Tue 1 Apr 2008
12.21.2012
Posted by Andrew Blanco under History, Science Fiction, Society
In roughly five years we will either all be witness to the most mind-blowing event in recorded history, or we’ll just be going to sleep excited to have Tuesday off for Christmas. If it’s the latter, well I might just take Monday off and have a four-day weekend…now that’s worth looking forward to!
But if, just if, all the predictions are true, December 12th, 2012 will be a very fascinating day. I won’t go into excessive details, but the gist of it is that the Mayan Calendar, after 5,126 years, comes to an end on this date. The calendar is cyclical in nature, and the Mayans believed that the end of each cycle would usher in a new form of creation via a complete destruction of the old order.
This date might have slipped under the radar if it wasn’t for the efforts of apocalyptic-obsessed individuals around the world who are always itching for proof that the world is finally coming to an end. Keep in mind, there is a huge track record of apocalyptic prophecies getting proven wrong by the passing of the foreseen date.
In truth, only time will tell what the future holds. Who knows, maybe we really will all be teleported into another dimension, or whatever the hell is supposed to happen.
Image Used in this Post
The Earth iPhone Wallpaper image courtsey of Flickr user The Pug Father published under the CC license.
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April 1st, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I was talking about this Mayan calender thing with my girlfriend a couple weeks ago. I always just figured that they thought they would be able to make changes and extend their calender when the time came. It’s not like they knew they were going to be wiped out. So basically I think way too much has been made out of it. My girlfriends mother is an anthropologist with her area of interest being in the Mayan, Incas and Aztecs. She thought we might be on to something.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:13 pm
There is a lot we can learn from the Mayans, they were mathematical geniuses, building their civilization to an exact scale of the circumference of Earth. They also had their own pyramids which lined up with the Egyptian pyramids an ocean away. As far as the end of the world happening, I’m skeptical. We shall see.
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:14 am
In honor of the end of an age, there Maya would play an almost hybrid game of soccer and volleyball. The object was to get the ball to go through the center of an elevated ring in the middle of the field. It is then believed that upon scoring the goal the captain of the winning team would be sacrificed.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:51 am
Do you think there are people so into this they’d kill themselves if (when) it doesn’t happen?
I’m thinking of that cult in the 90’s that got obsessed with the Hale-Bopp Comet.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:32 am
I think Sebastian Davis is perfectly fit to lead a cult to the promised land.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Jim, there definitely has been way too much made of it. And its not like there’s even a specific event prophesied to happen. Its just a calendar ending and people dreaming up possible worst-case scenarios. I bet all these apocalypse junkies are into madlibs, too.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:58 am
A madlibs blog post would be kind of cool.
October 1st, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Hey Andrew, these two YouTube videos are no longer available. It looks like the History Channel had them removed.