox (Day and night equal length) when seven triangles are visible.
This is 92 days from previous summer solstice of June 21.
Chichen Itza Equinox Crowd (photo credit www.rafaelancona.com)
The Event
During the equinox, the sun casts its rays on the steps of the pyramid making it look like a feathered serpent is slithering down the steps. The structure is not build like that by coincidence. The Maya managed to build this monument of incomprehensible scale to highlight the time of the year when the hours of daylight and darkness are equal. During these days, the edge of the shadow from the sun falls on the corner of the pyramid, leaving one side of the structure in total sunlight and the other in total shadow. This phenomenal event occurs twice a year during the spring and fall equinox.
Kukulcan’s descent occurs on the North side of the castle. The first shadows begin to form isosceles triangles that form the body of the serpent. Progressively, the shadow descends on the pyramid until it reached the bottom where the head of the feathered serpent rests. This incredible display of light and shadow form Kukulkan, the feathered serpent. The body of the snake slowly disappears as it descends 365 steps in approximately 5 hours with the culmination of events in 45 minutes.
Even though the descent has occurred for hundreds of years, it still continues to astonish and amaze us. People from all over the world come to visit and wait in awe-struck silence to watch Kukulkan return to Chichen Itza. Get wrapped up in the mysticism and wonder of the Mayan culture with a tour to Chichen Itza for the equinox and continue the journey with a peaceful stay at the Mayaland Hotel. Moments of life that you will never forget.
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