Corkey Trivia: December 21, 2012 Apocalypse or Peace & Love
In ancient societies, it was the job of the King to serve as an advocate for their subjects (ie. the regular humans) with the gods who controlled the forces of nature. Essentially, it was the King’s job to ensure that crops were bountiful and also to manage the generated wealth for the benefit of that society. In those ancient farming societies, the powers of the sun, the moon, and the celestial constellations were recognized as vital to the production of a good harvest. (This celestial concept comes down through the ages to us in modern Biodynamic farming techniques still in use today in, among other things, the production of wine.)
As the chief liaison between the gods and humans, it was advantageous if the King was trusted by both sides. So the ideal King would be both part god and part human. For the ancients, this was not an impossible requirement. Being able to predict the movement of the heavens and solar and lunar eclipses was proof enough for the illiterate farmers who worked the land that the King had secret knowledge from the gods that the King must be part god. But rather than leave it at that, the Mayan and Egyptian kings proved their divinity in a big way. Both cultures created a separate and really long range calendar based on astronomical observation. The Egyptians called theirs the “Sothic Cycle” and the Mayans called theirs “The Long Count”
The Sothic Cycle was actually one really long year which was comprised of 1,460 of our solar years. It was based on when the star Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, returned to its starting point. The rising of Sirius marked the start of the Nile floods which was an extremely important necessity to Egyptian farmers. Sirius rose every year but not in the same place of the horizon where it was first noted until 1,460 years later.
In addition to their really cool calendars which the average farmer probably could not read, they also built pyramids that would signal key astronomical events, important to farmers, such as a solstice, equinox or the rising of Sirius. In Egypt, the New Year coincided with the moment that the winter-solstice sun hit the central sanctuary of Karnak in Luxor.
At a Mayan pyramid in Chichen Itza, on the spring equinox the interplay of light and dark makes it appear as though a diamond back rattle snake is heading down the wall. (The snake is a Mayan symbol for the sky.)
The Mayan Long Count was really long, 5,125.25 years long to be exact. In theory, the long count started at the mythical start of Mayan culture. Their kings were the immediate beneficiaries of this dating system as” it served as a form of political and religious propaganda”. Kings used the long count to mark, “Mundane events in their personal histories—coronation dates, marriage alliances, military victories… (and I almost forgot to mention) histories of their ancestor gods who created the world. The Long Count gave the ruler the power to proclaim the extraordinary longevity of his bloodline in concrete terms.” [1] This particular Long Count will come to an end
December 21, 2012. On that day, it is also true that the sun will align with the plane of the galaxy for the first time in 26,000 years. Some people think solar flares will erupt and that the earth’s magnetic field will reverse, in short the world as we know it would come to an end. Prophets are divided on whether the earth will end in a Apocalypse or move into a new era of peace and brotherhood. So I suppose calendars linked to celestial events still hold mystical sway over both illiterate farmers and literate white collar office workers alike. Evidently, the ancients were pretty clever about how to manipulate people as seen by the fact that the Mayan calendar is more than just a calendar for so many people. Clearly, people have not changed much in 5,125 years.
December 22, 2012 will be the day after the Winter Solstice. In my mind, the seasons will continue to change. Like every other year, I will start my Christmas shopping, late as usual, and then head home to sip on a Hot Toddy with an extra splash of cognac for good measure. Cheers!
[1] Quotes are from Archaeology Magazine Nov/Dec 2009
