Maya Culture in Intercultural Communication

Transcription

1 Maya Culture in Intercultural Communication --A Case Study of an Apocalypse on Dec.21, 2012 Xiaochi ZHANG School of Foreign Languages, China West Normal University, No.1 Shi Da Lu, Nanchong, , Sichuan, P. R. China. Abstract: In intercultural communication, every culture has its own characteristics and special meanings for some legends and traditions. People from one culture should learn, know and understand another culture, especially deeply and clearly master the interpretation of another culture. Therefore, the author takes an apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012 as a case, briefly tells some things about history and development of Maya culture, and then introduces the features of Maya culture, and Maya prediction. Finally, the author focuses on the Maya prediction and further analyzes the causes of Maya prediction, and then discusses how to handle the correct channels and methods to really know Maya culture and its features. Keywords: Maya culture, intercultural communication, apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012, scientific literacy 1. INTRODUCTION In intercultural communication, all kinds of various cultures will meet together. People will know and understand different cultures, especially deeply and clearly master the interpretation of one culture among them, because every culture has its own characteristics and special meanings for some legends and traditions. If not, people will misunderstand the exact meaning of certain cultural event or cultural phenomenon. Hence, the paper will take an apocalypse on Dec.21, 2012 as a case, briefly introduce history and development of Maya culture and the characteristics of Maya culture and its calendar, analyze the reason of the legend An Apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012 which spread quickly from one nation to another in the world and caused the terrible upset, discuss the correct channels and methods to deeply understand Maya culture, so as to improve the people s intercultural communication competence and construct the harmonious and peaceful world. 2. Maya Culture Before exploring the reason and origin of Apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012, people should have basic knowledge about Maya culture. Maybe, it is the premise for us to further research on the apocalypse, because Maya culture is the world s most ancient culture in the world, known as the cradle of American Indian culture. On this account, the author will make some brief introduction to Maya culture. 2.1 History and Development of Maya Culture At the present, Maya culture still exists in the region of south-eastern Mexico, including the Yucatan peninsula, Guatemala Tika and Copan in western Honduras, Vasak links (the oldest known Mayan cities). Generally speaking, Maya cultural development is divided into three periods: The first concrete traces of the Mayan civilization date back to the Pre-classic period around 1,800 BC in the Mirador Basin in Peten, 1

2 northern Guatemala, though some settlements are thought to be over 6,000 year old (coe, 2005). Signs of chiefdom political organization emerged during the Middle Pre-classic ere (ca. 1, BC), leading to the birth of a ruling elite and the development of city-state governing systems in the Late Pre-classic (ca. 400 BC-100) AD), leading to rivalry and wars among them. (Hansen, 2007) The Mayans were the only ancient American civilization with a recorded history of their own, the Mayans broadcast on stone billboards (stelas), the loudest messages of all Mesoamerican cultures. They recorded on lithic monuments, pottery, papers, and skins, the grand events of their abstruse culture. Though their hieroglyphs remain to be totally deciphered, we may soon have the benefit of viewing an advanced civilization built upon primary technology taken to the fullest understanding of nature s provisions. In other words the Mayans went about as far as they could go within a category of earth and stone technology. Their knowledge of the Primary Technology(Nature) surely surpasses ours.(maya Culture, 2012) The Mayan culture developed between 3000 and 2000 BC. More pollen samples have been shown the establishments of agriculture in Guatemala by 4000 BC, and around 2500 BC began to build up small cities with some permanent architecture all over the Maya, originated in the Guatemalan Highlands, 3000 BC. In the tropical lowlands of El Mirador Basin, in the Peten Lowlands, Northern Guatemala, that leads to huge cities like Mirador, Nakbe, San Bartolo, Tintal and others, although there were some early cities in the Guatemala Highlands (Naranjo, Kaminal Juyu, Nebaj, Guaytan, El Porton), and in the Pacific Low Lands (Tak alik Abaj, Chocola), that does not reach the size of those in Peten where they build at least 27 big cities and countless smaller ones at its peak around 250 BC, then, suffered a first collapse around 150 AD, and resurging on 250 AD (Early Classic) with large cities such as Tikal, Naranjo, Yaxha, Cancuen, Machaquila, Ceibal, Piedras negras, QUIRIGUA, Uaxactun, and many more until their final collapse around 900 A.D. By the time of the Arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in the 16 th century, the so called Mayan culture, found in the Yucatan peninsula, was more a mix of Toltec and Aztec influences whom look their Classic Maya Cosmo vision, Calendar, Mathematics and even Religion and Medicine practices with reminiscences of the Classic Maya Civilization, than the Original Maya Culture, which had already faded 6 centuries before, with many of its great cities and monuments deserted and engulfed by the Rain Forest.(Maya Culture, 2013) 2.2 The Characteristics of Maya Culture During the late Pre-classic Maya period (33BC-AD300), the Maya civilization continued to flourish as trade routes expanded along with advances in the cultivation of corn and the beginning of more complex agricultural practices, as well as construction of pyramids and urban centers. Maya society continued to develop based on an intricate cosmology that resulted in complex calendars, writing and astute mathematical calculations. The Maya had developed a written language by 200 BC that is considered, along with Sumerian cuneiform and Chinese, to be one of only three independently developed writing systems of the ancient world. The Maya were also among the world s earliest and most prolific producers of paper, and their scribes held and elevated position in society. (Maya Culture & History) At that time, Maya had about 30 different indigenous Maya languages (Maya Civilization). Meanwhile, Maya made a great contribution to mathematics and developed the concept of zero. The Maya civilization in aspects and so on material culture, scientific art has the very great achievement. And achieves the world maximum level in the architectural engineering, can carry on the carving processing to the firm stone material. Through the long-term observation, celestial phenomenon already grasped the solar eclipse cycle and the date, the month, Venus s law of motion. The carving, the painted pottery, the 2

3 mural have the very high artistic value, is called America Greece. About 400 B.C. The establishment early time slavery country, 3 - the 9th century was the epacme, the 15 th century declines, finally destroyed for the Spanish colonizers, hereafter long-term annihilation in tropical jungle. 3. Maya Prediction By 36 BC, the Maya developed the concept of zero-an impressive peat which allowed them to work with here to fore unimaginable sums and dates, and was the basis for astronomical observations and calculations extremely accurate even by today s standards. In fact, the Maya measurement of the solar year is slightly more accurate than the Georgian Calendar used today. ( Maya Culture and History). Meanwhile, the Maya calendar was started in the year around BC 3114 August 11 and will end in the year AD 2012 December 21. According to Maya s prediction, we are living in a 5 th solar period. It means that the earth will explode and disappear into a black hole. The December 21 mystery stems from a carved stone found in Tortuguero, a Mayan site in Mexico. The relief contains a cryptic allusion that something really big would happen on Friday. Most experts interpret the calendar to mean December 21, 2012 was simply the end of a 5,200-year era for the Maya and the start of another. (Agency France Press, 2012). And, there exists an opposite view. They think 2012 does not mean the end of the earth, but the beginning of a new period. The Mayas believed that the world had been created five times and destroyed four times, this eschatology became the fundamental basis of Mesoamerican religion from 900 AD onwards when it was adopted by the Toltec.(Hooker, 2012) 4.Discussion and Suggestion From the above brief introduction to Maya culture, we have known some fundamental knowledge about history and development of Maya culture, especially about the characteristics of Maya culture. Now, it is not difficult for us to find the background and formation of Maya prediction. Thus, we will discuss about the origin and reason of Apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012, in Maya culture, and then give some useful suggestions to better understand Maya culture and its prediction. 4.1 Intercultural communication and Maya culture Intercultural communication should merge all kinds of different cultures, including Maya culture which is one of the most influent cultures in the world history of civilization. However, any scholar or researcher should really understand and interpret the contents and meaning of Maya culture, and then spread its cultural influence. Otherwise, Maya culture can t improve intercultural communication and arouse the people in the world disturbed. Of course it is foolish to think that the last day on the calendar used by the Mayans centuries ago is really going to be the day our world ends. But it has not stopped commercial interests from playing on people s fears: from the epic box-office movie portraying tidal waves wiping out civilization to the sales of survival kits. (Coulter, 2012) The American anthropologist Edward T. Hall (1976) says communication is culture, and culture is communication. It means that communication and culture are directly linked. Therefore, communication permeates our life and our life is guided by our culture. Communication itself is the basic human need, but the way an individual communicates emanates from his / her culture. In other words, communication is a product of culture (Zhang, 2008). Thus, people don not only study the hidden core and the deep structure of the Maya culture well and also understand the Maya culture. In doing so, the people can understand Maya culture at a deeper level and learn to respect Mayan cultural differences, i.e. to help people to reduce their cultural bias and to grasp the 3

4 values and beliefs of the Mayan people. The Maya culture and its civilization will play an important role in the communication of the world, and occupy an important position in the world civilization Scientific literacy and intercultural communication Over the past centuries, the end of the world has been predicted countless times. Doomsday as predicted by some ancient Mayans turns out to be a non-event, disappointing for those ardent believers in the sanctity of anything ancient (Zhou, 2012) Doomsday scenarios exist to scare us, More likely, they give form to embedded fears, thus channeling them into something harmless. Generally speaking, the Mayan calendar is so complicated it would take a genius to decode. The more people attempt to unravel it, the more people get lost. Some people guess the Mayans miscalculated by about 1, odd years. They could have been referring to the sudden decline of their own civilization in the 9 th century when mysterious forces obliterated much of their population. One might say apocalypse covers the whole humanity as we know it, but if we scale it down it makes much more sense. Last year, the United States space agency NASA had been contacted by thousands of worried people asking what to do. In a web page devoted to debunking the Mayan prophecies, it reassured them that the world will not end in For example, dozens of rumor-mongers have been rounded up in China recently. If their crime consists of nothing more than encouraging others to buy up candles, it would be heavy-handed. If their impact was more palpably irrevocable, such as having the credulous give up their properties or job, they should be stopped. Stupidity is not a sin; taking advantage of it for personal gain, on the other hand, is morally repugnant. Therefore, scientifically we now know enough geophysics about the Earth to realize we are in no danger of an apocalypse - earthquakes, tsunamis, wild weather and the odd meteor maybe - but that has not stopped doomsayers predicting certain dates and certain rallying points for transplanting to some other world. They do not all use the Mayan calendar for the date the world will come to an end - after all they can just dream one up or claim to have had a vision or that they have interpreted some numbers or code from a religious text. A Google search lists about 160 failed predictions for the end of the world, with many of them making a second attempt. Apart from the mystical fascination with some sort of Armageddon, there are also scripts conceived for a manmade nuclear holocaust. (Coulter, 2012) 5. Conclusion In sum, Maya culture has a long history and has a great influence in intercultural communication. Maya culture was formed around 1800 BC, It had great development between 400BC-100AD. The Maya civilization had its influence with other Mesoamerican civilizations originated from Honduras, Guatemala and Salvador as some of their features like calendar writing and epigraphy shared with those neighbor Mesoamerican civilizations. However, the Maya culture declined after the Spanish invasion on their territory around 16 th century. We could learn some thing about this great civilization from the remains found. (Ratnaveera, 2013) However, last year, Maya calendar has been the hot topic throughout the world, It has aroused some people to think that the world would meet death end on December 21, 2012 as there are no more days in Mayan calendar after that particular day. However, some people are saying that the sun will rise in constellation 4

5 Aquarius after that particular day as the beginning of a new age. So, it is believed that our great earth would be safe even after December 12, It is true that we are only holding the responsibility to save our home planet by controlling ever increasing global warming. In particular, any people from one culture will communicate with other people from another culture. People should have basic scientific recognition about special culture. In this way, when people meet one culture they should respect other culture and tolerate other culture and they should understand clearly and correctly the development of one culture. Especially, they should study scientific common sense about the earth and the world where we are living in order to avoid the terrible horrible and tension which was caused by some predictions in a culture. Only in this way, people can learn each other, know each other and understand each other, and really foster the people s intercultural communicative competence and finally build up a harmonious and peaceful world. References Maya culture. Retrieved from /maya_culture.htm Maya Culture & History. Retrieved from chaacreek.com/mayan-culture/ Maya Civilization. Retrieved from Hooker, Richard. (2012). Mystery of the Maya. Retrieved from hi.baidu.com/pank7/item/8707abef c65db0090 Coulter, John. (2012). The end of the world has been postponed. China Daily. Dec. 11,2012. Page 9. Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond Culture. Garden City NY: Doubleday Anchor Books. Zhang, Ailing. (2008). Log into the World of Cultures -- Intercultural Communication. Chongqing: Chongqing University Press, Zhou, Raymond. (2012). Doom is where you find it. China Daily. Dec , 2012, page 11. Agence France Press. (2012). Yes, we re still here. China Daily, Dec , Ratnaveera. The Mayan Civilization And Its Some Important Features. Retrieved from 5