Mayan Calendar December 21, 2012

December 21, 2012 the day which many people believe it is “doomsday”, because the Mayan calendar ends on this day. Mayan calendar is the system of calendars and almanacs created by Maya civilization of ancient Mesoamerica and it is still used by some modern Maya communities. There is some lingering disagreement over which day marks thhe exact beginning of the Mayan calendar. One of the common known date is 11 August, 3114 BC, while other researchers believe it is on 13 August, 3114 BC (which would make Dec. 23 is the big day). Some people only believe that in the year 2012 there will be only a great change, but not “the end of the world” and some people believe nothing will happen, we will pass the days just like any other ordinary days.

The Mayans have complicated system of calendars. They used many different calendars, most of the calendars were short and each calendar has a different purpose. Here are some of the more commonly known Mayan calendars:

The Tzolk’in calendar:
The Tzolk’in, sometimes known as the sacred calendar. It lasted for 260 days and it is made up of 13 cycles of 20 days. It is believed the Tzolk’in calendar was the first Maya calendar and it is used primarily in crop rotation.

The Haab calendar:
Like the Gregorian calendar we are using right now which consists of 365 days, this Haab calendar also follows the cycle of the sun. It is only that Haab calendar consists of 18 months and each month only has 20 days, with a five day waiting period at the end which was considered unlucky called the wayeb or uayeb. The haab also known as the Vague Year.

The calendar Round:
The Mayan then combined both the Haab and the Tzolk’in to form the Calendar Round, a cycle lasting 52 years (the approximate length of a generation at the time of the Calendar Round’s creation).

However, using Calendar Round there was no way to record a date older than 52 years, so the Mayan historians wanted to create one which can be used to record history for centuries. The Long Count calendar then was created, it multiplies up from the other calendar systems annd incorporates an era called the Great Cycle, which lasts about 5,125 years. It began on approximately Aug 11, 3114 BC and ends 5125 years later on December 21st, 2012.

How Mayan Long Count Calender Works?

However, people started to believe that the world will end when the Mayan Long Count calendar runs out. Mayan researchers are even in debate as to whether the Long Count calendar is designed to be reset from the beginning again after it completed the cycle or whether simply continues to extend its system. There is not actually much evidence to suggest doomsday will strike. The Mayan Doomsday Prophecy is solely based on a calendar that is believed has not been designed to calculate dates beyond 2012. So what actually will happen around Dec 21, 2012? if 'the end of the world' is solely based on the Mayan calendar, it is likely that there will be nothing happen, those days will pass with no major events at all and we will pass those days just like any other ordinary days, and just because the calendar ends it doesn't mean that the world, or life will end.

Now shall we move from Archaeology to the science of Astronomy and Astrophysics related to 2012.