2012?

[Eiri]

I'm pretty sure he doesnt do that...though that scene would look rather amusing....

[Nakishee]

woah, first time I have heard of this...
are we talkin' right on New Years?
I don't really buy it, but I bet a lot of people do and are gonna try and do some crazy stuff the next four or so years...

[mamotte]

hmmmmm... yeah i've heard of this before
well if it's true i'll die young *sigh*but i don't
think it's going to be the "end" but i do think it's gonna change
i mean there is the global warming now and that's gonna
change a few thing *hmmmm*-_-. but it's some thing
to think about but if there was such a thing as *the end* it
would problly be man made .-_-, so we could stop it
*sigh*human''s
but i don't reckon worry about it to much.
or you'll end up hurting you self or something
___________________________________________________________________
i say this wile i listen to doom music alright change to happy dancy song's
___________________________________________________________________

[Katchan6]

i've never heard of this lol

(eiri i didnt know you were still on jf *hugs*)

[james1254]

Originally Posted by xYinniex

soo like

london 2012 olympics=APOCALYPSE....

come on, we're not THAT bad.

thats what i thought this topic was about at first lol

[NightChilde25]

I think it's all rubbish. People have been working themselves into a panic over every little "doomsday" prediction for years. Do I think the world will end? Meh...I'm a Christian, so yeah, I believe in the whole Revelations thing but I don't think it's going to be in 2012. My mother is big into the "signs" and she's positive that it's getting close. *shrug* Not getting into religion here, but I'm ready to go when ever the horn blows and it's time. Personally, I say live each day like it's your last. Then it won't matter if something happens today, tomorrow, or 2012. Live your life to the fullest and have no regrets.

[Odin]

December 20, 2012 C.E. The day we all shall perish!
(hehe, not really )

The 2012 doomsday prediction is based on a misunderstanding of the Mayan calender. I'm going to try my best to explain how that calender works. Let me apologize now, because this will be a little technical. I can't help it. The keeping of time is a technical matter. It also wander into the area of region. Again sorry, I can't help it. They Mayans believed that time and religion were related.

First of all the Mayan calendar isn't really Mayan. It predates the Mayan civilization by over 300 years. It was first used by the Epi-Olmec people. Therefore scholars refer to it as the Mesoamerican Calendar.

Second, they actually used three different calenders. The Tzolk'in, the Haab', and the long count. I'll start with the first two calenders. They are somewhat easy and don' t cause any scary predictions. Because this is a rather tedious and long explanation I am going explain each of the calenders in a separate post.

(to be continued...)

[Odin]

(...continued)

Tzolk'in (Count of Days)

This is a 260 day calendar, and was used to keep track of religious and ceremonial events.

It was composed 13 periods (trecena) of 20 days (haab'). [13 × 20 = 260 days]

The names of the days (haab') are: Imix', Ik', Ak'b'al, K'an, Chikchan, Kimi, Manik', Lamat, Muluk, Ok, Chuwen, Eb' B'en, Ix, Men, Kib', Kab'an, Etz'nab', Kawak, and Ajaw.

The periods (trecena) were simply numbered 1 through 13.

Where most people get lost is how the progression of the dates is counted. After each day both the trecena and the haab' get incremented by 1.

Example sequence of dates:

01 Imix'
02 Ik'
03 Ak'b'al
04 K'an
05 Chikchan
06 Kimi
07 Manik'
08 Lamat
09 Muluk
10 Ok
11 Chuwen
12 Eb'
13 B'en
01 Ix ← This it the first day of a new trecena, and the 14th day of th tzolk'in
02 Men
.
.
.
12 Kawak
13 Ajaw ← This is the 260th (last day) of the tzolk'in
1 Imix ← Now you simply start at the beginning again

Every haab' and trecena had a symbol so that any date could be written with only 2 characters. Using this system every combination was unique, so a date like 10 Ok would only occur once during each cycle of the tzolk'in year.

With the tzolk'in there is no method for keeping track of the year. That's were the other calendars come in at.

(to be continued...)

[Odin]

(...continued)

Haab' (Solar Calender)

This was the calendar for keeping track of the seasons. Like the ancient Egyptian calendar it was rather crude and inaccurate. However is was good enough to keep track of day to day life. It consisted of 18 months of 20 days each. This is followed by 5 nameless days called the Wayeb'. This gives us a calendar of 365 days. [(18 × 20) + 5 = 365] The Mayans new that the solar year was actually 364¼ days long, but they considered the count of 365 to be sufficient.

The names of the months are: Pop, Wo, Sip, Sotz', Sek, Xul, Yaxk'in, Mol, Ch'en, Yax, Sac, Keh, Mak K'ank'in, Muwan, Pax, K'ayab', and Kumk'u. This is followed by the 5 days of Wayeb'.

Example of how the dates are recorded:

0 Pop ← The 1st day of the year, and yes you do start with zero!
1 Pop
2 Pop
.
.
.
19 Pop
0 Wo ← The 1st day of the 2nd month, the 21st day of the year.
.. and so on till ...
19 Kumk'u ← The 360th day of the year and the last named day.

Then came the 5 unnamed days of Wayeb'. This was considered to be a dangerous time when the barriers to the underworld broke down, and evil spirits could roam the mortal realm.

Like the tzolk'in calender, the haab' calender was represented by a combination of two symbols.

Also like the tzolk'in, the haab' calender made no attempt to identify the year. However by using the tzolk'in and haab' calenders together. You come of with a unique combination of dates that repeats exactly every 52 years. A date like 11 Chuwen 4 Sip will only occur every 52 years. Given that the average life expectancy was about 35, this was fine for every event within a persons expected life. The period of 52 years is called a Calendar Round.

While the Calendar Round system, might be fine for day to day life, it was useless for recording the history of the kings, empire, and gods. For that you need something much more precise. That is were the Long Count Calender comes into play.

(to be continued...)

[Odin]

(...continued)

The Mesoamerican Long Count Calender (hehe this is the one that causes all of the dire predictions)

This calender is very accurate and absolute, but it is complicated. It will make your head hurt. No wonder it causes such confusion.

To start with this calender uses a vigesimal (base-20) number system. Where the Arabic number system we all know and love, uses base-10 based on the ten fingers. The Mesoamerican number system uses all of your fingers and toes. Each digit has a symbol that corresponds to a number between 0 and 19. To complicate matter not all digits are base 20. The 2nd digit is base 18 and the 5th only goes to 13 (except under special conditions).

For the recording of important events the Mayans used a sequence of 5 digits to indicate a precise date

Example: 12.19.15.5.18 → May 14, 2008 (yesterday)
Example: 12.19.15.5.19 → May 15, 2008 (today)
Example: 12.19.15.6.0 → May 16, 2008 (tomorrow) notice that the last digit hit 20 so it goes back to zero and you add one to the next digit.

Each digit is given a name (listed right to left)

1st K'in → 1 day
2nd Winal → 18 days (remember this digit is base 18)
3rd Tun → 20 Winal → ~1 year → 360 days
4th K'atun → 20 Tuns → ~20 years → 7200 days
5th B'ak'tun → 13 K'atun → ~395 years → 140,000 days (remember this digit is base 13)

If you count to the last available number you get the following date:
12.19.19.17.19 → December 20, 2012

OMG the end is near! Well not quite. There is another trick you need to know. The five digit date seen in many Mesoamerican writings is an abbreviation. YEP! You heard me it is an abbreviation. Just like with the Arabic number system it doesn't stop at 5 digits. You simply add another digit to the number. This has already been done, they just don't write it all of the time. In fact the Mayan writings have left of most of the date. This is the same as we sometimes leave of the century of our dates, saying '92 instead of 1992

How do we know this? Simple they wrote it down. In many writings that speak of the far distant past, as well of predictions of the future, then they use a 9, 13, or 20 digit systems.

An example of this is the inscription on the temple stairway at Yaxchilan, with date of 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.9.15.13.6.9. This means the temple was dedicated on March 15, 761. We also have examples of predictions that will occur in the far distant future. In the year 4772 there is to be a grand celebration in honor of the accession of King Pacal. In fact we have dates of prediction as far as 400 million years from now, and as far back as 90 million.

So under the full 13 digit system:
Example: 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.12.19.15.5.19 → May 15, 2008
Example: 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.12.19.19.17.19 → December 20, 2012 (the end of the world )
Example: 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.14.0.0.0.0.0 → December 21, 2012 (the day after! )

So what does this mean? If it's not the end of the world, then what is it?

The Mayans made it is very clear, that they did not believe that the 2012 date was the end of world. however they did believe this to be an important date. It is one to be celebrated! According to the Mayan texts the date of 12.0.0.0.0 marks the beginning of the 4th age of man and marks the beginning of his dominion on the Earth. The first 3 ages were under the dominion of the gods. This corresponds to the date August 11, 3114 BCE. The date of 12.19.19.17.19 marks the beginning of the new age (Piktun). So December 20, 2012 is not the end, but the beginning of man's 5th age.

OK so now your head hurts! I don't blame you, I have a fair grasp of the system and my head hurts too. If you have any questions please feel free to ask!