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Because I’m a person who tends to look with fear at predictions – my own and others’- I like to do research to find the rational core behind prophecies and to dispel the sensationalism created by commercial interests. So, let’s take a look at 2012 and the research of the eminent author on indigenous peoples of the Americas, Frank Waters.
Frank Waters, 1902 – 1995, is probably best known for his monumental work, The Book of the Hopi, which is considered by many to be the definitive collection of stories, language, rituals and photographs of the Hopi. Waters wrote this book in 1963 aided by thirty-two Hopi elders. It is a wonderful record because, since that time, some of the Hopi traditions have not been carried forward to the next generation.
In 1970, Waters was given a Rockefeller Foundation grant to research the pre-Columbian culture and religion of the Toltecs, Aztecs, and Maya in Mexico and Guatemala. From this came his book Mexico Mystique: the Coming Sixth World of Consciousness, published in 1975.
In Mexico Mystique, Waters discusses the date for the beginning of our present world, the fifth, on August 12, 3113 B.C. He shows the great difficulty in correlating with our calendar the Mayan date of 13.0.0.0.0 for the beginning of the fifth world. Over the years of scholarly translation the date has gone from August 29, 3511 B.C. to October 14, 3373 B.C. to 3340 B.C. to 2853 B.C. to finally 3113 B.C.
Do you get my point? Who knows what the beginning date of the fifth world really is! This date is important because, from it, the beginning of the next world, the sixth, was calculated by the ancient Maya. If our correlation of the beginning date of the fifth world is wrong, the beginning date of the sixth world will be wrong also.
Based on the understanding of scholars prior to 1975 when Waters’ Mexico Mystique came out, the beginning of the next world – the sixth – would be on . . . (are you ready for this?) . . . December 24, 2011! That’s’ right, 2011. And, December 24, not 21. One year earlier than the present prediction of 2012! Who knows, with further scholarly research, what that date may become in the near future? For all we know, it may have already passed.
When I interviewed Maya people during my visit to Yucatan in January 2008 and asked them, “What do you know about December 21, 2012?” they replied that this was a date that white people had told them based on translations of ancient Mayan texts. Basically, the ancient traditions have not continued to the present generation of Maya, or anyway, not to ordinary people going about ordinary lives.
There’s a chance that shamans may keep the tradition going, but in no way is 2012 common knowledge among the Maya as was the millennium to many people throughout the earth.
I find it comforting to know that among everyday Maya there is no panic about 2012.
Carol Chapman —
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