I wish some of the other regulars were around tonight. I get so tired of answering this question.
Y/A is two years old and this question has been asked 6,462 times now. That's 3,200 times per year. That's 267 times per month. That's 9 times per day.
This is the result of persons who fail to even notice that Y/A has a bar that shows similar questions when you start typing one.
So, what do you need to know?
No, the world will not end. As far as the Mayan calendar goes, it NEVER mentions ANYTHING about the end of the world.
What else do you want to know?
Here goes...again.
The Mayans were great astronomers and mathematicians. They based their mythology upon the stars just like all cultures have. They noticed that if you pick one day out of the year, the Milky Way band of stars will appear to go up and down in the sky on that particular day. The Milky Way was part of their mythology as a birthing place. They picked a day out of the year- the December solstice. The day when the Sun would start it's journey northward again. They calculated when the Sun would rise on the December solstice when the Milky Way appeared to be low on the horizon. It would happen (in our year) in 2012AD. The Sun would be 'born' in the Milky Way. It would be a time to celebrate. Have some laughs, drink, eat, and party.
The Mayans had ways to measure time just like we use day, week, month, year, decade, etc. The Mayans used different words. They didn't use 10 as a base to count like we do. They used 18 and 20. They had what was called a Baktun. A baktun lasts about 395 years. The Mayans did not count to infinity like we do. They only counted as high as 13 baktuns. After 13 baktuns, their count started over again at 1. This is not unusual for past cultures. Not everyone in the world counts to infinity.
The Mayans developed a calendar. They had never had a calendar before. This was their first one. The year when they came up with a calendar was (according to our Julian date) around 150AD. The Mayans did not wish to call this day 1 because they knew there had been a past. So, they did something unique. They chose to END their 13 baktuns on the day that the Sun would rise when the Milky Way band appeared low on the horizon. This is the year that we call 2012. Year 1 to the Mayans was now placed somewhere around what we call 3114BC. They didn't care much about this part. They had no 'Jesus' to start a year 1 with.
Now, we turn to our culture. The present day. Our culture is filled with persons who will do anything for money. Our culture is also filled with persons who want to believe that the end of times is near. You can find them writing books, creating websites, and filling both with lies and whatever else it takes in order to make some money or to develop a doomsday armegeddon cult following for political or social reasons.
This is not new to our culture. False prophets have been around proclaiming the end since man could first speak. As long as there is money to be made or as long as some group has evil intentions, the doomsayers will never go away. After the memories of 2012 are long gone, a new end-of-the-world date will be chosen by some nut and the rest will see dollar signs and join the bandwagon of deception.
Why is 2012 such a popular doomsday year? Two reasons: 1- Very few persons know about the Mayans or their culture. 2- Lies and disinformation is extremely easy to spread on the internet.
In regard to reason #1, persons today have grown lazy when it comes to research. In the recent past, we had to go to the library and open books. Today, a person clicks on the computer and hops across a few websites and figures that as long as it is on the internet, it must be true. They go to youtube and believe that a video on the internet must be true. They see a cult organization like zetatalk and figure what they are seeing printed on the internet must be true. So there is no need to go to the library. They can click on a tv show by the Discovery channel or the History channel and forget that tv is for entertainment only. They don't realize the only two conditions that gets someone's show on the air: 1- will the public tune in? 2- will advertisers put commercials on so the show makes money? Note that there are no conditions which say anything about truth or facts.
Then they come to Y/A and say 'I heard..' or 'I saw...' or 'Scientists say...'.
These are sad times for our world.
There are no controls that guide persons on the internet. There are no headers above a website page stating 'truth' 'fiction' 'unsupported conjecture' 'opinion'. There are no requirements that you even need to post your name as the author of a webpage.
It takes common sense to seperate truth from fiction. It takes more research into a topic to understand it than going to some internet websites. Over 6,400 persons in the last two years have not made that attempt. Common sense is not that common. That is why there are answerers to your question here who will say 'Yes, I heard such and such is supposed to happen.' You will always find that the research these persons conducted to gather their information was going to an internet website or watching a youtube video. And now they are the talking parrot who repeats words without having the slightest inkling of any truth or facts behind the gossip that they preach.
There are two important things to keep in mind regarding the 2012 doomsday hoax. 1- ALL doomsday scenarios can be proven false with scientific facts. 2- NO doomsday scenarios are being presented by scientists.
Use skeptical judgement when you are presented with information. Only the gullable will believe everything they hear or read. Use caution when surfing the web. If you are careless or if you intentionally seek out trash on the internet, it is very easily found. Seek out science websites only. Run a google on them. You will not find a thing about 2012 doomsday hype on ANY reliable science websites.
There will always be those who are so deceived and ignorantly uneducated that they will believe anything regarding the 2012 doomsday hoax, even after being confronted with scientific data and facts that prove otherwise. They will state that scientists do not speak of 2012 because of some worldwide coverup. Don't waste your time by being one of them. Living your life in fear is not living. I really feel sorry for the young children who have been so easily misled by this topic because they lack proper research skills. Those responsible for the 2012 lies should be imprisoned. But unfortunately this is the price we pay for free speech.
-- JASON report what your teacher said to your parents and to your principal immediately.