what is the mayan calender?

Question

like i know it, but who created them, and why do people believe in them and also if it ends in 2012, why does every1 believes its the end of the world??

Answer 1

I am writing this from personal knowledge and research--not cut and pasting it from some other site.
There are many different Mayan calendars, but the one you are talking about is the "Long Count" which doesn't end, as popularly thought, on 12-21-2012 (not 12-12-2012). What happens is on that date the calendar rolls over from 12 Baktuns to 13 Baktuns (a Baktun is about 400 years long). So technically the 12th Baktun ends 12-20-2012.
On 12-21-2012, there is also a grand astronomical alignment between the sun, the horizon and the milky way at dawn. The sun will rise against the dark area of the milky way which the Maya thought of as the birth canal of the universe. Actually that area is very close to the center of the galaxy (where stars are born). When the sun comes out of the birth canal...it's (re)born, signifying the start of a new world age.
This does NOT mean our old world ends at that moment. In fact it's already over and has been for years.
Read "Maya Cosmogenesis 2012" by John Major Jenkins for a lot more on this subject. Read my 2012 article on my Jaguar Nights blog or my regular website for other information on that day.

Answer 2

Well, the Mayan calendar was created by the Mayans. Seems obvious, don't you think? They were an ancient race that lived in what we know as Mexico now.

As for their calendar that ends in 2012, they worked out their calendar hundreds of years ago, and they based it on astrological cycles, and there is a great convergence of some kind on December 12, 2012. As for why they didn't calculate beyond that, who knows? Perhaps they thought that working out the calendar a couple of thousand years ahead of time was enough, and they would get to the rest later.

The lesson we should learn from this is never put off until the next millenium what you can do today.

Answer 3

The Maya calendar is actually a system of distinct calendars and almanacs used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

These calendars could be synchronised and interlocked in complex ways, their combinations giving rise to further, more extensive cycles.

The essentials of the Maya calendric system are based upon a system which had been in common use throughout the region, dating back to at least the 6th century BCE. It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec, and contemporary or later ones such as the Mixtec and Aztec calendars. Although the Mesoamerican calendar did not originate with the Maya, their subsequent extensions and refinements to it were the most sophisticated. Along with those of the Aztecs, the Maya calendars are the best-documented and most completely understood.

By the Maya mythological tradition, as documented in Colonial Yucatec accounts and reconstructed from Late Classic and Postclassic inscriptions, the deity Itzamna is frequently credited with bringing the knowledge of the calendar system to the ancestral Maya, along with writing in general and other foundational aspects of Maya culture.

Answer 4

The Mayan people were among the most brilliant in the world. Their calendar spans many years and does end in 2013. However, science has proven that the Mayan were not very good at agriculture, and used up the rich nourishment of the land and could not farm and had to move on. When they left the now Mayan area, most of the Mayans died out and I believe that the calendar maker was one of them. That is what led to their extinction.

Answer 5

The Maya calendar is actually a system of distinct calendars and almanacs used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

These calendars could be synchronised and interlocked in complex ways, their combinations giving rise to further, more extensive cycles.

The essentials of the Maya calendric system are based upon a system which had been in common use throughout the region, dating back to at least the 6th century BCE. It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec, and contemporary or later ones such as the Mixtec and Aztec calendars. Although the Mesoamerican calendar did not originate with the Maya, their subsequent extensions and refinements to it were the most sophisticated. Along with those of the Aztecs, the Maya calendars are the best-documented and most completely understood.

By the Maya mythological tradition, as documented in Colonial Yucatec accounts and reconstructed from Late Classic and Postclassic inscriptions, the deity Itzamna is frequently credited with bringing the knowledge of the calendar system to the ancestral Maya, along with writing in general and other foundational aspects of Maya culture.

Answer 6

it's been prophesized by them long before our great grand parents' grandparents. They align thier sun gods with thier temples if you've ever been down their.... and its all good because if you follow indian religion, it alll says were in a time of changes and so is the earth. Meet some of them and ask. Really.
But you likely know more...