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Paranormal and Pseudoscience assignment #2

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Ancient stories and artifacts have told us of the invention of the Mayan Calander.

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Ancient Mayans predicted the end of the world. Some people were convinced that our world would end in the year 2012. Obviously, they were not right in all of their predictions.

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The Mayans, known for being one of the most technologically advanced civilizations of their time, inhabited the regions of Central America and southern Mexico. Their most notable achievement was their intricate system of time, which consisted of three calendars. These calendars were known as the Long Year, the Solar Year, and the Tzolk'in. The Long Year calendar was used to measure long periods of time and is responsible for the 2012 predictions. The Solar Year is the calendar that most closely resembles our Gregorian calendar; The Tzolk'in calendar consisted of only 260 days and was used mostly for religious purposes. These calendars came under great scrutiny in 2012 due in part to the media portrayal of an "apocalyptic" prediction. However, after 2012 came and went without incident, historians began looking for the true meaning of why the Mayan calendar system ended on that date.

A Brief Overview

The Mayans were a very religious civilization spread out around modern day Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and areas of southern Mexico. They are well known for their advances in astronomy, mathematics and writing. They are most known for their two calendars; one tracked the solar year and one tracked the sacred year of 260 days. The Sacred year was used for religious reasons and to name children. It consisted of thirteen months; each with 20 days each. The Solar year is the year that we are most familiar with and still practice today. This calendar consisted of 365 days split into 18 months of 20 days each. These were further divided into cycles known as Katuns (around 19.7 years), Baktuns (roughly 395 years or 20 katuns), Pictuns (around 789 years or 20 baktuns), Calabtuns (usually around 158,000 years or 20 pictuns) and Kinchiltuns (which were around 3.16 million years or 20 calabtuns).

Concepts of Time

In order to track long periods of time, the Mayans developed what is known as the Long Calendar. The main function of the Long Calendar was to keep track of what the Mayans called the "Great Cycle", which was roughly 13 baktuns and was considered to be the average world age. In order to mark significant moments in time, the Mayans created glyphs that marked the beginning or eras or stories. These glyphs were then carved in stone and placed in sacred areas. The first three stones were said to be put in place by three of the Mayan Gods. In addition, they had names for every day except the last five days of the final month. These days were considered to be unlucky and were simply referred to as the xma kaba kin which means "days without name." These days came from the priests who changed the number of days in a cycle from 20 down to 18 for certain religious reasons.

Tzolk'in

The Tzolk'in is the official name for the Mayan religious calendar that consisted of 260 days; the days each had a name and a number from one to thirteen. It was primarily used for religious practices, predictions, and even infant naming. When a Mayan infant was born, he or she would be given the name that corresponded with their date of birth. The Tzolk'in is represented by three interlocking dials that correlate with the year, month and day. Modern Mayans still use this system today to mark special events such as weddings, religious ceremonies, holidays and coronations.

Influences on the Mayan Calendar

The two main Mayan calendars – the Haab and the Tzolk'in – had different influences in both their creation and interpretation. The Haab was also known as the solar calendar. Its main influences were agricultural cycles and seasonal changes. This calendar is known for containing the xma kaba kin. There are very few differences between the Haab and traditional calendars. The Tzolk'in represented the spiritual aspect of time. It used twenty round glyphs that intercepted thirteen numbers to indicate the different months and days. When the Haab and the Tzolk'in matched up, the Maya believed it was the end of a world cycle and the beginning of a new one.

Mayan Calendar and 2012

The year 2012 was first mentioned in the Mayan Long Calendar. Many people believed that this marked the end of the world. However, sources now say that it simply marked the end of the 13 th baktun; the 13 th baktun is the current cycle according to the Mayan Long Count calendar. This means, the Mayans meant the calendar to be reset in order to begin a new count rather than signifying any sort of event. Though the date of December 21 st was widely accepted as the date of whatever event was supposed to occur, it is only mentioned on two archaeological dig sites. One site suggests that this marks a time of political change. Another site was illegible. Modern day Mayans denied knowledge of any major event that was set to occur on this date as well. Though it was theorized that an apocalypse of sorts would occur, 12/21/12 passed without incident.

About the author

Niclas Marie is the founder and CEO of TimeCenter Online Scheduling and lives in Helsingborg, Sweden. He loves to code beautiful and simple web apps, and occasionally enjoys a game of blitz chess.

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The Mayans, known for being one of the most technologically advanced civilizations of their time, inhabited the regions of Central America and southern Mexico. Their most notable achievement was their intricate system of time, which consisted of three calendars. These calendars were known as the Long Year, the Solar Year, and the Tzolk'in.

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By studying ancient artifacts and hieroglyphics, we have been able to understand the complexity of the Mayan Calendar.

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The Mayan calendars are methods of measuring time that were developed by the ancient Mayans. They are rather impressive and have evoked the curiosity of many astronomy and/or archaeology experts. They have been studied extensively and they appear to be interpreted well. However, there is one calendar, developed by the ancient Mayans that has caused a great deal of controversy and frustration. The interpretation of the Mayan Long Calendar has left a surprisingly widespread and significant number of people on the cusp of panic.

The so-called "Maya (or Mayan) Calendar" is actually only one of four calendars developed by the ancient Mayans. The calendar that is widely known as the "Maya Calendar" is actually the Mayan Long Count Calendar. All of the Mayan calendars served a purpose. The purpose of the Long Count Calendar was to measure time well into the future or past. Quite simply, it was used to measure hundreds or thousands of years, as opposed to the days, weeks and months in our modern calendars. The Mayan Long Count Calendar is round and covered in ancient Mesoamerican hieroglyphs. Each of these hieroglyphs represents a specific time frame. These are arranged to count the passage of time in multiples of 13 and 20.

Experts have deduced that the Mayan Long Count Calendar began on August 11 or 13, 3114 BC. Based on the hieroglyphs on the calendar, it has been calculated that the calendar ends on either December 21 or 23, 2012. Therefore, the amount of time that the Mayan Long Count Calendar measures is roughly 5,125 years. It is the belief of many that "doomsday" is going to occur on the last day of the Mayan Long Count Calendar. In other words, they believe the world will end on December 21 or 23, 2012. Well, most of them believe it is going to be December 21. What exactly is going to happen is not certain.

From the Believers:

Everywhere you look on the internet and on television; there are references to the end of the world happening in 2012. Some of the stuff you see is obviously nonsense and some of it sounds scholarly enough. Here is some of what believers of the doomsday prophecy are saying.

December 21 is the winter solstice. Furthermore, the Sun will be lining up with the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy on that very same day. Therefore, the end of the Mayan Calendar, the lining up of the sun and the plane of the galaxy and the winter solstice are all occurring at the same time. This is indicative of the fact that something catastrophic is going to occur on that day.

The Yupik Shamans of Siberia are reportedly claiming that the very mysterious changing of the blue whale song is actually a "Song of Death." The blue whales are singing sadly because they know the end of the world is coming. At one of their meetings, these shamans predicted that the "Great Ending" would be coming in ten years. This meeting was supposedly held in 2002.

There is some speculation that the powerful governments of the Earth know that the end is nigh. The "Doomsday Seed Vault" and the fact that U.S. President Barack Obama wants the troops to come home before 2012 (like all presidential wishes, this is subject to change) is seen as evidence that they are preparing for the end of the world.

From the Skeptics:

Also everywhere you look on the internet and on television, there are experts telling people to calm down. The information debunking the 2012 predictions ranges from serious attempts to explain the calendar in laymen's terms to exasperated rants telling people to get real. Here are some more serious arguments from the skeptic side.

Yes, December 21, 2012 falls on the winter solstice. There is no evidence to suggest that the winter solstice lining up with any other astrological alignment would cause any kind of disturbance on Earth. Yes, it is possible that the Sun and the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy will be lined up on that day. However, predicting an exact alignment between the Sun and the plane of the galaxy is not exactly easy, or precise. Furthermore, it is possible that the Sun is in rough alignment with the plane of the galaxy for hundreds of years. That is not in the Mayan Long Count Calendar.

Yes, the song of the blue whales is changing and it is a great mystery. However, there is no way to interpret the blue whale's song at this time. At least, there is no evidence of such a thing. This theory also sounds suspiciously like the dolphins who knew the end of the world was coming in "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. As for the shaman's predictions, it has to be a matter of speculation, because there is no way to disprove predictions until they do not come true.

The Mayan Long Count Calendar, like all of the Mayan calendars and our calendars, operates on a cycle. When the cycle ends, a new one begins. It is kind of like when you get to the end of your yearly calendar; you throw it away and open a new one. Do you get nervous that the world is going to end at the end of every year? The problem is, the Mayans stopped using that calendar system a long time ago, so no one will be making one for the new cycle. In this way, it is the end, the end of the Mayan Calendar.

Sources
Scofield, Bruce, The Mayan Calendar Explained, retrieved 7/23/10.
Makemson, Maud, The Maya Calendar, retrieved 7/23/10, http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1947PASP...59...17M
Pakalert, Blue Whale 'Song of Death' Says Warns World of 2012 Catastrphe, retrieved 7/23/10, http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/blue-whale-%E2%80%98song-of-death%E2%80%99-says-warns-world-of-2012-catastrophe/

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The Mayan Calendar Facts, Theories and Prophecies | Historic Mysteries

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The Mayan calendars are methods of measuring time that were developed by the ancient Mayans. They are rather impressive and have evoked the curiosity of many astronomy and/or archaeology experts. They have been studied extensively and they appear to be interpreted well.

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Knowledge passed down from ancient ancestors.
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Mayan Elder Reveals Truth of 2012 Mayan Calendar 1/3

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The celebrity Mayan Calendar and the end of the world. December 21, 2012 was the day the world was supposed to end. For months leading up to this date, the end of the world was all over the news and radio, it was all anyone could focus on.
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Doomsday 12-21-12 - Preparing For "End Of The World"!!!   - Mayan Calendar 2012

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The Mayan Calendar board game!

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The conspiracy around the Mayan Calendar. Many people believed the Mayan Calendar ending, meant the world was also coming to an end.

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Ancient stone carved Mayan Calander

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1. What surprised me the most was how many people actually believed the world was going to come to an end based on stone carvings. However, the Mayans were incredibly smart and geniuses in math, so I cant hold it against the doomsday believers.
2. A real life example couldn't be more obvious, every second, every hour, day, week and year that goes by is relevant to the Mayan calendar. Its interesting to learn the ancient history behind the calendar.
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4. I'm most likely to remember, is that I was able to live in an era where I survived TWO dooms days (Y2K and the Mayan calendar doomsday)
5. I think the most harmful red flag would be "All Natural". There are to many horrible stories of people dying because of not listening to medical instruction and using proper medication. The least harmful I believe to be, unexplained.
6. If I could pass down the knowledge I have learned, I would tell my friends and family to do their research on the topic and come up with their own opinion, because listening to someone else could be harmful.