Mayan elder 'fed up' with world-end talk

A Mayan elder has said that he is tired of being asked about the end of the world supposedly predicted by his culture.

Apolinario Chile Pixtun claimed that such theories of a 2012 apocalypse actually spring from Western folklore rather than Mayan tradition, The AP reports.

Chile Pixtun said: "I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff."

Yucatan Mayan archaeologist Jose Huchim added: "If I went to some Mayan-speaking communities and asked people what is going to happen in 2012, they wouldn't have any idea.

"That the world is going to end? They wouldn't believe you. We have real concerns these days, like rain."

The doomsday theory is believed to derive from the partially-eroded Monument Six ruin in southern Mexico.

The structure is said to mention the Mayan equivalent to the year of 2012 and the god Bolon Yokte K'uh - who is sometimes associated with war, conflict, and the underworld.

2012 is also the title and setting for a new disaster movie from Roland Emmerich due for release next month.