December 21, 2012 is here and the world did not end...yet. With many believing that Dec. 21 is doomsday and that an apocalypse is set to occur, many are confused about what time the impending doom is set to take place.
There is no evidence that the end of the world will take place on Dec. 21, yet some doomsday believers think it will as this is the day that the 5,125-year Mayan calendar ends. Those who do believe that the world will end might have expected everything to be over when the clock struck midnight, however that is not the case.
The world is set to end at 11:11 Universal Time or 6:11 a.m. EST. According to TimeAndDate.com, the "Mayan Calendar completes its current "Great Cycle" of the Long Count on the 13th baktun, on 13.0.0.0.0." This would be converted to 11:11 UTC on December 21, 2012.
This would also go along with another theory that the world will end when the Winter Solstice begins. The winter solstice takes place when the sun reaches "its southern-most declination of -23.5 degrees. At this time, areas on the Earth above 66.5 degrees north latitude (Arctic Polar Circle) will be in darkness while places below 66.5 degrees south (Antarctic Polar Circle) will have 24 hours of daylight," IBTimes reports. This year, the winter solstice takes place at 11:12 UTC or 6:12 a.m.
By that time, the world will be gone according to those who believe the rumors. Several parts of the world are facing doomsday phobia. China is particularly facing the fear of the apocalypse. Hundreds were arrested for spreading rumors about doomsday. Some spent their life savings creating devices that will supposedly withstand destruction. Others spent their life savings on savoring what they think will be life's final moments.
However, the world will likely not end on December 21, 2012. Even the Mayans themselves say it won't. There are roughly six million Maya in the world today who live in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and other areas.
December 21 is an important day to the Mayans but it isn't the end of the world. It marks the end of a calendar cycle and it is a time to celebrate a new beginning.
"For the Maya, that day is seen as sort of an important change in the calendar and a time to reflect and think about positive things related to Mayan culture, so for the Maya it's the beginning of a new cycle particularly one of Maya independence," Rusty Barrett, professor in the UK Department of English and Linguistics Program who studied Mayan hieroglyphic writing and Mayan linguistics, told Science Daily. "In Guatemala there was a civil war from 1960 to 1996 that involved an attempted genocide of the Maya, and more than 200,000 Maya were killed. So for today's Maya, the ending of the 13th baktun represents sort of a new dawn of the end of violence against the Maya and the revival of Mayan culture."
Many think that the world will end as a planet, asteroid or something else in space will collide with Earth. However, NASA says this won't happen. There is no evidence of anything threatening the earth from space. In fact, NASA released an entire video meant for people to watch on Dec. 22 which explains why the world didn't end on Dec. 21.
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