Editing Apocalypticism (section)

==Mayan calendar and the year 2012==
{{Main|2012 phenomenon}}

The [[2012 phenomenon]] was a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or otherwise transformative events would occur on or around 21 December 2012.<ref>'''Sources''':
*{{cite web |last1=Defesche |first1=Sacha |title=The 2012 Phenomenon |url=http://www.skepsis.no/the-2012-phenomenon/ |publisher=Skepsis |date=June 17, 2008 |access-date=May 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531180136/http://www.skepsis.no/the-2012-phenomenon/ |archive-date=May 31, 2019 |url-status=live }}
*{{cite news |last1=MacDonald |first1=G. Jeffrey |title=Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse? |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm |newspaper=USA Today |date=2011 |access-date=2019-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427013446/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm |archive-date=2019-04-27 |url-status=live }}
*{{cite journal | author = Robert K. Sitler |date=February 2006 | title = The 2012 Phenomenon: New Age Appropriation of an Ancient Mayan Calendar |journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=24–38 |doi=10.1525/nr.2006.9.3.024 | issn = 1092-6690|oclc=357082680}}</ref> This date was regarded as the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the [[Mesoamerican Long Count calendar]],<ref name=yucalandia>{{cite web |url=http://yucalandia.com/science-health-issues/2012-maya-calendar-mystery-and-logic-vs-thors-day-worship-the-sun-day-et-al/ |title=2012 Maya Calendar Mystery and Math, Surviving Yucatan |publisher=Yucalandia.com |date=2012-11-16 |access-date=25 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729051827/https://yucalandia.com/science-health-issues/2012-maya-calendar-mystery-and-logic-vs-thors-day-worship-the-sun-day-et-al/ |archive-date=29 July 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> and as such, festivities to commemorate the date took place on 21 December 2012 in the countries that were part of the [[Maya civilization]] ([[Mexico]], [[Guatemala]], [[Honduras]], and [[El Salvador]]), with main events at [[Chichén Itzá]] in Mexico, and [[Tikal]] in Guatemala.<ref name=ChiItza>{{cite news|url=http://www.nacion.com/2012-12-21/AldeaGlobal/miles-llegan-a-chichen-itza-con-la-esperanza-de-una-nueva-era-mejor.aspx|title=Miles llegan a Chichén Itzá con la esperanza de una nueva era mejor|language=es|trans-title=Thousands arrive to Chichén Itzá with the hope of a new better era|agency=[[Agence France-Presse]]|work=[[La Nación (Costa Rica)]]|date=21 December 2012|access-date=22 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221202223/http://www.nacion.com/2012-12-21/AldeaGlobal/miles-llegan-a-chichen-itza-con-la-esperanza-de-una-nueva-era-mejor.aspx|archive-date=21 December 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name=NYT122112>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/world/americas/doomsday-fizzles-but-many-hail-a-new-era.html|title=As Doomsday Flops, Rites in Ruins of Mayan Empire|author=Randal C. Archibold|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=21 December 2012|access-date=22 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222013244/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/world/americas/doomsday-fizzles-but-many-hail-a-new-era.html|archive-date=22 December 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Hff>{{cite news|title=End Of The World 2012? Not Just Yet|author=Mark Stephenson|work=Huffington Post|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/end-of-the-world-2012_n_2344389.html|access-date=22 December 2012|date=21 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221192604/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/end-of-the-world-2012_n_2344389.html|archive-date=21 December 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae were proposed as pertaining to this date. A [[New Age]] interpretation held that the date marked the start of a period during which Earth and its inhabitants would undergo a positive physical or [[spiritual transformation]], and that 21 December 2012 would mark the beginning of a new era.<ref name="anasatas">{{cite journal |author=Benjamin Anastas |date=1 July 2007 |title=The Final Days |url=http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~tkeene/apwhAnastasThe%20(Mayan)%20Final%20Days.htm |format=reproduced online, at [[Kennesaw State University|KSU]] |journal=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |location=New York |page=Section 6, p. 48 |access-date=18 May 2009 |ref=Anastas2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331194404/http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~tkeene/apwhAnastasThe%20(Mayan)%20Final%20Days.htm |archive-date=31 March 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Others suggested that the date marked the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world included the arrival of the next [[solar maximum]], an interaction between Earth and the [[Sagittarius A*|supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy]],<ref name="NASA1">{{cite web| title = 2012: Shadow of the Dark Rift| publisher = NASA| url = http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-alignment.html| year = 2011| access-date = 28 October 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121208062109/http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-alignment.html| archive-date = 8 December 2012| url-status = live}}</ref> or [[Nibiru cataclysm|Earth's collision with a mythical planet called Nibiru]].

Scholars from various disciplines quickly dismissed predictions of concomitant cataclysmic events as they arose. Professional [[Mayanist]] scholars stated that no extant [[Maya codices|classic Maya accounts]] forecast impending doom, and that the idea that the Long Count calendar ends in 2012 misrepresented [[Maya civilization#History|Maya history]] and culture,<ref name="Milbrath">[[#Milbrath1999|Milbrath 1999]], p. 4</ref><ref name="Stuart">David Stuart, ''The Order of Days: The Maya World and the Truth about 2012'', Harmony Books, 2011</ref><ref name="webster">{{cite web|url=http://www.anthro.psu.edu/faculty_staff/docs/Webster_GermanyMaya.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215032307/http://www.anthro.psu.edu/faculty_staff/docs/Webster_GermanyMaya.pdf |archive-date=15 February 2010 |title=The Uses and Abuses of the Ancient Maya |author=David Webster |publisher=[[Penn State University]] |location=The Emergence of the Modern World Conference, Otzenhausen, Germany |date=25 September 2007 |access-date=14 October 2009 |df=dmy }}</ref> while astronomers rejected the various proposed doomsday scenarios as [[pseudoscience]],<ref name="Brown 2009">{{cite web|title=SI do not ♥ pseudo-science|first=Mike|last=Brown|url=http://www.mikebrownsplanets.com/2008/02/i-do-not-pseudo-science.html|year=2008|access-date=12 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090329230846/http://www.mikebrownsplanets.com/2008/02/i-do-not-pseudo-science.html|archive-date=29 March 2009|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Nibiru and Doomsday 2012: Questions and Answers">{{cite web|title=Nibiru and Doomsday 2012: Questions and Answers|url=http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/intro/nibiru-and-doomsday-2012-questions-and-answers|publisher=NASA: Ask an Astrobiologist|author=David Morrison|year=2012|access-date=12 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130811134015/http://astrobiology2.arc.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/intro/nibiru-and-doomsday-2012-questions-and-answers|archive-date=11 August 2013}}</ref> easily refuted by elementary astronomical observations.<ref name="NASA2">{{cite web | title = 2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?|publisher=NASA | url = http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html | year = 2009|access-date=26 February 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110222054800/http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html| archive-date= 22 February 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>