Modern day people have a strange affinity for using aspects of ancient cultures as a basis for their cults, prophecies and as spiritual guides to the future. Perhaps the most memorable occurrence of this affinity was the infamous prophecy concerning the Mayan Apocalypse of 2012, an idea created from belief that the world would end or change in some fashion once that year ended. Of all the actions generated by the aforementioned mentality, this prophecy was perhaps the most ridiculous considering how obviously wrong it was and how little we really know about Mayan culture, iconography, and language.
The Mayan Apocalypse of 2012 was the belief that either cataclysmic or transformative events would occur that year on December 21st. These ideas …show more content…
In our Solar System, the planets and the Sun sit inside a flat plane, called the plane of the ecliptic. This ecliptic is also the path taken by the Sun across the sky over the course of the year. There are twelve constellations lining the ecliptic. We know these constellations from our zodiac and the Sun passes through each of these constellations annually. Over time, this annual cycle of the Sun actually appears to move backwards every seventy-two years. Astronomers refer to this phenomenon as the precession of the equinoxes and it is caused by the slight wobble in the spin of the Earth's axis. Over all it takes 25,800 years for the Sun to complete this full, 360-degree backward rotation through the constellations. This path, which is sometimes referred to as the “Galactic Equator”, cannot be drawn in a precise manner because it changes depending on the clarity of the viewer. The ancient Mayans would not have had a clear enough view of this equator in order to study it. Furthermore, historians have found that there is no evidence that ancient Mayans were aware of the equinox’s precession. There is also little evidence, in the archaeological or historical fields, that Mayans viewed the solstices or equinoxes as importance
The Mayan Apocalypse of 2012 was the belief that either cataclysmic or transformative events would occur that year on December 21st. These ideas …show more content…
In our Solar System, the planets and the Sun sit inside a flat plane, called the plane of the ecliptic. This ecliptic is also the path taken by the Sun across the sky over the course of the year. There are twelve constellations lining the ecliptic. We know these constellations from our zodiac and the Sun passes through each of these constellations annually. Over time, this annual cycle of the Sun actually appears to move backwards every seventy-two years. Astronomers refer to this phenomenon as the precession of the equinoxes and it is caused by the slight wobble in the spin of the Earth's axis. Over all it takes 25,800 years for the Sun to complete this full, 360-degree backward rotation through the constellations. This path, which is sometimes referred to as the “Galactic Equator”, cannot be drawn in a precise manner because it changes depending on the clarity of the viewer. The ancient Mayans would not have had a clear enough view of this equator in order to study it. Furthermore, historians have found that there is no evidence that ancient Mayans were aware of the equinox’s precession. There is also little evidence, in the archaeological or historical fields, that Mayans viewed the solstices or equinoxes as importance