What do modern day Mayas say?
Not surprisingly, modern day Mayas follow the same school of thought as their ancient ancestors. Of the various native Mayas of Belize I had the opportunity to interview; all but one thought 2012 had little or no significance. Such is this that they didn’t even know about the doomsday theories until a few years ago.
“They’ve got it all wrong”, was the general consensus among the Maya elders of the Village of San Jose in Belize. One of the elders added, “Our ancestors didn’t believe in death or the end. They celebrated events like these by building new monuments, venerating ancestors, and doing festivals.” The Maya believed in regeneration, and they still believe in it today.
What about that one Maya who said 2012 will have some impact? Rosario Panti, the “last Maya Shaman in Belize”, said in her interview that on December 23rd (not 21st) 2012 “5 eclipses will happen in one day”, “earthquakes will destroy cities”, and “all technology will stop working”.
It’s important to note that her prophecy is based on New Age and shamanist beliefs and some “supernatural communication” through a Sastun rock, which goes beyond the scope of what the ancient Mayas left as written evidence. True or not, I can’t say. But, with a quick research through NASA’s documents you will find that there is no evidence that points to a single eclipse either in December 21 or 23 of 2012.
End of the World?
The Maya view of 2012 is a far cry from the doom and gloom scenarios presented by many speculative authors and filmmakers. The Mayas didn’t believe the world would end on 2012. In fact, cities like Palenque have carvings with celebratory dates like 1.0.0.0.0.8, which is over 4000 years after 2012.
December 21, 2012 marks the completion of the 13th b’aktun. For the Maya this is a time of reflection and great celebrations as a new age unfolds, and it should be honoured instead of feared. But if we still have our doubts, the best thing we can do as Rosario Panti said, is to “put your foot on the ground and have faith”.
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One thing to note. It isn't mentioned, and probably isn't known by most commentators but the "Tzolkin" etc. are all made up words. It isn't REMOTELY what the Maya called their own calendar. That is unknown, due to the monumental destruction of knowledge carried out by the hispanic invaders of ancient south and central america. So the Tzolkin and all related terms are made up by modern anthropologists and authors, frequently with the wildest distortions of what the calendar inscriptions mean. Likewise many authentic Mayan oral traditions are ignored when they don't fit the modern idiocy of reconstruction of "how the Maya lived"- hence all the cartoon like nonsense of barefoot mud hut dwellers somehow creating gigantic truly awe inspiring architecture. Shyeah. Right.
