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Predictions vary for 2012, last year in Mayan calendar cycle |
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Saturday, 14 November 2009 |
By Manya A. Brachear
Chicago Tribune reporter
The madness and mayhem portrayed in previews of the film "2012" bear no resemblance to the prophecies that Myriam "Shuni" Giron believes will come to pass in three years.
Instead, she looks toward the end of days on her Mayan calendar as a chance for a new beginning.
"Because we live in a world where there is so much negativity, it's going to be the beginning of a new time of transparency when we're going to be able to see each other," she said.
Theories abound on what to expect Dec. 21, 2012, when the Mayan "Long Count" calendar marks the end of a 5,126-year cycle. The date also marks the first winter solstice in 26,000 years when the sun and Earth will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way.
Forecasts range from catastrophe and revolution to a quantum leap in evolution -- or simply a return to common sense until the next apocalyptic prediction stirs imaginations.
Giron and others believe the prophecies portend a shift of human consciousness and the advent of a golden era.
"They're sending the wrong message," she said, referring to the scores of doomsday scenarios in books and the film "2012," which opens Friday. "
As hundreds of books, documentaries and Web sites cash in on the countdown to 2012, Chicagoans like Giron who believe ancient Mayan spirituality offers insight are promoting positive expectations.
Giron and Von Orthal Puppets, a puppet company in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood, are producing a play based on the Popol Vuh, or Mayan creation story. The production will debut next month in Guatemala.
Meanwhile, Chef Chuy Valencia has opened a restaurant in the Lakeview neighborhood called Chilam Balam, or "Book of the Jaguar Priest," referring to prophecies about the end of the cycle. "It doesn't mean our planet is going to explode," Valencia said. "2012 is going to be the end of the cycle of building, capitalism, destroying resources. 2012 is going back to being natural and protecting the Earth."
The Rev. Denise Griebler, pastor of St. Michael's United Church of Christ in West Chicago, has served as a missionary among the Maya in Mexico and Guatemala for nearly 20 years. Christians should not be focused on a fixed date for the end of days, Griebler said.
That said, she added that indigenous cultures and prophecies can offer insight, if not direct parallels, for people of other faiths.
"Wisdom comes from different places, different traditions," Griebler said.
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