The world would have been left in a state of shock and awe when the Mayan's predicted that the world will end on December 21, 2012. The prophecy was thought to be true because it was written down thousands of years ago in their calendar. However, we can all breathe a sigh of relief as days go by and we are still here!
What actually happened?
The end of the world wasn't predicted by the Mayans, but rather their calendar. The name given to the calendar was the Long Count Calendar and while it did end in 2012, December 21, but it didn't really mean that the world will end on that date. It simply means that it is time for a new cycle to begin; much like what happens when winter comes after summer or spring after fall. So while some might be disappointed because they were expecting apocalypse to had happened on 2012, others are happy because this didn't happen! And not only did the world not end (or maybe it should), but there are also other interesting things about this ancient civilization that you probably didn't know before.
The year 2012 isn't the only time that this ancient civilization have prophesied something. The Mayans have been known to be very accurate with their predictions. They were able to predict the world's end three different times, and they were actually all correct!
What do you mean by that?
The first civilization predicted the onset of a global deluge in 3114 BC. But before we talk about how right they were with this prediction, let us first consider our current calendar. The Gregorian calendar we use today was created in 1582 AD. This means that for over 2000 years, there was no such thing as an exact calendar! We can say that humanity has been doing great without even having a way to count time accurately because not only did the Mayans manage to develop a fully-functioning calendar; they also knew when floods will occur thousands of years later and many other things!
The Mayans were also able to predict the lunar and solar eclipse for several years in advance. How did they manage to do that? Not only were they accurate, but they also had a record of astronomy that was much more advanced than our current one.
The end of their calendar isn't the only thing that caught people's attention. They also built great temples all over Central America. To give you an idea how big these places are, the Mayan temple at Chichen Itza can accommodate around 4,000 people! That is already a big number, but what makes this even more amazing is that the temple is only part of a bigger complex.
It has been estimated that there are around 10,000 people roaming around Chichen Itza when tourist season comes! That is not all though. Their temples have been so well preserved because they were built using stone and bricks without any use of mortar. And it's not just them who had their own unique way to build great edifices; Mayans also had a different system of writing from the rest of us which can be seen in places like Palenque.
Overall, their culture wasn't really that different from ours today, despite being dated back thousands of years ago. They were able to harness technology for both good and bad things. And even despite the fact that they predicted three global floods, their prediction for the end of 2012 is just a part of a new cycle.
This is a reminder to all of us to take care our Mother Earth. With news or not, let's protect and love it.