The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of beliefs and proposals positing that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur in the year 2012. These beliefs are based primarily on what is said to be the end-date of the Mayan Long Count calendar, which is presented as lasting 5,125 years and as terminating on December 21 or 23, 2012. Proponents of these ideas base their beliefs on archaeoastronomical speculation,[3] alternative interpretations of mythology,[4] numerological constructions, and alleged prophecies from extraterrestrial beings.[5]
A New Age interpretation of this transition posits that, during this time, the planet and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era.[6] Conversely, some believe that the 2012 date marks the beginning of an apocalypse. Both ideas have been disseminated in numerous books and TV documentaries, and have spread around the world through websites and discussion groups.
Mainstream Mayanist scholars argue that the idea that the Long Count calendar "ends" in 2012 misrepresents Maya history.[2][7] To the modern Maya, 2012 is largely irrelevant, and classic Maya sources on the subject are scarce and contradictory, suggesting that there was little if any universal agreement among them about what, if anything, the date might mean.[8]
Certain predictions about how the world could end in 2012 (e.g., alignment with a black hole, collision with a rogue planet, polar shifts) have been rejected as pseudoscience by the scientific community on the grounds that these events would violate the laws of physics and are precluded by astronomical observations.[9]
