As the year 2012 approaches, interest in the ancient Mayan calendar 2012 prediction as the end of the world has exploded in the news media and entertainment industry. Mayan 2012 predictions center around the fact that December 21 or 23, 2012, is "doomsday," or the day the world ends. Hollywood is on the bandwagon as well, releasing a movie blockbuster. What is fact vs. fiction according to the historical record, though? What Mayan predictions were really made?
Mayan Calendar 2012 Predictions
According to the Mayan calendar, the 2012 date marks the end of what is called a "Long Count," a cycle of 5,126 years. Mayans counted time in cycles called ba'k'tuns, 144,000 day cycles that add up to approximately 394 years. Thirteen ba'k'tuns equal one Long Count, and the current Long Count, begun in 3114 BCE, will end in 2012 CE. But it's not the "end of the world" according to ancient Mayan predictions.
While the Long Count is a time measurement form in ancient Mayan civilization, it is not the only large-scale measure for time. Other, longer periods of marking cyclical time appear in Mayan culture. 2012 only has significance because it marks the end of a Long Count, but it may has astronomical significance as well.
Mayan 2012 Predictions
The Long Count ends at the winter solstice. According to Robert Sitler in his essay "The 2012 Phenomenon":
"Terence McKenna was the first to note that a rare winter solstice conjunction of the sun with the Milky Way galaxy was approaching, an alignment that takes place approximately every 25,800 years, the length of the astronomical cycle known as the precession of the equinoxes. In the early 1990s, [John] Jenkins combined and elaborated upon these observations, reaching the conclusion that ancient Maya established their Long Count based on the 2012 winter solstice in recognition of the extraordinary astronomical conjunction that would occur on that date."
In other words, the Mayans were known for their work in astronomy; could the Long Count be part of charting astronomical events and have nothing to do with doomsday, the end of the world, or any sort of 2012 predictions?
Hollywood wouldn't be happy if the Mayan 2012 predictions weren't true.
2012 Movie
Released on November 13, 2009, the Hollywood blockbuster 2012 movie, starring John Cusack, is based on the worst-case interpretation of the Mayan Long Count's end. The movie is a visual masterpiece of disaster films, showing massive destruction on Earth and confirming end of the world in 2012 fears for those not familiar with research on Mayan predictions.
While the 2012 movie is fun for as a piece of pure entertainment, as a commentary on the historical record it falls short. As the earth's core superheats for reasons unknown, Woody Harrelson, John Cusak, and Amanda Peet take viewers through a campy disaster movie that is only tangentially related to the Mayan calendar predictions. The movie is about as related to the Long Count as Snookie is to a Macarthur Grant winner.
The Historical Record and Fact vs. Fiction
Scholars have struggled to find evidence of ancient Mayans making any predictions about doomsday, the end of the world, 2012, precession of the equinoxes, or anything related to the end of the Long Count. Ancient Mayans did not mark the winter solstice of 2012 as a special moment in their written commentaries. Mayan civilization used an elaborate hieroglyphic system for writing, so historical records are available. None predicts 2012 as the end of the world.
To find more specific information on the 2012 controversy, seek out news and magazine articles, in print and online, as well as seminars, special websites, promotions and expert discussions of the Mayan predictions. New information is being published every day as the Long Count's end approaches, with sources and ideas constantly updating the body of knowledge.
Resources:
Munro Edmonson. The Book of the Year: Middle American Calendrical Systems. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.
Sitler, Robert. "The 2012 Phenomenon: New Age Appropriation of an Ancient Mayan Calendar" in Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Volume 9, Issue 3, pp. 24–38.
Tedlock, Dennis. Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of The Mayan Book of The Dawn of Life and The Glories of Gods and Kings. Touchstone Books, 1996.
Melanie Zoltan - Melanie Zoltan is a former college professor and administrator who has written for About.com, PCWorld, Brain Child, Thomson Gale, and ...
Comments