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Mayan 2012

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2012 The End of the World?

2012 doomsday prediction is a present-day cultural meme proposing that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur in the year 2012. The forecast is based primarily on what is claimed to be the end-date of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, which is presented as lasting 5,125 years and as terminating on December 21 or 23, 2012, along with interpretations of assorted legends, scriptures, numerological constructions and prophecies.

A New Age interpretation of this transition posits that, during this time, the planet and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a totally new era. Conversely, some believers in 2012 millenarianism believe that the date marks the beginning of an apocalypse. The 2012 doomsday prediction idea has been disseminated in numerous books and TV documentaries, and has spread around the world as an Internet meme through websites and discussion groups. The idea of a global event occurring in 2012 based on any interpretation of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar has not been proposed by any group in the scientific community, and Mayanists and other scientists view these claims as pseudoscience.

[via Wikipedia]

2012

xkcd: 2012
2012

How the Mayan Calendar Works

The Mayan calendar works in a cyclical way.

The least complex part of the calendar was tzolkin (meaning "count of days" in Yucatan Mayan) which combined the numerals 1-13 with 20 named days; this produced a 260-day count.

The Maya expanded the tzolkin with a third wheel attached to the first two.

This expanded count was called haab (or a civic calendar) and represented the approximate solar year of 365 days. The haab consisted of 18 named months with 20 days each and one month of 5 days called Uayeb.

If all wheels turn for approximately 52 years then it will take a total of 18,980 days (52*365) before the same date reoccurs this is called a calendar round. However, these 18,980 days needed to be expanded to be long enough for historical purposes. The Maya invented the long count which starts at zero (0.0.0.0.0.: these five positions in the date refer to five smaller cycles the: baktun . katun . tun . uinal . kin respectively) on the date 4 Ahau 8 Cumku. This correlates to 13 August 3114 BC in the Gregorian calendar with this great cycle due to end 23 December AD 2012.

[via niburu.nl]

2012 Resources

2012 in the News

Halfway to Doomsday 2012: Zombies, UFOs and Jesus?: When the sun dawned as usual the next day, the long dormant case of the upcoming Mayan Calendar long count prophesy immediately picked up steam. After all, there can never be a news vacuum, and there's always another story to cover.
Myth or maya?: A friend sent an anthology called Mystery of 2012, which she published in Mumbai under her imprint. One essay delves into the mysteries of the Mayan calendar. Another weighs the evidence for the predicted shift in the earth's magnetic field.
'Time's Up' ticks into future at Griffith Observatory planetarium: 'Time's Up,' the new show at Griffith Observatory's Samuel Oschin Planetarium, uses the Mayan 2012 phenomenon as a jumping-off point to explore time. The new show "Time's Up" explores the 2012 Mayan doomsday myth and the nature of time.
Maya mural found: Refutes world's end on 12/21/12: By William Atkins Archaeologists discovered an ancient Mayan mural that contains a calendar, which refutes the idea that the world will come to an end on December 21, 2012. It looks like we are safe again from another misguided doomsday scenario.

2012 Movie Trailer

A global cataclysm occurs which leads to the end of the world and has survivors struggling for their lives, while a US government agency called the "Institute for Human Continuity" attempts to use ships to ensure the survival of the human race.

The film is inspired by several hypotheses that state that the ancient Mayan predicted a doomsday event will occur sometime around the 2012 northern hemisphere winter solstice.

Interesting 2012 Posts

2012: The End Of The World?
Skeptics vs. Believers

[via Information Is Beautiful]

'Time's Up' ticks into future at Griffith Observatory planetarium: 'Time's Up,' the new show at Griffith Observatory's Samuel Oschin Planetarium, uses the Mayan 2012 phenomenon as a jumping-off point to explore time. The new show "Time's Up" explores the 2012 Mayan doomsday myth and the nature of time.
Michael Dominick's in Scottsdale, 3.5 stars: Either happy days are here again, or half of Scottsdale has taken the Mayan 2012 doomsday calendar to heart, eating through their remaining months with end-of-times gusto. The end times may come even sooner than they anticipate. The amount of butter, ...
Jungle Science: Mayans Actually Didn't Predict A 2012 Apocalypse: According to recently uncovered jungle etchings, the great Mayan 2012 Apocalypse myth is not only just that ? the Mayan calendar actually allowed for octillions of years of world history. So, um, I guess we can all relax now! The researchers who ...
Eclectic Film Programme at National Arts Festival: It is a series of loosely structured lectures by Terence Mckenna; Ethnonotanist, inventor of Novelty Theory and one of the originators of the Mayan 2012 ethos, which took place at Rustlers Valley in South Africa in 1996. The Film programme also turns ...

The Mayan Calendar & 2012

What are your thoughts on 2012?

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pensivetwirl May 1, 2012 @ 11:39 am | delete

To me, saying the world is ending because this calendar does seems an awful lot like saying dogs are extinct because yours ran away.

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TheLifestyleChanger Mar 8, 2012 @ 7:26 am | delete

I did see the movie. I hope I don't have to see the real thing.

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WeCarryThePower Feb 29, 2012 @ 6:12 pm | delete

Really interesting lens ! The Mayan calender should be taken very seriously. The Mayan were pin-point accurate ancient astronomers ! They were masters of the sky, and keen observers of star and planet motion. We have every reason in the world to believe that some kind of world changes will occur as we near the winter solstice of 2012. There have been countless books written, and thousands of websites that provide a wealth of information on the subject. I am not saying that the world will end, but I do question if people really understand the possibilities of occurences as the sun passes over the galactic equator ? Many scientists believe that the last time this event happened, the earth experienced a pole shift, and earth entered an ice age. Well ... this dangerous astrological event is occuring again later this year. It is at least worth understanding, before hastily rejecting it with a sharp uneducated opinion of universal, scientific, and astronomical facts. Thanks so much for the great dilogue, videos, helpful charts, and images you've included here !

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neo_gnosis Jan 17, 2012 @ 8:31 am | delete

Interesting lens. I'm going to be Socratic about this and say "the only thing I know for certain, is that I know nothing".
I've written a lens on the Mayan Civilization, which is related to this. Would love to hear what you think. It can be found here:
http://www.squidoo.com/mayan_civilization

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poddys Jan 11, 2012 @ 2:10 am | delete

Excellent information and you put a lot of research into this. The Maya calendar would not have been created I don't think "for fun", there must be some reason why they knew so much about the past to be able to foresee the future. According to Zecharia Sitchin, the origins of mankind are not what we were taught in the history books, and the Gods Of Old, the ancient gods of the civilizations of pre-history were real. All we have left are fragments of their civilizations and stories that are thought to be myths and legends, but if Sitchin is right, they were real events. There is real evidence to show that the Egyptians visited South America thousands of years ago, and just why is it that all ancient civilizations around the world use pyramids. It's more than just coincidence don't you think? Blessed, and added to my lens on Zecharia Sitchin, author of The Earth Chronicles.

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WhiteOak50 Aug 15, 2011 @ 6:08 am | delete

After finally catching up with the Angel School Bus, I am fluttering around Legend-ville to drop off some Blessings. Just wanted you to know I am here because your page caught my attention. Leaving you with a *Blessing* for doing such a great job on this page.