Will the World End in 2012? A Survival Guide to Maya Prophecies

Abstract

During the decade of the 1960s a Maya monument was found in El Tortuguero, Tabasco, Mexico, in which reference was made to the end of the thirteenth calendric cycle on 4 Ahaw 3 Unii, or December 21, 2012.  The reference is important because it points to the end of an impressively long Maya calendric cycle of 5,126 years, which is also the winter solstice. This reference and the well-known Maya interest in astronomical phenomena and prophecies has spurred wide speculations and claims that the Maya prophesied the end of the world as we know it towards the end of 2012. This article studies the Maya conception of history and time and its implications for the meaning of Monument 6 of El Tortuguero, Tabasco, Mexico. It concludes that the purpose of Monument 6 was celebratory and not prophetic. It also studies the nature of Maya prophecies and their intriguing similarity to astrology.

Key Words: Maya, prophecies, astrology, eschatology, 2012, catastrophe