World will not end in 2012, says Regina man
Mayan timekeeper says end of Mayan calendar does not mean end of the world
CBC News
Posted: Dec 29, 2011 5:51 PM ET
Last Updated: Dec 29, 2011 11:18 PM ET
Leonzo Barreno says the end of the current Mayan calendar leads to the beginning of a new time cycle. (CBC)
A Regina man who trained as a Mayan timekeeper says the end of the ancient Mayan calendar does not mean the end of the world.
Dec. 21, 2012 marks the end of the 5,125-year-long Mayan Long Count calendar.
That has led to dire end-of-times predictions, including hundreds of thousands of doomsday websites and blogs on the internet and even films depicting the end of the world.
But the Global Chair of Journalism at the University of Regina says that's not an accurate interpretation of the calendar.
Leonzo Barreno, who immigrated to Canada from Guatemala in 1989, was trained by Mayan elders to read the ancient calendars.
He says the end of the next year will start a new calendar cycle.
"This has happened before, and according to the elders this is the fifth time it's happened," he said.
Barreno said the beginning of the cycle is something to celebrate, not fear.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Canada expels all remaining Syrian diplomats
- Canada is expelling all Syrian diplomats remaining in Ottawa to protest the latest escalation in violence against civillians by the Assad regime. more »
- Canadian climber's body taken off Everest
- The body of a Toronto woman who died while descending from the summit of Mount Everest earlier this month has been taken by helicopter to her family in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. more »
- RCMP commissioner pledges to rid force of 'bad apples'
- The RCMP's disciplinary process is so bureaucratic and out of date that "bad apples" end up staying on the force long after they should be thrown out, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson says in a remarkably frank open letter to Canadians. more »
- Ottawa set to shut down hearing on F-35 jet purchase
- The federal government appears set to shut down the only public investigation into Ottawa's fumbling of the F-35 fighter jet purchase. more »
- 'Engine shutdown' forced Air Canada jet to land
- Evolution skeptics will soon be silenced by science: Richard Leakey
- Richard Branson suggests naked kitesurfing to premier
- RCMP commissioner pledges to rid force of 'bad apples'
- Newly discovered malware most lethal cyberweapon to date
- Thunder Bay flooding causes state of emergency
- New Italian earthquake death toll rises to 10
- Canadian climber's body taken off Everest
- Syrian children were executed, UN says
