The cycles of creation were mostly elemental in nature, corresponding roughly to the Mayan agricultural cycle, but they did also include things like a season of war as well. In a way, perhaps like our football seasons, both American and European, and periodically the world “ended” in a storm season.
Would the calendar tell them when the auspices were good for going to war? It did indeed, and would also potentially motivate the practice of war to restore the natural balance as they saw it.
But yes, the end of a cycle of creation was a season of storms, and then the whole creation process started all over again. In theory, you could track how long social tensions would last with adequate psychological insight and a long count calendar as they used.
“Long count”? Ah yes, their calendar was set up to function over the long term, in theory thousands of years, never getting a day out of order and tracking the seasons accordingly. As morbid as it might be, historically people have had different emotions about war depending on what time of year it started, less anger in winter, great anger in spring.
I read a book that showed how events in history cycle and how these events can be tracked and predicted. It sounds like they had a version of that? As inclusive a version as they possibly could make. And more scientists seem to be entertaining the notion that something like time and space might be fractal. A Mayan calendar stone looks sort of fractal to me. (My wife purchased a clock and placed it here that resembles a Mayan calendar stone.) So as even the science pundits are accurately stating, the Mayans did not believe that the end of their creation cycle was the literal / final end of the world. The calendar tradition fell by the wayside largely from the influence of Spanish conquerors.
But it’s such a good excuse for “End of Days parties! Oh indeed, I wouldn’t tell anyone not to have a party. You can celebrate like it’s your last chance certainly, though I wouldn’t recommend doing anything completely stupid as you will have to deal with it the day after. For me, an end of days event would consist of meditative reflection, as my birthday does for the most part as well, but that’s just me.
Mine is an excuse for cake. My wife and I have cake as well.
That’s how I celebrate New Year’s. For me, my birthday is my new years.
Yes, I like that way of looking at birthdays.
The world is ending…lets have cake!
I am pondering the concept of “cycles” but somehow laid out in linear time. They refer to the start of a new world as the creation of a sun, and each sun does have distinct characteristics so it’s perhaps possible that the finish of this year (2012) may mark a distinct shift in the zeitgeist, the spirit of the world going forward.
Ah, like each decade has a style? Exactly, and in the Mayan system, there is not a single world tree. There are five, so perhaps even those will turn over a new leaf. Here’s to hope, no?
Well, just as the Greek word sin was a simple reference to degree of error, the Greek word apocalypse is a reference to revelation, and from all I have been seeing, we do stand on what seems like a threshold of huge technological change. Self-driving cars? What’s up with that?
Fewer accidents most likely. Yes, likely. It won’t matter if someone is in the car drunk or emotionally overwrought, vehicles will just have to have adequate maintenance, but that’s already true so no change there.
What is it about the number 13? It seems we should have 13 months to make things work out. That is the new count. They have eighteen months. 13 is the length of the Mayan week. And their month is twenty days long, would be the day of earth motion or something like that. They tracked changes of the month by number count.
Is there a traditional way to celebrate the end/beginning of the calendar? Honoring the new reigning deity, Kukulkan, the feathered serpent. All days end at sunset, in the Mayan tradition, as the sun slips into the underworld. Their primary ritual time was sunset. Earlier in the day was for more practical affairs, if you view them that way. I think their sacrificial practices would have to be viewed in perspective.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~