Will
the world end in 2012? No, it won't.
Will there
be a major cataclysm in 2012? Quite possibly.
Although
this book concentrates on a potential global catastrophe at a random date within
our immediate future, there are three powerful arguments for that date being Dec
21, 2012. I present them here, not as certainties, but as possibilities worth
considering.
2. The Mayan Calendar
The Maya
The
Maya civilisation inhabited a region encompassing southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize & western Honduras, and flourished between the third and tenth centuries AD, but by 1200 AD
their society had collapsed for reasons we can only guess at. When the Spanish
conquistadors arrived, descendants still occupied the area, and still spoke the
Mayan language, but were unaware of the cities their forefathers had created.
It
wasn't until the late 18th century that explorers first investigated
the dense Guatemalan rainforest and came across plazas, monoliths, temples and
pyramids, each decorated with pictures and hieroglyphs. The ancient Maya had been
keeping historical records - using a script which mixed ideographic and phonetic
elements. Some of their writing still exists on stelae (stone monuments) that
recount civil events and record their calendric and astronomical knowledge.
Spanish Conquest
Diego de Landa was a
Spanish priest who visited Mexico on a charitable mission, became the Franciscan
provincial of Yucatán in 1561 and is infamous for his destruction of priceless
Maya documents and artefacts.
Although Landa was
very interested in the Mayan culture, he abhorred certain aspects of their practices,
particularly human sacrifice. In July 1562, when evidence of human sacrifice was
found in a cave containing sacred Maya statues, a bout of religious self-righteousness
saw Landa order the destruction of five thousand idols. He decided that their
books were also the devil's work and saw to it that they were burned, with only
three books surviving. Consequently the majority of Mayan knowledge and history
was lost.
 This
is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible
ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime
before 2012, fingers-crossed... |
Yet
despite his actions, we are also indebted to Landa for his acute and intelligent
opus on Mayan life and religion, Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (1566),
which remains the classical text on Mayan civilisation. This book, which was not
printed until 1864, provided a phonetic alphabet that made it possible to decipher
roughly one-third of the remaining Mayan hieroglyphs.
The
most important of the surviving books was what is now called the Dresden Codex,
named after the city where it was lodged. It is a strange book, inscribed with
hieroglyphs, which no one understood until 1880. At that time Ernst FØrstemann,
a German scholar who worked at the same Dresden library, managed to crack the
code of the Mayan calendar making it possible for other academics to translate
the many dated inscriptions found on buildings, stelae and other ancient Mayan
artefacts.
He discovered that the Codex contained
detailed astrological tables, which calculated the year to be 365.2420 days long,
more accurate than the Julian calendar that we use today. The tables were used
exclusively by the Mayan astronomers to predict the solstices and equinoxes, the
path of the planets in our solar system, the cycles of Venus and Mars, and other
celestial phenomena.
Other information we have today
has been gleaned from the Popol Vuh and Chilam Balam - books written just after
the Spanish arrived. The knowledge found in these books and codices, combined
with the uncovering of mysterious pyramids, demonstrate that the Maya had an intelligence
to rival the Greeks and Egyptians.
Mayan Calendar
The life of the Maya revolved around the concept
of time. Priests were consulted on civil, agricultural and religious matters,
and their advice would be derived from readings of the sacred calendars. Time
was of such importance that children were even named after the date on which they
were born.
Maya math uses only three symbols - a
shell-shaped glyph for zero, a dot for one and a bar for five to represent units
from zero to 19. For instance, the number 13 was represented as three dots and
two bars.
Zero was
an advanced concept in those days, something that the Romans were not aware of.
Yet the Maya were comfortable enough with it to use a shell as its symbol, a tangible
object representing an abstract concept. The Maya also used metrical calculation
and place numeration, which were very clever for a culture that didn't use the
wheel!
Although they had many calendars, they marked
the passage of time with three cycles that ran in parallel.
The
first is the scared calendar known as the Tzolkin. It combines the numbers from
1 through 13 with a sequence of 20 day-names. It works in a similar manner to
our named days of the week, and their date within each month. So you might have
5-Chikchan (like our Sunday the 5th) followed by 6-Kimi (as we would have Monday
the 6th). After 260 days the same number/name combination will re-occur, and the
calendar starts anew. Their use of the vigesimal (base 20) numbering system probably
relates to fingers and toes, whereas the 13 nicely fits the growth phase of the
moon which isn't visible when new and appears full for two days on end, thus appearing
to have a 13 day growth cycle. Alternatively, the length of the Tzolkin may be
related to the human gestation period of nine months (273 days). It has been suggested
that 260 days is the time between a woman suspecting her pregnancy (she doesn't
menstruate) and when she gives birth.
The second
is the agricultural calendar known as the Haab, or vague year. It consists of
18 months, each of 20 days. An addition of a five-day month (a period of apprehension
and bad luck named Uayeb) gives us 365 days, an approximation of a year. This
calendar's primary purpose was to keep track of the seasons, for seasonal and
solar events would occur on roughly the same day of each year. The Maya were aware
of the annual quarter day discrepancy, but it is not known if they ever did anything
about it.
These two independently running calendars
each begin again every 260 and 360+5 days. However, every 52 years they coincide:
"The Tzolkin and the Haab ran concurrently, like intermeshed
cog-wheels, and to return to any given date, 52 years, or 18,980 days, would have
to elapse (because both 365 x 52 and 260 x 73 = 18,980). In other words, the Tzolkin
would make 73 revolutions and the Haab 52, so that every 52 calendar years of
365 days one would return to the same date. A complete date in this 52-year cycle
might be, for example, 2 1k 0 Pop (2 1k being the position of the day in the Tzolkin,
0 Pop the position in the Haab). Fifty-two years would pass before another 2 1k
0 Pop date returned.
It was expected that the world
would end at the completion of a 52-year cycle. At this time, among the Mexica
in the Valley of Mexico, all fires were extinguished, pregnant women were locked
up lest they be turned into wild animals, children were pinched to keep them awake
so that they would not turn into mice, and all pottery was broken in preparation
for the end of the world. In the event the gods decided to grant man another 52
years of life on earth, however, a night time ceremony was held in which the populace
followed the priests through the darkness over a causeway to the top of an old
extinct volcano that rises abruptly from the floor of the basin of Mexico, known
today as the Hill of the Star, the hill above Ixtapalapa. There, with all eyes
on the stars, they awaited the passage of the Pleiades across the center of the
heavens, which would announce the continuation of the world for another 52 years.
When the precise moment came, a victim was quickly sacrificed by making a single
gash in his chest and extracting the still palpitating heart. In the gory cavity
the priests, with a fire drill, kindled a new flame that was quickly carried by
torches across the lake to the temple in Tenochititlan, and from there to all
temples and villages around the lake. This was known as the New Fire Ceremony
among the Mexica, and in some way this same completion and renewal of each 52-year
cycle was recognized by all Mesoamericans."[i]
This
is not unlike how the end of the last millennium may have felt for many Christians
or doomsday cult followers.
Our modern Western calendar
was first introduced in Europe in 1582. It was based upon the Gregorian calendar,
which calculated the Earth's orbit to take 365.25 days. This was 0.0003 of a
day per year too much, but still exceptionally accurate for scientists living
over 400 years ago.
The Mayan calendars were derived
from those of their predecessors, the Olmec, whose culture dates back at least
3,000 years. Without the instruments of 16th century Europe, these
Central American locals managed to calculate a solar year of 365.2420 days, just
0.0002 of a day short. More accurate than the Europeans, and much earlier.
The
Long Count
A Mayan date utilises three calendars. The third
calendar, known as the "long count", is a continuous record of days
that starts over every 5000 years or so. The current Long Count began in 3114
BC. And it will end very soon.
A typical Mayan date
looks like this:
12.18.16.2.6,
3 Cimi 4 Zotz
4 Zotz is
the Haab date.
3 Cimi is the Tzolkin date.
12.18.16.2.6
is the Long Count date.
The basic unit is the kin
(day), which is the last component of the Long Count. Going from right to left
the remaining components are:
- unial........1
unial = 20 kin = 20 days
- tun..........1 tun = 18
unial = 360 days = approx. 1 year
- katun.......1
katun = 20 tun = 7,200 days = approx. 20 years
- baktun.....1
baktun = 20 katun = 144,000 days = approx. 394 years
The kin, tun, and katun are numbered from 0 to 19.
The unial are numbered from 0 to 17.
The baktun are numbered from 1 to 13.
The
Long Count is a great cycle of 13 baktuns (roughly 5,126 years), where the use
of 13 may again represent the growth of the moon from new to full. The current
cycle began on 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahau 8 Cumku which correlates to Aug. 13, 3114 BC.
In
Mayan mythology each Long Count cycle is a world age in which the gods attempt
to create pious and subservient creatures.
The First
Age began with the creation of the Earth, and it had upon it vegetation and living
beings. Unfortunately, because they lacked speech, the birds and animals were
unable to pay homage to the gods and were destroyed. In the Second and Third Ages
the gods created humans of mud and then wood, but these also failed to please
and were wiped out. We are currently in the Fourth and Final Age, the age of the
modern, fully functional human. Is it possible that these Ages referred to evolutionary
change? If they did, then what might occur when the current age finishes on December
21, 2012?
Discuss Survive
2012 at our forumGive the author your thoughts, and discuss any 2012
ideas with others, at 2012 Forum |
Comments from Visitors
ice:
you guys are very weird i dont even know how your calendar works and im doing a school project.
(30.03.2004, 13:27)
A. Gamboa:
I read a book about this, and I am basing my extended essay on the mayan calendar so can you send me some more information please.
(01.04.2004, 13:54)
ken:
i have read a book called pole shift several years ago and between that book and what i have read here i believe that a pole shift is probable although i do not know when
(06.04.2004, 11:51)
Ulerian:
Good site, very stimulating! Thanks for sharing! I have something of interest to add...the lost classical Mayan civilization may have further lessons to teach modern humanity. I saw a PBS special "Lost In Time", where archaeologists made a good case for their current theory that the classic Mayans didn't disappear as suddenly as once thought (perhaps over a couple of centuries), and that their society's disappearance was most likely due to overpopulation and destruction of their local environment, resulting in widespread famine and their downfall. A situation which is sadly similar to the plight of modern farmers in the same area of modern Copan, who are rapidly breeding and slashing-and-burning their way towards another implosive ecological disaster--the current plight of our entire Earth in microcosm. That said, I do believe in the validity of the date of 2012. I have had compelling dreams about that date. I feel very strongly that *something* (or a collection of "somethings") will happen then, something indescribable. The end of the world? Probably not. The end of time? That's more intriguing to me. How would a humanity living outside of time express itself? But I think we'll have plenty of "wake-up" challenges prior to that date. One thing seems sure to me--through this bottleneck of history, humanity will either pass trimphant to our next stage of evolution, or become the fossil fuels of far-future species to follow us.
(07.04.2004, 04:51)
dirk burkinson:
this is going to rule
(12.04.2004, 14:28)
C.M.:
We are ascending to a higher consciousness, A greater understanding of Who we Really are...An awakening We are moving into the Fifth Dimention. A world of Peace and Tranquility. Rolling Hills, green meadows and the smell of sweat grass....We are Ascending..
(13.04.2004, 01:43)
MKN:
12/21/2012 will be my 46th birthday and quite possibly my last. It will definitely be one to remember.
(13.04.2004, 16:44)
Dirk Burkinson:
yeah, i so agree that the world is going to be filled with peace and free love after the cataclysm, NOT! dude its a cataclys meaning billions die, its going to be filled with and destruction which is sweet. much better than love and all that hippy crap
(15.04.2004, 14:11)
Yellen:
Why us and why 2012 to me it is so creepy and exciting at the same time but I better start acting very good!
(17.04.2004, 18:43)
Yellen:
I won't even get to finish college ,be a vet , get married and have kids by the time comes .............well that just stinks!
(17.04.2004, 18:47)
Matt:
This is truth, it maybe your's, but every man must find his own truth. Every answer to every question is inside your soul. Ask yourself the right questions and your brain will search for the answers. This apocaplyse as the greeks called it was inevietable.
(17.04.2004, 23:44)
c:
if each long count cycle is aprox. 5000 years and the 1st cycle began w/ the creation of the earth and we are nearing the end of the 4th cycle, that would put the creation of the earth at about 20,000 years ago. problem?
(18.04.2004, 10:32)
12 of 92 comments (part 5) [
«
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Script by Alex
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[i] Weaver, Muriel Porter. The Aztecs,
Maya, and their Predecessors. (1972) Seminar Press, p.103-4
Note
on massive spans of time
Although they are
not part of the Long Count, the Mayas had calculated larger time spans, some so
long that only modern day scientists would ever use them, and suggesting that
perhaps the ancient Maya were aware of something we have yet to discover for ourselves.
1
pictun = 20 baktun = 2,880,000 days = approx. 7885 years
1
calabtun = 20 pictun = 57,600,000 days = approx. 158,000 years
1
kinchiltun = 20 calabtun = 1,152,000,000 days = approx. 3 million years
1
alautun = 20 kinchiltun = 23,040,000,000 days = approx. 63 million years
Note
on Correlation This book uses a correlation
between the Gregorian and Maya calendars known as the Goodman-Martinez-Thompson
(GMT) correlation, which places the long count katun ending 11.16.0.0.0 13 Ahau
8 Xul on 14 November 1539 (Gregorian). Another less popular correlation has the
Long Count ending two days later on Dec 23, 2012, and for our purposes makes a
negligible difference. A further 50 or more different correlations have been calculated;
some by non-academics, usually based on disputing which similar astronomical events
occurred in which year. The GMT is generally accepted by academics because it
has been proven with carbon dating, and because it is still in use by modern day
Quich¾ Maya
