By Mark Alan Wright

The ancient Maya are celebrated for their complex understanding of mathematics and are rightly lauded for having invented the concept of zero, which, coincidentally, is the precise number of doomsday prophecies they made about the year 2012. Contrary to popular belief, they did not predict the world would come to a cataclysmic end or that there would be a devastating reversal of the earth's magnetic poles.  Nor did they prophesy of a galactic alignment, a harmonic convergence, or even a winter solstice. Their calendar will not come to an end, nor will time itself. These ideas have no basis in indigenous beliefs, ancient or modern. To be clear, there are no ancient texts, no legitimate modern oral traditions, or anything in between that lends credence to any of these claims.

From whence did such ideas spring, if not from the Maya themselves? The main proponents of such ideas have been untrained independent researchers and mystics within the New Age movement who have misinterpreted the beliefs and calendars of a wide range of Mesoamerican cultures and then conflated them with Eastern philosophies, astrology, and even Jungian psychology. Here we shall briefly examine why the various "prophecies" about 2012 fall flat.

Claim: The Maya calendar will come to an end on December 21 (or 23), 2012.

Not exactly. It will be the end of one major period in their calendar and the beginning of another, but it will not "end" any more than our own calendar did on January 1, 2000. The Maya used a five-place vigesimal system known as the "Long Count" that specifies the exact amount of time that had passed since the date of "creation" on 13.0.0.0.0, August 11 (or 13), 3114 B.C.

For example, Roland Emmerich's disaster flick 2012 will be released on November 13, 2009, which falls on 12.19.16.15.4 in the Long Count notation, which breaks down to (12 x 400 ‘years' of 360 days) + (19 x 20 ‘years') + (16 ‘years') + (15 x 20 days) + (4 days), or about 5,123 of our years since the date of "creation." There are differing accounts in the ancient inscriptions as to what actually happened on that date, but they all generally relate to themes of creation or a reordering of the cosmos.

The Maya would routinely commemorate Period Endings with the erection of a monument or perhaps the dedication of a building (a Period Ending is when the last two or three places in the Long Count are zeroes). The more zeroes, the bigger the celebration.

So what's so important about December 21, 2012? The Long Count date will be 13.0.0.0.0, which is not only a major period ending, but a recurrence of the date of creation as well. But, as sure as the sun rises, the next day will be 13.0.0.0.1, and the cycle will continue. There are different lines of evidence from the sites of Tikal, Palenque, and Yaxchilán that the calendrical cycle will continue until at least 19.0.0.0.0, or A.D. July 13, 4378, at which point it would either reset to zero or begin a higher order of reckoning using six places instead of five (e.g. 1.0.0.0.0.0). It needn't be an either/or situation, as local variations in the specifics of the calendar have been noted at some of the different ancient polities.

Claim: There will be widespread destruction or an apocalypse on December 21 (or 23) 2012.