Bolivian president predicts era of peace and love instead of apocalypse [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivian president predicts era of peace and love instead of apocalypse

Evo Morales will mark the solstice by sailing across Lake Titicaca in one of the largest reed ships built in modern times

Sara Shahriari in Suriqui
Guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 December 2012 14.00 EST

The looming end of the Mayan long-count calendar has prompted fervid doomsday predictions on the internet, mass arrests in China, and a small tourism boom in southern Mexico. But whereas some believe Friday's solstice will mark a fiery endpoint to the world as we know it, Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, says the date is the beginning of a new era of peace and love.

Morales will mark the day by boarding one of the largest reed ships built in modern times and join thousands of people for celebrations on the Island of the Sun on Lake Titicaca.

"According to the Mayan calendar, the 21 of December is the end of the non-time and the beginning of time," he told the UN in September. "It is the end of hatred and the beginning of love, the end of lies and beginning of truth."

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Morales has attempted to shake off European cultural denomination, creating a vice ministry of decolonisation and celebrating Native American beliefs and customs.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/20/evo-morales-bolivia-mayan-apocalypse