MYTH 1 - Maya Predicted End of the World in 2012: The Maya calendar doesn't end in 2012, as some have said, and the ancients never viewed that year as the time of the end of the world, archaeologists say. But December 21, 2012, (give or take a day) was nonetheless momentous to the Maya. "It's the time when the largest grand cycle in the Mayan calendar—1,872,000 days or 5,125.37 years—overturns and a new cycle begins," - Alan A. Lew