Mayan+Calender

=**Mayan Calendar ** = = = = =

=The Mayans =

The Mayans, an ancient Mesoamerican civilization, were the founders of many common concepts and items we utilize today. Skilled artists, architects, mathematicians, astronomers and the only known of the pre-Columbian Americas to have a written language, the Mayans contributed the basic fundamentals that we may take for granted today. One of the biggest contributions, although not the creators but the ones who fully developed the beginning idea, was the calendar, or calendars since they had three different types.

=The Making of the Calendar =

The 365 day solar year was divided into eighteen "months" containing twenty days each with a remaining five days known as the "days without name" or "xmak'abak'inob" among the Yukatek Maya. The "days without name" were there for renewal purposes, a renewal to a new year. The names of the eighteen months possessed names that is believed to be tied with agricultural periods or ritual festivals throughout the year. This calendar was called the //Haab//.

Along with this 365 day calendar was a 260-day cycle calendar called the //Tzolkin//. This was arranged as twenty named days followed by a numeral coefficient from one to thirteen. Therefore, a given day would contain a number 1-13 and the name of that current day, like our seven day week Sunday through Saturday but theirs was a twenty day "week."

The //Long Count// is used to track longer periods of time. This calendar is used mostly for historical purposes since it can track days from millions of years in the past and the future. From the first creation of the Long Count, Mayans were able to fast forward to the date December 21, 2012 because this marked the end of their "Great Cycle." Each Great Cycle lasts about 1,872,000 days or about 5,125.36 years.The reason why the Mayans decided to choose this length of time for a cycle is unknown. Some theories include galactic synchronization, sunspot cycles, crustal displacement, solstice-galactic center conjunction, Mayan tribal prophecies, the Bible code, photon belt and many others. (Explanations to each theory can be found in the Beyond 2012 citation found at the bottom of this page.) =media type="youtube" key="YhTjrQSfWCs" height="334" width="378" align="right" = =The Calendar and 2012 = = = The Long Count contains five of these "Great Cycles." The last day of all five of the Great Cycles the Mayans predicted is December 21, 2012, which is presumed to be the day the world will end, the Mayan apocalypse: "a pole shift, earth change, cosmic convergence, whatever." (//Current Mayan date//.)

Information regarding both the world ending and not ending are evident.  "Doomsday:"
 * As stated previously, December 21, 2012 does mark the end of the Great Cycle. During this time, it is believed that the world will end due to different reasons resulting from the alignment of the Milky Way center and the Earth. It is proven that on this day the Earth and Milky Way will definitely be aligned so the Mayans were correct when they made their cycle end on this day since this occurrence does not happen often, about every 26,000 years. The energy from the alignment could cause shifts in poles resulting in many earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions simultaneously.

No "Doomsday:" **//Citations://**
 * "On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that "whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time," Joseph writes." (MacDonald, 2007.) It is agreed among scholars that this alignment will happen but many doubt that the ancient Maya knew of this alignment since it was not researched fully until later. ""It would be impossible the Maya themselves would have known that...we have no record or knowledge that they would think the world would come to an end at that point." says Susan Milbrath, a Maya archaeoastronomer." (MacDonald, 2007.)
 * The calendar merely marks the end of a period of time, not time all together and therefore it cannot be assumed that the world will end.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Beyond 2012//. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.diagnosis2012.co.uk/1.htm#Mayan%20Calendar
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Current Mayan date//. (n.d.). Retrieved from []
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Is the Earth near the end?//. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.uta.edu/planetarium/_content/images/articles/mayan
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Jones, L. (2005). Maya Religion. (2005). //Encyclopedia of religion//. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomas Gale.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">MacDonald, G. J. (2007, March 27). //Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse?//. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">O'Neill, I. (2008, May 19). //No doomsday in 2012//. Retrieved from http://www.universetoday.com/2008/05/19/no-doomsday-in-2012/
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Papp, J. (1998, December 09). //21 december// //2012 the mayan calendar end-date//. Retrieved from http://www.planetpapp.com/br21december2012/
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//The Mayan Calendar//. (2006). Retrieved from []
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//The Mayan calendar//. (2008). [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhTjrQSfWCs