Page 30 - 200903 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - March 2009

30 2012 = End of the World ? 30 2012 = End of the World ? Some Think 2012 Will Some Think 2012 Will Bring End Of World Bring End Of World Susan Carlson Susan Carlson CBS Chicago CBS Chicago Ancient prophecies that the world will end in the year 2012 are creating quite a stir. But is the hype about prophecy -- or profit? CBS 2's Susan Carlson asks the question, "2012: real or not?" Nanci Flynn was intrigued when she first heard about predictions the world will end in 2012 and started her own research. "When I see so many things across the board pointing to exactly the same time frame, it's something that we need to take seriously," The bible does reference the end of Late Preclassic period of Maya culture, which she said. days, but there's no indication when. goes from about 300 B.C. to the early 1st She believes the financial crisis could be "Date-setting was denounced by Jesus," century A.D., according to an account of the the first sign. McKnight said. find from Idaho State University. "There's talk that in the end of days, But Flynn, like many others, still won't The amazing thing about the panels is there will be economic chaos," Flynn said. "I shrug off the 2012 prophecies. that they show a pair of swimmers, framed by think we're seeing that." "Suppose it were real -- would you still cosmic monsters including an undulating Books predicting disaster in 2012 are ignore it?" she asked. serpent and an old-man deity with outstretched flying off store shelves, and the hype is only We questioned the main areas where the wings. Idaho State University's Richard Hansen, expected to grow. But when the dust settles, will hype is coming from. Several ancient president of the Idaho-based FARES 2012 go the way of Y2K? civilizations and many prophets, including Foundation, said the swimmers appear to "You cannot just pick and choose and Nostradamus, have been interpreted -- or represent the fabled Hero Twins. interweave pieces of un-contextualized history misinterpreted -- with Armageddon predictions "One of the swimmers has a decapitated together to sell a story that might help you sell linked to 2012. On the other end of the head on his flanks, which is likely the books," says Gary Feinman, the Field Museum's spectrum, some spiritualists predict that that decapitated head of his father, who was known curator of Mesoamerican anthropology. year will not bring disaster but instead usher in in Maya mythology as Hun Hunahpu," Hansen December 21, 2012 marks the end of the an age of enlightenment. [] is quoted as saying in the university's account. 5,000-year Mayan calendar. Feinman says The other swimmer wears a jaguar headdress, MAYA MYTH while many are attaching catastrophic MAYA MYTH which would typically be associated with significance to that date, for the Mayans, the Xbalanque ("Young Jaguar Sun."). REVEALED date simply marked the end of a cycle, not the REVEALED "All in all, the scene is a complex blend end of the world. of early Maya mythology and cosmology," by Alan Boyle "Kind of like an odometer flipping by Alan Boyle Hansen said. over," he said. Hector Escobedo, Guatemala's vice But you wouldn't know that from Archaeologists have unearthed a pair of minister of culture, said the find "suggests that surfing the Net. Googling "2012 disaster" monumental stucco panels in Guatemala that the antiquity of the Popol Vuh as an authentic results in more than 2 million websites. People appear to depict one of the New World's oldest- creation story extends far into the Preclassic are buying it, literally: everything from known creation stories, going back thousands of eras." The find also adds to the importance emergency supply kits to 2012 T-shirts. And years to what experts call "the cradle of Maya attached to the Mirador Basin as a center of right on cue, a blockbuster movie is coming out civilization." The discovery suggests that the ancient Maya culture. this fall. saga, known as the Popol Vuh, was a Hansen has been doing research for Fueling the hype, Dec. 21, 2012 falls on centerpiece of Maya beliefs for well more than years in the remote Mirador Basin, which is at the winter solstice. And it's supposed to be when a millennium and stands as one of the world's the center of a major forest conservation the sun aligns with the center of the Milky Way enduring religious stories. program established by the Guatemalan galaxy. While that sounds impressive … The Popol Vuh chronicles how the Maya government. The Idaho researcher served as a "That happens every year," said Mark gods created the world and made several consultant to actor/director Mel Gibson on the Hammergren, astronomer at Adler Planetarium. attempts to fashion people to live in it, including controversial movie "Apocalypto." And "It was closer aligned in the past; there's no "mud people" and "wooden people" that didn't although that film is now far back on the DVD consequence to this." quite meet the grade. Finally, the gods got it shelves, Gibson is still taking an interest in Despite predictions of cosmic chaos, right, creating the people who inhabited the Mirador. Recently, he called the site "arguably Hammergren says there's no scientific data urban site now known as El Mirador - where the the greatest archaeological find in the Western pointing to anything unusual happening in the panels were found - and the hundreds of Hemisphere." year 2012. thousands of acres comprising the Serpent For more about Mirador, check out the "A woman asked me if I thought Jesus Kingdom. Mirador Basin Web site. [] was coming back soon," said Scot McKnight, A Quiche Maya text of the Popol Vuh professor of religious studies at North Park was found in the highland town of University. "And she was definitely impacted Chichicastenango in 1700 and transcribed by a by the 2012." Dominican monk named Francisco Ximenez. Religious furor is also driving The saga's two main characters are the Hero speculation the world is coming to an end. But Twins, named Hunahpu and Xbanlanque, who according McKnight, some of that may be are sort of like a double dose of Hercules. politically motivated. The 26-foot-long (8-meter-long) El "It doesn't surprise me one bit that with Mirador panels were made of carved and a new Democratic president, some evangelical modeled lime plaster, and lined a water Christians think the end of the world is near," he collection system in a part of the city known as said. the Central Acropolis. They date back to the