Rituals Performed By Shamans In Hope Of Preventing Apocalyptic Mayan Prediction

Peruvian shamans perform a ritual against the alleged 2012 apocalyptic Mayan prediction in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. The supposed 5 a.m. Friday doomsday hour had already arrived in several parts of the world with no sign of the apocalypse. The social network Imgur posted photos of clocks turning midnight in the Asia-Pacific region with messages such as: “The world has not ended. Sincerely, New Zealand.” <AP Photo/Martin Mejia>

Mayan priests place flowers for a ceremony at Iximche archeological site in preparation for the Oxlajuj B’aktun in Tecpan, Guatemala, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. The Oxlajuj B’aktun is on Dec. 21, marking a new period in the Mayan calendar, an event only comparable in recent times with the new millennium in 2000. While the Mayan calendar cycle has prompted a wave of doomsday speculation across the globe, few in the Mayan heartland believe the world will end on Friday.

A Mayan priest prays during a ceremony at the Iximche archeological site in preparation for the Oxlajuj B’aktun in Tecpan, Guatemala, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. <AP Photo/Moises Castillo>

Mayan gather in front of the Kukulkan Pyramid in Chichen Itza, Mexico, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. A Mexican Indian seer who calls himself Ac Tah, and who has traveled around Mexico erecting small pyramids he calls “neurological circuits,” said he holds high hopes for Dec. 21. “We are preparing ourselves to receive a huge magnetic field straight from the center of the galaxy,” he said. <AP Photo/Israel Leal>