Well not really from what most experts on the Mayan civilization tell us. The Mayans had a number of different types of calendars, some for the seasons, some for lifespans and one for very long periods of time called the Long Count calendar. December 2012 marks the conclusion of a b'ak'tun — a time period in the Mayan Long Count calendar. The Long Count calendar counted in units of twenty, 20 days made a uinal, 18 uinals (360 days) made a tun, 20 tuns made a k'atun, and 20 k'atuns (144,000 days or roughly 394 years) made up a b'ak'tun.
The b'ak'tun ending on December 12, 2012 is significant in that on the Mayan Long Count calendar, the previous world (the third) ended after 13 b'ak'tuns, or roughly 5,125 years. According to Mayan history, we are living in the fourth world and this current b'ak'tun is the thirteenth since the beginning of the this world. But none of that means it will end. There are examples of the Long Count with much longer times, including one showing a time 3 quintillion times the age of the universe as now calculated by scientists, over 41 octillion years (41 with 28 zeros following). So I would not start the party yet.
But the Mayas did discover something that is still hanging around, long after most of its contemporaries have faded away. That discovery is Maya Blue. Maya Blue is a brilliant and long-lasting pigment that graces scores of Mayan sites. The vibrant sky color can still be seen today on pottery, murals and other artifacts produced by the Maya people centuries ago.
The Maya created their remarkable pigment by combining indigo dye (from the plant Indigofera suffruticosa, commonly known as Anil) with a clay mineral called palygorskite. The clay binds the dye and creates a durable blue paint. Palygorskite is an aluminum-magnesium-silicon clay also used by the Maya for its medicinal properties. While scientists have long known that Maya Blue is produced by chemically binding indigo to palygorskite with heat, it was only recently (1993) that scientists discovered how the Maya may have produced it.
Indigo - the same dye used to produce blue jeans
It is now thought that the Mayas made their paint by heating three healing elements: palygorskite, indigo and copal incense, an incense made from tree resin whose smoke the Maya believed nourished the gods. The incense acted as a binding agent, bonding the indigo to the clay. The Mayas gave this blue color of water a special place in their lives. It appeased their rain god Chaak. They used it to paint the humans they sacrificed to invoke rain. The Maya would paint unlucky people Maya Blue and throw them down a sacred well or cenote as human sacrifices. The paint was made on the spot as part of the sacrificial ritual.
Maya Blue requires the ingredients, the indigo plant and palygorskite ore, to be heated to temperatures between 150o and 200oC (300o and 400oF). This process of embedding the indigo into the clay makes the color stable and this thousand-year-old pigment has proven immune to the passage of time even under exposure to harsh climate, erosion, alkali, nitric acid and organic solvents. The application of heat to the mixture may have been completed in a kiln built for that purpose but archeological findings suggest that Maya Blue may also have been made as a by-product of burning copal incense at ritual ceremonies.
When the Sacred Cenote at Chichén Itzá was first dredged in 1904, researchers found a 14-foot thick layer of blue residue at the bottom, but didn’t understand its origin. Now scientists know it formed from years of blue-painted sacrifices thrown into the well. During its heyday, Chichén Itzá was a thriving city. Even after the city collapsed, ancient Maya would make pilgrimages to the site to offer sacrifices. Now tourists flock there to see the cenote and the giant step pyramid temple dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god. In 2007, the site was designated one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Concerning the End of Time Jesus said:
No one knows about that day or hour,
not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father. Matt 24:36
No one knows about that day or hour,
not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father. Matt 24:36
In spite of the predictions it is doubtful that the world will end this year and Maya Blue will probably remain vibrant on the ruins for years to come. Jesus Himself told us that we should be watching for the signs of His coming but the beginning of those signs were famines, earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6ff NIV), not the supposed end of a calendar. The real end will not come until His "gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations Matthew 24:14 NIV". But even then Jesus said: "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Matthew 24:36 NIV."
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