January 1 is celebrated both as the Naming of Jesus (the 8th day after his birth – Luke 2:21), and as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Mary (“Miriam”) bears the same name as Moses’ sister. A strong woman. She is married to Joseph. The names of the rest of the family are also
The chances are 364/365 AGAINST that Jesus was historically born December 25! This horrifies some people when they discover it. Furthermore it wasn’t 0 AD – there wasn’t even a 0 AD. Zero is a relatively late concept, and the year before 1 AD is 1BC. So where do we get December 25 from for
Is it still Christmas? Adam Sandler hanukkah song Lyrics : Put on your yalmulka, here comes hanukkah Its so much fun-akkah to celebrate hanukkah, Hanukkah is the festival of lights, Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights. When you feel like the only kid in town without a x-mas tree, heres
We were walking to Christmas Midnight Mass when my son insightfully asks, “We’re celebrating Jesus’ birth – right? So why are we having communion and so thinking about his death?” The question hung with me throughout the Eucharist. At the blessing of the crib, a mistranslation of Luke’s Gospel was read that may be a
These are some of the celebrations around this time: Christmas, Kwanzaa, Eid al-Adha, Hanukkah, Al-Hijira. If there’s one on that list you don’t know much or anything about, how about doing a bit of online research? Or read about it in a book? Or step out of the non-virtual world and go and meet some
What do you bring as a “hello” gift to an enclosed, contemplative Roman Catholic nun? The September edition of the Christchurch magazine Avenues had produced a splendid article on the Christchurch Carmelite Monastery of Christ the King (I cannot locate an online version of the article – sorry). A lot was written about Sr Cushla,
An interesting response to my series of badges, one for each week of Advent, has been a request to continue producing badges – one for Christmas, and in fact through the seasons. Many people like, from time to time, to add a badge to their website or blog. If you like the idea – send
