Did you know that the Maya did not predict the end of the world in 2012?

The Maya spoke of a kind of upheaval or great change in society around the year 2012, but not about the end of the world through natural disasters, wars, or anything of the sort. The Maya used different calendars.

The most important calendars were:

• Long Count
• Haab
• Tzolk’in calendar

These calendars not only account for time but also predict the characteristics of certain periods. The Long Count is the calendar referred to when talking about 2012. The Long Count consists of cycles of approximately 5,000 years. According to the Maya calendar, these cycles began in 23,614 BC. The fifth cycle is the current one, which ended in the late 1980s. According to the Maya, the sixth world begins in 2012. So we are now between worlds. According to the Maya, this is a kind of transition phase, during which many changes occur. 2012 is a unique year, according to the Maya, because all the planets in the solar system align with the sun in December. Each world (a 5,000-year period) has unique characteristics, according to the Maya. The sixth world has no characteristics yet. It is up to society to determine these characteristics.

The image accompanying this article is from Freepik.com