The End is coming, maybe and again. End of the world events are common throughout history. The current one is the Mayan Calendar prediction for December 21. There is nothing in the Maya or Aztec or ancient Mesoamerican prophecy to suggest that they prophesied a sudden or major change of any sort in 2012. The notion of a Great Cycle coming to an end is completely a modern invention. Tongue in cheek is the best way Payson Sheets, a CU-Boulder anthropologist, tries to explain the supposed Mayan calendar prophecy of doom and gloom or spiritual enlightenment, depending on which side of the calendar fence you sit on. A specialist in ancient societies of Mesoamerica, Sheets knows a tad bit about Mayan culture and has this to say about what will happen on Dec. 21, 2012. “I might surprise my academic colleagues a little bit by saying there actually will be a perceptible, maybe even significant change, from December 21 to December 22. And that is a change of one number – 21 to 22.”