by Janet Donovan
According to the Mayan calendar, today’s the day. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that to mean that the end of the world as we know it comes to an end on Friday, December 21st 2012 – as in today.
So with that in mind, since no specific time has been noted, Hollywood on the Potomac decided to post early just in case it’s a morning event.
Photo credit: Mexarte.com
What exactly is this mystical Mayan calendar? Glad you asked. Actually, we’re not……..we are not mathematically inclined so just click on the link to Time and Date below – we’ll just give you a thumbnail sketch.
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. Using the most common conversion to our modern calendar (the Gregorian calendar) the end of the “Great Cycle” corresponds to 11:11 Universal Time (UTC), December 21, 2012, hence the myriad of doomsday prophecies surrounding this date.”
So who are the Mayans?
Photo credit: Raul Mendoza Alcocer for Mayan World
“The Maya kept historical records such as civil events and their calendric and astronomical knowledge. They maintain a distinctive set of traditions and beliefs due to the combination of pre-Columbian and post-Conquest ideas and cultures.
The Maya and their descendants still form sizable populations that include regions encompassing present day Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and parts of Mexico.” We tried to contact them but they didn’t return our calls, although we picked this up from the Telegrph: “For the western world, the end of the world has become a seeming fad, fed by the masses.”It’s a psychosis, a fad,” Psychologist Vera Rodriguez, 29, a Mexican woman with Maya descent said to The Telegraph. “I think it’s bad for our society and our culture.”
Photo credit: Tiki Humor
We’ve been inundated with Domesday invitations and press releases as well as some extraordinary stories, like this one reported by the Daily Mail and the Telegraph:
“Despite repeated assurances from scientists and researchers that the world will not come to an end on December 21, 2012, one Chinese man is not taking any chances. The Daily Mail reported on Tuesday that Lu Zhenghai spent ¥1 million (approximately $160,609) of his life savings to build an ark that would help him “escape the impending Mayan apocalypse.”
Photo credit: TravelersToday
A Russian bunker turned museum turned end-of-the-world-party-location will celebrate doomsday as well as provide solace if an armageddon actually does occur on Friday, Dec. 21 as interpreted by the Mayan “Long Count” calendar. The Russian bunker was built in 1956 and became a museum in 2006. Now the nuclear protective Bunker 42 is hosting an end of the world party for £600 which is about $1,000. The party starts late on Dec. 20 and lasts until the day after the end of the world on Dec. 22, reports The Telegraph.
There are alternative options. Here’s our favorite.
Urban Daddy suggests you go to Poste Moderne Brasserie and live it up: “So the world could end tomorrow. Look on the bright side. You can have eight courses of champagne, Sauternes, XO cognac and coveted California Cabernet. Oh, and while you’re at it: oysters with caviar, truffled baked-potato soup, rib eye with beef cracklings and gold-leafed chocolate cake. See, it’s not so bad.”
There’s even a site that tells you how to plan your own Doomsday party, called Doomsday Party – clever. We’re on it!
The only thing we know for sure is if the Mayan calendar is right, the Vegas folk don’t have to worry about whether what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…….
