Wednesday, October 24, 2012

THE MAYAN CALANDER

The Slick-Rock Research Report                                               Posting No. 10 -121

The Slick-Rock Research Report

 Title:    THE MAYAN CALANDER   
             Will The World End in 2 1/2 Months?
           
There have been 142 different predictions calling for the end of the world since 1776 when our nation was founded,   So far, none of them has happened. The latest is the omen said to be predicted by the Mayan calendar.  First of all, there isn’t just one Mayan Calendar, there are three.   The end of the world prediction is a part of the Long Count calendar.  There are two others.  The calendar begins on Aug. 11, 3114 BC and even that depends on how it is reconciled with our calendar.   The Mayan Calander does not provide for leap years.  It has a 20 day month.   Eighteen months comprise a 360 day year.  Instead of a seven day week, there are thirteen days which have  been named as weekdays and a 260 day cycle which may or may not coincide with the human pregnancy cycle.  In the second calendar, the end of days comes on Mar. 23, 909 AD.  In the third version of the calendar, the bottom portion is broken and so the date is obscured. 
            The calendar is inscribed on a stone monument or stella but there are two sections of the carvings that have not been translated yet. In addition another section of the calendar was broken off and the bottom glyph date is unreadable. Only two of the glyphs refer to the end of an era or or bak’tum and depending on how the date it translated it equates to Dec. 21 or 23, 2012.  The second end-of-days date had already occurred – back in 760 BC.
The various eras can be likened to modern day horoscopes and such things as the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, or times when the moon is in the seventh house or when Jupiter aligns with Mars.   These days do not mark a date that is certain but rather usher in a new era when the deity B’olop Yokte (a crop enhancing deity) rises to power and influences.   Some eras coincide with the orbit of Venus which disappears as the evening star for a nine day period and then reemerges as the morning star just before dawn.  Venus is said to harbor a foul mood during that time.   This is one of several ends of an era that Venus and the Mayan calendar recognizes.
            Of course the end-of-days coming due next December coincides with the winter solstice which is the time that crop deities would rise to power and closely aligns with the advent of spring planting and a renewal of the earth. Even though the doom-sayers liken one of the three dates to the end of the world, it is curious that the latter day Mayan do not have any such date in their current record of time keeping.   Today’s Mayans, a number of whom are designated as “day-keepers”: and upon whom the daily events of the calendar depend, do not show any end of the world in their own time.  These modern day calendar keepers have been doing so since 909 AD and no such dire prophecies have made it into their record keeping. 
            The current site of the only remaining Mayan calendar is actually in a working gravel pit in Tortugero, Mexico. Significant damage was done to the steela that contains the calendar. One of the inscriptions to survive the gravel crushing machinery of the pit in Tortugern records significant events in the life of the Jaguar Lord who lived in the early seventh century.  It talks about significant events in the life of the Jaguar Lord including the end of his current era.  The only other end-of-days -actually the end of an era - prediction takes place at the end of his rule which took place sometime in the 860’s. 
            The Mayan Codices.    Much of what we know comes from early “books” made of bark-paper called Codices.   Early Franciscan Monks burned all but four of these books in an effort to eradicate their religion. These works were written in the twelfth
Century BC.  These books contain numbered references to predict lunar and solar eclipses, the phases of the moon and the movements of Mars and Venus.  The Mayans believed that Venus occasionally got angry and violent at certain times of the year.  When Venus ceased being the evening star, waited nine days and became the morning star, the time for a bad tempered Venus erupted.  Probably didn’t like being awakened so early in the morning. I know a modern-day, raven haired Venus who shares the same personality trait.
            In addition, the current day keepers believe that the world dies every day at sunset or when the crops are harvested. The new era starts out the next morning. The world is constantly dying and the role of the day keepers is to make sure it gets going again.  On the other hand, if you believe that on December 21st  the aliens will land, a rogue comet may strike or a devastating disease may be loosed on the planet, you may not need to pay on your credit cards.


This research comes from Zach Zorich, Senior Editor of Archeology Magazine; Oct. 2012; from the research William Saturno of Boston, University; Anthony Avendi an astronomer at Colgate University, Research on the Day Keepers by Professors Garth Lowe and Allen Christensen of BYU and a document written in Central Mexico in the late 1500’s called  the Annals of Cuaubitilan.

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