Originally published in the fall of 2012 

There are many who believe that the Mayans have predicted that the world will end on December 21, 2012.  They base this belief almost solely on the Mayan long calendar that ends on that date.  But then, most calendars do end, generally every year.  And, like the Mayan calendar, those endings mean nothing, other than it’s time to get a new calendar.  There is absolutely no reason to believe that Mayan calendar will be any more prophetic than my hummingbird calendar.

In understanding why preparing for the world to end this December is a bit pointless (aside from the obvious, unless, perhaps, you have a spaceship), the best place to start is with an understanding of how the Mayans viewed time.  The Mayans had three types of dating systems that they used concurrently, depending on their needs.  There was the divine calendar, the Tzolkin, which consisted of 20 day intervals that repeated every 260 days, used primarily for indicating good and bad luck days.  There was the civil or short calendar, the Haab, which lasted 52 years – what they consider the average life span and the only Mayan calendar that had a direct relation to the physical year as we know it – that was useful in keeping track of current dates.  And there was the long calendar that lasted... well, longer, and was useful in keeping track of those things that happened in the past as well as those things that might happen in the future.  (The Mayan Calendar)  It’s the long calendar that we’re concerned with.

The long calendar places the start of time over 5000 years ago.  Nobody truly knows why the Mayan calendar starts when it does, thousands of years before their actual civilization began, sometime in the corresponding Gregorian year of 3114 BC.  (Why)  Of course, they didn’t call it 3114 BC (but then, neither would anybody else at that time).  They called it zero (a term they developed independently from the rest of the world).  (Kaplan)  The best guess is that it had to start somewhere, and that was as good as any.

But where does it end?  Not December 21, 2012.  Sure, one of their long calendars ends there, but the Mayans had more than one long calendar.  In particular, there is the recently unearthed calendar that was found at the ancient site of Xultún.  This calendar, which was created around 814 CE, projects 7000 years into the future, or, roughly, the calendar will end 5000 years from now – plenty of time to stock up on survival gear.  But even so, the Mayans didn’t believe the earth would end then.  In fact, the entire purpose of projecting their calendars so far into the future was to show that the world would not end – ever.  “The Maya were looking for a guarantee that nothing would change.”  They saw the world in a profoundly different way than many of us do today.  (Saturno)

The Western World basically views time through an eschatological mind-set.  Eschatology is a branch of theology that is concerned with the end of humanity, in particular, how Christians view the end of the world and the judgment of all humankind that will follow.  (Eschatology)  We of the Western mind-set tend to see all creation as having a start manifested by a divine creator and a finish (a time of universal judgment), which is then generally followed by an eternity of either reward or punishment in which time no longer matters.  Others, such as the Mayans and most Eastern religions, however, see time as cyclic.  (Saturno)  Not only do many Eastern religions, such as Hinduism, not recognize a time when the world may have begun, they don’t believe it will ever end.  It is a never ending cycle of life.

In predicting the end of time based on the Mayan calendar, we are attempting to apply our world view – how we see the world, in particular, how we view the passing of time on a grand scale – to how others saw the world, in particular, how they conceived time.  It’s a bit like measuring air pressure with a ruler.  It can be done... sort of, but we’re really missing the point.

Of course, there are those – the Mormons – who believe the Mayans could have been influenced by early Christian thought.  True, the Mormons believe that one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel – the Nephites – migrated to the new world in the sixth century before the birth of Christ and would eventually be visited there by Christ himself before he returned to heaven.  (Madsen)  And it is also true that the Mayan civilization came into existence after the Nephites supposedly came to the New World.  The Mayans existed from approximately 250 CE to 900 CE.  (O’Neill)  Therefore, it is possible that the Mayans were influenced by these early Christians.

However, the historical evidence that any ancient Jewish tribes ever came to the New World is highly debatable, to say the least.  As well, the evidence does not point to the Mayans ever adopting any Christian or Jewish beliefs.  In particular, the Mayans did not believe in a single god, but rather worshiped over 160 different deities, and a huge part of their beliefs involved human sacrifices.  (Ancient Mayan History Highlights)  True, Jewish religion also included human sacrifices (note Genesis 22, for instance), but there is no evidence that the Jews waged wars solely for a supply of victims to sacrifice to their god, and the sacrifice of Jesus supposedly eliminated the need for any further sacrifices. 

What it comes down to is that humans want to be assured of the future, whether it’s knowing when all life as we know it will end, or the assurance that all life as we know it will continue on forever.   And we’re willing to believe anything – be it the stars, ancient religious texts, the tossing of chicken bones, or especially numerology.  Contrary to all evidence, many people throughout the world – and throughout time – have put a lot of weight into numerology, the idea that random arrangements of numbers actually mean something.  (Numerology)  And this is especially true when it comes to dates.  Perhaps it is the belief that if, just possibly, we can discern a pattern, then we can predict the future.  And if we can predict the future, perhaps we can change it.  And if we can change it, then maybe, once again contrary to all evidence, we can cheat death (or at least be prepared for it).  If you know that the flood is coming, then you can be on higher ground.

But the idea that the Mayans actually predicted the end of the world some 2000 years ago is just plain silly, especially since everybody knows the world won’t end until 10:22 p.m. on Friday, February 22, 2222.  (2222)