Anyone looking for some reading material? If you are as interested in the Mayan Calendar and what it has to say about our fate in December 2012, check out a research paper I wrote on it. I included information about who the Mayans are, why they created this crazy calendric system, and what they are telling us. This subject is relatively subjective; it's all about interpretations. Tell me how you interpret the Mayan Calendar...
Enjoy!
Interpreting the End of the World: The Truth Behind the Mayan Calendar
Apocalypse- definition: any revelation or prophecy. Prophecy- definition: a state or action that appears likely to occur. Prediction- definition: a foretelling of the future. These three words all seem to share a common thread that directs us to a recently intriguing controversial topic. This very topic is one that leaves so many puzzled, confused, and left questioning the overall concept of life. One that keeps people wondering, “Is the world really going to end in 2012?” Allow me to take you back 3,700 years as we explore this question and unveil the mystery behind the conundrum commonly known as the Mayan calendar.
Many a mystery lies behind the complex Mayan calendar, but in order to understand the myths and mysteries behind their sacred calendric system, you must first understand the culture in which it was created. The Mayans resided in Mesoamerica, in the regions of what we know today as Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, the Yucatan Peninsula, and Western Honduras. There are traces of the Maya people as early as 2000 B.C., but the Mayan civilization ultimately found its cultural height in 200 B.C. to A.D. 900, making relatively large advancements in mathematics, architecture and, of course, astronomy. This perplexing civilization is most commonly known for its calendric system, of course, but the Mayans also seemed to show an impeccable understanding for time and space. As recorded in their multiple calendars, scientific excursionists have found various recordings of the patterns of the moon, stars, and seasons. But not to mention, the Mayan’s tracings of planetary patterns of not only our home planet, Earth, but our very close neighbor, Venus. Perhaps because of these monumental discoveries and advancements of their time, the theory of the Mayan calendar was given a reason to be taken into consideration.
Now that you know who made the Mayan calendar you can understand it a little better. To thoroughly explain this complex system, I have to break it down into sections. First off, how it was made. As you already know, the Mayans made these calendars to track planetary alignments, weather patterns, and essentially, time, itself. In order to do this, they had various calendars used for various purposes. These calendars were sometimes used in conjunction with one another to get a more accurate product. This was the case of Mayan calendar that refers to that December 21, 2012 date. Two calendars that were used in conjunction with one another are the Tzolk’in and the Haab. The Tzolk’in is a ritual or sacred calendar, consisting of 260 days. The Haab is a solar calendar, consisting of 365 days (like our Gregorian calendar). These two calendars are thus combined together to get the Long Count, or more commonly referred to as the Great Cycle. The Great Cycle spanned 5,125 years and was used to track dates relative to each other on the linear scale. The other calendar used was the Procession Cycle. This calendar measures equinoxes and lasts for 26,000 years. Together, the Great Cycle and the Procession Cycle are the two main calendars that make up the Mayan calendar we are talking about.
The question still stands; what is the Mayan calendar? In all truth, there are seventeen different ‘Mayan calendars,’ (meaning calendars made by the Mayans) but what people often refer to is the two important ones that refer to the date December 21, 2012. Well, this Mayan calendar that has been taken into much consideration here lately, gets its intimidation from its end dates. Call it interpretation, but it doesn’t necessarily state the exact words that the world will end. It shows that on December 21, 2012 the calendar stops. No date beyond 12-21-12 is recorded. Why? It is not necessarily because the Maya people just got tired and stopped recording, but because at this date, both the Great Cycle and the Procession Cycle end. Now this is hardly a common occurrence, with calendars having synchronizing end dates. Perhaps the Mayans both agreed that this was appropriate place to end and maybe they also believe something monumental will occur on this date. Of course, that isn’t all that happens on 12-21-12, either. Also on this date, other Mayan calendars allegedly predict a conjunction with the winter solstice sun and the galactic equator (the equator of the Milky Way) and the ecliptic sun (the path of the sun). Now, scientists cannot completely confirm this to be true- the alignments- because finding the galactic equator and ecliptic sun is extremely difficult for them, but all of these occurrences do seem to show some kind of significance surrounding this date.
As you can see, the Mayan’s predictions rightfully show explanation for upheaval in scientific and religious controversies? Perhaps this extensive calendar they made, telling us the world will end in less than a year makes people a little agitated, hm? …Or does it? Does the Mayan calendar really tell us the world is going to end, or is it in fact saying something completely different? Carlos Barrios, a native Mayan who grew up in Huehuetenango, Guatemala (a dwelling place of the Mayan Mam tribe) tells us, “Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this,” Barrios says, “the world will not end. It will be transformed.” Mayan elders have, in a sense, “lived to tell the day” that we have, indeed, come about this “end of the world transformation” before, and this will, in fact, be our fifth time. Maybe the fact that people have been through this transformation before, and lived, can give us some hope… right?
So as you can see, no one can be 100% sure on what will ultimately happen on December 21, 2012. The words apocalypse, prophecy, and prediction hold a sense of fear in us, yet we are still curious to what the initial outcome will look like. All we can ever really be sure of is that change is inevitable. No matter what, change is one of those things you can never avoid. You can prolong it, but in an ever changing world, you can never surpass it. To take us home, a quote by the Mayan philosopher, Grahm Hancock, “Humanity, itself, is somehow implicated in its own fate. Therefore, we would be unwise to ignore this warning from the ancient Maya,” Hancock continues, “There may be hope in this prophecy, as well as fear; there may be light in this prophecy, as well as darkness. Somehow, perhaps if we can transform our own consciousness even if a disaster does afflict the earth, we would be better placed to deal with it in some way.”
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