It's already Dec. 21 in Europe, so where's doomsday?

Peruvian shamans perform a ritual against the alleged 2012 apocalyptic Mayan prediction in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. / AP Photo/Martin Mejia

MERIDA, Mexico Doomsday hour is here, at least in much of the world, and so still are we.

According to legend, the ancient Mayans' long-count calendar ends at midnight Thursday, ushering in the end of the world.

Didn't happen.

"This is not the end of the world. This is the beginning of the new world," Star Johnsen-Moser, an American seer, said at a gathering of hundreds of spiritualists at a convention center in the Yucatan city of Merida, an hour and a half from the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza.

"It is most important that we hold a positive, beautiful reality for ourselves and our planet. ... Fear is out of place."

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As the appointed time came and went in several parts of the world, there was no sign of the apocalypse.

Indeed, the social network Imgur posted photos of clocks turning midnight in the Asia-Pacific region with messages such as: "The world has not ended. Sincerely, New Zealand."

In Merida, the celebration of the cosmic dawn opened inauspiciously, with a fumbling of the sacred fire meant to honor the calendar's conclusion.

Gabriel Lemus, the white-haired guardian of the flame, burned his finger on the kindling and later had to scoop up a burning log that fell from the ceremonial brazier onto the stage.

Still, Lemus was convinced that it was a good start, as he was joined by about 1,000 other shamans, seers, stargazers, crystal enthusiasts, yogis, sufis and swamis.

"It is a cosmic dawn," Lemus declared. "We will recover the ability to communicate telepathically and levitate objects ... like our ancestors did."

Celebrants later held their arms in the air in a salute to the Thursday morning sun.

"The galactic bridge has been established," intoned spiritual leader Alberto Arribalzaga. "At this moment, spirals of light are entering the center of your head ... generating powerful vortexes that cover the planet."

Despite all the ritual and banter, few here actually believed the world would end Friday; the summit was scheduled to run through Sunday. Instead, participants said they were here to celebrate the birth of a new age.

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A Mexican Indian seer who calls himself Ac Tah, and who has traveled around Mexico erecting small pyramids he calls "neurological circuits," said he holds high hopes for Friday.

"We are preparing ourselves to receive a huge magnetic field straight from the center of the galaxy," he said.

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Terry Kvasnik, 32, a stunt man from Manchester, England, said his motto for the day was "be in love, don't be in fear." As to which ceremony he would attend on Friday, he said with a smile, "I'm going to be in the happiest place I can."

At dozens of booths set up in the convention hall, visitors could have their auras photographed with "Chi" light, get a shamanic cleansing or buy sandals, herbs and whole-grain baked goods. Cleansing usually involves having copal incense waved around one's body.

Visitors could also learn the art of "healing drumming" with a Mexican Otomi Indian master, Dabadi Thaayroyadi, who said his slender hand-held drums are made with prayers embedded inside. The drums emit "an intelligent energy" that can heal emotional, physical and social ailments, he said.

During the opening ceremony, participants chanted mantras to the blazing Yucatan sun, which quickly burned the fair-skinned crowd.

Violeta Simarro, a secretary from Perpignan, France, taking shelter under an awning, noted that the new age won't necessarily be easy.

"It will be a little difficult at first, because the world will need a complete 'nettoyage' (cleansing), because there are so many bad things," she said.

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[TheReaper123666]

all that is correct ONLY IF STITCHENS TRANSLATION WAS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT.............OK ENKI LOL GOOD EXPLINATION BRO

[Anannaki]

First and foremost,The writings that you are calling Mayans,are not that at all,The original text Were Annunaki,White bearded men with reddish hair.Seven to nine feet tall
To make things a bit clearer for you,they are the race that created you,Everything you are taught in mainstream society.is garbled truth.3000 years before the bible the folks living in the Sumerian valley which is modern day Iraq .Started farming/schools/reading/writing/law/time/organized city's/[plumbing it all came from there,and they say the Annunaki which came from above gave it to them.
This is the story They came here to mine for precious materials gold/and rebelled against the Council of the Gods,Making us through Dna manipulation/and using their females to in vitro the beast,after years of trial and error they perfected us a simple short life being to be their servants/slaves for work and sex and spare parts,and they put limit's on the old brain No need to create competition you see.so they made us war like so we kill off ourselves so we dont evolve.We were made in their image

[Izitu]

What a complete load of excrement! I suggest that you read about the cosmology of the Yanomamo...Their beliefs about where we came from (termed "cosmology" in Anthropology) make about as much sense as yours.

[Izitu]

Introductory. Sodmacflab, the race of flabby minded clean-shaven midgets crash landed on our earth and accidentally discover DNA during a luau. The Sodmacflab take a sexual interest in the local fauna and decide to fornicate with them to make a race of Walmart greeters and sales associates. Using them as a basis for further sexual exploitation and spare parts, unknowingly creating a subspecies who latter become know as the Teapartiers, the Sodmacflab realize their folly and hastily try to rebuild their spaceship. Realizing that this was impossible, they become confused with the term in vitro; thereby, using in utero instead, continuing DNA manipulation which results in mass inbreeding causing many congenital defects.

[theakeman]

Not to worry - the Mayan King has spoken! - http://akespains.blogspot.com/2012/12/do-mayans-know-something-we-dont.html

[Jupiter06262626]

With respect to Mayan civilization & calendar... Pre Christ times in Europe had no account of Mayan history until the Spanish invaded and made them extinct and destroyed their world, therefore if scientists have not excavated any evidence of archeological findings when history & science in Europe became important in addition to the End of the world myths around the ancient world... As for evidence of a similar civilizations like North American Indians, Sumeria, Egypt, Greece and Bangladesh to have medical, astronomy & recorded earth history of Galactic disasters like colliding star size objects in space with earth. Proper study of their histories may build solid evidence of such astronomical events as witnessed by Maya... Bad predictions of physical collisions and asteroids falling but economic crash can account to be an end of the world, rather than a physical end.

[finkfurst4]

Message to all you idiot Americans - There's no time to waste.... hurry down to your friendly neighborhood 24-hour gun store and buy all the guns and ammunition you can!

[nohater]

you're silly.

[xPD77x]

to all you idiot foreigners ,|,,(-_-),,|,

[wilsonroo]

It bothers me that the information is reported so poorly. At no point and time did or do the Mayans believe the world is going to end. At no point and time did they state or promote this. It is so disturbing that the news would eve report or suggest that this was their thoughts. What is even more disturbing is that I see all over the place "expert say that the world is not going to end and the Mayan calender was being miss interpreted." The Mayans don't need experts to determine anything...they are well aware of their own culture and are well aware of their own calender. I think it is so disrespectful that people yap about this or spread these stories with no knowledge of the culture...gain some brain power and expand your knowledge instead of making up lies about and entire culture!

[Mathion]

You were apparently not reading the real news stories. This whole 12/21/12 end of the world doom and gloom is based on Bible-thumping believers in the inherently self-destructive nature of humanity combined with the usual "end of the world" garbage they believe in the first place. There have been a TON of stories debunking the apocalyptic interpretation of the date in Mayan meaning.

Bible-thumpers are big believers in prophesies (though none of them have ever come true). THEY are the ones who ran with the vague interpretations of the end of the Mayan calendar, apparently never once thinking that it would only signify a need to go to the store and get a new carved, hard to understand rock to hang on the wall.

[jechaucer]

So what do you think all those idiot's sitting in the Silos in the Midwest are talking about right now? Maybe how they wished they ordered cable TV or perhaps they are blaming their low IQ's for even being there.

[joesapper]

The guy that sold them the silo and the hoard of goods is laughing on a bed of money . IQ stands for , income qanat .

The next thing will be a bug deflecter for the germs of mental illness .

[Jonseen]

I don't expect the end of the world on Friday, nor Apocalypse. But I think it's good for the subject to come up on a regular basis. It's like a trial run... another chance to think about life, death, eternity and God.

We do have a responsibility and an obligation to God. Whether we die in an Apocalypse or we die of old age or maybe we even die in the next five minutes from an unexpected accident of some kind: we need to be prepared to die. Anyone who believes in God and heaven should be doing some prep work to make sure you get there.

Jesus told us what we need to do, so it's time to read the New Testament and start working on it. Or... one of these days it really will be too late...

[TheReaper123666]

SEE YA GOT WORK 2MORROW

[TheReaper123666]

5hrs19min away