Why did the ancient Mayan or pre-Maya choose December 21st, 2012 A.D. as the end of their
Long Count calendar? The 13-baktun cycle of the Mayan "Long Count" system of timekeeping was
set to end precisely on a winter solstice, and that this system was put in place some 2300 years ago.

Why did they choose the year 2012?
The early Maya adopted two different time keeping systems, the "Short Count" and the Long Count.
The Short Count derives from combining the tzolkin cycle with the solar year and the Venus cycle
of 584 days. In this way, "short" periods of 13, 52 and 104 years are generated. The Long Count
system is related to certain astronomical cycles. It is based upon nested cycles of days
multiplied at each level by that key Mayan number, twenty:

Number of Days / Term
1 / Kin (day)
20 / Uinal
360 / Tun
7200days / Katun
144000days / Baktun

Each baktun has 144000 days, each katun has 7200 days, and so on. If we add up all the values 6.19.19.0.0 indicates a total of 1007640 days have elapsed since the Zero Date of 0.0.0.0.0. The 13-baktun cycle is completed 1872000 days (13 baktuns) after 0.0.0.0.0. This Mayan "Great Cycle" of Long Count equals 5125.36 years.

What does 0.0.0.0.0 the Long Count "beginning" point, equal in the Gregorian calendar? After years
of considering data from varied fields J. Eric S. Thompson determined that 0.0.0.0.0 correponded to
the Julian date 584283, which equals August 11th, 3114 B.C. in our Gregorian calendar. This
means that the end date of 13.0.0.0.0, some 5125 years later, is December 21st, 2012 A.D.1

The precession of the equinoxes, also known as the Platonic Year, is caused by the slow wobbling of the earth's polar axis. Right now this axis roughly points to Polaris, the "Pole Star," but this changes slowly over long periods of time. The earth's wobble causes the position of the seasonal quarters to slowly precess against the background of stars. For example, right now, the winter solstice position is in the constellation of Sagittarius. But 2000 years ago it was in Capricorn. Since then, it has precessed backward almost one full sign.

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