javamanjoe/religion

BEAUTIFUL TEMPLES AT THIS SITE FROM AROUND THE WORLD. Thanks 'shefali21'. PHOTO: Shwedagon Paya ( Pagoda )
No one knows exactly when this temple in Myanmar was built. Legend has it that it is 2,500 years old though archaeologists estimate that it was built between the 6th and 10th century.

ANCIENT HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN. Thanks 'piever'. The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening," but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day,"[6] which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions,[7] until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.

THAI TEMPLE BUILD OUTTA ONE MILLION RECYCLED BOTTLES. The Wat Pa Maha Chedio Kaew temple has found a way to bottle-up Nirvana, literally. The temple, which sits in Thailand's Sisaket province, roughly 370 miles northeast of Bangkok is made of more than a million recycled glass bottles. True to its nickname, "Wat Lan Kuad" or "Temple of Million Bottles" features glass bottles throughout the premises of the temple, including the crematorium, surrounding shelters, and yes - even the toilets. There's an estimated 1.5 million recycled bottles built into the temple, and as you might have guessed, they are committed to recycling more. After all, the more bottles they get, the more buildings they are able to construct.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT SAMHAIN IS? UNDERSTANDING 'HALLOWEEN' AND THE CELTIC YEAR. Thanks 'bristol3'. Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st, known today of course, as Halloween.

'MYSTERIES OF TEMPLAR TREASURE AND THE HOLY GRAIL'. BOOK REVIEW. Thanks 'antdav'. The authors also examine Rennes le Chateau's history, its proximity to Cathar and Templar fortresses, its mystical layout, and its location on the same Paris Meridian as so many other esoteric mysteries. Extensive appendices in the book offer possible solutions to secret cryptograms; points out odd connections and commonalities between Rennes le Chateau and J.R.R. "Tolkien's Lord of the Rings; and the possibility of fourth-dimension/tesseract implications. "Mysteries of Templar Treasure and The Holy Grail is a great overview of the Templar mysteries and secrets in Rennes le Chateau--and their possibly earth-shattering significance for today.

EARILEST REFERENCES DESCRIBE JESUS CHRIST AS A 'MAGICIAN'. Thanks 'aliasinkhorn'. A bowl, dating to between the late 2nd century B.C. and the early 1st century A.D., is engraved with what may be the world's first known reference to Christ. The engraving reads, "DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS," which has been interpreted to mean either, "by Christ the magician" or, "the magician by Christ."

NEPAL DECLARES 3 YEAR OLD AS NEW LIVING GODDESS. Thanks 'onestonedcrow'. KATMANDU, Nepal - Hindu and Buddhist priests chanted sacred hymns and cascaded flowers and grains of rice over a 3-year-old girl who was appointed a living goddess in Nepal on Tuesday.

UNUSUAL AND STRANGE KUTNA HORA BONE CHURCH. This bone church is located in Kutna Hora, a few miles outside of Prague in the Czech Republic. Officially called the Sedlec Ossuary, it is often just referred to as "the bone church" and contains over 40,000 bones arranged to decorate this Roman Catholic Church.


ANOTHER PHOTO.