Quite some time ago, I wrote this piece on my blog, which is currently defunct. I have only edited the intro and some parts, but it appears mostly in toto.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mayans believed, that, prior to the current world, that they lived in – or we still live in - there existed, 4 preceding worlds, which were destroyed by some cataclysmic events. The current world would, likewise come to an end, when the current cycle comes to an end. This cycle is the Long Calendar (also called Long Count, and is explained below), and it comes to an end, i.e. completes its cycle on 21st Dec, 2012.
Then there are some people, who believe that the Mayans had thought of the end date, first, and then fitted their, calendar to accommodate all previous events. The reason for this, rather weird, belief is because of the apparent peculiarity of the date, 21st Dec, 2012. The date is the winter solstice, when, the Sun is expected to align with the plane of the Milky way (whatever that means). This will apparently open a cosmic portal to the underworld. Not a very cataclysmic event, yet a significant turn for our dear old earth. They say that it will enter into a new phase.
If you keep reading, then you will realize, that the date Dec. 21, 2012 is just a natural outcome of an interesting cocktail of some very elementary arithmetic, some mythology and some coincidence.
Mayans used
several calendars, which made their calendar system pretty complicated. The reasons for this complication are not known. Probably because, these calendars were perfected over quite a few generations, and, probably because, these calendars were used by a very small group of people, like the priests, nobles and the royalty, and not by common people, and therefore, simplifying the calendar system, wasn’t exactly a high priority job for the Mayans.. The calendar system was amazingly accurate, so accurate, that it may give goosebumps to a lay person like you and me. Actually, this level of accuracy is proof, that the Mayans were keen skywatchers. However, it may be noted, that the Mayans, did not know anything about fractions.
The Mayan numerical system is
vigesimal, i.e. a system with base-20. In other words, each unit is incremental by 20. (Our decimal system, on the other hand, is incremental by 10, i.e. base-10). Four of the most important calendars were:
Tzolkin : A cyclic calendar system that represented a period of 260 days, consisting of 20 individually named “days” (read group), which in turn consisted of 13 days, numbered from 1 to 13. Thus 20 x 13 days = 260 days = 1
Tzolkin. Scholars believe that there was no beginning or ending of this period and it continued in cyclic manner i.e. a period of 260 days was followed by another period of 260 days, so and so forth – just like our calendar system, where the period from January to December repeats again and again. It was used for ceremonial purpose and is called, Ceremonial calendar.
Haab’ : Also, a cyclic calendar system, that represented a period of 365 days, consisting of 18 “months”, which in turn consisted of 20 individually named days. In addition to 18 months, there used to be 5 unnamed extra days. Thus, (18 months x 20 days) + 5 unnamed days = 365 days = 1
Haab’. This too had no beginning or ending and continued in cyclic manner. This calendar, however, was used for agrarian purpose and is called, Vague calendar or Solar calendar. Mayans were very much aware of the leap year problem, but for some reason, they did not incorporate it in their calendar system.
Calendar Round : Mayans used the combination of
Tzolkin and
Haab’ to identify a specific date. Each such combination lasted for 52 years – 52
Haab’ years or 73
Tzolkin years, (since, 365 x 52 = 260 x73 = 18980, is the least common number between the
Tzolkin and
Haab’ calendars) after which, this combination would repeat itself again and again. This was an effective way of identifying a date within the Calendar Round - each date in
Tzolkin, having a corresponding date in
Haab’ thereby giving an unique name to each of the 18,980 days within a single cycle.
Long Calendar: The short (52 yrs) Calendar Round, created a problem for the Mayans, because, it did not enable them to identify any date, accurately beyond 52 years. For example, if I say that I was born on 6th September, it won’t tell you anything about my age. Calendar Round created a situation roughly equivalent to the example. It will accurately tell the Mayans the exact date – since each date would be unique - within the span of 52 years. But, this span was repeated over and over again. So beyond a single span, no one could accurately identify the span, which the unique date referred to. So they devised the long calendar, which unlike all the other calendars, was continuous. This calendar had a start and it had an end, after which another “grand cycle” would continue afresh. The purpose of the calendar is a little vague. The scholars think that this calendar was primarily used to relate the King to the mythological events that they presumed to have occurred in the past.
There are other calendars as well, 17 in total, but is not essential for the current topic.
Lets look at this Long Calendar, a little closely. Long Calender consists of 5 digits, which start from 0.0.0.0.0 and end in 13.0.0.0.0. These digits are read as,
Baktun.
Katun.
Tun.
Winal.
Kin. Read from, right to left, these digits represent,
1
Kin= 1 day, maximum of 20 days,
1
Winal= 1 kin x 20 days = 20 days, maximum of 18
Winal, (an exception to the vigesimal system)
1
Tun= 18 Winal x 20 days = 360 days, maximum of 20
Tun,
1
Katun= 20 Tun x 360 days = 7,200 days, maximum of 20
Katun,
1
Baktun= 20 Katun x 7200 days = 144,000 days, maximum of 13
Baktun.
Thus, a long date of 7.16.6.16.18, (a real inscription) means, 1,125,698 days from the beginning of the calendar, which is calculated, as below :
7 (x) 144,000 = 1,008,000
16 (x) 7200 = 115,200
6 (x) 360 = 2,160
16 (x) 20 = 320
18 (x) 1 = 18
__________
[FONT="]∑[/FONT] = 1,125,698
Using this method, the total number of days, from the beginning date till end date, would be,
13 x 144,000 = 1,872,000 days (approx. 5125 yrs)
Now, the pertinent question is, what is the equivalent date of 0.0.0.0.0 in our calendar, which, by the way, is the Georgian calendar. The archaeologists had earlier, discovered that the equivalent of beginning date, in Calendar Round, is, 4
Ahau 8
Kumku (interpreted as, the 4th day in the 20th period of
Tzolkin calendar corresponding to the 8th day in the 18th month of
Haab’ calender). After much deliberation, the equivalent Georgian date was arrived as, 11th August by Goodman or 12th August by Martinez or 13th August by Thomson, who later changed his mind and supported the 11th August date, in the year 3114 BCE. In honour for their work, these three dates are called, GMT Correlation. Many people came up with other dates as well, but were later proved to be either erroneous or for some reason or the other not acceptable. GMT is the widely accepted date range. Even within this date range, 11th and 13th August, 3114 BCE, are the most popular dates.
If GMT is taken to be the “Date Zero”, then the equivalent Georgian date for the end date, i.e. 13.0.0.0.0 is 21st, 22nd or 23rd Dec, 2012, respectively. It is a simple process of adding the number of days that would pass between the start date and the end date, while considering the leap years of Georgian calendar, and that, there is no 0 BCE. (After 1 BCE, there is no O BCE or O AD. The Georgian calendar jumps from 1 BCE to 1 AD.)
Not so mysterious.
[Instead of so much brain storming, you can use any of the numerous Mayan calculators, available on the Net. You can use
this or
this as well.]
Note, that 18 Winal, pointed out earlier, is a deviation from the vigesimal system. The reason was, to fit the period as closely as possible to the
Haab’ year of 365 days. "360 days" is certainly closer to "365", than (20 x 20) 400 days.
Note also, that the beginning date of 11th August, 3114 BCE, is based on study of astrological, not astronomical, interpretation of the Mayan rituals.
There is, so far no evidence of the fact that Mayans had thought of the end date first, based on their astrology, and then fitted their calendar to suite their rituals. On the contrary, it is more than likely, that the whole destruction of world concept was built around the calendar itself. In other words, the calendar was devised first, for over quite a few generations, and because the beginning date of the calendar fell arbitrarily, on 4
Ahau 8
Kumku, the whole story of destruction of world was woven into it.
The aligning of the Sun, with the plane of Milky Way, is, in itself a misinformation. Let me quote from
Cornell University :
On the winter solstice, the Sun always has a Declination of -23.5 degrees, and a Right Ascension of 18 hours, but exactly where this is on the sky relative to more distant stars changes very slowly due to the "precession of the equinoxes". We have a posted answer explaining this effect but how it's important in this answer (and how it was first noticed) is by the fact that it moves the position of the equinoxes, and solstices with a period of 26,000 years in a complete circle around the sky westward along the ecliptic. So the position of the winter solstice moves 360 degrees in 26,000 years. That means that it moves 360/26000 = 0.01 degrees a year. Defining an exact boundary for the plane of the Milky Way is tough, but it's at least 10-20 degrees wide across much of the sky, meaning that the solstice can be described as being "in the plane of the Milky Way" for 700-1400 years! To put it another way, the winter solstice that just past (2005) was only 0.1 degrees away from where it will be in 2012, a distance smaller than the size of the Sun itself (which is about 0.5 degrees in diameter). In any case the Sun crosses the plane of the Galaxy twice every year as we orbit around it, with no ill effect on Earth.
It was also, impossible for the Mayans to know of the apparent astronomical event, that is going to take place on 21st Dec, 2012. Of the volumes of inscriptions and writings that have been deciphered, none hinted of anything remotely similar to, the Sun aligning with the plane of the milky way. They had a superior numerical system, a highly accurate calendar system, an advanced knowledge of astronomy, but that does not imply that they could look more than 5000 yrs into future, amusingly, when they could not predict their own downfall, or the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors.
Also, if they could look so precisely and accurately, into the future, there should not be any doubt, that they could look back into the past with such precision. If 13.0.0.0.0 a la 21st Dec, 2012, is indeed the end date, predicted by the Mayans, wouldn’t it automatically mean that 0.0.0.0.0 a la 11th Aug, 3114 BCE, was indeed the beginning of the world ?
I am willing to bet that we will live to see the 22nd or 23rd or 24th or all the subsequent dates, months or years. Just like
several other useless prophecies, this too, will fail to live upto some people’s expectations. Well, in that case these people will come up with another excuse – a very common one though – that the dates were not interpreted correctly. The fine art of goal post shifting will continue till eternity.
References:
_________________________________________________
*skepdic.com/maya.html
*www.dartmouth.edu/~izapa/CS-MM-Chap. 6.htm
*www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/maya/boehm/boehm51.htm
*members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/corr.html
*www.authenticmaya.com/maya_astronomy.htm
*www.alignment2012.com/izapa.html
*www.siloam.net/jenkins/5thsun1.html
*gigasmilies.googlepages.com/66.gif
. also there are some intense observations than 2000 disaster . but who cares 
