Whose 2012 Is It, Anyway? Part 1

The “end of the Maya calendar” in 2012 —what’s it all about, Alfie? This series of articles summarizes the 2012 theories of today’s leading researchers and the prophecies of the ancient and contemporary Maya regarding the end of the calendar and what, if anything, it means for us.

Based on an extensive survey of contemporary 2012 theorists as well as ancient prophecies of the Maya, Hopi and other civilizations, the conclusion will finally and definitively answer the most important question of our times.

Which Maya Calendar Ends in 2012?

The Maya used several calendars, all created by the Olmec civilization that also invented hieroglyphic writing, the ball game and the pyramid in MesoAmerica. For personal divination, astrological readings and other purposes, the tzolkin, was employed; it is still used for this purpose and others in parts of Guatemala and Mexico. Each tzolkin date has a number from 1 to 13 and a day glyph, but no year. It is possible, therefore, for the date 1 Imix to occur twice in the same 365-day solar year, which the Maya called the haab.

The haab was used in the same way we use today’s Gregorian calendar, to keep track of the date in relation to Earth’s orbit around the sun and coordinate business and other activities. The haab also lacks a year date. Used together, the Tzolkin and Haab form a cycle of 52 Haab years called the Calendar Round.

The tun, a 360-day calendar, was the basis of the Long Count. It was the Maya’s prophetic calendar for society, sort of a Tzolkin for civilization, and was the source of the “13 katun prophecies” that are interpeted in the Mayan Books of Chilam Balam. Twenty tuns makes a katun, 20 katuns a baktun, and 13 baktuns comprise the 5,125-year Long Count.

See a graphic view of the Maya calendars.

The Maya’s Long Count Calendar

The Long Count, created by the Izapan culture in western Mexico, employs additional astronomical information: most Long Count dates are composed of a tzolkin day glyph and number, a haab date and month and a Lord of the Night glyph. On some, the phase of the planet Venus is included.

Each day of the Long Count contains a specific number of cycles of time—days, months, tuns, katuns and baktun—that indicate how many days have passed since its beginning. (See above illustration of the Long Count date for December 21, 2012. The big glyph on top indicates that a Long Count date follows; it starts with the top left glyph and read lefts to right to the bottom, calling the date as 13.0.0.0.0. The tzolkin date of 4 Ahau 3 Kankin follows.

According to most sources, the Long Count began, on August 13, 3113 B.C. to mark the creation of the current age. (Some, however, insist on August 14 or another date.) One theorist, John Major Jenkins, says the Long Count was created with the final date as the anchor, so it would point at December 21, 2012, to people of the future (which would be us).

Does It End in 2012, 2013 or 2011?

It is the Long Count calendar that is supposed to end in 2012, though the Hopi call it as 2013 and some Mayan elders agree One well-known 2012 theorist, Carl Calleman, has even calculated that the calendar ends on October 28, 2011 (this theory and its basis will be closely scrutinized). Keep in mind that from the perspective of the ancient Maya, the Long Count or any other of their calendars was not seen as ending on the final day; the last day was seen as the completion of the calendar.

But the exact date is less significant than what precisely what will happen at the “end of the Maya calendar” and in the time leading up to and following December 21, 2012. Will we witness the literal end of the world, the end of a World Age, or a "global transformation of consciousness" as the New Age community insists? Or will it be just another day?

This page was posted on 1 Caban 15 Pax 2010.