Regardless of whether they are sceptics or believers, most people love predictions. If interpretations of the end of the Long Calendar of the Mayans prove right, the world could be ending at 4.42 pm IST on Friday. The chances are that we will just be reminded once again that predictions have a long history of going wrong because the human crystal ball is at best cloudy.
According to the Mayan calendar, the “Great Cycle” comprises 5,125.36 years, which began on August 11, 3114 BC and ends in 2012. Unfortunately for the Mayans, their civilisation ended long before their calendar ran out. Also, the date for Armageddon was first set as December 24 and was suddenly yanked back three days. Never mind.
Surviving Mayans themselves are said to be rejecting any predictions that the world will end, with Pedro Celestino Yac Noj, a Mayan sage, burning seeds and fruits to mark the end of the old calendar and saying, “The 21st is for giving thanks and gratitude and the 22nd welcomes the new cycle, a new dawn.”
The latest date set for Armageddon will, according to Nasa, be just another failed prediction joining the heap of failed prophecies of mankind. The Romans thought the world would end in 389 BC because 12 eagles had flown over the head of Romulus when Rome was being founded. We must thank the early Christians for implanting the most serious ideas about the world ending and setting various dates for Armageddon. The Essenes thought the world would end in AD 70 when actually their own ended when the Romans crushed their revolt. The Monta-nists of the second century AD believed that they were the last generation.