I agree, just because they disappeared or died before the next calendar was made people think the worlds ending.

Worse is those who make it into television programs to stir the pot more with their inaccurate often guessed "facts" which realistically are are just speculations.

It's the end of an age, NOT the end of the world.

Big hugs

Lizzie :)

The Maya calendrical system and their religion were strongly linked. The link was that the world and their culture went through cycles, and when a cycle ended, another began. There were ceremonies, renewal ceremonies, which sometimes resulted in putting a new layer and face on the active temples, though conquest between the Maya elites was also a reason for the reconstructions. As far as the calendar ending, the cartoon was more right than wrong in that the calendar copy used by the doomsayers was incomplete. Last year excavation of a temple revealed a buried room that was the "office" of the calendar makerkeeper, and though part of the wall paintings on the plaster had peeled and fallen onto the floor, enough remained to show that their calendar and astronomical projections extended well into the next millenium.

I do not know why it is that people are always looking for the end of days. Part of it is religion, much of it must be fear and insecurity about the future because the present seems so uncommonly difficult right now (actually it always does to those living it). It is true that economic unrest and political unrest, warfare and other uncertainties definitely feed on that form of paranoia (or is it longing for the perceived nastiness of the world to just go away?). Sadly, we do have enough goofy people in various countries in positions of power that further bad times could be caused by them. The conservative religions are very dangerous in this regard as they prey on the insecurities to enrich their membership and most importantly, their coffers. So are social movements born out of economic disaster (witness the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in 1930s post WWI Germany coupled with a world wide depression!)

Anyway, no need to worry about any particular date on any calendar. Our future as a species or its end is not truly written on the calendar, nor is it painted or engraved on stone. Now the end of certain social systems/cultures, that can be another matter, but still is the result of continuing changes that have been going on for a looonnngggg time.

CaroL