Maya secrets to be revealed?

The Mexican government could be set to release state-held secrets about the Mayan calendar to the makers of a documentary, "Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond." The information, which has been protected for the past 80 years, is expected to reveal ancient wisdom and Mayan beliefs about future events, according to producer Raul Julia-Levy, son of actor Raul Julia. The English-language documentary will be directed by Juan Carlos Ruflo (whose films include the 2006 Sundance winner "In the Pit"), and will begin shooting later this year. Filmmakers are currently in talks with investors and waiting for the government to grant them access to the sensitive material. http://www.thewrap.com

21 December 2012

The winter solstice on 21 December 2012 marks the end of a cycle of around 26,000 years in the Mayan Long Count calendar. When the calendar was created, the Maya were envisioning a future so distant that they could have had no concrete concept of what it would actually be like. So how could they possibly hope to predict what was to come? Their world view was a cyclical one - spring follows winter, sunrise gives way to sunset, civilisations rise and fall. They believed that the timing of the major cycles could be calculated in advance, and each one would end in some sort of natural disaster. However, throughout all the previous cycles, mankind somehow managed to survive - and entered the next phase of existence. If the current cycle is drawing to a close, this is not the end of the world, but the end of an era - and with it, a new beginning.