{"id":7528,"date":"2008-01-13T18:10:18","date_gmt":"2008-01-13T22:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7528"},"modified":"2018-12-28T09:52:04","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T13:52:04","slug":"journeys-through-the-sacred-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7528","title":{"rendered":"Journey Through the Sacred Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/em>The Jewish Year\u2014Iris Petroff<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iris, who is director of membership\nand programs at Temple Society of Concord, explained that the Jewish calendar\nis very complex. It is a lunisolar calendar consisting of 12 months in a\nnon-leap year (totaling 353, 354, or 355 days) and 13 months in a leap year (totaling\n383, 384, or 385 days). In every\n19-year cycle, there are 7 leap years. This summary is simple, but computing\nthe calendar is a very complicated task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new moon is celebrated each\nmonth. On that day, Jewish women traditionally take time for themselves, time to\nbe and talk with other women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To a great extent, Jewish\ncelebrations are grounded in the agricultural year. Even though most people\nthink of Rosh Hashanah as the \u201cJewish New Year,\u201d the year actually begins in\nthe spring, with the month of Nisan and the holiday of Passover, or Pesach,\nwhich commemorates the ancient Jews\u2019 exodus from Egypt. This was the time when\nthe Jewish people became free and, just a few months later, accepted their\nrelationship and covenant with God.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The days and weeks leading up to\nPassover are a time for cleaning and scrubbing. Jews are commanded to eat only\nunleavened foods during Passover (as a remembrance that their ancestors,\nin their haste to leave Egypt,\ndid not have time to let their bread dough rise), so before the holiday begins,\nthey remove all traces of chametz, or leavening,\nfrom their house. They scrub all surfaces that might have come into contact with food; they buy food that is\nkosher for Passover and dispose of food that is not; they put away their\neveryday sets of dishes and utensils and unpack their Passover sets; they\nreplace or rigorously clean their cooking pots. Many women find that these\nrituals, in addition to satisfying the proscription against consuming chametz\nduring Passover, also provide them with an opportunity to focus on the basics\nof their lives and to ground themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in the spring, Jews celebrate\nShavuot in remembrance of the time when their ancestors received the Torah at\nMount Sinai. They recall the promises their ancestors made to pass on their\nfaith, and they celebrate the importance of being part of a faith community. Jews\nhave a tradition of counting each of the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot;\neach day is a time to remind themselves that they are important and to\nreconnect with their faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half a year after Passover is Rosh\nHashanah, the \u201cnew year,\u201d which really begins on the first day of the seventh\nmonth of the Jewish calendar. Just as others celebrate their birthday on a\nspecific date and flip the calendar over on January 1, Jews celebrate the birth\nof their communal faith at Passover but flip the calendar over at Rosh\nHashanah. This holy day is another opportunity for reflection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosh Hashanah is followed by Yom\nKippur, the Day of Atonement, when Jews think about the past year, talk to\nothers to ask forgiveness, and make a plan for improvement in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jews then move into the celebration\nof the harvest, Sukkot, called the Feast of Tabernacles or the Festival of\nBooths. It is at this time that Jews build a booth (sukkah). In some climates,\nJews live in the booth for seven days. In Syracuse, some may eat outside in the\nbooth or even sleep there if the weather is nice. Staying in the booth reminds Jews\nof the fragility of life, that no matter how much money one has, all people are\nequally subject to forces beyond their control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanukkah, which is actually a minor\nholiday in the Jewish calendar, is celebrated next. Hanukkah is based upon\nlight. It is a holiday of dedication and, in the United States, of gift giving.\nHanukkah is a chance for Jews to spend time with family, light candles against\nthe darkness, and recommit themselves to their faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jewish calendar is one of\nconstant reflection and personal renewal. Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, is\ncelebrated each week from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. This is a time\nto slow down, count one\u2019s blessings, express gratitude, and reflect upon what\nis really important. Iris portrayed Shabbat as a gift that can be a great joy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese Year\u2014May Becker <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

May was born in China and immigrated\nto the United States from Hong Kong. May told us that the Chinese calendar was\nstarted in the time of the emperor Huang-di (literally, the \u201cYellow Emperor\u201d) in\n2697 bce. It is both a lunar and a\nsolar calendar. Its months have 29 or 30 days each and never coincide with the months\nof the Gregorian calendar. Years with 13 new moons are leap years; they have 13\nmonths and therefore 30 more days than non-leap years. Today\u2019s year on the\nChinese calendar is 4705; February 7, 2008, will mark the beginning of the year\n4706, the Year of the Rat. Each year is named after an animal; May told a folk\ntale about which animal gets to be first in the cycle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese New Year is a 14-day\ncelebration. Chinese people visit each other and pay their respects to their\nelders and their boss. In an urban setting, they may pay their respects to\ntheir boss at the office rather than calling on the boss at his or her home, as\nis the traditional way. Children and servants love the New Year celebration because\nanyone visiting their house brings them money in a red envelope. May told us\nthat whenever a guest left money at her house, her mother would check the\namount so she would know how much to leave at the guest\u2019s house when her family\ncalled on them. Green tea is served in a tea cup with a lid; on top of the lid\nis always a fresh olive. Dried fruits and seeds are served on a platter; each\nof these represents money or wishes for prosperity. On New Years Eve, the\nfamily gets together and cooks \u201chot pot\u201d in a communal vessel; various foods\nare cut up, and each member of the family chooses what she or he wants to add\nto the broth that is simmering in the pot. Firecrackers are set off to scare away\nthe devil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Chinese culture, children\ncelebrate two birthdays: their Chinese birthday and their birthday on the\nGregorian calendar, which was adopted in China in 1912. The Chinese birthday is\nusually about a month earlier than the Gregorian birthday. The Chinese consider\na child to be one year old at birth because of the time spent in its mother\u2019s\nwomb. May assured us that when she gives her age, she does not give her Chinese\nage! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese culture is very respectful\nof its elders, who always come first in all celebrations. The Chinese never\ncall a person older than they are by his or her first name, but rather address\nthat person as \u201caunt\u201d or \u201cuncle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wiccan Year\u2014Terra Harmatuk <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terra has been a Wiccan high\npriestess for ten years. She told us that Wiccans hold lunar celebrations\n(esbats) at the full moon and the dark moon. Wiccans work with the old gods and\ngoddesses as archetypes of Spirit and as a way of connecting with Deity. They\nrecognize the Goddess in all women; therefore, all women are sisters. Similarly,\nthey recognize the God in all men. Each person has a spark of the divine\nwithin. Deity is everywhere and in all living things, not in heaven or some\nother place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full moon is a time for celebrating the Goddess and doing\nhealing work. The dark moon is considered a time of women\u2019s mysteries; sometimes\nmen will work separately on men\u2019s mysteries. Wiccans do deep inner work at these\ntimes, dealing with pain, fear and anger that might remain unresolved and be holding\nthem back. These emotions are brought into the open and acknowledged by the\nother members of the group. As people open themselves up to love and compassion,\nhealing can begin, and they can go forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiccans also meet eight times a\nyear for the Sabbats, which are based on the solar Wheel of the Year, for God\nis often seen as the light of the sun. The Sabbats are celebrated at the winter\nand summer solstices, the spring and fall equinoxes, and the cross quarters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    At\nYule (winter solstice), Wiccans may sit in the darkness and reenact the birth\nof the sun child, born of Mother Goddess from the darkness. They light and jump\nover the Yule log, carrying with them their hopes for the world. There is often\ndrumming and wassailing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    Imbolc,\non February 2, marks the quickening within the earth and is often celebrated\nwith candle lighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    Ostara\nis the spring equinox, a time of balance between light and darkness. This is a\ntime when Wiccans seek harmony in their lives, often planting seeds and\/or dyeing\neggs red to symbolize fertility and rebirth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    Beltane\nis celebrated on May 1. The maypole is a phallic symbol thrust into Mother\nEarth, a symbol of the marriage of the God and the Goddess. Wiccans put their\ndreams into the ribbons of the maypole, so as they dance around it they are\nsending those dreams and good energies out into the universe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    Litha,\nthe summer solstice, is a time of extreme power and strength and is traditionally\ncelebrated on a beach at dusk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    Lughnasadah,\nor Lammas, also known as Loaf Mass Day or the Feast of the Bread, usually falls\non August 1. It celebrates the first harvest. The first grain is ground, and\nfrom that grain, bread baked. Just as the grain has sacrificed itself, Wiccans\nbelieve that they too need to make a willing sacrifice for the good of others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    Mabon\nis the fall equinox, another time of balance. It celebrates the second harvest\nand is the Wiccan Thanksgiving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    Samhain\n(Halloween) is the Feast of the Dead, a time to recognize beloved ancestors and\nfriends who have crossed over. Most Wiccans see death as just one more step\nalong our paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bah\u00e1’\u00ed Year\u2014Mam Yassin Sarr-Fox <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yassin is a member of the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed faith and a graduate student at Syracuse University. In her native land, the Gambia, West Africa, she was educated in Baptist, Methodist and Catholic schools. She was born a Muslim but became attracted to the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed faith because of its inclusiveness. Bah\u00e1’\u00eds accept the teachings of all faiths as paths to the same God. As a Bah\u00e1’\u00ed, Yassin gets to celebrate others\u2019 religions. This feels familiar to her because even as a Muslim child growing up in the Gambia, she would celebrate Christian holidays with her Christian friends from school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every 19 days, Bah\u00e1’\u00eds gather for a Feast. Yassin explained that you are supposed to treat all the other people at the Feast as if they are better than you. Each Feast comprises a devotional portion, a consultation portion (where people talk honestly about what is going on in the community), and a social portion (where people eat and socialize). The Bah\u00e1’\u00ed calendar has 19 months of 19 days each, totaling 361 days. Each month is named for a quality of God, such as Splendor, Mercy or Light, so as to help Bah\u00e1’\u00eds better understand God. The 19th<\/sup> month (Loftiness) is a month of fasting. The four or five days of the year needed to make a total of 365 or 366 days are gift-giving days with much celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of each day, Bah\u00e1’\u00eds are supposed to do a reckoning, asking themselves, \u201cWhat did I do right today?\u201d They thank God for doing good through them. They also ask God, \u201cWhat did I not do right today?\u201d For these, they ask forgiveness and for help to do better the next day. Bah\u00e1’\u00eds recite an obligatory daily prayer, the words of which Yassin wrote on a handout that she passed out to us. Bah\u00e1’\u00eds are strongly encouraged to meditate every day. They also celebrate nine holy days, many of which pertain to events in the lives and deaths of the B\u00e1b and Bah\u00e1’u’ll\u00e1h, the two prophets of their faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Bah\u00e1’\u00eds get together, it is not just for worship, but also to discuss ways to serve their communities and help bring about the oneness of humanity. Bah\u00e1’\u00eds believe that the purpose of religion is to bring the world together, and that the highest form of worship is work done in the spirit of service. Bah\u00e1’\u00eds study not only their own scripture, but also the books of other faiths, for they believe that, \u201cThe Heavenly Books\u2014the Bible, the Qur\u0384an and the other Holy Writings\u2014have been given by God as guides into the paths of divine virtue, love, justice and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Christian Year\u2014Nancy Sullivan Murray <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nancy is an active Roman Catholic\nlaywoman and a former president of the Syracuse Interreligious Council (predecessor\nof InterFaith Works of Central New York). She remarked that upon hearing the\nother presentations, she was fascinated by how similar we all are. The fact\nthat some groups of us do not get along is very sad. What we are talking about\ntoday, Nancy said, is \u201csacred time,\u201d when we step into \u201choly spaces,\u201d the\nmosque, the synagogue, the temple, the church. Our stories and symbols are what\nunite us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christianity is a religion rich in\nsymbols, rituals and liturgies. Christianity has many connections to both the\nagricultural year and the lunar <\/strong>year.\nIn urban societies, however, many Christians are less aware of where the Church\nplaces them in sacred time and seasonal time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    The\nChristian year begins with Advent, the darkest time of the year, the four weeks\nbefore Christmas. One of the prayers said repeatedly during Advent is, \u201cThe\npeople who wait in darkness have seen a great light.\u201d They wait for the time\nwhen people will come together in the great light and will rejoice at being one\nwith each other. Back in the days when common people did not read, the Church\nused colors to denote the seasons. The color for Advent, a time of fasting and\nreflection, is purple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    For\na time of great joy, such as Christmas or Easter, the vestments and\naccoutrements are white or gold. After the joy of Christmas, Christians enter\ninto a time between seasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    February\n2 is the Feast of Candlemas, which officially closes the Christmas season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    Then\nChristians enter the six-and-a-half-week season of Lent, another long period of\nfasting and reflection, of giving up things they enjoy doing. The day before Lent\nis Mardi Gras (meaning \u201cfat Tuesday\u201d in French). Mardi Gras has other names,\nincluding Pancake Tuesday (the day when people fried pancakes in order to use\nup all their oil before Lent), Carnival (from the Latin carne vale<\/em>, meaning \u201cfarewell to meat\u201d), and Shrove Tuesday (a day when people are looking\nfor forgiveness, to be \u201cshriven\u201d of their sins). The earliest date Nancy found\nfor Mardi Gras was in the 13th<\/sup> century, when the festival was\ncelebrated in Venice. Mardi Gras was brought by Europeans to the Louisiana\nTerritory, where it is still celebrated. The first Mardi Gras parade in the United\nStates might have been in Mobile, Alabama, in 1703. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    Whereas\nChristmas is a set date on the Gregorian calendar (named after Pope Gregory who\ndevised the mathematics of the calendar), Easter is based on the lunar\ncalendar. It is the first Sunday after the first full moon of the spring\nequinox. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022    Fifty\ndays after Easter is the Feast of Pentecost, which was originally a celebration\nof the first harvest. Pentecost was the time when followers of Jesus first took\nto the streets to preach their belief that Jesus had become the Christ, had\ndied and had risen; that their lives were intertwined with his; and that we are\nall one with each other. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speakers described the calendar used in their faith or tradition and the days and seasons of special observance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[30,15,42,17,31],"class_list":["post-7528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-programs","tag-bahai","tag-christianity","tag-holy-days","tag-judaism","tag-wicca",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7528"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8720,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7528\/revisions\/8720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}