Who are these Mayans?
The island city of Tayasal was the last independent Mayan kingdom and some Spanish priests peacefully visited and preached to the last Itza king, Canek, as late as 1696. The Itza kingdom finally submitted to Spanish rule on March 13, 1697, to a force led by Martín de Ursua, governor of Yucatán. The famous archeological site and home to the beautiful monuments we are all familiar with was in Chichen Itza, located in this last independent region. Interestingly, much of the land under the monuments is privately owned by one family, whilst the government owns and administers the monuments themselves.
First of all, the Mayans don’t have a calendar they have calendars which often interlocked. The calendar that has given rise to the myth of the end of the world is the Mayan long count calendar. According to Mayan Mythology, we are living in the fourth world or “creation” so to speak. The last creation ended on 12.19.19.17.19 of the long count calendar. That sequence will occur again on December 20, 2012.
As like everybody says that the world will end on December 2012, Mayans have no evidence for such type of foretold matters. It’s all the thing that are spread out word by mouth. But their calendar has the records upto 31st December 2012. In another point of view they thought this is enough for those current eras and their preceptors may continue the Mayan works. But due to the cultural developments and the modern fevers their dreams are left as dreams and nobody gave a shadow to their dreams.
Mayans are the peoples of the Mesoamerican civilization who lived around during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD). These Mayans are now-a-days called as Spanish peoples. Some facts say that those Mayans are Red Indians i.e. our ancestors.
What they have done to the world?
This is a quite interesting fact which is threatening the entire world till date. They framed a calendar called as Mayan calendar based upon the movement of planets. They started predicting the future happenings through their calendar. The Dresden Codex dated to the Late Post Classic/Colonial period (1250-1520) includes astronomical tables on Venus and Mars, on eclipses, on seasons and the movement of the tides. These tables chart the seasons with respect to their civic year, predict solar and lunar eclipses and tracked the motion of the planets.
Architecture
The first steles are associated with the Classic period, and the earliest is from Tikal, where a stele is dated AD 292. Emblem glyphs signified specific rulers and a specific sign called "ahaw" is today interpreted as "lord".
Peoples
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Many misconceptions about the Mayans exist, and this list should put an end to at least one or two of them. In addition, it will introduce you to facts that you never knew about this great ancient civilization. There are no pictures or records of how the Mayans and about their physical structure. Recently near Hormiguero a skull of the ancient Mayans was found which gave a approximate physical structure of how they look.
Health and medicine
Health and medicine among the ancient Maya was a complex blend of mind, body, religion, ritual, and science. Important to all, medicine was practiced only by a select few who were given an excellent education. These men, called shamans, act as a medium between the physical world and spirit world. They practice sorcery for the purpose of healing, foresight, and control over natural events. Since medicine was so closely related to religion and sorcery, it was essential that Maya shamans had vast medical knowledge and skill.
The last island
Writing
The Maya had 800 distinct hieroglyphs, with the first evidence of language written on stela and walls of buildings beginning ca 300 BC. Bark cloth paper codexes were being used no later than the 1500s, but all but a handful were destroyed by Spanish.
The Mayan calendar
According to the Mayans this is a time of great celebration for having reached the end of a creation cycle. It does not mean the end of the world but the beginning of a new “age”. Does the world end every December 31st? No – we go on to a new year. This is the same as the Mayan creation periods. In fact, the Mayans make many references to dates that fall beyond 2012. The idea of 2012 being the end of the world was actually first suggested by New Age religionist José Argüelles in his 1987 book The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology.
The so called "long count" calendar was invented by Mixe-Zoquean speakers, based on the extant Mesoamerican Calendar. It was adapted by the classic period Maya ca 200 AD. The earliest inscription in long count among the Maya was made dated AD 292. Earliest date listed on the "long count" calendar is about August 11, 3114 BC, what the Maya said was the founding date of their civilization. The first dynastic calendars were being used by about 400 BC.
Mayan language
The various groups spoke nearly 30 closely related languages and dialects, including the Mayan and Huastec.
Death and Afterlife
As in the other religions Mayans also have such kinds of misbelieves. Ideas about death and the afterlife are little known, but the entry to the underworld was called Xibalba or "Place of Fright".
End of world
Whether their prediction may be true or a fake thing, we will hope our green world may grow further and further.
