The end of the Mayan calendar - December 21st
The Mayan civilization was established from sometime around 1500 B.C. and flourished to 900 A.D. They were located in the current geographical location today of five different countries which include Southern Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador. The Maya were some of the most highly skilled astronomers in the entire world. They kept meticulous records of the night sky. They documented the phases of the moon, recorded eclipses, and even tracked the movement of Venus.
You have all probably heard about the famous Mayan calendar by now. The ancient Mayas invented this calendar with remarkable accuracy, and complexity. This calendar began in the year 3114 B.C. and continued for another 5,126 years until the end date of 2012 A.D.. Yes you guessed it, that's this year, and the calendar ends exactly on December 21st 2012. On this date doomsayers say that the Mayans predicted the end of the world, and that this planet will be ravaged by cataclysmic astronomical events.
There are both those who claim this impending doom is based on great accuracy, and others say it's all just a bunch of ridiculous hype. Either way before we all know it, December 21st will be upon us. Although with the current warm winter weather pattern we've all been having here in the United States, it makes one wonder. The purpose of this hub is to logically explore some of the other possible reasons this well known calendar comes to a conclusion. Below is a simple list of just a dozen possible alternatives of why, after all of these years, this calendar finally comes to it's conclusion.
12 alternative reasons the Mayan calendar may have ended -
1. The calendar maker may have actually completed the calendar, and intended for the calendar's cycle to start over again, and be reused.
2. The calendar maker may have found a better paying job out there with less hours to work.
3. The calendar maker is only human as the rest of us are, and it's always possible that he or she made a simple mistake.
4. The calendar maker may have passed away.
5. The calendar maker may have decided to retire to enjoy his 401K retirement plan, and social security benefits on a peaceful tropical island.
6. The calendar maker might have run out of room on the rock for more days.
7. The calendar maker may have broken his only chisel and very last hammer, and therefore was unable to continue working.
8. The calendar maker may have belonged to the united stone workers and leather makers union, and after a contract violation went out on wildcat strike.
9. The calendar maker might have used multiple rocks for additional days, which were lost over time.
10. The calendar maker may have been fired for missing too much work, or drinking on the job, or possibly even because of too many medical restrictions due to carpal tunnel syndrome.
11. The calendar maker may have relocated to another area with a cooler climate due to allergies to stone dust, and other medical reasons.
12. The calendar maker may have quit to pursue other opportunities, like a desk job.
You know the world is a changing place when on the news the other day, they gave the extended weather forecast for December 21st, and said it was going to be ugly out there.
"Our Calendar"
What are some of the reasons that you think the Mayan calendar comes to an end?
Gordan Zunar from New York on November 12, 2014:
The calendar maker may have been high on cannabis. He also may have had schizophrenia.
Unknown on December 25, 2012:
The USA will Earthquake today in Missouri run please the New Madrid fault line is waking up 10.3 Earthquake memphis is where this starts 45 million will die today December 26th 2012
Mehmet Aydalga on December 12, 2012:
On December 21, the Mayan calendar will be destroyed ... this is meant to be ... All claims must be valid until to this day ... the yeast will be destroyed after this date their calendars., The world is not ...!
MJC from UK on December 09, 2012:
Can I buy this calendar and put it on a wall on the first January 2013, please?
By the way, I love your writings! Shared and voted up.
Li Galo from Mainly the USA but Sometimes Abroad on November 30, 2012:
Thanks for the humor! I like your take on the "end."
Pete Wolfe from NJ on October 26, 2012:
I think they ran out of food, chopping all the trees down and clearing land. So they left and went else where?
conradofontanilla from Philippines on October 25, 2012:
The Mayan prophecy is a critique on morality. It is not inevitable. A calendar has no physical reality. It is the rotation of the earth around the sun that is real. A day that indicates the rotation should not be exactly 24 hours but more to reflect the 356-day journey and eliminate a leap year. That means that a calendar's start and end is arbitrary. If we make a calendar that reflects the age of the universe, it should show the billions of years since the Big Bang, if we believe the Big Bang as the start of the universe. When did the Big Bang occur? Time has no physical reality either. The interval in space-time has physical reality. A calendar should reflect intervals to be more realistic. That will change our outlook. But it will not ensure a better life. WE may want a calendar that also ensures a better life. That could be one of the aims of the Mayan calendar but it came to an end too soon.
visionandfocus from North York, Canada on September 12, 2012:
I love your list! Every single point on it makes more sense than what the doomsayers are trying to tell us. So I salute your common sense AND your sense of humour. What a refreshing hub! Thank you.
Ka'imi'loa from Tucson, AZ. on August 20, 2012:
@theholestory...
Its hard for me to place beliefs such as this, only because since the world began, its has been "ending". If you clearly remember Y2K, every dumb summamabitch ran out and bought generators and water, and canned meat. Yet nothing happened, not even a glitch, and in reality, if there would have ever been an ending of the world type of calamity, Y2K would have been the one I would have put money. Personally, that poor indian just ran out of rocks to chisle information on, and forgot to tell the chief. An actual problem that has been passed down from generation to generation
Hawaiian Odysseus from Southeast Washington state on August 14, 2012:
This was a very amusing and enlightening article. I just gotta find Parsons someday because there must be something in the water there that fuels one's imagination.
Well done, my friend, and voted up and across the board. You also have a new follower! Aloha!
Mehmet Aydalga on August 04, 2012:
21 December will be a new begining...We will see all together........
Karina from Edinburgh on August 03, 2012:
Fantastic hub! Appropriate approach to this subject;) Voted up!
Silva Hayes from Spicewood, Texas on July 29, 2012:
To max out all my credit cards? Or not. Hmmmm. If only I knew for sure whether or not the world will end on Dec. 21 . . . . .
HerewegoBarbara from New Jersey on July 28, 2012:
I believe is a new era starting, it was really funny how you started out all serious and joked about it than, great hub,and that's how it should be we have to keep on living no matter what and we shouldn't take life so serious anyhow we are not going to get out of it alive
HeatherJDSG on May 20, 2012:
Made me smile. Thank you.
Denise Mai from Idaho on April 27, 2012:
I heard someone say today that since Caesar changed the calendar and we have leap year and all of that, the date the actual Mayan calendar ended has actually already passed. Kind of a bummer, really. I always figure that after the Mayan Civilization fell the calendar-making stopped. I like your funny take on it. It's a lot better than the creepy alternative! Voted up and shared.
Hotshot_peter from Over yonder tree on April 25, 2012:
A really great hub! Brings up a whole lot of other questions... like how will the world end? Is there heaven and hell? Do they serve beer in heaven? Hmm just wondering. Voted up and funny
L M Reid from Ireland on April 24, 2012:
A very amusing and different view on the Mayan Calender theory. I enjoyed reading your reasons why the calender stopped on that that lol
Thanks for SHARING. Up and Awesome
slipandfalllawyer on April 23, 2012:
The Mayan people did not actually predict the end of the world according to latest studies.
Frank P. Crane from Richmond, VA on April 22, 2012:
Might the calendar maker have realized he was on a fool's errand, admitted his mistake and quit?
Lisa Storck from McKinney, Texas on April 21, 2012:
Thanks for the humor this morning...I am always interested in the technology used so many centuries ago where there was no instant gratification with a click of the mouse and brain power was appreciated more than the speed of the newest ipod. How did they do it? Simply AMAZING at best. Nice to meet you and Thanks for the follow. I hope you visit more often and share when you feel it worthy.
April Reynolds from Arizona on April 19, 2012:
I think the calendar maker got sick and tired of making a calendar and figured 5000+ years was enough of an overachievement to go undefeated in the Guinness book of World Records for awhile.
yaazhini from Chennai on April 19, 2012:
Interesting hub and a timely article. The style of writing is impressive. Voted up.
Suzette Walker from Taos, NM on April 15, 2012:
Very interesting article and I love your 12 reasons. Any significance to the number 12? Very humorous and tongue in cheek. I enjoyed reading this.
Vegas Elias from Mumbai on April 08, 2012:
Interesting topic to write about. Actually I am reading a lot on the internet about the Mayans. Some say they were actually seafaring people who came to Mexico from Shri Lanka which is the origin of the Maya people. In ancient times people have actually traversed the earth totally oblivious of the distance they actually traveled. It could be that the people who undertook such long journeys used to do it due to threats to their lives by their greedy masters. I vote you for the interesting topic you have chosen to write.
TheHoleStory (author) from Parsons, West Virginia on April 07, 2012:
Actually Judah's Daughter, I believe that's where the idea of our modern basketball game came from. Fortunately today especially after we just finished watching all of those college basketball teams playing in March Madness, there's a different ending in our games. Getting a trophy is a much better way to celebrate, than receiving the leader of the losing team's head. LOL
Judah's Daughter from Roseville, CA on April 07, 2012:
I listened to a documentary of the Mayans recently. They played a 'game' where two teams competed to knock a ball through the center hole of a large rock, without using their hands (symbolizing the centralization of the sun with the milky way on Dec 21, 2012). The losing team's leader would be beheaded. In fact I think most of their games ended with such brutality. I often wonder what happened to the entire tribe...
Felina Margetty from New York, New York on April 03, 2012:
I am just waiting for those lazy archeologists to find the rest of the damn thing, it is buried out there somewhere! Another thought of course is your number 1, the odometer theory. Click -0 it starts again. Quite probable? Wouldn't you agree. Almost forgot to say what a great hub this was. F.
James W. Nelson from eastern North Dakota on April 02, 2012:
Sorry, Theholestory, after your brilliant beginning to this hub I was hoping for at least one "serious" reason for the calendar stopping. Good hub, though. Voted up.
Deb Welch on March 27, 2012:
We must wait and see. Funny. I have read so much on this topic of 12-21-12 and watched a TV program Doomsday Preppers, www.channel.nationalgeographic.com - people are going bonkers. Hope for the best - keep on - keeping on - The Hole Story. Good Day to You.
sligobay from east of the equator on March 25, 2012:
Very humorous hub which I enjoyed reading. Happy NO Years left. Turn the Mayan record over and play the flip side. The next 3,500 years are shown on the back of the stone.
yoginijoy from Mid-Atlantic, USA on March 24, 2012:
This takes a difficult theme--the end of our existence, and makes it hilarious! I enjoyed your treatment of the topic. It makes me think if we knew when "the end" was coming, would we do anything differently? I wonder....
Bob on March 20, 2012:
There is only one that knows when time will end. Everyone should know who that is.
carbon12 on March 18, 2012:
This hub made my giggle a bit while reading it. This hub also made me think a bit. It took 4.5 billion years for the Earth to get this far. We only live for 100 years or so and repeat the same mistakes over and over. Would this be the "insane" definition? Anyway just by doing the simple math you can see Humans are ignorant to the fact and tend to joke off situations they don't understand. I guess this is why we are called "The Children of the Earth." We are nothing but children even if you do live to 100. Doesn't matter what you believe. The universe tends to unfold as it should. There is always a BALANCE. Just live your life to the best of your ability and don't worry about things you can't control. I did vote you up. Have a great day my friend.
cleaner3 from Pueblo, Colorado on March 17, 2012:
cute but don't call me when the earth starts shaking, i will be in my bunker, writing poetry of course.
Alastar Packer from North Carolina on March 16, 2012:
Like your take here Hole, very humorous. That date has nothing to do with any kind of doomsday, if anything it reveals the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. Although a best selling book says the Mayans were aware of time portals.
Kimberly Lake from California on March 15, 2012:
It must be a newh era. Life and existence goes around and around. Voted up and funny. Socially shared
kjforce from Florida on March 15, 2012:
Very interesting hub...ever think perhaps some Mayan had a sick sense of humor ? with the way history is being retold, anything is possible..Maybe this was noted in a rich Mayan's will to freak out future generations? Ahh we know change.. it is a coming and the world has changed more in the last 30 years than in 100 years... so I feel changes as WE know them will come..it's inevitable...
dmop from Cambridge City, IN on March 15, 2012:
I think it is just the end of a cycle and the beginning of another. I guess we'll all see before too long.
David Hunt from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 15, 2012:
Nice. Voted up and funny. And to anyone who believes December 21, 2012 is the end of days, please send me your money.
farmloft from Michigan on March 15, 2012:
Interesting and humorous! I'll be planning a party for Dec. 21
Dianna Mendez on March 15, 2012:
You have a great sense of humor and it is well applied to this topic. Maybe the world ending wouldn't be such a bad idea.. then, we could start over with a new government. Thanks for sharing. Voted up.
Donald from United States on March 15, 2012:
Totally interesting story. I read something about their civilization and this upgrades my knowledge about Mayas.
gogogo on March 15, 2012:
Really enjoyed yor answer drbj made me laugh
drbj and sherry from south Florida on March 15, 2012:
Of course, ths, I don't believe in such rubbish and I do like all your explanations. BUT ... I'm not buying any Christmas gifts until Dec. 22nd. Just sayin'.
angie ashbourne on March 15, 2012:
Hi! I enjoyed this story. I have Dec.21/2012 marked on my Calendar but I will not be running up my VISA card just incase the world does not end. Angie
gogogo on March 15, 2012:
Maybe we should try to find the other rock that begins with the new era. Enjoyed the hub
decor-girl from UK on March 15, 2012:
reason 4 is most likely i think
Greg Schweizer from Fullerton, California. on March 15, 2012:
There is nothing we can do if it is going to end, so just enjoy the rest of this year and don't spend a lot of money on Christmas. If it happens, it happens. Greg
Zulma Burgos-Dudgeon from United Kingdom on March 15, 2012:
I knew there had to be a reasonable explanation or twelve. Thanks for providing them. Voted funny and socially shared.
RosemaryHale from Texas on March 15, 2012:
I've thought all the same things about why the calendar ends. I actually saw a cute little comic once that showed a man holding a big rock, and he said to another guy "I ran out of room." and the other guy said, "That will freak someone out one day."
Graham Lee from Lancashire. England. on March 15, 2012:
To be or not to be, that is the question.
Gypsy Rose Lee on March 15, 2012:
Voted up and interesting! Basically the reason can be anything. I don't worry I just live. Great hub!
hoteltravel from Thailand on March 14, 2012:
All these 12 alternative reasons sound plausible. I prefer to believe in these than go along with the more popular conclusion. Voted up and interesting. Shared with followers.
