It's common knowledge that December 21st, 2012 has some kind of significance with the Mayan calendar. However, few seem to know exactly what significance.
The Maya measured especially long periods of time using what they called the Long Count Calendar.
1 day was called a K'in. 20 K'ins (20 days) were called a Winal. 18 Winals (360 days; about 1 year) was called a Tun. 20 Tuns (20 years) was called a K'atun. And 20 K'atuns made up a B'ak'tun.
A B'ak'tun comes out to about 144,000 days, or 394.26 years.
The Maya used this calendar to count the number of days since what they called "The Last Creation". In the Mayan mythology, there had been 3 previous Creations (the current one being the 4th, or "last" as in "most recent"), however in each of them the gods had messed up somehow and decided to start over.
Some historians actually did the math backwards and figured out that the Last Creation began on August 11th, 3114 B.C. Which, in case you were wondering, was a Wednesday.
Mayan dates are written by simply listing the amount of time that has passed since the start of the Last Creation. So February 12, 2012 would be 12.19.19.2.7 (12 B'ak'tuns, 19 K'atuns, 19 Tuns, 2 Winals, and 7 K'in). July 4th, 1776 would be 12.8.0.1.13.
And here is what December 21st, 2012 looks like: 13.0.0.0.0
December 21st, 2012 is when the Mayan calendar clicks over to the next whole B'ak'tun.
Now, before you panic, let me tell you what happened the last time we clicked over to the next whole B'ak'tun. Nothing. On September 18th, 1618, the Mayan calendar clicked over to 12.0.0.0.0, an auspicious date known for absolutely nothing happening on it.
The Maya measured especially long periods of time using what they called the Long Count Calendar.
1 day was called a K'in. 20 K'ins (20 days) were called a Winal. 18 Winals (360 days; about 1 year) was called a Tun. 20 Tuns (20 years) was called a K'atun. And 20 K'atuns made up a B'ak'tun.
A B'ak'tun comes out to about 144,000 days, or 394.26 years.
The Maya used this calendar to count the number of days since what they called "The Last Creation". In the Mayan mythology, there had been 3 previous Creations (the current one being the 4th, or "last" as in "most recent"), however in each of them the gods had messed up somehow and decided to start over.
Some historians actually did the math backwards and figured out that the Last Creation began on August 11th, 3114 B.C. Which, in case you were wondering, was a Wednesday.
Mayan dates are written by simply listing the amount of time that has passed since the start of the Last Creation. So February 12, 2012 would be 12.19.19.2.7 (12 B'ak'tuns, 19 K'atuns, 19 Tuns, 2 Winals, and 7 K'in). July 4th, 1776 would be 12.8.0.1.13.
And here is what December 21st, 2012 looks like: 13.0.0.0.0
December 21st, 2012 is when the Mayan calendar clicks over to the next whole B'ak'tun.
Now, before you panic, let me tell you what happened the last time we clicked over to the next whole B'ak'tun. Nothing. On September 18th, 1618, the Mayan calendar clicked over to 12.0.0.0.0, an auspicious date known for absolutely nothing happening on it.
