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It's just a shame interesting things don't sell nearly as much as fear does. At least now you're equipped to shoot down the next idiot who claims the apocalypse is nigh. They might be idiots, but you know I have kind of a soft spot for them? The frauds and hucksters are too much fun to live without.
Alas I couldn't say how much the general public knew about the calendar, but from what I've read the Mayans loved a party and tended to celebrate the end of different cycles. I expect word got around about the end of the current Calendar Round, much like everyone seems to know when this year's Easter is without knowing how it's calculated. In reference to the Long Count calendar, a scholar is quoted on Wikipedia as saying, "for the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle".