what the ancient maya actually tell us about the end of the world
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The Aztec Stone of
Axayacatl, a. k. a.
Sun Stone, or
“Calendar Stone.”
Original colors. Dated (at top)
13-Reed (“13 Acatl”) = 1479 AD.
What Could Happen on Dec. 21, 2012?Main fears:
• “End of the Maya Calendar”…If not the END, at least a Major Change…
• ”Return of Quetzalcoatl”
• “Polar Reversal”
• ”Galactic Alignment”——>
• Famine, war, pollution, etc.
What Could Happen on Dec. 21, 2012?Astronomical Events:
• Transit of Venus: 6 June 2012
• Solar Maximum: Late 2011 or 2012>
• Winter Solstice
• “Galactic Alignment”…Earth-Sun-Galactic Equator
Photo: NOAA
What Could Happen on Dec. 21, 2012?Astronomical Events:
• Transit of Venus: 6 June 2012
• Solar Maximum: Late 2011 or 2012>
• Winter Solstice
• “Galactic Alignment”…Earth-Sun-Galactic Equator
Photo: NOAA
What Could Happen on Dec. 21, 2012?Actual Maya Texts:
• Long Count date is 13.0.0.0.0. At beginning of our Creation, (5125 yrs, 133 days earlier) the date was the same.
• TRT Mon. 6: Bolon Yokte’ gets dressed.
• Chilam Balam: The “Quetzal”, Ah Kantenal, K’uk’ulkan (Quetzalcoatl), and “Blood-Vomit”come every 256 years.
What Could Happen on Dec. 21, 2012?Actual Maya Texts:
• Long Count date is 13.0.0.0.0. At beginning of our Creation, (5125 yrs, 133 days earlier) the date was the same.
• TRT Mon. 6: Bolon Yokte’ gets dressed.
• Chilam Balam: The “Quetzal”, Ah Kantenal, K’uk’ulkan (Quetzalcoatl), and “Blood-Vomit”come every 256 years.
“End of 13 Bak’tuns” (13.0.0.0.0) On 4-Ajaw, in 3114 BC Creation (left)
& in 2012 (right)“End” = red/purple, 13 = blue,“Bak’tun” = green
Chilam Balam of Chumayel prophecy For K’atun 4 Ajaw (score of years) Ending in 1500, 1756, and 2012.
5 Reasons Why We Should Doubt the “Maya Prophecies”:
Not much data
Contradictory
Manipulated (no scriptures)
Scholars disagree
Maya never corrected errors
4 More Reasons Why We Should Doubt the “Maya Prophecies”:
No mention of destruction
Life & calendar continue to 4772 AD
Solstices not significant
Only 1% penetration
The Precolumbian World Tree: Metaphor with a Thousand Faces
Ajaw/King = Ceiba Tree = Maize = a Celt= a Stela
= Milky Way Galaxy
Snake = Sky = Ecliptic
Mesoamerican World trees communicate to heaven, give birth, or support the corners of the cosmos.
Young, “pregnamt” ceiba Mature ceiba(Mayan yax che = “green tree” …note branches aimed at caradinal points)
The Precolumbian World Tree: Metaphor with a Thousand Faces
Ajaw/King = Ceiba Tree << = Maize .
= a Celt= a Stela
= Milky Way Galaxy
Snake = Sky = Ecliptic
Mesoamerican World trees communicate to heaven, give birth, or support the corners of the cosmos.
The Precolumbian World Tree: Metaphor with a Thousand Faces
Ajaw/King = Ceiba Tree = Maize = a Celt >>= a Stela
= Milky Way Galaxy
Snake = Sky = Ecliptic
Mesoamerican World trees communicate to heaven, give birth, or support the corners of the cosmos.
The Precolumbian World Tree: Metaphor with a Thousand Faces
Ajaw/King = Ceiba Tree = Maize = a Celt= a Stela >>
= Milky Way Galaxy
Snake = Sky = Ecliptic
Mesoamerican World trees communicate to heaven, give birth, or support the corners of the cosmos.
Right, above: Izapa St. 25.
Left: San Bartolo Murals, West wall.Both ca. 100 - 50 BCE.Drawings: (R) Linda Schele, (L) Heather Hurst
A World Tree connects the Underworld with Heaven
and the Earth.
A Maya ruler’s most important function was connecting his people to the gods.
Innumerable Maya monuments portray a ruler performing this ceremony.
Typical Maya Vision-Serpent-bars: Copan St. H , Bonampak Lintel 6 Typical interpretation: Maya king is Milky Way/World Tree; Vision-Serpent-bar is ecliptic. Drawings by Linda
S h l
The serpent can be“living,”or fleshless. Usually, the vision was God K, or K’awiil (blue).
Copan StelaeA and B,
8th Century AD.
The king inceremonial poseas a World Tree,
holding a Serpent-bar
across his chest.
Copan Stela A, Sun god vision, ca. 731 All photographs of Copan Stelae by Linda Schele; hand-tinting by MV
Maya Mythic Symbols are very different from ours.
Some meanings associated with the Tree:Mother, Nourisher, Sky-Supporter,
Divine Homeland Indicator & National symbol.
We must be very, very careful not to project our own values onto Maya myth, propaganda, and art.
The Maya Had No Inerrant Scripture.
Imagine Adam being the one who first bit the Apple, while Eve refused complicity in his Sin.
Or that Jesus fathered children.
Or Abraham’s Sacrifice
Tepantitla Murals, Teotihuacán, Great Goddess Tree, with acolytes. Early Classic, ca. 500 CE.Butterflies are the souls of dead soldiers; Spiders are spinners. This is a Male-Female or Duality Tree.
L. Tepantitla Murals, Teotihuacán, Great Goddess Tree, Early Classic, ca. 500 CE. Male-Female tree, like Vienna p. 37.
R. San Bartolo, West Wall, Tree of the Center(?), Late Preclassic, ca. 50 BCE. Twinned, twined fruit trees, Bird atop
Drawings: (L) Linda Schele, (R) Heather Hurst
Voladores, Tajin (Veracruz), & Cuetzala (Puebla)
Photos: National Geographic,Mauricio Alcaraz Carbia.
4 Voladoresspin 13 times round the pole.
Borgia Codex late Postclassic, ca. 1500 CE, p. 53 -
Center Tree page, with Quetzal perched on a Maize stalk, flanked by two gods performing penis-sacrifice.
Next slide: Palenque, lid of
Sarcophagus of Pakal,
ca. 683 AD/CE
Tablet of the Cross,
Palenque, ca. 702.
Bloodletter marked
red.
The serpent draped
through the Cross
consists here of a string of
large beads.
Teocalli de la Guerra Sagrada, an Aztec temple effigy- throne, 1502-1520.Eagle with Atl-tlachinolli“water & burning fields” = “water & fire,” instead of snake
What happened at the last 13.0.0.0.0 Creation
gives us a clue as to what was expected at
the next one.
“The Count of the Years (is) 13 Pik, 0 Winikhaab, 0 Haab, 0 Winik, 0 K’in. (On) 4 Ajaw,on the 8th day of Kumk’u, (the hearth) was manifested, …”
—Quirigua Stela C east, dedicated 29 December 775 CEDrawings of Quirigua Monuments by Prof. Matt Looper,Photos on previous slide by Linda Schele
I’m gonna show you a little how decipherment works, so you know where
we epigraphers are coming from.
We use distributed analysis, a technique of comparing parallel texts which has been very productive in understanding Maya
hieroglyphic inscriptions.
We’ll use the Quirigua Stela C Creation story as an example, because it mirrors the
2012 event: they (apparently) share the same Long Count date 13.0.0.0.0.
What happened at the last 13.0.0.0.0 Creation...
(1) “They plant a stone, the Jaguar Paddler and the Stingray Paddler,
at Nah-Ho-Chan (“Great-5-Sky”); (it is) the Jaguar-Throne-Stone.
What happened at the last 13.0.0.0.0 Creation...
(1) “They plant a stone, the Jaguar Paddler and the Stingray Paddler,
at Nah-Ho-Chan (“Great-5-Sky”); (it is) the Jaguar-Throne-Stone.(2) “He plants a stone, Ek-Nah-Chak-??, at the Big?/Banner?-??- ma;
(it is) the Serpent-Throne-Stone.
What happened at the last 13.0.0.0.0 Creation...
(1) “They plant a stone, the Jaguar Paddler and the Stingray Paddler,
at Nah-Ho-Chan (“Great-5-Sky”); (it is) the Jaguar-Throne-Stone.(2) “He plants a stone, Ek-Nah-Chak-??, at the Big?/Banner?-??- ma;
(it is) the Serpent-Throne-Stone.
What happened at the last 13.0.0.0.0 Creation...
(1) “They plant a stone, the Jaguar Paddler and the Stingray Paddler, at Nah-Ho-Chan (“Great-5-Sky”); (it is) the Jaguar-Throne-Stone.
(2) “He plants a stone, Ek-Nah-Chak-??, at the Big?/Banner?-??-ma; (it is) the Serpent-Throne-Stone.
(3) “And then he tied a stone, Itzamnaaj (God D), (it is) the Water-Throne-Stone.
What happened at the last 13.0.0.0.0 Creation...
(1) “They plant a stone, the Jaguar Paddler and the Stingray Paddler, at Nah-Ho-Chan (“Great-5-Sky”); (it is) the Jaguar-Throne-Stone.
(2) “He plants a stone, Ek-Nah-Chak-??, at the Big?/Banner?-??-ma; (it is) the Serpent-Throne-Stone.
(3) “And then he tied a stone, Itzamnaaj (God D), (it is) the Water-Throne-Stone.
(4) “It happened at the Edge-of-the-Sky First-3-Stones-Place;Six-Sky-Lord oversaw the ending of the 13 Pik (“bundles” of years).”