I read somewhere on online
that artists, lawyers, businessmen,
and hippies
have been making their way to Chichen Itza.
I go to Mexico every year.
A few years back,
I got to go twice in the same year.
My trips to Mexico
always include time at museums and historic ruins.
I’ve been to the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City
more times than I count.
Honestly, you can spend a whole week in there
and not see it all,
not remember it all,
not take enough pictures.
I’ve been to the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon.
I’ve been to Tula.
I’ve visited the ruins in Oaxaca.
Chichen Itza is on my list.
In all honesty,
I’m a little jealous
of those who made there way down.
I hope to get there one day.
But one thing that just gets my goat
is all of this 2012 hype.
People without a clue
spread such garbage.
And even people who have somewhat of a clue
(like the History Channel)
use the wrong calendar
when discussing 2012.
And guess what?
We’re still here!
No surprise,
at least,
not for me.
Now,
I’m not an historian
and don’t have anything more
than an interest
in the ancient ruins of Mexico.
And I must admit
my interest is more Aztec than Mayan.
You can’t visit museums
as much as I have
and not learn a little something along the way.
But, alas,
even the History Channel
in at least one program
got it wrong.
What I’ve seen
is the image of the Aztec calendar used
when people discussed this 2012 stuff.
The 2012 doomsday stuff
(which I think was really stunt
to get people to buy stuff, spend money)
is based on the Mayan Calendar.
I mean,
even Google gets it wrong.
Google Mayan Calendar Long Count
and under images you get the Aztec.
And let’s get specific here.
They Mayan’s have more than one calendar:
- The Tzolkin or Sacred Round
- The Haab or Civil Calendar (which most resembles our the calendar we currently use)
- The Long Count (the one inspiring all of the doomsday stuff)
The Tzolkin is know as the divine calendar.
It is called the Sacred Round or Tzolkin,
which means the distribution of days.
This is a cyclic calendar.
Using this calendar,
there are 260 days,
with 20 periods (months) of 13 days.
This used to determine religious and ceremonial events.
The Haab is a solar calendar
and has 365 days.
It is divide into 18 months with 20 days each.
It has one month that is only 5 days long.
The Long Count Calendar is an astronomical calendar.
It was used to track longer periods of time.
The Mayas referred to time as the “universal cycle”.
Each such cycle is calculated to be 2,880,000 days
(about 7885 solar years).
The Mayans believed that the universe is destroyed
and then recreated at the start of each universal cycle.
And so here we have the belief
that inspired all of this end of the world doomsday stuff.
It’s the end of the cycle.
But the universe recreates itself after being destroyed.
It’s not the end of time.
It’s the beginning of a new era.
The Tzolkin and Haab calendars
were combined
to create a calendar of much longer “time.”
This is how the Mayas
created the Long Count Calendar.
OK.
Did you see
that all describing word
in the previous paragraphs?
CYCLE.
It’s not linear, folks.
Time, according to Mayan tradition and beliefs,
is CYCLIC.
It’s the end of one cycle,
but the beginning of a new cycle.
It’s the beginning of a new era.
I hope to one day visit Chichen Itza.
Not because of everything I just detailed here.
But because
this ancient stuff is just so darn interesting.
And so we have
artists, lawyers, businessmen,
and hippies
making their way to Chichen Itza.
Maybe they get it.
Maybe those people get it.
It’s the beginning of a new era.
At least,
I would hope so.
I mean,
it’s like the more civilized we’ve become
the more barbaric we have become.
We have all of this technology
and so little concern about others.
We have become a nation
that devours her children
in more ways than one,
and then when we celebrate the Dec. 12th feastday
of Our Lady of Guadalupe
we dare call the Aztecs
horrible and barbaric for human sacrifice.
It’s time, people.
It’s time.
It’s time to create that new era. . . .
. . .an era where children can go to school
and not worry about being safe.
. . .an era when having a child
and rearing a child
is considered a blessing,
a worthy and valued vocation.
. . .an era where we care for those who are ill,
when we take care of those with mental/emotional illness.
. . .an era where we actually spend time
and listen to our neighbor
and care and worry about him/her.
. . .an era when we hate less
and love more.. . .
. . .a era where we don’t label people,
but just love them
and care for them
for who they are:
Children of God.
. . .an era where we own less
(accumulate less stuff)
but share more, give more.
. . .an era where we clean not only the air,
the land and the water,
but our innermost being.
Maybe, in the end,
the ancient Mayas had it right.
It’s time, people.
It’s time.
Thy Kingdom Come.
Are you up for the challenge?
* * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * *
that artists, lawyers, businessmen,
and hippies
have been making their way to Chichen Itza.
I go to Mexico every year.
A few years back,
I got to go twice in the same year.
My trips to Mexico
always include time at museums and historic ruins.
I’ve been to the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City
more times than I count.
Honestly, you can spend a whole week in there
and not see it all,
not remember it all,
not take enough pictures.
I’ve been to the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon.
I’ve been to Tula.
I’ve visited the ruins in Oaxaca.
Chichen Itza is on my list.
In all honesty,
I’m a little jealous
of those who made there way down.
I hope to get there one day.
But one thing that just gets my goat
is all of this 2012 hype.
People without a clue
spread such garbage.
And even people who have somewhat of a clue
(like the History Channel)
use the wrong calendar
when discussing 2012.
And guess what?
We’re still here!
No surprise,
at least,
not for me.
Now,
I’m not an historian
and don’t have anything more
than an interest
in the ancient ruins of Mexico.
And I must admit
my interest is more Aztec than Mayan.
You can’t visit museums
as much as I have
and not learn a little something along the way.
But, alas,
even the History Channel
in at least one program
got it wrong.
What I’ve seen
is the image of the Aztec calendar used
when people discussed this 2012 stuff.
The 2012 doomsday stuff
(which I think was really stunt
to get people to buy stuff, spend money)
is based on the Mayan Calendar.
I mean,
even Google gets it wrong.
Google Mayan Calendar Long Count
and under images you get the Aztec.
And let’s get specific here.
They Mayan’s have more than one calendar:
- The Tzolkin or Sacred Round
- The Haab or Civil Calendar (which most resembles our the calendar we currently use)
- The Long Count (the one inspiring all of the doomsday stuff)
The Tzolkin is know as the divine calendar.
It is called the Sacred Round or Tzolkin,
which means the distribution of days.
This is a cyclic calendar.
Using this calendar,
there are 260 days,
with 20 periods (months) of 13 days.
This used to determine religious and ceremonial events.
The Haab is a solar calendar
and has 365 days.
It is divide into 18 months with 20 days each.
It has one month that is only 5 days long.
The Long Count Calendar is an astronomical calendar.
It was used to track longer periods of time.
The Mayas referred to time as the “universal cycle”.
Each such cycle is calculated to be 2,880,000 days
(about 7885 solar years).
The Mayans believed that the universe is destroyed
and then recreated at the start of each universal cycle.
And so here we have the belief
that inspired all of this end of the world doomsday stuff.
It’s the end of the cycle.
But the universe recreates itself after being destroyed.
It’s not the end of time.
It’s the beginning of a new era.
The Tzolkin and Haab calendars
were combined
to create a calendar of much longer “time.”
This is how the Mayas
created the Long Count Calendar.
OK.
Did you see
that all describing word
in the previous paragraphs?
CYCLE.
It’s not linear, folks.
Time, according to Mayan tradition and beliefs,
is CYCLIC.
It’s the end of one cycle,
but the beginning of a new cycle.
It’s the beginning of a new era.
I hope to one day visit Chichen Itza.
Not because of everything I just detailed here.
But because
this ancient stuff is just so darn interesting.
And so we have
artists, lawyers, businessmen,
and hippies
making their way to Chichen Itza.
Maybe they get it.
Maybe those people get it.
It’s the beginning of a new era.
At least,
I would hope so.
I mean,
it’s like the more civilized we’ve become
the more barbaric we have become.
We have all of this technology
and so little concern about others.
We have become a nation
that devours her children
in more ways than one,
and then when we celebrate the Dec. 12th feastday
of Our Lady of Guadalupe
we dare call the Aztecs
horrible and barbaric for human sacrifice.
It’s time, people.
It’s time.
It’s time to create that new era. . . .
. . .an era where children can go to school
and not worry about being safe.
. . .an era when having a child
and rearing a child
is considered a blessing,
a worthy and valued vocation.
. . .an era where we care for those who are ill,
when we take care of those with mental/emotional illness.
. . .an era where we actually spend time
and listen to our neighbor
and care and worry about him/her.
. . .an era when we hate less
and love more.. . .
. . .a era where we don’t label people,
but just love them
and care for them
for who they are:
Children of God.
. . .an era where we own less
(accumulate less stuff)
but share more, give more.
. . .an era where we clean not only the air,
the land and the water,
but our innermost being.
Maybe, in the end,
the ancient Mayas had it right.
It’s time, people.
It’s time.
Thy Kingdom Come.
Are you up for the challenge?
* * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * *
