Maya relinquished the use of their Long Count Calendar due to the influence of the Itza and Mexica

I had heard that the Maya had lost not only their written language but also their connection with the Long Count Calendar long before the arrival of the Spanish. However, until I saw the online article, “The Short Count and Chilam Balam,” I had not known the story of when or why. Here’s an excerpt explaining that the loss of the Long Count Calendar occurred when the Itza and Mexica influences predominated in Yucatan around AD 1000:

When the Itzá and Mexica influences became dominant in the Yucatán around A.D. 1000, the keeping of the Long Count, which had already started to fall out of usage, went into serious decline. This was largely because the Itzá only used the fifty-two-year–based calendar round. In a compromise between the different cultures of the two calendars, it was the distinctively Mayan Long Count that lost out.
The Short Count and Chilam Balam

The Long Count Calendar is the calendar that modern-day archaeologists can now read, which has led to the ability to read the 2012 prediction.

Mayan Long Count Calendar date is far beyond 2012

I am delighted to discover a corroboration of a Mayan Long Count Calendar date recorded on a tall stone slab called a stele. This date is on a particular stele called Stele One at the Mayan ruin in Coba. While videotaping footage for the Yucatan Travel Movie, we spent considerable time filming Stele One, and trying to get it right, whether the date on it was 4.1 billion, billion, billion years into the future or 4.1 billion, billion, billion, billion years into the future (3 or 4 billion years). The following excerpt from Wikipedia’s 2012 Phenomenon article states definitively that it was actually 41 octillion years in the future, or perhaps, an equal distance of time into the past. Ho hm, these confusing Mayan glyphs! Anyway, I am delighted to discover that we at least got the stele right, and the 4.1 (or 41) of the date correct.

Another example is Stele 1 at Coba, which gives a date of 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.0.0.0.0, or twenty units above the b’ak’tun, placing it either 4.134105 × 1028 (41 octillion) years in the future,[26] or an equal distance in the past.[38] This date is 3 quintillion times the age of the universe as determined by cosmologists.
~ 2012 Phenomenon

Stele One also has a date on it that alludes to December 21, 2012.

From the pen of Dr. David Stuart on the Tortuguero Monument 6 2012 “prophecy”

On September 30th, I published a post on this blog in which I quoted a translation of the 2012 prophecy by famed Maya scholar Dr. David Stuart. He’s the one who spent considerable time in his childhood living in Maya ruins with his archaeologist parents and is fluent in the modern Mayan language, or so I’ve read. Or, maybe I saw it on public television. In any case, here is an update of Dr. Stuart’s most recent understanding of the meaning of the Maya glyphs on Monument 6 in the Tortuguero ruins that refer to the December 21, 2012 date. I just learned that Dr. Stuart has a WordPress blog called Maya Decipherment: A Weblog on Ancient Maya Script. This has to be a great website full of fantastic and unique information on the Maya and 2012. The following quote is excerpted from his October 4th, 2011 blog post:

In other words, the mention of 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahaw 3 K’ank’in on Tortuguero Monument 6 is an isolated chronological anchor within a larger narrative, projected into the future in order to make a rhetorical point about the nature of the main historical event. The last few glyphs of the text, rather than being wedded to the 13.0.0.0.0 section, should be viewed instead as comprising a record of a contemporary episode — the building dedication — that’s the discursive focus of the entire inscription.

Maya Decipherment

The Baktun in the Mayan Long Count Calendar

Here’s a link to an article I found helpful and clear in describing the Long Count Calendar. It’s called Calendars & the Long Count System. I like that this website has a nifty little chart that starts with the day, called a “Kin,” in Mayan to the “Baktun,” which is approximately 395 years.

The December 21, 2012 date represents 13 Baktuns in the Mayan Long Count Calendar. I will be discussing the Mayan 2012 prediction during my talk, Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012? on Wednesday, October 26th, at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The event is sponsored by the Edgar Cayce Forum.

What does 4 Ahaw mean? It is part of the Mayan Year 2012 prophecy

OK, so we know that 4 Ahaw is part of the Mayan calendar called the Tzolk’in. What is the Tzolk’in?

An online Wikipedia article entitled Tzolk’in describes the Tzolk’in as:

The tzolk’in, the basic cycle of the Maya calendar, is a pre-eminent component in the society and rituals of the ancient and the modern Maya. The tzolk’in is still in use by several Maya communities in the Guatemalan highlands.

The article goes on to say that “Ahaw” (also spelled Ahau in English) means, “lord, ruler, sun.”

I will be discussing the Mayan 2012 prediction during my talk, Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012? on Wednesday, October 26th, at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The event is sponsored by the Edgar Cayce Forum.

The Mayan Long Count Calendar ends on 4 Ahaw of the Tzolk’in Calendar … what does that mean?

The Tzolk’in (also spelled Tzolkin) is the Mayan ceremonial calendar. It consists of 260 days. Some believe the 260 days represent the human gestational cycle–about 9 months.

The third date in the Mayan 2012 prophecy is a date in the Tzolk’in calendar: 4 Ahaw.

I will be discussing the Mayan 2012 prediction during my talk, Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012? on Wednesday, October 26th, at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The event is sponsored by the Edgar Cayce Forum.

Are the Haab and T’zolkin calendar dates used for cross-referencing?

(Yesterday’s post continued …) I do not think the Maya included Haab and T’zolkin calendar dates with the 13.0.0.0.0 Bak’tun Long Count Calendar date in the December 21, 2012 prediction for cross-referencing, which, according to my thesaurus means as an annotation or footnote or postscript, in other words, as something separate from the prophecy. I think the Haab and T’zolkin calendar dates are part of the prophecy. In other words, the two extra calendar dates are important to the prophecy since the whole next 5,280 year cycle–or even the 25,800 year cycle–begins on a date that is colored by the meaning of these Haab and T’zolkin dates.

Maybe I just don’t understand the meaning of the word, “cross-referencing.”

Did the ancient Maya put 3 dates on the 2012 Monument 6 for cross-referencing?

What’s this I see? In my search to clarify the meaning of the Mayan Haab month K’ank’in (also spelled kankin), I did a Google search for, “uniiw kankin haab.” One of the items that came up was for a Google book by Geoff Stray called, “2012 in Your Pocket.” It looks like a good and comprehensive read that includes an explanation of the ancient Maya, the Mayan calendars, and 2012.

However, I wonder if the author understands why there are two dates, 3rd Uniiw and 4 Ahaw, because he says that Monument 6 in the Tortuguera Mayan ruins, which was erected in AD 669, “is inscribed with glyphs from the three calendars, cross-referencing the end date in 2012.”

Cross-referencing?

Does he think the Maya put in the other two dates with the Mayan Long Count Calendar date of 13.0.0.0.0 Bak’tuns (the December 21, 2012 in our calendar) to cross-reference the date with the other two Mayan calendars, the Haab and T’zolkin? More tomorrow …

The Mayan Haab Calendar month of K’ank’in can mean “skeleton”

I just found a Mayan calendar website, called The Mayan Calendar, that says that K’ank’in (also known as Uniiw, the month in which the December 21, 2012 Mayan Long Count date occurs), means not only “yellow sun” but also “ribs” and “skeleton.” Hm, it is beginning to sound a bit ominous after all.

A discussion of the Mayan Calendar as it relates to the 2012 prophecy will be part of my lecture called, “Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012?” I will be speaking at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26th. The event is sponsored by The Edgar Cayce Forum.

Is 3rd Uniiw in the Mayan Haab calendar (the date corresponding to our December 12, 2012) a portent of doom?

We no longer think of the number ten when we say December. I wonder if the ancient Maya, when they said the day was the 3rd of Uniiw, also called K’ank’in, did not know that Uniiw meant “the yellow sun.” Was it just the name of a month to them as December is to us?

Or did the ancient Maya believe that the day was influenced by the meaning of the month it was in? If so, a day in the yellow sun month sounds like an OK month to me.

According to a very informative Wikipedia article entitled, Haab, in their Haab calendar, the ancient Maya do have a month named Tzek, which means “death,” and another month, “Ch’en” that means, “black storm.” I would think that if December 21, 2012, corresponded to the Mayan month of Tzek or Ch’en, there would be more cause for alarm. However, a date in the month of “Yellow sun” does not seem very ominous to me.

During my talk on October 26th at 7:30 p.m. for the Edgar Cayce Forum at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. in Virginia Beach, Virginia, I will include information gathered during interviews with Mayan Elders. The lecture is called: Do Mayan Shamans believe the world will end in 2012?