The Complete Idiot's Guide to 2012 - Dr. Synthia Andrews Nd [29]
Codex Cues
For a complete list of the calendars, go to www.kachina. net/~alunajoy/calendars. html. This site by Aluna Joy Yaxk’in gives the names and functions of all 20 calendars as she has learned them from the Mayan Elders.
You might be wondering why the Maya didn’t keep track of all their cycles in one timekeeping system. In fact, they did, it just took more than one calendar! Being less interested in timelines and more interested in interactions, they didn’t need to fix events the way we do. However, it’s not really accurate to say the Mayans had separate timekeeping systems; really they had one grand timekeeping device with many different interacting cycles.
How Many Are in Use Today?
Of the 17 to 20 Mayan calendars, three to five are hidden from common use but are in use by traditional Mayan Elders. They are said to be important in guiding evolutionary consciousness. We have been told that each year there is a meeting of the 441 Elders who represent the present-day Mayan tribes. They discuss the calendars, the Mayan traditions, and how much information to share with the larger world. It has been suggested to us that there will be a release of some or all of these calendars within the next several years. Drunvalo Melchizedek will be instrumental in this release. Drunvalo is an internationally known modern visionary, author, and workshop leader. You’ll learn more about him in Chapter 14.
It’s unknown whether there are more than the five concealed calendars at this time. Carlos Barrios is an anthropologist and Mayan Elder. He and his brother are reported to have spent years traveling among the Mayan villages in a quest for hidden copies of the calendars. Reports of their findings are remarkable. They collected many different copies of the same calendar from all over the Maya region. They were identical. In 500 years of hiding the calendars had not been altered.
Calendar Comparisons
Comparing the Mayan timekeeping system to our current Gregorian calendar is like comparing apples to oranges. The calendar reflects the beliefs of the culture, but at the same time it directs the way people think.
Calendars keep track of units of time and organize them in meaningful patterns. Some calendars relate to astronomical events, others don’t. The original Western calendar was devised in 36 B.C.E. by the Romans and related the cycles of the earth’s rotation around the sun, the earth’s revolutions on its axis, and the cycles of the moon. It was called the Julian calendar, named after the Roman emperor Julius Caesar.
Astronomers became concerned about discrepancies in the Julian calendar that resulted in a 10-day difference between the calendar date and the actual seasons and movements of the planets. Of course, no one wanted to hear this. Astronomers argued their case and eventually proved that an adjustment had to be made.
Celestial Connection
During the time period when half of Europe was using the Julian and the other half the Gregorian, both dates had to be posted on all documents. In some countries, double posting is still legal. A posting might look like this: 1 March 1923/15 February 1923.
Papal Intervention
In 1582, Pope Gregory decreed that the date would change from 0ctober 4, 1582, to October 15, 1582, a loss of 10 days from people’s lives; 10 days’ revenue for merchants; and 10 days of extra rent payments for renters. The people fought bitterly to stop the change, convinced it was a conspiracy of the landlords.
The Catholic countries of France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy were the first to change to the new calendar, the Gregorian calendar named after Pope Gregory. England finally joined the majority of Europe after the British Calendar Act of 1751. The final country to lose 10 days of life was Greece. In 1923, the people of Greece went to bed on Wednesday, February 15, and woke up on Thursday, March 1.
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