If you are on this site, then you have heard about the Mayan predictions of 2024. That the long count Mayan calendar ends in 2024 – on December 21st to be exact. However, that is just the problem: some people do not agree that that date is, in fact, exact.
No one is saying that the calendar does not end after 5126 years, but they call into question the dating of the calendar and therefore its predictions on 2024. So, can the dates be wrong? Can we have already passed the actual end of the Mayan calendar or is it indeed still a hundred years away? Well, it depends on who you talk to and who you believe.
Predictions of 2024 – The Long Count
The Mayan long count calendar has been called the most accurate calendar in the world – and with good reason. The Mayans had several calendars to track the years – a religious calendar, a social calendar, and a calendar round (which combined the first two). They devised their calendars based on advanced astronomy and mathematics.
They devised the long count calendar in order to track both the distant past and to predict the future. The Mayans have accurately predicted every solstice and eclipse to the day. This from a society dating to 250 A.D.
According to the Mayans, the long count tracked the current age. After the calendar ended, so did the age. A new calendar and a new age would begin the next day. The predictions of 2024 are that the calendar is set to end after all these years.
Predictions of 2024 – Dating the Long Count Calendar
Since we are using the Gregorian calendar and not the Mayan calendar, archeologists needed to find a way to date the calendar so that we could correspond it to a time frame we could understand.
This is generally done by historic events, especially historic events in the skies that could be pinpointed on both calendars. For instance, if a large meteor or comet went across the sky on a certain day in our calendar and we could find the same date on the Mayan calendar, then we could find a common day. You see? By counting the days forward from the common day, we can arrive at the same date in both calendars.
So that is what the experts did. They found a few great events, comets, meteors and planets showing brightly that corresponded on both calendars. Once they were certain of a common date, then they just counted the days forward on both calendars and arrived at December 21st, 2024.
Is the Mayan Date Wrong?
Then comes a researcher from the University of California Santa Barbara named Gerardo Aldana. He gains his 15 minutes of fame (and conveniently sells a couple copies of his new book on the subject) by claiming that perhaps the dates are wrong. His reasoning, that maybe what the original experts thought was a meteor could actually be Venus. If this were true, the calendar could be off by at least 60 days.
Now, the process used to correlate the two calendars uses several different common events – and they all have to match up for it to work. This correlation factor is called the “GMT Correlation” named for the three scientists that calculated the dates.
Is it possible that there is an error with one of the dates? Sure it is possible, but the GMT is highly respected among archeologists and scientists because it uses several different events. Could they all be wrong?
Several scientists and archeologists have come forward in defense of the GMT constant and its predictions of 2024. Notably, Allen Christenson, PhD. from Brigham Young University has said:
“I am all for challenging conventional wisdom, but in this case they have correlated major historical and astrological events using the GMT and the two calendars match up nicely… there is no error.”
If the date is correct, what happens in 2024?
That is really the question of the day, is it not? If we are accepting the predictions of 2024, what happens on December 21st?
Well, the calendar ends. The age ends. Then on the next day the new calendar begins. It was Dr. Michael Coe, in 1966, who first claimed that the ending of the Mayan calendar might be Armageddon.
here is no concrete proof that the Mayans believed that the world would end or even that there would be any cataclysmic event. However, the end of an age was an enormous occasion with grave significance. Unfortunately, there just are not enough Mayan writings on the topic that survived for us to know anything for certain.
Predictions of 2024 – Who Predicted the End of the World Then?
I know why you are confused, as a webmaster for a Mayan site I am expected to promote doom and gloom and cash in on the hysteria, right? Well, I just cannot do that. I do not believe that the end of the Mayan calendar means the end of the world. Even if something does happen, the world will still be here in January of 2024.
Nostradamus Predictions of 2024
Nostradamus has no writings that include the year 2024. However, some of his more interesting quatrains have been interpreted to be mean just that. For more information: Nostradamus Predictions of 2024. The quick version is that he talks about great cycles ending with destruction – especially a comet or meteor strike.
There are also other theories that have been attributed to 2024 – everything from the poles switching places to sun flares to alien invasion. Each theory has its particular champions and detractors, but there is no proof that anything cataclysmic will happen in 2024.
