Copan Countdown to December 21, 2012

Update December 22, 2012 – We are all still here 🙂

Copan Celebrations 2012

Honduran Ch’orti’ of Mayan descent (rear) celebrate a point during a Mayan ball game against Guatemalan Quirigua in Copan December 18, 2012. This week, at sunrise on Friday, December 21, an era closes in the Maya Long Count calendar, an event that has been likened by different groups to the end of days, the start of a new, more spiritual age or a good reason to hang out at old Maya temples across Mexico and Central America. Picture taken December 18, 2012 . REUTERS/Jorge Cabrera

See the more on the “End of the World Phenomena“

Some people interpret the Mayan calendar countdown as building up to the end of the world in 2012. Hondurans near the Copan Ruins, however, are getting ready for a big celebration where thousands of tourists are expected to turn up as the count begins.

“One thing is the interpretation some people make of the Mayan calendar; not only in Honduras, but in neighboring countries as well, and another is the new interest in Copan,” said Tourism Secretariat spokeswoman, Nora Schauer.

“What we’re expecting here in 2012 are thousands of Honduran and foreign tourists on hand to witness the countdown to the end of the Mayan calendar,” Schauer said.

The countdown to the new era is marked today at the Copan Ruins with a cultural event led by President Porfirio Lobo, several of his ministers, diplomats, and experts in Mayan archaeology, Schauer said.

The event, held at the Copan Ruinas archaeological park, is sponsored by the Honduran Tourism Institute, which during 2012 will offer a series of cultural, educational and scientific activities related to the Mayan civilization, existent between 800 A.D. and 800 B.C.

Other activities include conferences and some five new archaeological sites to be opened in Copan, “a region that continues to surprise archaeologists with the cultural riches written in stone that lie hidden in its valleys and mounds”, Schauer said.

Wednesday’s slogan is “Live the end of an era, and start from the new beginning.”

For more on Copan and Honduras Travel Tips to Copan see the  Country of Honduras Guide


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