Adrian Martinez/Staff

 

“Some say the end is near. Some say we’ll see Armageddon soon. I certainly hope we will. I sure could use a vacation from this.” – Ænima Tool.

With America on the edge of a “fiscal cliff,” the Mayan calendar coming to an end and the threat of super diseases from China, 2012 can be a scary place. Everyone needs to relax.

Mayans mark the end of their 400 year calendar cycle this December 21. The last time the calendar renewed itself they believed Quetzalcoatl, god of intelligence and self-reflection, would come from the eastern sea. Instead of meeting the feathered serpent god, they collided violently with the Old World.

Hernan Cortez and his army marched into Meso-America and ushered in an era of disease, slavery and decimation of the native population.

Could this happen in our Age of Technology? Most Americans brush off the latest in the never-ending stream of apocalyptic predictions. Others, though, cling to guns and Bibles to prepare for end times.

Raptures, solar flares, meteor strikes, pandemics or nuclear war could be the calamitous end of the world as we know it. Many sources pointed to 2012 as a significant year in the ebb and flow of the universe. Doomsdayers include Nostradamus, Hopi Indians and the Book of Revelations.

These, like every other end-time prediction, will pass without result. On May 21, 2011, the world was supposed to end, according to ominous end-times billboards posted by eccentric Christian radio magnate Harold Camping. Master Harold and a herd of followers climbed the highest of the Oakland Hills and waited for the rapture. They waited… and waited… and waited. Then they went home.

Southwestern College Professor of Art History Dr. Mark Van Stone is author of “2012: Science and Prophecy of the Ancient Maya.” He has been interviewed on National Geographic and television shows around the world debunking the 2012 predictions.

Van Stone said 13.0.0.0.0 or 4 ajaw 3 K’ank’ in is the date the Maya calendar is renewed after 13 bactums (intervals of 400 years). Key word here is “renewed.”

Van Stone said there are many reasons why the Mayan-inspired scenario is false. Most of these predictions of the end are drawn from one broken stone artifact and a crudely-written book from the 18th century. The ending of the world on December 21, 2012 is contradictory to other sources of Mayan artifacts depicting Quetzalcoatl returning 40 years from 2012.

Many Mayan hieroglyphs have been manipulated. Unlike the Koran or Bible where scriptures have remained somewhat consistent, Mayans have built upon their glyphs, modifying their messages. If a Mayan stone carver were to mess up on a carving he would carry on. The Mayans generally did not correct their mistakes because they believed god willed the mistake. So who knows how many “mistakes” where actually made.

The actual Mayan prophecy is not explicit. It states that the demigod Chilam Balam will “get dressed” (this means to perform a ceremony for the people) ushering in something like creation. Along with the ceremony comes a green bird and the second coming of the feathered serpent.

All these end-times theories can become exhausting and create a massive headache for those who fear them and those trying to ignore them. Nevertheless, just in case the end is near and the four horsemen storm San Diego County, I will have my camera at the ready and cover the end of time.