THE MAYANS
The present day remaining Mayans now occupy sites in Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Western Honduras, El Salvador and Northern Belize. They originated in The Yucatan around 2600 B.C.. The background image is The Temple of Kukulcan, in Chichen Itza, The Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
Originally, Mesoamerica was occupied by The Blackamoors - The Olmecs, then The Aztecs, followed by The Mayans who took on the preceding belief systems. The Mayans believed in a Creator God named Itzamna who was also the Sun god, and a host of other deities including 'The Nine Lords of The Night' who each governed one of the underworld realms (Canadian Museum of History). The Mayans performed human sacrifices to these gods as they had lost the ability to read the codex-calendars of their ancestors - The Olmecs, and as such believed that if they continually provided the gods with human blood sacrifices, this would please the gods and prevent the end of the world.
The Mayans wrote in hieroglyphs although"...The Catholic Church and colonial officials, notably Bishop Diego de Landa, destroyed Mayan texts wherever they found them, and with them the knowledge of Maya writing, but by chance three uncontested pre-Columbian books dated to the Postclassic period have been preserved. These are known as the Madrid Codex, the Dresden Codex and the Paris Codex". (Sharer and Traxler 2006).
According to Sitchin's Ancient Astronaut Theory, the Mayan calendar's first date began in 3372 B.C., whereas the general consensus is 11 August 3114 BC.
Calendars
The Mayans developed three calendars, The Long Count Calendar, The Tzolkin, and The Haab: -
THE FIVE WORLDS
The Mayan believed that this world, was in fact The Fifth World and that the four worlds before it had been destroyed.
The Third World
-12221 began the Era of The Third Sun, Tleyquiyahuillo, which lasted 4081 years and ended in the flames of a universal furnace. This myth is also found in Greece with the episode of Phaeton.
The Fourth World
-8140 began the Era of The Fourth Sun, Tzontlilic, which lasted 5026 years and ended with blood, fire and hunger.
The Fifth World to Present Day (2017 AD)
On August 13th of the year -3114 began the Age of The Fifth Sun. This was called The Sun of Movement. It lasted 5125 years to finish in a chaotic world. The codices indicated that the Earth would move on itself and that all humans would die. The date for the end of the world was set to December 23rd, 2012.
When cross-referencing the first and second worlds of The Olmec, Aztecs and Mayan accounts of history with The Ancient Astronaut Theory of Sitchin, there are similarities in the accounts of 'fish and ape people' as Sitchin's theory states: - "95,800 ~ The Nibirians disguised themselves as fish-humans, lion-humans, bird-humans, and other creatures to get the people to worship them as token gods...".
The First World
In -20236, there was the simultaneous creation of the world and the humans. This was the beginning of the Age of the First Sun, Matlactli Atl, which lasted 4008 years and ended with a deluge. The men of the First Sun were giants and to escape the flood, they transformed into fish-men. Thus ended The Sun of Water. This tradition of the primordial human-fish (pictured) is also found in The Dogon and Persian accounts.
The Second World
-16231 was The Era of The Second Sun, Ehecoatl, which lasted 4010 years. It was the sun of fish-men, when seas covered the world, and this era ended with a terrible and cataclysmic storm. Only a few men survived by climbing trees. They transformed into ape-men.
We find ape-men in India, with the myth of Hanuman and Rama and Sita, and in Africa among the Tribes.
The Long Count
The Mayans believed that at the end of each 'Long Count Calendar', the Earth was destroyed and 're-made'. To specify the events dates over such long periods (2,880,000 days (about 7885 solar years)), they used The Long Count Calendar. The Long Count Calendar identifies a date by counting the number of days from the Mayan creation date 4 Ahaw, 8 Kumk'u (August 11, 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar, or September 6 in the Julian calendar -3113 astronomical dating).
The Tzolkin
The Tzolkin Calendar has a 260 day count which combines twenty day names with the thirteen day numbers to produce 260 unique days. It is used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events and for divination. Each successive day is numbered from 1 up to 13 and then starting again at 1. Separately from this, every day is given a name in sequence from a list of 20 day names.
The Haab
The Haab' Calendar has 18 months which consist of 20 days each, plus a period of five days at the end of the year known as Wayeb. During Wayeb, portals between the mortal realm and The Underworld dissolved, and to ward off the evil spirits that 'crossed over', the Mayans would avoid leaving their houses and washing or combing their hair.
Each day in the Haab' calendar was identified by a day number in the month followed by the name of the month. The Haab' year had exactly 365 days, and ignored the extra quarter of day (approximately) in the actual tropical year. This meant that the seasons moved with respect to the calendar year by a quarter of a day each year, so that the calendar months named after particular seasons no longer corresponded to these seasons after a few centuries.
