# Exactly why did the Mayan calender end Dec. 21, 2012? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659 "2012-12-20T19:59:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/21 "2012-12-21T05:01:24Z")
Master Dex? ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/22 "2012-12-21T05:13:00Z")
When does this apocalypse get underway? It’s a quarter past midnight and nothing has happened yet. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/23 "2012-12-21T09:31:46Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > They do have the Tun, equivalent to 360 days or about a year, so that can be considered to be their equivalent of a year (ETA - see **Blakeyrat** ’s post, but that is a different calendar). What’s ending tomorrow is the B’ak’tun, equivalent to about 394 years, but that in turn is only 1/20th of a Piktun (7,885 years, and we are only near the middle of one), and so on to the Alautun (63 million years, which as previously stated, 20 of these, as with most of the other units, would be enough for the entire future of life on Earth). Sure, but the current Dec. 21 “end” isn’t astronomy related any more than the adding of another digit after Dec. 31, 999 was. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/24 "2012-12-21T16:49:20Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Master Dex? Um, yeah. Just my pet name for him during our S&M bondage sessions. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/25 "2012-12-21T16:50:27Z")
Neener! Neener! Neener! ~vow ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/26 "2012-12-21T17:23:17Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > In addition to the archeologist wrongly assuming that the end of a calendar equals the end of the world (_“OMG! There are no days after December 31st on this calendar… it must be an accurate prediction of the end of the world on that day!!!”_), he thought that their description of the spectacular events surrounding[http://www.azteccalendar.com/?day=20&month=12&year=2012](http://www.azteccalendar.com/?day=20&month=12&year=2012) that day is of an apocalyptic nature, when it was just references to one hell of a New Year’s (New Baktun’s) party! Hence the song _Party Like It’s 12.19.19.18.19_ ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/27 "2012-12-22T19:19:26Z")
Am I dead? ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/28 "2012-12-22T20:25:33Z")
Nope, you are just stuck in a deep dark hole created by dwarves. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/29 "2012-12-22T23:05:28Z")
You would be thinking of _Moria_ ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/30 "2012-12-23T00:18:35Z")
Nope, she’s the longest running human associate of the X-Men and was Professor Charles Xavier’s colleague, confidante, and also once his fiancée. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/31 "2012-12-23T02:20:57Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > (1) The Mayans ran out of room on the rock where the carving is located. > > (2) The stone carvers got tired. > > (3) The Mayans were sacrificing people right and left to end the drought, and finally ran out of folks and only the carvers were left. > > (4) They added the biggest number they knew to their present date, and figured nothing went any higher than that number. > > (5) It was a government contract, and the lowest bidder had to cut corners to make the calendar with the amount of money he got. > ~VOW (6) The calender maker’s boss came along, and said, “Zytlqutozacl! The crop report are due, and we need the demographics shift projection from the increases of human sacrifices! Why are you banging out a calender for hundreds of years from now?” ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/32 "2012-12-23T02:37:59Z")
> [@For You](#): > > You would be thinking of _Moria_ I thought that’s what they called the wind… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/33 "2012-12-23T02:57:33Z")
All I know is I just met a girl named Moria. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/34 "2012-12-23T02:58:57Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > All I know is I just met a girl named Moria. How do you solve a problem like Moria? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659/35 "2012-12-23T03:49:55Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > I thought that’s what they called the wind… Me too, but upon looking around, it appears that they call wind Mariah. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exactly-why-did-the-mayan-calender-end-dec-21-2012/644659.md?page=1)