2012: end of time? Calendar Cycles of the Maya and other peoples of Mesoamerica.
Dr.ir Ruud van Akkeren
Are we to believe the media fare in the world 2012, and are we all doomed? These apocalyptic predictions are mainly based on the ending of a calendar developed by the Maya of Central America. Which we call the Long Count calendar. It is a creation of Indian priests and historians from the classical period of the Maya (200-900 AD). The Long Count is not so much created to predict doomsday scenarios, but rather to the long royal dynasties capture. This cycle ends on December 21, 2012.
This is a short series of five lectures, cyclical calendars and time experience with the Maya and their neighbors, from what we call the Mesoamerican culture. After a historical introduction, we look at the Long Count and other calendars. Time comes in Mesoamerica in cycles revealed in ages. Before the era in which the Maya live today was a different era, ruled by the Lords of the Underworld. We read in the Popol Wuj (Community Book), also known as the Bible of the Maya, how the hero twins, said those records were. The Aztecs called their eras Suns. The current Solar era began in Teotihuacan, a vast pyramid city that today's Sun and Moon God jump in the divine furnace. No new time without blood sacrifice. The last lecture is about the role of human sacrifice rituals calendar changes.
Dr.ir R. van Akkeren is an anthropologist and a PhD in ancient Maya ritual calendar that the transition between two cycles marked. He lives half yearly in the Netherlands and Guatemala.''
Taken from Erasumus University, Rotterdam. and translated from Dutch to English with Google Translate.
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