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one "unlucky" month of five days. When combined with the Tzolk'in calendar, one full cycle or calendar round would take 52 years or 18,980 days. However, the Maya needed more than 52 years to record historical events and so they invented the Long Count calendar. It is the Long Count system that has gained notoriety in recent times and has come to be known simply as the "Mayan calendar". The Maya developed their Long Count calendar around 355 BC; however, the calendar's 0.0.0.0.0 starting date did not begin in 355 BC. For reasons unknown, the Maya backdated their Long Count by more than 3,000 years. Maya researchers generally agree that its start date corresponds with the Gregorian date of 11 August 3114 BC. The Long Count Mayan calendar is made up of the following units: the Popol Vuh, the creation story of the Maya, the completion of each Great Cycle is said to correspond with a cycle of creation and transformation on Earth. The Popol Vuh tells of four previous ages on Earth and suggests that we are currently living in the fifth. The K'iche’ Maya predicted that the end of the fifth Great Cycle would involve movement, vibration and earthquakes, while the Tz'utujil Maya warned that man would need to undergo a conscious evolution if another creation, or sixth cycle, were to follow. According to the Institute of Maya Studies in Florida, USA, the Zuni and Navajo peoples also believe that we are living in the fifth era and that the sixth is drawing near. The Mayan calendar's end date is also significant because it coincides with a solstice. On 21 December 2012, the northern hemisphere experiences its winter solstice and the southern hemisphere experiences its summer solstice. This is the day when the Sun is in its most southerly position—the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and the longest day of the year in the southern hemisphere. The December solstice of 2012 is scheduled to occur at 11:11 am UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) on 21 December. The actual day and time will vary, depending on where you are in the world, as per the following time conversion chart: I day = Ikin 20 days (20 k'ins) = luinal 360 days (18 uinals) = Itun 7,200 days (20 tuns) = I k'atun 144,000 days (20 k'atuns) = I bak'tun 13 b'ak'tuns = | Great Cycle 1 uinal I tun The duration of each Great Cycle (or 13 b'ak'tuns) is approximately 5,126 years. Maya experts have calculated that the current Great Cycle, which began at 0.0.0.0.0 or 11 August 3114 BC, will end on 13.0.0.0.0 or 21 December 2012 AD. Australian science expert Dr Karl S. Kruszelnicki has said that to read the 0.0.0.0.0 scholarly notation for the Long Count calendar, you need look no further than your car's odometer. As you drive, the extreme right slot of the odometer rolls over from 0 to 9 kilometres; that slot then rolls back over to 0 when it reaches 10 and the number | rolls into the slot next to it to represent 10 kilometres. Dates recorded by the Long Count calendar are read in a similar fashion.' The calendar counts through the days (or k'ins), and when it reaches 19 (0.0.0.0.19) it then rolls over to 0, and he slot to the left (the uinal) rolls over to 1 (0.0.0.1.0). When the uinal slot reaches 17 (0.0.0.17.0), it then rolls over to 0 because 18 uinals = | tun (0.0.1.0.0). So, 1 anuary 2009 would therefore be represented as 2.19.15.17.10—that is, 12 b'ak'tuns, 19 k'atuns, 15 tuns, 7 uinals and 10 k'ins. On 21 December 2012, the date according to the Mayan Long Count calendar will read 3.0.0.0.0—that is, 13 b'ak'tuns. What does it all mean? On 21 December 2012, the current cycle of the Mayan calendar "ends". What the ending of the calendar means for modern-day humanity is unclear. On 31 December each year, when our Gregorian calendar ends, we simply roll over to | January and begin a new year. Other than a few million hangovers the world over, the ending of the Gregorian calendar does not equate to anything special. However, the Mayan calendar is different. According to UTC Conversions for the December 2012 Solstice Location Date UTCILI am Los Angeles Friday 21 Dec 3:11am Guatemala Friday 21 Dec 5:llam New York Friday 21 Dec 6:llam London Friday 21 Dec Iam Paris Friday 21 Dec 12:11 pm Moscow Friday 21 Dec 3:11 pm Perth Friday 21 Dec 7:11 pm Tokyo — Friday 21 Dec 8:11 pm Sydney Friday 21 Dec 10:11 pm Auckland Saturday 22 Dec 12:Il am UTC 11.11 am 3:I1 am 5:llam 6:llam Iam 12:11 pm 3:11 pm 7:11 pm Location Los Angeles Guatemala New York London Paris Moscow Perth Tokyo — Fridé Sydney Auckland Independent researcher John Major Jenkins has dedicated much of his life to the study of the ancient aya, their cosmology and philosophy. He has written numerous books, including "Galactic Alignment and aya Cosmogenesis 2012". According to Jenkins, the December solstice Sun in 2012 will conjunct with the galactic equator and the ecliptic in Sagittarius. This would place the Sun at the centre of the Milky Way, a phenomenon that he refers to as the Galactic Alignment. Jenkins also believes that the December solstice Sun of 2012 could reach the area of the Milky Way that astronomers refer to as the "nuclear bulge”. It is the area of the Milky Way's dark rift, which the K'iche’ Maya referred to as the Xibalba be—the road to the Underworld or the place of fear. In 2002, John Major Jenkins was a guest speaker at The Time of Global Shift seminar in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He told those present: "Many of the Mayan monuments describe mundane 48 * NEXUS AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2012 www.nexusmagazine.com