Twenty twelve, end of the Mayan calendar and according to some the end of everything as we know it. Scary thought ain’t it? For what it’s worth here’s my curmudgeonly take on it. Enjoy!
It was a long time ago (that should be obvious to the most casual observer) and the Maya had grown to a sprawling empire heavily engaged in commerce and trying very hard to feed their masses. When you are part of a society in decline and it’s getting harder to get an omelet at the local hole in the wall diner does it matter to you if the calendar only goes several thousand years into the future? Just a wild guess here folks but I’m thinking probably not. Can you imagine a lot of Maya thinking “OK all you government politicians, let’s shut down a bunch of less needed bureaucracies”? And the politicians saying “name one”. Response, “how about the bureau of calendar development ‘cuz they’ve got it worked out a long time into the future and if we disappear as a culture it’ll all be rhetorical anyway”.
If back then you were a member of the “bureau of calendar development” and your team got so far as 2012, you would have reason to be really proud. But when the department gets shut down because of budget cuts, well guess what – that’s when the calendar stops.
Bet they didn’t have unemployment back then and I suspect none of the “bureau of calendar development” guys were willing to continue adding to the calendar for the sheer pleasure of it. And in spite of whatever efforts Mayan society as a whole made, it’s obvious they didn’t quite succeed.
So that’s my take. The calendar stops during 2012 because that’s as far as they got before Mayan civilization as they came to recognize it ceased.
But I gotta wonder if someone provided the Maya with a calendar that told when their empire would cease? Possibly people from the sky?
ET phone home!






