There are two thing I am urinate about . One , the novel age dunce who recall that the ancient Maya betoken the goal of the world on Dec. 21 , 2012 . And two , the people who revel in debunking these anticipation based on the system of logic thatall doomsday prophesies are unscientific . Because here is the affair . The exit is not religion vs. science . The issuance is historical and cultural . The Maya did not , in fact , ever auspicate an apocalypse . I ’m cool with multitude believing in some ancient mystical whatever if that earn them well-chosen . But mistakenly attributing a belief to a culture you lie with zip about , and then getting all googly - eyed about how we ’re in a top-notch mystical time ? No . That poop needs to stop aright now .
Image from Q : The Winged Serpent
The ancient Maya civilisation was quite advance scientifically and culturally . One instance of this can be found in their elaborate calendar systems , which were mathematically precise and fabulously accurate for 100 of year after their civilization descend . Their scholars were so honorable at designing calendars based on the move of the sunshine , moon and asterisk that they were actually able to create a calendar over a millenium ago that stretched up into 2012 . But then you know what ? They recollect to themselves , hey , we ’ll just stop here . If we ’re around in 1,000 years , we ’ll handle with extend this calendar past 2012 . you may understand an excellent and far less off - the - cuff account of the Maya calendarin Charles C. Mann ’s book 1491 .
To put the Maya ’s acquisition in perspective , the people who worked on one of the first wide - used computer operating arrangement , UNIX , design a calendar office for their system that only lasts until the class 2038 . And they were drop a line UNIX in the 1970s . So the Maya were planning forward in a way that ’s clean unusual , even for a scientifically - minded bunch .
So how did this thought come about that the Maya had omen a Day of Judgement for December 21 , 2012 ? Most belike some of the misunderstandings uprise with incorrect translations of Maya calendar notes by celebrated archaeologistSylvanus Morleyin the mid-20th 100 . He mention at one power point that a eschaton was bode at the remainder of the current “ long cycles/second ” in the Maya calendar — which is the calendar that some say ends December 21 ( though scholars debate whether that date is even accurate ) . Since Morley ’s day , however , better translations have emerged . It is now wide take among scholars of Maya history and culture — as well as the Maya descendants themselves — that there was no widespread belief in a 2012 Revelation among the ancient Maya .
Indeed , the whole notion of an Book of Revelation is much more closely associated with Christian belief , which is why it ’s not too surprising that all the freakouts over the Maya apocalypse are rooted in Christian - reign cultures . Like North America , say . young age guru started trumpeting the Maya apocalypse fairly recently , no doubt spurred on in part byDaniel Pinchbeck ’s popular but all logic - free account in 2012 : The Return of Quetzelcoatl . There is nothing more North American than mixing pseudo - Christianity and mostly phoney aboriginal American belief system into a gargantuan awful glop and selling them as truth .
South and Central America are Christian dominated today too , of course . But the 2012 raw age myth never have hold in these regions , perhaps because hoi polloi there are more acquainted with the genuine history of the Maya . Still , that does n’t mean they are n’t willing to cash in in on the wallop out approximation of a bunch of citizenry from up north .
CNN published a featureon all the hotel software package options in Mexico and Central America for apocalypse tourists , so there ’s no denying that there are financial gains to be made from our ignorance . Guatemalan groups who trace their parentage back to the Mayahave protested this “ distortion ” of Maya mythsfor tourism , but most local governments welcome the inflow of North American money — even if it ’s the result of a complete mistaking of autochthonal traditions .
I gauge it ’s nice that people down in the south can get a petty cash out of all this ethnical appropriation , but it would be better for all of us if we could just enjoy the Revelation of Saint John the Divine as a thrilling piece of fiction . Because that ’s what the Maya 2012 eschaton is — a small-arm of fabrication , based on a mistranslation , that has metastasized into an insalubrious cultural fixation . It ’s unhealthy because gurus and bogus religious mystic want to cling their tarradiddle on a fake representation of an actual culture . Unlike the people who make the TV show The Walking Dead , for example , who fall their story on pure fabrication and therefore do n’t mangle anybody else ’s history and tradition out of ignorance and ( let ’s face it ) fame - seek greed .
That ’s right — I ’m saying there is a genuine history to the Maya civilization , and respect that is part of having a rational worldview . If you desire to adopt Maya opinion as your own , fine . Butwhy do n’t you fucking work Maya beliefs then , instead of reading a bunch ofNorth American new age bibbledy - babbleabout it ? Or go follow The Walking Dead , or The Road , or freakin 2012 , and love your phantasy day of reckoning .
HistoryMaya
Daily Newsletter
Get the best technical school , skill , and culture news program in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
