As 2012 begins, the December 21, 2012 doomsday promoted, debunked

Hours into the New Year of 2012, a magnitude 7 Japan earthquake welcomed the world, and some are wondering: is this a omen of the upcoming Mayan calendar, December 21, 2012 doomsday that has some folks worried?

The date has spawned a movie, the action blockbuster "2012," which starred John Cusack, and it's spurred concern over the possibility that December 21, 2012 will be the end of the world, as it's supposedly the "end of the Mayan calendar." Pundits from both sides of the argument are rising up, as the year 2012 gets off to a start.

December212012.com is a website devoted to the prediction. It says, “Although this date [December 21, 2012] may not necessarily mark the end of the world, it is widely believed that it may indeed mark the end of the world as we know it. The signs and indicators of dramatic and possibly devastating change seem to be all around us. Both ancient and modern-day observers alike have foretold the possibilities of this date, and the coming events of our solar system seem to support their theories.”

There's even a countdown clock on that site, counting down the days. Naturally, there's also a shop where you can buy "end of the world" T-shirts and other memorabilia, though we'd wonder why you would bother when the world will end in less than a year.

Whether or not the end of the world is predicted by the Mayan calendar is pure speculation. The Mayan calendar used a cycle of about 5,000 years, and on Dec. 21, 2012, it starts again at zero. That zero number has been interpreted as meaning the end of the world by some. Others, however, say it just means the start of what is called a "new Long Count."

Wikipedia says, "Misinterpretation of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is the basis for a New Age belief that a cataclysm will take place on December 21, 2012. December 21, 2012 is simply the day that the calendar will go to the next b'ak'tun (which is a time segment equivalent to 394.3 solar years).

Also quoted in Wikipedia, Sandra Noble, executive director of the Mesoamerican research organization FAMSI, noted that "for the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle," which sounds positive rather than the end of the world. She said the portrayal of December 2012 as a doomsday event is "a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in."

Anthony Aveni, professor of astronomy, anthropology and Native American studies at Colgate University, described the Long Count as an accumulation of various smaller time cycles that will revert to zero. With that, a new cycle of 1,872,000 days (5,125.37 years) will begin.

The Long Count, he said, is an accounting system “consisting of 13 cycles corresponding to the levels of Maya heaven that make up a creation period of 5,127.37 seasonal years. At the end of one creation cycle, the count rolls over to the first day of the new cycle.”

That is what the debunkers say: rolling over to zero is not the same as the end of the world. We suppose that the truth will be known on Dec. 22, 2012, if it comes to pass. We'll see if people start spending wildly as some did with their savings with 2011's Rapture.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

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