Calendar
Mesoamerican Long Count
The Long Count is a computer system that was in place
in time from the Late Preclassic Mesoamerica until the end of the Classic.
Although generally attributed to the invention of the Maya Long Count, the
oldest inscriptions in this system have been found in objects associated with
Epi-Olmec culture. There is no single method to correlate the Long Count dates
in the Gregorian calendar. This is because Europeans knew the long count in the
twentieth century, almost ten centuries after it fell into disuse. Among the
proposed correlations, the most widely used is called GMT +2
(Goodman-Martinez-Thompson), which marks the initial date of computation on 11
August 3114. C. 10 11 The Maya script was subsequently deciphered, where much
of his material survived the conquest hieroglyph española.
Unlike the 52-year calendar round still used today
among the Maya, the Long Count was linear, almost cyclical, and calculate the
time in units of 20: 20 days make a uinal, 18 uinals (360 days) made a tun, 20
make a k'atun tunes, and 20 katun (144,000 days) made about b'ak'tun. Thus, the
Mayan date of 8.3.2.10.15 represents 8 baktun, 3 katun , 2 tunes, 10 uinals and 15 days.
Apocalypse
There is a strong tradition of "world ages"
in Mayan literature, but the record has been distorted, leaving several
possibilities opened. According to the Popol Vuh, a book compiling details
of creation accounts known to the Quiche Mayan ethnic group of the highlands of
the colonial era, now living in the fourth world. The Popol Vuh states that the
first gods created three failed worlds, the fourth world succeeded and
prospered, and became the home of modern man. In the long count, every previous
world ended after the thirteenth baktun (5125 years).
The "zero date" of the Long Count is
calculted in 15 on August 11, 3114. C.
In 1957, American astronomer Maud Worcester Makemson
(1891-1977) wrote that "the full phase of a great period of 13 baktuns
could have been of paramount importance to the Mayans' .
In 1966, the religious writer Michael D. Coe said in
his book The Maya that "on the final day of the thirteenth baktun,
Armageddon might surprise the degenerate people of this world and all creation
'.
Objections
In the early nineties, some religious writers (new
age) repeated Coe's apocalyptic vision. While in contrast, later investigated
the baktun end date could be related more to a celebración and not mark the
end of the calendar.
In the prophecies of the Maya, the Aztecs or the
ancient Mesoamericans there is nothing to suggest that they prophesied a sudden
or large of any kind in 2012. The notion of a "Great Cycle" coming to
an end is a thoroughly modern invention.
Mark van Stone (researcher Mayanist)
In 1990, researchers mayanistas Linda Schele and David
Freidel argued that the Maya "did not conceive this to be an end of
creation, as many have suggested."
Susan Milbrath, curator of the Museum of Natural
History in Florida stated that "the archaeological community we have no
record that the Mayans believed that the world would end in 2012."
"For the ancient Maya, it was a grand celebration
that marks the end of a cycle," said Sandra Noble, executive director of
the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Crystal River
(Florida) -. Submit to December 21, 2012 as a doomsday event or moment of
cosmic shifting is a total fabrication and a great opportunity for many people
to get money '.
"It will be another cycle, said E. Wyllys Andrews
V, director of Tulane University. We know the Maya thought there was something
before your calendar, and that implies they were comfortable with the idea that
there was a calendar after '.
"I think popular books [...] about what the
Mayans say will happen are made on very little evidence," said Anthony
Aveni, a professor of Native American studies, anthropology and astronomy at
the University of Colgate.
Due to the large number of inquiries received by NASA
on the subject, published an article that institution as a FAQ ('Frequently
Asked Questions' in English) on the relationship between the 2012 and the
supposed end of the world.
Reference maya the thirteenth baktun.
The contemporary Maya 2012, do not attach any
importance to the thirteenth baktun. Although some Maya groups in the highlands
of Guatemala still use the calendar round, the "long count" was used
exclusively by the classic Maya, and was recently discovered by arqueólogos.
The largest Guatemalan Mayan Apolinario Chile Pixtun
and Mexican archaeologist Guillermo Bernal noted that "apocalypse" is
a Western concept that has little or nothing to do with Mayan beliefs. Bernal
believes that such ideas have been imposed on the Maya by Westerners because
their own myths are "exhausted"
Guatemalan Mayan archaeologist Jose Huchm stated that
"if to some Mayan-speaking communities and asked them about what will
happen in 2012, probably would have no idea about it. What will the world end?
Do not believe it. Currently we have really important issues, like rain '.
The importance that the ancient Maya gave him the
baktun 13 is uncertain. Most classic Maya inscriptions are strictly historical
and do not make any prophetic statement. Two articles in the body text of Mayan
history, however, may make mention of the end of the thirteenth baktun:
Tortuguero Monument Six and the Chilam Balam.
Tortuguero
The inscriptions of Tortuguero, located at the
southern end of Tabasco (Mexico), were written in the seventh century d. C. and
consist of a series of inscriptions in honor of the ruler Bahlam Ajaw. One
inscription, known as Tortuguero Monument Six, is the only inscription
referring to the thirteenth baktun. It was partially damaged. According to a
translation of Sven Gronemeyer and Barbara MacLeod:
tzuhtzjo: m uy-u: xlaju: n pik (to be completed the
thirteenth baktun)
chan ajaw u: x
uni: w uhto: m il? (And a vision happen [?])
ye'ni / e: n bolon Yokte (is the sample-Yokte B'olon)
joyaj chak ta (in a great investment)
Little is known about the god Bolon Yokte. According
to an article by researchers Markus Eberl and Christian Prager (in British
Anthropological Reports), his name is composed of the elements
"nine", 'OK-te' (the meaning of which is unknown), and
"god". Some confusion in the classical period inscriptions suggests
that by that time the name was unfamiliar to ancient scribes. This god also
appears in inscriptions from Palenque, Usumacinta, and La Mar as a god of war
and the underworld. On a pillar is represented with a rope around his neck, and
in another with an incense bag signifying a sacrifice to an end a period of
time.
The 'Chilam Balam'
The Chilam Balam are a group of Mayan prophetic
histories written after the Spanish conquest, transcribed in a modified form of
the Spanish alphabet. Attributed to the chilam balam ('prophets jaguars'). The
Chilam Balam of Tizimin has been translated four times in the twentieth
century, with many disputes over the meaning of its passages. One passage in
particular is relevant to the interpretation of the thirteenth baktun:
Lic u such Oxlahun bak chem, ti u CENIC u (tzan to cen
/ ba nacom) i (CIAC / cha ') a ba yum (il / t) exe.
Maud Worcester Makemson Archaeologist (1891-1977)
believed that this line referred to a "tremendously important event of the
arrival of 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahau 3 Kankin in a not too distant future." His
translation of the line says:
Soon, the thirteenth baktun come sailing, figuratively
speaking, bringing the ornaments that I have mentioned of your ancestors.
His version of the text continues, "Then the god
will come to visit their children. Perhaps, "after death" is the
theme of his speech. " 13.0.0.0.0 Makemson dated in 1752 and, therefore,
the "not too distant future" in her annotations meant a few years
after the scribe in Tizimín recorded his Chilam Balam. The most recent
translation of Munro S. Edmonson does not support this reading, he believes
that the Long Count is almost entirely absent from the book, because the
360-day tun was replaced about 1750 by a 365-day Christian year. He translates
the line as follows:
... As the arrival of thirteen sailboats. When the
captains dress, her parents will tomados.
Other Chilam Balam books contain references to the
thirteenth baktun, but it is unclear whether dealing with past or future, eg
oxhun bakam or katunil (bakam thirteen katun) in the Chilam Balam of Bolon
Chumayel.30 Yokte 'appeared K'uh In the Chilam Balam of Chumayel means an
apparent battle or victory against invaders españoles.
Dates beyond the thirteenth baktun
Temple of Inscriptions
Many inscriptions occasionally referenced future events or commemorations that would occur on dates that lie beyond the full phase of the thirteenth baktun. Many of these are in the form of "distant dates" which gives a Long Count date, together with a Distance Number that is added to the Long Count date of arrival at that future date. In a west panel at the Temple of Inscriptions in Palenque, a section of text projections in the future towards the eightieth anniversary of the Calendar Round of Palenque ruler K'inich Janaab 'Pakal accessing the throne (Pakal's rise occurs in 9.9.2.4.8; equivalent to July 27, 615 CE in proleptic Gregorian calendar). To do this, starting with Pakal's birthdate of 9.8.9.13.0 (March 24, 603 CE, Gregorian date) and adding to this the number Distant 10.11.10.5.8.32
This calculation comes at the eightieth Calendar Round anniversary since his ascension, which is located at 4000 years after the time of Pakal: October 21, 4772 to. C.33 32 34
Another example is one in Coba Stela, delivering a 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.0.0.0.0 date., Or twenty units above the baktun, placing it either 4.134105 × 1028 (41 octillion) years in the future, or an equal distance in the pasado.34 However, this date is three quintillion times an era in the universe, demonstrating that not all .
mayas
