As thousands of mystics, New Age dreamers and fans of pre-Hispanic culture have been drawn to Mexico in hopes of witnessing great things when the day in an old Maya calendar dubbed “the end of the world” dawns today, many ethnic Mayans cannot understand the fuss.

Mostly Christian, ethnic Maya have looked on in wonder at the influx of foreign tourists to ancient cities in southern Mexico and Central America whose heyday passed hundreds of years ago.

For students of ancient Mesoamerican time-keeping, Dec. 21, 2012 marks the end of a 5,125-year cycle in the Maya Long Calendar, an event one leading US scholar said in the 1960s could be interpreted as a kind of Armageddon for the Maya.

Academics and astronomers say too much weight was given to the words and have sought to allay fears that the end is nigh.

But over the past few decades, fed by popular culture, today came to be seen by some western followers of alternative religions as a day on which momentous change could occur.

“It’s a psychosis, a fad,” the Telegraph quoted psychologist Vera Rodriguez, a Mexican of Maya descent living in Izamal, Yucatan state, as saying.

“I think it’s bad for our society and our culture,” Rodriguez said.

Watching busloads of white-haired pensioners and dreadlocked backpackers pile into their heartland, Maya old and young roll their eyes at the suggestion the world will end.

“We don’t believe it,” Socorro Poot, a housewife and mother of three in Holca, a village about 25 miles from Chichen Itza, said.

“Nobody knows the day and the hour. Only God knows,” she added.

Source-ANI

mayan calendar, end of world, apocalypse, prophecy, Life & More

Post your comment