Friday-21-December-2012: The significance of this date in Mayanism stems from the ending of the current baktun cycle of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar in 2012. Speculation about this date can be traced to The Maya by Michael D. Coe, originally published in 1966, in which he suggested the date of December 24, 2011 (later revised to December 23, 2012) would mark the end of civilization: There is a suggestion . . . that Armageddon would overtake the degenerate peoples of the world and all creation on the final day of the thirteenth [baktun]. Thus our present universe [would] be annihilated on December 23, 2012, when the Great Cycle of the Long Count reaches completion. Other academic scholars of Maya civilization have disputed the apocalyptic interpretation of the Long Count calendar end-date, insisting that it simply marks a resetting of the calendar to Baktun 13.0.0.0.0, rather as the units and tens columns of a car’s odometer reset to zero each time a hundred miles are completed. They also argue that the Long Count calendar does not end on 13.0.0.0.0. Scholars such as Linda Schele and David Freidel cite the Mayan inscription Coba Stela 1, which features the date 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.0.0.0.0. In Mayan mythology, this date represents the age of the previous world at its ending and the beginning of the current one, which corresponds to the Western date 11 August 3114 BC. Because the Mayan calendar is cyclical, the above dating …