In a few more months, our world is halfway through to the most phenomenal 2012 end of the world prediction averred by the Mayan Long Count Calendar. This has brought worldwide concern to the entire humanity, propping up enduring researches and merging of individuals who call themselves the doomsayers or doomsday believers. If you haven’t seen a Mayan Long Count Calendar before, it does not say or show that the world will literally end, like a massive ball burning and disappearing all at once. Instead, the Mayan scholars have studied how to read the calendar and eventually revealed the markings of the end of the fifth great cycle, which if translated to the Gregorian calendar format we all use at present will correspond to December 21, 2012. The Mayan scholars were able to track down the beginning of the Mayan Long Count Calendar, which dated 13 August 3114 B.C.E. After a cycle of 5,125.25 baktun years, the calendar will reset back to 13.0.0.0.0 and begin a new cycle.

The way I comprehend how this historical calendar works is simply how our present-day calendar changes year. The keyword is “reset,” which if explained using the Gregorian calendar context means the cycle will go back to January of another year. It could be a beginning of another era, a message of hope for all humanity, but not destruction or cosmic-shift or end of all that exist. In fact, For the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI) Executive Director Sandra Noble noted that being able to make it to the end of a great cycle is a huge celebration for the ancient Mayans, so it is justifiable to relate a Chinese New Year celebration to that of the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar. After all, how can the world survive the coming of the fifth great cycle on 2012 if it didn’t survive the last four? Our world continues to evolve and change is the only constant phenomenon in our existence, thus from the primordial years of the Long Count Calendar, a lot has changed but the world is able to survive.

The end of the world prophecy had somehow come from the Mayans’ reputation as masters of primitive astronomy and advanced mathematical calculations. The Mayans had reached their utmost echelon of development during the Classical period from c. 250 to 900 AD and it was within this period when archeologists and historians believe mark how old is the Mayan Calendar, approximately 60000 years old. Some believe the predictions would come true, while some don’t. Only the mover of our existence knows what the future may bring so while we are all still alive, let us live each day as if it is our last. No regrets.