Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 11 August 3114 B.C.
- Many doomsday theories, which predicted our would would end in 2012, were linked to the Mayan Calendar. Fortunately, none of them turned out correct.
According to the Maya Calendar, the world we live was created on this day in 3114 B.C.
In order to keep track of the date, the Maya people used a sophisticated calendar based around the number 20. The largest time unit they had a name for was called the b’ak’tun. One b’ak’tun consisted of 144,000 days i.e. just over 394 of our years. The first b’ak’tun started on this day in 3114 B.C., when the world was created. We are currently living at the beginning of the fourteenth b’ak’tun.
The Maya believed that the gods had created other worlds before our own, but they proved inadequate and were destroyed. Our world is the latest, fifth world and is under the rule of the so-called Fifth Sun. The previous four worlds each had their own sun.
The First World was ruled by the First Sun, Nahui-Ocelotl (Jaguar Sun) and was populated by giants, who were eventually eaten by jaguars. After that world was destroyed, a new one was created, ruled by the Second Sun, Nahui-Ehécatl (Wind Sun). Its inhabitants were turned into monkeys, and their world was destroyed by fierce winds.
The Third World had a Third Sun, Nahui-Quiahuitl (Rain Sun), and was destroyed by a rain of fire. Only birds and those inhabitants who turned into birds survived the cataclysm. The Fourth World was ruled by the Fourth Sun, Nahui-Atl (Water Sun), and was destroyed after a flood of Biblical proportions. The survivors were turned into dogs. Our Fifth Sun is called Nahui-Ollin (Earthquake Sun).
Since each previous world lasted 13 b’ak’tuns, our own world was destined to fall at the end of the thirteenth b’ak’tun, or 21 December 2012 according to our own calendar. Since our Sun is called Earthquake Sun, our world was to be destroyed by terrible earthquakes. Fortunately, while there were many theories about the world ending in 2012, none of them turned out correct. In fact, the fourteenth b’ak’tun we now live in is the fourteenth b’ak’tun in history!
