Human Light: December 23

The HumanLight celebration is a secular holiday connected with the advent of the winter solstice, but its organizers chose to assign the holiday a specific calendar date that would cause minimal interference with existing holidays that take place either on the winter solstice itself, or the solstice-related holidays of Christmas Day and Christmas Eve. You can read more about HumanLight in this Wikipedia article. You can also find out more at the HumanLight homepage itself, which contains on the front page a list of the places where 2007 celebrations took place.

Given that the symbolism of this holiday resonates so nicely with the other holidays of this season (the light symbolism of the solstice celebrations, the Christmas star, the candles of Hanukkah, etc.), it seems like it would be possible for people to join in on this celebration easily, sharing this holiday together with others from many different faiths or for those who are secular without a professed faith at all. Given the current climate, however, I'm sure that there are many people who would perceive this holiday not as a complement to other holidays, but as a threat to them, alas.

One thing in particular I would like to give the organizers of HumanLight credit for is that they have a page at their website where they address the many different concerns and complaints that people, both religious and secular, have raised about the holiday. A static webpage is not exactly a dialogue in and of itself, but it is a strong gesture towards a dialogue, and I found it full of interesting questions and ideas.

Speaking for myself, I like very much the idea of celebrating the winter solstice, even though I am not a Wiccan, because the sheer natural profundity of that moment in astronomical time is really striking to me. I find the Wiccan wheel of the year, built on the solstices and equinoxes, to be profoundly appealing. So, in my own personal calendar, you'll find me organizing observations of those "wheel of the year" holidays. At the same time, if somebody invited me to a HumanLight celebration, I would definitely attend - I think it's a lovely idea, and I respect these people's efforts very much!

Happy HumanLight!

Winter Solstice: December 22 2007

The Winter Solstice marks the longest night of the year. In 2007, the Winter Solstice will take place on December 22. The word "solstice" comes from Latin, meaning when the "sun-stops," i.e., the moment when the sun reaches a position in the sky with the greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane as the observer. It marks the shortest day of the year, and the longest night; after the Winter Solstice, the days will begin to get longer and longer, and the nights will get shorter and shorter, until the Summer Solstice approximately six months from now.

Because the Winter Solstice is a celestial event, it takes place on different days of the calendar, depending on the year, varying between December 21 and December 23. You can see a list of the days and times of the solstices and the equinoxes here at this Hermetic Systems webpage. Moreover, this is a hemisphere-specific holiday: December marks the Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere, but in the southern hemisphere, it is the Summer Solstice.

There are many cultures which celebrate a special ritual on the occasion of the Solstice, often based on the symbolism of light and its triumph over the night. Yesterday, I posted about the Iranian festival of Yalda. You can find a long list of Winter Solstice celebrations in many cultures listed in this Wikipedia article.

There are many connections between Christmas celebrations and the Winter Solstice. The Gregorian calendar puts the Winter Solstice between December 21 and 23, but in the old Julian calendar the Winter Solstice took place around December 24, in other words, at Christmas. Over time, the Gregorian and Julian calendars have diverged farther and farther; to see this difference calculated, you can use this fascinating Calendar Calculator.

In northern Europe, the traditional winter solstice celebration was called Yule, which is a word many people associate today with Christmas. Yule traditions include decorating a fir tree, making decorations of mistletoe and holly, gift-giving and merry-making. The Yule log tradition takes different forms in different cultures, such as the Tió de Nadal in Catalonia, or the yummy Bûche de Noël pastry.

Another word for the Yule festival is Midwinter, like the corresponding Midsummer fesitval which takes place at the Summer Solstice. You can see this relationship clearly in the Wiccan Wheel of the Year, where Yule (Midwinter) and Misummer are opposite one another.

We're celebrating the Winter Solstice with some friends tonight, and here is a selection of Winter Poems we will be reading: enjoy!

Yalda: December 21

In the Holiday Calendar widget, the holiday for December 21 is Yalda, an ancient Iranian festival that was originally a movable feast, celebrated on the Winter Solstice. When the Iranian calendar was reformed in 1925, the date for this festival was fixed so that it always occurred on December 21. In some years, this coincides with the Winter Solstice, but this year it is one day before the Solstice.

The word Yalda derives from a Syriac word meaning birth (compare the Arabic word "yeled" meaning "young boy"). According to Wikipedia, it was Syriac-speaking Christians who brought the word to Iran during the Sassanid period, where the coincidence of Christmas (the celebration of the infant Jesus) with the time of the Winter Solstice, more or less, led to the use of this word for the Winter Solstice festival in Iran. You can read more about the ancient Zoroastrian roots of this festival at FarsiNet.

Some of the traditional foods associated with the Yalda night celebrations are pomegranates and watermelons. Here is a picture of special items for this Iranian winter feast, and you can read about this year's Yalda in the world news using this Google News: Yalda search.

Pentecost: May 27 2007

Sunday, May 27 2007, is the holiday of Pentecost, also called Whitsunday (Whit Sunday, Whitsun Day) in English. The word Pentecost is Greek, meaning "fiftieth" (you can recognize the "pent" as the root meaning "five" in Pentagon). It is a festival celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter (counting inclusively). Compare the Jewish festival of Shavuot, which is celebrated fifty days after Passover.

In the Christian Bible, the first Pentecost is marked by the incident of "speaking in tongues" (glossolalia), as described here in the Book of Acts:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? (read more...)

Peter goes on to explain to the crowd that this is a sign of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon them, and that anyone who is baptized in the name of Jesus Christ can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost is observed with local variations in the Catholic and Orthodox churches; you can read about these different observances in the wikipedia article.

The name "Pentecostal" has also been adopted by an evangelical Christian movement which is focused on direct personal experience of God as manifested by the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit. (Some Pentecostals baptize in the name of Jesus only, while others baptize in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.) Pentecostal prayer and worship service tends to be highly emotional, demonstrative and enthusiastic. The Pentecostal movement emerged from the revivalist "Holiness movement" in Protestant Christianity, and began to take its distinctive shape in the late 19th century. In 1906, there was a front-page article in the Los Angeles Times which reads as follows: "Weird Babel of Tongues, New Sect of fanatics is breaking loose, Wild scene last night on Azusa Street, gurgle of wordless talk by a sister." You can read more about the teachings and history of Pentecostalism at the wikipedia article. Although it is not one of the historical Protestant churches (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, etc.), it has a very large membership and is continuing to expand as a world-wide Christian movement.

As for English "WhitSunday," the name is short for "White Sunday" and seems to refer to the fact that those who were baptized at the festival of Pentecost were dressed in all-white robes. The first Sunday after Easter is called "Dominica in albis" ("Sunday in whites") for the same reason. Whitsuntide is a related word that refers to the festival of Whit Sunday plus the days that follow, also known as Whitsun Week.

For an image, here is an image from an illuminated manuscript from the late 15th century showing the first Christian Pentecost:

Shavuot: May 23 2007

Today, Tuesday, is the eve of the Jewish holiday, Shavuot, the "Feast of Weeks." It takes place on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, so it falls either in late May or in early June. This year, it falls on May 23. (In some Jewish communities, the holiday is celebrated for a two-day period, May 23-24.)

Shavuot marks the conclusion of the counting of the "Omer" (for more about that, see the blog post about the Lag Ba'Omer holiday). It is now fifty days since Passover, and the holiday commemorates how on Mount Sinai the Torah was given to the Jewish people.

In addition to its connection to the Torah and Mount Sinai, Shavuot is also a harvest festival, and is sometimes called the Festival of Reaping or the Day of the First Fruits. When Jewish people worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem, they would bring the "Bikkurim" ("first fruits") to the Temple as an offering.

In modern times, there are a variety of special holiday customs associated with Shavuot, including the the reading of the Book of Ruth at morning services - a book with special associations for the harvest and harvesters. Dairy foods, such as cheese blintzes (yum!), are traditional fare for Shavuot. You can read more about the modern observances of Shavuot in the wikipedia article.

Since the reading of the book of Ruth is a Shavuot tradition, I thought I would include this lovely depiction of Ruth as the image for this post! You can read the Book of Ruth online - if you are not familiar with this beautiful Bible story, it's definitely worth your time today.

Ascension Day: May 17 2007

This post contains Unicode Greek text. Internet Explorer will probably choke, so why not switch to Firefox and leave the Microsoft vale of sorrows behind? :-)

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Ascension Day is the Christian holiday that commemorates the ascension of Jesus to heaven. The holiday is celebrated forty days after the day of the resurrection, so it is a movable holiday, changing from year to year in the calendar, although because Easter is always on Sunday, Ascension is always celebrated on a Thursday. In 2007, Ascension is celebrated on May 17, and Sunday May 22 is designated "Ascension Sunday."

Ascension is referred to in several passages in the New Testament, along with allusions in other passages (you can see a complete listing in the wikipedia article).

The verse in Mark (16:19) reads as follows (from the sheer joy of being able to cut and paste Unicode Greek into Blogger, I'll include both the Greek and English): ὁ μὲν οὗν κύριος ἰησοῦς μετὰ τὸ λαλῆσαι αὐτοῖς ἀνελήμφθη εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, "So Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was received up into the sky (heaven) and he sat to the right of God."

Here is the verse in Luke (24:51): καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῶ εὐλογεῖν αὐτὸν αὐτοὺς διέστη ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ ἀνεφέρετο εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, "And it happened as he was blessing them, he stood apart from them and was carried up into the sky (heaven)."

The passage in Acts 1:9-11 provides more detail; here it is in the King James translation: "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."

The ascension of Jesus is also a component of the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.

In the iconographic tradition for the Ascension scene, it is common to see simply the feet of Jesus as he is taken up. Here's an example from an illuminated manuscript from France dating to around the year 1200:

Saint Brendan the Navigator: May 16

Today, May 16, is the memorial day of Saint Brendan, nicknamed "The Navigator." Brendan was a monk who lived in Ireland in the 6th century, although he is most famous as a character in a widely popular medieval text, "The Voyage of Saint Brendan to the Island of the Blessed." You can read the Latin text of the Navigatio at the Biblioteca Augustana website, and there is an English translation at the Celtic Christianity E-Library.

The most famous incident in the Voyage is when the crew land on what they think is an island... but they are in for a big surprise! Of course, the saint knows better:

When they came to another island, the boat drew to a halt before they were able to reach the harbor. Saint Brendan instructed the brothers to get out of the boat and they did so. They tied down the boat on both sides with ropes until it could make port. The island, however, was rocky, without any grass. There were sparse woodlands and there was no sand on the shore. While the brothers were spending the night in prayers and vigils on shore, the man of God stayed inside the boat, for Saint Brendan knew what sort of island this was but he did not want to tell the brothers, lest they become terrified. When morning came, Saint Brendan ordered the priests to each say the Mass, and they did so. When Saint Brendan had said Mass himself on the boat, the brothers began to carry raw meat off the boat in order to salt it, along with fish which they had brought from the previous island. When they had done this, they put a cauldron on the fire. When they had added wood to the fire and it had started to boil, the island began to move like a wave. Then indeed the brothers began to run to the boat, begging for the protection of the saintly father, and one by one he grabbed them by the hand and pulled them into the boat. Having left behind all the things which they had carried over to the island, they set sail. Next, the island was drawn down into the ocean. Then they could see the fire burning at two miles' distance. Saint Brendan told the brothers what it was: "Brothers, are you wondering what happened to the island?" They said, "Yes, we do wonder greatly, and we were stricken with a great fear." Saint Brendan said to them, "My little sons, do not be afraid, for God has revealed to me in the night by means of a vision the mystery of this thing. Where we were is not an island, but a fish. It is greater than all the creatures swimming in the ocean, and seeks always to join its tail to its head, but it cannot do that because of its length. Its name is Iasconius."

Here is the Latin text:

Cum autem venissent ad aliam insulam, cepit illa navis stare antequam portum illius potuissent tenere. Sanctus Brendanus precepit fratribus exire de navi et ita fecerunt. Tenebantque navim ex utraque parte cum funibus usque dum ad portum venit. Erat autem illa insula petrosa sine ulla herba. Silva rara erat ibi et in litore illius nihil de arena fuit. Porro pernoctantibus in orationibus et in vigiliis fratribus foras de navi vir Dei sedebat intus. Sanctus vero Brendanus sciebat qualis erat illa insula sed tamen noluit illis indicare ne fuissent perterriti. Mane autem facto precepit sacerdotibus ut singuli missas cantasset et ita fecerunt. Cum ergo sanctus Brendanus et ipse cantasset missam in navim ceperunt fratres crudas carnes portare foras de navi ut condidissent sale et etiam pisces quos secum tulerunt de alia insula. Cum haec fecissent posuerunt cacabum super ignem. Cum autem ministrassent lignis ignem et fervere cepisset cacabus cepit illa insula se movere sicut unda. Fratres vero ceperunt currere ad navim deprecantes patrocinium sancti patris.At ille singulos per manus trahebat intus. Relictisque omnibus quae portabant in illam insulam ceperunt navigare. Porro illa insula ferebatur in oceanum. Tunc poterant videre ignem ardentem super duo miliaria. Sanctus Brendanus narravit fratribus quod hoc esset dicens: Fratres admiramini quod fecit haec insula?" Aiunt: "Admiramur valde nec non et ingens pavor penetravit nos." Qui dixit illis: "Filioli mei nolite expavescere. Deus enim revelavit mihi hac nocte per visionem sacramentum huius rei. Insula non est ubi fuimus sed piscis. Prior omnium natancium in oceano querit semper suam caudam ut simul iungat capiti et non potest pro longitudine quam habet nomine Iasconius".

If you enjoyed that, Saint Brendan has many other fabulous adventures that you would definitely like!

The story of the island that is really a fish or a whale is a famous story throughout world folklore. For example, there is a great version of the story in the Voyages of Sindbad. In the Christian tradition, the Physiologus contains the story of the tracherous island, complete with an allegorical interpretation.

I have a special fondness for the voyage of Saint Brendan, because when I was a graduate student in Comparative Literature at Berkeley, one of the other Latin students decided that we should get on a boat, journey "across the waters" to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, and read the Navigatio out loud in Latin to each other while we were on the island. It was so much fun! Admittedly, Angel Island is not quite "The Island of the Blessed," but we had a really great time.

Here is a lovely illustration of Saint Brendan and his sailors from a medieval manuscript:

Blessed Damien of Molokai: May 10

Today is the holiday of Father Damien of Molokai, a Catholic priest, born in Belgium in 1840, who ministered to sufferers of Hansen's disease, or leprosy. (Hansen was the Norwegian physician who, in 1873, identified the bacterium that causes the disease.)

Father Damien was beatified in 1995 (one of the steps in the process of being declared a saint by the Catholic Church), and as a result he was granted the title "Blessed" and given this memorial holiday on May 10.

Although he cannot be called a "patron saint" yet, he is considered a "spiritual patron" for people who suffer not just from Hansen's disease, but also HIV/AIDS, a disease which, like leprosy, not only can bring great physical suffering, but also the social pain of prejudice, neglect and isolation.

Father Damien went to Hawaii in 1864, when it was still an independent kingdom, ruled by King Kamehameha. Hansen's disease, like syphilis and other European diseases, had been brought to the island, affecting many Hawaiians. (You can read an article at the BBC about how European colonialism and the slave trade spread the disease around the world.)

Those Hawaiians suffering from leprosy had been sent to the island of Molokai. There are now drugs that are used to treat Hansen's disease, but these were discovered only in the 1940s. Standard practice was, and had been for centuries, to send the victims of Hansen's disease away, forcing them to live in segregated colonies, like the colony on Molokai.

When Father Damien learned about this, he asked permission to go to the island in order to minister to the patients there.

He arrived at Molokai in 1873, and spent the rest of his life there until 1889, when he died of Hansen's disease himself. He was not just a priest to the patients there, but also worked as a doctor, as the colony had been effectively abandoned by the government and the patients were not being cared for. Under Father Damien's leadership, the colony took charge of its resources, building better housing and establishing farms and a school.

Although there was some controversy about Father Damien's activities raised by Protestant church officials in Hawaii, the consensus seems to be that he acted out of great self-sacrifice in his ministry to the patients on Molokai. Gandhi cited Father Damien as an inspiration for his own work. Here is a quote from Gandhi: "The political and journalistic world can boast of very few heroes who compare with Father Damien of Moloka'i. It is worthwhile to look for the sources of such heroism."

There are several films about Father Damien, although I have not seen any of them. I would, however, highly recommend a truly marvelous film, Motorcycle Diaries, about the early life of Che Guevara, which culminates in his stay at a leprosarium in Peru, when he was in his early 20s. At the time, Che Guevara was a medical student, and the part of the movie devoted to the time he spent at the leprosarium is deeply moving. I think I will investigate a couple of the films that have been done about Father Damien but, in the meantime, I can recommend Motorcycle Diaries most highly! Although the Catholic Church and communism have been historically at odds with one another, I wonder what kind of conversation Che Guevara and Father Damien might have had if their paths had crossed in space and time!

For an image to accompany this post, I chosen this painting of Father Damien, done in the style of Greek icon painting, but in English and with the distinctive touch of a Hawaiian lei. I found the image at a webpage with a biography of Father Damien, at the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary website for the eastern U.S. This is the same religious order of which Father Damien was a member.

Saint Michael the Archangel - Apparition: May 8

Most people are aware of the archangel Michael, although he is mentioned only a few times in the Bible. Michael's most remarkable role in the Bible is surely the battle with the dragon in the Book of Revelation, 12: "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels; And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him."

Beyond the Bible, however, the archangel Michael has been memorialized in many cult practices and legends dating back to late antiquity. Michael appears in several apocryphal books of early Christianity, for example, assisting Christ in the harrowing of hell. Here is a passage from the Gospel of Nicodemus that describes the rescue of Adam and the saints from hell: "But the Lord holding the hand of Adam delivered him unto Michael the archangel, and all the saints followed Michael the archangel, and he brought them all into the glory and beauty of paradise."

In the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, Michael helps God give the gift of light to Adam after his expulsion from Eden: "And God considered Adam's thought, and sent the angel Michael as far as the sea that reaches India, to take from there golden rods and bring them to Adam. This did God in His wisdom in order that these golden rods, being with Adam in the cave, should shine forth with light in the night around him, and put an end to his fear of the darkness."

There are also important legends about Michael in both the Jewish and Islamic traditions. Jehovah's Witnesses believe the Jesus and Michael are the same being. Mormons identity Michael with Adam.

One of the major feasts of Saint Michael the Archangel is September 29, a holiday known as Michaelmas (also part of the British school calendar tradition, as at Oxford).

May 8 is also a holiday for the archangel Michael, commemorating the "Apparition of Saint Michael," which took place at Mount Gargano in Italy in the year 490. You can read an account of this apparition in the Breviary for this day; look under the second nocturn, fifth lesson.

In this image of Saint Michael, you can see the Latin motto, quis ut deus, "who is as God (El)?" which is the meaning of Michael's Hebrew name:

Matsu Festival: May 9 2007

Matsu (Mazu) is a sea goddess in the Taoist tradition, and she is the protector of sailors, fishermen and all people whose lives are connected with the sea. As a result, the worship of this goddess is widespread in countries like Taiwan and Vietnam, where so many people live by the sea. Her official worship in China dates back to the 12th century.

The date for this festival moves from year to year in the Gregorian calendar because it is based on the Chinese calendar, which is a lunar calendar. The festival takes place on the twenty-third day of the third month, the "peach-blossom" month.

According to some legends, the goddess Matsu was originally a mortal woman, named Lim Bek-niu, who lived in the tenth century. She came from a family of fishermen. One day when her father and brothers were out fishing, a typhoon blew up. Lim Bek-niu began to pray for her father and brothers and fell into a trance. She saw her father and brothers and was able to reach out to them and hold them up in safety from the water, but when her mother tried to wake her from the trance, she dropped her father and he died at sea, so that only her brothers returned home safely. She then swam far into the ocean in order to try to rescue her father, and her body finally washed ashore on one of the Matsu Islands, a set of islands in the Taiwan Straits. In other versions of the story, she did not die at sea, but instead she climbed a mountain where she was lifted up into the heavens and transformed into a goddess.

After her death, people began to revere her memory and her worship as a goddess spread throughout Asia and has continued until modern times. Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants to the United States have built Matsu templates in cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles.

You can view a video online about Matsu worship in Taiwan at the Republic of China on Taiwan Multimedia Gallery.

Here is an image of a Matsu statue at Chua Ba Thien Hau (Camau Association of America) in Los Angeles:

Lag Ba'Omer: May 5-6 2007

Lag Ba'omer is a Jewish holiday which takes place on the 18th day of the month of Iyar in the Jewish calendar. So in 2007, the holiday of Lag Ba'Omer takes place on Sunday May 6, beginning at sundown on the previous day, Saturday May 5.

The name Lag Ba'Omer refers to the thirty-third day of the counting of the "Omer," a holiday season that lasts for a total of 49 days, starting from the second day of Passover. The word "Lag" is not really a word; it is a number. In Hebrew, as in ancient Greek, numbers were written with letters: lamed, ל, L = 30, and gimel, ג, G = 3, so L-G ("Lag") is 33.

The Lag Ba'Omer holiday goes back to the time of Rabbi Akiva. According to the Talmud, twenty-four thousand of the rabbi's students died from a plague that had been sent upon them as a punishment for not showing respect to each other. The plague came to an end on the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer, which is commemorated in the Lag Ba'Omer holiday.

According to other accounts, the holiday really commemorates the many soldiers who died in the Bar Kochva revolt which took place during Rabbi Akiva's lifetime.

The holiday is celebrated with dancing, singing and picnics. Bonfires are lighted, and children play games with bows and arrows. The day is a school holiday, and "Students' Day" is celebrated at many universities. You can read more about Lag Ba'Omer at About.Com or at the Velveteen Rabbi blog.

Here's a Lag Ba'Omer poster showing the different symbols of the holiday, available from Avron Judaica:

St. James the Just: May 3

May 3 is the holiday of Saint James the Just in the Catholic calendar... but shouldn't he be Saint Jacob?

There are several important characters named James (Hebrew Ya'akov) in the early history of Christianity. This James is the one called "James the Just," the brother of Jesus, the first bishop of Jerusalem and traditionally regarded as the author of the Epistle of James which forms part of the New Testament. Here is a lovely Greek icon of James found at wikipedia:



The English name "James" is a real conundrum and shows what dangers await anyone who reads the Bible in English, even in the most simple question of "who is who" and what names are used.

Think about it: you know the name "Jacob" very well from the Bible - it's a perfectly good name to use in a Bible translation, a standard way to represent the Hebrew name Ya'akov. Jacob is one of the most important characters in the Hebrew Bible, a major hero in the book of Genesis.

So... why do we have a book of James in the New Testament, for a man whose name was Ya'akov - like the Jacob of the book of Genesis...? It's definitely something worth thinking about!

I'm in a Greek reading group right now where we are reading the book of James - and no matter how hard I try to tell myself to say "book of Jacob" instead of "book of James," it's almost impossible to do so, given that I have grown up knowing that there is a book of James in the New Testament, not a book of Jacob.

This is not a unique problem, of course. There is Jacob in the book of Genesis, but James in the New Testament. There is Joshua, hero of his own book in the Hebrew Bible... and in the New Testament we find Jesus, not Joshua. Even more than Jacob and James, the story of Joshua and Jesus is an astounding example of the dilemma of names and translations, and how the Hebrew origins of Christianity have been so often obscured in the Christian texts themselves.

I know that not everybody is going to go out and learn Hebrew and Latin and Greek in order to trace the tangled threads that finally lead to what you read when you read the Bible in English. But every time you feel like pulling on one of those threads, just to see what happens, my advice is PULL! You will learn so much just from pursuing the question as far down the thread as you can follow.

So with James, you might even be provoked by a very simple question in English: why is it that the supporters of King James in England were called Jacobites? Well, that is because James is the English version (via French) of the name Iacobus in Latin, hence "Jacobites" who are supporters of King James, the King James Bible being an example of "Jacobean" prose, and so on.

Yet even in the Latin Vulgate Bible, there is a distinction between the Genesis character and the brother of Jesus . In the Vulgate Bible, the Genesis character is Iacob, and the New Testament character is Iacobus, a more fully Latinized form of the name. So just as "James" in the New Testament is opposed to "Jacob" in the Hebrew Bible, there is also a difference between the New Testament "Iacobus" and the "Iacob" of Genesis.

The same, but different. You can definitely say that James is the "same" as Jacob, but you can say just as certainly that they are not the same at all.

So whose day is it on May 3? The day of Saint James? or Saint Jacob? Take your pick... because even just saying whose day is being celebrated on the third of May is not easy to do, even in English!

Buddha Jayanti (Vesak): May 2 2007

Buddha Jayanti, the birthday (jayanti) of Gautama Buddha, is a movable holiday, and in 2007 it is being celebrated in many countries, including India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, on May 1/2, which is a full moon. This year, because May actually has two full moons, so in some countries, such as Thailand and Indonesia, the holiday is being celebrated during the full moon at the end of the month, on May 31/June 1.

Another name for this holiday is Vaisakha in Sanskrit (Vesak, Waisak, etc.), which is the name of the second month in the Buddhist calendar.

Although it is called the "birthday" of the Buddha, it celebrates not only the birth of the Buddha, but also his enlightenment (Nirvana) and also his passing away. You can read about different practices associated with the holiday at Vesak article in wikipedia.

For a general introduction to the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha, visit the Gautama Buddha article at wikipedia, where you will also find many related links.

Gautama Buddha was born, experienced his enlightenment and passed on in India, making it the historical home of Buddhism. Over time, Buddhism spread throughout the world, although it was not widely practiced in India. Yet it is very important to note that Gautama Buddha is regarded in Hinduism as an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. You can read about the Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu at wikipedia. You can also read an article about the Buddha and Hinduism at About.com.

If you would like to celebrate the Buddha Jayanti with a quick introduction to the core ideas of Buddhism, check out the articles about the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, and the Noble Eightfold Path.

I feel a great personal debt to Cheri Huber, the author of many beautiful books of Buddhist advice and teachings. If you are looking for a very friendly and warm introduction to some Buddhist ways of being, you might want to check out Cheri Huber's website, which contains many of her writings that you can read online.

The Dalai Lama has a website, too!

There is so much absolutely beautiful Buddhist art... making it hard to choose an image for today's post! Here is an image I've used at my World Literature class - a Bodhisattva from 10th-century Nepal:

Saint Athanasius: May 2

Athanasius of Alexandria died on May 2 in the year 373 and his feast day is celebrated on May 2 in the Catholic and Coptic churches (his feast day in the Orthodox calendar is January 18). Here is a modern icon of Athanasius from St. Athanasius Greek Orthodox Chapel in Alabama:



Athanasius is best known for his opposition to the ideas of Arius.

Arius asserted that God was single and absolute, existing as one being, one person, for all of time. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was not himself God. Christ was a created being, like God, but not equal to God.

Athanasius was bitterly opposed to the doctrine of Arius, and taught instead that Jesus Christ was an incarnation of God. Athanasius's writings helped to establish the doctrine of the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are three persons, but one in substance (the doctrine of "homoousia").

Eventually this belief would defeat Arianism, but Arius was profoundly influential during the fourth century and won many followers.

In his steadfast rejection of Arian's teachings, Athanasius became the subject of a famous saying: Athanasius contra mundum, "Athanasius against the world."

Finally, the views of Athanasius and his allies prevailed, and are enshrined in the Nicene Creed. Here is what the Nicene Creed says about the relationship of God and his Son: "We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father."

The Nicene Creed is used in many Christian churches, but the more simple Apostles' Creed is also widely used. Here is what it says about the begetting of Jesus Christ: "We believe... in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit."

There is also a creed called the Athanasian Creed. Although it bears his name, this creed was not written by Athanasius, yet it does express many of the beliefs he fought for. This creed is not used widely in any church liturgy. Here is just a part of what it says about the relationship among the persons of Trinity: "The Father is uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated; The Father is eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three who are eternal, but there is one who is eternal, just as they are not three who are uncreated, nor three who are infinite, but there is one who is uncreated and one who is infinite."

Both for Christians within the faith, and for people who look at Christianity from the outside, the Trinity is a very difficult doctrine to understand. To explore it further, you might check out a very basic and helpful page at the BBC's Religion and Ethics website.

One group of Christians who reject the doctrine of the Trinity are the Unitarians. For more information about the Unitarians, you can visit the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations website. Unitarianism has played an important role in the religious history of America and as you can discover on this page there are some very famous Americans who were Unitarians or Unitarian sympathizers, including one of my own personal heroes, the educational reformer and political philosopher John Dewey.

Somehow, I don't think Athanasius and John Dewey would have gotten along very well...

St. Joseph the Worker: May 1

May Day has had many holiday values over time (see Beltane, for example), but it is definitely best known in the 20th century as International Workers' Day.

Well, in 1955, Pope Pius XII declared a feast of "Saint Joseph the Worker," as a Catholic alternative to the Communist holiday. Saint Joseph has a traditional feast day as the "Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary," on March 19, but the May Day holiday is instead focused on Joseph the worker, the carpenter, with an emphasis on his role as a father-figure for the young Jesus.

Recently, Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters who build houses, has also taken on a special meaning for people selling houses. Yes, real estate agents. The story goes that if you bury a Saint Joseph statue in the yard, you will be able to sell the house quickly. "Saint Joseph Statue Home Sales Kits" are available from StJosephStatue.com for just $9.95.

Here is a picture of the kit, which includes a statue, a protective plastic burial bag along with a cloth storage bag:

Beltane and Walpurgisnacht: April 30 - May 1

Beltane is an old Gaelic holiday celebrated at the traditional beginning of summer, on May 1. It has become well-known again as a holiday adopted by Wiccans, who have made it one of their eight major holidays, based on the movement of the sun.

Why eight holidays? The movement of the sun is marked by four distinct movements: the spring and autumn equinoxes, and the summer and winter solstices - and the midpoint between each alternating equinox and solstice is also a holiday. So, Beltane is a "cross-quarter holiday," meaning that it is halfway between an equinox (the spring equinox) and a solstice (the summer solstice). As an astronomical holiday, the date can vary from year to year, but Beltane has become traditionally associated with the first day of May, with Beltane Eve celebrated on April 30.

The holiday that is paired with Beltane as a seasonal pair is Samhain, which comes between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Like Samhain, Beltane is a holiday traditionally associated with the other-world. One of the traditional festivities associated with Beltane is the lighting of bonfires on hilltops.

The lighting of bonfires is also associated with the festival of Walpurgisnacht, the Eve of Saint Walburga Day. The Walpurgisnacht festival has become associated with witches and witchcraft, as seen, for example, in Goethe's Faust. In more recent literature, J.K. Rowling has said that the "Death Eaters" in the Harry Potter books were originally called the "Knights of Walpurgis."

Walpurgis Night is one of the major holidays in Sweden (Valborgsmässoafton) where it is celebrated with bonfires. It is also a major holiday in Finland.

Here is a Walpurgis Night bonfire from Sweden:

Google Calendar: Religious Holidays

Using the amazing power of Google Calendar, I've created a Religious Holidays and Festival Calendar, which is being displayed at the bottom of this blog (visit the actual blog if you are reading this by RSS and you will see what I mean!).

Google Calendar is a free service that allows you to create and manage multiple calendars, share calendars, etc. - and they also offer great web services that allow you to configure an HTML version of the calendar to display dynamically on any webpage.

WOW. I am simply in awe of Google.

Now I will spend the weekend adding calendar events - and then, as I am able to write descriptions of the events as blog posts, I will add those as descriptions to the calendar entries - as I've already done for the Narasimha Jayanthi that will be on April 30 2007.

Narasimha Jayanti: April 30 2007

April 30 2007 will be the Hindu festival of Narasimha Jayanthi.

Narasimha, the man-lion (nara-simha), is one of the incarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu. A demon named Hiranyakashipu, an avowed enemy of Vishnu, had acquired great powers, and could not be killed by human, deva or animal. His son, Prahlada, however, was deeply devoted to Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu was outraged and tried to kill his own son, but Prahlada was under Vishnu's protection. Defying his father, Prahlada was not afraid and maintained that Vishnu was everywhere.

Finally, Hiranyakashipu asked his son if Vishnu was in a pillar. When Prahlada affirmed that "He was, He is and He will be," Hiranyakashipu smashed the pillar, and Vishnu emerged from the pillar in the form of the Narasimha. As a divine man-lion, Vishnu was not simply god or human or animal, and hence Hiranyakashipu was not protected against him. In his ambiguous form, at the ambiguous time of twilight, in the ambiguous space of the threshold, Narasimha put the demon Hiranyakashipu on his lap (neither on the ground nor in the air), and killed him.

You can read about Vishnu's incarnation as Narasimha at wikipedia. You can also read the story at Encyclopedia Mythica.

You can read Prayers to Lord Narasimhadeva at Stephen Knapp's website. There are photos of Narasimha worship at Photo.net, and you can see a slideshow of a 2005 Narasimha Festival and a 2006 Narasimha Festival in Bangalore.

Here is a Yoga Narasimha statue at a temple in Vijayanagara, Hampi, India (wikipedia).



Here is a beautiful image from the British Library: "This page comes from an 18th-century folding cloth book of religious and mythological oil-colour paintings, copied from originals in the Brahmanical Pagoda of Chokalingam at Madhura in Karnataka."

Calendars

Something I'd like to do here is try to keep track of information about different religious holidays as the calendar goes by. I've done a little bit of this with my daily online course announcements, but I haven't been very systematic about it - hopefully I get more organized here in exploring the dates of different religious calendars. Suggestions for more calendars to add? Let me know! It's sure a complicated topic, especially with movable holidays, non-Gregorian calendars, and so on!

Here are some calendars I found I can use online to keep up with different holidays:

• BBC Multifaith Calendar
• 2007 Belief.net Calendar
• 2007 Interfaith Calendar
• 2007 Ethnic and Religious Dates
• Holidays: Europe 2007
• Non-Gregorian Holiday Calendars
• When is...?
• Hindu Festivals Calendar
• Zen Buddhist Calendar
• Judaism 101 Calendar
• Catholic Forum Saints
• Orthodox Saints
• Coptic Calendar
• Muslim Events