Mayan Calendar New Year's Eve Party

The Mayan 'long count period' for the planet earth runs out at the end of 2012. If you believe that everything as we know it might be ending when the ancient Mayan Calendar runs out, then you might be receptive to a "Last Party" in 2011. This year's holiday reminds me of the New Year's hullaballoo in 1999 over Y2K. I think there was a lot more trepidation over the expected computer software problems.

NASA assures us that nothing is predicted to hit the earth in 2012. We just missed an asteroid on November 9,2011. Maybe our biggest worrY is the side effects from the broken financial system.

But Party on! You might explain to your guests that some special music selections for the evening have theme of "Last". The decorations for the event can derive from glyphs from the Mayan culture that represent some of the 20 Mayan days of the week. (Wikipedia has these images. You can see some mounted on the fireplace here.) Mayan themed party ware is unlikely to be commercially available, so you might have to make some of your own decorations on the computer printer. You can add items which suggest a jungle theme and entertain guests, for instance animatronic parrots (an 'adults only' one is mentioned on this page). Some posters of pyramids and invading comets are also appropriate. I didn't have any monkey toys, but you can hear monkeys around the pyramids...

And what might you do for a menu? Think of indigenous food which would be corn based. By 2000 BC, corn was a major crop in Mesoamerica. A recipe for a casserole is included here. And why not offer a special libation - Bloody Mary's - along with the New Year's champagne. If you are looking for quick foods, Fritos corn chips could be placed out in bowls. Some Tacquitos (stored frozen until baked as needed) could also be offered.

If you're in California, you might go out instead of staying home. Check out the vibes at the Club Mayan in Los Angeles.

Spend the next couple of months collecting jokes such as this Bizzaro one for a joke wall about the Mayan Calendar.
A Long Count is a period of 1,872,000 days or 5125.36 years. There are many estimates of when the Calendar began