Mayan Calendar - What is 2012

What is 2012?

What is the Mayan Calendar?

When will the world end?

How will the world end?

Will the world end in 2012?

Is this the end times?

You have no doubt seen the end of the world 2012 predictions everywhere. It all seems to be based around something called The Mayan Calendar, but what is it?

The Mayan calendar certainly needs no introduction, it is easily one of the most popular predictions for 2012. The story goes that we found an ancient Mayan calendar that is about to run out, and when it does our time on this planet is up. There are many theories, a giant planet will smash into us, we line up with the center of the galaxy and the Earth is ripped to shreds, massive solar flares causing destruction to our electronics, and many, many more ways the world will be reborn.

The Mayan calendar is a refined version of a calendar that was common to the area at the time. The Mayan calendar is actually many calendars working together, all based on the number 20.

One calendar in the Mayan calendar is called, the Haab, it was one year long. It was based on 18 months of 20 days for a total of 360 days and they would add 5 blank days at the end to match approximate the solar year. Also, it was 18 months instead 20 months because 18 months is closer to the solar year. The Mayan people would probably use the Haab calendar to know when to plant, when to expect certain weather, and so on.

Another calendar in the Mayan calendar is called, the Tzolkin, it had 20 periods of 13 days for a total of 260 days. It is unclear exactly what the Tzolkin was used for, but there are some interesting ideas such as:

May be related to Venus which has a 263 day orbit.

May be related to Mayan math. The numbers 13 and 20 were special numbers to the Mayan people and if you multiply them together they equal 260.

May be related to human pregnancy.

May be related to the time from plant to harvest.

May be related to anything really, we just don't know.

The next calendar in the Mayan calendar was called the Calendar Role, it was made by combining the Haab and the Tzolkin. This calendar would make each day unique for 52 years. This calendar was probably used by the Mayan people to keep track of peoples ages and other spans of time such how many years you went to school and so on. The truth is, most of the Mayan people did not live to be 52 years old, so this calandar was probably all that was needed by most.

* Technical Jargon*

So, for example, if you were born on the first day of the Calendar Roll your birthday would be "1 Haab 1 Tzolkin", the next day would be "2 Haab 2 Tzolkin",

the next day would be "3 Haab 3 Tzolkin" and so on,

if the day was "260 Haab 260 Tzolkin" the next day would be "261 Haab 1 Tzolkin" (because Tzolkin only has 260 days), and the day after "360 Haab 100 Tzolkin" would be "1 Haab 101 Tzolkin" (because Haab only has 360 days). It is unclear, to me, how they handled the 5 days extra.

So, the time it takes to get from "1 Haab 1 Tzolkin" to "1 Haab 1 Tzolkin" using this Calendar Roll system takes 52 years.

*End Technical Jargon*

The last calendar in the Mayan calendar is the one everyone is talking about, The Long Count calendar. These other calendars were fine if the events took place in a single lifetime, but what if you wanted to keep track of your ancestors, or keep track of important historical dates like the completion of a monument or temple, or if you wanted to make your prediction for when will the world end? The Mayan people surely asked themselves this same question and the answer they give is the Long Count calendar.

This is what the Long Count calendar looks like "0.0.0.0.0".

*Technical Jargon Starts Here*

This is how the Long Count calendar works:

The last zero is the day and it is called a "Kin". "0.0.0.0.5" = 5 Kin, or the sixth day because 0 is the first day.

20 Kin equals 1 Winal (month)
"0.0.0.3.10" is how you would write the eleventh day of the fourth Winal (month). This number only goes to 18 just like the Haab Calendar.

18 Winal = 1 Tun (year)
"0.0.15.0.1" is how you would write the second day of the first month of the sixteenth Tun (year).

20 Tun = 1 Katun
"0.3.0.0.5" is how you would write the sixth day of the first month of the first year in the fourth Katun.

20 Katun = 1 Baktun
"2.2.2.2.2", I think you can take a guess what day this is.

*end Technical Jargon*

The simplest way I can think to explain it is that it is just like a car odometer except the numbers on a car odometer only goes to 10 where as the numbers in the Long Count calendar go to 20.

That is all there is to the Mayan Calendar. Do you want to know what day it will be the day before December 21, 2012? "13.9.9.9.9". That's right, on December 21, 2012 the Mayan calendar will read "14.0.0.0.0". Get it? Me either.

To start off there is a big problem with this prediction for 2012. The Mayans are all gone. Who kept counting all the days? NOBODY. How do we know what day it is? WE DON'T. The date we have today is a date that has been agreed upon by a group of scientists. Some smart people got together and said the calendar starts on the day August 11, 3114 BCE, but that is a best guess and might very well be wrong. I would like you to notice that, had they lined up the calendar with the stars, we might know what day it really is right now. The Mayan people knew and studied the stars, but they did not base the Mayan calendar on it, only the yearly count used the solar year (and not accurately).

The Mayan people used the numbers 13 and 20, so why would "14.0.0.0.0" be a bad number? It probably is not a bad number.

The Mayan Calendar will not reach "19.19.19.17.19" for another 2367 modern Earth years, and that is the real last day of the Mayan calendar.

So what is all the fuss about really? Most likely, the first person that studied it didn't realize the calendar goes to 14. There are many interesting things about the Mayan people that can be used to weave great tales to answer "how will the world end". But, they really never said "2012 end of world", modern man did.

There are plenty of real mysteries out there that are much more deserving of our attention than this.

I give this a 1 on the mystery scale.

1 = no mystery
2 = possible mystery
3 = total mystery


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