solar queen elizabeth

solar queen elizabeth

Twenty twelve is set to be a momentous year, the first winter youth Olympics will be held in January, the USA will hold a presidential election and the UK will celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth. But if you're looking forward to 2013 don't get your hopes up, because according to some predictions, the world is due to end on December 21. If you enjoy Christmas, make the most of this year and the next, because according to the Mayan calendar, they will be your last. Possibly.

Before Europeans arrived in Meso-America the inhabitants used a complicated combination of calendars to record their dates. The Haab or solar calendar was made from 18 20 day months plus a period of 5 days known as Wayeb to bring the total to 365.

The Tzolkin on the other hand was a cycle of 260 days, 13 times 20. No-one knows quite why 260 days were chosen, though it seems that the numbers 13 and twenty were both important to these early cultures. There is a possibility that it was related to the time between a woman's first missed period and the birth of her child, and helped predict when a baby would be born, however other theories about crop planting and astronomical observations may be just as correct. Most dates could be set by a combination of the Haab and Tzolin, the cycle would come together once every 52 years, that is roughly once in every lifetime.

To look at periods longer than 52 years the Mayans used a different system which we now call the Long Count calendar. This system is shown in both Olmec and Aztec art and wasn't invented by the Maya. Dates run forward from a mythical day zero, the date of the beginning of the present world. Like all civilizations the base units were days, with 20 days in a uinal and 18 uinals in a tun (approximately a year).

A K'atun consisted of 20 tuns and 20 of those a b'ak'tun. Again the number 13 was significant and a number of inscriptions in Mayan art show the date changing at the end of 13 b'ak'tuns and spoke of events to occur on that date. This lead to suggestions that the Mayans expected something significant to occur on the last day of the 13th B'ak'tun. That day has been calculated to be 21st or 23 December 2012. So what can we expect?

Well according to many scholars nothing at all. There are some references to something happening about that time in inscriptions, but nothing really concrete, so it's surprising just how much fuss 2012 seems to be generating. Some say there will a spiritual evolution, while others mention a momentous galactic alignment, though as this is based on the location of the galactic equator, and that cannot be determined, this doesn't seem very likely. Yet others worry about planet Niburu.

Collision with planet X (or Niburu) has been predicted since 2003, yet any planet close enough to be in collision with the Earth in 2012 would now be plainly visible to astronomers in the night sky. Sadly this fictional collision has become confused in the media with the actual and expected approach of a large asteroid known as Eros which is expected to pass the Earth in 2012. Eros is larger than the asteroid which we believe killed the dinosaurs 65 millions years ago but since it it will never be closer than 70 times the distance of the moon, it is unlikely to do any damage.

Looking at the Mayan calendar is a great reason to think about how we measure time and why, to understand the solar cycles which still dominate our lives and to admire the art of a fascinating culture. As to preparing for the end of the world, that still seems a little premature.

Rob Mabry is a former military journalist, screenwriter, father of five and ecommerce entrepreneur. He owns Balance Bikes 4 Kids, a toddler bike store offering a large selection of balance bikes and wood bikes that help young children learn to ride a bike by focusing on mastering balance first.

Solar Queen Elizabeth