Mayan Calendar and 2012 End of the World

The belief that the world will come to an end on 21st December, 2012, has been fueled by misinterpretation of a number of recent occurrences - including the allegedly mysterious phenomenon of birds and fish dying, destructive floods in Australia and Brazil, cataclysmic earthquakes in Haiti and Chile,.... and so on. As you go through all those stories/theories about the end of the world, you come across one common link in all of them - the ancient civilization of Maya. In fact, all these stories/theories trace the origin of the end of the world to a Mayan prophecy.

Now, this is not the first time we are talking about the end of the world. There have been numerous instances wherein self-proclaimed experts/theorists have predicted the end of the world on specific dates - all of which eventually turned out to be a bluff. The last of these bluffs occurred on 11th November, 2011, wherein the perfect same-numbered palindrome was touted to be the end of the world, but as always nothing happened. Though there have been several apocalypse predictions in the past, none has been as popular as the 2012 apocalypse prediction.

The popularity of 2012 phenomenon is aptly highlighted by the millions of end of the world countdown clocks flooding the cyberspace. So what's so special about this Mayan prophecy about the world end in 2012? According to the interpretation of Mayan calendar, 2012 is supposed to be the end of the Great Cycle - and it is believed that this Great Cycle will come to an end with a cataclysmic disaster that would cause apocalypse, and end the life on this planet. Whether this Mayan prediction really holds ground or not, is a question which demands some serious thinking.

Did the Mayan Predictions Ever Come True?

Historical records are all praises for the Mayan civilization - especially for the amount knowledge about astronomy that the Mayans possessed. They used their astronomical knowledge to predict celestial occurrences, such as the solar and lunar eclipses, in times when the state-of-the-art equipment that we use today was not even in its conceptual state. Their knowledge about the solar system and predictions about celestial occurrences were near-accurate, if not perfect. In fact, they had also predicted a few celestial occurrences of the future, which came true in course of time.

The fact that quite a few Mayan predictions about the celestial occurrences have come true, has fueled the widespread belief that the 2012 Mayan calendar predictions about the end of the world will also come true, and that the life on this planet will come to an abrupt end on 21st December, 2012. Now this is a classic case of mass hysteria wherein people have started preparing themselves for an apocalypse without trying to find out the truth. The foremost question to be asked is that, did the Mayans ever predict that some cataclysmic event would bring the world to an end in 2012.... or is it just one of the numerous misinterpretations of archaeological find?

What did the Mayans Say about 2012 End of the World?

Basically, the 2012 Mayan calendar predictions about the world coming to an end are closely related to the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar which had an important place in the Mayan culture. The Long Count calendar was basically a calendar which traced the 'Great Cycle' - a period which lasted for 1,872,000 days or 5,125.37 years. This period of 5,125.37 years was one-fifth of one complete precession of the Equinox, which lasted for about 25,765 years. With their astounding knowledge of astronomy and their astronomical observation, the Mayans were able to identify the precession of the equinox way before we coined the world technology.

Using their Long Count calendar, they were able to determine that this phase of the Great Cycle which started on 11th August 3114 BC would come to an end on 21st December, 2012 AD. The Mayans predicted that the date 21st December, 2012 AD, would mark the end of the Great Cycle, and not the end of the world as it is widely believed. That makes it more than obvious that all the myths about Mayan calendar predictions about the world end are attributed to the misinterpretation of various Mayan prophecies. There is no doubt about the fact that the Mayans were far ahead of their time; their achievements aptly validate this claim.

But saying that they had predicted the end of the world and preparing for the scheduled date would be nothing short of absurdity. At the end of the day, there are no records about the Mayans predicting anything about the year 2012 marking the end of the world. In fact, it would be utter foolishness to blame one of the most advanced civilizations of the world for all the chaos that is happening on the planet today. The chaotic situation which we find ourselves into today has surfaced because of some self-proclaimed doomsday experts and our lack of critical thinking.

It is similar to the end of the world predictions by several other individuals, including the French astrologer Nostradamus in the past and the American Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping more recently, which are being used by some selfish people for their own selfish gains.While that must have helped you get rid of all your myths about the alleged end of the world according to the Mayan prophecy, there is no dearth of such prophecies in the world. Just a bit of common sense, and you can nail the lie without much difficulty.

Basically the 2012 end of the world confusion is one of the numerous hoax calls which we have been subjected to since hundreds of years now. For those who are feeling restless about what will actually happen on the 21st December, 2012? In most likelihood, everybody will be laughing at themselves for believing in something like the 'apocalypse', while all the conspiracy theorists out there will focus their attention on the impending end of the world in 2060.