The World Was Supposed to End Today

For the past year and a half or so, we've been hearing plenty about how the Mayan calendar was suggesting that the world was going to end today.  The History Channel was running programming on this topic from time to time (and even today, giving us a welcome break from the other non-history programming they show) and these past few days there seemed to be this buildup.  Just one week ago I learned that Shock Top brewing was selling this special "End of the World" brew (I tried some.....and liked it). 

I remember when Mark was telling me two or so years ago about how some folks were saying that this was really it; the world would end on the 21st of December in 2012.  I responded jokingly by saying "that ought to be about right".  Last week someone was saying that the earth's magnetic poles would somehow reverse positions and someone else was saying that the sun would go out for three days, and both of these someones were serious......they were sure it was going to happen.

For the past several months my theory about the Mayan calendar was that they ran out of room, and thus stopped.  I developed some other theories this past week.  It could have been that whoever it was who was doing the calendar reached the solstice for this year and said "the hell with this, I'm not working on this stupid calendar any more!"  Or it could have been that the Royal Chieftain of the Mayans told the guy "you've worked long enough on this calendar, we now need you to help us build some pyramids".  We don't know.

But as for them picking out the date of the solstice, and how they were able to do that.....well we've had people studying the stars for 5000 years or so and my thinking is that some sharp minds figured out that the sun rose at its northernmost point in June while rising at its southernmost point in December.  They figured out that the midpoints were in March and September.  If you're an astronomer/astrologer some thousands of years ago and your king thinks that the stars foretell the future and charges you with figuring it out or have your head chopped off, you're going to spend a few years figuring out where the sun rises each day of the year.  You're going to know which constellations appear in the evening for each month.  You're going to keep track of the moon and the observable planets.  Point here is, is that it shouldn't surprise us that the Mayans knew when the winter solstice would be. 

Civilizations may have used the winter solstice to determine when the year started.  They may have used one of the equinoxes.  A year doesn't have to start on January 1.  It can start on any day that you want it to.  Choosing a solstice or equinox is a more recognizable reference point than the other days.  A year ending on the winter solstice isn't really a bad choice......the days start getting longer after that for the next six months. 

As for those few who really got fixated on this.....who bought into this........who really thought that this was it.........

..........they need professional help.