Posted in Beliefs, History, tagged Easter, Hot Cross Buns on March 31, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns,
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot Cross Buns.
If you have no daughters,
give them to your sons,
one ha’ penny,
two ha’ penny,
Hot Cross Buns.
~ traditional English rhyme
In many Christian cultures these sweet spiced buns are baked and sold around the time of the Easter festival, the cross symbolising the crucifixion of [...]
Posted in Beliefs, History, tagged Iran, Persia on March 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
March 20 th was the first day of spring, the Persian New Year, or Nowrūz in Iran.
The festival- dating back to Zoroastrian times- continues to be celebrated, with people dressing as troubadors or Hajo Firuz and wearing making up and bright-colored satin clothing, dancing and making music in the streets, all of which is frowned upon by [...]
Posted in Current events, History, Imagery, tagged 'Devil's Bible', Codex Gigas on March 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Codex Gigas is the world’s largest surviving medieval manuscript and the subject of an upcoming National Geographic film about the fictional history of the manuscript.
Written in the early 13 th century by Benedictine monks, the book is famous for a depiction of the Devil alongside one of Heaven:
Interestingly it is the image of the devil-figure which [...]
Posted in Beliefs, Current events, Imagery, tagged Atheist Bus Campaign, Christian Bus Campaign, Dogma on March 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Following the Atheist Bus Campaign by The Humanist Society in the UK The Christian Party also put signs on buses, with both atheists and christians lodging complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority of the factual inaccuracy of the other’s claims. The ASA ruling is below.
In the 2001 government census less than half of the respondents [...]
Posted in Beliefs, People, Religion, tagged Amish, Rumschpringe on March 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Rumschpringe means ‘running around’ in German, and in the Amish culture it is the time for adolescents to experience the wider American culture- which they call ‘English’- for the first time, including modern clothing, using cell-phones and cars, pop music and alcohol.
The Amish traditionally have large families, and at any other point the Amish would shun unrepentent [...]
Posted in Beliefs, tagged Judaism, Purim on March 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Jewish people celebrating Purim used to dress as kings and queens, but in modern times it is one big costume party: anything goes!
Menorah Man ( below ) as well as host of other costumes are available online for worldwide shipping at CostumeSuperCenter.com
Kacha yay’ase l’ish asher hamelech chafaytz bikaro.
‘So will be done for a man [...]
Posted in Current events, History, Organisations, tagged Northern Ireland, Politics, Religion, RIRA terrorism on March 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The murder of two soldiers and a policeman and attempted murder of four others in Northern Ireland last weekend have prompted people to march in the streets and organise peace vigils.
Silent protests took place today in Belfast, Londonderry, Lisburn, Newry, Downpatrick and Craigavon, reminiscent of the Peace People protests of the 1970s.
Out of the unimaginably horrible [...]
Posted in Charity, Current events, Organisations, Places, tagged Darfur on March 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Save Darfur is a coalition of charities and agencies working to promote awareness of the situation in Darfur, where 3 million people have now been killed.
Colin Powell in the US first referred to the situation as a genocide in 2004, which is when Save Darfur was founded, but it is only this week when the International Criminal [...]
Posted in Beliefs, tagged Islam, Mawlid an Nabi on March 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Next week’s Mawlid an Nabi marks the birthdate of the Prophet Muhammad in some of the Islamic religions. Although he was born in 570 and exorted followers not to make a big celebration out of the birthdate as Christian religions do, by the 13 th century it was celebrated with gift-giving, family gatherings and a month of [...]
