Thursday night I got to see Bruce Springsteen in concert. There is a seriously religious experience! (And it was a fantastic show, by the way...)
- jmh On 3/21/08, Pat Mathews <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > And Thursday was one of the 8 pagan holidays, the Spring > Equinoxhttp://idiotgrrl.livejournal.com/ > > > Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:39:00 -0500> To: brin-l@mccmedia.com> From: > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Fwd: Interesting Day> > Good > Friday! Happy Purim, Eid, etc...> > > Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2008 By DAVID VAN > BIEMA WITH SIMON ROBINSON/NEW DELHI> > > On Friday more than a billion > Christians around the world will mark > the gravest observance on their > Calendar, Good Friday, the day Jesus > died on the cross. (To be followed in > two days by Easter Sunday, to > mark his Resurrection).> > But unlike some > holy days, say, Christmas, which some non-Christians > in the U.S. observe > informally by going to a movie and ordering > Chinese food, on this > particular Friday, March 21, it seems almost no > believer of any sort will > be left without his or her own holiday. In > what is statistically, at > least, a once-in-a-millennium combination, > the following will all occur on > the 21st:> > Good Friday> Purim, a Jewish festival celebrating the biblical > book of Esther> Narouz, the Persia > n New Year, which is observed with Islamic > elaboration in Iran and all > the "stan" countries, as well as by > Zoroastrians and Baha'is.> Eid Milad > an Nabi, the Birth of the Prophet, which is celebrated by > some but not all > Sunni Muslims and, though officially beginning on > Thursday, is often > marked on Friday.> Small Holi, Hindu, an Indian festival of bonfires, to be > followed on > Saturday by Holi, a kind of Mardi Gras.> Magha Puja, a > celebration of the Buddha's first group of followers, > marked primarily in > Thailand.> > "Half the world's population is going to be celebrating > something," > says Raymond Clothey, Professor Emeritus of Religious studies > at the > University of Pittsburgh. "My goodness," says Delton Krueger, owner > > of www.interfaithcalendar.org, who follows "14 major religions and > six > others." He counts 20 holidays altogether (including some > religious > double-dips, like Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) between > the 20th (which > is also quite crowded) and t > he 21st. He marvels: > "There is no other time in 2008 when there is this > kind of concentration."> > And in fact for quite a bit longer than that. Ed > Reingold and Nachum > Dershowitz, co-authors of the books Calendrical > Calculations and > Calendrical Tabulations, determined how often in the > period between > 1600 and 2400 A.D. Good Friday, Purim, Narouz and the Eid > would occur > in the same week. The answer is nine times in 800 years. Then > they > tackled the odds that they would converge on a two-day period. And > > the total is ... only once: tomorrow. And that's not even counting > Magha > Puja and Small Holi.> > Unless you are mathematically inclined, however, you > may not see the > logic in all this. If it's the 21st of March, you may ask, > shouldn't > all the religions of the world celebrate the same holiday on > that > date each year?> > No. There are a sprinkling of major holidays > (Western Christmas is > one) that fall each year on the same day of the > Gregorian calendar, a > f > airly standard non-religious system and the one Americans are most > > familiar with.> > But almost none of tomorrow's holidays actually follows > that > calendar. All Muslim holy days, for instance, are calculated on a > > lunar system. Keyed to the phases of the moon, Islam's 12 months are > each > 29 and a half days long, for a total of 354 days a year, or 11 > days fewer > than on ours. That means the holidays rotate backward > around the Gregorian > calendar, occurring 11 days earlier each year. > That is why you can have an > "easy Ramadan" in the spring, when going > without water all day is > relatively easy, or a hard one in the > summer. And why the Prophet's > birthday will be on March 9 next year.> > Then there is the Jewish calendar, > which determines the placement of > Purim. It is "lunisolar," which means > that holidays wander with the > moon until they reach the end of what might > be thought of as a > month-long tether, which has the effect of maintaining > them in the > same seaso > n every year.> > Good Friday, meanwhile, like many of the other most > important > Christian holidays, is a set number of days before Easter. The > only > problem is that the date of Easter is probably the most complicated > > celebratory calculation this side of Hinduism, which has a number of > > competing religious calendars. The standard rule is "the Sunday after > the > first full moon on or after the day of the vernal equinox." But > in fact, > the actual divination of the date is so involved that it has > its own > offical name: "computus." And so challenging that Carl > Friedrich Gauss, > one of history's greatest mathematicians, devoted > the time to create an > algorithm for it. It goes on for many > lines. And, of course, it doesn't > work for Eastern Orthodox Easter > (about one month later than the Western > Christian one this year, on April 27).> > So, should we celebrate all these > celebrations? Yes, says William > Paden, the author of Religious Worlds: The > Comparative Study of > R > eligion and a professor at the University of Vermont ? at least to > the > extent that we revere the drive to carve out sacred time in the > middle of > the day-by-day profane. "Each of these religions is > creating its own > world, with its own time and space and memory > system," he says. They > recognize what's of real value, and they > encode it, and it forms an > architecture of memory." Yes, says Bruce > Lawrence, the head of Islamic > Studies at Duke University, who was > invited to speak at a nearby synagogue > when the beginnings of Rosh > Hashanah and Ramadan happened to coincide last > year.> > But be cautious, since human nature is as fickle as coincidence. > > "When one group is grieving and one is jubilant there are some > unfortunate > tensions," says Anand Kumar, with the Centre for the > Study of Social > Systems at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, > a city with > considerable experience with multiple faiths. Such > conjunctions have led > to conflicts and even riots, not ju > st when > moods clash, but because "the public sphere is being contested." > > Kumar is convinced, however, that "a new generation is emerging that > is > more pluralistic and they don't feel threatened just because > someone is > from another religion."> > > > > > _______________________________________________> > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l > _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
