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On December 21, 2012, the great Maya odometer of time known as the Long Count will turn over, ending a cycle of 1,872,000 days, or 5125.36 years. As the long-awaited date nears, prophecies about what the end of the biggest of all Maya time cycles might hold for us flood the internet, print, and film media.
Some prophets predict the end of the world by supergiant flares emanating from the sun, the overturning of the earth's magnetic field, or a freak planetary alignment that will tear the earth apart. But there is good news, too. A few visionaries say we are due for a cosmically-timed, sudden awakening--a new worldwide consciousness that will lead to the resolution of all the world's pressing problems. To make sense of these head-turning scenarios, we really ought to look into what the ancient Maya actually had to say for themselves.
A Need To Tell Time
The archaeological record proves that by the beginning of the Classic Period (A.D. 200), the Maya had mastered cultivation of the land. They then began to build great cities and erect exquisite monumental architecture. Maya rulers also made a fundamental revision in their calendar. Their astronomers invented the skyscraper of all time cycles. This brilliant innovation consisted of a huge buildup of smaller time units that would allow them to imagine the roots of their dynasties extending all the way back to the gods' creation of the world the so-called Long Count (see sidebar page 20).
Texts carved in stone still stand in the ruins of many Maya sites. These stelae usually open with a Long Count date. Maya hieroglyphs then tell about a ruler's accession to the throne, a marriage alliance, a victory in battle, or the overturn of a katun cycle. These public monuments were a kind of propaganda that gave the ruler the opportunity to justify the exalted position of his bloodline all the way back to creation and even earlier. So, the Maya inscriptions look to the past. They say nothing about the future.
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Zero Dates
What does the Maya record say about when the last creation cycle took place? Day zero of the present Long Count fell on August 11, 3114 B.c., in our calendar. When we march forward 13 baktuns (see page 20), we arrive at the starting date of the next cycle, December 21, 2012. But why the year 3114 B.C.?
If we follow the example of how zero dates were arrived f at in other calendars around the world, the choice was probably related to a culturally and historically significant date. For example, the birth of Christ marks day zero in the Christian calendar. As far as we astronomers know, nothing significant was happening in the sky on Maya zero day, August 11. We have found nothing special with regard to the position of the Milky Way, the zodiac, or the planets.
Maya stelae are fairly silent on what took place in the mythic time at the end of the previous cycle. One inscription tells about the gods (ancestors of the ruler, of course) creating the first hearth by setting up three support stones. Another monument tells us that at the end of the next cycle, the gods will do something similar. But just when this story gets interesting, the text has worn away.
The Real Maya Message
Turning to the evidence from the few surviving written documents, or codices, we find a frightening scene (see page 19) on the last page of one of them. It shows water being vomited from the mouth of a sky serpent. Water also gushes from sun and moon hieroglyphs attached to the segmented body of the beast. Still more water pours out of a vessel held by an old woman deity who appears suspended in the middle of the frame. At the bottom, a male deity wields arrows and a spear. While verses from texts dated shortly after when the Spanish conquerors first came to the area back up the dramatic story of destruction by flood (a common occurrence in many cultures), there is no way of tying it to the end of the world, then or now.
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So, did the Maya predict the real end of the world for all of humanity? I think their message has more to do with traditional rites of renewal that take place at the turn of all time cycles. Think of New Year's Eve. We all celebrate the end of our seasonal cycle as the stroke of midnight approaches. Next morning, we make our New Year's resolutions, purifying ourselves as we contemplate a brighter future. Scholars who study the ancient Maya see cycle-ending prophecies as lessons on how to restore balance to the world by focusing on relationships with the gods. An example would be offering them sacrifices, such as deer, turkey, and maize, as payment in exchange for fertile crops. No wonder we admire the Maya--they actually participated in the evolution of their universe!
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Why 'The End' Appeals!
Why are difficult-to-understand explanations of an exact endpoint of Maya time so appealing to American pop culture? Two reasons: First, ours is a world immersed in technology. Our society focuses more on material possessions. Further, many of us, particularly those who do not understand science, are bewildered by where our world is headed. Second, in times of fear and anxiety, we reach out for higher wisdom that we hope might have been known to our ancestors. We wonder whether the only way we can regain control of the disordered world in which we live is to uncover their lost knowledge and make use of it. And so we romanticize the Maya.
Based on the evidence, the Maya message, whatever it may have been, was likely not intended for us. Still, the glorious achievements and historical lessons offered by the ancient Maya are appealing enough on their own. We do not need to dress up these fascinating people in Western clothing to appreciate them.
RELATED ARTICLE: The long count lowdown.
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All Long Count inscriptions operate on a base-20 system. Unlike our base-10 system, which comes from counting on our fingers, the Maya base-20 system comes from counting the number of fingers and toes. For the Maya, each place in the series of numbers that makes up a date contains 20 times the quantity of the previous. It begins with the k'in or day, then the 20-day month or uinal. The third place upward, the tun, is an exception; it holds 18 times 20, or 360, instead of the logical 20 times 20, or 400 days. That is probably because 360 days is a closer approximation than 400 to a seasonal year of 365 days. The Maya did use the 400-unit in their trade count--when they counted objects, such as cacao beans. If you think about it, we do something similar with our own seconds, minutes, and hours. Some clever Maya daykeeper extended the cycle by multiplying each successive order by 20. Thus, 20 tuns made up a katun; and 20 katuns, a baktun.
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Maya time cycles are a bit like the odometer in a car, except that instead of tallying miles, the Maya machine clicks off one day at a time in endless succession. This analogy can be a bit misleading, however. There is actually no evidence that the Maya ever used gears or machinery to keep track of their time cycles. Regrettably, there is another essential difference between your automobile and the Maya universe of time. When their odometer turns over, thus signaling 13 baktuns, the resting point of the longest Maya time cycle of all, a new cycle begins. By contrast, a car just gets older and moves one step closer to the junkyard.
--Anthony F. Aveni
Anthony F. Aveni is the Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of Astronomy, Anthropology, and Native American Studies at Colgate University. Among the books he has authored are The First Americans: Where They Came From and Who They Became and The End of Time: The Maya Mystery of 2012 For more information, go to anthonyfaveni.com/index.html
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