With the end of the world ... yes... averted, celebrations in Guatemala to welcome a new era in the Mayan calendar.<br/> <br />At dawn, crowds gathered at Tikal - one of the largest pre-Columbian Maya sites in Central America - for rituals sending out the old - and bringing in the new.<br/> <br />Tata Chus is a tribal religious leader known as a shaman.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: Guatemalan Shaman, Tata Chus (Spanish)<br/> <br />"What is happening now is very beautiful because new portals are being opened and we are witnesses for what is happening at this moment."<br/> <br />Mayan beliefs had said an era in the Maya Long Count calendar closed at sunrise on Friday - and brought in the start of a new, more spiritual age.<br/> <br />Thousands of tourists traveled to Mayan sites across Mexico and Central America to witness the ceremonies.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: Jessica, U.S. Tourist from North Carolina<br/> <br />"We were just excited to come. We thought it would be a neat time to come. We didn't think that there was going to be an end-of-the-world scare."<br/> <br />The Maya civilization reached its peak between A.D. 250 and 900 when it ruled over large areas of what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.
