A Short Video on the Maya and the Yucatan

This video, which provides an introduction to the Maya and the Yucatan, was recorded during a talk I gave in Toronto in May of 2012. It shows where the Maya live in the Yucatan states of Mexico, the adjacent countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize  and also tidbits on Cancun, Mayan history, the place where the first Crystal Skull was found, and the Pyramid of Kukulkan the Feathered Serpent in Chichen Itza.

False beliefs of the Mayan prophecy end of the world not entirely a grassroots movement

Long count calendar date corresponding to the mythical Mayan creation date of August 11, 3114 BC. This image is in the public domain, because its copyright has expired.

Lorenzo DiTommaso, professor of religion at Concordia University in Montreal, says that because of the grassroots nature of the Mayan apocalypse predictions, believers in the world’s end on December 21, 2012, will not have a leader to express their dissatisfaction that what they were told did not come to pass.

An online article by LiveScience says that:

Rationalizing and attempting to explain away failure is common among failed doomsday groups, said Lorenzo DiTommaso, a professor of religion at Concordia University in Montreal. In some cases, groups even claim that their prayers saved the world.

The Mayan apocalypse is likely to be different, if only because the Internet is bursting with dozens of contradictory prophecies about the day, DiTommaso told LiveScience.

After Mayan Apolacalypse Failure, Believers May Suffer

In my humble opinion, the belief in the end of the world was not only a grassroots movement fanned by contradictory Internet prophecies but was also touted by the conventional media. One of the reasons I wrote the End of the World 2012 EBook and Book, and made the End of the World 2012 Movie was because of a very convincing public television documentary on the 2012 Mayan prophecy that had upset a friend of mine. I set out to find the truth.

In addition, there were many, many books written by, for the most part, “new age” authors that appeared to be full of “scientific evidence,” when, in fact, if a person was to actually research the  Mayan calendar online in blogs by expert epigraphers or read books by Mayan experts, one would discover that many of the books had holes in their scientific evidence.

Perhaps those disgruntled believers actually do have leaders to show dissatisfaction with in these authors that wrote about fanciful events that were not the actual 2012 Mayan prophecies.

The Pleiades and the Mayans

The Pleiades is an open cluster consisting of approximately 1,000 stars at a distance of 400 light-years (120 parsecs) from Earth in in the constellation Taurus. (It also known as “The Seven Sisters”, or the astronomical designations NGC 1432/35 and M 45.) Public Domain photo by NASA

Some people believe the ancient Maya descended from an extraterrestrial race that came from the Pleiades star cluster. I suppose that might explain, for them, why the ancient Maya were so proficient as astronomers. It’s an interesting theory. In any case, this NASA photo of the Pleiades is gorgeous.

Carol Chapman, author of End of the World 2012 EBook

The Land of the ancient Maya

The Yucatan Peninsula showing the location of Mayan ruins sites

As you can see from the map of the Yucatan Peninsula on the right, there are Mayan ruin sites in the Mexican states of Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco (where Tabasco Sauce comes from), and Chiapas.

There are also Mayan ruins in the countries of Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras.

Of course, the ancient Maya–the ones who wrote the Mayan prophecies and made the Mayan calendar–did not think of the area as the map looks today with separate Mexican states and separate countries.

For them, it was all the land where they lived with different centers of power where large populations lived. These are today’s Mayan ruins sites.

And today, even though this land is separated into different countries and different Mexican states, it is still the land where the Maya live–the modern-day Maya who are the descendants of the ancient Maya.

The Maya have lived in this area for thousands of years.

Carol Chapman, director/producer of the End of the World 2012 Movie and the Yucatan Travel Movie

Many people believe the ancient Mayans died away

The Maya live in the Yucatan Peninsula, which is in southern Mexico, and also includes parts of northern Central America.

With all of the buzz about the Mayan Prophecies for December 21, 2012, some people believe that the Maya are a dead race–that there are no Maya alive today. I guess these people believe this since the 2012 Mayan prophecy was made by the ancient Maya, there must not be any modern Maya. Not so.

There’s so much talk about the Maya, but there aren’t many people who know who they are. The Maya are an indigenous group. They live in Central America in Mexico. As of the year 2000, there were seven million of them. They are the largest indigenous group in the Americas. According to some sources, they may be the largest indigenous group in the world.

They suffered under the Spanish who tried to annihilate them in the “Caste War.” It started in 1847 and lasted for 54 years ending on May 5th, 1901. The Spanish slaughtered the Maya, trying to totally get rid of them.

But the Maya people themselves are very determined and steadfast and are producing lots of babies. I have that on good authority that they are replenishing their numbers.

Excerpted from the End of the World 2012 EBook and the End of the World 2012 Book.

Carol Chapman, director/producer of the  End of the World 2012 Movie

Maya Actors Used in Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto

A blog post by Erick Laseca who works for Burson-Marsteller as public relations liaison for the Mexico Tourism Board in Chicago begins with:

The height of Mayan civilization may have ended some 1600 years ago, but this enigmatic empire seems to be making a come-back. This past Friday, December 8th, movie theaters across North America released Mel Gibson’s much-anticipated feature, Apocalypto, filmed in Mexico, bringing the late, great Mayan civilization to life on the big screen.

Mexican Mayans Descendant Make Debut in Apocalypto

Although I disagree with Laseca’s calling the Maya, “Mayans,” nonetheless, I found his comprehensive article on the Maya informative, entertaining and interesting. After all, it might be that Laseca uses the term “Mayans” since it works better as a keyword search phrase, “Maya” more often bringing up Maya Angelou.

During filming of the Yucatan Travel Movie, we visited the ruins at Edzna, which is supposed to be the ruin Mel Gibson chose as the model for his Mayan ruin set in the movie Apocalypto. We loved Edzna. The Palace of the Five Stories is gorgeous.