December 21, 2012
The 2012 Maya calendar claims
Well documented No documented event matching the prediction occurred End TimesModern PredictionsInternet Era
Quick facts
- Predicted date
- December 21, 2012
- Who predicted it
- Popular authors and online communities
- Reasoning
- The Maya Long Count calendar. Its conversion to the Gregorian calendar was done using the standard correlation, which most specialists accept.
- What happened
- December 21, 2012 passed without a documented event matching the claims. NASA published an explanatory page that addressed the claims about a planet and a cosmic alignment.
- Historical status
- Well documented. The prediction and its date appear in primary or reliable secondary sources.
- Outcome label
- No documented event matching the prediction occurred
- Editorial certainty
- Medium: reliable secondary sources
- Editorial review
- Pending. This entry has not yet been checked line by line against its sources. Treat details as provisional.
Prediction
What was predicted?
Popular books and online communities claimed that the end of a Maya Long Count cycle on December 21, 2012 marked the end of the world or a transformation. Maya scholars and NASA stated that no Maya text predicts the end of the world.
Interpretation by the author
Why did they believe it?
The Maya Long Count calendar completes a cycle called the 13th b'ak'tun on that date. Popular authors described it as the end of a calendar and suggested that this implied an end of time. Maya specialists note that the Long Count simply continues into the next cycle, and that the ancient texts include dates far later than 2012.
Scripture as used by the author
Biblical basis cited
None. This entry is included because the claim circulated widely in end-times conversation and was often mixed with Christian prophecy.
Method
How the date was calculated
The Maya Long Count calendar. Its conversion to the Gregorian calendar was done using the standard correlation, which most specialists accept.
Historical record
Historical context
Interest rose in the years before 2012 through books, films and the web. Several scholars of Maya culture wrote public statements to correct the claims. The topic also became a vehicle for other predictions, including claims about a hidden planet.
Historical record
What happened when the date passed?
December 21, 2012 passed without a documented event matching the claims. NASA published an explanatory page that addressed the claims about a planet and a cosmic alignment.
Historical record
What happened afterward
The episode is often cited in studies of how end-of-world claims circulate online.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- Anthony Aveni. The End of Time: The Maya Mystery of 2012. University Press of Colorado. 2009. Academic
- Matthew Restall and Amara Solari. 2012 and the End of the World: The Western Roots of the Maya Apocalypse. Rowman & Littlefield. 2011. Academic
Found an error or a better source? Send a correction. See also the methodology.