Maya Calendar Fail CORRECTIONS

The article Mystery of the Maya by Natalie Smith is mostly about, who the Mayas are and what their Maya calendar means. The Maya were a group of American Indians who lived in the area which is now Mexico and Central America. They had a really advanced writing system. They had a great knowledge of mathematics and astronomy. The Maya calendar also called the Long Count; it marked the past and future. The calendar starts from when the Mayas believe the world was created. The calendar is similar to the one we use today. The 365 days were based of the earth’s orbit around the sun.

 Smith wants to think that the Mayas don’t mean the world was going to end December 21 of 2012. She says “The largest unit of time on the calendar is a baktun, which is approximately 394 years. After 13 baktun, a great cycle of the Long Count comes to an end. The end of the current cycle will take place on December 21. It’s the end of this cycle that some people have confused with the end of the world.” Smith clarifies that December 21 will be the end of a cycle in the Maya calendar NOT the end of the world. She explains with definitions and facts like what is the baktun and how long is the calendar cycle. Smith also wants me to feel that the Mayas were a very knowledgeable group of people. She states “The height of their empire was from 250 A.D. to 900 A.D. During that time, they developed an advanced writing system. But it was their knowledge of mathematics and astronomy that really set them apart from other ancient cultures. The Maya carefully tracked the movements and cycles of the planets, moon, and sun long before anyone else did. They used this information to create a highly accurate calendar that closely resembles the one we use today. It contained 365 days and was based on Earth’s orbit around the sun.” She speaks of the Maya in a very admirable way. She interviewed an expert on ancient Maya at Colgate University in New York, Anthony Aveni. “You hear all about how amazing [the Maya] were, and I think they were,” says Aveni. “They were very accurate astronomers. Doing all of that without telescopes is amazing.” Natalie does a very good job of persuading readers Maya were bold people by using positive words towards the Mayas. She also tells and explains the invention and how the clever maya people came about the idea.

          This article taught me many facts about the Mayas and their calendar. I used to think that the Mayas did predict doomsday just that they predicted the wrong day. In this article taught me they actually were just marking the end of a cycle and the start of a new cycle. I also think of the Mayas of very brilliant people. I think it’s very clever how they could figure out a time span that will later turn into a year without any technology.

Bibliography: Smith, Natalie. "Mystery of the Maya." Http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3757754. N.p., 2013. Web. 15 Jan. 2013.