The year 2012 has appealed to the imagination of many for a long time. Especially the date December 21st 2012, for this is the day the Maya calendar ends. To many the ending of the Maya calendar raises questions as to what is about to happen in 2012. According to the Maya, we will leave the world of the fourth sun and enter the world of the fifth sun and this date marks a new era of change, harmony and rebirth.

The Maya kept track of time through a combination of different cycles, which in certain compositions marked the movements of the sun, moon and Venus. In short, the Maya calendar is in fact a system of different calendars and mathematical systems that could be synchronised in order to create more extensive time cycles. The most important calendar is marked by a period of 260 days and is known as the Tzolkin calendar. In combination with the Haab, another 365 days calendar, it forms a synchronised cycle of 52 Haabs, also known as the Calendar Round. To keep track of longer periods of time, the Maya used the Long Count.

Guatemalan researcher, historian and anthropologist Carlos Barrios explains the significance of December 21st 2012 according to the Maya: “We are no longer in the world of the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the world of the Fifth Sun. This is the time between, the time of transition. Everything will change. The fifth cycle will be one of wisdom, harmony, peace, love, of consciousness and the return of natural order.”