Mayan Prophesies (beliefs, creation, verse, Articles)

[Cynic]

I watched a show the other day on the History channel which was about Mayan prophesies. It was fairly interesting. Their calander is much more advanced than the one we use today (it is highly accurate compared to ours). They predicted events using both their long calender and astrology.

Their long calender ends on December 21th, 2012. Uniquely, this is the exact date that the sun aligns with the center of our galaxy, which only occurs I think every 26,000 years. Supposedly this is the day the world ends, or maybe a new one begins. Anyways, their prophesies seemed pretty vague to me. Then again, how did they know that the sun aligns with the center of the galaxy, and on this exact date?

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[Feathers in Hair]

That is fascinating! I knew about their calendar ending onthat day, but I didn't know about the sun alignment. The main (or most obvious) reason I imagine that they knew that the sun aligned with the center of the universe on that day was from their advanced study of astronomy.

Edited to add:

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Done and done!

[Booko]

Originally Posted by Cynic

I watched a show the other day on the History channel which was about Mayan prophesies. It was fairly interesting. Their calander is much more advanced than the one we use today. They predicted events using both their long calender and astrology.

Oh, I saw that one too.

Their long calender ends on December 21th, 2012. Uniquely, this is the exact date that the sun aligns with the center of our galaxy, which only occurs I think every 26,000 years. Supposedly this is the day the world ends, or maybe a new one begins. Anyways, their prophesies seemed pretty vague to me. Then again, how did they know that the sun aligns with the center of the galaxy, and on this exact date?

Just because they only had a passing acquaintance with the wheel doesn't mean they weren't very knowledgeable about astronomy. After all, their calendar is more accurate than the one we use, so they must've known something, eh?

It's too bad there are only 4 codices left to us. I hate to think about how much knowledge was lost in book burning.

Isn't it even more fun that their calendar ends on the winter solstice?

[SoyLeche]

Originally Posted by Cynic

Supposedly this is the day the world ends, or maybe a new one begins.

Or maybe it's the day their calendar starts over. The calendar on my wall ends on Dec. 31. I don't think the world will end because of it

[SoyLeche]

If you are interested in calendars, check this guy out:

http://www.johnpratt.com/items/calendar/index.html

I don't put much stock in his methods, but it's interesting anyway

[Cynic]

Some more info from Wikipedia:

"The end of the 13th b'ak'tun is conjectured to have been of great significance to the Maya, but does not necessarily mark the end of the world according to their beliefs, but a new beginning or time of re-birth. According to the Popol Vuh, a book compiling details of creation accounts known to the Quiché Maya of the colonial-era highlands, we are living in the fourth world. The Popol Vuh describes the first three creations that the gods failed in making and the creation of the successful fourth world where men were placed. The Maya believed that the fourth world would end in catastrophe and the fifth and final world would be created that would signal the end of mankind.
The last creation ended on a long count of 13.0.0.0.0. Another 13.0.0.0.0 will occur on December 21, 2012, and it has been discussed in many New Age articles and books that this will be the end of this creation or something else entirely. However, the Maya abbreviated their long counts to just the last five vigesimal places. There were an infinite number of larger units that were usually not shown. When the larger units were shown (notably on a monument from Coba), the end of the last creation is expressed as 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13 .13.13.13.0.0.0.0, where the units are obviously supposed to be 13s in all larger places. In this age we are only approaching 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.13.0.0.0.0 , and the larger places are nowhere near the 13s that would match the end of the last creation. (Schele and Friedel 1990: 430)
This is confirmed by a date from Palenque, which projects forward in time to 1.0.0.0.0.0, which will occur on October 13, 4772 (a Friday). The Classic Period Maya likely did not believe that the end of this age would occur in 2012. According to the Maya, there will be a baktun ending in 2012, a significant event being the end of a 13th 400 year period, but not the end of the world."

[kreeden]

Originally Posted by Cynic

Then again, how did they know that the sun aligns with the center of the galaxy, and on this exact date?

And the third point is ? Any two points always " align ", don't they ? You need a third in there somewhere .

[SoyLeche]

Originally Posted by kreeden

And the third point is ? Any two points always " align ", don't they ? You need a third in there somewhere .

I would guess that the third point is the Earth.

[kreeden]

Originally Posted by SoyLeche

I would guess that the third point is the Earth.

And you could be correct . I feel kinda silly not thinking of that myself .....