217a | Reona & Gunner

Mayan.  The 2012 thing is based on the long count cycle of the Mayan calendar.  2012 is the end of the 5th or 6th long count cycle, and I can’t help but notice that (a) the world has not been destroyed 4 or 5 times over, (b) the Mayan empire survived through several long count cycles, and (c) there must always be three things in a set.  Sorry to obsess over this, I just don’t like people getting their histories mixed up.  

Firstly, the Mayan calendar was based on the so-called Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar, which was used by several cultures (e.g. the Olmecs).
Secondly the Mayan Empire didn’t, in fact, “survive through several long count cycles”. Mainly because the Maya Calendar is non-cyclical.
Additionaly, Mayan culture dates back to around 1800 BC, while the entire long count calendar; being base-20; comprises almost eight thousand years and ends in the year 4772 (since the Mayan’s mythical creation date of August 11, 3114 BC). December 21, 2012 is simply the start of the 14th b’ak’tun (~394yrs).

*Commences dancing*… *stops when I notice I dance like in Charlie Brown…*