Preparing for the End of the World
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Farmer Liu Qiyuan looks out from a survival pod that he built and dubbed "Noah's Arc" in the village of Qiantun, south of Beijing.
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Cubans participate in a Mayan ritual at Bacuranao beach in eastern Havana. Mayan leaders arrived in Cuba to lead ceremonies to celebrate the beginning of a new era on Dec. 21.
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A sky caiman vomits water on one of the last pages of the 12th-century Dresden Codex, also known as the "Codex Dresdensis," one of four historic Mayan manuscripts that still exist and that together suggest modern civilization will come to an end on Dec. 21.
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People participate in a ceremony marking the end of a Mayan calendar cycle held by Mayan sages on the beach in Bacuranao, Cuba, on Dec. 6. The ceremony took place two weeks before Dec. 21 when the Mayan calendar ends.
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Lu Zhenghai walks near his ark-like vessel under construction in China to prepare from a world-ending flood he believes will happen on Dec. 21, coinciding with the end of the Mayan calendar.
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Chefs prepare boxes with "The End of the World" truffles made by Mexican chef Jose Ramon Castillo in Mexico City. The ingredients include mangos and chilis that are macerated in mezcal, a distilled alcoholic beverage made from the native Mexican maguey plant. Pre-Hispanic cultures, such as the Maya, used cocoa to make chocolate.
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A man dressed as a Mayan warrior delivers a life certificate for $1 million to be paid in case the world comes to an end to a couple as they pose for a photo at the Xcaret theme park in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
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Tourists get their picture taken next to a slab of stone counting down the days until Dec. 21 at the Xcaret theme park in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
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A holy fire burns at the Bhole Baba spiritual center in Cisternino, in the southern Italian region of Puglia. Cisternino is one of the few places on Earth believed to be spared when the world ends, which should take place on Dec. 21, according to the ancient Mayan calendar.
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Some doomsday theories designate Bugarach peak in France as a sacred mountain that would be spared on Dec. 21, when the Mayan Long Count calendar marks the end of a 5,126-year era.
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