Who started all this about 2012 anyway?

Question

I keep reading about who started it and what is about?

Answer 1

The ones who "started it" are people who believe in New Ages.  A time when all the problems of the world are magically wiped away and we can have a new start.  (yeah, right).

In our Western civilization, we (actually, astrologers) mark off our new ages with the passage of the position of the March equinox (the start of Spring) from one constellation to another.

There is a new age every 2100 years or so (on average).  As the song by the "5th dimensions" said, a few generations ago:  "This is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius" because the position of the March equinox is now in the constellation Aquarius (it makes it all the way around in 25,800 years, the precession cycle of Earth's spin axis).

The Mayans (like us), had a common calendar.  Each year would begin on the December solstice (like most northern European people, before the Roman armies and, later, the Church spread the Roman calendar).

Their astronomers also had a day-count calendar (just like us:  we call ours the Julian day calendar).  This is very practical because you do not have to worry about leap-years or day of the week.  To calculated the exact interval between two events, you simply subtract the day numbers.

However, unlike us, the Mayans did not use base 10 numbers.  They used a mix of base 18 and 20.  They divided the precession period in 5 Long Counts and each long count would last for a "round figure" (in their numbering scheme) as close as they could to 1/5 of the precession period.

They timed it so that the present Long Count (a count lasts for over 5000 years) would end with the solstice position closest to the middle of the Milky Way.  This is not surprising as this advance of the solstice position was already known to the Classical Greek astronomers and to the Ancient Chinese astronomers.

As it turns out, this position (the middle of the Milky Way) corresponds to the line that we call the Galactic equator.

For a modern astrologer, the temptation is too great:  the end of a Long Count, the solstice position on the Galactic equator... wow, it must mean a "new age"  (and yes, for the Mayans, this would have been a new age, just as, for us, the passage of the equinox into Aquarius was a new age).

So astrologers made a few predictions to please their clients (they were mild predictions at first).

Unfortunately, hoaxers got into the act.  The Big 2012 Hoax Off is now like a contest to see who will come up with the most outlandish lie and still get some people to believe it.  Others started writing books on it (and they must draw attention in order to sell these books, videos, films...).

Even the guy who "invented" the legend of the planet Nibiru is fed up with seeing "his" planet involved with 2012.  He had calculated a return for 2085 at the earliest.  He is, of course, afraid that if people see that it will not return in 2012, then they will also not believe him when he predicts a return for 2085.

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The Mayans, in general, did not use the Long Count calendar.  Like us, they used a common calendar for their day-to-day activities.

Mayan astronomers -- who did use the Long Count calendar -- left writings describing astronomical events that will take place after the year we call 2012.  The dates are written using the Long Count calendar.  Obviously, they expected neither the world nor their calendar to end.

The Mayans did NOT predict anything special for that date (except, of course, the start of a new year).

Answer 2

2012 is a dummy magnet.

I guess (i am not convinced) that the Mayan Long Count ends in 2012, and to Doomsday Hoaxers, ANYTHING pretty definite is a big draw, as most of their "facts" are made up on the spot.  So, the Milky Way Black Hole dudes say "We didn't scare anyone last Solstice, so lets move it to 2012!" and the Nibiru hoaxers moved theres from 2375 to 2012, again, who would notice?  And the Solar Flippers moved the Solar Maximum from 2011 to 2012... okay, I noticed this one, but really, who else?  And the Nostrildamus dudes said "No one know what the @#$% he was raving about anyway, so let's hop on the bandwagon!"

Did i forget anyone?

The year 2012 will always be remembered as the year all the loonies came home to roost.  (If i insulted any Canadians or Minnesotans, I humbly apologize)  If you believe in any of the 2012 baloney and I insulted you... good, you were listening.

Answer 3

Researchers took all of the major religions and they all pointed to the year 2012 as the end of the world, but nobody can predict the future.

Answer 4

actually it wasn't the mayans that started it, it was the iching, and it foretold of this doomsday long before the mayans did...

as for what it's about, look it up, there's no shortage of answers to that question out there... and of course there's alooooooot of information about the subject, predictions and such....

logically you should do your own research and come to your own conclusion, rather then listen to other people.... it's what i did... and i'm one of the few who believe something major is gonna happen in 2012, but not sure on the end of the world part.....

the mayans chose to end their long count in 2012, COUPLED WITH (it's not JUST the calander ending on that date) that yearly forecast, and that forecast simply says "year of great change"

now the world has changed and mutated in alot of ways since the mayans were around... but they chose just this single year as the year of great change.... so, it's been interpruted that, that date means the end of the world.... of course there are few who look at the other possibilities, including total enlightenment of our species...

Answer 5

the mayans started it a few thousand of years ago, then modern humans tried to understand what they meant, and many misunderstood it to mean the end of the world.

Answer 6

the ancient mayans started a myth about a catastrophic event happening on December 21, 2012, which incidentally, is the end of the mayan calendar and consequently led scientists to believe that it meant the end of the world... complete bogus in my opinion

Answer 7

The ancient Mexican Indians, They had this calender thing on a log that supposedly calculated when the apocalypse was going to happen.  So like the count just ended in december 2012.

Answer 8

I'm not sure of the 2012 part but the Mayan name sparked a memory from a book I read back in the 1970s called

"chariots of the gods". It told of a large arena in a Mayan ruin that had rock walls with various faces portrayed in the walls and a large calender beginning several thousand years ago and ending on December 24th 2011. My brother and I were fascinated by this as teenagers and always said that we would like to be there on that day just for grins. Well, we are in our forties now and still talk about going. we don't really believe there is a significance to the end date but think it would be a good excuse for a trip. It would also be interesting to see if anyone else shows up for it.