Indigenous people from Mexico celebrate the dawn of the new era and the new Mayan calendar with a series of dances and ceremonies at the base of the El Castillo pyramid, just after dawn.
CHICHEN ITZA, Mexico — Was it just another solstice marking the beginning of winter? Or the dawn of a new era, as predicted by Maya priests?
Whatever happened on Dec. 21, 2012, the world did not end.
GlobalPost visited one of the most sacred sites of the Maya world, Chichen Itza. At dawn as clouds shrouded the sky above, tourists, New Age folks and local indigenous people converged on the site to mark what for them was a momentous day.