Photos: Mayan calendar – December 21, 2012, End of the World?
December 11, 2012
A leader of the Ukrainian Internet Party, wearing a Darth Vader outfit from the Star Wars saga, and an activist distribute goods on December 20, 2012 on Independence Square in Kiev. The party activists, who traditionally wear Star Wars costumes during their actions, distributed canned foods, matches, condoms, toilet paper, soap, lightbulbs and "tickets" for their spacecraft evacuation to passersby to supposedly save Ukrainians from the end of the world on December 21. The date marks the end of an era that lasted over 5,000 years, according to the Mayan "Long Count" calendar. Some believe that the date, which coincides with the December solstice, marks the end of the world as foretold by Mayan hieroglyphs -- an idea ridiculed by scholars. SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images
Duch Pieter van der Meer (L) and a friend uncover on December 19, 2012 his Norwegian lifeboat in his garden in Kootwijkerbroek with which he can save 35 persons in case of a global apocalypse hits on 21 December. The date marks the end of an era that lasted over 5,000 years, according to the Mayan "Long Count" calendar. Some believe that the date, which coincides with the December solstice, marks the end of the world as foretold by Mayan hieroglyphs -- an idea ridiculed by scholars. AFP PHOTO / ANP / ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN
French photographer Jean-Louis Socquet-Juglard shows, on December 19, 2012 in the southwestern village of Bugarach, the postcard he created, a combo of a flying saucer above the Bugarach peak. The 1,231 meter high peak of Bugarach is one of the few places on Earth some say will be spared when the world reportedly ends on December 21, the end of an era that lasted over 5,000 years, according to the Mayan "Long Count" calendar. French authorities have pleaded with New Age fanatics, sightseers and media crews not to converge on the tiny village. ERIC CABANIS/AFP/Getty Images
This Oct. 31, 2011 file photo shows costumed participants in the Village Halloween Parade posing for photographs as they make their way up Sixth Avenue in New York. This year's Village Halloween Parade is themed on the end of the world, a reference to a Mayan calendar that ends on Dec. 21. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, file)
People shop at a gift stall in Sirince December 20, 2012. Thousands of foreign and local tourists are expected to flock to Sirince, a small Turkish village near the ancient Greek city Ephesus ruins, which is believed to be one of the few places on earth that will survive December 21, a day in an old Maya calendar dubbed "the end of the world". REUTERS/Osman Orsal
Tourists get their picture taken next to a slab of stone counting down the days until Dec. 21, 2012 at the Xcaret theme park in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Amid a worldwide frenzy of advertisers and new-agers preparing for a Maya apocalypse, one group is approaching Dec. 21 with calm and equanimity calm: the people whose ancestors supposedly made the prediction in the first place. Mexico's 800,000 Mayas are not the sinister, secretive, apocalypse-obsessed race they've been made out to be. (AP Photo/Israel Leal)
In this photo taken Nov. 24, 2012, Lu Zhenghai, right, walks near his ark-like vessel in China's northwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Lu Zhenghai is one of at least two men in China predicting a world-ending flood, come Dec. 21, the fateful day many believe the Maya set as the conclusion of their 5,125-year long-count calendar. Zhenghai has spent his life savings building the 70-foot-by-50-foot vessel powered by three diesel engines, according to state media. In Mexico's Mayan heartland, nobody is preparing for the end of the world; instead, they're bracing for a tsunami of spiritual visitors. (AP Photo/ANPF-Chen Jiansheng)
This June 24, 2011 photo shows the Bugarach mountain peak in southern France. From Russia to California, thousands are preparing for the fateful day, when many believe a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar supposedly comes to an end. The Internet has helped feed the frenzy, spreading rumors that a mountain in the French Pyrenees is hiding an alien spaceship that will be the sole escape from the destruction. French authorities are blocking access to Bugarach peak from Dec. 19-23 except for the village's 200 residents "who want to live in peace," the local prefect said in a news release. (AP Photo)
This Dec. 14, 2012 photo shows a detail of a replica of the Sixth Monument, which mentions the 13th Baktun, the end of a major 5,125-year cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar, on display at the Mayan Museum in Cancun. Amid a worldwide frenzy of advertisers and new-agers preparing for a Maya apocalypse, one group is approaching Dec. 21 with calm and equanimity calm _ the people whose ancestors supposedly made the prediction in the first place. Mexico's 800,000 Mayas are not the sinister, secretive, apocalypse-obsessed race they've been made out to be. (AP Photo/Israel Leal)
In this March 20, 2010 file photo, a man performs a ritual as he looks toward the descent of the Kukulkcan serpent, whose image is seen illuminated along the edge of the stairs of the Mayan Chichen Itza pyramid, during the Spring equinox in Chichen Itza, Mexico. A chorus of books and movies tried to link the Mayan calendar to rumors of impending disasters ranging from rogue black holes and sun-storms to the idea that the Earth's magnetic field could 'flip' on that date. Archaeologists says there is no evidence the Maya ever made any such prophesy. (AP Photo/Israel Leal, File)
In this June 19, 2011 file photo, Maya Indian Jose Erenesto Campos prays during a Maya ceremony in honor of the upcoming summer solstice at the Maya archeological site of Tazumal in Chalchuapa, El Salvador. From Russia to California, thousands are preparing for the fateful day, when many believe a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar supposedly comes to an end. In Mexico's Mayan heartland, nobody is preparing for the end of the world; instead, they're bracing for a tsunami of spiritual visitors. Even the U.S. space agency NASA intervened, posting a nearly hour-long YouTube video debunking apocalyptic points one by one. (AP Photo/Luis Romero, File)
This picture shows a placard of the entrance of Cisternino, in the southern Italian region of Puglia on December 10, 2012. Cisternino is one of the few places on earth believed to be spared when the world ends, which according to the ancient Mayan calendar should take place on December 21, 2012. GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
Stuart Charm, PhD, Professor of Religion in the Dept. of Philosophy and Religion at Rutgers-Camden uses current events in his classroom on Nov. 19, 2012. Charm decided to teach a course on the end of the world this semester, he knew he had a compelling hook: the Dec. 21 conclusion of the "Long Count" Mayan calendar that doomsday believers have latched on to as proof that time will end. But Charm had no idea what the next few months would bring: the cataclysmic Hurricane Sandy, a fiscal cliff some have dubbed "debtmageddon," and an intensifying conflict involving Israel, the place where Christian end-time theorists believe the apocalypse will commence. (AP Photo/The Philadelphia Inquirer, Tom Gralish)
Foliage frames the Bugarach mountain peak in southern France, Monday, Dec. 10, 2012. From Russia to California, thousands are preparing for the fateful day, when many believe a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar supposedly comes to an end. The Internet has helped feed the frenzy, spreading rumors that a mountain in the French Pyrenees is hiding an alien spaceship that will be the sole escape from the destruction. French authorities are blocking access to Bugarach peak from Dec. 19-23 except for the village's 200 residents "who want to live in peace," the local prefect said in a news release. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)
A man takes part in a traditional spiritual ceremony during the Mayan Culture Festival in Merida December 15, 2012. According to organizers, the aim of the festival is to honor Mayan culture and to promote inter-cultural dialogue, in addition to helping the public better understand the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar, which expires on December 21. The festival is scheduled to end on December 22. REUTERS/Francisco Martin
The Tunupa ship is seen as Bolivian priests make offerings in Lake Titicaca, 74 km (46 miles) away from La Paz City, in La Paz December 16, 2012. Sunday marks the first of six days of celebrations to commemorate the end of the Mayan Calendar on December 21, which some believe to be the end of the world, that indigenous Bolivians regard as the change of an era. REUTERS/Gaston Brito
People take part in a ceremony of the sacred fire at Intja island in La Paz December 16, 2012. Sunday marks the first of six days of celebration to commemorate the end of the Mayan Calendar on December 21, which some believe to be the end of the world, that indigenous Bolivians regard as the change of an era. REUTERS/Gaston Brito
This picture shows a view of the Dhuni (Holy fire) at the Bhole Baba spiritual center in Cisternino, in the southern Italian region of Puglia on December 10, 2012. Cisternino is one of the few places on earth believed to be spared when the world ends, which according to the ancient Mayan calendar should take place on December 21, 2012. GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images
In this Dec. 6, 2012 file photo, people raise their hands during a ceremony by Mayan sages in Bacuranao, Cuba. From Russia to California, thousands are preparing for the fateful day, when many believe a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar supposedly comes to an end. In Mexico's Mayan heartland, nobody is preparing for the end of the world; instead, they're bracing for a tsunami of spiritual visitors. Jose Manrique Esquivel, a descendent of the Maya, said his community in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula sees the date as a celebration of their survival despite centuries of genocide and oppression. He blamed profiteers looking to scam the gullible for stoking doomsday fears. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)
In this Feb. 21, 2011 file photo, Mayan priests pray during a ceremony marking the Mayan solar new year in Guatemala City. From Russia to California, thousands are preparing for the fateful day, when many believe a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar supposedly comes to an end. The Maya didn't say much about what would happen next, but into that void have rushed occult writers, bloggers and New Age visionaries foreseeing all manner of monumental change. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
People participate in a ceremony marking the end of a Mayan calendar cycle held by Mayan sages on the beach in Bacuranao, Cuba, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The ceremony in Bacuranao took place two weeks before Dec. 21, 2012, when a more than 5,000-year period of the Mayan calendar ends. "The 21st is for giving thanks and gratitude and the 22nd welcomes the new cycle, a new dawn," said Mayan Sage Pedro Celestino Yac Noj. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Navy soldiers eat while waiting for the arrival of the Bolivian president to Suriqui island in Lake Titicaca, 74 km (46 miles) away from La Paz City, in La Paz December 16, 2012. Sunday marks the first of six days of celebration to commemorate the end of the Mayan Calendar on December 21, which some believe to be the end of the world, that indigenous Bolivians regard as the change of an era. REUTERS/Gaston Brito
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