Have you heard that the world is going to end on December 12, 2012? According to some that is what the Mayans predict – well, what their calendar predicts.

I’ve enjoyed plenty of time travelling through Mayan areas in modern day Mexico and Guatemala and have to admit I’d be kind of bummed out if the world ended in 2012. So I did a little digging and am happy to say, with confidence, that the world will not end in December 2012.

You see, this ‘end of the world’ concept is an improper interpretation of the Mayan calendar. What is even more interesting is that the Mayans had many calendars, all with different purposes.

 

The Mayan Long Count Calendar

This is the one that is associated with all the doom and gloom. The cycle of the long count calendar is soon coming to an end. But it has come to an end before, this is not the first time! In reality, when December 2012 arrives it will be a time of celebration as the Mayan people would be celebrating a change – a transition – of one world to another. The sun will still rise and set as it always has, as according to the long count calendar we will enter a new cycle of creation called the golden age. Sounds much better than end of the world doesn’t it?

The complexity of Mayan calendars comes in the fact that they do not just measure time, they’re more dynamically linked to civilization. A mix of daily life, understanding the cosmos and natural life cycles is what makes them somewhat mystical, giving Mayan calendars a more prophetic interpretation than our common Gregorian calendar.

The Mayan Tzolk’in Calendar

This is the most ancient of all Mayan calendar systems. It uses a 260-day cycle and began more than 2600 years ago. Most people believe the length of the calendar is linked to the 9-month time frame of a human pregnancy. The Mayans hold this calendar in highest regard, with it still being use today by Maya people in Mexico and Guatemala. (Yes, it is true there are still descendants of the Maya living today!)

The calendar is an interesting combination of days and day names. The day names come from the Mayan belief that the days of their calendar are living entities, more powerful than ourselves. Call it creepy or call it cool, it sure makes our standard calendar seem pretty lame.

The Haab Calendar

This is the 365-day Mayan calendar that focuses on planetary and cosmic events similar to the Gregorian calendar many of us follow today. Pretty simple to understand. But…that’s not the end of it.

This calendar, combined with the Tzolk’in calendar, create the Calendar Round, a 52-year  cycle! These round calendars are now popularized as souvenirs for tourists, but they once played a huge role in the  building of Mayan pyramids at sites like Chichen Itza.

What it all boils down to is that the Maya had a complex set of calendars linked to the important events in their lives. None of them predict the end of the world, but being cyclical in nature some of them do come to an end and need to start over.

So don’t worry, you’ll still be around in 2013, as will the descendants of the Maya!