Medieval Spanish pilgrim’s guide missing from Santiago de Compostela cathedral
Spanish police are investigating the disappearance of the Codex Calixtinus, a valuable 12th century manuscript, from the Santiago de Compostela cathedral in northwestern region of Galicia, a spokesman said on Thursday. The manuscript is a collection of sermons and liturgical texts and served as a guide for the historical Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, which dates back to the Middle Ages.
The elaborately illustrated document disappeared from a safe deposit box in the cathedral last week. Its suspected theft, only reported to police on Wednesday, is considered a major loss for Spain’s cultural and religious heritage.
Santiago Cathedral is the reputed burial place of Saint James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ who according to legend arrived in Spain to preach Christianity. Another version of the story says the remains of St James – Santiago is Spanish for St James – were brought to Spain by two of his followers after he was beheaded in Jerusalem in AD 42.
The tomb was lost or kept secret for centuries until 813 when it was rediscovered by a bishop who was guided to the spot by a star. In the 11th century, work started on the cathedral whose ornate baroque towers, an 18th century addition visible from miles away, guide pilgrims towards their destination.
China plans to help Nepal develop Buddha’s birthplace at Lumbini
A Chinese-backed foundation and Nepal’s government plan to transform Lord Buddha’s birthplace in southern Nepal into a magnet for Buddhists in the same way as Mecca is to Muslims and the Vatican for Catholics. The Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation plans to raise $3 billion at home and abroad to build temples, an airport, a highway, hotels, convention centres and a Buddhist university in the town of Lumbini, about 171 km (107 miles) southwest of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.
The foundation, blessed by the Chinese government, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nepalese government last month to jointly develop and operate Lumbini, where Buddha was born Prince Gautama Siddhartha about 2,600 years ago. The foundation also pledged to bring communications, water and electricity to Lumbini.
Buddhism was virtually wiped out in China during the chaotic 1966-76 Cultural Revolution when temples were shut, Buddhist statues smashed, scriptures burned, and monks and nuns forced to return to secular life and marry. In recent years, China has become more tolerant of Buddhism, which is considered “traditional culture” alongside Taoism and Confucianism.
“Lumbini will transcend religion, ideology and race. We hope to rejuvenate the spirit of Lord Buddha,” said Xiao Wunan, a devout Buddhist who is executive vice president of the foundation. The development of Lumbini will also help boost government revenues, create jobs and improve infrastructure in the impoverished corner of Nepal, the two sides said in the memorandum. The town attracts nearly 500,000 tourists each year.
Xiao hopes Lumbini can bring together all three schools of Buddhism — the Mahayana, or “Greater Vehicle” which is dominant in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan; Tibetan Buddhism; and the Theravada or Hinayana (“Lesser Vehicle”) which is popular in Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Many Nepalese wants to correct this. Thanks to this. But many specially orthodox Hindus don’t want to see being happen and try to muscle some way political. They think that Buddhism is an immediate threat to them and their existence. They just talk but they don’t adore. It is a headache. They are plagued by the same old foundation of fixity, pollution and Non-secularism. Thank to the Foundation and Secularism. They don’t want to see Buddhism being a World Class Religion.
Haj pilgrims flock to Mount Arafat to beg forgiveness
Millions of Muslims gathered around Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Mohammad delivered his last sermon, to beg for God’s forgiveness on Monday, the spiritual climax of the annual haj pilgrimage. Pilgrims flocked mostly on foot to Arafat, a rocky outcrop in a dusty plain a few kilometers away from Mecca, to pray until sunset. They set up tents where they could, squatted on the side of the road in shelters or stayed at the nearby Namira mosque.
A record of at least 2.5 million pilgrims have come to Saudi Arabia to perform this year’s haj, one of the world’s biggest displays of mass religious devotion. So far, the authorities have reported none of the major problems or disasters that marred the event in previous years, such as building collapses and deadly stampedes caused by overcrowding.
But the sheer number of pilgrims was still a worry for the Saudi government. Around 100,000 security forces have been deployed to the oversee the pilgrimage, security officials said.
“I thank God for sending me to haj but it’s really difficult with so many people here and the heat,” Mohammed Ramzi, a pilgrim from Egypt, said as he cooled off under one of thousands of water sprinklers erected by the authorities against temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius. “I’ve just lost a friend in the crowd … but God will give me the strength to perform haj despite the difficulties.”
“Haj is difficult with the crowds and heat but God will help us,” said Abdulrahman Kado, a pilgrim from Nigeria.
Saudi Arabia opens Chinese-built haj pilgrimage train
Hoping to decrease accidents and boost tourism, Saudi has built a railway line to improve transport for millions of Muslims who flock to the kingdom on the annual haj and move en masse from one holy site to another. At least 2.5 million pilgrims are expected to perform the haj, which began on Sunday. One of the world’s biggest religious gatherings, it has been marred in the past by stampedes, accidents and political demonstrations.
Authorities say the 6.6 billion riyal ($1.76 billion) project will lessen congestion of the pilgrim route swollen with some 70,000 cars and buses jamming the roads. The railway is the first such project in more than half a century in the world’s top oil exporter. It will ferry pilgrims around holy sites outside Mecca to perform rites such as the “devil’s stoning”, when pilgrims stone a wall in ritual defiance of the devil and temptation.
The 18-km train line has stops at Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa, haj sites that Islamic tradition says Prophet Ibrahim — the biblical patriarch Abraham — once visited and that Prophet Mohammad established as a pilgrim route 14 centuries ago. The Chinese-built train is the latest high-tech addition to the haj after Saudi Arabia built electric stairways in the Grand Mosque and showers to cool off pilgrims following the haj route. The ticket, good for a week, costs $70.
The project was completed in about a year but much still needs to be done — many buildings have Chinese signs but no windows or walls yet. The train will transport 180,000 passengers this haj, said Habib Zein Al Abideen, assistant minister for municipial and rural affairs. Due to its limited capacity, the train will only be open this year to Saudis and Gulf Arabs and next year will open to others, he said.
“We will have a capacity of 72,000 passengers per hour next year. This year we operate at 35 percent capacity. Next year we could have 500,000 to 600,000 passengers,” Abideen said, sitting in an airconditioned makeshift container office.
Apart from a city metro in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched in 2009, the haj train is the first passenger railway completed on the Arabian Peninsula for more than half a century. The only other overland passenger line remains a railway built in the 1950s linking the capital Riyadh and Dammam on the Saudi’s east coast, home to most of its oil reserves. The railway was built by Saudi oil giant Aramco, owned then by U.S. firms.
Saudi Arabia plans to eventually link the line to Islam’s holiest city Mecca, the second holiest Medina and to the Red Sea port of Jeddah where most pilgrims arrive.
At least 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims begin haj
At least 2.5 million Muslims began the annual haj pilgrimage on Sunday, heading to an encampment near the holy city of Mecca to retrace the route taken by the Prophet Mohammad 14 centuries ago.
Traveling on foot, by public transport and in private cars, the pilgrims will stream through a mountain pass to a valley at Mina, some three km (two miles) outside Mecca. The path is the same as the Prophet himself took on his last pilgrimage.
The haj, one of the world’s biggest displays of mass religious devotion, lasts for five days. In the past it has been marred by fires, hotel collapses, police clashes with protesters and deadly stampedes.
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said on Wednesday the kingdom could not rule out an attack by Al Qaeda’s regional wing, although the kingdom’s forces were ready to combat any such operations. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on Sunday denied it had any intentions of targeting Muslim pilgrims at haj.
Islam is now embraced by a quarter of the world’s population and haj is a duty for all able-bodied Muslims who can afford it. Many wait for years to get a visa.
To minimize the risk of overcrowding and to lessen congestion on the roads the authorities will for the first time be operating a Chinese-built train that will call at haj sites.
Mecca goes upmarket but commercialism unnerves some Saudis
Sitting in the marble lobby of a luxury hotel in Mecca, Moroccan bank director Mohammad Hamdosh gets a breather from the cacophony of pilgrims bustling around the Grand Mosque in Islam’s holiest city. Millions have flocked to the city in Saudi Arabia for the annual haj pilgrimage, a duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it. But some can afford more than others, and a controversial construction boom is catering to their needs.
“Every pilgrim comes according to his means. God gave me money, so why shouldn’t I stay in this hotel?” says Hamdosh, on a trip that has cost him 12,000 Euros ($16,545). “Haj is tiring so it’s good to have a room to rest.”
Inside the mosque, all pilgrims are equal as they circle the black stone known as the Kaaba toward which Muslims around the world turn in prayer every day. But outside an array of towering five-star hotels have sprung up where the wealthy can bask in a 24-hour view of the Kaaba. The high-rises dwarf the mosque and the surrounding town, nestled in the mountains in the hinterland of the port city Jeddah.
It is part of a wider project to expand the mosque and bring more Muslims to the holy city for salvation, according to the writs of Islam — something Saudi Arabia sees as its duty.
Mecca has just inaugurated the world’s largest clockface perched Big Ben-style on the front of a high-rise hotel facing the Kaaba, while some 20 cranes next to the mosque herald more luxury accommodation. The spending spree in Mecca and the second holy city Medina is valued at some $120 billion over the next decade and at present there are $20 billion of projects underway in Mecca alone, according to Banque Saudi Fransi. A square meter land in Mecca costs some 50,000 riyals ($13,333).
Mecca hopes to revive pilgrim tourism during haj
Rashed Abdullah displays Oriental perfumes on a glass table to late-night shoppers in his small shop in Mecca ready for what he hopes will be a sales bonanza during this month’s haj pilgrimage. He is confident of attracting customers after fears of a swine flu outbreak kept many away last year.
“This year will be the best. There is really strong demand,” he said, standing behind an incense collection in one of dozens souvenir shops around the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
Business has picked up in Islam’s holiest city since Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month which fell in August and September when many visit Mecca. In 2009, the number of pilgrims fell to about 2.5 million but a record 4 million are expected next week when the haj begins.
While last year hotels had trouble filling rooms in Mecca and the nearby port city of Jeddah, where most arrive by air, this year hotels are almost entirely fully booked.
“People are really interested and everyone is trying to make up for last year … things will be much better this year,” said Walid Abu Sabaa, head of the tourism and hotels committee at the Mecca chamber of commerce.
Cuban pilgrimage mixes Santeria with Catholic faith
Some dressed in sackcloth, a few crawling on their hands and knees, thousands of Cubans paid homage to a Catholic saint who doubles as a powerful deity in the Afro-Cuban Santeria faith. The Saint Lazarus pilgrimage on Thursday is one of the most important religious events on the communist-run island, melding Afro-Cuban faiths with Roman Catholic beliefs that were marginalized for decades after the 1959 revolution.
Devotees of Saint Lazarus, who traditionally wear sackcloth and purple clothing as symbols of repentance, flock to the shrine at a church near the village of El Rincon in the countryside just outside Havana. Saint Lazarus is associated with helping the sick, and many of the pilgrims go to ask the saint to cure relatives’ ailments. Others make long, hard journeys barefoot or haul themselves along the ground on their hands and knees.
Experts explain this fusion of Santeria and Christian figures by saying that African slaves in Cuba originally pretended to worship the Catholic saints of their Spanish masters while secretly paying homage to their own deities.
from Photographers Blog:
Pilgrimage to Mecca
Coverage of the 2009 Haj pilgrimage was an enlightening experience for me as a photographer. I have covered many religious events in Iran but never anything as enormous as the Haj - this year complete with the added threat of H1N1.
I arrived in Jeddah several days before the start of the Haj and found Saudi Arabia to have all the luxuries and organization of the United States. My picture was taken at passport control and fingerprints scanned. I was met at the airport by our minder from the Ministry of Information with a driver and a large American SUV. We went straight to the media center to get my press credentials and on to the road leading to Mecca to take pictures of checkpoints and security. Police officers were wearing masks to protect them from flu as were many pilgrims.
The following day we left for Mecca at 3 am to be on top of Noor Mountain at sunrise. It was a long, tiring climb but well worth it as the sun started to rise and light allowed me to make images. In the afternoon we went to a military base to take pictures of security arrangements for the Haj, attended by many Saudi and foreign dignitaries including Saudi Arabian Interior Minister Prince Naef bin Abdul Aziz. It was basically a military parade showing the security hardware for police to deal with any security concerns.
The following afternoon we went back to Mecca to cover a show of medical services for pilgrims attended by Saudi Arabian Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah along with the RVN team who had arrived in the morning. This was a show of new ambulances and mobile clinics to treat pilgrims with any medical problems.
Age-old haj stoning of devil pillars in modern multistory complex
Around two million Muslim pilgrims stoned pillars symbolising the devil in a narrow valley in Saudi Arabia on Friday at what has traditionally been the most dangerous stage of the haj pilgrimage. The pillars stand at Mena, where Muslims believe the devil appeared to the Prophet Abraham.
The Jamarat Bridge in the valley of Mena outside the holy city of Mecca, where pilgrims stone the walls three times over three to four days, has been the scene of a number of stampedes, including one which killed 362 in 2006. But Saudi Arabia has erected a massive four-level building with several platforms for throwing stones to ease congestion and prevent stampedes at the Jamarat stoning areas.
Throngs of predominantly white-clad pilgrims filled the road that leads them to and from the Jamarat Bridge. Some stopped to buy fried chicken nuggets while groups from different countries formed human chains with their fellow countrymen to move more quickly through the crowds.
“Fighting evil temptations is a daily chore for every Muslim,” said Mohammad Haq Shahinaz from Pakistan, holding hands with his wife as they struggled to push ahead in the crowded road to the Jamarat bridge. “But by stoning these concrete pillars here we indicate that we only worship Allah and we will not follow Satan’s path.”
Fathi Ahmed Mohammed from Egypt Egyptian threw seven stones at the pillar, calling out “Allahu akbar” after each throw. “We thanked Allah for His grace and … prayed for the unity of Muslims to glorify Islam and help us prevail over the infidels and the Jews,” he said.
The devil is a being of violence and death. Stoning is a violent act. And so the devil is getting what is already his. Taking up the sword does not abolish evil. It feeds it.What man intends for evil God turns into good. Perhaps those pillars should be carved into something beautiful. Then the devil would be no more because good works have rendered him powerless.To “fight temptation” one only needs to turn the desires of the heart away from transient things and towards the pure good of love.Then there is not temptation. The love of God provides all of the pleasure and joy that anyone could need. Moving far beyond the ability of any temptation. The devil is the mind of man that goes against that nature of the heart, which is the desire for pure good.Pure good is pure love. All else is transitory and false. Let the mind serve the heart and bring forth the good in the world by way of pure love. Then the devil is no more. He will have become the servant of the Most High.
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Resident FaithWorld Expert
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