Museum PR Announcements News and Information

National Museum of the American Indian Debunks Mayan Doomsday Prophecy

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian presents “Bak’tun 13: A Guatemalan Celebration of Time,” a three-day festival celebrating Guatemalan history and culture as well as the legacy of the Mayan people. The festival will take place Friday, Dec. 14, through Sunday, Dec. 16, and will include dance performances, lectures, hands-on workshops for families and a special Guatemalan-themed menu in the museum’s award-winning Mitsitam Cafe.

Dec. 21 signals the much-anticipated passing of the 13 B’ak’tun, a cycle in the timekeeping system of the ancient Maya, who developed ceremonial and agricultural calendars (Tzolk’in, Haab and Long Count) using a deep understanding of the sun’s movements and the cycle of corn. Together with scholars, performers and Mayan culture-bearers, the museum offers a Native perspective on this milestone to dispel doomsday myths.

All lectures will be webcast live at www.nmai.si.edu/webcasts. Visitors are encouraged to tweet their questions to @SmithsonianNMAI using the hashtag #MayaCalendar.