Screenshot from a special website the Belize Tourist Board has launched to hawk the Belize Maya program of events.
After all the preparation and anticipation, the big day has come and gone and soon it will be time to undo all that has been done. There is one last hooray however, before the festivities depart and that is as we usher in the New Year and prepare for Belize Maya 2012.
The New Year 2012 finds many people at a peculiar crossroad between jubilation and foreboding. The New Year is always reason for jubilation as, if only in a figurative sense, we are able to put behind us the mistakes of the past and make way for new goals and new beginnings. The New Year however, is not like any other and some apocalypse adherents believe it will surpass even the dreaded Y2K in terms of portents and dire possibilities.
More and more of late, the Mayas in Belize and Central America have been recognized for their superb architecture, astronomy and for their extraordinarily precise calculations and predictions. The prediction that has many worried is the one that suggests that the world as we know it will come to an end on December 21st, 2012. That’s right; Belize Maya 2012 is this year!
For as long as man has decided to mark time, we have relied upon calendars to record and coordinate dates, calculate our ages and to map our almanacs. The Christians devised the current Gregorian Calendar which evolved from the Julian Calendar that begins at year one to coincide with the birth of Jesus. It thereafter counts forward or backward ad infinitum with AD (year of our Lord) or BC (before Christ) respectively.
Before any of those calendars though, there was the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar which was used by many ancient cultures including the Mayas of our Belize. This calendar has been recognized by many as being, if not as accurate, then maybe even more accurate and precise than the calendar currently used. Unlike the Gregorian, that calendar does not go forward and backward to infinity but has a starting date and an ending date, supposedly accurate to the hour. Starting date is set at August 11 in the year 3114 BC, though no one has been able to verify that, and it ends this coming year, December 21st, 2012. Hopefully, some of us will be here to verify one way or the other.
Now many suggest that prediction of apocalypse and Armageddon in the Maya 2012 is just the latest hook upon which doomsayers are hanging their forebodings about an ever impending end of the world. That might be very well and true and 2012 might yet come and pass like just any other year. Twice this year alone, evangelical preacher Harold Camping sent believers scampering for the exits with his own calculations of doomsday. In 1844, William Miller, a New York preacher persuaded 50,000 of his followers to get rid of their belongings and prepare for the end that year. It is noted in the history books as the Great Disappointment. The Mayas however, were extremely precise in their calculations and one cannot help but feel at least a bit leery about this certain given date. We will just have to wait and see what Maya 2012 brings.
What is obvious is that aside from Maya predictions, the actions of mankind on a whole are certainly pointing to some very serious and troubling times in the not too distant future. The economies of the world, even the wealthiest and more advanced nations, are in dire straits and more than a few are perched precariously on the threshold of collapse. The major news media have done a credible job of shielding the general populace from panic, but just a cursory glance of underground news networks reveals a scene so scary, it’s enough to send one searching for a church pew.
Corporate greed and exploitation of the environment has the entire world on edge while the gap between rich and poor continues to widen. Some folks spend millions on lavish weddings and frivolous celebrations while babies die for want of basic necessities. None can begrudge folks their comfortable living, in particular after putting in the hard work. There has to be a point however, where enough becomes enough.
Whether the Mayas were right or wrong is left to be seen. What is certain is that if the status quo does not reform itself soon enough, we might not need to wait for next December to see an “apocalypse now”. In spite of all that, I’d like to wish all our readers a Happy and Prosperous New Year – Belize Maya 2012 notwithstanding.
By G. Michael Reed
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