13 replies to this topic

[Muspelli]

This has been bugging me for a while. Why do people think the Mayans were right? What's so special about them, and how come they are the experts in the field of apocolypsism?

Some people have said they were able to predict things like solar eclipses, and other astronomical events with remarkable accuracy, and they use this to justify belief in the Mayan Doomsday theories.

There is something wrong with that though: they were not (correct me if I am wrong) the only civilization to be able to predict these things. I read in an Astronomy textbook several months ago that many ancient cultures were able to predict astronomical events far in advance, including the Greeks and (if I recall) the Egyptians. Doesn't that make them just as qualified?

Other people argued that they have made other correct predictions. I assume they're talking about that time they predicted the Spanish invasion? Wait, they never predicted that, otherwise they may have been able to defend against it.

My personal beliefs on the matter is that the Mayans did belief something would happen. However, I think this was a part of their religion, and when it comes to religion, I stick to this rule: if you're entire religion and people are wiped out (a few exist, but I'm pretty sure the religion they practiced does not), it was probably wrong any way.

That's the end of my rant. Those might not be the only or even actual reasons, however, so does anyone else have any ideas?

[Siara]

I'm not sure that they DID predict that doomsday would occur in 2012.  Their calendar is a series of interlocking cycles (kind of like our Tuesday, 7 July, 2009 except they had many more cycles than just day/date/year).  I think their biggest most encompassing cycle completes itself in 2012.  This doesn't necessarily mean it's DOOMSDAY.  It just means that after completing their biggest cycle their calendar resets, so the designation of each date will actually refer to two separate days (one of which occurred a long time ago).  This doesn't occur in our calendar because the year category for us is defined linearly in terms of ever increasing numbers rather than as a repeating cycle.

If our calendar year had a cycle of 2000, this would be the year 9.  Another year which occurred 2000 years ago would also be designated as 9.

The fact that the Mayan calendar stops recording individual dates in 2012 has been taken by some people to mean that time stops in 2012-- so that must be doomsday.  I don't know what the Mayans thought about it.  I'm not sure that anyone knows what the Mayans thought of it.  A lot of Mayan tradition was destroyed when the Spanish came to Central and South America.

Edited by Siara, 08 July 2009 - 12:35 AM.

[Muspelli]

I know that it isn't actually predicting a doomsday, but lots of people do.

And yeah, a lot of their tradition was destroyed during the invasion, but I recall reading either here or on Wikipedia that they believed it would be a time of celebration more than anything else.

[Marby]

The Mayans are not around in the capacity that they once were to explain or otherwise interpret the calendar that they created, so because it ends in 2012, a bunch of alarmist people in need of a quick buck have decided that "something" will happen to change the world or end it. Let's face it, the Mayans were not the only ancient astronomers. They probably weren't even the best, though I wouldn't want to have to pick one group to give that prize to. The Mayans are merely convenient in this place and time because it's easy to get a rise out of gullible people who want to feel special and in the know, and have them actually believe some white guy's interpretation of a calendar because it ends. They are creating a mystique that simply isn't there. The calendar doesn't even end with the fall of Mayan civilization, which should tell you just how accurate their predictions were.

Furthermore, the Mayans do not predict that 2012 is even the end of the world. There is nothing in their records/writings that indicates anything other than the start of a new age, and these ages are nothing to get excited about when you consider it's happened before.

Mayan civilization is fascinating, but let's not get carried away attaching a bunch of garbage to it that has no basis in reality either.

Edited by Marby, 08 July 2009 - 08:35 AM.

[lookingfortruth]

Why not? some people wanted a job, or to make some quick cash so they made some stuff up to play off peoples fears.

[TheSearcher]

The mayans did not predict anything. The mayans just happen to have a calendar which ends in 2012. This however has been taken up by people and has been given a meaning it has not : THE APOCALYPSE - THE END OF THE WORLD - MORE OF THE PREVIOUS BOLLOX...

But seriously, they really did not predict anything at all but the ending of their calendar.

[fandango]

Siara on Jul 8 2009, 01:33 AM, said:

I'm not sure that they DID predict that doomsday would occur in 2012.  Their calendar is a series of interlocking cycles (kind of like our Tuesday, 7 July, 2009 except they had many more cycles than just day/date/year).  I think their biggest most encompassing cycle completes itself in 2012.  This doesn't necessarily mean it's DOOMSDAY.  It just means that after completing their biggest cycle their calendar resets, so the designation of each date will actually refer to two separate days (one of which occurred a long time ago).  This doesn't occur in our calendar because the year category for us is defined linearly in terms of ever increasing numbers rather than as a repeating cycle.

If our calendar year had a cycle of 2000, this would be the year 9.  Another year which occurred 2000 years ago would also be designated as 9.

The fact that the Mayan calendar stops recording individual dates in 2012 has been taken by some people to mean that time stops in 2012-- so that must be doomsday.  I don't know what the Mayans thought about it.  I'm not sure that anyone knows what the Mayans thought of it.  A lot of Mayan tradition was destroyed when the Spanish came to Central and South America.

It makes me wonder if they were just writing the last few pages of 2012 when this happened.

[lookingfortruth]

The mayans did predict something. Its called The end of the great cycle. it was a time of great celabration for them. They did not predict the end of the world like others have said they did. Don't worry about the doomsday theorys I don't believe any of them are correct

[lightly]

TheSearcher, on Jul 15 2009, 09:23 AM, said:

The mayans did not predict anything. The mayans just happen to have a calendar which ends in 2012. This however has been taken up by people and has been given a meaning it has not : THE APOCALYPSE - THE END OF THE WORLD - MORE OF THE PREVIOUS BOLLOX...

But seriously, they really did not predict anything at all but the ending of their calendar.

                except all of the solar and lunar eclipses  up till now and into the far future.  ,lightly

[hippomchippo]

I'd assume it's because of the general opinion that Mayans knew astronomy very well for their time, which I'm not sure is true, but I'm guessing that's the cause.

[Marby]

hippomchippo, on Aug 10 2009, 12:09 AM, said:

I'd assume it's because of the general opinion that Mayans knew astronomy very well for their time, which I'm not sure is true, but I'm guessing that's the cause.

I think that you are onto something. A lot of people do not realize that many ancients, Mayans included, knew their astronomy well enough to predict certain astronomical events, such as eclipses. So they hear about this and decide that the Mayans must have been special in this area somehow.

[TheSearcher]

Marby, on Aug 10 2009, 01:16 AM, said:

I think that you are onto something. A lot of people do not realize that many ancients, Mayans included, knew their astronomy well enough to predict certain astronomical events, such as eclipses. So they hear about this and decide that the Mayans must have been special in this area somehow.

They were not the only ones in that case, but I'm willing to admit they knew their math and their astronomy. So predicting the eclipses solar and lunar, like lightlyy said, is actually not a prediction, but a calculation, the result of a rational process and a well defined method.

They however did never predict the end of the world.

[Marby]

TheSearcher, on Aug 10 2009, 10:38 AM, said:

They were not the only ones in that case, but I'm willing to admit they knew their math and their astronomy. So predicting the eclipses solar and lunar, like lightlyy said, is actually not a prediction, but a calculation, the result of a rational process and a well defined method.

They however did never predict the end of the world.

Exactly.

[Corp]

Why the Mayans? Because everyone knows the Hitties lie all the time, the Celts are a bunch of drunks, and the Inuit are too busy thinking of new words for snow. Who else are we going to believe?