There are a few things you need to understand about the Mayan calendars. First off this is not the first calendar to end when following the Mayan time lines. What you also need to understand that this was the last calendar that the Mayans were able to calculate before they were wiped out. What you also need to understand is this is like what happened in the year 2000 with the Y2K hype; it is about different problems but the scare tactics are the same.
Now for some facts.
The Mayan calendar revolves around cycles. Five cycles have been completed, and the cycle that will be completed in 2012 will be the final one on the current Mayan calendar. According to Mayan history, this does not necessarily mean the end of days but, rather, marks the beginning of a new cycle or new calendar.
The essentials of the Maya calendric system are based upon a system which had been in common use throughout the region, dating back to at least the 6th century BC. It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec, and contemporary or later ones such as the Mixtec and Aztec calendars. Although the Mesoamerican calendar did not originate with the Maya, their subsequent extensions and refinements of it were the most sophisticated. Along with those of the Aztecs, the Maya calendars are the best-documented and most completely understood.
So this means that it is not the first nor the last of this type of calendric system that has been used and will be used; even though it may not be called the Mayan calendar. Thus it is not the end of the world when the fifth cycle of the current Mayan calendar ends.
