Encyclopedia of Sacred Places 2 volumes

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Encyclopedia of Sacred Places

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Encyclopedia of Sacred Places Second Edition

Norbert C. Brockman

Volume 1 A–M

Copyright 2011 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brockman, Norbert C., 1934– Encyclopedia of sacred places / Norbert C. Brockman. — 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–1–59884–654–6 (hard copy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978–1–59884–655–3 (ebook) 1. Sacred space—Encyclopedias. I. Title. BL580.B76 2011 2030 .503—dc22 2011003155 ISBN: 978–1–59884–654–6 EISBN: 978–1–59884–655–3 15 14 13 12 11

1 2 3 4 5

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

Preface, xiii

Baalbek, Lebanon,

Maps, xvii

Baba Sali, Israel, 35 Babi Yar, Ukraine,

Volume 1

Baha’i World Centre, Israel, 40

Abu Mena, Egypt, 3

Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 41

Acropolis, Greece, 4

Batu Caves, Malaysia, 43

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada), Sri Lanka, 6 African Shrines,

Bayside, New York, 44

7

Begijnhof, The Netherlands, 45

Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Kazakhistan, 8

Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority, 46

9

Alamo, Texas, USA, 11

Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Wyoming, USA, 49

Ancestor Shrines, 13 Angkor Wat, Cambodia, 14

Black Hills, South Dakota/Wyoming, USA, 51

Anne Frank House, The Netherlands, 17 Anurhadhpura, Sri Lanka, 18 Assisi, Italy,

36

Bagan, Myanmar/Burma, 37

Aachen Cathedral, Germany, 1

Ajanta, India,

33

Bodhnath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal, 53

19

Attukal Pongala, India, 22

Bom Jesus, Goa, India,

54

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland, 22

Bom Jesus da Lapa, Brazil,

Avebury, Great Britain, 25 ´ vila, Spain, 27 A

Bom Jesus do Monte, Portugal, 56

Axum, Ethiopia, 29

Breton Pardons, France, 59

Borobudur, Indonesia, 57

v

55

vi | Contents

Buchenwald, Weimar, Germany, 61 Buddhist Pilgrimages, 63

Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, California, USA, 116

Bukhara, Uzbekistan, 65

Cuzco, Peru, 117

Cahokia Mounds, Illinois, USA, 67

Cyber Pilgrimage, 119

Camp and Brush Arbor Meetings, USA, 69

Dachau, Germany, 121

Canterbury Cathedral, England, 71 Canterbury Tales, England, 73

Damien of Moloka’i, Hawai’i, USA, 124

Cao Dai Temple, Vietnam, 75

Day of the Dead, 126

Carnac, France, 77

Debra Libanos, Ethiopia,

Cartago, Costa Rica, 79

Deir Mar Antonios, Egypt, 129

Catacombs, Rome, Italy, 80

Delos, Greece,

Cathar Sites, France, 83

Delphi, Greece,

Caves, 85

Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, USA,

Cemeteries, 86

Dharamsala, India,

Chaco, New Mexico, USA, 88

Didyma, Turkey,

Chalma, Mexico, 90

Dilwara, Mount Abu, India,

Changu Narayan Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal, 92

Divina Providencia, Puerto Rico, USA, 139 Divine Mercy Shrine, Krako´w, Poland, 140 Djenne´, Mali, 141

Chao Tuptim (Penis Shrine), Bangkok, Thailand, 93 Char Dham, India,

94

Chartres Cathedral, France,

96

Damascus, Syria, 123

127

130 132 134

136 137 138

Dodona, Epirus, Greece, 142

Chichen Itza, Mexico, 98

Dogon Cliffs, Mali, 143

Chimayo, New Mexico, USA, 100

Eighty-Eight Temples Pilgrimage, Shikoku, Japan, 147

Chogyesa Temple, Seoul, South Korea, 101

Einsiedeln, Switzerland, 149

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, 103

Eisenach, Germany,

Cluny Abbey, France, 104

EkuPhakameni, South Africa,

El Cobre, Cuba,

Elephanta Caves, Mumbai, India,

105

Colosseum, Rome, Italy, 107

Eleusis, Greece,

Conques, Aveyron, France,

Ellora Caves, India,

109

151 152

154 155

Consolatrice, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, 111

Emei Shan, China, 157

Coptic Cairo, Egypt, 112

Ephesus, Turkey,

Croagh Patrick, Ireland, 115

Erawan Shrine, Thailand, 161

Emerald Buddha, Thailand, 158 159

153

Contents | vii The Hiding Place, Haarlem, The Netherlands, 221

Esquipulas, Guatemala, 162 Externsteine, Germany,

163

Hill Cumorah, Palmyra, NY, USA, 223

Ex-Votos, 165 Eyup Camii, Istanbul, Turkey,

166

Ezekiel’s Tomb, Hillah, Iraq, 167 Fatima, Portugal,

Hindu Temples,

169

224

Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Japan, 226

Fertility Shrines, 172 Fire, Sacred,

Hill of Crosses, Silauliai, Lithuania, 223

Holocaust Sites,

173

Flight into Egypt, Egypt, 174 Four Sacred Mountains, China, 175 Gadhimai Festival, Nepal, 179

Holy Blood, Brugge/Bruges, Belgium, 232 Icons, 235 Infant Jesus of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, 236

Garden Tomb, Israel, 180 The Gargano Massif, Italy,

228

180

Iona, Argyll, Scotland, 238

Geneva, Switzerland, 182

Ise, Japan, 240

Ggantija, Gozo, Malta,

Isis Temple, Philae, Egypt, 242

184

Ghost Festival, Asia, 185

Israelite Sanctuaries, 243

Glastonbury, United Kingdom, 186

Istanbul Mosques, 245

Glendalough, Ireland,

Izumo Taisha Shrine, Japan, 247

188

Golden Temple, Amritsar, India, 189 Goreé Island, Dakar, Senegal, 190

Janakpur, Nepal, 249

Goreme Caves, Turkey, 192

Jasna Gora, Poland, 251

Japanese Pilgrimages, 250

Got Kwer, Migori, Kenya, 194

Jerusalem, Christian Sites,

Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe,

Jerusalem, Islamic Sites, 255

195

253

Groves, 197

Jerusalem, Jewish Sites, 257

Guadalupe, Mexico City, Mexico, 198

Jethro’s Tomb, Tiberias, Israel,

Guadalupe, Spain, 200

Jewish Pilgrimages, 260

Gunung Agung, Bali, Indonesia, 201

Jim Morrison Grave, Paris, France, 261

Gypsy Pilgrimages, Stes-Marie-de-laMer, France, 204 Hacibektas, Turkey,

205

Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, Malta, Hagia Sophia, Turkey,

206

207

259

Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet, China, 262 Julian of Norwich, Norwich, United Kingdom, 265

Hajj, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, 210

Kairouan, Tunisia, 267

Hasedera Temple, Japan, 215

Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India, 269

Hearth of Buddhism, India/Nepal, 216

Karbala, Iraq, 270

Hebron, Palestinian Authority,

Kasubi Tombs, Kampala, Uganda, 272

219

viii | Contents

Kek Lok Si, Air Itam, Malaysia, 275

Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, India, 326

Kibeho, Rwanda, 276

Meritxell, Andorra, 327

Kilauea, Hawai’i,

Meron, Israel, 328

Kata Tjuta, Australia, 274

278

Konya, Turkey, 280

Meteora Monasteries, Greece, 329

Korean Martyrs’ Shrines, 282

The Mezquita, Spain, 330

Kumbh Mela Sites, India,

Midsummer, 332

283

Kyoto, Japan, 285

Monte Cassino, Cassino, Italy,

Labyrinths, 289

Mont Saint-Michel, France,

Lakmuang Shrine, Bangkok, Thailand, 290

Montserrat, Spain, 338

Lalibela, Ethiopia, 291

Moria, South Africa,

La Vang, Quang Tri, Vietnam, 292

Mormon Temple, Utah, USA, 343

Le Puy-en-Velay, France, 293

Mound Builders, USA, 344

Lindisfarne, England, 294

Mountains, 347

Lisieux, France,

Mount Athos, Greece,

335

Moradas, New Mexico, USA, 339

296

341

349

Loboc, Vizcaya, Philippines, 297

Mount Brandon, Ireland,

Loppiano, Italy,

Mount Carmel, Israel, 352

Loreto, Italy,

334

298

351

Mount Fuji, Japan, 353

299

Lough Derg, Ireland, 300

Mount Kailash, Tibet, China, 355

Lourdes, France,

Mount Kenya, Kenya, 357

302

Luther Circle, Germany, 305

Mount Meru, 359

Ly Bat De, Dinh Bang, Vietnam, 307

Mount Nebo, Jordan, 359

Machu Picchu, Peru, 309

Mount Shasta, California, USA, 360

Maria Lionza, Sorte, Venezuela,

310

Mount Sinai, Egypt, 362

Marian Apparitions, 311

Muharram, India, 364

Mariapocs, Hungary, 315

Al-Muharraq, Assiut, Egypt, 365

Mariazell, Austria, 316

Muslim Pilgrimage, 366

Martyrs’ Hill, Nagasaki, Japan, 317 Masada, Israel,

318

Masjid al-Badawi, Tanta, Egypt, 320 Maximon, Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, 321

Volume 2 Nachman of Breslov, Uman, Ukraine, 369 Najaf, Iraq, 370

Medicine Wheels, Canada/USA, 323

Nankana Sahib, Pakistan,

Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 324

Nan Madol, Pohnpei, 372 Nara, Japan, 373

371

Contents | ix Native American Sacred Places, 375

Pilgrimage, 422

Nazareth, Israel, 378

Pilgrim’s Progress, England, 425

Nazca Lines, Peru, 379

Plaine du Nord, Haı¨ti, 426

New Age,

Plotzensee Memorial, Berlin, Germany, 427

380

Newgrange, Ireland, 382 Nidaros, Trondheim, Norway, 383 Nikko, Japan, 385 North American Martyrs, New York/ Ontario, 387 Nui Ba Den, Tay Ninh, Vietnam, 388 Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany, 391

Pochayiv Lavra, Pochayiv, Ukraine, 429 Po Lin, Hong Kong, China, 431 Potala Palace, Tibet, China, 432 Prambanan, Candi Prambanan, Indonesia, 434 Pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt, 435

Old-New Synagogue, Prague, Czech Republic, 392

Qalandar Shrine, Sehwan, Pakistan, 439

Olympia, Greece, 393

Qufu, China, 442

Orissa Triangle, India,

396

Oscar Wilde Grave, Paris, France, 398 Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, Nigeria, 399

Qom, Iran, 440 Quinming Festival, Taiwan/China, 443 Rachel’s Tomb, Bethlehem, Palestine, 445 Rapa Nui, Easter Island, Chile, 446

Our Lord in the Attic, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 400

Relics, 448

Pac Ou Caves, Laos,

Rey, Iran, 453

403

Padre Cicero Shrine, Juazeiro, Brazil, 404 Padre Pio Shrine, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, 405 Painted Monasteries, Romania, 406 Paray-le-Monial, France,

408

Paris, France, 410 Pashupatinath, Deopatan, Nepal, 413 Patmos, Dodecanese, Greece, 414 Pedro Betancourt Shrine, Antigua, Guatemala, 415 Perchersk Lavra, Kiev, Ukraine, 416 Pere Lachaise Cemetery, France, 418 Petra, Jordan, 419 El Pilar, Spain, 421

Religious Tourism, 450 al-Reza Shrine, Mashhad, Iran, 454 Rila Monastery, Bulgaria, 455 El Rincon, Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, 457 Rocamadour, France, 458 Rock of Cashel, Ireland, 460 Rome, Italy, 461 Sabarimala, Kerala, India,

465

Sabbathday Lake, Maine,

466

Sacre Coeur, Paris, France,

468

Sacrimonte, Italy, 470 Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain, 471 Saint Anthony of Padua, Italy, 473 Sainte-Anne De Beaupre´, Que´bec, Canada, 474

x | Contents

Sainte-Croix, Port Louis, Mauritius, 475

Shrines,

Saint Gobnait, Ballyvourney, Cork, Ireland, 476

Shroud of Turin, Italy, 516

Saint Januarius, Naples, Italy, 477

513

Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar/ Burma, 517

Saint-Jean-du-Doigt, France, 478 Saint Joseph’s Oratory, Montreál, Canada, 479

Simeon the Stylite, Aleppo, Syria, 519

Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy, 481

Snake Temple, Penang, Malaysia, 525

Saint Willibrord’s Shrine, Echternach, Luxembourg, 483

Solomon’s Temple, Jerusalem, Ancient Israel, 526

Saint Winifred’s Well, Holywell, Wales, UK, 484

Songkran, Thailand, 527

San Antonio Mission Trail, Texas, USA, 486

Stonehenge, England, 529

San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, Mexico, 488

Sun Dance, USA/Canada, 532

Skellig Michael, Ireland, 520 Slave Depots,

522

Spirit Houses, 528 Stupa, 530

San Juan del Valle, San Juan, Texas, USA, 489

Swayambhunath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal, 533

Santa Muerte (Holy Death), Mexico City, Mexico, 490

Sweat Lodge, USA, 535

Santiago De Compostela, Spain, 491

T’ai Shan, Tai’an, China, 537 Taize´, France, 539

Santo Nino De Cebu, Philippines, 494

Taj Mahal, India, 540

San Xavier del Bac, Arizona, USA, 495

Taoist Sacred Mountains, China, 542

Saut d’Eau, Ville Bonheur, Haı¨ti, 497

Tarxien and the Hypogeum, Gozo, Malta, 545

Sayyida Zeinab Shrine, Damascus, Syria, 498 Scete, Waˆdıˆ el Natruˆn, Egypt, 499 Sea of Galilee, Israel, 501 Secular Shrines,

502

Taputapuatea, Opoa, Fiji,

544

Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China, 546 Teotihuacan, Mexico City, Mexico, 547

Sedona, Arizona, USA, 504

Thebes and Luxor, Egypt, 549

Sergiev Posad, Russia, 505

Theotokos of Vladimir, Moscow, Russia, 551

Serpent Mound, Ohio, USA, 507 Seven Sleepers, Caves of, Ephesus, Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Petra, Jordan, 509

Thousand Buddhas Caves, Dunhuang, China, 552 Tinos, Greece,

555

Shiloh, Ancient Israel, 510

Titicaca, Copacabana, Bolivia, 556

Shinto Shrines, Japan, 511

Tiwanaku, Bolivia, 557

Contents | xi Tokyo, Japan, 558 Tooth Temple, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 560

Wat Phra Phutthabat, Saraburi, Thailand, 602

Touba, Senegal, 562

Wat Po, Bangkok, Thailand, 603

Trier, Germany, 563

Wells and Springs, 604

Tsechu Festival, Bhutan, 565

Wenwu Temple, Taiwan, 606

Tula, Tula de Allende, Mexico, 566

Wesley’s Chapel, London, UK, 607

Twelve-Year Cycle Pilgrimage, Thailand, 566

Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel, 608

Ubirr, Kakadu, Australia, 571

White Buffalo, USA/Canada, 613 Wieliczka Salt Mine, Krako´w, Poland, 613

Udvada Fire Temple, India,

572

Ugandan Martyrs’ Shrines, Uganda, 573

Westminster Abbey, England, 611

Wondugan Altar, Seoul, South Korea, 614

Uluru, Australia, 575 United States’ Holocaust Memorial, DC, USA, 576

Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel, 617

Uppsala Temple, Gamla Uppsala, Sweden, 577

Yazilikaya, Bogazkale, Turkey, 620

Urkupina Festival, Qillacollo, Bolivia, 578 Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico, 579

Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico, 625 Zebrzydowska Chapel, Krako´w, Poland, 626

Varanasi, India,

Zoroastrian Fire Temples,

583

Verden, Germany, 585 Vestal Temple, Rome, Italy, Ve´zelay, France, 588

587

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, DC, USA, 590 Vision Quest, USA/Canada, 591

Yasukuni Jinja, Tokyo, Japan, 618 York Minster, England, 622

627

Appendix A Sacred Sites Listed by Religious Tradition, 631 Appendix B Entries Listed by Country, 639

Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria, South Africa, 593

Appendix C Entries on the UNESCO World Heritage List, 647

The Vrindavan Krishna Shrines, Mathura, India, 594

Glossary, 651

Walsingham, England, 597

Further Reference Works, 661

War Memorials, 599

Illustration Credits, 665

Wat Arun, Bangkok, Thailand, 601

Index, 671


Preface

Places dedicated to sacred memories are a part of all the world’s religious and spiritual traditions. In these sacred places the seeker encounters the holy and, through rituals, meditation, and revelation, experiences a call to move beyond the self. The reverence for sacred places has existed as long as people have formed communities. In recent decades, however, it has enjoyed a powerful reawakening. Not only does this rebirth take the form of deepening of religious conviction, it also involves the quest for new means of experiencing ancient ways of knowing. Pilgrimage routes that, over the past two hundred years, attracted only a trickle of pilgrims now draw tens of thousands. Spain, for example, has reopened the medieval pilgrim hostels on the route to Santiago de Compostela, one of Europe’s most important pilgrimage places, and many make the months-long trek there. Jerusalem and Rome continue to attract streams of believers and seekers. And the quest for insight from outside Western traditions has sparked a new fascination with the ancient traditions of Native American Indians and the way of the Buddha. What are these sacred places? They are the shrines where apparitions of angels, saints, or a god have been reported. They are the sites of miraculous cures. They are locales of particular significance in the natural world, such as sacred mountains or rivers, where the divine is made manifest in nature. Sacred sites also include places associated with the life of a prophet or religious founder. The sacred sites described in this book fall into nine general categories: 1. Places sanctified by events in the life of a prophet, saint, or deity 2. Sites of miracles and healing 3. Places of apparitions or visions 4. Locales dedicated to special religious rituals

xiii

xiv | Preface

5. Tombs of saints 6. Shrines of a miraculous statue, icon, or relic 7. The ancestral or mythical abodes of the gods 8. Places that manifest the energies or mystical powers of nature 9. Places marked by evil that have been a turning point for a religious community There are so many acknowledged holy places in the world that it is impossible to mention them all here. In Japan, for example, more than 2,000 Shinto shrines exist, and the listing of Marian shrines in Spain alone fills three volumes. However, I have included all internationally known sacred places, such as Lourdes and the Golden Temple at Amritsar. In addition to these well-known sites, each religious and spiritual tradition is represented by its own notable sacred places. I also gave consideration to achieving worldwide geographic coverage and attempted to include multiple examples of types of sacred places. Readers will find examples of sacred mountains, wells, and relic shrines in addition to sites of apparitions, miracles, and other forms of divine intervention. Most of the sites described are active, although some represent historical cultures or religions that no longer exist, such as Delos, Machu Picchu, and Rapa Nui. In this second edition, the number of ancient sites has been increased. There is also a greater geographic spread and more attention to places of national and regional importance. Finally, I have included a number of sites like Auschwitz and the Peace Memorial at Hiroshima that are not “sacred” in the conventional religious sense. These places, where horrible events of great magnitude took place, exert a powerful hold on our spiritual sensibilities. They are memorials that mark the triumph of enduring faith over evil. To visit Goreé Island, for instance, is to stand in the presence of the spirits of the enslaved taken to the Americas. To make such a visit in the company of African Americans is to be touched deeply by the call of these ancestor spirits across time. Without belonging to a specific religious tradition, the slave depots are shrines of the spirit world. Secular ideologies, too, have their sacred places: the Communists have had Lenin’s Tomb, Americans have the Lincoln and Vietnam memorials, and the Afrikaners their Voortrekker Monument. At these monuments to national identity, the spirit of a people can be experienced. In the first edition of this book, national civic shrines such as these were excluded, but now they have been given a place. There are also entries for war memorials as part of this recognition of the importance of secular shrines. But since the meaning of the spiritual is complex, places of importance to some will seem marginal to others. No single author can share the faith of the wide-ranging collection of traditions represented here. I approached each site with respect for the devotion of those whose faith is enshrined there, however. Some accounts come from myth or legend and challenge the rational and scientific mind. However, I attempted to understand and to accept the explanations offered by believers and to present them here without judgment.

Preface | xv Entries are followed by suggested background readings on the site or the tradition that it reflects. In a number of instances, videos or CDs are listed. In deference to the fact that a wide range of traditions are included here, the Christian dating system BC/AD has been replaced by the system more commonly used in comparative religion: BCE/CE, “before the common era” and “common era.” Compiling a book such as this requires the help of many people. First I must thank Henry Rasof, then of ABC-CLIO and my editor for the first edition, who proposed this project and followed through at every step, and the wonderful people at ABC-CLIO, who have been a delight to work with. Evan Brown has been a supportive and encouraging editor for this second edition. Many people from tourist offices and shrine centers have answered my questions and sent material and photos for use. I visited many of the sites in the book in person, and along the way caretakers, taxi drivers, innkeepers, and pilgrims offered information and guidance. Above all, believers offered stories, for the oral traditions surrounding these holy places remain alive and vibrant. People shared accounts of their own spiritual journeys and confided the small or dramatic miracles they had received and the inner peace they had found. Many told of lives set on new paths. A number of friends and associates offered special assistance of various kinds: Kazuki Yasumura in Tokyo; Judith Yamada, SSND, in Kyoto; Dennis Schmitz, SM, in Seoul; and Ronald Macfarlane in Penang. I would also like especially to acknowledge Bro. William Fackovec, SM (emeritus librarian of the Marian Library of the University of Dayton); George Nun˜ ez, my translator in Spain and Portugal; Dr. Nancy Sahli, then of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission for early suggestions; and innumerable librarians, archivists, curators, and shrine personnel. In the years since the first edition, available sources have grown immensely. Google search did not become available until the first edition was in press, and Wikipedia came several years later. The World Wide Web has transformed publishing and information flow, not always for the better. When anyone may publish easily and freely, both the useful and the fraudulent are thrown in front of us. For this second edition, I have decided not to reference the various web sources; any reader can do that for him- or herself and make judgments about their accuracy and integrity. A few web sites do appear among the references, however. These are the official web sites of the shrines or sites themselves. Many shrines have their own web sites, usually in multiple languages. Generally speaking, I have not recommended periodical references, only because they are not easily available in public libraries. University and college libraries, however, usually have access to many periodicals online, either in summary form or full text. LexisNexis is also a major source for updating through newspaper and other periodical sources. Reference volumes such as this one have also grown in number over the past decade. All the major faith traditions are represented today, some with several different books or sets. Every imaginable topic seems to have its reference book today! Some of these are compilations of articles that have not been fact checked or peer reviewed

xvi | Preface

but are written by competent authors, usually university professors. Others have gone through the rigor of scholarly processes and match the quality of serious journals. For the person who is not familiar, the best evaluation of these sources will come from a reference librarian. This book has an appendix of useful reference works that will be helpful in further searches. Hard-copy publishing has also changed profoundly in a dozen years due to technology. Desktop publishing has made tiny press runs possible and economic, and ondemand printing has opened many opportunities that didn’t exist in the past. The result has been that specialized works that even university presses would have deemed uneconomic a few years ago will see the light of day. It also means that a lot of dreck gets printed. The prudent reader weighs the value of each contribution, reads the reviews, and judges the usefulness of the publication.

Maps

xvii

xviii

xix

xx

xxi

xxii

xxiii

xxiv

xxv

xxvi

xxvii

xxviii

xxix


A

Saxons, and Bavaria. Along the way, he established dioceses and spread the Catholic faith and reformed lax clergy. He united the Germanies, and in 800 he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope. With his many concubines and the encouragement he gave to the sexual escapades of his daughters, he would hardly pass the scrutiny of modern tests of holiness or fidelity. Yet his genuine religious fervor and missionary zeal caused him to be recognized as a saint in 1165 by the Antipope Pascal III, and his relics are kept in a shrine in the chapel. Because of his notorious lifestyle, his cult is merely tolerated by the contemporary Catholic Church and is kept to a minimum. Ceremonies in his honor are limited to one Mass celebrated annually in the chapel on his feast day. The Palatine Chapel, Charlemagne’s imperial church, is the heart of the cathedral. (His tomb is believed to be under the center of the main floor.) Charlemagne built the church in 794

AACHEN CATHEDRAL, GERMANY Since the dawn of recorded history, the town of Aachen, located where modern Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands meet, has been a worship site. The Celtic healing god Granus was worshipped at the Aachen hot springs. The less spiritual Roman conquerors turned the spring into public baths but also included a sacred well and sanctuary. King Pippin, the father of Charlemagne, built his capital at Aachen and constructed the cathedral over the ancient Roman well and sanctuary. Charlemagne, intent on creating a great empire, built a palace with a vast royal hall and his own royal chapel next to the cathedral. This is now incorporated into the cathedral. Charlemagne occupied the throne in 768 and began a series of campaigns that made him master of northern Europe. From 754, when he took the shared throne of the Franks, he expanded his realms by conquest of the Lombards,

1

2 | Aachen Cathedral, Germany

The heart of present-day Aachen Cathedral in Germany was Charlemagne’s palace chapel in his capital city, Aix-la-Chapelle. Charlemagne began construction on his chapel in 786. Construction continued for more than a millennium to form today’s Aachen cathedral.

with marble from the palace of Ravenna in northern Italy, seat of the last Roman emperors. He modeled it on Ravenna’s San Vitale, which was in turn based on another imperial church, Justinian’s Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The eight-sided Palatine Chapel has three tiers crowned by a mosaic dome fifty feet in diameter and twice that in height. It is surrounded by an ambulatory—a covered arcade where pilgrims can circle the main shrine, in this case the central altar. In Charlemagne’s day, the men sat in this gallery during services. The emperor with his family and courtiers sat in the upper mezzanine, which also circles the church. A lower mezzanine was reserved for women and small

children. At one time there was a tower near the throne from which Charlemagne spoke to assemblies in the courtyard below. Because of its cultural importance, the Palatine Chapel is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The chapel continued as a coronation church until 1531, a year after the Diet of Augsburg, which resulted in a majority of the German princes choosing the then-new Protestant faith. Through the centuries there were additions and changes in the chapel. In 1168, Frederick Barbarossa added a forty-eight-lamp chandelier, a symbol of the Heavenly Jerusalem. A Gothic choir was built in the fourteenth century. The church treasury is the finest in Germany and includes some of the most fantastic relics in Christendom. The collection was begun by Charlemagne, and it drew countless swarms of pilgrims from across Germany, England, Scandinavia, Austria, and Hungary. Four “great relics” have been exposed to the public every seven years from 1349: the cloak of the Virgin Mary, the swaddling clothes of the Infant Jesus, the loin cloth worn by Jesus on the Cross, and the cloth on which the head of John the Baptist lay after his beheading. These are often cited by critics as the most pretentious frauds created by greedy fakers in the Middle Ages, and in modern times they attract more of the curious than the pious. But their antiquity alone places them in the front rank of Christian artifacts. The octagonal shape of the chapel has attracted the interest of New Age groups, who regard the cathedral as the preservation of ancient occult knowledge in stone. They argue that the Palatine Chapel was built on the model of Stonehenge rather than San Vitale and that it incorporates

Abu Mena, Egypt | 3 Stonehenge’s supernatural knowledge. Much of this argument is based on astrology; but there is no question that at the spring and autumn equinoxes, the emperor’s throne is illuminated, and at noon on the summer solstice the gold ball of the chandelier is struck by a sunbeam.

REFERENCES Alfred Carl, Aachen and Its Cathedral. Berlin, Druikerei, 2004. Richard Sullivan, Aix-la-Chapelle in the Age of Charlemagne. Norman, OK, University of Oklahoma, 1963. Derek Wilson, Charlemagne. New York, Doubleday, 2007.

ABU MENA, EGYPT One of the most revered saints of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Abu Mina was an early martyr whose tomb is the major pilgrimage site for the Copts in Egypt. According to legend, he was a soldier, but after his conversion, he went into the desert to strengthen himself spiritually. Emerging after two years, he went to the public circus and openly professed his faith and was whipped, tortured, and beheaded around the year 300 CE. Supposedly, his body was taken on a camel to the desert after a vision given the Coptic Pope. Where the camel stopped, the saint was buried. Where the camel stopped, ninety springs of water gushed forth. Ironically, it is the high water table that today threatens the complex. Two centuries later, the tomb was forgotten, but a shepherd boy had his sick lamb cured when he passed that way.

Christ and the Abbot Mena located in the Louvre, Paris, France.

Soon the devout began coming to the spot, and after the daughter of the Byzantine emperor was cured of leprosy, it became a healing shrine. Mina appeared to the girl in a dream and revealed the location of his body, and the emperor ordered a church to be built. Pilgrims came from all over the Mediterranean basin, and clay oil flasks with the saint’s image have been found as far away as Russia. The shrine was destroyed by the Persians in 619 and rebuilt. When the Arab invasion took place later, the town that had sprung up was destroyed and the church vandalized, but the flow of pilgrims never ceased. Finally, in the thirteenth century, the shrine was abandoned and reclaimed by the desert. Mina is a healing saint, and the Copts record many miraculous cures. He was also an accessible saint; a charming sixth-century icon shows Christ with his arm affectionately around Mina’s shoulders. In its heyday, the shrine complex included several large basilicas, a monastery, pilgrim hostels, and a

4 | Acropolis, Greece

bathing complex. Here the pilgrims washed in the healing waters from the springs. There were also bunks near the tomb, since it was thought that sleeping near the relics of the saint invoked his healing power. A cemetery allowed the deceased to rise with the saint on the last day. In 1959, Coptic Pope Cyril IV, whose monastic name had been Mena, requested 100 acres of land near the ancient ruins of Mariut and began constructing a large monastery. The church was built on the pattern of the ancient shrine, with seven altars. It houses the tomb of the saint. The monastery fronts the church, which stands out with its twin towers. It was built with Italian marble and pink and white granite from Aswan and contains fine stained-glass windows. In 2005 the church was raised to the rank of cathedral. Today it is a major pilgrimage destination drawing thousands of the devout. Monks from the monastery guide visitors to the tomb and around the ancient ruins. The monastery complex was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979. See also: Coptic Cairo

REFERENCES Gawdat Gabra, Coptic Monasteries. Cairo, American University of Cairo, 2002. Peter Grossmann, Abu Mina: A Guide to the Ancient Pilgrimage Center. Cairo, German Institute, 1986. Jill Kamil, Christianity in the Land of the Pharaohs. New York, Routledge, 2002. www.stmina-monastery.org.

ACROPOLIS, GREECE The Acropolis, a complex that overlooks the city of Athens, contained both the civic and religious buildings of the Athenian state, including the temple of Athena, patroness of Athens. Its remains, impressive even as ruins, are the city’s most enduring symbol. Before 1000 BCE, there were a temple and numerous shrines on the hill. In 480 BCE , Athens was overrun by the Persians, who razed the temple and burned all the shrines on the hill. Pericles then constructed a fleet of 200 vessels to defeat the Persians. With peace secured, the city was rebuilt and the fleet was used to expand Athenian colonies around the Mediterranean Sea. With Athens as the dominant Greek state, Pericles taxed the other Greek states the equivalent of fourteen tons of gold to pay for a new Acropolis. The broken statues, ex-votos, and other debris were buried in a “funeral” ceremony, and today these pits are a treasure trove of ancient fragments for archeological study. The Parthenon, which dominates the Acropolis, was the chief temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin). Majestic Athena—who was merely a local goddess until her worship became the official cult of Athens—represented the triumph of the mind over the chaotic forces of nature and the taming of the ancient fertility cults by the pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses. Her feast day in July was observed with special ceremonies. Every fourth year the festivities expanded into the Panathenaea, a procession conducted with special splendor to bring a new

Acropolis, Greece | 5

The Acropolis of Athens as viewed from the Hill of Philopappus (also known as the Hill of the Muses). The Acropolis contained both the civic and religious buildings of the Athenian city-state. Its position on a high limestone outcrop provided defense from neighboring city-states.

woven robe to dress the statue. The walls of the Parthenon are covered with a continuous carved scene showing this procession. From 447 to 442 BCE , Phidias, the greatest sculptor of ancient Greece, supervised the Parthenon’s construction. The temple measures 228 feet by 101 feet and stands sixty-five feet high. Along each side, seventeen columns support its length and eight columns support each end. Originally, the marble exterior was decorated with red, blue, and ocher paint and covered by a roof of blue with gold stars. All of this decorative color has long since worn away. Phidias also created a forty-foot gold and ivory statue of Athena for the new Parthenon. The

warrior virgin was shown standing with her shield and sacred snake at her left side, her right hand extended and holding a small carving of Winged Victory. The statue represented intelligence—the combination of divine knowledge and human wisdom. Since the Acropolis sits on a plateau with steep cliffs, there is only one possible entrance, a processional path up from the surrounding streets through a majestic gateway with attached wings. From this gate the visitor sees the whole of the Acropolis and the harmony of the structures and the landscape. The Sacred Way gives visitors a feeling of ritual propriety, wending its course up to the Parthenon. On one side it passes the

6 | Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada), Sri Lanka

Erechteum, a small temple with lovely, slender, fluted columns and several porches. The Porch of the Maidens faces the Parthenon; it has five columns (one was removed) of sculpted female figures intended as ex-votos, or offerings to Athena. They represent the maidens who carried offerings to the Parthenon during the processions. All of daily life during the Athenian period clustered under the shadow of the Acropolis and the protection of Athena. Two ancient theaters sit just below the Acropolis, each with a horseshoe ring of marble seats for the priests of the Dionysian cult. The Agora, the public square that served as the civic and commercial center of Athens, was located adjacent to the Areopagus, where the Council of Nobles and Court sat. It was here that Paul of Tarsis preached, not very successfully, as described in the Bible in Acts 16. Through the following centuries, Athens was conquered in turn by the Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Franks, Florentines, and Ottoman Turks. The Ottomans billeted a garrison in the Parthenon and turned the Erechteum into the Turkish governor’s personal harem. Athena was evicted from her temple during the Byzantine period and taken to Constantinople, where the statue was destroyed in 1203 by the Crusaders. Later, the Parthenon was used as an ammunition dump. A naval bombardment by the Venetian fleet in 1687 hit the gunpowder storage and blew off the roof, smashing half the columns, collapsing the interior walls, and leaving the ruin that now remains. The last degradation was the flying of the swastika flag by Nazi occupiers in 1941. Yet the Parthenon’s survival remains a symbol of Greece itself.

For several years, the Parthenon has been undergoing massive reconstruction, replacing marble sections that had fallen away.

REFERENCES Flavio Mary Beard, The Acropolis. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 2007. Spencer Harrington, “Rebuilding the Monuments of Pericles,” Archaeology 48:1, 4–56 (January–February 1995). Jeffrey Herwit, The Athenian Acropolis. New York, Cambridge University, 2000.

ADAM’S PEAK (SRI PADA), SRI LANKA Adam’s Peak is a mountain in central Sri Lanka sacred to four major religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Pilgrims climb the mountain during the months before the monsoons, which make climbing difficult and even impossible due to heavy rains and fog. The most devout climb at night to greet the dawn on the summit. There are six paths, but even the easiest is a challenging trek through the forests. The mountainside is rich in gemstones, which the Muslims say are the crystallized tears of Adam and Eve after their expulsion from Paradise. Long before the arrival of the world religions, the mountain was sacred to an earlier Veddic people who worshipped the god Saman there. In time, Saman was incorporated into Buddhist veneration as the guardian spirit of Sri Lanka and a bodhisattva, or spiritual master/disciple of the Buddha. There remains a shrine to Saman alongside the temple of the

African Shrines | 7 footprint. Legend says that Saman requested the Buddha to leave his footprint. The Peak has attracted many prominent visitors: Marco Polo and Ibn Batutta in the fourteenth century, Hermann Hesse in the twentieth, and numerous kings and princes, papal legates, and dignitaries of all sorts in between. Supposedly, even Alexander the Great went to the Peak. The goal of today’s pilgrims is a shrine at the top of the 7,350-foot peak, where there is a five-foot depression, or sacred footprint. This is Sri Prada in Singhalese, and that name for the mountain is commonly used. Buddhists see this as the footprint of the Buddha, while Christians feel that it was left by St. Thomas the Apostle, biblical apostle of Jesus and legendary first missionary to South Asia. Hindus ascribe the footprint to the god Shiva, while Muslims regard it as the mark of Adam, whom they think was expelled to Sri Lanka from Paradise. Some Christians share this view, based on the legend that Sri Lanka was the location of the original Garden of Eden. Buddhists also think that the footprint was imprinted by the Buddha’s left foot as he strode across Asia, leaving his right imprint at Wat Phra Phutthabat in Thailand. Votive offerings are left at the shrine, a popular one being silver strips as long as the pilgrim is tall. Those of all faiths take tiny flasks of water that has gathered in the footprint. The shrine itself is maintained by a Buddhist monastery on the flanks of the mountain. See also: Mountains, Sacred, Wat Phra Phuttabat

REFERENCES William Sheen, Adam’s Peak. Nabu Press, 2010.

John Wright, “Sri Pada: Sacred Pilgrimage Mountain of Sri Lanka,” 50 Focus on Geography #2, pp. 15 (2007). www.sripada.org.

AFRICAN SHRINES The main characteristic of African indigenous shrines is their tribal roots. While African Muslims go on the Hajj, and Christians go to Rome or Jerusalem, primal faiths tend to concentrate upon their ancestral sites. In many cases, these are scattered rather than being central pilgrimage places for large numbers. African shrines thus are local rather than pan-African. Primal religions usually worship a high god, often thought of as the founder and origin of the culture and its people. Among the Kikuyu, for example, the high god Ngai is said to live on Mount Kenya and is revered there. During the anti-colonial Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, the forest slopes of Mount Kenya sheltered the insurgents, and blood oath ceremonies were held to bind them to the movement. Subsidiary gods and spirits inhabit the forests, caves, sacred trees, and streams, and their worship is often a form of propitiation. Animal sacrifices petitioning for fertility or a blessing upon the growing season are not uncommon, especially in West Africa. Totems and ex-votos of all kinds are left at special spots. Juju bundles of bones, grass, and other objects wrapped together are common ex-votos. After a successful harvest or hunt, food offerings may be left in trees. The most extreme form of ex-voto is trokosi, the presentation of young girls to the service of shrine gods along the Gulf

8 | Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Kazakhistan

of Guinea in propitiation for the sins of the families; they are in effect, shrine slaves, exploited for their labor and sexually abused. Despite being outlawed since 1998 in Ghana, the practice continues. In some African cultures, there are special places for initiation, where the teenaged youth are taken away from their families for an extended period of instruction in tribal lore and taught the traditional practices of adulthood. This is done by specially chosen elders, sometimes a married couple who instruct the youth about the obligations of married sex. Some shrines have guardians or diviners who serve as oracles. They offer healing rituals and protection from evil spirits or ward off the power of witches. More commonly, however, the sites are known to all but are not tended. As Christianity and Islam have spread among traditional people, there has been a clash. Catholics have often followed the centuries-old custom of putting their shrines on top of animist ones, gradually displacing them. Evangelical Protestants, however, reject shrines entirely. In 2009, several evangelical Anglican bishops attempted to burn down a traditional shrine in Uganda, only to be driven off by outraged villagers. Similar scenes have taken place elsewhere, and Protestants often associate shrines with witchcraft. See also: Ancestor Shrines, Dogon Cliffs, Great Zimbabwe, Osun-Osogbu Sacred Grove

REFERENCES E. Kofi Agorsa, Religion, Ritual and African Tradition. Bloomington, IN, Authorhouse, 2010.

Robert Baum, Shrines of the Slave Trade. New York, Oxford University, 1999. Calgary, AB, University of Calgary Press, 2009. Alisa LaGamma, Eternal Ancestors. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.

KHOJA AHMED YASAWI, KAZAKHISTAN Khoja Akhmet Yasawi (1093?–1166) is a major Sufi teacher, poet, and spiritual guide whose mausoleum in Turkestan has drawn pilgrims for centuries. Khoja means Master, and Yasawi is one of what is known as the Saints of the Golden Chain, a lineage of Sufi masters who brought mystical Islam to Central Asia. He was also the first poet to write in Turkic, and he founded the first Turkic Sufi order. Under the influence of the Golden Chain, Sufi mysticism spread throughout the Turkic-speaking world. By the time he was seven years old, Yasawi had been adopted by a spiritual guide and formed in Sufi mystical traditions, where it is believed that an adept can come to personal knowledge of Allah through a special practice, or tariqa. Yasawi devoted himself to the unity of the various competing Sufi traditions. His approach drew strong resistance, and he suffered from opposition, despite his reputation for personal holiness. He founded a school to carry on his teachings, and gradually they spread through Central Asia. After a long life devoted to spreading Islam, Yasawi retired to a life of austere contemplation in a cave he dug himself.

Ajanta, India | 9 The shrine-mausoleum is in Turkestan (not to be confused with the nation of the same name), in southern Kazakhistan. It was built by Tamerlane, the founder of the Mongol dynasty that had conquered Central Asia and then converted to Islam. Tamerlane garnered the support of the occupied population by a policy of building shrines and public buildings. The mausoleum of Yasawi was one of the most important, although construction stopped on Tamerlane’s death in 1405. Despite that, the mausoleum, which is in good condition, is regarded as the beginnings of Timurid architecture. It innovated engineering approaches for the domes and vaults, but the decoration, especially its glazed tiles, makes the structure attractive. The entire complex has been under regular conservation and maintenance since the 1930s. It was closed during the Soviet era, although pilgrims came secretly at night. Full pilgrimages have returned since 1991. The Kazakhs hold that three pilgrimages to Turkestan equal the Hajj. The mausoleum has a religious meaning as a pilgrimage site, but it is also a cause of national pride and a monument to Kazakh identity. One enters into a large open hall covered by a dome that is the largest in Central Asia. At the end of the hall is the tomb of the saint, topped by a ribbed dome. In 2003, the mausoleum was named to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

REFERENCES Yaacov Ro’i, Islam in the Soviet Union. New York, Columbia University Press, 2000. Idris Shah, The Way of the Sufi. New York, Penguin, 1968.

AJANTA, INDIA Ajanta is a series of twenty-nine caves carved in the basalt cliffs that overlook a bend in the Waghore River of central India. Seven waterfalls cascade down at the head of the gorge. The approach and setting are breathtaking, and the remoteness of the place adds an air of mystery. The caves themselves are famous for their beautiful and varied wall paintings. Both Buddhists and Hindus built many rock-cut caves in central India. The oldest are Buddhist and are of two kinds: cave temples (chaityas) and monastery residences (viharas). The temples have a stupa at the end of a rather narrow passage, while the monks’ residences are usually lined with cells and have simple but adequate living spaces. The first caves at Ajanta were carved about 200 BCE, and building continued until 650 CE. Ajanta was built before the Ellora Caves, and some believe that the same peoples who built Ajanta went on to Ellora. However, there are important differences between the two sites: Ajanta is noted for its paintings, Ellora for its sculpture; Ajanta is a Buddhist site, while Ellora is Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu. The two are each a short distance from Aurangabad and are often considered together. The Ajanta complex was built under the sponsorship of wealthy patrons, and some caves represent bodhisattvas (Buddhist teacher-saints) dear to some member of the court. Five of the Ajanta caves are temples and twenty-four are monasteries. The temples, though not vast, are roomy, with intricately carved pillars and arched ceilings. Some of the caves have sculptured fronts, pillars

10 | Ajanta, India

Ajanta Caves, carved into the basalt cliffs that overlook a bend in the Waghora River of central India, are renowned for their intricate murals depicting religious and secular themes. The earliest caves date to ca. 200 BC

forming aisles, and altars. Because the cliff face is very steep, a few of the viharas even have small galleries at the entrance. The Ajanta wall paintings rival the best religious frescoes of Assisi or Florence. The caves were forgotten and abandoned for more than a millennium, covered with thick vegetation and forest. Accidentally rediscovered in 1819 by a British hunting party, they immediately began to attract visitors. In their prime, until a hundred years ago, the paintings remained bright and colorful. But a combination of petty vandalism, poor restoration techniques, and the use of harsh electric lights resulted in inevitable deterioration. In 1922, however, Italian conservators used scientific methods to preserve the paintings, and their decline has been stopped.

The paintings were at first thought to be frescos, but it was discovered that they were based on a roughened surface and plastered with a mix of cow dung, lime, and clay, which was then painted in such a way that the colors bonded with the underlying surface that resisted breakdown. The paintings were smoothed over with a mix of lime and powdered sea shells. Few of these surfaces have survived. The themes of the paintings vary. The walls of the first cave are decorated with four representations of the banquet of the god of wealth, as well as other scenes. Many paintings portray bodhisattvas, or saints who have turned away from buddhahood in order to help others on the spiritual path. A repeated scene is The Dying Princess, showing Buddha’s sister-in-law dying from sorrow when

Alamo, Texas, USA | 11 she learns that her husband has chosen to leave her to become a monk. In one cave, the paintings depict scenes of the Buddha’s previous lives, the Jataka tales. Another cave has a fine collection of secular paintings: a woman putting on cosmetics, a royal procession, and a couple making love. Outstanding among the numerous wall paintings is The Bodhisattva with the Blue Lotus. Here, wearing jasmine and lotus blossoms, sits the Bodhisattva Padmapani, an archetype of serenity. Close by is his spirit in female form. The figures are life size, and the effect is of otherworldliness. Besides the wall paintings, the cave entrances have elaborate bas-reliefs and fine carved pillars. These were all fashioned from the cliff walls in a single piece. Some caves have small cells in the rear, perhaps for monks working on the excavations, or for pilgrims. There are also many Buddha statues, showing him in all of his many poses (each of which has a spiritual meaning), along with scenes from his life and ministry. Large numbers of Indians come to Ajanta on weekends and holidays, some as tourists but many as devotees to honor Buddha by leaving offerings of flowers and incense. There is no operating monastery today, however, and no services are conducted. See also: Ellora Caves

REFERENCES James Burger and James Fergusson, The Cave Temples of India. Philadelphia, Coronet, second edition, 1969. A. P. Jamkhedkar, Ajanta. New York, Oxford University, 2009.

Walter Spink, “The Caves at Ajanta,” Archaeology 45:6, 52–60 (November–December 1992).

ALAMO, TEXAS, USA One of the most revered and visited national shrines in the United States, The Alamo has been the cause of great drama, legend, and controversy. It was founded as a Spanish Franciscan mission, part of a group of five (all still existing) to anchor Spanish presence in South-Central Texas against French expansion, and to convert and domesticate the Indians. It was begun in 1724 and served as a mission until they were secularized in 1793. It then became a military barracks, alternating among Spanish, Mexican, and rebel troops. In late 1835, the Alamo was taken from the Mexican army by a force of Texian (Anglo settlers) and Tejano (Hispanic) soldiers. Shortly after, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna surprised the defenders and forced them to choose between withdrawal and siege. They chose the latter and went down in history as the brave defenders of Texas independence. Their number included personalities of myth and valor, like William Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davey Crockett. In the end, all the Texans perished. A monument with all their names stands in the plaza in front of the Alamo. Contrasting this image of heroism is Santa Anna’s reputation as a vicious dictator, a womanizer and tyrant who showed little mercy to opponents. As he attempted to reclaim Texas, he declared all armed Texans pirates, to be shot

12 | Alamo, Texas, USA

Built in 1724 as a Spanish mission in San Antonio, the Alamo is now commonly referred to as “The Shrine of Texas Liberty.” That nickname signifies the poignancy of the seige of the Alamo, in which approximately 187 Texans died attempting to secure the independence of Texas from Mexico.

without trial. No prisoners were to be taken, and none were at the Alamo. Survivors of the battle were summarily shot or bayoneted. During the later nineteenth century, the Alamo was abandoned and used as a storage warehouse. Few damaged walls survived. In the early twentieth century, the State of Texas purchased the site and put its restoration and administration under the care of the Daughters of the Texas Revolution. The only original remains are the chapel, where reverent behavior (no hats or voices above a whisper) add to a sense of awe. The present walls are later constructions, and the original land on which the Alamo stood is now the plaza and a series of storefronts across from it.

The Battle of the Alamo is re-enacted every year; on the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, at which Santa Anna was decisively defeated, wreaths are laid as memorials. The myth of the Alamo and its defenders has been the subject of endless novels, films, and television series. The Alamo (1960), starring John Wayne, continues to play on television, and the series starring Fess Parker (1954) caused a furor of popular enthusiasm for the story. The Daughters of the Texas Revolution, all of whose members must be direct descendants of residents of Texas in 1835, provide the docents who guide visitors and tell the Alamo story with a mix of history and legend. Divisions among them over the years have ranged

Ancestor Shrines | 13 from whether to admit non-Anglos to control of the shrine’s policies and budget. Challengers have been expelled, and there have been movements to have the state take over the running of the shrine. The issue is so politically delicate, however, as to make that unlikely. Internal conflicts broke out in late 2010, after the Daughters of the Republic of Texas entered into a controversial contract with a promotional firm and attempted, over the opposition of the state’s governor, to copyright the name “The Alamo” for commercial purposes. This was to fund a large DRT library with a theater and media space, despite the fact that needed repairs to the Chapel were largely ignored. Several chapters protested the board’s actions and its neglect of the deteriorating walls and roof of the chapel, especially after falling plaster forced the closing of two rooms in the chapel. Prominent critics have been expelled from the Daughters as vicious personal attacks were exchanged. See also: San Antonio Mission Trail

REFERENCES J. R. Edmondson, The Alamo Story, From History to Current Conflicts. Plano, TX, Republic of Texas Press, 2000. Lon Tinkle, 13 Days to Glory: The Siege of the Alamo. College Station, TX, Texas A&M University Press, 1985. www.thealamo.org.

ANCESTOR SHRINES The veneration or worship of ancestors stems from the belief that the spirits of the dead are present always and affect

the lives of those who follow them. These practices can range from forms of god-worship through simple memorials to prayer to the ancestors as intercessors with the divine. Most ancestor veneration, however, is limited to showing respect for those who have died as a kind of filial piety. Even in modern, scientific societies, death anniversaries are observed with visits to family graves, leaving flowers and other objects that recall the deceased. In North America, populist expressions are the roadside shrines and markers that commemorate those who have died in auto accidents. In traditional societies, ancestors are seen as living spirits with powers that call for propitiation and reverence, lest they bring bad luck. The spirits of important elders are believed to have special powers, and kings and great warriors in some cultures are thought to have the ability to produce rain, foster bountiful harvests, and bring prosperity. Conversely, if they are angered or disrespected, they can cause drought, famine, and disease. Among northwest Native Americans, totem poles present stylized figures of founding ancestors. While not all totem poles have ancestor meanings, many do and even include grave spaces. Kakure Kirishitan (hidden Christians), a small crypto-Catholic sect in Japan, descended from the Catholics of the 1600s, driven underground by the persecutions of the period. They passed down the Bible orally (which became corrupted) as their clergy died off. As Catholic observance was lost, their faith evolved into a form of ancestor worship, their ancestors being the martyrs of Japan. The Egun shrine in Santeria comes from the Yoruba religion of West Africa

14 | Angkor Wat, Cambodia

and is found in the Caribbean and parts of the United States. A circle is marked, half on a wall and half on the floor, as a symbol of the connection between the living above and the dead below. Photos, cigars, candles, and food are placed there as offerings to the ancestors. Preferably, the cabinet with these objects is placed close to running water. In Africa, ancestor shrines are usually found within the home, where the spirits of the dead are reverenced. Among the Edo, a small bell is used to call the ancestor spirit, and special symbols are placed on the home altar, such as a staff or fly-whisk for a male or a protective wooden hen for a woman. Altars are made of packed earth, which unites the ancestors with the land. Historically, ancestor veneration is found almost universally. The ancient Egyptians practiced mummification so the soul could have a resting place as it entered the afterlife. Because early Christians believed in the resurrection of the dead, they avoided cremation in favor of burial. They believed that the dead who had ascended to heaven could intercede for the living, and the relics of saintly ancestors became holy remnants of their intercessory power. Shrines exist devoted to major relics, and they continue to attract the devout. In Shi’a Islam, the tombs of saints are often places of pilgrimage. Both Sunni Islam and most Protestants rejected these notions as superstitious. There is a thriving business in the sale of ancestor shrines on the Internet, showing an interest in the custom in the United States far beyond the ofrendas of Hispanic culture. Ofrendas are small altars erected in homes and public places to honor recent ancestors. In this

Hispanic custom, photos of dead family members and friends are placed on the altar, along with such ex-votos as sugar skulls, a special bread known as pan de muerte, pictures of favorite saints, and bits of foods that the deceased liked in life. Although ofrendas are set up for the Day of the Dead on November 2, they are usually kept throughout the month of November. The ofrenda brings together the remembrance of the dead with the traditional mocking of death and an affirmation that death is followed by new life. See also: African Shrines, Day of the Dead, Ly Bat De, Martyrs’ Hill, Qinming Festival, Relics

REFERENCES Henri Chambert-Loir and Anthony Reid, The Potent Dead. Honolulu, University of Hawai’i, 2003. Roy Sieber and Adele Walker, African Art in the Cycle of Life. Washington, DC, National Museum of African Art, 1988. Dyyani Ywahoo, Voices of Our Ancestors. Boston, Shambhala, 1987.

ANGKOR WAT, CAMBODIA The approach to Angkor Wat, the magnificent shrine tribute to a god-king in northeast Cambodia, prepares one for an experience of awe. The visitor advances along 200 yards of causeway across a moat with a high balustrade of nagas (stone seven-headed cobra-protectors) on either side. The causeway ends at a five-story gate with colonnades along four sides of an outer court. A second raised causeway leads on for 400 more

Angkor Wat, Cambodia | 15 yards to the entrance of the inner shrine. Looming ahead is a five-towered temple, fantastically shaped and intricately carved, giving the impression of a living, moving body. It rises above a double wall that completely surrounds it. A maze of galleries and stairs leads up the central tower (180 feet). The sandstone walls and staircases were originally painted and had gold highlights, but they are extensively worn today. The large central tower is flanked by four smaller towers. Each anchors one of four courtyards with shaded galleries around each. The highest point contains the main sanctuary, a small empty room. The scale of the complex is enormous. The walls enclose an area of 200 acres, which originally held the city, and the area is more than 150 square miles. The temple circuit is about eleven miles around, and the longer one is sixteen miles, usually done on a motorbike. There are more than a hundred temples all told. The shrine building is the size of a medieval European cathedral and was built at the same time as the first Gothic cathedrals. A rectangular stone platform with sides a thousand yards long serves as a base for the sanctuary. But the most striking aspect of Angkor Wat is the detail work covering every exposed surface, generating the sense of movement in the stone. There are 300 carved apsaras (heavenly nymphs, somewhat like angels), and each one is distinctive. The bas reliefs are the most important art works, smooth polished surfaces with intricate detail. The Hindu themes include Vishnu conquering the demons and scenes from the Hindu epics, Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. The most striking of all, the Churning of the

The Bayon, Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Ocean of Milk, shows Vishnu directing heavenly creatures in churning the ocean. The Elephant Terrace consists of 375 yards of carved elephants that form the base of a viewing stand that was used for ceremonies. Along the path are numerous protective lions. The shrine was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu but built as a tomb for the ashes of Suryavarman II (1113–1150), one of the greatest of the Khmer rulers. Known as the Sun King, Suryavarman was regarded as a god by his people. Angkor’s five towers represent the five peaks of fabled Mount Meru, a mountain that in Hindu myth was the legendary home of the gods. Angkor was thus a mountain home for the deified spirit of Suryavarman, so that his soul might communicate as an equal with the gods of Meru. During Suryavarman’s life,

16 | Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Angkor Wat also enshrined the lingam, a carved stone pillar representing his penis, a symbol of his potency and dominance over the nation. Since it was believed that the security of the country and the continuation of the dynasty depended upon protecting the lingam, the courtyard sanctuary was a way to guard this sacred emblem. The lingam has long since disappeared. The main temple is a source of Cambodian pride and appears on the national flag. Angkor Wat is an unusual shrine in that there is nothing to enter. It is pure architecture. Doubtless throngs of Khmer people came here to pay homage both during the king’s life and after, but there are no places where sacrifice was offered. The galleries are covered with 700 yards of carved reliefs of scenes from Hindu religious epics involving some 18,000 characters. The thousands of carvings of female dancers suggest the kinds of ceremonies that must have been conducted, all of them centered about the praise and adulation of the king and father of the nation. Angkor evidently provided for a large population. Its water reservoir is sufficient for a fair-sized city, and doubtless large herds of ceremonial elephants were kept. But Angkor began to decline within a century of its completion. Angkor was pillaged by the Cham in 1177, and when the kingdom was restored in the following century, the capital was moved. When the canals were no longer used for irrigation, malaria spread, crops failed, and people left for other areas. In 1432 the site was abandoned and jungle vines closed around it. In the 1850s French archaeologists rediscovered Angkor Wat and restoration began. The latest work was completed

with United Nations support, and Angkor Wat was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992. During the Cambodian terror in the 1970s, Angkor Wat was used as a communications center by the Khmer Rouge. It was not damaged by the war, however, and since the establishment of a new government it has been reopened and has become a major tourist destination. Even though Angkor itself is well secured, some of the area surrounding it is dangerous, subject to bandits and unexploded land mines. There are a number of other temples and ruins in the rainforest surrounding Angkor Wat, though none rivals it in importance or magnificence. The restoration of Angkor faces several challenges. For years, its unprotected access encouraged looters to remove statues and bas-reliefs, which are highly prized on the international art market. Secondly, the years of neglect and abandonment allowed vegetation to root in the cracks and fissures of the stone work, in time cracking them. In some places, huge tree roots are so integrated into the stonework that removal would be destructive. Finally, there is the effect of mass tourism itself, with its vehicle exhaust and climbing visitors. See also: Mount Meru

REFERENCES Russel Ciochon and Jamie James, “The Glory That Was Angkor,” Archaeology 47:2, 38–49 (March– April 1994). Flavio Conti, Tribute to Religion. Boston, HBJ Press, 1979, 153–168.

Anne Frank House, The Netherlands | 17 Michael Freeman and Roger Warner, Angkor. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Dawn Rooney, Angkor. Lincolnwood, IL, Passport Books, 1994. www.angkorwat.net.

ANNE FRANK HOUSE, THE NETHERLANDS More than a million people a year visit an unassuming canal house in Amsterdam to pay respects to a young girl who has become a symbol of the Holocaust. During the German occupation of the Netherlands, Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl, and her family hid in a secret apartment in Amsterdam. The Franks had fled Nazi Germany in 1933, after Adolf Hitler came to power, but the occupation of the Netherlands left them no further refuge. The apartment was their last hope. Anne Frank was thirteen when the family went into hiding in 1942; she was fifteen when she died. The canal house was built in 1635 and remodeled several times through the years. In one of these, a small extension was built on the back, shielded from view by buildings in a quadrangle. The rest of the building housed Otto Frank’s spice business and its offices. As the arrests of Jews intensified under the Nazi occupation, the family went into the annex with the connivance of several of his employees. On August 4, 1944, acting on a tip from a collaborator, the Nazi police broke into the secret annex and captured the two Jewish families that had been in hiding there. After terrorizing the employees and vandalizing the hidden apartment, they left. Shortly after the

raid, Miep Gies (1909–2010), one of those who had smuggled food to the families, sneaked into the apartment and gathered up the scattered pages of a diary the young daughter, Anne Frank, had been keeping. Fearful that the Gestapo would find it and hunt down those mentioned in it, she kept it in her home in an open drawer, which she guessed would cause the least suspicion. The Franks and their companions, a family named Van Damme, were sent to concentration camps on the last transport to leave Holland with Jews bound for their deaths. Only Anne’s father, Otto Frank, lived to be liberated from Auschwitz. All the others perished within a few days of one another. Anne and her sister died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen. Anne Frank’s story is only one among thousands of similar stories during World War II. What set it apart and made Anne Frank a symbol of suffering Jews during the Holocaust was her diary. When Gies returned the papers to Otto after the War, it was published in an edited edition and became an immediate international bestseller. It has appeared in fifty languages and was made into both a play and a film. In 1995, the complete edition appeared. Personal and touching, the diary records the family’s life and her own maturing. It also relates the horrors of the Nazi occupation reflected in the lives of a small group of people who take on personality as the diary unfolds. The diary is surprisingly well written for a young person, detailing Anne’s emergence from childhood to early womanhood. She explores her developing romantic feelings and her adolescent tensions with her mother. She speaks of her fear and the atmosphere of oppression that lay upon them in the annex.

18 | Anurhadhpura, Sri Lanka

Prophetically, she writes, “The perfect round spot on which we’re standing is still safe, but the clouds are moving in on us, and the ring between us and the approaching danger is being pulled tighter and tighter.” The Anne Frank House was established in 1960, after a public outcry prevented the building’s demolition. Many of the stream of visitors are merely curious when they enter but fall silent as they move through the annex. The apartment has been left as it was at the end of the war, stripped of furniture but with many little reminders of the family. Anne’s movie-star posters are still pasted on the wall, along with a few mementos. The feeling of the place, above all, is claustrophobic. But somehow, what rings through is Anne Frank’s triumphant testimony: “In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” The Anne Frank Foundation, which owns the building, also engages in antiracist education programs and organizes traveling exhibits. Anne’s book has been translated into most modern languages and made into a movie. Shelley Winters won an Academy Award for her role in the film, and the Oscar statuette is now displayed at the museum. See also: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Holocaust Sites

REFERENCES Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl. New York, Doubleday, revised edition, 2003. Miep Gies, Anne Frank Remembered. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1987. Carol Ann Lee, The Hidden Life of Otto Frank. New York, HarperCollins, 2003. www.annefrank.org.

ANURHADHPURA, SRI LANKA Anurhadhpura, for 1,500 years the capital of Sri Lanka, is the location of several prominent Buddhist pilgrimage sites that have been active since the third century BCE. Around 245 BCE, a cutting from the bodhi tree under which the Buddha had received enlightenment at Bodh Gaya was brought to the place, and temples and a city grew about it. Today the tree, which is perhaps the oldest living tree in the world, is regarded as the most sacred relic in Sri Lanka and the heart of Singhalese Buddhism. The Singhalese consider their form of Theravada Buddhism the purest and most traditional. About seventy percent of Sri Lankans are adherents. There is a sharp divide between the ancient shrine and the contemporary ones. In 993 CE the city was devastated by Hindu Tamils. Before their incursion, Anurhadhpura was a thriving city of several hundred thousand, of whom 50,000 alone were monks. There were numerous temples and stupas. Rising above this was a rock face with monastic cells carved into it, reached by a ceremonial road lined with statues of the Buddha, memorials, and stupas. A wide stairway of 1,800 steps led to the top in the mount. There was an elaborate infrastructure to support the population and the hordes of pilgrims, including a sophisticated water and sewer system and such pilgrim amenities as hostels, hospitals, a veterinary program, reservoirs, and a large bathing pond for ablutions. In the nineteenth century, the city was excavated and began again to be a pilgrimage center. The prime shrine is the

Assisi, Italy | 19 bodhi tree. It is cordoned off by a railing, and no vehicles are allowed near it. The railing is festooned with the offerings of pilgrims, especially prayer scarves. After leaving an offering, the pilgrim circumambulates the tree three times, after which he usually remains in meditation. Every day monks bathe the tree in scented water and milk. There are a number of other monuments, notably the dagobas (stupas) that serve as massive reliquaries. One is said the hold a bone of the Buddha and his alms-bowl. Another had relics of saints placed in it in 1932 as part of the restoration. One part of the pilgrim route that every visitor seeks out is the large bathing reservoir, the Tissawewa. It is still in use for purification rituals before entering the temples for worship. There are sixteen worship centers with innumerable Buddha images. Besides reciting some prayers, the main worship is in the form of meditation rather than ceremonies. Next to the Tissawewa are cave carvings into the rock face, including cells for monks and, in the ancient past, for orphans. All these structures are works of art as well, with beautiful friezes along the bases. Anurhadhpura was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982. See also: Bodh Gaya

ASSISI, ITALY Assisi is the hometown of St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most popular Christian saints. The city was converted to Christianity in the third century by St. Rufinus, its first bishop and a martyr. The cathedral, named for him, holds his

tomb. A century later the Christian victory was completed when the firstcentury Temple of Minerva was converted to the Church of Santa Maria supra Minerva. It is not this history that attracts throngs of pilgrims today. The focus of their reverence is St. Francis of Assisi, a humble man who chose to live poor as a wandering poet and prophet while building up a community of simple but devout friars. Francis is today celebrated throughout the world. Assisi is perhaps the only place commonly revered by Christians of all expressions and by Buddhists, Muslims, and animists as well. Buddhist and yoga retreats have even been established in the surrounding hills. Francis (1182–1226) and his close friend and disciple Clare (1193?–1253) are the soul of Assisi. A soldier and something of a wastrel, Francis had a profound conversion experience when an inner voice led him to rebuild ruined chapels. His father sued him for using the family’s money for chapels, and in a dramatic scene, Francis cast off his rich clothing and returned it, revealing himself clad in a penitent’s hair shirt. Francis spent a period as a hermit and toward the end of his life received the stigmata, the bleeding wounds of Christ, on his hands and body. Yet his poetry, especially the ecstatic Canticle of the Sun and the Canticle of the Creatures, which are among the finest poems in Italian, reveals no melancholy but only joy. Francis gathered together a group of followers whose numbers swelled until there were thousands across Europe. They lived lives of simplicity and poverty, often sleeping on the ground or in

20 | Assisi, Italy

FRANCIS’ HYMN TO THE SUN In 1224, Francis wrote this, the first poem in the Italian language, an ecstatic praise of God’s creation. These excerpts are translated from the original. Praise to you, Lord, by Sister Moon and Stars, You formed them in the heavens, making them bright, cherished and beautiful. Praise to you, Lord, by Brother Wind And clouds and storms and all weather Through which you sustain all your creation. Praise to you, Lord, by Sister Water, Useful and simple, precious and pure. Praise to you, Lord, by Brother Fire, Through which you illumine the night Beautiful and cheering, powerful and strong. Praise to you, Lord, by our sister, Mother Earth, By which we are sustained and governed. She produces multitudes of fruits with bright flowers and herbs. Praise and bless the Lord and give thanks! Serve him humbly.

caves, yet after Francis’s death his followers built a magnificent church in Assisi in his honor, the Basilica of San Francesco. The church is built in Romanesque style, which blends well with the Umbrian hill country surrounding it. In the crypt beneath it lie the remains of Francis. When they were brought there four years after his death, the friars bolted the doors against the crowds that pressed to see and touch the relics. A few trusted friars buried the body secretly in the lower church, and it was not rediscovered until the nineteenth century. The lower church is the site of some of the most valuable frescoes, although many are now damaged by damp and age. In 1996, the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalen was reopened after restoration, revealing splendid frescoes

by Giotto that had previously hidden under layers of smoke and wax from votive candles. The upper church was a grand, vaulted, sixty-foot space, more Gothic in style. It, too, is frescoed, including twenty-eight panels by Giotto of the life and legend of St. Francis. These included a famous scene of Francis preaching to the birds along with a scene of his taming a wolf and another of Francis before the Turkish sultan (he had gone to Turkey hoping for martyrdom). The choir stalls, of intricately carved woodwork, are masterpieces. Each is inlaid with wood mosaics, portraits of early disciples of Francis. They also reflect the irony of the splendid church in honor of il poverello, the man of poverty, for Franciscan friars are not monks and do not use choir stalls.

Assisi, Italy | 21 All this was shattered in a moment in 1997, when an earthquake devastated the city, rendering 30,000 homeless and destroying the vault of the basilica. At that moment, two friars were showing around several architectural specialists, and all were crushed by the falling masonry. A video captured the tragic scene. Many of the Giotto frescoes were damaged beyond repair, but the vault has been restored. Assisi has been the second-most-visited shrine in Italy, after St. Peter’s in Rome, and with the Holy Year of 2000 looming, reconstruction and repairs were rushed through. The basilica was reopened in 1999. There was widespread criticism of the restoration in Assisi and the Province of Umbria, accusing the government of favoring tourist income over the immediate needs of the dispossessed. Critics argued that Francis would have served the homeless before restoring a grand basilica. The Church of San Francesco, with its attached monastery, is a beacon for pilgrims of many faiths from all over the world, and they are received in a constant stream. Many of them make the same round of stops: the Basilicas of St. Francis and of St. Clare, the hermitage, and the Portiuncula. St. Clare was the beautiful daughter of a nobleman, Francis’s closest friend, and the foundress of the Poor Clare Franciscan nuns. Homes in medieval Assisi had two doors, one for regular use and the Door of the Dead, only used for funerals. When Clare left home, she went through the latter as a sign that she had died to this world and chosen a new one. Francis and some friars met her at the Portiuncula, a tiny chapel they had restored, where they cut off her long hair. After forty-two years as head of the

Order of St. Clare, she was buried in the church named for her, Santa Chiara. Her body was discovered in 1850 and placed in a special crypt in 1872, where it is an object of veneration. Another shrine is Francis’ hermitage, a cave in the forested hills above the church. Francis’s cell there is preserved along with the stone altar from which he preached to the birds. Its simplicity and austerity are a better reflection of Francis than the grander churches of Assisi. The Portiuncula is a tiny chapel, revered as the place of Francis’s death, and to preserve it, the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels was built around it. The Portiuncula was also the chapel that Francis first restored after his initial inspiration. The annual Feast of Forgiveness is held here. It was begun by Francis, who was vexed that warriors were forgiven their sins by the Church if they joined the Crusades. Francis established his feast with a pilgrimage as a more peaceful way to seek forgiveness and expiation. It is thronged with pilgrims, especially youth groups and charismatic Catholics, singing, dancing, and celebrating in a very Franciscan way. The Portiuncula is kept as a Franciscan shrine because as he was dying, Francis asked to be taken there. Then, singing the last verse of his Canticle of the Sun, he passed to eternity. Assisi: the Basilica and Other Franciscan Sites are listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

REFERENCES Line Gorgon, The Story of Assisi. New York, Gorgon, 1977.

22 | Attukal Pongala, India

Marian Habig, OFM (ed.), St. Francis of Assisi: Writings and Early Biographies. Chicago, Franciscan Herald, 1972. Nest de Rabic, Life of St. Francis of Assisi. Assisi, Case Editrice, 1975.

ATTUKAL PONGALA, INDIA The Attukal Pongala Festival, celebrated each year, is the world’s largest gathering of women, with an excess of a million coming to the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Trivandrum. The goddess Kannaki is a mother figure for women across India, and the festival is a celebration of women. Everyday worship consists of puja, reverential prayer. The names of the goddess are continuously chanted by devotees in an endless litany of praise. Many festivals are observed at the temple, each with its special offerings appropriate to the occasion, such as milk and flowers offered to the snake god at Ayilya Puja. The highlight of the year, however, is the Attukal Pongala. The ten-day festival begins with the re-enactment of the legend of the goddess, a musical account that is repeated during the entire festival. In it, the goddess defeats the forces of evil. Alongside this presentation are many temple dances and concerts, and highly decorated floats repeat the stories. The final celebration begins with the lighting of the hearth. Since there are huge numbers of women, camped out for the most part, this means lighting charcoal braziers across the city and beyond. Only women take part in this observance. At a signal from the temple,

the pots are lighted, and sweet rice porridge with cocoanut is prepared to the continued undertone of temple drums. A blessing with holy water concludes the event, with the scattering of flower petals to the honor of the goddess. At this point, two large groups of girls and boys under thirteen (no adolescents or men) perform ritual dances. The girls ask the goddess for inner beauty and happy futures. Finally, there is a grand procession. Dancers lead the boys, now caparisoned in gorgeous ornaments. Floats and torchlight add to the atmosphere. The image of the goddess is taken from the temple and carried in splendor on the back of an elephant. The boys, who symbolize those wounded in the goddess’ fight with the evil forces, begin a period of austerity after the procession, fasting for a week on minimal food, sleeping rough, and prostrating themselves 1,008 times twice a day before the goddess.

REFERENCE www.attukal.org.

AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, POLAND Auschwitz (Oswiecim in Polish), the largest and most vicious of the Nazi extermination camps during the Holocaust, lies in a desolate area thirty-five miles outside Krako´w in southern Poland. Although the Nazis destroyed part of the camp when they fled before the advance of the Soviet armies, much remains as it was when the Germans left.

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland | 23

Entrance gate, Auschwitz, Poland.

Oswiecim was the perfect setting for a concentration camp. First built at the juncture of three empires, by 1900 there were forty-four rail lines, a larger railroad hub than New York’s Penn Station. In 1919, the Polish army built a camp there. The Nazis would use this infrastructure to their advantage. Today, Auschwitz is well cared for and receives numbers of visitors daily, while its twin camp at Birkenau (two miles away) has been deliberately left in ruins. A rail line separates the two camps. Here the unfortunate deportees and their meager goods were unloaded and sorted out. The healthy were set aside for work, while the elderly, the weak, and the children were immediately sent off to the gas chambers. Under the pretext of delousing, the women prisoners had their hair cut off. The prisoners were then herded into large rooms

disguised to look like public showers. (The Germans cynically called them “the saunas.”) When the doors were sealed, gas pellets dropped into the room, and soon all were dead. The bodies were stripped of any rings and gold teeth and then taken to the crematoria to be burned. Under the German SS troops who were in charge of the camps were a number of prisoners known as kapos, mostly vicious former convicts. The dirty work of the crematoria was undertaken by Jewish sonderkommandos. From time to time, these collaborators were also executed. The complex consisted of Auschwitz I, the main camp and administrative center; Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the extermination camp; Auschwitz IIIMonowitz, a labor camp to which the healthy workers were sent; and fortyfive satellite camps for producing goods

24 | Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland

for the Nazi war machine. Many of these latter were run by German industries as slave labor factories. Auschwitz I also had a punishment barracks, where torture until death was common. Auschwitz became a major rail hub as sealed goods cars, packed with Jews from all over Europe, arrived constantly during the war years. One of the barracks at Auschwitz I has been refitted as a museum to display eerie piles of shoes, eyeglasses, luggage, and dentures confiscated from the prisoners. Seven tons of human hair represent the many tons that were shipped away for use in making felt for the German war effort.The main gate featured the cynical motto in iron, Arbeit macht frei—work will make you free. In late 2009 the gate was cut down and stolen by a group of Polish thieves hoping to turn a profit from its sale, but international police efforts soon returned it. Those who were held back for labor were tattooed with identification numbers. They worked long hours under brutal conditions and ate little more than bread and watery soup. The barracks, which are still standing, were unheated in the freezing Polish winter, and the prisoners had only thin clothing. In the summer the climate was humid and malarial. There were no facilities for laundry, and underwear was changed at intervals of weeks or even months. Typhus, tuberculosis, scabies, and typhoid fever flourished under these conditions. The average prisoner survived only a few months, and many of the prisoners were simply worked to death. At the end, some survivors weighed only sixty pounds. But even under extreme conditions, there was resistance in the

camp. In 1944, for example, an uprising by the camp leaders blew up one crematorium at Birkenau. Auschwitz was established in 1940 as a Polish prison camp, following the Nazi policy of destroying Polish culture by eliminating its intellectual leadership and reducing the nation to slavery. Many priests were executed at Auschwitz. Candles and a marker indicate the small cell where St. Maximilian Kolbe, a priest-martyr who is popular in Poland, was starved to death after he offered himself in exchange for a condemned prisoner with a wife and family. Within a year of its foundation, Auschwitz became the main depot for Jews from throughout Eastern Europe and then from the entire continent. Birkenau was built in 1942. The branch camps, mostly slave labor centers, were also built around the same time. Eight of them were for women. Twenty-eight produced parts for armaments, and there were six to ten each at coal mines, metal foundries, and chemical plants. Typically, the workers labored for twelve hours a day. This was the most efficient killing machine ever developed, using the latest German technology to eradicate almost two million people, eighty percent of them Jews. Dr. Josef Mengele, nicknamed “the Angel of Death,” selected children, especially twins, for cruel medical experiments. Then, as the Soviet forces closed in, the Nazis drove 58,000 prisoners on forced marches toward Germany. Few survived. Those who were left behind, about 7,000, were freed by the Russians in January 1945. The coldness and remorseless evil involved makes Auschwitz-Birkenau a monument to depravity. In 1946 the

Avebury, Great Britain | 25 British arrested the first commandant of Auschwitz, and he was hanged at the camp the following year. The next day, the decision was made to dismantle the camp and turn it into a memorial. The Polish government restored the camp as a monument after World War II, although, under Communism, government policy was anti-Semitic. Auschwitz guides refer to the Jews who died there, but displays still concentrate on Polish Christians. Along one hallway several hundred photos of the dead stare down from the walls, but not one is Jewish. Polish nationalism, in its desire to honor and remember the suffering of the Poles during the Nazi occupation, has chosen to relegate the Jewish slaughter to a minor position and to continue to distort history. Auschwitz I has the atmosphere of a museum, with throngs of visitors, a documentary film, and signboards in five languages. Slightly less than a million visit each year. Birkenau, which has never been restored, is a stark contrast. One negotiates over broken ground to the single restored barracks, an austere and cheerless place. Once there were 300 people packed into one of these hovels, built directly on swampy ground and infested with rats. Shelves held eight people sleeping squeezed together on rotten straw. One wooden stable originally built for fifty-two horses was used to hold 1,000 prisoners. There were four massive gas chambers, each with its crematorium. A small pond contains the ashes of 100,000 people consumed in the crematoria, and a little scratching at the earth soon brings up splinters of human bone. The crematoria still impress by their size, but it is the memorials that attract most visitors. There is a

hush as people lay flowers and light candles, often weeping. Historians, Jewish survivors, and the Polish government are debating the future of Auschwitz. Many favor making it into a museum to educate the public, while others seek a religious memorial. The first group wants to rebuild one gas chamber complex to allow visitors the harrowing experience of entering the “shower rooms” and then seeing the crematorium. Many find this offensive, turning visitors into voyeurs and cheapening what they regard as holy ground. Controversy flared for a decade when Carmelite nuns built a convent next to the camp, angering many Jews who felt it was a further attempt to make Auschwitz a Christian Polish shrine. Incidents led to the appointment of a Church commission, led by a French cardinal of Jewish extraction, and the sisters were finally ordered to relocate in 1993. See also: Holocaust Sites

REFERENCES Israel Gutman, Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp. Bloomington, IN, Indiana University, 1994. Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz. New York, Classic House, 2008. Laurence Rees, Auschwitz. Washington, DC, Public Affairs, 2006. Shlomo Venezia, Inside the Gas Chambers. Malden, MA, Polity, 2009. http://en.auschwitz.org.pl.

AVEBURY, GREAT BRITAIN Avebury is a setting of ancient standing stones used by a prehistoric people in

26 | Avebury, Great Britain

The Neolithic archaeological site of Avebury, England is known for a quarter-mile-wide circle of megaliths.

Britain for some sort of religious purposes. It is usually compared to the better-known Stonehenge, but it is quite different. For one thing, it is far larger, covering twenty-eight acres. Avebury is bounded by a ditch fifty feet deep, and twenty-seven of the original 100 stones still stand. The setting, however, is what sets Avebury apart. While Stonehenge is in an open plain away from habitation, Avebury has a village built in its midst. The four gateways to the henge are the entrances to the village, with their roads cutting through the surrounding earthen bank and crossing the ditch; the crossroads is the center of the town. This later development has not been kind. Early Christians knocked down the stones because they considered them part of a pagan temple, and seventeenth-century Puritans broke them up for building

materials. Despite this, Avebury still contains a number of stones, Europe’s highest man-made hill (130 feet high, covering five acres), and its largest prehistoric tomb, a cigar-shaped long barrow (340 feet). Although some ritual use is certain, Avebury’s exact purpose is unknown. The monuments date from the Bronze Age. Around 4000 BCE , Neolithic peoples domesticated animals and became agricultural. They began to settle into permanent habitations. The Avebury stones seem to have been part of an attempt to define this new cultural experience, creating permanent structures that helped to define their relationship with the seasons. Construction of Avebury came around 2800 BCE. The Avebury henge is Europe’s largest at 460 yards, and the stone circle has a diameter of 365 yards. There are several interior rings of stones. Of the

A´vila, Spain | 27 ninety-eight still standing, sizes range up to forty tons. Many of the stones were intact when the Puritans began systematic exploitation, selling the rights to break up the stones for construction purposes. The “shame of Avebury,” as it came to be called, left a fragment of the standing stones. Those not broken up were toppled, although some were re-erected in the 1930s. Some others lie buried, including a mammoth 100-ton megalith. Present-day devotees believe that standing stones can gather the earth’s forces and transmit them, and so they consider Avebury as another source of earth energy, a place where that power can be encountered in a concentrated way and directed. Avebury attracts New Age worshippers for the solstices and at midsummer night. In 1986, Avebury was inscribed on the UNESCO list of world heritage sites, joined to Stonehenge. See also: Midsummer, Stonehenge

REFERENCES Aubrey Burl, Prehistoric Avebury. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 2002. Mark Gillings and Joshua Pollard, Avebury. London, Duckworth, 2004. Gillings et al., Landscape of the Megaliths. Oxford, Oxbow, 2008. www.avebury-web.co.uk.

A´VILA, SPAIN One of the best-preserved medieval cities ´ vila in Spain, the walled town of A breathes the spirit of its patroness, St. Teresa (1515–1582). She dominates not

only the religious soul of the city but also its history and cultural life. ´ vila who spent her entire A native of A life in the town, St. Teresa became one of the principal forces in the Spanish religious and national revival of the sixteenth century. Signs of her influence are everywhere. She was associated with several of the churches and powerful convents of the city and became reformer and mistress of most of the Carmelite convents in the country. With her friend, St. John of the Cross, she reformed the men’s order as well. A woman of intense religious feeling and rigor, she also had a charming sense of humor. When she founded her first convent, based on poverty and hardship, she chose only women of intelligence and common sense. “God preserve us from stupid nuns,” she commented tartly. Teresa’s autobiography and spiritual diary are considered some of the most exalted mystical writings in the Spanish language. The Interior Castle (1577) compares the contemplative soul to seven courts. This mystical work is presented visually in the courtyard of her Convento de la Encarnacioń. It is evident that Teresa is both ´ vila. Even the revered and beloved in A local candy, a rich confection of egg yolks made in the enclosed convents, is named for her. The first woman recognized as a Doctor of the Church by the Vatican for her outstanding theology, she was likewise a major figure in the Catholic Reformation, which brought new direction and new life to the decadent Catholic church of the sixteenth century. ´ vila is a popular stop for religious A tours of Spain. It is not a shrine town, so visitors seek out the places of

28 | A´vila, Spain

View of the walled city of A´vila, in the Castile region of Spain. The walls were constructed following the conquest of the city by Alfonso VI in 1090.

Teresa’s life along a kind of pilgrimage route. Teresa spent twenty-seven years as a nun and three as a superior in the Convento de la Encarnacioń. Her austere cell, furnished with her things, may be visited. The first of the sixteen convents she founded, Convento de las Madres, preserves the coffin in which she slept as an act of penance. The Convento de Santa Teresa, built over her birthplace, has paintings of miraculous events during her life, such as being raised off the ground and encountering Christ. All of these convents have museums devoted to her. In addition, the city’s cathedral was a medieval pilgrimage site, and Teresa often visited there and received several of her visions there. Teresa’s attraction is the way she combined her down-to-earth practicality (Encarnacioń has a display of her pithy

sayings) with a mystical life. Her books constitute the classic description of the mystical experience. Together with the exalted poetry of her intimate friend John, they constitute a major contribution to Spanish literature. Teresa’s Interior Castle, far from being obscure, is a highly accessible pathway to contact with God, requiring neither great learning nor occult practices. Pope John Paul II once referred to Teresa and John as “the spiritual teachers of my interior life.”

REFERENCES Beebe Bahrami, The Spiritual Traveler: Spain. New York, Hidden Spring, 2009. Jodi Bilinkoff, The Avila of St. Teresa. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, 1992.

Axum, Ethiopia | 29 Francis Gross, The Making of a Mystic. Albany, NY, State University of New York, 1993. Victoria Lincoln, Teresa, a Woman. Albany, NY, State University of New York, 1984.

AXUM, ETHIOPIA The holiest city of the Ethiopian Orthodox faith, Axum was founded more than 2,000 years ago. It was here in the fourth century that Christianity first came to the highlands, the heartland of Ethiopia. Prince Ezana, instructed in Christianity by two Syrian brothers shipwrecked on the Red Sea coast, promoted the faith when he became king. He is regarded as a saint in both the Ethiopian Orthodox and Catholic churches. Axum was the first Christian kingdom in the world and the largest outside the Roman Empire. It sat astride the caravan routes to Arabia, Nubia, and Egypt, trading as far away as Greece, Rome, and Constantinople. In the sixth century, King St. Kaleb built Axum into a military power and took on the role of protector of Christians in the region, including Arabia. Kaleb conquered several small Jewish kingdoms in Arabia. As a result, Jewish customs crossed the Red Sea and were incorporated into Ethiopian Christianity. The most sacred shrine in Ethiopia is the church of St. Mary of Zion, first dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the 300s CE and reconstructed in the seventeenth century on the ruins of the church destroyed by the Muslims. The destruction and rebuilding of the church is an important part of its meaning for Ethiopians. Surrounded by Muslim countries,

overrun several times, and brought to the brink of extinction, Orthodox Christianity in Ethiopia sees itself as a militant bastion against Islam. St. Mary of Zion’s rise from the ashes serves as a symbol of the nation. The emperors of Ethiopia were all crowned there. Until the 1930s, criminals could receive sanctuary in the church precincts by ringing the bell on the porch. The present church was rebuilt with Portuguese aid and shows a Syrian influence. It is a squat, square structure with a colonnade surrounding it and used for dancing by the priests during services. Inside is a vestibule, and beyond this is the Holy of Holies, closed to everyone but the priests. Male pilgrims do not go beyond the vestibule, and women are confined to the courtyard. During pilgrimages, the small church is overwhelmed by the crowds, whose sonorous chanting flows like a tide, rising and falling in a wave of sound. When the priests emerge from the Holy of Holies to carry the Gospel book in procession or bring the Eucharist to the people, they are garbed in bright robes and shielded by ornate ceremonial umbrellas. The main pilgrimages are at Ethiopian Epiphany, Timk’et, on January 7, and the festival of Miryam Zion in December. Next to the church is a relic chapel, the Chapel of the Tablet, built in 1965 by Emperor Haile Selassie. It houses the royal crowns and church treasures. It is also believed to contain the biblical Ark of the Covenant with the tablets of the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Copies of the ark and the tablets are taken out on feast days and paraded around the town, though the originals are seen by no one except a single guardian priest. He takes up this task

30 | Axum, Ethiopia

Worshippers gather for Lent at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum, Ethiopia, where some say the Ark of the Covenant is housed.

for life, standing alone before the Holy of Holies. On his deathbed he is expected to name his successor. Accounts dating to the fourteenth century say that Menelik, legendary son of King Solomon of ancient Israel and the Queen of Sheba, brought the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. A recent study traced this tradition and argues that although Lalibela was built to house the Ark, it came to Axum instead. Ethiopians firmly believe this argument and flock to St. Mary of Zion in pilgrimage, especially for feasts of the Virgin. The Ark is said to be a box covered with fine cloth, with winged figures on each corner. Also at Axum is a series of eleven granite columns or stelae, one of which— now fallen—is the tallest in the world at ninety feet. These had some religious purpose in pre-Christian times, and some

have altars at the base with grooves cut into them to carry away blood from sacrifices. The Great Stelae, the largest, was looted in 1937 by Italian forces during their brief occupation of Ethiopia. It was erected in Rome, and for many years, negotiations to return it waxed and waned. Finally, after the fall of the Communist regime in Ethiopia, the Italians agreed. It was dismantled in 2003 and erected again in Axum five years later, after a series of irritating delays. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has retained many Jewish and ancient customs, and in rural areas, animal sacrifice is not unknown, though there is no evidence of it being practiced in Axum. Monoliths continued to be erected after the arrival of Christianity, and several with Christian inscriptions can be found. Some say that one of the fallen stelae

Axum, Ethiopia | 31

KING SAINT KALEB Kaleb (or Elesbaan) reigned in Axum in the sixth century, when it was still a major naval and trading power. He was raised Christian and extended Axum to its full extent before its gradual decline in the next century. He issued coinage, something most unusual at the time, and forged an alliance with Justinian, Emperor at Constantinople. Axum was at a height of prosperity. In 520, Justinian appealed to him to deal with a crisis in Yemen, across the Red Sea. The Christians there were attacked and oppressed by the ruler of a Jewish kingdom, who killed the bishop, destroyed churches, and slaughtered thousands of Christians. Kaleb responded with an invasion and defeated the Jews in a battle on the shore, finally executing the king and placing a Christian on the throne. In the end, the invasion did not last and his regent was overthrown, but the rulers of Yemen continued to pay tribute to Axum for many years and the persecutions ceased. Kaleb went down in history for his crusading zeal. In 540, Kaleb abdicated, sent his crown to the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and retired to the life of a hermit, where he died in 555. He is honored as a saint by the Copts, Orthodox, and Catholics with a feast on October 27.

covers the site of the Queen of Sheba’s grave. A large reservoir is called her “bath,” and pilgrims collect water from it to take home. A short distance away from the stelae is a fortress containing the tomb of St. Kaleb. The cover stone is a granite piece weighing 100 tons. Nearby is a stone slab with inscriptions in Greek, Saebean, and Ge’ez, the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia. It describes St. Ezana’s conversion of Ethiopia. Axum was in the battle zone during much of the liberation war against the central government in the 1980s. Marxist forces were accused of plundering

eighty-three churches in the area and killing a number of priests, but the ancient shrines of Axum were not seriously damaged. See also: Lalibela

REFERENCES James Bent, The Sacred City of the Ethiopians. New York, Longmans, 1896. Graham Hancock, Historic Ethiopia. Nairobi, Camerapix, 1994. Paul Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia. New York, Palgrave, 2000.


B

After Christianity was legalized in 313, Byzantine soldiers looted the treasures of the temples, and the Emperor Theodosius built the basilica. When the Muslims overran Lebanon in 634, they built a mosque inside the Temple of Jupiter, but after that time, the site declined. It passed under many Muslim groups and was controlled for awhile by warlords, and then it was further damaged by earthquakes. In the Lebanese War of 2006, Israeli bombs striking the town of Baalbek caused slight damage to the ruins through shockwaves. Despite the neglect of centuries, Baalbek’s remains are still impressive. It rests upon a promontory 3,750 feet high, overlooking the surrounding plain. There is a profusion of temples, platforms, and fallen columns. The Temple of Jupiter was the largest religious structure ever built by the Romans. It was immense, with more than a hundred granite columns surrounding the main sanctuary. The Great Court, a splendid public space, was built during the reign of

BAALBEK, LEBANON In the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, the Romans built a temple complex to honor their trinity of gods: Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus. Jupiter was the high god of the Roman pantheon and the protector of the state. Mercury was worshipped as the god of commerce who communicated among all the gods. Venus was the goddess of love and beauty. Baalbek was constructed on top of a previous Canaanite temple site for their high gods: Baal-Hadad, Aliyan, and Atargatis. The Roman temple complex was a triumphal statement of Roman superiority over earlier gods. Alexander the Great had already begun a process of Hellenization when he conquered the area in 334 BCE . It became known as Heliopolis, the “city of the sun.” Caesar established it as a Roman colony in 15 BCE . The massive Temple of Jupiter followed soon after. Later dominant people repeated the process of appropriation by transforming part of the site into a Christian basilica.

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34 | Baalbek, Lebanon

The Temple of Jupiter, located in Baalbek, dates back to AD 60. Baalbek is known for its elaborately detailed temple ruins from the Roman period.

Trajan (98–117 CE). It measured 450 by 370 feet, with a profusion of altars and votive places. One hundred twenty-eight rose granite columns surrounded the area, at a height of sixty feet. Trajan was a devotee and consulted the oracle of Jupiter before going into battle. An oracle was known to be at Baalbek well before the Roman period, and divination was a common reason to come to the shrines. People petitioned the gods for answers to personal needs, and the priests “read” the entrails of birds or cast lots. The cult of Venus was accompanied by temple prostitution in which women dedicated themselves to the service of devotees, with their gifts going to the support of the temple. To what extent this was practiced is hard to know, since the accounts were written

by Christians, who were disgusted by the custom. It was common enough, however, that Emperor Theodosius (379–395) built his Basilica of St. Barbara in the main court of the Jupiter Temple to curb it and introduce Christian worship. The Temple of Bacchus, god of wine and revelry, was among the first major constructions. Even today it is the bestpreserved Roman temple anywhere, 225 by 120 feet in size. Scholars dispute whether the temple was actually dedicated to Bacchus, but that remains its traditional title. Modern engineers have not determined how the massive stonework was brought to Baalbek, even though the origin of the columns is known. The base stones of the Temple of Jupiter, for

Baba Sali, Israel | 35 example, weigh in at 450 to 1,000 tons. They had to be brought long distances and then lifted into place atop a high hill. Even twenty-first-century engineering does not have methods for moving and lifting stones of such size along that slope.

REFERENCES Michel Alouf, History of Baalbek. San Diego, CA, Book Tree, 1999. Martin Isler, Sticks, Stones and Shadows. Norman, OK, University of Oklahoma, 2002.

BABA SALI, ISRAEL The tomb of Baba Sali is a recent Jewish holy place, attracting pilgrims since his death in 1984. An estimated 800,000 visitors come to pay their respects and seek blessings each year. Yisrael Abuhatzeira was born in Morocco on Rosh Hashanah, 1890, into a family of scholar-rabbis with a strong mystical bent. He himself soon had a reputation for healing, and his blessings were sought out. His personal life led to his nickname, Baba Sali, “the praying father.” Actually, the name is closer to the English “daddy,” which reveals some of the affection with which he was held in his lifetime. Baba Sali became a scholar of the Talmud and a kabbalist, a follower of the medieval esoteric mystical school of Judaism. His healing touch, his advice, and the miracles attributed to him soon gave him a wide following. Baba Sali emigrated to Israel in 1960 and settled in Netivot, where his disciples followed him. He was responsible

for bringing most of Moroccan Jewry to Israel as refugees. Having endured the persecution and exile of the Jews of his town during World War II, when his brother, the rabbi of the town, was brutally executed by being strapped to a canon and shot, the Baba Sali had no illusions about the future of Jews in Muslim Morocco. In Israel, he soon established a relationship with the influential and politically powerful Lubavitcher leader, the Rebbe Menachem Schneerson (1902–1994), thought by some Lubavitchers to be the promised messiah. Thus Baba Sali brought together his own Sephardic followers with those of Schneerson, an Ashkenazi. Fifty thousand people came to Baba Sali’s funeral in 1984 (some say 100,000), and pilgrimages to the tomb began immediately. On the anniversary of his death, tens of thousands come to pay him homage with dancing (a Hassidic tradition), music, and feasting. The celebration, known as a hilula, lasts several days. The pilgrims believe that Baba Sali’s soul has risen to the highest levels of heaven. The white-domed tomb itself divides the room on which it is placed so that men and women may honor the saint on either side without seeing or coming in contact with one another. The tradition is to cast candles into a furnace beside the tomb as a blessing. Another custom is to bring one’s three-year-old son to the tomb for the traditional first haircut, the chalaka. Baba Sali’s son, Baruch, is guardian of the shrine tomb and a leading member of the ultra-right Israeli political party, Shas. Shas uses the annual pilgrimage as a sort of political, anti-Muslim rally, and its party chairman always attends the hilula.

36 | Babi Yar, Ukraine

REFERENCES Eliyahu Alfasi and Yechiel Torgeman, Baba Sali. Brooklyn, NY, Judaica Press, 1986. Edward Hoffman, The Kabbalah Reader. Boston, Trumpeter, 2010.

BABI YAR, UKRAINE The site of one of the worst Nazi atrocities of World War II, Babi Yar, a wooded ravine outside Kiev, has become the symbol of the Holocaust in the Ukraine and Russia. It was the largest single mass slaughter of the entire war. As the World War II Nazi armies swept across Europe in their first flush of victory, they gathered Jews together, registered them, and persecuted them. Then, when the Nazis decided on the “final solution”—the genocide of the Jews—massive numbers were either executed or deported to work at death camps. The Nazi campaign against the Jews was especially vicious in the Ukraine, where the Nazis killed most of the Jewish population during their occupation. They exploited the anti-Semitism of the local Ukrainian population and, in some cases, enlisted their cooperation. Between 1941 and 1943, more than 100,000 people, almost all Jews, were executed at Babi Yar. Within a week of occupying Kiev, the Nazi commander ordered all Jews to assemble. In an horrific incident on September 29, 1941, 33,000 Jews were marched to the ravine, stripped, and executed by machine gun fire. The bodies of both the dead and the wounded were buried on the spot. Then the Nazis decided to execute all the

Jews left in Kiev, so they summoned them to a gathering point for “deportation and resettlement,” then marched them to their deaths. As Soviet forces advanced on Kiev in 1943, a Nazi team was formed to cover over all traces of Babi Yar. Prisoners from a nearby concentration camp were forced to exhume and burn the bodies, then crush the bones with headstones taken from neighboring Jewish cemeteries. After the Nazis were expelled and the Soviet government reestablished, a cloak of silence was wrapped around Babi Yar. Though many Jews who had fled the advance of the Nazis returned, all attempts at memorializing the dead met bureaucratic opposition, and Jews who prayed at the site were often arrested. The 1943 investigation, which had named Jews as victims, was toned down to mention only “civilians.” The cause of this bureaucratic resistance was the embarrassing fact, long suppressed and denied by the Communists, that a number of Ukrainians had defected to the Nazis, hoping to escape communism. The Ukrainian tradition of antiSemitism was well established, and many of the Ukrainian police had taken part in the atrocities as allies of the Nazis. In the months following the September massacre, more executions took place at Babi Yar, and Nazi officials testified that reports from the Ukrainians betraying Jews came in “by the bushelful.” This fact, though officially ignored, was never quite forgotten. In 1961 it finally received international attention with the publication of a lengthy poem, “Babi Yar,” by the distinguished writer Yevgeny Yevtushenko. In one passage, its haunting lines read:

Bagan, Myanmar/Burma | 37 No gravestone stands on Babi Yar; Only coarse earth heaped roughly on the gash: Such dread comes over me. Immediately, both Russian and international attention focused on Babi Yar. Dmitri Shostakovich incorporated the poem into his Thirteenth Symphony. Still, a memorial was not erected until 1974, and it made no mention of the Jewish dead. Instead, it centered on a wartime resistance hero and vaguely referred to the “victims of fascism.” It was built away from the ravine, and pilgrimages and demonstrations were discouraged. Finally, on the fiftieth anniversary of the September slaughter, during the disintegration of the Soviet system and in a newly independent Ukraine, a new memorial was put up. It was accompanied by a campaign of education in Kiev about the Holocaust and Babi Yar’s part in it. The memorial itself is set in a large park at the end of a brick road leading up to a menorah, the traditional sevenbranched candlestick used in Jewish ceremonies. Other monuments honor the Soviet citizens and prisoners of war, children, Ukrainian nationalists, Russian Orthodox clergy—all executed at Babi Yar. In the ravine, private persons have erected iron crosses in memorial. A memorial for Roma (Gypsies) is planned as well. In 2006, the Memorial to the Jewish Victims was vandalized by antiSemites. It has since been restored. See also: Holocaust Sites

REFERENCES Anatoli Kuznetsov, Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel.

New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, uncensored edition, 1970. Joshua Rubenstein and Ilya Altman, The Ukrainian Black Book. Bloomington, IN, Indiana University, 2010. Evgeny Yevtushenko, Collected Poems, 1952–1990. New York, Henry Holt, 1991. Nazi War Crimes: Babi Yar, 1990, video.

BAGAN, MYANMAR/ BURMA The ancient ruins of Bagan (formerly Pagan) lie along the Irriwady River in central Burma. Scattered across the plains, the remnants of 2,217 temples and stupas slowly molder away from centuries of disuse, the relics of a religious city that once held 13,000 sanctuaries and temples cared for by 70,000 monks. Since it also had an important university, Bagan was one of the great centers of Buddhism. The kingdom that built this enormous complex lasted from 1044 to 1278. But the vast construction project of building Bagan so exhausted the kingdom and denuded the forests that it weakened the country and made it vulnerable to invaders. In 1278, Pagan was looted and burned by the Mongols under Kublai Khan. Since the palaces and pavilions were made of wood, only the stone temples and stupas survived. The city was established in 874 and served as the capital of the First Burmese Empire in the eleventh century. Following royal custom, however, the capital moved with each succeeding king, and Bagan’s importance depended on religion. In 1057, the Burmese captured the Tripitaka Pali, major sacred scriptures of Buddhism. Legend says that

38 | Bagan, Myanmar/Burma

A view of the Ananda and Shwegugyi temples in Bagan, Myanmar. The Ananda Temple was built in 1091 and the Shwegugyi Temple was built in 1311.

it took thirty elephants to carry them off and that 30,000 artists and craftsmen were brought to Bagan. Monks soon translated the Pali and Burma became a scholarly center for Buddhists. The Theravada interpretation of Buddhism became the state religion, and Burma established ties with other Theravada states, especially Sri Lanka and Thailand. The remains of Bagan stretch across eight miles of the river and cover twenty square miles. At some places the structures are so clustered that one can walk among them touching shrines on either side. Though many temples and stupas are reduced to rubble, a number are in excellent condition—temples with spires thrusting to heaven, covered in white or green tile that glimmers in the sunlight. Originally, there were some 4,500 monuments of various kinds, spanning all eras of Southeast Asian architecture. Two

thousand two hundred fifty still stand, and a thousand remain as ruins. The main area covers four square miles. The most important temple is the Ananda Temple (1105), built as an ascending pyramid topped by a spire. Constructed of brick covered by white stucco, it rises six terraces above its base. Pagodas and other structures are built into it, giving it mass and strength. It is named for the Buddha’s personal attendant and cousin. The temple sponsors an annual week-long pilgrimage in December/January, when thousands of pilgrims camp out and offer gifts of new begging bowls to the monks. The Ananda Temple is constructed in the form of a Greek cross, with a long corridor and two cross aisles. Small devotional chambers branch off the main corridors. In four of these are standing Buddha statues, each thirty-one feet tall

Bagan, Myanmar/Burma | 39 and made of gilded teak, one for each of the four directions of the compass. They are lit by hidden skylights. Along the base and terraces are terra cotta tiles with scenes from the Jataka, legends of the previous lives of the Buddha. The Thatbyinnyu Temple, built in 1144, is the highest in Bagan at 201 feet. From its top terrace the visitor can see the entire plain with its complex of ruins. The effect is eerie, since Pagan draws no rush of everyday pilgrims and few tourists. The contrast with Shwedagon in Yangon, a thriving and bustling Buddhist sanctuary, could not be more complete. It is not as though Bagan has no shrines that might attract the faithful, since several pagodas hold important relics, such as hairs of the Buddha. Amidst the scores of Buddhist temples, large and small, is the Nathlaung Kyaung Temple (literally, “the shrine of the confined spirits”), the only remaining Hindu temple in Bagan. It was built somewhere around 1000 CE, primarily to serve Indian traders and craftsmen. It is dedicated to Vishnu, and it has seven (of an original ten) statues of the avatars of Vishnu, including the Buddha. Because it is not Buddhist, it has been allowed to fall into disrepair. The complex is quiet, even though it remains open to visitors. It is as if the spiritual authority of the place has deserted it. The area has been developed for visitors by the present military government, resulting in the forcible removal of several thousand peasants who lived in the villages that dot the area. The final expulsion of the local population seems to have removed the last vestiges of any human dimension from Pagan. Only one aspect of Pagan indicates a living religious tradition. Scattered

among the Buddhist sites are small wooden shrines to nature spirits, often lit with simple lamps. These are spirit houses and places for the souls of the dead, all part of an indigenous nature religion that has persisted despite the dominance of Buddhism and which many Buddhists practice alongside their more austere faith. Among the temples is an ancestor shrine in this nature tradition—the Gawdawpalin Temple, extravagantly decorated with lovely carvings. There are often pilgrims and families at Gawdawpalin to honor their ancestors. It is this last group of shrines that draws most of the Burmese who come for worship. Under the military dictatorship that has controlled Myanmar since 1962, the name of the city has been changed from Pagan to Bagan, and the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar. The military junta has treated Bagan as a cash cow for tourist dollars, regardless of the effect on either the monuments or the population. After a devastating earthquake in 1975 destroyed several major temples, reconstruction has been shoddy and inauthentic. Consequently, UNESCO has refused to list Bagan as a World Cultural Heritage site. In 1990, the junta created a “new Bagan” and forced the relocation of all the families living in the historical area. A golf course has been built to cater to tourists as well. See also: Angkor Wat, Shwedagon Pagoda

REFERENCES Claudine Bautze-Picron, The Buddhist Murals of Pagan. n.p., 2003.

40 | Baha’i World Centre, Israel

Donald Stadtner, Ancient Pagan. Bangkok, Thailand, River Books, 2006. Paul Strachan, Pagan: Art and Architecture of Old Burma. Edinburgh, Scotland, Kiscadale, 1995.

BAHA’I WORLD CENTRE, ISRAEL Members of the Baha’i faith throughout the world make pilgrimages to Haifa, Israel, to the shrines of their founders. The complex serves as both a series of shrines and the administrative headquarters of the Baha’i faith. The Universal House of Justice there is its highest governing body. The Archives preserves sacred artifacts associated with the Bab and Baha’u’llah. Construction in the complex has continued until 2001. In the 1840s a young Shiite Muslim mystic who was a siyyid, a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, began preaching and took the title Bab, the “Gateway of Divine Perfection.” Soon he proclaimed himself the mahdi, the divinely sent leader who was to deliver his people from oppression. When he also implied that he was a prophet, the Shiite leadership denounced him as a heretic and executed him in 1850. His remains were taken to Palestine by his followers and entombed near presentday Haifa. The Bab taught that God would raise up a World Teacher who would usher in a new age of peace and bring religious unity. This teacher was later revealed to be a disciple named Baha’u’llah, who expanded the Bab’s teaching into what has become known as Baha’i and made

it into a world religion. Baha’u’llah announced that he was the Promised One whom all the prophets had predicted. But when his teachings were warmly embraced by the common people in Persia, the Muslim leaders drove him into exile. He wandered through the Middle East and ended up in Acre in Palestine, where he was imprisoned by the Turks and died in 1892. From his place of banishment, Baha’u’llah communicated with his followers throughout the region and fostered the expansion of his teachings. He determined that the center of the faith would be on Mount Carmel and wrote a basic document, The Tablet of Carmel, one of Baha’i’s basic charters. His son, Abdul Baha, succeeded him and took the faith to Europe and America, where it received its final transformation, becoming more socially conscious. Baha’i teaches that since God is one, all religions contain manifestations of the truth. Nine is a sacred number, a symbol of unity that stands for the nine manifestations of God: Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Confucius, Jesus, Mohammed, Krishna, the Bab, and Baha’u’llah. Every Baha’i is encouraged to fulfill the wish of Baha’u’llah to visit the shrines of the faith in Israel. The first pilgrimage came from America in 1898, six years after Baha’u’llah’s death. Today, nineday pilgrimages are organized in mixed groups that are put together from Baha’i communities around the world as a sign of universality. Baha’i followers believe that in the pilgrimage they come as close to the divine as possible in this life, and the pilgrimage experience is intense. The main sites for the pilgrimage are the tombs of the Bab and of Baha’u’llah. The tomb of the Bab is on the slopes of

Bamiyan, Afghanistan | 41 Mount Carmel near Haifa, in a breathtaking setting that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. The shrine is a soaring, nine-sided dome of white marble and colored tiles, with nine pillars and nine sections, a masterpiece of Near Eastern architecture. It is approached by nine concentric terraces, which seem to emanate from the tomb of the Bab. Sunlight reflecting from pools forms a peaceful and pleasing atmosphere. A few miles away is the tomb of Baha’u’llah, a squat building surrounded by formal gardens intended to reflect the peace and harmony of the Garden of Eden. The beautiful formal gardens are divided by rows of trees and shrubs radiating out from the shoreline, symbolizing the coming together of all peoples into world unity. In a nearby building, Baha’u’llah spent his last years under house arrest during the Ottoman Turkish colonial period. Here, pilgrims are permitted to see pictures of the Bab and Baha’u’llah, the only time their portraits are ever revealed. A museum focuses on the martyrs of the faith, especially the many who have died in the religious genocide against them in Iran in recent years. Pilgrims visit all these sites, but an important part of the pilgrimage is the interaction among the pilgrims themselves, affirming their unity across lines of nation, race, and gender. In 2008, the Baha’i World Center was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. See also: Mount Carmel

REFERENCES Francis Beckwith, Baha’i. Minneapolis, MN, Bethany, 1985.

Peter Smith, An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 2008. The Baha’i Faith. Cos Cob, CT, Hartley, 1989 (video). www.bahai.org.

BAMIYAN, AFGHANISTAN The Bamiyan Caves and Buddha statues, a medieval pilgrimage site for centuries, shot into world consciousness in 2001 when the Taliban ordered them destroyed. Following strict Muslim teaching against idols, the Taliban ignored international indignation and followed through on the destruction, although the caves and many of the murals were not damaged. There were two huge statues dating from the sixth century, the tallest Buddha statues in the world at 180 and 121 feet high. The largest of the statues took four days of dynamiting to bring it down. All fifty-four countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference protested, to no avail. UNESCO protested on cultural grounds but was ignored. In 2003 they listed the Remains of the Bamiyan Valley as a World Heritage Site; then in 2008 it was placed on the watch list of endangered sites. The political situation in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban has hampered reconstruction, but there are no plans replace the statues. Bamiyan was a prominent stop in the Silk Road connecting Persia and China, and by the Fourth Century CE, Buddhist monks had established themselves there. The caves suited them well for cells and chapels, and hundreds of these still exist. The statues were built in 507 and 554. The main bodies were carved from the sandstone cliff, but then they were

42 | Bamiyan, Afghanistan

Bamiyan Province’s giant stone Buddha. Despite international efforts to save it, was destroyed on the orders of Afghanistan’s Taliban government in March 2001.

finished with stucco. The largest, a standing statue known as the Big Buddha, was painted bright red, and the smaller one was done in multiple colors. The paints and stucco eroded away centuries before their destruction. There were holes in the stonework that indicated how the stucco faces and arms were originally attached. Amazingly, restoration work in 2008 revealed a sixty-two-foot “sleeping Buddha,” hitherto unknown.

The chapels are carved from the living rock and are circular, with smaller round annexes all around the central core. They have precious frescoes. At its height, Bamiyan had several monasteries and many hermits living in the caves, once estimated at 10,000 monks. All of this thrived until the arrival of Islam in the ninth century. The statues were damaged by cannon fire by Genghis Khan’s invading army, but they were not able to destroy them. Shortly before the total

Batu Caves, Malaysia | 43 destruction, the face of the smaller statue was blown off. See also: Buddhist Pilgrimages, Caves

REFERENCE Linda Kay Davidson and David Gitlitz, Pilgrimage. Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, volume I, 2002.

BATU CAVES, MALAYSIA The Batu Caves, built in 1891, is a Hindu shrine dedicated to Lord Murugan, also known as Lord Subramaniam. Even though it is in a majority Muslim country, it has become one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India and draws pilgrims from across Asia. It is also the site of a major Hindu pilgrimage, the Thaipusam. The caves, about eight miles north of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, have been used since Neolithic times. They are positioned in a high limestone cliff. Lord Murugan is the Tamil god of war. One form of worship is ecstatic trance dancing, which can be seen during the festival in the fields around the caves. By dancing until the god enters into them, the devotees believe that Lord Muruga is called forth to exert his power over chaos, symbolized by the trance that leads to spirit possession. In a vast open area known as the Temple Cave, a small Hindu shrine was erected. The cave is more than 300 feet high, with skylights in the ceiling to bring in the sun. A wide staircase of 272 steps leads up to it. A massive 140-foot gold statue of Lord Murugan dominates the scene. Hordes of ravenous monkeys,

Entrance to Malaysia’s Batu Caves, located north of the capital, Kuala Lumpur. The caves are considered one of the holiest Hindu shrines in Malaysia and are also a popular tourist attraction.

considered protected, are a constant irritation. Daily puja is offered at each of the several shrines within the cave. The puja here is made by the priests, who invoke the god’s presence and present him with food offerings and flowers brought by pilgrims while chanting sacred texts. Temple puja has some of the characteristics of the daily puja offered in homes in a family setting but is more formal. Even more ritualized pujas are offered for important feasts and observances. At the foot of the cliff are several turtle ponds with gaudily painted statuary of events from Hindu scriptures. Each year around December/January, more than a million Hindus come to

44 | Bayside, New York

the Batu Caves for the festival of Thaipusam. Pilgrims vie with one another in showing their devotion to the god. After bathing in the Batu River, the climb begins. Some dance themselves into the ecstasy of possession; others pierce themselves with metal skewers, sometimes with wheels of them protruding from around their bodies. The skewers are often decorated with pictures of the deity, cocoanuts, and flowers. The most extreme hang pots of milk on hooks attached to their bodies. At the cave shrine, priests treat the piercings with ashes and lemon juice, and there is almost no blood shed. The feast originated in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu but is now forbidden there, which attracts Indian pilgrims to Malaysia. In preparation, the pilgrims will have spent a month on a vegetarian diet, abstaining from all sex and performing austerities. The cave temple was built in 1891 by a prominent Indian trader and businessman, K. Thamboosamy Pillai. He also founded the ornate, polychromed Sri Mariamann Temple in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown. A large silver chariot of the gods is kept there and taken to the Batu Caves during the Thaipusam Festival in a grand procession. The pilgrimage takes about eight hours to complete. Other temples and shrines have been added through the years. The Lord Murugan statue was consecrated in 2006, and a Ramayana Cave (2001) depicts the story of the victory of good over evil in that Hindu epic. Hanuman, the monkey god and a hero of the Ramayana, has a fortyfive-foot statue on the path to the cave. The Museum Cave (2008) holds Hindu art treasures and Buddha statues. See also: Caves, Ellora

REFERENCES Fred Clothey, The Many Faces of Murukan. New York, Mouton, 1978. Shaharim Yussof, The Natural and Other Histories of Batu Caves. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Nature Society, 1997.

BAYSIDE, NEW YORK For a number of years, Long Island suburban housewife Veronica Leuken (1923–1995), reported visions of the Virgin Mary and a number of Catholic saints. The messages she received warned of end-time punishments for sinners. She revealed her messages at the local parish church and even at the Vatican Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. In 1986, after a thorough investigation involving theologians and psychologists, the Catholic bishop of Brooklyn declared that the visions lacked any authenticity and “contained statements which are contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church.” After her first visions, Mrs. Leuken began to draw hundreds of followers to the local parish church, which reacted by fencing off the church grounds. She shared her heavenly messages through pamphlets and called for hours of prayer at the church, which she wanted turned into a Marian shrine. She announced that saints and angels had appeared to her as well as the Virgin Mary. During Rosary vigils, she would fall into trances and prophesy in public. Her visions would then be recorded on video and circulated widely. Excluded from the parish church, her followers bought a property in

Begijnhof, The Netherlands | 45 Flushing Meadows, the site of the Vatican Pavilion, and continued their prayer vigils. It was named the shrine of Our Lady of the Roses, in honor of St. Therese of Lisieux, who was supposed to have seen roses dropping from heaven. Rose petals are distributed to those who attend the prayer vigils. She founded the St. Michael’s World Apostolate to further her outreach. Mrs. Leuken suffered from many ailments and was hospitalized thirteen times during the period of her visions. She was afflicted with the five wounds of Christ on the Cross every Lent and was nicknamed “Veronica of the Cross” for her sufferings. Mrs. Leuken ran afoul of Church authorities by her repudiation of the Vatican II Church Council and her insistence that the reigning pope, Paul VI, was a prisoner in the Vatican replaced by an actor who was leading the Church to Communism. She accused the Church of corruption and abandonment of true faith. She also prophesied a war that would kill a third of the world’s population, a comet striking the western hemisphere that would kill a further third, and that Bibles printed after 1964 had no validity. Her messages continued to be publicized through a daily radio program. The St. Michael’s World Apostolate, which disseminates the messages, is managed by a lay order of seven celibate men, with its own printing facility. Art Leuken, Veronica’s husband, has been removed as shrine director and sued, accused of consuming most of the shrine’s resources. In recent years, due to this conflict and other issues, the following of the shrine has shrunk significantly.

See also: Marian Apparitions

REFERENCES Michael Carroll, The Cult of the Virgin Mary: Psychological Origins. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 1986. Mark Garvey, Waiting for Mary: America in Search of a Miracle. New York, Penguin, 2003. Davis Skovmand, Prophecies Received by Mrs Veronica Leuken. Oakland, CA, Our Lady’s Worker, 1997. www.smwa.org.

BEGIJNHOF, THE NETHERLANDS Located in bustling central Amsterdam, the Begijnhof was built as a residence for Beguines, a community of women that arose in the Netherlands and Belgium during the thirteenth century to devote themselves to good works. At a time when nuns were required to live in seclusion, the Beguines never became a formal institution of the Church, which allowed them to engage in ministry. They professed only vows of faith and chastity (although they could leave at any time to marry). Of twenty convents and monasteries in Amsterdam at the time of the Reformation, only the Begijnhof continued to operate after the suppression of Catholicism. It is built as a circle of small townhouses around a lovely quadrant of gardens and park. The last Beguine died there in 1974. Since then it has been a residence for elderly widows. The ability of the Beguines to operate during times of persecution was a result of their religious situation. They did not

46 | Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority

take religious vows and were not nuns. The sisters worked as seamstresses, taught children, and cared for widows and the homeless, as well as travelers. By the sixteenth century there were many of these religious settlements, and several with thousands of members. The Amsterdam Begijnhof, built in the fourteenth century, was more modest. In 1578, with the banning of Catholic worship in Holland after the victory of the Protestants, the garden chapel of the Begijnhof, dating from 1346, was taken from the Beguines and assigned to English Calvinist refugees who had fled both Catholic and Anglican persecution. The Engelsekerk (English Church) is still Presbyterian and is today a center for Amsterdam’s English-speaking Pro testant community. A stained-glass window in the church shows John Robinson’s followers leaving for Plymouth in 1620 to join the Pilgrims who sought religious freedom in America. The Beguines, who continued to minister to Catholics through clandestine chapels, resisted the suppression of Catholicism. As one Beguine neared death, for instance, she rejected burial in the Protestant chapel and asked to be placed beneath the gutter. Her gravestone can still be seen on the curbstone. In 1665, the Catholics built a clandestine chapel by converting two houses in the Begijnhof. Dedicated to St. John and the Beguine patroness, St. Ursula, its stained-glass windows commemorate a Eucharistic miracle that supposedly took place around the time of the foundation of the Begijnhof. In 1345 a sick man, given the sacred host as he was dying, vomited it up. When the nurse cast the refuse into a fire, the host emerged intact and pure. From that time, pilgrims visited

the site of the miracle, and the processional—which has been revived—passes by the Begijnhof. There had been an original Miracle Church, which was destroyed by the Calvinists, and in 1908 the Catholic chapel was named its successor. The procession, usually called a “pilgrimage,” is only a few blocks long, the shortest pilgrimage in Christianity! For many years until their numbers became too large, the Catholic chapel was the gathering place of the Englishspeaking Catholic community, celebrating Mass a few yards from the Presbyterian chapel. Clearly, the Catholic chapel was clandestine in name only. The two religious communities, Protestant and Catholic, worshipped side by side for more than three centuries. See also: Our Lord in the Attic

REFERENCES Ephraim Mizruchi, Regulating Society: Beguines, Bohemians, and Other Marginals. Chicago, University of Chicago, 1987. Marguerite Porete, The Mirror of Simple Souls. Mahwah, NJ, Paulist, 1993. Pilgrimages of Europe. Janson, 2004 (video). www.begijnhofamsterdam.nl.

BENARES See: Varanasi

BETHLEHEM, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY The biblical birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth is Bethlehem of Judah, five

Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority | 47

Skyline of Bethlehem, a town located outside of Jerusalem in Israel. An ancient city, Bethlehem is considered holy in the Christian faith as the site of the birthplace of Jesus.

miles south of Jerusalem. Its importance comes from the infancy narratives, those sections of Luke’s and Matthew’s Gospels that recount the birth of Jesus. These legends, among the best known in western civilization, are the basis of the Christmas celebration. According to Luke 2:1–39, Mary and Joseph traveled from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem to be registered for the imperial census. Mary delivered the child in a manger because the inns were full, and shepherds and angels came to worship him. He was circumcised and then presented at the Temple. Matthew 1:18–2:23 adds the account of a star seen in the East by three magi, or wise men, who followed it to find Jesus and

honored him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. After the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, the imperial government tried to erase the memory of those places important in the life of Jesus by building pagan shrines over them. In Bethlehem they planted a grove consecrated to Adonis, the god of love, around the cave where Jesus was born. But this shrine only served to mark the place with certainty, and in 326 CE the first Christian emperor, Constantine, built a basilica there. In another cave nearby, St. Jerome lived for many years while he prepared his Latin translation of the Bible. During the Samaritan revolt in 529 the basilica was destroyed, but it was soon rebuilt. The Persians invaded Palestine in 614, and their armies advanced as far as Bethlehem. There they stopped before the basilica and refused to damage it because above the entrance was a large mosaic portrait of the three magi in Persian attire. The Persian soldiers recognized their own sages, probably Zoroastrians. Nor did the Muslims who returned in the following century disturb the Basilica of the Nativity. When the Christians won back the Holy Land during the Crusades (1099), the Orthodox clergy were expelled and replaced with Latin priests. The church was used for the coronations of the Christian rulers of the Crusader kingdoms for two centuries. In 1852, Emperor Louis Napoleon claimed the Church of the Nativity for France, and this conflict with the ruling Turks became a pretext for the Crimean War. Greek Orthodox, Catholics, and Armenians may each worship at the basilica, but the Greek Orthodox handle

48 | Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority

the administration. The main entrance, the Door of Humility, requires one to bend over to enter. It was built to keep the Muslims from entering on horseback, but Jews refuse to use it rather than bow their heads to a Christian shrine. Trap doors in the ground floor reveal the remnants of the mosaic floor of the original Byzantine church. The impressive icons before the altar were a gift of the Russian imperial family in 1764. Alongside the altar are stairs leading down to the Grotto of the Nativity, where Jesus’ traditional birthplace is marked by a star, which many pilgrims kiss. The Church of the Nativity was seized by Palestinian militants in 2002 during an Israeli Army operation. After thirtynine days, the militants surrendered and their leaders were sent into exile. Bullet holes from the siege are visible on the walls. The major celebration in Bethlehem occurs at Latin Christmas (December 25), when the Latin Patriarch comes from Jerusalem for midnight Mass at the Church of St. Catherine. St. Catherine’s is the Catholic church, built by the Franciscans in 1881, next to the Church of the Nativity. Below it is the cave of St. Jerome and his tomb, along with those of his companions. In former times, the Patriarch rode on a donkey or in a carriage, with hundreds of people walking alongside, but today, political tensions make such a procession impossible. Instead, an Israeli military escort takes the Patriarch, who is Palestinian, to a checkpoint, where Palestinian police receive him. The Greeks, Copts, and Syrians celebrate on January 6, and the Armenians on January 19. There are processions in Manger Square outside the basilica,

followed by celebration of the Eucharist. Similarly, Greek processions take place to outlying monasteries for the feasts of St. George and St. Elias the Prophet. On the northern outskirts of the town is the Tomb of Rachel, beloved wife of Jacob and matriarch of the tribe of Benjamin. Her love story is told in Genesis 30. She died giving birth to Benjamin, and her tomb is mentioned in Genesis 35:20. However, the Bible mentions two locations for Rachel’s tomb, and scholars agree that Bethlehem is not the correct one. Even so, popular tradition insists on the Bethlehem site. Rachel’s tomb is one of the holiest shrines of Judaism and is visited by many pilgrims, including some Muslims and Christians. Because Rachel was the mother of her people and died in childbirth, a visit to her tomb is especially favored by women praying for the blessing of a large family or for safe delivery. Muslims may only visit with an Israeli permit. The Chapel of the Milk Grotto is a devotional site where both Christian and Muslim women come to pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus, on behalf of their babies. Legend has it that Mary spilt a few drops of breast milk while feeding the Baby Jesus, turning the stones white. Another legend says that the children killed on the orders of King Herod (Matthew 2:16–18) are buried there. The Shepherds’ Field outside the town is considered the place where the “shepherds kept watch” on the night of Jesus’ birth. Though the area is under the care of the Franciscan friars, it is especially frequented by Protestant pilgrims. The main Protestant Christmas service is held here on December 25.

Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Wyoming, USA | 49 Traditionally, Bethlehem has been a Christian city, but the emigration of Christians to the West has made it a majority of Muslims today. Christians (Orthodox and Catholic, with a few Armenians) were eighty-five percent of the population at Israeli independence in 1948, but count for only twenty percent now. Conflicts and Israeli travel controls have reduced both tourism and pilgrimages sharply. A section of the West Bank Barrier wall controls the entry to Bethlehem from Jerusalem. See also: Flight into Egypt, Nazareth, Rachel’s Tomb

REFERENCES Raymond Brown, SS, The Birth of the Messiah. New York, Doubleday, rev. ed., 1993. Gaza Vermes, The Nativity: History and Legend. New York, Penguin, 2006. Christmas Experience in Bethlehem. Clarksburg NJ, Alden Films, 1987 (video).

BIGHORN MEDICINE WHEEL, WYOMING, USA The Bighorn Medicine Wheel is located in the Bighorn National Forest of northcentral Wyoming. It is the most important of the many medicine wheels found in high mountain areas throughout the American West. Located at an elevation of almost 10,000 feet on Medicine Mountain, the Bighorn Medicine Wheel is inaccessible much of the year due to snow pack and winter weather. Its rim is about eighty feet in diameter, its circumference 245 feet. The central cairn (stone

pile), about ten feet across and two feet high, is made simply of gathered rocks. Twenty-eight spokes radiate out, and six smaller cairns are spaced along the rim. Four of the cairns line up with the rising and setting sun of the summer solstice, and the others with the three bright stars of summer mornings that fade as the sun rises: Aldebaran, Rigel, and Sirius. The twenty-eight spokes are assumed to relate to the lunar month. For the Native Americans of the Great Plains, medicine wheels were apparently both religious ritual places and a means of determining the seasons. Each medicine wheel includes a cairn at the center of a circle, with lines of stones radiating out along the solstice lines. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel has long been used by Crow youth as a place to fast and seek their vision. Native Americans go to Bighorn Medicine Wheel to offer thanks for all of creation, especially the plant and animal life that has sustained them, placing a buffalo skull on the center cairn as part of a prayer offering. The Wheel is protected by a wire fence, to which prayer bundles are often found attached. Prayers are offered for healing, and atonement is made for harm done to others, or reparation for the harm done to Mother Earth by others. Great chiefs, including Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce´, have come to Bighorn for guidance and prayed for the wisdom to lead their people in the transition from freedom to reservation life. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel is several hundred years old—possibly 700. Its original ceremonial use is not connected with any American Indian tribe in the region. In fact, it predates them. Crow mythology ascribes the creation of the medicine wheel to a boy named

50 | Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Wyoming, USA

American Indian spiritual offering at the medicine wheel, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming.

Burnt Face, who was scarred when he fell into a fire as a baby. When he reached his teen years, Burnt Face went on his vision quest into the mountains, where he fasted and built the first medicine wheel. The story says that he was carried off by an eagle after he helped it drive away an animal who attacked the baby eaglets before they could fly. In return, his face was made smooth. Today, Bighorn remains sacred to the Crow, Arapaho, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Sioux, Blackfoot, Shoshone, and a few others. Each of these tribes has its own creation myth for the Bighorn Medicine Wheel. These nations have often been in conflict, but even before the arrival of the Whites, Medicine Mountain was neutral land where no conflict and no arms were permitted. The tradition continues in avoiding potential conflicts with the 50,000 tourists who come each year. The U.S. Department of the

Interior controls access during the times of ceremonies. The vision quest and other practices have also attracted a number of practitioners of New Age religions, who consider medicine wheels centers of earth energy connected with the spiritual powers of the sun. However, the presence of New Age pilgrims is resented by many Native Americans. Today, some young warriors are reluctant to go to the wheel because of the presence of white visitors. See also: Black Hills, Medicine Wheels, Vision Quest

REFERENCES John Eddy, “Probing the Mystery of the Medicine Wheels,” National Geographic 151:1, 140–146 (January 1977).

Black Hills, South Dakota/Wyoming, USA | 51 Sam Gill, Native American Religion. Belmont CA, Wadsworth, 1982. Courtney Milne, Sacred Places in North America. New York, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1994.

BLACK HILLS, SOUTH DAKOTA/WYOMING, USA The Black Hills (Paha Sapa in Lakota) have been sacred lands for the Plains Indians for hundreds of years. Stretching across 6,000 square miles of the borderlands between Wyoming and South Dakota, they include mountains, caves, and timberland. Native American

Indians have begun a campaign to keep the Black Hills free of development and prevent access by tourists. The federal government has offered $108 million to buy out Sioux rights, but the Sioux have refused. The money has been placed in escrow and now totals more than half a billion dollars. To Native Americans, sacred land is a trust that cannot be alienated. After the Civil War, the West was opened to white settlement and buffalo were slaughtered commercially. For the Plains Indians, this meant the destruction of their economy and way of life. As reservations were imposed upon them, the Black Hills became one of the few places where traditional life was possible. The

Floor of Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

52 | Black Hills, South Dakota/Wyoming, USA

U.S. government guaranteed the inviolability of the Black Hills in an 1868 treaty. Just six years later, however, Col. George Custer precipitated a gold rush in violation of the treaty. Indian resistance was led by a Sioux holy man, prophet, and warrior named Sitting Bull. Following a vision, he and Crazy Horse led the victorious Sioux and Cheyenne in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, in which Custer died. Both had had their vision quests in the Black Hills. Black Elk, the Oglala Sioux holy man, dreamed a prophecy foretelling that a foreign race would weave a spider’s web around the Black Hills, rendering the lands barren. Bear Butte in South Dakota—Mato Paha (Sleeping Bear Mountain) to the Sioux—is an ancient sacred mountain. The bear has symbolic meaning to the Plains Indians, its hibernation a sign that it is the “keeper of dreams.” In the Sioux creation myth, a girl escaping the primordial flood was rescued by an eagle who carried her to Bear Butte and married her. The twins she bore were the ancestors of the Sioux Nation. For the Cheyenne, Bear Butte is the most sacred spot in the Black Hills, a place of such spiritual intensity that they will not camp there, because it is the abode of the Creator God, Maheo. In Cheyenne tradition, a cave on Bear Butte was where the great shaman, Sweet Medicine, spent four years (1693–1696) in a vision quest before Maheo gave him four taboos— murder, theft, adultery, and incest—in the form of sacred arrows. Two of the arrows endowed the people with authority over the buffalo and the other two with power over men. Thus the Cheyenne believe that they became a chosen people. During the time of native control, no killing was allowed in the

Black Hills, even of buffalo. Today, besides vision quests and prayers, Indian medicine men go into the forest each year to harvest white ash trees for tent poles for the sacred Sun Dance. Another sacred mountain is Harney Peak, where Black Elk was carried in a vision and shown good and evil from the center of a great circle of the four directions. Devil’s Tower, a huge monolith in Wyoming that rises 865 feet above its base and 1,280 above the valley of the River Fourche below, is also considered sacred. The Kiowa tell the tale of a boy who turned into a fierce bear and chased his seven sisters until they climbed a tree. The tree lifted them up to safety and turned into the Devil’s Tower, with the bear’s claw marks still scoring the sides. Devil’s Tower has become a popular destination for rock climbers, to the horror of the Sioux, who believe it is the place of creation. The Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho still build sweat lodges in the mountains of the Paha Sapa. When a young man begins his vision quest, he prays to the forces of nature, begging them for support. As he enters the sweat lodge, he must begin a ritual of attentiveness and reverence to everything about him. As he pours water on hot stones, he asks their voices to speak to him in the steam. Once the sweat lodge has purified his body of poisons and cleared his mind, he begins “crying for a vision.” His hair combed out, he sets forth wearing only a breechcloth and carrying a blanket. His nakedness and unbraided hair announce his humble acceptance of whatever vision is given him. High places are necessary for the vision quest, and the mountain is chosen with care. It will test him, and his perseverance and

Bodhnath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal | 53 indifference to suffering are signs of his worthiness to become a warrior. He will be fasting, and hunger and thirst, extremes of climate, insects, and snakes may test his resolve. He is alone. The vision may come in a dream or while he is awake, and it brings with it a power he will have the rest of his life. He will reflect and meditate on its meaning, ask wise men for interpretations, and from the vision determine much of his future life and his responsibilities in the tribe. At ceremonies, including the sacred Ghost Dance, men wear special shirts with emblems and decorations recalling their vision from the mountains. The Black Hills have also attracted many New Age devotees, although the Sioux have asked that their access to the butte be limited during ceremonial periods. At the New Age ceremonial of the summer solstice in 1994, the Sioux confronted them with this demand. Native Americans have also been offended by the appropriation of their rituals by New Agers, whom they scornfully call “plastic medicine men.” The bitterest of the conflicts, however, has been with Kevin Costner. Costner made the film Dances with Wolves, which earned him a place of honor among the Sioux for its fair portrayal of their history. So when Costner began building a $100 million casino at the edge of the Black Hills in 1995, the sense of betrayal among the Sioux was deep. Costner’s actions confirmed their worst suspicions of white society’s lack of respect for American Indian sacred places. In another profanation, when a forest fire struck in 2000, Indians felt that nature should take its course, but the governor of South Dakota sent in bulldozers that ripped up the land as they built fire breaks. Many rare healing

plants, used in Indian medicine, were obliterated. Burial sites have also been destroyed. The final indignity of all is a town named “Custer.” See also: Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Devil’s Tower, Sun Dance, Sweat Lodge

REFERENCES T. D. Griffith and Dustin Floyd, Insider’s Guide to South Dakota’s Black Hills and Badlands. Kearney, NE, Morris, fifth edition, 2009. Brad Olsen, Sacred Places of North America. San Francisco, CCC, second edition, 2008. Jeffrey Ostler, The Lakotas and the Black Hills: The Struggle for Sacred Ground. New York, Viking, 2010.

BODHNATH STUPA, KATHMANDU, NEPAL Called the Great Stupa, Bodhnath (Chorten Chempa in Tibetan) is the largest in Nepal and is dedicated to the god of wisdom. An immense structure that covers several acres in Kathmandu, its circular base is a hundred yards in diameter. It is set on shelves; along the outer wall of the base are two-foot prayer wheels, each containing the sacred mantra, “Hail Jewel of the Lotus.” Devotees circle the stupa, giving each wheel a spin as they pass it, thus causing the mantra to be repeated as many times as the wheel turns. There are thirteen steps up the side of the base, symbolizing the thirteen levels of wisdom needed to attain nirvana. The architecture of the stupa itself, alternating levels of squares and circles as it rises, has religious symbolism. The base

54 | Bom Jesus, Goa, India

symbolizes earth and the massive dome symbolizes water. It is topped by a square spire symbolizing fire. On the four sides of the spire are a pair of eyes, with a third eye between them. This can be seen from a great distance. They are bow-shaped and all-seeing. On the roof are strings of brightly colored prayer pennants fluttering in the breeze, each carrying the prayers inscribed on them to the heavens. Bodhnath was first built sometime between the fifth to eighth centuries, although the present structure dates from the fourteenth century, after earlier stupas were destroyed by Muslim invaders. Inside the stupa are several shrines to holy men, and a bone of the Buddha is said to be buried there. Pilgrims circle the stupa clockwise before entering the precincts and visiting the shrines. They come to seek a blessing before a journey or to earn merit. Ceremonies involve processions around the stupa, accompanied by trumpet-blowing monks in saffron and red robes. Handfuls of wheat flour are thrown in the air in celebration. Twice a day the monks perform puja, the basic Tibetan worship consisting of chanting, offerings, and caring for the idols in the temple. Legend has it that a wealthy prostitute asked for a small piece of land, whatever could be covered by a buffalo robe. When the king granted the wish, she cut the robe into narrow strips and outlined a huge plot. Forced to grant her wish by this trick, the king permitted her to build the stupa. Bodhnath is served by Tibetan monks from six monasteries and caters largely to Tibetan refugees. The Great Stupa is a center for Tibetan Buddhism, with some 100,000 Tibetan refugees settled in the

area. Pictures of the Dalai Lama are seen throughout. More than fifty gompas or monasteries have been built in Kathmandu since the 1959 takeover of Tibet by the Chinese army; thirty-five of these are clustered about the Great Stupa. All are open at certain times for pilgrims, who remove their shoes and offer the gift of a white scarf or a small sum of money to the monks. Inside, the gompas feature lovely Tibetan religious art, including statues, prayer wheels, murals, and thangkas—painted wall hangings. Buddhist pilgrims come from across the region—Nepal, Ladakh, Bhutan, and Tibet. There are several major festivals. Losar, the Tibetan new year, is celebrated in February/March. On the Buddha’s birthday on the full moon of April/May, his image is carried around the stupa on the back of an elephant. Bodhnath Stupa has been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979. See also: Buddhist Pilgrimages

REFERENCES Trilok Majupuria and Indra Majupuria, Holy Places of Buddhism in Nepal and India. Bangkok, Tecpress, second edition, 1993. Ormond McGill, Religious Mysteries of the Orient. South Brunswick NJ, Barnes, 1976. Nepal: Land of the Gods. New York, Mystic Fire, 1976 (video).

BOM JESUS, GOA, INDIA For several centuries, Goa was a Portuguese colony and trading center on

Bom Jesus da Lapa, Brazil | 55 the coast of India. One of the original members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), St. Francis Xavier, worked here during his short but amazing missionary journeys throughout Asia. After his death in 1552 on an island off the coast of China, his body was brought to Goa and is now enshrined here in a purposebuilt shrine church. The church was built in 1605 and raised to the rank of basilica in 1946. It is a fine tribute to Renaissance architecture, done in what is known as Jesuit Baroque. At the same time, it avoids the exuberant excesses of that form. The three-story façade is carved with delicate stonework, a combination of basalt and white marble. Inside, the simple main sanctuary contrasts with elaborate altars and a striking carved pulpit. Besides some statuary, the saint’s embalmed body is kept in an airtight glass coffin, which is not open for viewing. Pilgrims pray in its presence, especially for physical and spiritual healing. The mausoleum is typically Baroque: a marble chest is decorated with bronze panels showing scenes from the life of St. Francis Xavier. The silver casket with the saint’s relics rests upon this chest, also decorated with panels of scenes from his life. The basilica is dedicated to the Infant Jesus, Bom Jesus or “the Good Jesus.” The feast is December 3, preceded by nine days of prayers in seven languages. There is a walking pilgrimage as part of the observance during this period, and an interfaith gathering for peace and harmony. After the daily Masses, people line up to kiss a relic of the saint. Every ten years (the next is in 2015), the casket is taken in procession from the basilica to the nearby Se Cathedral, the largest in Asia.

The Bom Jesus is listed among the UNESCO World Heritage sites as one of the Churches and Convents of Goa.

REFERENCES Jose Pereira, Churches of Goa. New York, Oxford University, 2002. Jeremy Zipple, Xavier Missionary and Saint. Janson Media, 2006 (video).

BOM JESUS DA LAPA, BRAZIL Far in the interior of Brazil in a small city far from major urban areas, the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus da Lapa attracts the second-biggest annual pilgrimage in the largest Catholic country in the world. Thousands converge on Bom Jesus da Lapa for August 6. There is a cycle of pilgrimages from May to October, Bahia’s dry season, with the highlight being the first week of August. It has the air of a great festival, with a grand mix of religious ceremonies, blessings, Masses, processions, street fairs, dancing, gambling, and children’s games. In 1691 a young man named Antonio wandered away from his hiking companions. Whatever conversion experience this set off, Antonio sold his possessions and gave everything to the poor. He took a rough woolen cloak and became a wandering monk, meandering several hundred miles through uncharted forest, at the mercy of wild animals and hostile natives, but protected by a picture of Bom Jesus that he always carried with him. Needless to say, the accounts about the hermit meld with myth; some give him the name Francisco, a painter, and

56 | Bom Jesus Do Monte, Portugal

he carried a cross on his shoulders as he walked. He was said to have been ordained a priest in 1709. Nevertheless, at the end of his journey, Antonio/Francisco discovered a series of caves into which he settled as a solitary hermit. As the years went by, disciples began to gather around him, and their humble huts became the foundation of the town of Bom Jesus da Lapa. Antonio built the first sanctuary in the largest cave, which has a height of 275 feet, dedicated to the Infant Jesus, then a clinic and asylum for the sick. This main cave houses the church, with a bell tower outside. In the Cave of the Sick, grateful people leave milagros: metal, wax, or carved wooden images of body parts that have been healed at the shrine. See also: Caves

REFERENCE Linda Davidson and David Gitlitz, Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 2 volumes, 2002.

BOM JESUS DO MONTE, PORTUGAL Bom Jesus (Good Jesus) is the most important of three churches that form a triangle east of the city of Braga, the religious heart of Portugal. It stands on a high hill overlooking the city. Built in 1811 in the architectural style called Minho Baroque, the church is set in a large park within a lush northern rainforest. In the park itself are several chapels and a number of statues. The chapels in

one section are dedicated to the biblical themes of the Ascension, the Meeting at Emmaus, and the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene. Separating them are fountains in honor of the four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The most notable feature of Bom Jesus, however, is the Stairway to Paradise, completed in 1723, much earlier than the church. Through terraced gardens the Stairway to Paradise winds, via a series of switchbacks, up a thirtyone-percent grade for 381 feet. From the bottom, it creates the impression of a huge fan. At the first two landings are small chapels featuring life-size statuary scenes of the Passion of Christ: the Garden of Gethsemane and the Last Supper, the Flagellation and Crowning with Thorns, Simon of Cyrene carrying the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the like. Above these are five landings with preChristian themes: fountains representing the five senses, the first understanding of which is ascribed to the pagan Greeks. To these are added statues of figures from the Hebrew scriptures: Moses, David, Joseph, Solomon, Isaac, and Isaiah. The next three flights constitute the Stairway of the Virtues, where Faith, Hope, and Charity are represented allegorically. At the top, the stairway opens to a magnificent fountain, capping one of the finest examples of garden architecture in Europe. Pilgrims climb the stairs, stopping at each shrine or chapel to pray, often lighting votive candles. The most devout, or those seeking special favors, ascend on their knees, especially on Good Friday. The less devout may take the easier route—riding to the top in a cable car, then walking down the stairs.

Borobudur, Indonesia | 57 In front of Bom Jesus are two formal gardens with scenes of the Crucifixion and Descent from the Cross. The church is the last station, showing Jesus on the Cross. All the tableaux are made of lifesize polychrome figures in terra cotta, with the focus in all the Passion scenes on the person of Jesus. The church has a relic altar with more than fifty busts of saints containing their relics. The mummified body of St. Clement is laid in the altar, which is covered with a plain white cloth on which pilgrims write petitions and prayers. Bom Jesus is a family place, and many family groups—parents, children, and grandparents—climb the stairs praying together. At the top, superb views and a large picnic area reward the children for their diligence. The spirit of the place includes prayer on the Passion of Christ as well as family unity and celebration.

REFERENCES Helder Carita and Homem Cardoso, Portuguese Gardens. Woodbridge, UK, Antique Collectors’ Club, 1989. Rene´ Laurentin, Pilgrimages, Sanctuaries, Icons, and Apparitions. Milford, OH, Faith, 1994.

BOROBUDUR, INDONESIA The great temple of Borobudur is the first and greatest of many monuments built by ancient Javanese kings to demonstrate their status as intermediaries between this world and the world of the gods. Borobudur lies in the center of the island of Java,forty miles northwest of Yogyakarta.

Borobudur was begun around 775 CE as a Hindu temple and finally completed about a century later. After the first ten years of construction, the king was overthrown by a Buddhist ruler who built further levels of the temple on top of the two Hindu ones. Despite its mixed heritage, Borobudur is regarded as one of the greatest Buddhist masterpieces in the world. By 1100 it was abandoned, as power shifted to East Java and away from the central plains. Eventually it was overgrown by the surrounding jungle and covered with ash from volcanic eruptions. By the fifteenth century, Java had become Muslim and Borobudur fell into complete disuse. Under the British, Sir Stamford Raffles, the later founder of Singapore, ordered the monument explored. Finally, in 1835, it was completely exposed. A century of bureaucratic dithering followed in which little was done. In a ten-year restoration sponsored by UNESCO, however, the terraces were strengthened and all 1,300 reliefs were removed and cleaned. Borobudur was finally opened to the public in 1984. In 1991, UNESCO added Borobudur to the List of World Heritage Sites. Borobudur is actually a hill representing a sacred mountain—Mount Meru, the legendary home of the gods, according to the Buddhist tradition. The hill is covered by a skin of huge stones; some 60,000 cubic yards of stone were quarried and cut to build Borobudur. The three spheres of Buddhist creation figure in the design and decoration: the first or lowest is the world of the flesh and everyday life; the second, the world of the spirit; and the third, total detachment from the world. The original base, 200 yards square, was decorated with

58 | Borobudur, Indonesia

Borobudur in central Java, constructed around the 9th century CE, is one of the largest religious monuments built by early Southeast Asian peoples.

carvings of the first sphere, with its lusty delights and passions. But this base was soon covered, perhaps as a means of keeping the pilgrim’s vision on higher things. Now, however, the south side of the base has become exposed, and some of these carvings can be seen. Despite having been built as a Hindu temple, Borobudur remains a Buddhist shrine and attracts Buddhist pilgrims, especially for Vesak, the celebration of the birth of the Buddha. In addition to pilgrims, who come from all over Southeast Asia, Borobudur is the most visited tourist destination in Indonesia, with more than 2.5 million visitors annually. Borobudur’s origins are disputed. One school argues that unusually tolerant Javanese kings promoted both Hindu and Buddhist shrines to serve their people. Others say that there were rival

kingdoms, which accounts for competing temples in the area. Borobudur is a single massive stupa of 150,000 square feet in the form of a tantric mandala. Although stupas normally contain relics, Borobudur is empty, and there is no evidence that it was ever looted. Its walls and balustrades are covered with three miles of detailed, well-preserved relief carvings that are followed clockwise along the pilgrim route from the east entrance. The carvings are especially fine on the next five levels, which display the life of Prince Siddhartha, who became the Buddha. The carvings show what must have been typical scenes of early Java: entertainers, dancers, family scenes, magicians, and worshippers all jumbled together with the story of the Buddha. Here we see the Buddhist ideal of surrendering one’s desires and urgent longings, all told in

Breton Pardons, France | 59 Buddha’s life from the sutras. In niches along the balustrades are many statues of Buddha—432 in all. There are about 2,700 stone bas reliefs. The 1,460 narrative panels, which remain in good condition, are the most impressive, however. They depict moral tales and the life of the Buddha. Above the five square terraces lie three circular ones, without carvings but surmounted by seventy-two miniature stupas, or relic shrines. There are no relics here, but each stupa, which is latticed, holds a small statue of the Buddha. To touch the statue through one of the holes in the lattice is considered good luck. However, as one progresses, the openings become smaller and fewer, to indicate that the Buddha becomes less accessible as one progresses toward spiritual wholeness. The first of the three circular terraces is a bit off center; the second is closer, and the third achieves perfect roundness. The topmost level, which represents ultimate truth, is a large bellshaped stupa with two small rooms. The rooms have always been empty—a sign of total absorption into the supreme being and the ultimate emptiness of all sensual appearances. Borobudur is not only a temple but also a grand mandala, a cosmic image symbolizing Buddhist thought. The structure even takes the basic shape of the mandala: the square first levels are symbols of earth, with the circular superstructure symbolizing the sky. Together they total nine levels, the sacred number of Buddhism. So too, the number of statues on the square and concentric terraces are a play on the numbers three and nine (3 × 3) in a grand scheme of symbolism. Among the visitors are many Asian Buddhists, who come in a spirit of

reverence to see the fabled scene. Each year on Vesak Day, the celebration of the birth and death of the Buddha, a formal pilgrimage is held by full moon, with priests making offerings of flowers and incense. Two temples on an eastern alignment with Borobudur—Mendut and Pawon—are thought to have been early purification temples for pilgrims going to the sanctuary. The Vesak Day procession goes to these temples before proceeding to Borobudur. In the centuries since the construction of Borobudur, Indonesia has become overwhelmingly Muslim, making it the largest Muslim country in the world. Buddhists represent a tiny minority, mostly of Asian foreigners, although some ancient Buddhist customs still linger in Indonesian culture. See also: Mount Meru

REFERENCES Bede´rich Forman, Borobudur: The Buddhist Legend in Stone. London, Octopus, 1980. John Miksic, The Mysteries of Borobudur. Hong Kong, Periplus, 1999. W. Brown Morton III, “Indonesia Rescues Ancient Borobudur,” National Geographic 163:1, 127–142 (January 1983). Wonders, Sacred and Mysterious. Pleasantville, NY, Reader’s Digest, 1993 (video). www.borobudurpark.com.

BRETON PARDONS, FRANCE For centuries, parishes in Brittany have observed their saints’ days with pardons,

60 | Breton Pardons, France

a traditional folk celebration. A calendar of these events is published by the French tourist office, but the typical pardon remains a local affair and attracts few tourists. The season runs from March to October each year. The custom dates back to the earliest days of the conversion of Brittany to Christianity and they retain many ancient traditions. All of them have elements of pilgrimage, religious services, and social events. A few pardons have attracted a wider audience. The Pardon of St-Yves, patron of lawyers and judges, brings out many members of the legal community from across Europe in colorful robes. Ste-Anne-de-Auray, which is already a shrine in its own right, is a major pilgrimage destination for its pardon, July 24. It is unusual because it does not so much honor a local saint but the miraculous discovery of a statue of SteAnne. Its pardon resembles much more the pilgrimages of Marian shrines. In 1623 a worker, Yves Nicolazic, had a vision of the Virgin Mary telling him to rebuild a ruined chapel. In the process, a statue of Ste-Anne was discovered, and the pilgrimages began. Auray has built replicas of such things as the Scala Santa in Rome to serve the devotion of pilgrims, although it has nothing to do with the shrine or St. Anne. Besides the pardon at Auray, there are many pilgrimages to the shrine throughout the year. Most other pardons, however, remain dominated by local devotions and people. The “pilgrimage” aspect of the pardon consists of a procession of people coming from nearby villages, usually dressed in Breton costumes. Those familiar with Breton dress can identify the towns and regions of the participants by the women’s starched headdresses,

much as nurses’ caps served that function in the United States in past years. While most pardons are small, several are known as Grand Pardons. They bring out large crowds from further distances, but one will still see pilgrims who have walked, often barefoot, for miles. In Locronan the procession becomes an eight-mile pilgrimage to a dozen stations, a mix of devotional chapels and sacred springs. Some pardons have special intentions: blessing of animals, of the sea, or even a Bikers’ Blessing pardon, clearly a modern adaptation! As the name indicates, a pardon is about forgiveness for sin. Before the advent of communal penance services in Catholic parishes, pardons brought together a number of priests and a large number of the faithful for individual confession of sins. After a period of prayer and a time for confessions (often the night before), there is a Mass, usually in the Breton language. A procession follows, with the bishop or pastor carrying the relic of the patron saint. The procession itself can bring a plenary indulgence, that is, the remission of those lingering effects remaining after sins have been forgiven. This is modeled on the indulgences granted to pilgrims to Jerusalem, Rome, or Santiago de Compostela. During the sixteenth century the Pope ratified that by offering indulgences to those who declared that they were unable to make one of the great pilgrimages. The pardon is also a celebration of Breton cultural identity, and the services are always followed by a communal feast, music, and dancing. In smaller villages, wrestling matches take place; wrestling is the Breton sport. Even the religious aspect, always the reason for

Buchenwald, Weimar, Germany | 61 the celebration, tends to focus on the saints who first brought Christianity to Brittany. Although the missionaries condemned the worship of menhirs, springs, and sacred forests—which were typical of Celtic paganism—the Church cleverly took these over as Christian symbols. A pardon may incorporate the triumph of Christian faith over paganism as part of its ceremonies. At St-Jean-de-Doigt (known as the “Pardon of Fire”), for example, a large blaze is set and the Devil cast out of it. A pagan spring may be topped by a cross and then considered a healing spring. Rumengol celebrates a Breton king who overcame the Druid priests and took over their sacred red rock as a Christian site. The sacred waters of the Druids have become a bathing pool in a small chapel. This process of assimilation rather than destruction of pagan sites is found throughout Brittany. See also: Carnac, Pilgrimages, St-Jean-deDoigt, Wells and Springs

REFERENCES Linda Kay Davidson and David Gitlitz, Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, volume I, 2002. Michelin Green Guides, Brittany. Watford, UK, Michelin Guides, seventh edition, 2009.

BUCHENWALD, WEIMAR, GERMANY Buchenwald, located outside Weimar, south of Berlin, was the largest Nazi concentration camp on German soil. The

irony of the location is that the city of Weimar was long the center of German democratic thought. As at the site of every former Nazi concentration camp, debate rages over the meaning of the site and how it should be presented. One position considers all Holocaust sites holy ground to be left untouched as memorials to those who died there. Others see the moral and educational value of showing the details of the Holocaust to future generations; they want the camps preserved and restored to the state they were in as part of the Nazi attempt to destroy the Jewish people. Both sides agree that as the remaining survivors age and die, the camps are the most important tangible reminder of the Holocaust. At Buchenwald this conflict is especially acute. For forty years Buchenwald was part of Communist East Germany. The Communists denied any responsibility for the Holocaust, blaming it on the Nazis, whom they identified with the West Germans. With the unification of Germany, Buchenwald generated furious argument until Communist administrators were removed from their jobs. The site is gradually being restored. Buchenwald was established in 1937, and from then until 1945 it held 239,000 Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and political prisoners. By 1938 the majority were Jews, although at first German policy was to pressure Jews into leaving Germany by fifteen-hour days of forced labor in the quarries. About 10,000 were freed when their families arranged emigration. After 1942, when the Nazis had decided on the “final solution”—the total destruction of the Jews—all Jewish prisoners were either shipped to their deaths at Auschwitz or

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placed in permanent slave labor, often worked to death. A thousand children were also kept at Buchenwald in special barracks, and most of them survived the war. As the War progressed, several hundred captured British, Canadian, and American prisoners of war were also kept at Buchenwald. They were deemed spies by the Nazis because they had crashed their planes in France and had tried to return to the Allied lines through the French underground. Buchenwald was not an extermination camp like Auschwitz. It was a labor camp, where the slave laborers were exploited as thoroughly as possible. Most worked in a stone quarry or an armaments factory operated by the camp; some were shipped out from Buchenwald to 130 factories to aid the German war effort. Arrivals were greeted by an iron sign, Jedem das Seine—“To each his own” or more accurately, “You get what you deserve.” The labor camps were only marginally better than extermination camps. Prisoners were often beaten to death, and many died from malnutrition and exhaustion. Ten thousand died of neglect and disease; they are remembered with a simple memorial. Thousands of Soviet prisoners of war were summarily executed. More than a thousand women prisoners were brought to Buchenwald to serve in the camp brothel for staff members. Some prisoners were subjected to gruesome medical experiments aimed at improving Nazi medical treatment for its own troops. Prisoners were subjected to poison experiments, burned with phosphorus, and infected with diseases. The evil of Buchenwald has often been symbolized by the camp commandant’s

wife, who made lampshades from the skins of Jewish victims, particularly those with interesting tattoos. In April 1945, as the Allied armies advanced toward Weimar, the Nazis began evacuating Jewish prisoners. In the forced march to the west that followed, a third died. In 1945, Buchenwald became the first Nazi concentration camp to be liberated by Americans, a day after the prisoners rose against their captors and killed most of the guards. At liberation, Buchenwald still held 25,000 prisoners, of whom 4,000 were Jews. A total of about 56,000 people perished at Buchenwald. Most died from being worked to death under harsh conditions and inadequate food, but gallows were built at the very beginning of the camp, and arbitrary executions were common. More than a thousand were hung. From 1945 to 1950, occupying Soviet forces ran an internment camp at Buchenwald for 32,000 Germans; at first it was for suspected war criminals, but it soon turned into a prison for opponents of the Communists. More than 7,000 prisoners died during this period. The present-day camp reflects the ambiguities of modern German attitudes toward the Holocaust. Most of the original buildings were destroyed shortly after 1945. The administration uses the former SS officers’ rooms, and a backpackers’ youth hostel has been placed in the camp guards’ barracks. A museum recounts in pictures and artifacts the stark realities of camp life and shows a documentary film. The film, a relic of the Communist past, tells more about Communist political prisoners than about Jews. In a recent about-face that still manages to avoid the full horror of Buchenwald’s place in the Holocaust,

Buddhist Pilgrimages | 63 the present German authorities have focused on Buchenwald’s history after the liberation. There is a memorial at the site of the children’s barracks. See also: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Holocaust Sites

REFERENCES Israel Gutman, ed., Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York, Macmillan, 4 volumes, 1990. David Hackett, ed., The Buchenwald Report. Boulder, CO, Westview, 1995. www.buchenwald.de.

BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGES In some faith traditions, pilgrimage is an intimate part of worship. Muslims, Catholics, Hindus, and Buddhists all have extensive pilgrimage traditions, while Protestants (especially evangelicals) and many Jews are either indifferent or opposed to the practice. For the advanced Buddhist seeking nirvana, the escape from the cycle of death and rebirth, pilgrimage is not necessary. But the average layman mired in worldly cares and obligations needs practices to focus his spiritual energies upon the new life that comes with reincarnation. This need is met with pilgrimages, entering the monkhood for a longer or shorter period, chanting mantras, and studying the sacred texts. In a given pilgrimage, the pilgrim might practice all of these. Some pilgrimage sites are universal in their appeal to every school of Buddhist faith, such as the places associated with the life of the Buddha known as the Hearth of Buddhism. Here he was born,

reached enlightenment, preached his first sermon in the deer park, and died. These shrines are part of a circle for pilgrims and bring together Buddhists of every group and nationality. The only Christian comparison would be Jerusalem, meaningful to all branches and divisions in Christianity. The Hearth of Buddhism makes up the first four of what are known as the Eight Great Places, which add four sites where the Buddha supposedly performed miracles. These last are all in India and are traditional and are not found in Buddhist scriptures or sayings of the Buddha. As the Buddha prepared for death, he instructed his disciples to visit the four sacred places, promising that anyone who died on such a pilgrimage would be reborn into eternal happiness. Thus given strong encouragement, pilgrimage flourished among Buddhists. The Mahayana tradition in Buddhism added sites associated with the Buddha, and many shrines to bodhisattvas, enlightened ones who had held back from nirvana in order to assist others toward it, thus making a supreme sacrifice of self. Among the most popular are the temples dedicated to Kannon, the bodhisattva of mercy and compassion. Another variant is found in Japan, where pilgrimage is seen as a template of the life journey, an act of worship in itself. Japanese Buddhists favor extensive walking pilgrimages from shrine to shrine, temple to temple, as a progressive experience of purification. The journey is the goal, not necessarily the end point. Some even wander for months at a time with no fixed end point. There are more than a hundred pilgrimage routes touching upon more than 500 monasteries

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THE MAIN MUDRAS In statuary and art, the hand postures of the Buddha are nonverbal symbols. Even the position of the fingers carries meaning. Although there are many of these mudras, five are most common. Folded hands, the one most recognizable, indicates worship. The right hand raised with the left in the lap, palm upward, shows fearlessness or teaching the Dharma. The two hands together, with the forefingers and thumbs touching, refers to turning the Wheel of the Law. When the hands are together on the Buddha’s lap, it indicates meditation. The Buddha’s enlightenment is designated by the “earth touching” mudra. Here the left hand rests on the lap in contemplation, while the right hand touches the earth, communicating with it and overcoming evil in the world. The right hand raised with the palm open is a sign of peace and the absence of fear. There are also connections between the mudras and the major events in the life of the Buddha. Not only are the mudras found in the art of the Buddha, but they are also used in everyday practice by Buddhists, especially in meditation.

and temples (often one and the same). Most Japanese profess no religion, but even nonbelievers (estimated at seventy percent) follow some mix of Shinto and Buddhist customs, including pilgrimage. About half of the population identifies as culturally Shinto and some forty-four percent identifies as Buddhist. The government recognizes 157 schools of Buddhism in Japan. Several prominent pilgrims are part of the Buddhist lore of pilgrimage. Perhaps the most important was the Indian Emperor Asoka, an ardent convert, who around 250 BCE visited each of the four main pilgrimage sites. He embellished the shrines and encouraged pilgrimage throughout his kingdom. He built thousands of relic-holding stupas across India. By bringing stability to the region, Asoka also promoted the creation of vast pilgrimage routes that doubled as trading routes and brought pilgrims from across Asia. The Silk Route through Central Asia is perhaps the best known of these.

In this way, pilgrimage spread Buddhism beyond its margins into distant lands and new cultures. Doi Suthep, in Chiang Mai, Thailand— the former Lana Kingdom—is a good example of a national or regional Buddhist pilgrimage site. These are often built to house a relic of the Buddha. The first shrine at Doi Suthep was built in 1383 after the discovery of a bone said to be the shoulder bone of the Buddha. It was revealed to a monk in a dream. The king placed a fragment of the bone on a white elephant (sacred in Thailand) and released the beast into the jungle. It climbed a high promontory and died there, a sign that the relic belonged at that spot. Over centuries, the shrine has been developed with a multiplicity of shrines, including statue of the white elephant. A bodhi tree, grown from a cutting of the one under which the Buddha received enlightenment, attracts many pilgrims, who decorate its fence with woven flowers and tiny prayer pennants. A few shrines are animist as well.

Bukhara, Uzbekistan | 65 People mingle and picnic in an easy, relaxed atmosphere. Costumed parades for boys entering their period of monkhood or wedding processions under gold umbrellas all wend their way along the open plazas. Getting to Doi Suthep is easy, since it is near a major city, but there is a long stairway to negotiate to reach the shrines. Like many shrines, Doi Suthep makes allowances for tourists as well as pilgrims, with an elevator to the top. Some pilgrimage practices are common. On arrival at the shrine, the devotee walks clockwise around it. This is known as circumambulation, and it is also found in medieval Christian pilgrimages. The idea is to keep the right side of the body before the sacred spot. This circling takes place regardless of whether the site is a mountain, a string of monasteries, or a single stupa. Tibetan pilgrims circle Mount Kailas on their knees or even their bellies, taking days to complete the circuit. At temples in Kathmandu, they walk around, spinning the prayer wheels set into the bases of the temples and chanting mantras or short prayers. Offerings of flowers, prayer flags, or candles are left. Another custom is to buy sheets of gold leaf and apply them to the Buddha statue, which is considered to bring great merit. See also: Borobudur, Eighty-Eight Temples Pilgrimage, Emerald Buddha, Hearth of Buddhism, Mount Kailas, Pac Ou Caves, Po Lin, Tooth Temple, Wat Po

REFERENCES Ashoaghosha, Life of Buddha. New York, New York University, 2008. Damien Keown and Charles Prebish (eds.), Encyclopedia of Buddhism. New York, Routledge, 2009.

Alex McKay (ed.), Pilgrimage in Tibet. Richmond, UK, Curzon, 1998.

BUKHARA, UZBEKISTAN In Bukhara on the high steppes of Uzbekistan, the shrine of the Sufi saint Baha’uddin Shah Naqshband (or Babaal-Din) continues to attract Sufis from across the world. He lived his entire life (1317–1388) in Bukhara and made it a center for the Sufi order he founded and that is named for him. From his childhood he showed spiritual gifts that blossomed into prominent Islamic scholarship and a rich mystical life. He made the hajj three times, but he does not seem to have spent time traveling and preaching his teachings. Once his wisdom and spiritual gifts were recognized, a constant flow of Muslims came to him at Bukhara. Baha’uddin Shah Naqshband was an austere man who fasted daily. Nevertheless, he taught that hospitality was more important, since charity rose above sacrifice. Many stories are told of his eating with visitors even when fasting. He taught that “the principle of fasting or of every worship, is to conceal what one is doing.” This fit perfectly with his Dhikr of silent contemplation. Sheik Baha’uddin was known as a miracle worker and reader of minds, a seer capable even of raising someone from death. There are three levels of Naqshibandis: the initiates, the prepared, and the determined. Each commits himself to a lengthy series of set prayers and invocations each day, including 1,500 (2,500 for the determined) repetitions of the Divine Name. One can become an initiate on the web, but the higher levels require a

66 | Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Under the Abbasid dynasty, especially from the eighth to ninth centuries AD, the city of Bukhara became one of the most important cities for Islamic art, culture, and education.

spiritual master. The central teaching, however, is unity with the Divine through contemplation. The Naqshbandi mystics rejected outward practices, such as the Dervishes’ whirling dances or the total memorization of the Quran, in favor of a completive inner spiritual life in union with the Divine. Despite that emphasis, the Naqshbandi masters believed in social action and were often involved in politics. The mausoleum was built over a pagan shrine, and successive rulers expanded and embellished it until it became the largest Islamic center in Central Asia. At the same time, Naqshbandi Sufism spread widely in the region: Afghanistan, Turkey, India and Pakistan, and the Central Asian states. It became the main vehicle for introducing Islam. It spread to China as well, often by means of wandering peddlers. By the

fifteenth century, Naqshbandi was the dominant Sufi order in the region. Pilgrimages were prohibited during the Communist Soviet period, and the mosque was turned into a museum of atheism. With Uzbek independence in 1989, the shrine was restored and reopened for pilgrims. There are two mosques, fronted by a small well and lavabo for ritual washing. The tomb itself is a simple rectangular structure, although within it is beautifully decorated. The shrine is surrounded by peaceful gardens.

REFERENCES John Bennett, The Masters of Wisdom. Santa Fe, NM, Bennett, 1995. Hadrat Hisham Kabbani, The Naqshbandi Sufi Way. Chicago, Kazi, 1995.

C

height, Cahokia covered six square miles and had a population of more than 20,000, making it the largest city north of Mexico. Agriculture provided its economic base, producing the corn surpluses that were its primary trade goods. Cahokia residents lived in thatched huts made of poles and sealed with mud. The atmosphere of the city was pleasant, with open parks and plazas scattered about and family gardens and farms on the edge of the settlement. Although there was a stockade, it seems to have been built for ceremonial purposes rather than defense, leading to the conclusion that the area was peaceful during most of the four centuries of Mississippian culture. It may also have been part of the wall separating the area reserved for the elite and the priests. At Cahokia there are sixty-eight mounds in the central area alone, mostly platform mounds used for the homes of the elite. More than 120 were built during the Mississippian period. The main structure is a pyramid known as Monks’ Mound, after the Trappist monks who lived there from 1809 to 1813. It is the largest

CAHOKIA MOUNDS, ILLINOIS, USA Cahokia Mounds, located in southern Illinois, is the remains of a large city built by the people of the Mississippian culture. It includes a complex of huge, flat-topped pyramids, some of which were used for burial, others as the foundations of temples and grand residences. The Mississippians apparently took over an earlier Hopewell settlement around 900 CE and in the next century began building their characteristic earthworks. By 1500 Cahokia was abandoned; evidence suggests long droughts and malnutrition, probably due to environmental degradation from the deforested hillsides and the exhaustion of meat sources from excess hunting. Cahokia lay at a major trade crossroads, but the Mississippian culture and its smaller settlements ranged from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes and, to a lesser degree, farther afield. These shared a common culture and trade relations, but Cahokia was not a capital city. At its

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68 | Cahokia Mounds, Illinois, USA

earthwork in the Western Hemisphere— more than a hundred feet high on a base of fourteen acres, larger than the Great Pyramid of Egypt. It rose through four terraces to more than ten stories in height. On its top was the traditional home of the chief, who was raised up to be close to his god-brother, the sun. The chief was housed in a wooden building one hundred by fortyeight feet, and fifty feet high. By 1200 CE, Cahokia had become a society built on sharp class divisions: farmers and workers, artisans, nobility, and priests. A wall was built around the central sacred precincts, probably to separate the elite class of priests and rulers. The similarity between artifacts found at Cahokia and designs from Mayan culture suggests trade or cultural relations between the two peoples. Since Mississippian settlements stretched from present-day Illinois to the Gulf Coast, contact between the Mayans and Cahokians is not improbable. The Mayans may have been the source of the Cahokian practice of human sacrifice and cannibalism, both of which were unknown among the Native American Indians of the United States. These practices may have spread along the trade routes during the Mayan Revival (1150 to 1400), to be taken up by the Buzzard Cult, a Mississippian elite who controlled the lives of the people and practiced torture as well as human sacrifice. The heart of Mississippian religion was the Southern Cult, and many Cahokian artifacts bear its symbols: weeping eyes, sun circles, crosses, skulls, and sun rays. Elaborately carved soapstone pipes were used in rituals. The main focus of this Cahokian religion was death. Funeral rites for the god-king were elaborate and lengthy. Mound 72, one of the

most interesting burial mounds, contains the remains of more than 350 women around the grave of a god-king, who lay on a bed of 50,000 seashell beads. Whether the women were persons honored in the society or blood offerings in some funeral sacrifice is unknown. At the death of a king, his wife (always a commoner) was strangled, along with many of his household, so that they might accompany him into the next life. The ruler was a god-like representative of the sun on earth. If the Cahokians followed other Mississippian traditions, which is likely, he communed with the sun each morning in the temple, and messages from the sun were passed on to the people through the priests. The Mississippians worshipped the sun, and the locations for the mounds relate to the points of the compass. Monks’ Mound is on a north–south axis leading to Mound 72, and several other important mounds were constructed along the same line. Not far from Monks’ Mound are four (perhaps five) circular sun calendars, originally made of log posts. Called Woodhenge because of their similarity to Stonehenge, they were used for ceremonies and for determining planting and harvesting seasons. Woodhenge was reconstructed in 1985. New Age groups continue to hold ceremonies there for sunrises at both the solstices and the equinoxes. New Age practitioners identified Cahokia Mounds as one of the major centers of earth energy for the Harmonic Convergence in 1987. At this event, thousands gathered to observe the conjunction of astronomy and the ancient Mayan calendar. It was argued that if 144,000 persons (a sacred number) gathered at a series of sacred power sites worldwide, their combined spiritual energy could

Camp and Brush Arbor Meetings, USA | 69 cause a shift in the earth’s alignment to place it in harmony with the rest of the universe. This would bring an age of peace and harmony and stave off the advent of an age of destruction. The day chosen was determined to be the last of a series of nine “infernos” that began in 1519, when the Spaniards conquered the Aztecs. Through Harmonic Convergence, the Aztec god of death could be persuaded to lift his mask and reveal his opposite and usher in the new age. During the Harmonic Convergence, 4,000 people gathered on the top of Monks’ Mound, an indication of its size. Today there are an interpretive museum and a wide variety of activities at Cahokia, including classes, programs, and sample digs. See also: Mound Builders

REFERENCES Sally Chappell, Cahokia: Mirror of the Cosmos. Chicago, University of Chicago, 2002. Frank Joseph, Advanced Kingdoms of Prehistoric America. Rochester, VT, Bear, 2009. Timothy Pauketatt, Cahokia: Ancient America’s Great City on the Mississippi. New York, Viking, 2009. Biloine Young and Melvin Fowler, Cahokia: The Great American Metropolis. Urbana, IL, University of Illinois, 2000.

CAMP AND BRUSH ARBOR MEETINGS, USA During the colonial period in the United States, official state religion was a

common practice. The British Anglican faith was dominant, especially in the South, though it was gradually the religion of the elite, its formalism ill suited to the rough frontiersmen and farmers. Between 1720 and 1790, an itinerant Anglican preacher, George Whitefield, began preaching a gospel of personal faith. It was emotional and expressive, and it sparked a widespread revival through the South and onto the frontier. It also owed much to the contemporary Methodist movement in Great Britain. Baptists, Methodists, and other Protestants who had stood outside the official churches quickly adopted the revivalism of the movement. Doctrinal differences became blurred, and in many ways, this marked the advent of evangelicalism in American Protestantism. The Methodists sent out circuit riders who went from place to place on horseback, carrying all their worldly possessions in two small saddlebags. In time, the Awakening would spawn congregations, but for generations it operated outside the recognized churches. A Second Awakening took place from 1790 to 1830. In both phases, the instrument of revival was the camp meeting or the brush arbor meeting. Camp meetings lasted up to five days, and families literally camped out in the open air. The usual time was after the fall harvest, when farmers could be free for their daily chores. The events were primarily religious but also grand social gatherings. Religious enthusiasm marked the revivals. Sermons were long (and there might be several), but spontaneous and vivid. People were issued altar calls, where they came down from the crowds to confess their sins and accept Christ into their lives. Some wept, others

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cried out or were “slain in the Spirit,” fainting away into the arms of ushers. The more reluctant or unprepared were seated on the “anxious bench” for sinners not yet converted. Here they were the objects of prayers, petitions, and laying on of hands until they, too, came to the altar. The point of the camp meeting was never to teach doctrine or to expound on the meaning of the scriptures, but to bring sinners to conversion. Hymns were vibrant and set to catchy tunes, easily learned by semiliterate people. They were often spontaneous, taking off from something in the sermon. The best preachers spoke in rhythm, almost chanting, breaking into babble and leading the crowd in ecstatic song and a frenzy of calling. More deliberate hymns were “lined,” where a line of lyrics was chanted, then repeated by the worshippers, often until the whole crowd was caught up in its dynamic. The camp meeting hymnal, The Golden Harp (1857), became one of the landmarks in American sacred music. Camp meetings have never died out. By 1900, however, the original denominations had become formalized, Anglicanism had long since been stripped of its privilege, clergy were seminary educated, and the Methodists and Baptists found the religious enthusiasm of the camp meetings embarrassing rather than renewing. Their place was soon taken by the new Pentecostal and Holiness streams of Protestantism (and today by charismatic Christians of many faiths). Hundreds of camp meetings are still held each year. Church camps have been constructed with simple barracks housing and large open-air “temples” to serve this continuing need.

The brush arbor meeting was a form of camp meeting better suited to the rough conditions of the frontier, especially in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Mississippi Valley, where roads were rare and life harsh and dangerous. The preaching “temple” was often made of tree branches as a form of large lean-to, and those attending built smaller versions for themselves as shelters from rain. These simple structures were a part of Mid-South life, often the first rude shelter put up by a farmer as his family settled onto a piece of land. The saplings would be cut and used for a temporary resting place until a home of sorts could be built with proper logs. The brush arbor meeting used the same technique on a slightly larger scale. An upended log served as a pulpit and split logs became the pews. Evening services were lit by pitch-pine torches. For the traditional denominations, camp meetings lay the groundwork for the massive open-air revivals of the twentieth century, which brought Billy Graham to such prominence. Stadium revivals cross denominations (even Roman Catholics have endorsed Graham’s preaching) and have become part of the broader trend toward nondenominational megachurches. This has been further transformed today by the rise of television preachers. See also: Groves

REFERENCES Ellen Eslinger, Citizens of Zion. Knoxville, TN, University of Tennessee, 1999.

Canterbury Cathedral, England | 71 Christopher Owen, The Sacred Flame of Love. Athens, GA, University of Georgia, 1998. Dale Wiley, There is a Fountain: Voices and Stories of an Old-Time Southern Camp Meeting. Bloomington, IN, iUniverse, 2007.

CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, ENGLAND Canterbury Cathedral, in southern England, contains the shrine of St. Thomas a` Becket, which has been the destination for pilgrims since the twelfth century. This pilgrimage is the setting for Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, one of the oldest and best-known works in English literature, and Canterbury remains a center of Christian worship and pilgrimage to this day. England had already accepted Celtic Christianity when Pope St. Gregory the Great sent St. Austin (Augustine) to reorganize church life in 597. He baptized the king of Kent and built the first cathedral and a monastery at Canterbury. The archbishop of Canterbury became the head of the English Church with authority over the other bishops. After the Reformation, the archbishop continued as head of the Church of England, which has developed into the worldwide Anglican Communion. The cathedral has been used without interruption since the first church was built in the early seventh century. The Saxon cathedral was looted by Danish raiders in 1011, then destroyed by fire in 1064. The present cathedral was built in 1077 by the first Norman archbishop, Lanfranc, in the characteristic Norman style. There have been later modifications and some sections have

East choir of Canterbury Cathedral, Great Britain.

been demolished or replaced. One tower was removed and replaced in 1830 by another in the Perpendicular style then popular in British church architecture. It was the last major alteration. During World War II, the windows were removed for safekeeping. A German bomb narrowly missed the cathedral but destroyed the adjacent library. Today Canterbury is the official cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican Communion, to which the American Episcopal Church belongs. Canterbury also serves as an important national shrine. It contains many monuments and memorials to British war heroes, as well as battle standards. In 1170, the event took place that transformed Canterbury into a popular place of pilgrimage. King Henry II had chosen a close friend, Thomas a` Becket,

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to be archbishop. The appointment assured the king’s control of the Church, or so it seemed. Once in office, however, Becket began to challenge the king and uphold the rights of religion. Exasperated, the king cried out one day, “Who will rid me of this troublemaking priest?” Four knights took his suggestion literally and murdered Becket on the high altar of the cathedral, cutting the top from his skull and scattering his brains on the stone floor. That night people began assembling to revere the body and touch bits of cloth to the bloodstains. Immediately Canterbury became a place of pilgrimage. People demanded that Becket be named a martyr and a saint, which he was in 1173. The place of Becket’s martyrdom is marked by an inscribed stone slab in the floor of the cathedral. In the crypt is the chapel where Becket was first buried and where Henry completed the penance imposed on him for causing his death. After walking barefoot into the town and following a long fast on bread and water, Henry spent the night in prayer in the crypt chapel, at dawn receiving three lashes on his bare back from each of the monks. Immediately after Becket’s death, and for the 350 years that followed, springtime in England brought groups of pilgrims to Canterbury. The cathedral is fifty-five miles from London, three to four days’ ride—for those rich enough to have a horse. Most penitents walked. All, however, traveled in groups for security from robbers. They crossed London Bridge and, along the way, stopped at various stations. One station was at the shrine of St. William the Baker, a pilgrim stabbed to death by outlaws on the road in 1201. Those coming from France disembarked

at Southampton and rested at a hospice in Winchester. Each was given a horn of beer and a slice of bread, a custom continued today for anyone who requests it while on the way to Canterbury. The medieval horn mugs are still used for this ancient rite of hospitality. In 1220, Becket’s body was placed in a sumptuous shrine in the Trinity Chapel, just behind the high altar. The shrine was an oak chest covered with gold and precious stones, resting on a marble table. Pilgrims viewed it through an ironwork grill. Accounts of miracles had begun within days of the saint’s assassination, and the lame, blind, and insane were brought to the shrine. Many were left overnight in prayer, the demented chained to the grill. Penitents could request strokes with a rod to atone for their sins. The sick brought with them a candle matching their height, as an exvoto. Water from a well was mixed with a drop of the saint’s blood; pilgrims carried it away in vials. One of these vials on a chain around the neck was the sign of the Canterbury pilgrim. Stained-glass windows from 1220 still recount the miracles of St. Thomas, but the shrine itself was dismantled in 1538 by King Henry VIII, who confiscated its treasury, which filled twenty-six wagons. The hundreds of relics, including the beard of St. Dunstan, a tenth-century archbishop, were destroyed. The cathedral complex included St. Augustine’s Monastery, which until the dissolution managed the shrine and cathedral. They also maintained a hostel for pilgrims of every class of society, although the groups were kept rigidly separate. Currently, the cathedral is attempting to raise about $70 million for restoration.

Canterbury Tales, England | 73 Contrary to popular belief, the cathedral is not supported by the British government. The windows need restoration badly, and there is roof damage due to water seepage. Unfortunately, the fundraising has dragged due to the poor economy. Using the first $15 million, the stained glass has been restored to a new luster and radiance that had been obscured by years of grime. See also: Westminster Abbey, York Minster

REFERENCES John Adair, The Pilgrims’ Way. London, Thames & Hudson, 1978. Patrick Collinson et al., A History of Canterbury Cathedral. New York, Oxford University, revised edition, 2002. Michael Michael, The Stained Glass of Canterbury Cathedral. New York, Scala, 2006. www.canterbury-cathedral.org.

CANTERBURY TALES, ENGLAND Perhaps the best-known pilgrim work in literature, Chaucer’s poetic telling of the pilgrimage of a group of people of all classes and interests to the shrine of St. Thomas a` Becket at Canterbury Cathedral is a classic of the English language. He creates a disparate group of characters who travel together for security against robbers and amuse themselves by telling tales that reveal their personalities. The stories are pious, straightforward, or bawdy in turn and provide insights into popular attitudes toward English society and religion in the high Middle Ages.

The book was written around 1390 but first saw print in 1478 after undergoing many copyists, so that there are dozens of versions. The fact that it could be circulated in handwritten copies for a century and a half is a testimony to its popularity. Once printed, it has never gone out of print, and there are many editions available today. It is a standard piece of literature familiar to any English-speaking high school or university student. The context of the Canterbury Tales is the fractured society of Chaucer’s time. The Black Plague had decimated Europe, killing off a third or more of the population. The Catholic Church was in schism, divided between two popes and with its authority under question at all sides due to corruption among the clergy. The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 laid bare the exploitation of the poor. Among the pilgrims in Chaucer’s stories are several church professionals: a monk and a friar, a priest, a summoner (one who brought cases in Church courts against heretics and others), a pardoner (who sold indulgences), and a nun and a prioress. Only one nun acquits herself well as a faithful Christian. The others, in their stories, reveal their failings and insincerity. Not only the Christian religion but also the feudal social system is exposed and ridiculed in the tales. To what extent are the pilgrims of the Canterbury Tales typical of medieval pilgrimage, and to what extent are they a literary device that enables Chaucer to expose the fragility of English society at the time? Or were these flawed characters embarking on a pilgrimage in order to seek pardon for their sins or out of devotion? Both aspects are shown, although the former predominates.

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Map of Canterbury Tales, pilgrimage route.

The Canterbury Tales do reveal some of the typical elements of medieval pilgrimage. The travelers have banded together for protection; having a knight and a squire in their number must have been a relief to the others. The group is mixed, with several layers of feudal society represented. While groups of all upper-class dignitaries might have gone together, or all common folk, practicality dictated that when they assembled at a tavern in Southwark, they would gather whoever was available, regardless of social class. Another common theme is the variety of motives that bring them on pilgrimage—

some pious, others venal. The Pardoner was probably hoping to make a little money off the gullible pilgrims at the shrine. A couple of the men are not above seeking some innocent or not-so-innocent flirtation. Several are openly lecherous. They amused themselves with a storytelling contest, a typical entertainment of the time. The “winner” received the acknowledgement of the rest and was treated to a dinner, as happens in the Canterbury Tales. This provides Chaucer with a framework for the book, but one that would have been familiar to all his readers.

Cao Dai Temple, Vietnam | 75 As for the motives of the pilgrims, Chaucer deliberately twists them from the beginning. The Host gets the group to agree to his terms for leading the pilgrimage, something he evidently has done before. Each is to tell two tales, and he will judge the winner. He is also to be sole arbiter of everything that happens on the trip. Subtly, then, he has changed the terms of the pilgrimage from religious to mercenary, as he comments that the saint will pay back their devotion and offerings. Only the Parson and his brother, the simple Plowman, remain motivated by faith. Some almost rise to that level, like the Knight, a man of stern duty and military bravery. What is striking is that no one seems to be on the pilgrimage seeking either a miracle or forgiveness for sin. So much of the pilgrimage seems to be about displays of wealth and success. The Wife of Bath, one of the most colorful figures, “collects” pilgrimages; she has been to Jerusalem three times and to other exotic shrines. The Canterbury Tales ends as a commentary on pilgrimage as a symbol of human frailty and the state of contemporary society. See also: Canterbury Cathedral, Pilgrimage, Pilgrim’s Progress

REFERENCES Lillian Bisson, Chaucer and the Late Medieval World. New York, St. Martin’s, 1998. Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. New York, Random House, 1994. Laura and Robert Lambdin, eds., Chaucer’s Pilgrims. Westport, CT, Praeger, 1999.

Stephanie Trigg, Congenial Souls: Reading Chaucer from Medieval to Postmodern. Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota, 2002.

CAO DAI TEMPLE, VIETNAM The Great Temple, popularly known as the Tay Ninh Holy See from its location, is the main worship center, shrine, and headquarters of the Cao Dai sect. In a series of visions during the years following World War I, a Vietnamese bureaucrat in the French colonial service received revelations from Cao Dai, whom he identified as the Reigning God or High Tower. At one seánce a corrupt businessman, Le van Trung, was converted and changed his life. He soon became head of the new movement that flourished under his leadership and spread throughout the country. By 1926, it was formally organized and registered as a religion. Cao Dais believe that this ushered in the Third Age of Salvation in which heaven and earth would be in direct communication through the instrumentality of Cao Dai. Cao Dai is symbolized by the Eye of God, which figures prominently in all of the sect’s temples. The religion has taken much of its style of worship from Catholicism, but its doctrines come from its revelations and various borrowings from eastern faiths. The “five faiths”— animism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Confucianism, and Taoism—combine in Cao Dai to form the “greater path to perfection.” Its organizational structure, too, is modeled on Roman Catholicism, with cardinals, bishops, and priests, though women may only be chosen as priests or

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A service at the Cao Dai temple in Tay Ninh, Vietnam. The Cao Dai religion was founded in 1926, and its influence in nationalist politics reached an apex during the Japanese occupation before waning with the ascent of U.S.-selected premier Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam during the 1950s. After the fall of South Vietnam’s government to the communists in 1975, many Cao Dai practitioners fled the country, fearful of religious persecution.

bishops. Women have another special role in Cao Dai, however, since all revelations are interpreted by female spirit mediums who have been recognized by the sect’s hierarchy. Because of Cao Dai’s belief in uniting truth regardless of its source, the temple enshrines Lao Tsu, Buddha, Joan of Arc, Mohammed, the French novelist Victor Hugo, and Jesus Christ. Spirit mediums transmit messages from such luminaries as Sun Yat-Sen (the founder of modern China), Lenin, and Shakespeare. Received while the mediums are in a trance, the messages are “caught” in a basket and then written down for the faithful. Ancestors are also honored as luminary spirits. The Great Temple was built between 1933 and 1955. Its structure is like a

reverse telescope, larger at the entrance and progressively smaller toward its far end. At the same time, it is stepped. Thus it both rises and narrows to a focus on the altar at the rear. This configuration symbolizes the journey of the soul toward enlightenment. The temple is ornate and colorful. Twisted pink columns entwined by dragons reach up to a blue tin ceiling covered with mirrored glass reflectors. Clergy wear bright robes of yellow, red, and turquoise, while the laity are gowned in white. Above everything is the all-seeing Eye of God, the symbol of Cao Dai. It is painted on a huge green globe decorated with 3,000 stars, all resting on an elaborately carved golden altar. The Eye—“mover of the heart, sovereign master of visual perception”—is

Carnac, France | 77 the presence of God. The elaborate architecture of the Great Temple, and every Cao Dai temple patterned on it, is intended to reflect the unity of all religions in its borrowing and integrating of many elements. The faithful fill the temple four times daily, with men and women kneeling in separate groups after circling around the temple, men in one direction and women in the other. This circumambulation goes beneath the nine domes, symbolizing the nine levels to heaven and freedom from reincarnation. Services are highly stylized, including chants and offerings of incense, fruit, and wine. The priests may also offer sacrifice during ceremonies. Festivals are marked by very elaborate rituals, but the seánces by the spirit mediums are held privately.There are special festal observances for the Buddha’s Birthday, Christmas, and celebrations for Daoism and Confucianism. Lay members pray and practice vegetarianism and the veneration of ancestors, all of which will free them from the cycle of death and reincarnation and bring unity with Cao Dai. They work their way through the seventy-two levels of earthly life above hell, of which earth is sixty-eight, close to damnation. All Cao Dai are vegetarians. One prophecy said that between 1996 and 1998 a new age would begin where wars would cease and all humanity would be divided into flesh-eaters and vegetarians. The vegetarians, “with pure souls in their bodies,” will be saved, while the carnivores, “fattened by foulness of the flesh,” will perish at the coming of the Consoler, a messiah figure who will usher in the new age. Cao Dai has always been a nationalist movement. It has long dominated the

province of Tay Ninh, where it introduced progressive social and agricultural reforms. Cao Dai membership is estimated to be between two and six million, including followers in the United States. At one time it had a private army of 35,000, which was allied with the Japanese during World War II and opposed the government of South Vietnam in later years. In 1956 the Cao Dai army was suppressed. Under Communist rule, the sect’s properties were confiscated, the se´ ances forbidden, and the leader of the church beheaded. In 1985, the Holy See and several hundred chapels were returned to the sect, which is now reviving.

REFERENCES H. D. Bui and Ngasha Beck, Cao Dai: Faith of Unity. n.p., Emerald Wave, 2000. Ormond McGill, Religious Mysteries of the Orient. South Brunswick, NJ, Barnes, 1976. Edward Rice, Ten Religions of the East. New York, Four Winds Press, 1978. Jayne Werner, Peasant Politics and Religious Sectarianism. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 1981. www.caodai.org.

CARNAC, FRANCE The world’s largest collection of menhirs, mounds, and dolmens is found on the southern shores of Brittany at Carnac. Menhirs are standing stones that can be found either alone, in rows, or in circles. Dolmens are table stones made by setting a capstone across two menhirs; they mark the tombs of chieftains from pre-Celtic times. Though menhirs,

78 | Carnac, France

mounds, and dolmens are found throughout Brittany, the finest examples are around Carnac. The Meńec Lines, named for a nearby hamlet, consist of 1,099 menhirs in eleven parallel avenues. They stretch across the landscape for hundreds of yards, ending at the town, which is bordered by a cromlech, or circle, of seventy menhirs. The Kermario alignment consists of ten rows of 1,029 stones; the Kerlescan, thirteen rows of 555 stones with an intact cromlech; but the last, the Petit Me´ nec, has been largely vandalized, its stones used for constructing a lighthouse in the nineteenth century. These four alignments extend for five miles, an amazing building feat, since the stones are up to twenty feet high and weigh up to 350 tons, even though they were hewn from local stone. The cromlechs are focal points in the lines, and all are found on small rises, where they served as some sort of sacred center. Their diameters range from seventy to 100 yards. They may once have been incorporated into timber structures or altars that have long since disappeared. In total, there are some 5,000 menhirs at Carnac, the largest stone alignment in Europe. But archaeologists believe that there were once more than 10,000. They have been dated between 4000 and 2500 BCE. Though the lines and dolmens begin around 4000 BCE , a few of the burial mounds scattered throughout the area were established by 5000 BCE . The French government purchased the land in the 1880s, and a local road surveyor began re-erecting the fallen stones, though some were mistakenly placed upside-down. It is administered by a government agency today, but access is severely limited.

Besides the stone formations there are several tumuli, earthen mounds pierced by passageways that lead to a central chamber where cultic artifacts were enshrined. The largest of these, the Tumulus of St. Michael, was a burial mound for chiefs or other rulers. The Carnac Museum of Prehistory displays the chests, jewelry, and pottery that were excavated from it. Following early Christian tradition, a chapel was built over the Tumulus as a sign of the triumph of Christianity, but this was not done until quite late (1663). The current chapel there is a reproduction. The stone formations at Carnac are cultic, but their use is a mystery. One guess is that they were part of a cattle cult that continued into Christian times; remains of buried bulls and a ceremonial bull statue have been found, and the patron saint of cattle, St. Corne´ly, has been honored in Carnac’s parish church from the earliest Christian times. These speculations connect the cattle cult with an ancient pagan cult of the Celtic horned god, Cernunnos. When the local saint, Corne´ly, was first honored, it was natural to make him the patron of horned animals in order to attract the pagans to Christianity. It is also likely that the stones were used in some sort of megalithic observatory. The lines of the largest stones produce astronomical information, specifically the rising and setting of the moon. Another theory suggests that the entire complex of four alignments was some sort of huge outdoor worship center, though no altar stones have ever been found. A Breton legend says that the menhirs are ancient statues of God, but since no one knew what form God took, the ancients left the great granite

Cartago, Costa Rica | 79

Founded by the Spanish in 1563, Cartago is the oldest existing Spanish settlement in Costa Rica.

rocks uncarved as a sign of the mystery of divinity. Followers of New Age movements have been attracted to Carnac because of its astronomical aspects, though it has not become the center for seasonal observances that Stonehenge or Externsteine have. See also: Avebury, Externsteine, Stonehenge

REFERENCES Aubrey Burl, A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 2006. Aubrey Burl, From Carnac to Callanish. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 1996. Carnac, Travel Video, 2007 (video).

CARTAGO, COSTA RICA The national shrine of Costa Rica is consecrated to the Virgin Mary, who is honored in a stone statue. The legend of its origins is one found in a number of similar shrines. A peasant girl found the statue of a mother and child in the woods while gathering firewood. After she took it home, it disappeared, only to return to the same place where it was found. This happened three times, until in 1639 the local priest directed that a shrine to the Virgin be built in the glade. Pilgrims began coming and the tiny chapel was replaced with a larger one. Because the stone is dark, the Virgin acquired the nickname La Negrita, although her official name is Our Lady of the Angels. The statue is slightly less

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than nine inches tall, and on her pedestal she almost disappears in the folds of gold tunic wrapped around her. La Negrita has a special role in Costa Rican culture. It was found in an area settled by Blacks and mixed-blood mulattos and mestizos. This was a wordless challenge to the racial divisions of colonial Central America. By 1652 a brotherhood was established to care for the shrine; it enrolled both Spaniards and mestizos, who have equal rights. The present shrine church is a cross between Art Deco style and Moorish architecture, open and airy on the inside, ringed by small windows to let in light. On the plaza in front of the church is a sacred spring flowing below ground. Pilgrims descend to it and wash their hands and faces before entering the church, where many go on their knees. They leave milagros, small stamped metal images of hands, feet, hearts, and other body parts that the pilgrim is petitioning for healing. Although miraculous healings have been ascribed to La Negrita, her main power has been to save the people from natural disasters. During threats of volcanic eruptions and plague, she is taken in procession from the shrine to local churches to tame the forces of nature. The devotion spread, and after independence from Spain in 1821, La Negrita was declared the patron saint of Costa Rica. The annual festival is a three-day affair centered on August 2, the anniversary of the finding of the statue and a national holiday. Most of the gathering of a million pilgrims walk the last fourteen miles. See also: Marian Apparitions

CATACOMBS, ROME, ITALY Outside the walls of Imperial Rome lie forty-four underground burial grounds, extensive complexes that include tombs, chapels, and small meeting rooms. These are the catacombs. Their place in Christian history is so important that most pilgrims to the Holy City visit at least one of them. Popes and peasants, nobles and slaves are buried there. Since burial within the city walls was forbidden by imperial law, tombs were built along the prominent roads leading into the city. There are sixty miles of underground passages with 500,000 tombs, all of which are now, centuries later, incorporated into the modern city of Rome. Contrary to popular modern belief, the catacombs were not secret places. Christians did not hold services in them habitually, and they were rarely used as hiding places during persecution. In fact, the catacombs were usually well marked; often churches were built above their entrances. Although catacombs were used before the Christian period, they are today closely associated in popular imagination with the early Christians. Their strong belief in the afterlife led Christians to consider burial an important rite. During periods of persecution, Christians exposed themselves to considerable risk to retrieve the bodies of their martyrs and give them a proper burial. Tombs, in pagan tradition, were used for family memorial services, gatherings that included storytelling about the deceased and a family meal. For Christians, it was a short step to the sacred meal that was the memorial of the Last Supper. Celebrations of the Eucharist at the

Catacombs, Rome, Italy | 81

Catacombs of the Capuchins, Palermo, Italy. The Capuchin are an order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief off-shoots of the Franciscans.

tombs of the martyrs were recorded by 150 CE . Later, altars were built with openings to hold the bones of the martyr, and thus the altar became the burial place. From this tradition comes the present-day custom observed by Catholics and Orthodox of incorporating the relics of martyrs into the altars of churches or sewing them into cloths laid on the table where the Eucharist is celebrated. Following the Roman tradition, Christians who owned space in the catacombs opened it to fellow disciples beyond their own family members. Despite the severe persecutions of Christians during the first three centuries after Christ, there were long periods of relative calm when relations among

different religious groups were peaceful. Pagan, Jewish, and Christian tombs are usually found together in the same catacomb, and the tombs of one group were never disturbed by another. After 313, when Christianity was legalized, catacomb burial continued until the 500s, at which time the Church went back to the older tradition of burial in graves. With the arrival of the Goths in 537 CE peaceful coexistence came to an end. The Goths vandalized the tombs or pillaged them in search of treasure. The popes gradually began transferring the relics of the martyrs to the churches, and the barbarian invasions effectively ended the creation of further catacombs. By 1100 most relics had been moved out of the catacombs, and pilgrims’

82 | Catacombs, Rome, Italy

attention shifted to the churches themselves. With the translation of the relics to the churches, the catacombs were forgotten. In the Middle Ages the tombs of the martyrs were the focus of pilgrimages, and medieval pilgrim guides were written to help lead the pious on their journeys. They describe a circular route around the city. This roundabout approach was incorporated into the architecture of shrine churches throughout Europe, where one may still see ambulatories, circular passageways around a shrine that the pilgrim walks before visiting the relics of a saint. A drop in population caused the Roman suburbs to be abandoned, and the entrances to the catacombs gradually crumbled and disappeared. Only in the nineteenth century did systematic archeological exploration begin. With the rise of modern religious tourism, the catacombs have again become an important point of interest. When the Holy See signed the 1929 treaty with Italy giving the Vatican international standing as a state, Article 33 entrusted the catacombs to the papacy. More than fifty catacombs have been identified, and others come to light regularly. In addition to Rome, there are extensive catacombs in Sicily, North Africa, and elsewhere. Seven Roman catacombs are open to the public: St. Domitilla, St. Callixtus, St. Sebastian, St. Laurence, St. Agnes, St. Pancras, and Priscilla. The first three are on the Appian Way and are the most visited by pilgrims. The stairway to the subterranean walkways can be claustrophobic. The passages are seven to ten feet tall and a yard wide. Lesser passages run off at right angles to the main corridors, all

filled with burial niches. The widened spaces used for early gatherings are not large, although tombs of important people can be very elaborate, faced with marble and decorated with wall paintings. Ordinary graves simply had a space for a body to be laid out; the front was sealed and marked with a coin or bit of ceramic so it could be identified later. The catacombs contain many small graves for children, sometimes marked by a child’s toy. Santa Domitilla contains several important paintings and a large number of tomb inscriptions. The catacomb was originally four smaller units that were later joined together. It has a room for funeral meals and a well. Most striking, though, is the Basilica of Ss. Nereus and Achilleus—a full church entirely underground. No other catacomb has such a structure. San Callisto is the largest catacomb, with more than thirteen miles of underground passages. Many wall paintings of Christian symbols, such as the anchor, fish, dove, lamb, ship, or a praying figure, decorate its four levels of passages. Sixteen popes are buried there, but it is the inscriptions on the graves of the ordinary folk that are the most touching in their affectionate simplicity. Callixtus was the administrator of the cemetery that took his name. Two popular martyrs are entombed here. St. Tarcisius, a boy-martyr who died defending the Eucharist, is patron of first communicants.The tomb of the popular virgin martyr, St. Cecilia, patroness of musicians, draws a number of pilgrims to St. Callixtus. She converted her fiance´ , and both were martyred. Her body was later removed to a church, and in 1599, when the tomb was

Cathar Sites, France | 83 opened, the body was found incorrupt. At the original spot is a lovely marble statue of the body as it was found—lying on its side, head turned away and arms outstretched. The cut of the executioner’s sword is plainly visible. San Sebastian was reputed to be the temporary resting place of Ss. Peter and Paul before they were reburied respectively at the basilicas named for them. There are many memorials of the two apostles in San Sebastian, even an early banquet room with third-century graffiti in honor of the saints. There are numerous mosaics and carvings including the initials for Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. The letters form the Greek word for “fish” and the fish symbol is found on tombs in all the catacombs. Much symbolic art is found in the catacombs. The monogram of Christ, the Chi Rho, is the superimposed Greek letters X and P. Two other Greeks letters, alpha and omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, symbolize that Christ is the beginning and the end of all things. The orante is a praying figure with its arms raised. The earliest fresco painting of the Virgin Mary shows her in this pose. The phoenix, a mythical bird that arises from ashes, symbolizes death and resurrection. All these symbols and others are found in the catacombs and later became standard symbols in Christian art. St. Laurence is the burial place of the Deacon Laurence, who was martyred by being strapped to a grill and roasted over a fire. St. Agnes, in the northwest quadrant of the city, is a shrine church built over the saint’s tomb. The shrine of Agnes, another popular virgin martyr, is well visited, although many pilgrims are unaware of the catacombs beneath the church. St.

Pancras is the patron of the newly baptized, but little is known of him. The Catacomb of Priscilla is the oldest. Seven popes were buried there as well as many prominent martyrs. In its upper level is some of the oldest Christian art in existence, including the earliest paintings of the Virgin Mary, dating from the third century. See also: Relics, Rome, Saint Peter’s

REFERENCES Rodney Griffin, The Catacombs of Rome. Lima, PA, CSS Publishing, 1982. Matilda Webb, The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome. Eastbourne, UK, Sussex, 2002. The Catacombs of Rome. A&E, 2000 (video). www.catacombe.roma.it.

CATHAR SITES, FRANCE High on a peak in southern France is Montse´gur, the last outpost of a medieval sect, the Cathars. It is a fortified stronghold, but many other Cathar settlements were in towns and villages. The Cathars (the name means “puritans”) are sometimes called Albigensians after the town of Albi where they were particularly well established. Their religion originated in Eastern Europe, but they flourished in France and Italy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries until they were destroyed in a crusade against them in 1208. The ruins of their religious centers are found in several places in southern France. The Cathars taught that there were two gods, a good god who created the

84 | Cathar Sites, France

spiritual world and an evil one, the creator of the material world. To live in the physical world was hell, because the god of evil had captured the soul and imprisoned it in a physical body. Christ, whose human body was only an illusion, was sent by the good god to free humanity from this miserable condition. Cathars embraced reincarnation. They also denied the death of Christ, the sacraments, and the resurrection of Jesus, which made the medieval Church their bitter enemy. The threat extended even to the clergy, many of whom went over to the Cathar side. In one instance, the entire cathedral chapter of canons in Orleans converted en masse. The Cathars were led by the Perfect, who renounced sex and lived a common life. They ate no meat because it was the product of sexual generation. Their only prayer was the Lord’s Prayer, which they recited up to forty times a day. They entered this state by the consolamentum, a baptism in the Holy Spirit that freed the Cathar from all sin and ordained him/her among the Perfect. Most ordinary Cathars could not live according to these strict rules, but as they neared death, they could be enrolled among the Perfects. They would then begin the endura, refusing food and drink until they starved to death. The Cathar faith was passed on within families under the influence of grandmothers, who were the guides of people’s consciences. When the crusade armies marched against the Cathars, they were terribly harsh. Three hundred thousand German and French knights were mobilized in the crusade, and half a million died over forty years. In Carcassone alone, 20,000 were slaughtered after they had surrendered, including both Cathars and observant

Catholics. In 1232 the surviving Cathars moved their headquarters to Montse´gur, a castle built by Esclarmonde, one of the holiest of the women Perfects. Set on a limestone outcrop in the Pyrenees Mountains, the castle is extremely inaccessible and thus was able to survive siege for several years until forced to surrender in 1244. Given two weeks to consider abandoning their faith, the Perfects spent the time praying and preparing for death. After their capture, 225 defenders were burned alive on a huge pyre for their heresies. Although a number of Cathar sites survive, Montse´gur became the symbol of Cathar resistance. Today, the regional tourist board highlights some twenty Cathar sites as attractions, with varying degrees of connection to the sect. The Cathars have always inspired spiritualist interpretations. In the nineteenth century, a mishmash of mysticism and occultism surrounded the history of the cult. One historian even proclaimed that Montse´gur was the location of the Holy Grail, the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper. The assertion was taken up by Heinrich Himmler, the Nazi leader, who commissioned a book about the Cathars. He portrayed them as antiSemitic, when in fact the Cathars had protected Jews as fellow outsiders in medieval society. In the 1960s a more scientific analysis was made, but it suggested that Montse´gur was the work of a clever astronomer who built a temple to the sun. Despite the fact that sun worship would have deeply offended Cathar beliefs, Montse´gur has become the focus of New Age cults, vegetarians, and feminists. It also attracts various anti-Catholics and neo-fascists from Spain, Italy, and France who are interested in the revival of

Caves | 85 paganism. At the summer solstice (June 21), groups gather for the first rays of the sun, and on one recent occasion, the Nazi flag was raised. About 100,000 visitors come to Montse´gur each year, despite the difficulties of getting there. Many leave flowers at the monument marking the spot where the Perfects were burned alive. Historians argue that the original castle was probably demolished, since church law required that heretics’ buildings be destroyed, and the present structures may be of a later date. There is no medieval account of this destruction, however, and it may be that the sheer difficulty of demolishing the remote mountaintop castle saved it. The Cathar village that surrounded the castle ruins is now being excavated.

REFERENCES Sean Martin, The Cathars. New York, Avalon, 2004. Zoe¨ Oldenbourg, The Massacre at Montsegur. New York, Marboro, 1990. Joseph Strayer, The Albigensian Crusades. Ann Arbor, MI, University of Michigan, 1992. www.cathar.info.

CAVES Sacred caves are found in all faith traditions. Usually they are natural cavities in the sides of hills or mountains, but in some cases they may be manmade. They are often used for celebration of religious mysteries. Many Marian apparitions have taken place in caves, such as Lourdes, and those with healing springs or wells are especially prized.

For many in the ancient world, caves represented the entry to Mother Earth, a womb that one could enter to re-emerge reborn. It might be the place where an oracle pronounced on the future, as at Delphi. The River Styx in Greek mythology, the passageway to the afterlife, was below the earth, and that has been the image of the Christian notion of hell. For the Mayans, caves were where the souls of the dead entered the underworld, and ex-votos, religious artifacts, and the like have been found at the bottom of these caves. Caves were natural places for hermit monks and solitaries. Even today’s cartoon comics will show a guru sitting before his cave, indicating how well the image is engraved in popular consciousness. Buddhists especially seem to revere sacred caves. There are more than a thousand in Southeast Asia alone, and probably many more in India. Hindus in India followed that tradition and turned caves into shrines by placing statues of the gods there and building chapels in them. Caves were also the homes of hermits and monks who lived around these shrines; they were both holy men and sages as well as monks who served the needs of pilgrims. The early Greek philosopher Porphyry (234–302?) taught that before temples were built, people worshipped in caves. Some argue that the first temples were based on caves, with a worship space inside that was accessed by a single door that, when closed, left the temple in gloom and semidarkness. The same argument is used to suggest that the Pyramids of Egypt were in fact artificial caves in which the bodies of the dead pharaohs were placed. They were accompanied by food, pottery, and other

86 | Cemeteries

implements that would assist the king in his passage to the next life. Lesser officials were often also interred in graves that resembled cave dwellings. The sacred cave, therefore, assumed the role of home of the spirit world. Open caves were places where the living could commune with the dead and even with the spirits of the gods. See also: Ajanta, Catacombs, Dogon Cliffs, Elephanta Caves, Ellora, Goreme Caves, Machpelah, Pac Ou Caves

REFERENCES Richard Bradley, Archaeology of Natural Places. London, Routledge, 2000. Brian Molyneaux, Sacred Earth, Sacred Stones. San Diego, CA, Laurel Glenn, 2001.

CEMETERIES Cemeteries are both religious sites and secular ones. As places where the dead are buried or their ashes enshrined, many families visit on the anniversaries of death or birthdays to remember them, pray at the graveside, and leave flowers or other tokens. At the burial itself, graveside services are usually held, and most cemeteries have chapels where funerals can be conducted as well. Various customs can be found. As a casket is lowered into the grave, family members may throw flowers or clumps of earth on it, or sprinkle it with holy water. After a burial, people may congregate at the home of the bereaved with platters of food, providing a supportive atmosphere surrounded by caring friends. This stems from an older custom of providing a family with sufficient food

for the period of mourning. In New Orleans Creole culture, the coffin of a musician is usually accompanied to the graveyard by a jazz band, to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In.” On the Day of the Dead, a largely Hispanic observance on November 2 (All Souls’ Day), families will meet at graves to celebrate the lives of those who have died. This sometimes includes a picnic at the graveside or the foods the deceased liked best in life, and storytelling about them. Aside from personal and family observances, there are official ones for those who have served their country or honored it in a special way with their lives. Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA, holds the graves of thousands of American war dead. It began on land seized from Confederate General Robert E. Lee after the Civil War. Family members visit to pay respects to their loved ones, but visitors seek out several of the major graves. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which contains the remains of unidentified men who died in World Wars I and II and Korea, is a prominent national site. When the remains of a Vietnam veteran interred there were identified, it was decided to leave that grave empty. Traditionally, heads of state who visit the United States lay wreaths of flowers at the Tomb in honor of America’s defense of world peace. A soldier guards it at all hours, and the changing of the guard is a much-watched solemn ceremony. The tomb of President John F. Kennedy, marked by an eternal flame, attracts many visitors who come in a spirit of reverence. Another of the visited places (they form almost a pilgrim route) is the Iwo

Cemeteries | 87

Remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The U.S. Navy ship was destroyed in the infamous Japanese attack of December 7, 1941. Some 1,177 of the ship’s crewmen lost their lives on that day.

Jima Memorial, officially entitled the Marine Corps War Memorial. It is a striking sculpture of men raising the American flag during the battle for Iwo Jima in the Pacific theatre during World War II, based on a famous photograph. In addition, there is a Nurses’ Memorial where many military nurses are buried, and a Confederate Memorial in their section. Two memorials are for those who lost their lives in the flights of the Challenger and Columbia shuttles. Another memorial honors the memory of the men who died in the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor, precipitating the Spanish-American War. Two memorials—to the victims of the Lockerbie plane bombing and the September 11 attack on the Pentagon— round out the list of major memorials. A specially chosen group from the U.S. armed forces provides burial

services, with a caisson carrying the war dead to their final resting places. Because Arlington has limited space, many who wish to have their family members buried there cannot do so, and a network of veterans’ cemeteries around the country takes in the majority today. The Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris served a similar function in France, but those buried there include a pantheon of great French artists, politicians, and celebrities, rather than war dead. The tombs of Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde attract devotees who leave flowers and artifacts on the graves as an act of homage. There are also monuments to Holocaust sites where French Jews died. Most touching, perhaps, is that for the dead of Melk, where prisoners were worked to death hauling huge stones up a brutal set of stairs from a quarry. The monument symbolizes those steps of death.

88 | Chaco, New Mexico, USA

The Communard Wall, where the last rebels of the Paris Commune uprising of 1871 were executed, draws Socialists on the anniversary at the end of May. The “ascent to the Wall” brings out thousands, all wearing red roses. A figure of a woman representing liberty stands in relief against the Wall, her hands thrown out as if to accept the bullets, or perhaps as a sign of triumphant rising. Every country has its sacred war cemeteries, usually close to where the fallen were sacrificed. The American Battle Monuments Commission maintains these in many countries, especially in Europe for the fallen of World War II, as do other countries. Perhaps the best known in the United States after Arlington National Cemetery is the USS Arizona, a battleship sunk in Honolulu harbor during the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941. One thousand one hundred seventy-seven men are entombed there, and reverent behavior is required for all visitors. At one end of the monument is a shrine dedicated to the men who died on the Arizona, more than half of the total casualties of the attack. Visitors may hang leis of flowers along the railings of the shrine to honor the dead. British and Canadian war dead are recalled solemnly at Remembrance Day, November 11. Memorials are decorated with wreaths, and many people wear red poppies, recalling the poet John McCrae’s poem, “In Flanders Fields,” which has become an anthem of Remembrance Day and American Memorial Day on May 30. Cannons are fired as the wreaths are laid by veteran’s organizations. The Queen lays the wreath at the main memorial in London, the Cenotaph. The British extend the protection of military remains not only to war cemeteries but

also to fifty-eight ships sunk during wars, and to all underwater military aircraft. In the United States, veterans’ graves are decorated with flowers and flags on Memorial Day, the closest Monday to May 30. Unfortunately, the day was chosen to make a three-day weekend possible, and the effect has been to lessen the observance. See also: Day of the Dead, Jim Morrison Grave, Oscar Wilde Grave, Qinming Festival

REFERENCES Rita Atkinson, “Sacred Square Mile,” 211 National Geographic 6:118–137 (June 2007) [Arlington National Cemetery]. Douglas Keister, Stories in Stone. Layton, UT, Gibbs Smith, 2004. Marilyn Yalom, The American Resting Place. New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. www.abmc.gov.

CHACO, NEW MEXICO, USA Chaco Canyon in northern New Mexico contains a complex of Anasazi villages surrounding a great ceremonial center. A network of roads connected outlying settlements up to a hundred miles away. Between twenty and thirty feet wide, laid out in straight lines regardless of the topography, these thoroughfares were constructed without the benefit of either the horse or the wheel. They go across all terrain, up the sides of mesas and down cliffs, never veering from the straight path. Since there was no economic reason for these roads, they probably were ceremonial pathways to ease pilgrimage to the sacred sites. Along the roads were wayside shrines, stations on

Chaco, New Mexico, USA | 89

Ruins of Chaco Canyon in present-day New Mexico. Masonry techniques featuring rubble cores and outer surfaces of shaped stones could support walls more than four stories in height.

the path, although what was contained in them is now not known. All this was built roughly between 900 and 1100 CE. The entire complex seems to have been an expression of shamanistic spiritual geography. The Chaco people, a nomadic clan of the Anasazi, settled the area in the tenth century CE and became farmers, hundreds of years before the Navajo arrived. Their real name is unknown; they were called Anasazi by the Navajo, a word meaning “the enemies of our ancestors.” The Anasazi worshipped the plumed serpent, as did the Mayans and Aztecs, and its sacred image is found at various spots in the canyon. Many Chaco wall paintings portray humans as well as animal figures that may have been totems. Women are shown giving birth, and youths are depicted playing the flute.

Some paintings include handprints, which are believed to indicate especially sacred spots. The meaning of other scenes is unclear. Fajada Butte, a flat-topped plateau 450 feet high, seems to have been a sunwatching station for the Chaco. Rooms have been found that were used by shamans to observe movements of the sun and the play of light and shadow on certain stone outcrops. Carvings mark some of these sun points. At the crest of the butte, slabs of rock rest before a carved spiral, permitting only a small finger of light. The light beam points to the center of the spiral at the summer solstice, touches both sides of it at the winter solstice, and also defines the equinoxes and shows the phases of the moon. Pueblo Bonito contains 800 rooms and thirty-seven kivas (worship rooms),

90 | Chalma, Mexico

three of them major. A four-story pueblo built around 920, Pueblo Bonito is one of thirteen separate “Great Houses” still preserved, probably the largest medieval dwelling in the Southwest United States. It is built as a series of concentric semicircles that covers three acres and housed 1,500 people. Its kivas are round, with a bench along the wall, and were intended for family use. Most have a sipapu or spirit tunnel, an opening in the floor used as a passage between this world and the spirit netherworld. The spirits of the ancestors were believed to live in the sipapu. The Great Kiva, fifty-three feet in diameter, is perfectly circular, a symbol of the womb of mother earth from which the community was born. The Chaco mastered irrigation, and the evidence of trade goods indicates that they were prosperous. Bonito was abandoned after 1150 due to drought, which is well documented by studies of tree rings from the period. The Great Houses were all huge, ranging from 200 to 800 rooms. The smallest, Wijiji, had a mere one hundred, and it was an outlying place away from the center of Anasazi culture. Casa Rinconada was built as a worship center across the canyon from Pueblo Bonito. Its kiva is sixty-six feet across, perfectly circular, and twelve to fourteen feet deep. At the solstices, light plays across its east window. Although its purpose is uncertain, it may have been a priestly gathering place, a sun watch, or a place for special ceremonies not conducted on a regular basis. Almost all the major buildings of Chaco are so oriented that they reflect both the lunar and solar cycles. The Navajo who live in the area today are not related to the Chaco people, but

they regard Chaco Canyon as sacred ground, a special opening from the heart of Mother Earth, from which the spirit of the place is reborn periodically. Chaco Canyon is located over two tectonic fault lines, causing followers of New Age spiritualities to consider it a place of focused energy and the scene of paranormal mystical phenomena, such as a luminescent blue light that hovers over the sipapus. New Agers regard the straight Chaco roads as ley lines (lines between geographical features, believed to have spiritual force). They made Chaco one of the centers of the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, in which various New Age groups gathered at “power sites” around the world to channel and direct cosmic energy in order to avert ecological calamity.

REFERENCES Craig Childs, House of Rain. New York, Back Bay/Hachette, 2008. Frank Joseph, Advanced Kingdoms of Prehistoric America. Rochester, VT, Bear, 2009. Stephen Lekson et al., Chaco Canyon. Santa Fe, NM, Museum of New Mexico, 1994. David Roberts, “The Old Ones of the Southwest,” National Geographic 189:4, 86–109 (April 1996). David Stuart, Anasazi America. Albuquerque, NM, University of New Mexico, 2000.

CHALMA, MEXICO The “Black Christ” of Chalma has been worshipped by pilgrims since it was discovered around 1537 during the period

Chalma, Mexico | 91 in which the local peoples first came into contact with Christianity. The place had been a sacred site for many centuries before, however. Several caves in the area were thought to be the abode of the god Oxtoteotl, lord of the dark and of night. He was presented as a black idol with powers of healing. Pilgrims to his cave wended through the narrow mountain pathways carrying flowers and burning censors. Arriving at the cave, they bathed in the sacred spring and drank its waters. There may have been sacrifice (including human sacrifice of prisoners) to Oxtoteotl. The Black Christ, a figure of Jesus on the Cross, was miraculously discovered by the first missionary friars after they were sent to destroy the idol. According to legend, when they arrived at the cave, they found the idol smashed on the ground and in its place was the Black Christ. This sort of account is typical of many shrines built over the remains of pagan worship. The missionaries constructed churches and designed shrines on top of pagan sites, both to demonstrate the superiority of Christianity and to appropriate native practices. Today, Chalma draws about two million pilgrims each year. It is Mexico’s secondlargest pilgrimage site, exceeded only by Our Lady of Guadalupe. At Chalma, all of the pagan observances have been integrated into the Black Christ pilgrimage. Indians still walk along the treacherous paths of the mountains, carrying incense and flowers to present to the image. They bathe in the stream and drink from it after circling it three times, and then enter the shrine crowned with flowers. The pilgrimage has a communal nature; most Mexicans come in village or parish groups on set

days, often that of their patron saint. The icon or painting of the saint will be carried, covered, until the group enters the church. Then its drape is grandly cast away, and hymns to the saint and the Black Christ are accompanied by clouds of incense from copal resin. Newborns are plunged into the spring in thanks for safe delivery, and their umbilical cords are tied to an ancient tree there. Women seeking a child pray for conception. Further reinforcing the theme of seeking protection for children, the shrine includes a popular statue of the Child Jesus (Santo Nino). On Christmas and Three Kings’ Day (January 6), when children traditionally receive gifts, toys are left at its feet. The bloody sacrifices of the past have been replaced by the sacrifice of the Mass, signed by the Cross. The healings are marked by a great wall of testimonials (retablos) and milagros, small metal or carved wood images of healed body parts. Dancing on the plaza before the church is common, and Mexican culture has introduced mariachi bands, who perform in honor of the Christ after a small tip from a pilgrim. The pilgrimage church is set against the mountain with the caves, where the image was moved into a purpose-built church in 1683. By that time, the crowds of pilgrims had grown too large for the cave, even though it had been enlarged. The cave chapel was also dedicated to St. Michael Archangel (protector of high places and the one who defeats the Devil), and it remains in use. The church has been remodeled several times and is neocolonial in design. Over the entrance is the biblical text: “Come to me all who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

92 | Changu Narayan Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal

Surrounding the shrine, all along the peaks above, are pilgrim crosses—some of considerable height. Each year they are brought to the plaza, repaired and decorated, and put back on their hilltop to ward off the powers of the Devil. After planting their cross again, the pilgrim group will spend the night in dancing, praying, and singing hymns. See also: Caves, Fertility Shrines

REFERENCES Silvia Benuzzi, A Pilgrimage to Chalma. Greeley, CO, University of Northern Colorado, 1981. Maria Rodriquez-Shadow, El pueblo del senor. Mexico City, UNAM, 2000. Andres Segura, The Eagle’s Children. Rochester, NY, Ethnoscope, 2007 (video).

CHANGU NARAYAN TEMPLE, KATHMANDU, NEPAL Both a pilgrimage site and a feast of Nepali art and temple architecture, Changu Narayan contains some of the most intricate bronze castings found in the Hindu world. Originally built in 325 CE to honor the Hindu god Vishnu, it was destroyed by fire in 1702 and then immediately rebuilt, with every detail precisely re-created. Its art covers seventeen centuries of Nepalese cultural history, adorned with the finest examples of metal-, wood-, and stonecraft. Changu Narayan lies in a valley about eight miles east of Kathmandu. It is built as a pagoda with an open temple compound. Within this compound are a

number of small shrines to various Hindu gods, especially Vishnu, who is presented in all ten of his incarnations. One of these incarnations, in the Hindu system, is the Buddha, who is portrayed in various poses. Narayan is the name given Vishnu in his manifestation as a cosmic, archetypical man. At Changu Narayan, this powerful myth is re-created in a stunning eighth-century tableau showing Vishnu revealing himself in his Universal Form. The ten-headed god stands on Garuda (the man-bird that serves as Vishnu’s vehicle), with legions of adoring lesser gods surrounding them. Below this scene, Vishnu is seen again, asleep within the coils of the sacred serpent, Ananta. The temple shrine itself is a riot of painted carvings in bright primary colors. While non-Hindus may enter the compound and visit the minor shrines, the temple is open only to Hindus, and it is there that the sacred Narayan image is kept. The legend tells the story of Vishnu’s sin in killing an evil Brahmin priest. Wandering about on Garuda, he ended up at Changu, where a hermit holy man beheaded him for his crime. Vishnu repented his sin and vowed to live forever at Changu, promising salvation from sin for anyone who worships there on Wednesdays of the day of the full moon. The puja, or ritual worship, recalls the myth; the Vishnu image is beheaded and in two parts. Statues, ornate carvings, gilded metalwork, and wall sculptures all compete for the eye of the visitor. Several are lingams, the phallic statues representing Shiva’s potency. The artwork is of the highest quality, with masterpieces of religious art found at every turn. Among

Chao Tuptim (Penis Shrine), Bangkok, Thailand | 93 these are several statues of Garuda. One of these statues is reputed to have been created by Garuda himself, and on the feast of Nag Panchami it is said to sweat in memory of his wrestling with a great serpent. (Nag Panchami honors the great snake in whose coils Vishnu rested between universes.) The miraculous sweat is gathered and used for anointing against leprosy. Garuda’s puja is to be presented with sweets. The statue of Vishnu riding Garuda is a popular sight, and it appears on Nepalese currency. The shrine is less known for the temple than for the stone statues of Vishnu and the striking bas reliefs. Changu Narayan is the oldest temple in the Kathmandu Valley, which is listed as a whole on the UNESCO World Heritage List. See also: Pashupatinath

REFERENCES Douglas Chadwick, “At the Crossroads of Kathmandu,” National Geographic 172:1, 32–65 (July 1987). Klaus Klostermaier, A Survey of Hinduism. Albany, NY, SUNY, 1994. Nepal: Land of the Gods. New York, Mystic Fire, 1976 (video). Mary Slusser, Nepal Mandala. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 2 vols., 1982.

CHAO TUPTIM (PENIS SHRINE), BANGKOK, THAILAND One of the strangest fertility shrines is the explicit collection of phallic carvings and statues tucked away behind a major

hotel in Bangkok. It is little known and a bit of an embarrassment to both the hotel and the Thai Tourist Authority. Most tourist guides avoid mentioning it. One finds the shrine by following the driveway to the parking garage and then going on until the shrine appears, next to a small canal. The shrine is dedicated to the goddess Phra Mae Tuptim, whose image appears on a plaque inside a small but attractive spirit house at the center of the tiny shrine park. The space, only about sixty by seventy feet, is crammed with carved penises that have been left by women desperately seeking to get pregnant. Though there doesn’t seem to be an attendant, the candles, Chinese incense sticks, and jasmine and lotus flowers at the foot of the spirit house are replaced each day. Small plastic statuettes of a kind often found at spirit houses are also offered. Next to the spirit house is a ten-foot wooden penis, always draped in cloth, the centerpiece of the others left there. The shrine is at least a hundred years old, and the city (and hotel) has been built around it. The main benefactor of the shrine was Nai Lert (1872–1945), a prominent Bangkok developer and wealthy entrepreneur. The park was his home, and the hotel was named for him. He did not, however, begin the shrine. The penis ex-votos are of every size and description, standing, bowing, and decorated with colorful scarves. There is nothing erotic or pornographic about it. Instead, there is an air of wistful yearning to the whole scene, as the women call on their goddess for a child in a culture where being childless is looked down upon as failure. See also: Fertility Shrines, Lak Muang

94 | Char Dham, India

Map of Char Dham four piligrimage sites, India.

CHAR DHAM, INDIA The Char Dham is a four-cornered pilgrimage route, which together anchor the limits of Hindu India. It was begun as a series of monasteries founded by Adi Shakara (fl. c. 800), a great sage and spiritual master. In an age when monasticism was rejected by mainstream Hinduism, Shankara revived it and gave it new meaning. His extensive

writings and commentaries have all been preserved. Adi Shankara is one of the most important Hindu philosophers. His cogent arguments helped to undermine Buddhism in India and bring the triumph of Hinduism. His legends tell stories of great debates in which the most prominent thinkers of the day were converted by the power of his arguments. He not only disputed Buddhism as a philosophy and religion but also openly attacked

Char Dham, India | 95 the Buddha as an enemy of truth. He is regarded as the purest interpreter of Hinduism. At the same time, there is an ambivalence in Shankara’s love–hate relationship with Buddhism. He learned from Buddhism, especially its model of monastic life. Most of Shankara’s life story is shrouded in myth and legend, much of it recounted in poetry. Even the dates of his birth and death are disputed. Some events, however, emerge. He traveled on a lengthy preaching tour, combating false Hindu teaching and bringing people to his vision of the faith. He opposed the ritualists but also combated the superstitions of popular religion among the peasants. He was also a critic of yoga, which he denied could lead to spiritual liberation. Shankara cemented his influence by establishing four monasteries at the four corners of India, thus defining the borders of the religion and radiating its impact inward throughout the country. These four monasteries and their attendant temples were in the east at Puri, the west at Dwarka, the north at Badrinath, and the south at Rameswaram. The north–south axis and the east–west one are in perfect alignment. They each represent a different avatar of Vishnu, and their purpose was to continue Shankara’s teachings. In charge of each monastery he placed one of his most trusted disciples. Each of the present heads of the monasteries claims direct descent from that chosen one. Shankara taught that the four dhams were transition points from which the soul could escape the cycle of rebirth and reincarnation and enter into the eternal. Puri in Orissa is the shrine of Lord Jagannath, an incarnation of Vishnu. He is honored there by a periodic procession of 4,000 men moving huge chariots with

the statues of Jagannath and his brother and sister. There are four halls, one each for worship, dancing, offerings, and audiences. The present temple, an imposing structure that towers over the town, was built in the twelfth century. Five hundred cooks in a massive kitchen serve thousands of pilgrims every day. They also prepare fifty-six delicacies to be offered to the gods six times daily. Dwarka in Gujurat is the mythical home of Lord Krishna. According to legend, he lived in the temple for a time, but the present temple was built in the sixteenth century. Shortly after, the statue of Lord Krishna was hidden in a well to protect it from Muslim invaders. Since its reestablishment in the temple, it has been honored every day by being bathed with milk and ghee (clarified butter). Even more elaborate cleansings take place at major celebrations, when the statue is reclothed according to the season. Badrinath in Uttarkhand in the Himalaya Mountains is considered the holiest of the four. It is on one of the twelve sacred channels of the Ganges. The shrine began in ancient times as a cave temple until the first temple was built by Shankara. The present building dates from the nineteenth century. The idol, which predates Shankara, was supposedly thrown into the river when the Buddhists despoiled the temple. Shankara retrieved it and installed it in the temple. It shows Vishnu in bliss. Rameswaram is in Tamil Nadu, by the Indian Ocean. It is known for its lingam, which is worshipped as its principal god. The main temple is built on an island facing Sri Lanka. Dating from the twelfth century, it has twenty-two wells and is surrounded by four gopurams (massive towers) connected by covered

96 | Chartres Cathedral, France

The cathedral at Chartres near present-day Paris, France, exemplifies Gothic architecture. Constructed in the 13th century, Chartres incorporates such Gothic architectural elements as the pointed arch; the rib-and-panel vault; and, most significantly, the flying buttress.

corridors that total 2,180 feet in length, the longest in any temple. Legend has it that the temple was first built by Lord Rama, who came to the island to pray to Shiva and put up the lingam in his honor, in order to expiate the sins Rama may have committed in war. The circuit became a pilgrimage route from the start. Shankara’s intention was to bring together all sects of Hinduism and encourage unity. The pilgrimage has always been an all-Hindu affair, regardless of any theological or cultural divisions. See also: Hindu Temples, Orissa Triangle

REFERENCES Natalia Nisayeva, Shankara and Indian Philosophy. Albany, SUNY, 1993.

Ganesh Saili, Char Dham: Home of the Gods. Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India, Hindus/HarperCollins, 1996. Char Dham. Surround Sound, 2007 (video).

CHARTRES CATHEDRAL, FRANCE One of the most magnificent examples of medieval Gothic architecture rises a short distance from Paris in the town of Chartres. There was a religious shrine on the site of the cathedral from pre-Christian times. A Druid cult used a sacred spring for divination. After Christianity arrived, a church was built over the spring in the sixth century. The spring still flows in the crypt beneath the cathedral, and many believe it to have healing powers.

Chartres Cathedral, France | 97 Chartres cathedral is a rich gathering of Christian art, noted for some of the finest stained-glass windows in all Europe. Several cathedrals on this spot were lost to fires, and the present church was built in the thirteenth century after lightning destroyed its predecessor. The tunic of Mary, the cathedral’s prize relic, seemed burnt up as well, but when it was discovered intact in the treasury, it was proclaimed a miracle and a sign from the Virgin. Donations poured in and the main part of the cathedral was built in a bit more than twenty years. Penitents quarried and hauled stones for the walls. Unlike other French cathedrals, Chartres was not despoiled during the Wars of Religion or the French Revolution. During World War II, the stained glass was removed and stored in a safe place. Most striking of the stained glass are the splendid rose windows over the transepts. Over the portals are glass scenes, prophets and priests of the Hebrew Scriptures (plus John the Baptist) over the north portal; the south has Christian figures, centered about a handsome Christ; the west or Royal Portal features Christ and Mary and the Last Judgment. The stained glass is progressively being cleaned and restored. Since its beginnings Chartres has been a pilgrimage place in honor of the Virgin Mary and the sacred relics. Joan of Arc made the pilgrimage, as did Louis XVI and other kings before him. After it waned following the Revolution, Charles Peguy, the noted French writer, revived it shortly before World War I. It was again dropped after the Catholic Church reforms of the 1960s. In recent years, the walking pilgrimage from Paris to Chartres has been rejuvenated, beginning in 1990. Carrying

banners and crosses, ten to fifteen thousand of mainly young people converge on the cathedral at Pentecost, after three days of walking the seventy miles from Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral. The pilgrimage, which has the atmosphere of a revival, is part of a conservative movement for the restoration of the Latin Mass. After arriving at the cathedral, the pilgrim follows the ambulatory around the high altar, where the tunic is enshrined in a glass case. Finally, he comes to the labyrinth at the heart of the pilgrimage (1205), the model for many others throughout the world. It is forty-six feet in diameter. Here the pilgrim walks the last 964 feet to the center of his spiritual pilgrim experience. Walking those final steps brings the total experience together, as the pilgrim realizes the ascent into himself with God. Then he goes to see the relics and marvel at the spiritual riches of the cathedral. The major relic is the Sancta Camisa, the tunic of the Virgin Mary. Because of its presence at Chartres since 876, Chartres has been a Marian pilgrim center. Legend says that it was a gift of Charlemagne, who brought it from Jerusalem, but it was donated by Charles the Bald (823–877). Despite the fact that it cannot possibly be authentic, it has become an icon of the Virgin. Chartres Cathedral has been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1979. See also: Labyrinths, Relics

REFERENCES Philip Ball, Universe of Stone. New York, HarperCollins, 2008.

98 | Chichen Itza, Mexico

Mayan carving of skulls at Chicheń Itza´.

Malcolm Miller, Chartres Cathedral. New York, Riverside, second edition, 1997. Chartres Cathedral: A Sacred Geometry. Janson, 2003 (video). www.diocese-chartres.com.

CHICHEN ITZA, MEXICO Wedged between the tourist destinations of Me´rida and Cancuń on Mexico’s Gulf Coast are the temple ruins of Chichen Itza, first used from 500 to 900 CE as a Mayan worship center in honor of the rain god Chac. After an abandonment that lasted two centuries, Chichen Itza was taken over by the Toltecs, who introduced the cult of Quetzalcoátl, the feathered serpent. Quetzalco´ atl, according to ancient legend, had been driven out after a cosmic battle, and his return would usher in a new age of peace. He was to arrive on

white ships from far away. It was this part of the legend that would later make it possible for Corte´ s to conquer Mexico, since many Indians thought that the white sails of the Spaniards were a sign of the returning god. Thus Chichen Itza has been the shrine of two gods: Chac, the Mayan rain god, and later Quetzalco´ atl. Sculptures of both are found throughout the ruins. The compound contains a large number of shrines and temples, but it is dominated by the seventy-five-foot pyramid that the Spaniards called “The Castle.” Inside the pyramid is a second pyramid containing a red jaguar throne set with jade. El Castillo is a step pyramid dedicated to Quetzalcoatl. At the spring and fall equinoxes, the shadow of the pyramid is cast on one of the staircases in the form of a plumed serpent. Each year, large numbers of New Age followers

Chichen Itza, Mexico | 99 come to Chichen Itza to experience the phenomenon and climb the temple stairs. El Castillo was built on top of an earlier pyramid dedicated to Chac. Whether El Castillo was built over the Chac pyramid as a sign of the triumph of Quetzalcoatl over the earlier gods or merely for convenience is not known. The pyramid had a role in the establishment of the Mayan calendar, which was more accurate than any other of its time and as good as any today. It has fifty-two panels for the fifty-two years of the Mayan “century,” and 365 steps for the days of the year. During the equinoxes on March 21 and September 21, when day and night are equal, a serpent seems to uncoil and undulate along one side of the pyramid as the shadows fall on a stairway leading to the top. The Toltecs practiced human sacrifice on a grand scale, and scenes of these grisly ceremonies are found in numerous rock carvings. The main task of special companies of soldiers was to capture prisoners from other tribes for sacrifice. The Temple of Skulls, a grim place where the heads of victims were displayed, is decorated with stone skulls and carvings of eagles tearing the hearts of men from their chests. On a nearby platform similar carvings portray eagles and jaguars with hearts in their claws. A second platform is dedicated to a goddess shown as a feathered serpent with a human head in its jaws. From the platform, a long path—once a causeway—leads to a Sacred Well of Sacrifice or cenote, sixty yards across and thirty-five yards deep. The skeletons of sacrificial victims have been found in the deeps, along with gold and jade jewelry offerings to the gods. Anyone thrown into the cenote who survived

was freed, and the story is told of one noble who threw himself into the cenote as a test of his powers and, emerging unscathed, prophesied that he would be king. Mayan tradition had it that anyone who survived the plunge after several hours was chosen for prophecy by the gods, who had given them messages while they were in the cenote. There are eight ball courts in Chichen Itza, with stone hoops above them, but these arenas were not merely for games of pleasure. It is thought that the Toltecs sacrificed the losing teams, and the wall carvings show the beheading of players. At either end of the main court are temples, both with elaborate carvings and one with murals. The Great Ball Court, the largest in Central America at 540 feet by 220 feet, has a stone ring high up on its forty-foot surface. The goal was to get the ball (about the size of a handball) through the hoop. The many buildings at Chichen Itza include two sweat houses used for purification rites and a celestial observatory used for reading the stars in order to determine the most propitious times for planting, harvest, and rituals. Several residences for priests and nobles are preserved, though those of the common people, not being stone, have long ago disappeared. A fertility shrine features a series of stone phalluses. Evidence also suggests that a network of sacred ways may have connected Chichen Itza with other ceremonial centers. Even though the Toltecs also abandoned the place after 200 years, its religious power was such that Mayan pilgrimages continued for centuries. The daily presence of so many tourists has kept most devotees away, but folk healers and other descendants of the

100 | Chimayo, New Mexico, USA

Mayans still come to pray for rain or other needs. Food offerings are made to the gods on makeshift altars lit with candles. One of the petitioners may act the part of the rain god Chac. After the ceremony, when the gods have feasted on the spirits of the sacrifice, the participants share the food in a ritual meal. See also: Cholula, New Age, Teotihuacan

REFERENCES Michael Coe, The Maya. London/New York, Thames & Hudson, seventh edition, 2005. Clemency Coggins, Cenote of Sacrifice. Austin, TX, University of Texas, 1984. Linda Schele et al., The Code of Kings. New York, Simon & Shuster, 1999, 197–257. Andrew Slayman, “Seeing with Mayan Eyes,” Archaeology 49:3, 30–37 (May–June 1996).

CHIMAYO, NEW MEXICO, USA El Sanctuario de Chimayo´ , formally known as Nuestra Senõr de Esquı´pulas, is a sanctuary in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico that brings together the practices of the area’s traditional religion and Roman Catholicism. It was built over land that the Native American Indians regarded as sacred because of a healing well. Although the well has dried up, its soil is still regarded as miraculous. According to the Christian legend of Chimayo´, an Indian farmer was plowing the area in 1810 when he had a vision

of an angel who told him that the land was consecrated by the blood of two missionaries martyred there. The farmer dug up a cross he found in the mud pit where the well had been and took it to the local parish. Overnight it disappeared and turned up back at the pit. When this happened three times, it was taken as a sign, and a small chapel was built for the cross at the site of the well. The shine is a modest adobe structure built in 1816, entered through a small adobe arch. Inside is a riot of color— paintings, statues, and decorations of all kinds, surrounded by ex-voto offerings and flickering candles. It was privately supported for many generations until it began to fall into disrepair. For a time precious native art and santos were sold off to maintain the shrine, until an anonymous donor purchased the church and donated it to the Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe. The shrine is named for an older shrine in Esquı´pulas, Guatemala, dedicated to El Cristo Negro, the Black Christ. The crucified Christ—a large, 1810 crucifix—presides over the main altar of Chimayo´ . The altars, statues, and other decorations at Chimayo´ are all in traditional Mexican folk style. The altar features a large gold backdrop, or reredos, decorated with paintings of various religious symbols. It was painted by Molleno, “The Chili Painter,” so called because the backgrounds of his work resemble chili pods. The four other reredos in the church feature paintings of saints. Several small shrines are dedicated to Santo Ninõ de Atocha, a statue of the Child Jesus. Local people believe that Santo Ninõ leaves the chapel and wanders in the area at night, often wearing out his shoes, so pilgrims bring baby

Chogyesa Temple, Seoul, South Korea | 101 shoes (or even pairs of tiny sneakers!) as ex-voto offerings. The santos—statues of favorite saints in primitive style—receive numerous ex-votos in the form of flowers, letters, prayer cards, and candles. These represent the spiritual favors received at the sanctuary, such as consolation in grief, conversion of loved ones, and an end to marital problems. The focus of most pilgrims, however, is the sacred earth from the pit (el posito) where the crucifix was found. It is in a small candlelit room. The soil is used for healing, and tradition has it that no matter how much soil is removed from it by the devout, the posito always remains filled. Pilgrims rub the dust from the posito on their bodies at the places of the five wounds of Jesus at the crucifixion: the palms of the hands, the right side, and one on each foot. Those who have been cured leave behind the signs of the cures; piles of crutches, hospital ID bracelets, and eye patches line the left wall. The walls are also decorated with milagros, small metal stampings in the shape of arms, hands, legs, or ears to indicate the part of the body that was healed at the miraculous shrine. Because of the healings, Chimayo´ has come to be called the “Lourdes of America.” About 300,000 pilgrims come to Chimayo´ each year. On Good Friday a major pilgrimage brings 30,000 from across the region, many walking for days to reach the shrine. Most make a threehour walk from the town of Espanõla. During Holy Week, there is a cycle of Passion plays as part of the observances. Traditionally the archbishop of Santa Fe makes this pilgrimage, not as its leader but as a participant.

For thirty years, the Guadalupanas, a Mexican-American women’s group, have had a procession on the Saturday before Mothers’ Day. The members attend three catechetical days in preparation. Another major event is the procession for the feast of St. James the Great (Santiago Matamoros), with a traditional play. In May, there is a Youth Pilgrimage Against Drugs. Unfortunately, pilgrims are now discouraged from coming from the areas near the Mexican border or from the villages on the other side, due to the dangers from bandits and the drug cartels. See also: Esquipulas

REFERENCES Stephen De Borhegy, El Sanctuario de Chimayo´. Santa Fe, NM, Ancient City Press, 1987. Sam Howarth (ed.), Pilgrimage to Chimayo. Albuquerque, NM, Museum of New Mexico, 1999. Lebaron Prince, Spanish Mission Churches of New Mexico. Glorieta, NM, Rio Grande Press, 1977. The Shrine. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1990 (video). www.holychimayo.us.

CHOGYESA TEMPLE, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA The only major temple within the city walls of Seoul, Korea’s capital, Chogyesa is the spiritual and administrative center of Chogye Buddhism. The Chogye Order, with more than fifteen million adherents and 1,600 temples with 12,000 monks, makes up seventy percent of Korea’s Buddhists.

102 | Chogyesa Temple, Seoul, South Korea

The temple was built in 1395 but took on its present status only in 1910, with the rebirth of Buddhism during the Japanese occupation (1910–1945); the colonial administration made it into the center of Korean Buddhism. In 1954, during a national drive to remove all signs of the Japanese colonialist period, Chogyesa underwent a purification sometimes called “the great cleanup time.” It took its present name after a mountain sacred to its revered master, Hui-neng (638–713). Chogye is a Zen sect that follows a Buddhism stripped of most formal elements, emphasizing the spiritual life. It is also missionary, sending monks overseas to establish temples in the United States, Japan, and Europe. Hemmed in by the narrow streets of Seoul, the temple is a refreshing refuge from the traffic and bustle of the city. It is entered by a narrow alley that opens onto a leafy square with many rare trees, including a 550-year-old white pine listed as a national monument. On the square are a number of shrines and buildings, along with souvenir shops and vendors of religious offerings. The focus of activity is the main hall. By day, a steady stream of the faithful offers incense and prayers, and almost every evening a lecture, ceremony, or class in chanting or bowing rituals is scheduled. In front of the main hall is a seven-story pagoda containing a relic of the Buddha, brought to Korea in 1914 by a Sri Lankan monk. Nearby is a bell pavilion, used to call all living beings to hear the wisdom of the Buddha. It holds a drum for calling all animals, a bell to call the sinful and corrupt, a cloud-shaped gong for calling the birds, and a log shaped like a fish to call water creatures. The Main Hall was built in 1938 of wood, with massive wooden lattice

doors. Outside, it is decorated with paintings of the life of the Buddha. Behind this is the Hall of the Virtuous Kings with Buddha statues and several bodhisattvas, the most popular of whom is the Goddess of Compassion. A large monastery is attached to the Chogyesa Temple, and the monks of the Chogye Order provide the temple’s leadership and publish a newspaper. The monks are celibate, forbidden the use of alcohol or tobacco, and practice strict vegetarianism. During Japanese colonialism, monks often married, and part of the purification of Chogye Buddhism in 1954 was to expel the married monks and restore celibacy. Far from otherworldly, however, the monastery has always been a bastion of political activism, supporting student strikes against the government and upholding the rights of workers. Visitors often see riot police posted on the surrounding streets as a precaution. Occasionally, democratic dissidents take refuge in the temple, and it has been raided a number of times. A major rift within the Chogye sect caused a 1994 raid in which 476 reform monks were arrested. In a final settlement, the reform group won and cut back the authority of the chief administrator. In 1997, Chogyesa was one of the centers of workers’ resistance during a series of violent strikes. Faithful to the Zen tradition, the temple built a meditation center on the grounds in 1991, where free instruction in meditation is given daily to all, Buddhist and non-Buddhist. There is also a two-year Buddhist college in the temple compound. A cultural center completes the temple’s educational facilities, offering seminars, theater, concerts, and exhibitions. Weddings are also performed there.

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico | 103 The eighth day of the fourth lunar month (around May) is the Feast of Lanterns, or Buddha’s Birthday. Large crowds of people assemble at the temple at sundown with lotus lanterns, until the grounds are lit by thousands of flickering lights. Then the procession winds through the city streets.

REFERENCES Korea Buddhism. Seoul, Chogye Order, 1986. Jin Park, Makers of Modern Korean Buddhism. Albany, NY, SUNY, 2010. Korea: The Circle of Life. Buffalo Grove, IL, Coronet, 1980 (video).

CHOLULA, PUEBLA, MEXICO Cholula has been a succession of shrines through the religious history of Mexico. The Olmec, Toltecs, and Chichimecs worshipped the rain god, Chac, here. At some point the world’s largest pyramid was created as the shrine of the rain god, 1,475 feet on each side of the base, and twice the size of Teotituacan. After the Aztecs conquered and colonized the smaller kingdoms, they continued the annual pilgrimage to beseech the god for rain. Soon, however, the Aztecs imposed the worship of their own high god, the Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl, and the focus of the shrine shifted. The nobility of all the subject peoples came to Cholula so often, according to some reports, that they kept separate homes there. The flow of pilgrims to honor the rain god never ceased throughout the period of Aztec dominance. Even during times of intertribal conflict and wars, safe

conduct was always given to pilgrims, although they were expected to travel unarmed. While the pilgrimage for the common people was religious, for the nobility it was always political as well. Cholula represented the hegemony of the Aztec Empire. Arriving nobles brought their gods with them or draped Quetzalcoatl in their traditional robes. These gestures were especially important at the annual festivals and the major ones held every four years or every fifty-two in the Aztec calendar. Fifty-two represented the years of Quetzalcoatl’s life. The most recent phase in Cholula’ pilgrimage story came with the Christian missionaries. They claimed that a statue of the Virgin Mary being carted through the mountains had refused to be taken beyond Cholula, and so in 1575 the friars built a shrine church to Our Lady of Divine Help (de los Remedios). They chose the top of the pyramid, thus imposing the latest worship on top on its predecessors. The friars also encouraged the pilgrimage custom, and the result has been a melding of Christian and native practices. Sometimes Cholula will have a pilgrimage to the church as native rites are taking place at the base of the pyramid. The choice of the image of the Virgin is significant; Nuestra Sen˜ or de los Remedios is an icon associated with a so-called miraculous survival of the Spanish in the Massacre at Cholula. She represents Spanish colonial authority and were used as a foil to Mexican nationalists, who adopted the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe during the drive for independence. See also: Chichen Itza

104 | Cluny Abbey, France

The Great Pyramid in Cholula, near Puebla, Mexico, sits under a catholic church. The pyramid is also known as “Tlachihualtepetl.”

REFERENCE Michael Coe and Rex Koontz, Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. London, Thames & Hudson, fifth edition, 2002.

CLUNY ABBEY, FRANCE The Trappist Abbey of Cluny was, in its medieval heyday, one of the most powerful institutions in Christianity—wealthy, politically influential, and a major force in European religious life. Cluny was founded in 914 by a farseeing French duke, who refused to control it. The custom at that time was to have the secular nobility interfere in monastic affairs, especially to profit from its agriculture and usually to dominate the choice of its abbot. Cluny avoided

all that and was answerable only to the pope, four of whom were former Cluniac monks. Cluny was largely responsible for the internationalization of Benedictine monasticism. To accomplish that, it was organized in a new way, a sharp departure from Benedictine tradition. Authority was linear, with priors in dependent monasteries accountable directly to the abbot general and not to the monks themselves. Soon there was a network of dependent monasteries as new foundations sprang up and older ones joined. Contrary to the older tradition, where abbots were elected by the monks, each prior was appointed by the Abbot General, who visited all the monasteries personally or by a delegate. Every year, all priors assembled at Cluny, ensuring consistency of practices and policies. By the twelfth century when the present abbey and church were built, the Congregation of

El Cobre, Cuba | 105 Cluny controlled 314 monasteries in Europe with 10,000 monks. By the time of the Reformation, the priories had risen to over 800. What drew the faithful to Cluny and its many priories was the liturgy. Cluny’s worship was elaborate and extensive. Besides the daily monastery Mass done with great solemnity, the seven offices were sung at the appropriate hours of the day and night. All was done in the finest silk vestments, with gold and bejeweled chalices at Mass. Besides the sung offices, Cluny introduced devotions, which further reduced the simplicity of monastic worship. It also meant that Cluniac monks could do little besides public prayer and some study. They no longer supported themselves by manual labor and increasingly relied on farm workers and indentured servants who produced the income that kept Cluny going and provided for every need. Unlike their predecessors, Cluniac monks ate well and dressed in linens rather than rough wool. Kings vied to place levies to support Cluny, and after 1500, gold from the New World flowed into its coffers. Cluny suffered from divisions caused by the existence of two papacies during the Avignon Schism and from the rise of newer monastic traditions, especially the austere Cistercians. The newer, far more flexible mendicants, the Dominicans and Franciscans, stirred much more popular response. The main blow, however, came when the French Revolution dissolved the mother abbey and took over the property. Its buildings were exploited as a vast stone quarry for building construction for forty years. Despite that, even today the remains are impressive. A model of the abbey at its height

displays its extensive complex of buildings. The cloisters, a Romanesque transept (the only part of the original church still standing), and storage rooms remain. These last are used as a museum housing architectural sculpture. Despite the fact that the remains are less than ten percent of the original, they are imposing. Even more artifacts are kept in the Hotel de Cluny, the Paris town house of the abbot, now a museum. See also: Monte Cassino

REFERENCE Edwin Mullins, Cluny: In Search of God’s Lost Empire. New York, Bluebridge, 2008.

EL COBRE, CUBA Named after the Cuban mining town where her shrine is located, El Cobre is a statue of the Virgin of Charity, patroness of Cuba. The town of El Cobre began as a copper mine in 1550, worked by slaves and Indians. According to the legend, as two Indians and a slave boy (known as “the three Juans”) were gathering salt on the coast one day in 1608, they sighted something floating in the water. It turned out to be a small statue of the Virgin, carrying the Christ child and a gold cross. The statue rode on a board with the inscription, “Yo soy la Virgen de la Caridad” (I am the Virgin of Charity). At that time, a statue of Santiago Matamoras presided over the church in the village. Santiago—St. James the Great—was an apostle of Jesus and the powerful patron of the Spanish conquest.

106 | El Cobre, Cuba

Among Cuba’s most important pilgrimage sites (even for communists), this is the shrine of Our Lady of Charity (Caridad de Cobre, patroness of Cuba, syncretized with the Afro-Cuban orisha Ochuń). Cobre is a town on the outskirts of Santiago de Cuba, in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra.

So the Virgin statue was not placed in the church but was put in a thatched hut nearby. On three succeeding nights, the statue disappeared and was found on top of the hill above El Cobre. In 1630, the mine was closed and the slaves freed, and the statue of Mary took Santiago’s place above the high altar in the church, where she became a symbol of the triumph of the people over the Spanish conquerors. The statue is of a mestiza woman, and the affectionate title of El Cobre (“the copper one”) is both a reference to the mining economy of the town and a wordplay on her dusky complexion. When an attempt was made in 1731 to reintroduce slavery, she became a rallying image and symbol of emancipation for one of Cuba’s largest slave insurrections.

Church authorities mediated the uprising, and the slaves were declared free. Devotion to Our Lady of Charity spread, and in 1916, at the request of veterans of the War of Independence (1868–1898), the pope declared her the patroness of Cuba. The shrine, a cream-colored square church on the hill overlooking the town, was named Cuba’s only basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1977. On his pastoral visit in 1998, Pope John Paul II crowned the statue. It is on a turntable in a small chapel above the high altar, where pilgrims have left ex-votos and testimonials of miracles and prayers answered. During Mass, the statue is turned to face out into the church and at other times, it faces into the shrine chapel. The feast is September 8, the Nativity of Mary in the general Catholic calendar. It is a day of major pilgrimage, although people come throughout the year. They pray for healing and spiritual freedom and leave tokens in the Miracle Chapel—milagros, drawings, and yellow shawls. Yellow is the color of the statue’s mantle. Lots of baseballs testify to prayers for success on the field, and Olympic medals announce the victories. Ernest Hemingway left his Nobel Prize Medal for literature at the shrine. There are even banners critical of the Communist government, the only place in Cuba where they are tolerated. El Cobre has been the center for protest marches against detention, poorly disguised as pilgrimages. Reverence for El Cobre is strong among exile Cubans in Miami, Florida, as a symbol of resistance to Cuban Communism. The statue is revered not only by Catholics but also by followers of Santerıá, a blending of Christianity and

Colosseum, Rome, Italy | 107

Built about 70–82 CE, ancient Rome’s Colosseum was considered a marvel of architectural engineering. Designed to hold huge crowds, the Colosseum was Rome’s venue for extravagant spectacles.

African traditional religion. In Santerıá, El Cobre is identified with Ochuń, the powerful Yoruba goddess of rivers and womanly love. One of her emblems is the sunflower, repeating the yellow theme.

REFERENCES Raul Gomez-Treto, The Church and Socialism in Cuba. Maryknoll, NY, Orbis, 1988. Thomas Tweed, Our Lady of Exile. New York, Oxford University, 1997.

COLOSSEUM, ROME, ITALY The Roman Colosseum, one of the greatest feats of imperial architecture, was built in the 70s CE by the Emperors Vespasian and Titus and named the

Flavian Amphitheater from their family name. For many centuries, it remained a state-of-the-art entertainment site that could seat 50,000 and mount elaborate public spectacles. It had a retractable cover to shield spectators from the sun and elevators for bringing in animals and performers. Exotic wild animals were brought from the farthest regions of the empire and pitted against one another in vicious contests. Most of the spectacles, however, had a religious overtone, enacting scenes from Roman mythology. These were sponsored by wealthy citizens, perhaps to curry favor with the crowd or to fulfill some vow to the gods. Sometimes a condemned criminal was given a role in which he died a heroic death, presumably a more noble ending than a simple execution.

108 | Colosseum, Rome, Italy

The base of the Colosseum could be flooded for re-enacting sea battles. There were several gladiator schools nearby to prepare men for fights, often to the death. Sometimes criminals would be pitted against experienced gladiators, and if perchance they won, they could be set free. Even after Rome had been Christianized, contests continued until the sixth century, and the last gladiatorial combat was recorded in 435. Several earthquakes damaged the structure, and for centuries it was used to supply stone for Renaissance churches, while surviving parts became offices and the headquarters for a religious order. Public executions were held there during the empire, and it is for these last events that the Colosseum became a Christian shrine. It is disputed whether many early Christian martyrs actually died in the Colosseum, since there is no mention of that in ancient Christian records. The idea came to be propagated in the post-Reformation period. Pope St. Pius V, a man of intense personal piety and austerity, went barefoot on pilgrimage to the Colosseum, wearing rough woolen garments. Convinced that the Colosseum was the shrine of the martyrs, he encouraged the faithful to take sand from it as a relic. Hermit saints, like Benedict Joseph Labre, a homeless holy vagrant, lived inside the Colosseum’s walls. The image of Christians being thrown to the lions caught the popular imagination, and no amount of historical research is likely to change that. Religious paintings in the nineteenth century and Hollywood dramas in the twentieth have reinforced it. There seems little doubt that some Christians were executed as common criminals in

the Colosseum—their crime being refusal to reverence the Roman gods. Most martyrs, however, died for their faith at the Circus Maximus. Some were even executed as members of what the Romans considered a Jewish sect, since both Jews and Christians refused to reverence the gods. The legend that Nero burned Christians as torches (he did) in the Colosseum falls in the face of the fact that it had not been built in his time. The Christians who did die in the Colosseum often did so under dramatic circumstances, thus cementing the legend. The hero St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of St. John the Beloved, was sent to the beasts by Trajan in 107. Shortly after, 115 Christians were killed by archers. When the Christians refused to pray to the gods for the end of a plague in the latter part of the second century, Marcus Aurelius had thousands killed in the Colosseum for blasphemy. Amidst mounting pressure to respect the Colosseum as the site of martyrdom, in 1749 the pope stopped its use as a quarry and ordered that Stations of the Cross be erected inside. In recent centuries it has been used to observe the Passion of Christ during Holy Week. The pope conducts the Stations of the Cross there on Good Friday, using scriptural meditations. A cross stands in memory of the Christian martyrs at the spot where the emperor’s throne was located. The Colosseum continues to have a secular use and regularly hosts rock concerts, although they must be held outside the walls because the interior is no longer able to take large crowds. The Colosseum is also a major tourist draw, with millions of visitors. Only a trickle

Conques, Aveyron, France | 109

Tympanum of west facade, Abbey Ste. Foy, Conques, France.

of these floods of people come as pilgrims, except during Holy Week. See also: Rome

REFERENCES Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard, The Colosseum. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 2005. Modern Marvels: The Colosseum. A&E, 2007 (video).

CONQUES, AVEYRON, FRANCE High in the southern hills of France lies Conques, a village that contains the relics of St. Foy, the only medieval shrine on the pilgrimage routes to Spain to survive both the Wars of Religion and the French Revolution.

Throughout the Middle Ages, pilgrims followed several well-defined routes through France to the great Spanish shrine of St. James, Santiago de Compostela. One of these routes began in Le Puy in eastern France. From there, pilgrims proceeded west through steep mountainous terrain before arriving, exhausted and footsore, at the town of Conques. The tiny village, which sits precariously on the side of a narrow gorge overlooking the torrents of the Dourdou River, is built around the massive Romanesque shrine church of St. Foy. A monastery was built at Conques by monks fleeing the Saracen invasions of Spain, and in 819 it became Benedictine. The location provided isolation for prayer and meditation. But the lure of success and fame proved too great for the monks,

110 | Conques, Aveyron, France

who conspired to obtain some miracleworking relics to attract pilgrims. In 866, a brother was dispatched secretly to join a monastery in Agen, where he acted as a faithful monk for ten years until he was able to steal the relics of St. Foy, a virgin martyred in 303 CE by the Romans. With its newly acquired treasure, the pilgrim road soon shifted from Agen to Conques. The untrustworthy legend of St. Foy (Fides or Faith) says that she was martyred by being stretched over a fire with her hands and feet bound to its corners. This supposedly took place under the Emperor Maximus. The feast is October 6, the anniversary of her purported death, but is observed today in only two French dioceses. Her fame spread across Northern Europe, and there is a chapel in her name at St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in London. She became the patron saint of crusaders. In the eleventh century a shrine church at Conques was built for the hundreds of pilgrims who flowed through the town each day. The monastery prospered, and the best goldsmiths vied to create ornamental items and beautiful containers for the relics. Pilgrims left jewels to be added to the statues and sacred vessels. The relics were exposed for veneration in a shrine surrounded by an ambulatory, or circular aisle. Medieval pilgrims circled the shrine three times before stopping in front of the golden reliquary of St. Foy to entrust her with the success of their long trek to Spain, a journey that would take them up to a year of hard and dangerous travel. The floor of the church slopes toward the door to make it easier to hose down the mud tracked in by pilgrim feet. The shrine was protected by iron fencing made of

links left by former prisoners who ascribed their freedom to St. Foy. Today the church is bare, although each of its 212 columns is topped with a different carved capital—palm leaves, birds, monsters, scenes of the life of St. Foy, and symbols. Around the former shrine is the wrought-iron screen that protected the relics from thieves. It was forged from the fetters left by pilgrims who had been freed from Muslim slavery in occupied Spain through the intercession of St. Foy. The one modern addition is a stained-glass window in honor of the only saint to live at the monastery, St. George of Conques, a simple monk revered locally for his holy life. Over the entrance to the church is its most notable feature, a large carved panel of the Last Judgment. Christ in Majesty presides over the scene, while the Archangel Michael and a demon weigh the souls of the dead on scales at his feet. The damned are swallowed by the biblical monster Leviathan, who excretes them into Hell. The tortures of the condemned are shown in gruesome detail. A bishop who governed the area (and did not get along with the monks) is shown caught in a net, while some poachers on abbey property are being roasted by the very rabbit they had caught. The saved, on Jesus’ right hand, are portrayed less vividly, perhaps because virtue is less colorful than sin. The centerpiece of Conques is the treasury, kept safe since 1955 in a small museum. Dominating the room is the stubby seated statue of the saint, the Majesty of St. Foy, which holds her relics. It is the only surviving example of what was common in the Middle Ages. The statue is thought to be based on a pagan Roman model. The figure is

Consolatrice, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg | 111 covered in gold and decorated with jewels and cameos, some from the Greek and Roman periods. The effect is not gaudy but awe inspiring. The statue’s face is almost expressionless, and its head (dating from the fifth century) contains part of the saint’s skull, which has been authenticated. A glimpse of this statue was the goal of the pilgrims in visiting Conques. The treasury also contains more than twenty other gold masterpieces, including a ninth-century chest donated by King Pepin and Charlemagne’s “A.” The monks contended that Charlemagne had twenty-four golden letters made for twenty-four major monasteries in his kingdom, and that Conques, as his favorite, received the “A.” Among the reliquaries is one containing the arm of St. George the Dragon-Slayer, supposedly the very arm that slew the dragon. See also: Relics, Santiago de Compostela

REFERENCES Jean-Claude Bourles, Retour a Conques. Geneva, Payot, 2003. Patrick Geary, Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 1978. Pamela Sheingorn (ed.), The Book of Sainte-Foy. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 1995.

CONSOLATRICE, LUXEMBOURG CITY, LUXEMBOURG The Consolatrice is a statue of Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted, the patroness of the capital of Luxembourg. In 1624 several students from the Jesuit College,

now the cathedral, discovered the statue in an oak tree. A shrine was built near the oak tree, and after prayer to Mary during an outbreak of the plague the following year, the Virgin was credited with delivering the city from pestilence. In 1666 the statue was presented with the keys to the city. The Consolatrice is regarded as a miracle worker, but not of physical cures; instead, she is said to produce the conversions of the hard-hearted. Under the influence of the Jesuits, the Consolatrice became a symbol of the CounterReformation to restore Catholicism against the Protestant tide of the period. A chapel was built in the fortifications of the city ramparts and the statue was installed there. During the French Revolution the chapel was burned and the statue relocated to the cathedral. When Napoleon occupied Luxembourg, a little girl was chosen to present him with the keys of the city as a sign of surrender. Napoleon ordered the keys returned to the statue, where they have remained. Five weeks after Easter each year, a festival is held throughout the city, lasting from one to two weeks. The main procession is led by the children making their first communion that year, followed by the statue (robed in dark blue velvet embroidered in gold and jewels), the Duke of Luxembourg and the royal family, government officials, and a large gold reliquary (monstrance) containing the sacramental host. The procession, which goes along the ramparts of the city, has been held since 1624. In 1922, the period of processions was extended to two weeks after the main one, so that parishes from Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands could make their own pilgrimages. Even during the Nazi

112 | Coptic Cairo, Egypt

Coptic Christian monastery near Alexandria, Egypt. Copts, most of whom belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, are one of the oldest Christian communities, and the largest Christian group in the Arab world.

occupation of World War II, the processions continued uninterrupted. The devotion to the Consolatrice has spread in the region. In 1642, a shopkeeper in the Lower Rhine heard a voice asking that a shrine be built in Mary’s honor. Some months later, his wife had a vision of Mary, whom she recognized from pictures of the Consolatrice that two runaway soldiers had tried to sell her. She located the soldiers and obtained the picture, and a shrine was built around it. The shrine is an exact copy of that in Luxembourg Cathedral, as is the statue that has replaced the picture.

REFERENCES Rene´ Laurentin, Pilgrimages, Sanctuaries, Icons, and Apparitions. Milford, OH, Faith, 1994.

Dorothy Spicer, Festivals of Western Europe. New York, H. W. Wilson, 1958.

COPTIC CAIRO, EGYPT Coptic Cairo is the religious and cultural hub of the Coptic faith, a distinctly Egyptian form of Christianity founded by St. Mark, a close disciple of St. Peter the Apostle. Originally built by the Romans, Coptic Cairo is three miles south of the center of the city, away from where the Islamic invaders established their capital in 642 CE. The Romans built a fortress at the site, and Coptic Cairo first flourished as a trading center on the Nile. In the first century CE, Christianity was introduced by St. Mark, the author of

Coptic Cairo, Egypt | 113

COPTIC CHRISTIANITY Christianity was brought to Egypt by Saint Mark the Evangelist, where it began among the Greeks and Jews in Alexandria. When it spread into the rural areas, it took new forms—the Bible was translated into Coptic—and the liturgy became distinctive. The desert ascetics anchored the faith during a long struggle against Greek Byzantine domination. With the arrival of Islam in the seventh century, the Copts became the main Christian minority but suffered from persecution and onerous taxes. The Copts separated from the Orthodox and Roman Catholics in the fifth century in a dispute over the nature of Christ, although most theologians today feel that the differences were largely due to misunderstandings of terminology and conflict with the Greeks. There are approximately 50 million Copts in the world, mostly in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. Each is led by a pope (patriarch). Until 1950, all were under the pope of Alexandria, but in that year Ethiopia achieved church independence, and the Eritreans separated from them in the 1990s. Small communities of Coptic Catholics adhere to the Vatican, with their own patriarchs in Alexandria and Addis Ababa. Egyptian Copts continue to be harassed, and there have been bloody confrontations with fundamentalist Muslims.

one of the Gospels of the New Testament. It soon developed an identity of its own and customs quite distinct from either Western Latin or Byzantine Greek Christianity. Egypt became predominantly Coptic Christian, but Islamic Arab persecution and intermarriage gradually eroded the faith until today its followers number about ten million, ten to fifteen percent of the population. However, census figures are fudged, and the number of Copts is controversial in Egypt because Islamic harassment continues, including job and school quotas for Copts, as well as terrorism against Coptic centers by Muslim extremists. Coptic Cairo has been considered a holy place from early in the Christian era. Today Copts from the Christian towns in Upper Egypt come regularly to make the rounds of the holy places. It is

also a major tourist destination, which has helped to keep it protected and safe. For those unfamiliar with Coptic Christianity, the Coptic Museum provides an excellent introduction to the culture. It is the churches, however, that attract the faithful. Sitt Mariam, also known as the Church of al-Moallaka or the “Hanging Church,” is the oldest Christian house of worship in Egypt; the original church was built in the fourth century. In the eleventh century it was the seat of the Coptic Pope or Patriarch, the head of the Coptic Church, who constructed the present building. Sitt Mariam is suspended over a gatehouse of the old fortress walls, and its lovely decorated courtyard is adorned with icons. It is entered by a stairway of twenty-nine steps and is sometimes referred to as the “Staircase Church.”

114 | Coptic Cairo, Egypt

Inside the church is a striking pulpit (used only for Palm Sunday) set on thirteen pillars representing Jesus and his apostles. One is made from black marble to symbolize Judas the betrayer. Small shrines are set into the walls, and the faithful leave petitions and notes to the saints whose icons are enshrined there. The icon is regarded as an abiding presence of the saint. Notable, therefore, is the iconostasis, an ebony partition that separates the people’s area from that of the priests and is covered with icons. Sitt Mariam’s iconostasis, inlaid with ivory, is a magnificent tribute to the saints who are “written” on its icons, most of them very ancient and sacred. Students who speak European languages spend their Sundays at the church to explain the faith to visitors. The second station on the pilgrim route is the Convent of St. George, dedicated to one of the most popular Eastern saints. Through the centuries the level of the streets has been raised; thus, the oldest buildings are below street level. Pilgrims descend to the convent, passing through an underground corridor. Out of respect, they remove their shoes before entering the church. Inside is the “chain-wrapping” room, symbolic of St. George’s imprisonment, which the Copts believe took place on this site. In the sacred presence of a 1,000-year-old icon, the pilgrim is wrapped in chains while an attending nun chants prayers for his or her deliverance from sin. Many young Copts celebrate their weddings in a chapel that is a remnant of the original fourth-century church. Abu Serga (Church of Ss. Sergius and Bacchus) is one of the many sites believed by Copts to have been a resting place of the Holy Family during the

flight into Egypt, as told in Matthew, chapter two. The church, small but very attractive, was built in the 900s and was until recent years the major shrine on the Coptic pilgrimage. The courtyard has twenty-four marble columns, but the striking interior is the main focus. The iconostasis is elaborate. Above it are twelve icons, more than 700 years old, of the Apostles of Jesus. In a crypt chapel where the Holy Family is supposed to have rested during its flight into Egypt, a special Mass is celebrated every year on June 1 to mark the anniversary. Legend has it that Joseph worked as a carpenter in the Roman fortress nearby. Abu Serga was used for the election and installation of Coptic popes until the eleventh century, when that function was shifted to Sitt Miriam. Sitt Barbara is a relic church containing the remains of Ss. Barbara and Catherine, the patroness of Alexandria and one of the most popular early Coptic martyrs. The original parts of the church were built in 684 CE . Pilgrims come regularly. Pilgrims traditionally touch the reliquary with a cloth or handkerchief, which they take home as an extended presence of the saints. Many of Sitt Barbara’s artistic treasures have been transferred to the Coptic Museum. The iconostasis in the church dates from the thirteenth century. Seven steps lead up to a niche, perhaps used for the presiding priest’s chair during Mass. St. Mercurius honors a soldier-saint who became a commander in the Roman legions and led his forces to victory after St Michael the Archangel appeared to him and gave him a sacred sword. As a result of this story, he has the nickname Mercurius Abu Sifting, “Mercurius of the Two Swords.” When

Croagh Patrick, Ireland | 115 Mercurius refused to reverence the Roman gods, however, he was stripped of his rank and honors and tortured, then finally beheaded. The church is a simple rectangle, slightly more than a hundred feet by sixty-nine feet. The pulpit is adorned with fifteen marble columns. The altar is decorated with paintings, and the iconostasis is of ebony inlaid with ivory. There are also several small chapels dedicated to various martyrs and saints. One of these was the hermitage of St. Barsum the Naked, who lived there for twenty years. Coptic popes resided in the church for several hundred years, and important Coptic synods were held there. The Coptic Museum houses many Coptic Christian treasures that either were originally in one of the existing churches or have been brought from other parts of Egypt. Many of them came from the Hanging Church. See also: Flight into Egypt

REFERENCES Gawdat Gabra, The Treasures of Coptic Art. Cairo, American University of Cairo, 2007. Gawdat Gabra, Illustrated Guide to the Coptic Museum and Churches of Old Cairo. Cairo, American University of Cairo, 2007. Claudia Wiens, Coptic Life in Egypt. Cairo, American University of Cairo, 2003.

CROAGH PATRICK, IRELAND A graceful cone of quartzite rising 2,510 feet over Clew Bay near the Atlantic Ocean, Croagh Patrick is the holy

mountain of Ireland. It draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year to its topside chapel to commemorate the legend of St. Patrick driving the serpents from the island, which he is supposed to have done while spending Lent of 441 CE on the mountain. According to the tale, Patrick climbed Croagh Patrick and rang a bell, which caused the snakes to leap from the crest of the mountain to their deaths. The Devil then transformed the snakes into crows, and Patrick routed them by hurling the bell at them. Another version replaces the crows with the Devil’s mother, Caora, who tried to cast a spell on Patrick by throwing garlic water on him. The bell is returned to Croagh Patrick each year, where the pilgrims pass it three times with the sun at their backs (the shadow side was the Devil’s) and then kiss a cross engraved on it. The cross has been worn away by these exercises, and the bell is now kept in the National Museum in Dublin. But the myth has placed Patrick among those with the power to expel demons and evil spirits, demonstrating the triumph of Christianity in replacing the pre-Christian gods. The pilgrimage is held on the anniversary of the ancient Celtic observance in honor of Lughnasa, the Celtic fertility god. The last Sunday in July (Garlic Sunday) is the time of the great pilgrimage, which draws up to 30,000 people. It is popularly called “Reek Sunday,” after the local word for garlic. Pilgrims follow a series of stations up the mountain, several of which are stone “beds,” so called because of legends that saints once slept on them. This is a pilgrimage of penitence in which pilgrims seek to atone for their sins by physical sacrifice. The pilgrim circles each station seven times, each time

116 | Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, California, USA

reciting the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, and the Apostles’ Creed. Many go barefoot, despite the sharp rocks and shale that cover the hillside, and by midday the path is marked with blood. Croagh Patrick and Lough Derg are the only harsh penitential journeys that today continue the rigor that was common to pilgrimages in the Middle Ages. At the top of Croagh Patrick, Mass is celebrated continually during the pilgrimage. But before taking part, the pilgrims circle a small chapel there fifteen times. Most pilgrims also confess their sins, and pilgrims can be seen all along the arduous climb on their knees before some priest who is also making the pilgrimage. The last station is a cairn of stones resembling a burial mound; it is circled seven times. A total of 100,000 pilgrims climb the mountain each year. After a seam of gold was found on the mountain, there was controversy about mining it, until authorities bowed to popular anger and ordered the mountain to remain untouched.

REFERENCES Philip Freeman, St. Patrick of Ireland. New York, Simon & Shuster, 2005. Harry Hughes, Croagh Patrick: A Place of Pilgrimage, A Place of Beauty. Dublin, O’Brien, 2010. Pilgrimages to Europe: Croagh Patrick. Janson Media, 2002, video.

CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL, GARDEN GROVE, CALIFORNIA, USA One of the first megachurches in the United States, the Crystal Cathedral is the dream of its founder and long-time

pastor, Rev. Robert Shuller, who is at the same time one of the country’s bestknown television preachers. What began as a simple chapel in a former drive-in theatre has grown into a spectacular glass tower with perfect sight lines toward the pulpit. For those at the farthest reaches, there is a large video screen focused on the speaker or hundred-voice choir. The Crystal Cathedral rises twelve stories, with walls of glass attached to an intricate network of steel webbing so made that it can resist an 8-point earthquake. It seats 2,900 for services. Dr. Shuller’s Hour of Power is a widely seen weekly service on television. Twenty million viewers follow it, making it the most-watched religious program in the country. Although Dr. Shuller is Dutch Reformed, the cathedral caters to all Christian traditions with a simple gospel of acceptance and caring. Shuller often repeats the mantra of his ministry: “Find a heart and fill it; find a hurt and heal it.” This is reinforced by an extensive program of social services and parish activities. The drama and the focus on television ministry have caused criticism of the Crystal Cathedral as “Hollywood” and “pure show biz.” A fountain flows down the central aisle. The origins of the Cathedral are not lost; worshippers may still attend services in their cars from the parking lot, thanks to huge sliding doors. The Crystal Cathedral is known for its Christmas and Easter spectacles, with 200 costumed performers. At the Glory of Christmas pageant, live camels bring in the Magi and angels swoop in on guy wires. The Glory of Easter is as just as dramatic. The Passion Play re-enacts the suffering and death of Jesus. Sunday services are more traditional, with a

Cuzco, Peru | 117 focus on explanatory preaching and good religious music. The organ with 16,000 pipes is one of the largest in the world, and a fifty-two-bell carillon completes the celebration. In recent years, Dr. Shuller has had a number of guest speakers, most of whom are well-known celebrities and entertainers. Outside the dramatic church are the memorial gardens, beautifully laid out with benches for meditation and studded with statues and plaques. All this costs a great deal to maintain, and in the past few years, the Crystal Cathedral has had financial challenges. It has laid off staff and sold a parcel of land, and an office building has been placed up for sale. One difficulty that seems to have affected giving and church attendance has been a rift between Dr. Shuller and his son and heir-apparent. The junior Shuller finally left as senior pastor in 2008. In 2010, Dr. Shuller stepped down as senior pastor in favor of his daughter, who was ordained just a month before assuming the position. She is now the featured speaker at the weekly television services.

REFERENCES Robert Shuller, My Journey. New York, HarperOne, 2001. A Place of Beauty, A Joy Forever, the Glorious Gardens and Grounds of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. Garden Grove, Crystal Cathedral Ministries, 2005. www.crystalcathedral.org.

CUZCO, PERU Twelve thousand feet up in the Andes lies Cuzco, the ancient holy city of the

Inca peoples and the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Western Hemisphere. Each year on June 24 an Inca festival is held there. The Incas, who were among the great empires to fall to Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century, established themselves in what is now Peru around 1200 CE. In 1438 they began a process of conquest that resulted in an empire that stretched 2,500 miles down the cordillera of the Andes. The Sapa Inca was a god-king, the Son of the Sun, who presided over a strict social hierarchy. The Inca policy of cultural genocide obliterated the traces of the conquered peoples, who were absorbed into Inca society. Cuzco remained under Inca rule until 1533, when the Spaniards under Francisco Pizarro conquered it. Cuzco was laid out on a grid plan in the shape of a puma, a sacred animal. The Inca fortress of Sacsahuamań, on a plateau on the northern edge of the city, forms the head of the sacred puma. Two sacred rivers were channeled through the city, which was laid out in quadrants that radiated out through the kingdom. The angles of the quadrants are uneven and seem to have been based on astrological lines in the Milky Way. Any visitor to the city was required to stay in the quadrant assigned to his home village. The center of the scheme was the Temple of the Sun, Corycancha, founded in legend when the first Inca was sent to earth by the Sun. He struck the ground with a gold rod until the rod was drawn into the earth at the proper spot for the building of the temple. The temple was oriented to the summer solstice, and the niche where the first solstice rays fell each year still remains. The Inca would sit in the niche at the solstice to receive

118 | Cuzco, Peru

Ruins at Cuzco, the ancient Inca capital.

the rays of the sun as it rose. Then a priest would light a sacred fire from the first solstice rays by reflecting them from a gold mirror. The Corycancha was the “pivot of heaven,” where the lines of sky and earth came together near the crossing of the sacred rivers. Cuzco means “navel of the world” in Quechua, the Inca language, which is still spoken there. The Corycancha was a celestial observatory from which forty lines went forth to heavenly points on the horizon. Hundreds of shrines were situated along these lines. The lines were used to determine the equinoxes and solstices. Inside were shrines to various gods and to heavenly bodies, of which the sun was dominant. The walls were covered with gold plates, which the Spanish looted. The Spaniards had little respect for the Inca monuments and stripped them of

their gold, which was extensive. The Temple of the Sun, for example, had 700 panels, each weighing five pounds—all of pure gold. The temple walls remain, although some have been incorporated into colonial Christian churches. The base of the Church of Santo Domingo consists of a section of the curved Inca wall that rises twenty feet high. Three chambers dedicated to the moon, the rainbow, and thunder can be visited in the church, and other elements of the temple are still visible though no longer complete. During the Inca period, the temple was surrounded by an ornamental garden of corn, potatoes, and other local foods, each plant made of gold and jewels. Cuzco has thus become a city of dual religious legacies. The colonial churches themselves are beautiful and reflect the blending of Spanish and Inca heritages.

Cyber Pilgrimage | 119 The Catholic cathedral, one of the largest in the world, has many paintings with marked Indian influences, including a Last Supper scene showing Jesus and his disciples feasting on guinea pig and corn beer!

REFERENCES John Reinhard, “Sacred Peaks of the Andes,” National Geographic 181:3, 85–111 (March 1992). Michael Sallnow, Pilgrims of the Andes: Regional Cults in Cuzco. Washington, DC, Smithsonian Institution, 1987. Victor von Hagen, Highway of the Sun. New York, Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1955.

CYBER PILGRIMAGE Pilgrimage is demanding both of time and expense. It asks for personal sacrifices that many are unable or unwilling to accept. Since World War II, simpler means of making pilgrimages have emerged. Critics denounce them as insincere or the products of laziness, while supporters argue that they provide a spiritual experience that many cannot find otherwise. Already in the Middle Ages, which many would consider the high point of pilgrimage, there were those who could not make the journey. Churches installed labyrinths to provide an alternative “path” by which the penitent could replace the geographical pilgrimage with one close by. For centuries, Shi’a Muslims who could not make the arduous trip to Mecca and Medina could substitute several short visits to local shrines of saints.

With the advent of intercontinental flights, religious tourism became a major form of pilgrimage, collapsing what had often been months-long treks into short trips. The focus of pilgrimage shifted from the journey as purification to the destination itself. Another development has now provided a new avenue for pilgrimage experiences. The near universal availability of the Internet has given shrines the possibility of creating web sites to present themselves to the public. In one sense these are advertisements, but they are also in the ancient religious tradition of outreach. Many web sites are interactive, allowing questions and information gathering, even prayer partners. It is a small step from interactive web sites to the creation of virtual pilgrim experiences. People describe (on their blogs, of course!) feeling as one as they follow a journey to the Holy Land. Streaming live scenes captivate and lead to reflection and give a sense of being there. One can listen to speakers, see the shrines, and experience the music and testimony. All of the techniques of television ministry can be involved, but cyber pilgrimage goes beyond that. Many cyber pilgrimage sites offer the opportunity for responses and comments about what is being experienced. Chat lines allow cyber pilgrims to interact in shared conversations. One Jewish site encourages participants to write prayers and petitions to be printed out in Jerusalem and placed in the crevices of the Western Wall, just as if one did so in person. As people use social networking sites, they become more comfortable with a level of interpersonal interaction with strangers than in their daily lives. This

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even allows directed retreats online, called “cyber retreats,” in which a mentor suggests scripture texts or other topics of meditation and then reflects on the experience with the one making the retreat. Internet religion in general is increasingly important to contemporary religious and spiritual expression. One aspect of pilgrimage is that it removes the pilgrim from ordinary daily life and allows a suspension of everyday concerns while focusing on the path. The virtual experience does much the same, encouraging the construction of a temporary persona. It differs from mass media in that virtual worlds and experiences offer multiple windows through which to see anew. It is this suspension of linear ways of thinking and experiencing that makes cyber pilgrimage attractive to followers of New Age thinking. The proliferation of cyber pilgrimages across every religious tradition is amazing. Google lists more than 1.4 million entries for “cyber pilgrimage.” They provide not just a view of an

event—television does that—but a virtual walk along the paths of pilgrims. The virtual world transforms the religious experience and upends the user’s sense of sacred place (the shrine or sanctuary) and sacred journey (pilgrimage). Future technology promises sensory stimuli—the possibilities seem limitless. If web games allow one to strike a tennis ball and get it returned or to be led through yoga exercises, applications of this to spiritual physical activities is not far-fetched. See also: Labyrinths, Pilgrimage, Religious Tourism

REFERENCES Brenda Brasher, Give Me That Online Religion. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2001. Mark McWilliams, “Virtual Pilgrimages on the Internet,” 32 Religion: An International Journal 315 (2002). Jeff Zaleski, The Soul of Cyberspace. New York, HarperCollins, 1997.

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Catholic, including bishops and one cardinal. The Vatican has beatified six priests as martyrs, and the Orthodox recognize a Serbian bishop as a saint. Dachau was not an extermination camp, so German Jewish prisoners were quickly shipped to the death camps in Poland. However, Hungarian and other Jews were brought to Dachau in 1944 to work as slave labor in munitions factories. At the liberation, about thirty percent of the camp population was Jewish. The “politicals” were made up of prominent leaders from every country invaded by the Nazis. In all camps, the prisoners formed an internal government, but at Dachau the prisoners’ experience in leadership made it possible to control the criminal element that preyed upon the weak in many other camps. Among the 206,206 prisoners registered at Dachau during its existence, 31,591 deaths were recorded, though the number is certainly higher. This figure does not include the mass executions of Soviet and French prisoners of war,

DACHAU, GERMANY In Dachau, a pleasant suburb outside Munich, the first Nazi concentration camp was built in 1933, two months after Adolf Hitler took power. Dachau was used as a training camp for SS camp personnel, instilling in them the attitude that prisoners were Untermenschen, or subhumans, and creating a climate of fear through intimidation and violence. At Dachau, the discipline and organization of the camps that would be built all over Europe was developed and honed to a fine edge. During its twelve years of existence, Dachau was a camp for political prisoners, and its population was largely made up of dissidents and members of groups considered inferior. The former included Socialists, Christian leaders, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, while the latter was largely made up of Gypsies, homosexuals, criminals, and Polish intellectuals. Dachau was an important camp for religious dissidents. More than 3,000 clergy were imprisoned there, mostly

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122 | Dachau, Germany

who were dispatched by firing squads shortly after arrival. It also does not include invalids shipped away and executed elsewhere. Most of the Dachau prisoners were used as slave labor, with upwards of 37,000 working in armament factories in thirty-six subsidiary camps. Both work and living conditions were harsh, with insufficient food, regular beatings, and unsanitary crowding. Each barracks housed some 1,500 people in unheated wooden buildings built for two hundred. By the end in 1945, typhus was rampant in the camp, and the Red Cross tried to keep the prisoners from being freed before the American army arrived for fear of spreading the disease through the countryside. Many prisoners suffered from medical experiments performed on the living. Some were kept in freezing water to see how long they could survive and still be revived. More than a thousand were infected with malaria, including numbers of Polish priests, and some with tuberculosis. Experiments with pressurization left victims permanently deaf and disfigured. The camp, with more than 30,000 prisoners (almost 10,000 had been marched off three days earlier), was liberated by the American Seventh Army. Some American soldiers were so traumatized by what they saw that a number of Nazi guards were shot down even after they had surrendered. The troops were never prosecuted. The shocked and infuriated American commanding officer ordered the citizens of Dachau to march through the camp to see its devastation so that they could never deny the evil that had existed among them. Forty camp staff were tried for war crimes, and thirty-six were sentenced to death.

Dachau is probably the most visited of the Nazi concentration camps. One barracks has been reconstructed to show the living conditions, and an introductory film and display convey the horror of the place. The gas chamber (never used), the gallows, and the crematorium have been maintained. Where the ashes of the dead were thrown is now a park marked with a Star of David and a cross. Three memorials—a Protestant chapel, the Catholic Christ in Agony church, and a Jewish memorial—honor the dead. In the field used for roll call each day is a sculptured memorial to the dead. Behind the camp is a Carmelite convent of nuns who offer prayers for reparation. A Russian Orthodox chapel commemorates the Byzantine Easter a week after the camp fell to the Americans. Using makeshift vestments pinned together from Nazi towels, the Russian, Greek, and Serb prisoners chanted the entire liturgy from memory, including the traditional commentary of St. John Chrysostom, recited by a monk from Mount Athos. The main feature of the chapel is an icon of Christ leading the prisoners out of the camp gates. See also: Auschwitz, Holocaust Sites

REFERENCES Dachau: Time To Forget. UPI, 1970 (video). Israel Gutman (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York, Macmillan, 4 vols., 1990. Bedrich Hoffman, And Who Will Kill You. Poznan, Pallottinum, 1994. Harold Marcuse, Legacies of Dachau. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University, 2008. www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de.

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DAMASCUS, SYRIA Damascus has been the capital of Syria through empires, religious and cultural transformation, and into the modern Middle East. It is possibly the oldest city in the world, tracing itself from 3000 BCE. It is also a center for Shi’a Islam, which reveres saints and the holy places associated with them, contrary to Sunni Muslim traditions, which reject shrines and relics. There is a collection of pilgrim destinations in Damascus, leading to the major sites—mosques, a cemetery, and tomb-shrines. Bab al-Saghir Cemetery draws many pilgrims to its tombs of the heroes of Islam. Especially sacred is one that contains the skulls of sixteen companions who died with Hussein at Karbala. Families often come together, and certain customs are observed; small strips of cloth are tied to the grates of important tombs as an ex-voto offering. Green cloth is the most auspicious and reserved for great saints. One of these is Bilal alHabashi, a companion of Mohammed and his first muezzin, the one who calls Muslims to prayer. When someone makes a petition to the saint, he waits, and if his desire is granted, he returns to take the cloth. Money gifts, usually to the caretakers of the tombs, are another form of offering. Those feeling a desperate need will ask to spend the night sleeping next to the tomb of an important saint. There are many shrine-tombs in Bab al-Saghir: several companions of Mohammed, his two wives, and his sister, among others. Jamii al-Amawi (The Great Mosque) was a sacred site for the ancient Aramaeans, the Romans, Christians, and

The Umayyad Mosque and Roman ruins at Damascus, Syria.

for twelve centuries, for Muslims. The Romans planted a temple of Jupiter over the Aramaean temple of Haddad, and Byzantine Christians followed suit with a basilica named for St. John the Baptist. His supposed severed head was kept there as a relic, and it remains there today, since Muslims revere John the Baptist as one of the prophets. In the eighth century the caliphs expanded the church into a sumptuous mosque covered with mosaics, gold inlay, and gemstones. Six hundred oil lamps lit the interior, and the great plazas were paved in marble. Small covered fountains provide for ritual ablutions on either side of the mosque. Inside, the mosaics have been restored, and floors are paved with inlaid white marble in intricate patterns. The most important relic is the head of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and the greatest saint of the Shi’ite tradition. He was killed in battle and is regarded as

124 | Damien of Moloka’I, Hawai’i, USA

a martyr. Pilgrims to his shrine beat their breasts in solidarity with his suffering and death. One of the minarets is called the Minaret of Jesus, due to a tradition that he will appear there on the final day of judgment. The Sayyida Ruqayya Mosque holds the tomb of the daughter of Hussein. It is a recent construction, funded by Iran, the world’s leading Shi’a state. The tomb is the central feature, with separate viewing rooms for men and women. Clay from the battlefield of Karbala is pressed into molds and fired into small mementos that the pilgrims take home. The Shrine of Lady Zeinab, daughter of Imam Ali, supposedly contains her tomb, but that is disputed by the Egyptians. Zeinab is the patron saint of Cairo and has a major shrine there. The Damascus shrine-mausoleum has a gold dome and is fronted by a beautiful mosaic-covered arcade. The Salera Hill has a small place of prayer and several relics. One of these is a footprint of the Imam Ali, from whom Shi’a Islam descends. Another is a stone that supposedly has a sermon written on it by Ali. It is particularly revered. The Shrine of the Seven Sleepers is a cave above the city. It is based on an ancient legend that is found in many countries and may be the origin of the Rip Van Winkle story in American literature. According to the myth, seven devout men hid in the cave to escape persecution and fell asleep. When they awoke it was several centuries later, the persecutions had ended, and true religion had taken hold. Christians tell the story about Roman persecutions and awakening to a Christian world. Surah 18 of the Holy Quran provides the account used in Islam,

where the sleepers are saved for their belief in the One God. The shrine in Syria is one of several, the other main ones being in Jordan and Turkey. The devotion, however, spread as far as Scandinavia. The cave includes a shrine and is used by both Syrian Orthodox and Muslims. See also: Karbala, Muslim Pilgrimages, Sayyida Zeinab Shrine, Seven Sleepers, Caves of, Ephesus, Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Petra, Jordan

REFERENCES Ross Burns, The Monuments of Syria. London, Tauris, seventh edition, 2009. Brigid Keenan, Damascus: Hidden Treasures of the Old City. London/ New York. Thames & Hudson, 2001. John Shoup, Culture and Customs of Syria. Westport, CT, Greenwood, 2008.

DAMIEN OF MOLOKA’I, HAWAI’I, USA Father Damien of Moloka’i (1840–1889) is one of the best-known missionaries in American history. Early in life he joined the Sacred Hearts Fathers in Belgium, his home country. Considered too poor a student to be ordained a priest, he struggled until he reached that goal. In 1864 he reached that ambition and another for which he had prayed—to be sent to a mission territory. He was ordained in Honolulu at Queen of Peace Cathedral, often visited by pilgrims honoring him. The Kingdom of Hawai’i was ravaged by Western diseases introduced by American settlers and sailors, who had

Damien of Moloka’I, Hawai’i, USA | 125 immunity while native Hawai’ians did not. Leprosy also become widespread, and the kingdom decreed that all victims of Hansen’s Disease (as it came to be called) be sent to an isolation camp on a spit of land on the island of Moloka’i. Here they were essentially abandoned to a long and lingering death preceded by disfigurement, loss of sight, and despair. The bishop asked for volunteer priests to go to Moloka’i, planning to rotate several in the post. Damien received he request to go to Moloka’i at St. Anthony’s Church on Maui, where his relics were brought on the way to their translation to Belgium, and where there is a small shrine in his honor. He accepted and in 1873 he landed on the beach to find 816 souls confided to his care. He built a chapel to St. Philomena and soon embarked on a whirlwind of activity—building cottages and a clinic and a school for the children of patients. He also had to take up the grim tasks of making coffins and digging graves for those who died. He wrote during this period, “I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ.” His simple prayer soon became a cruel reality. In 1884 Damien discovered he had leprosy. All through his first decade on Moloka’i, Damien was alone and visitors were forbidden. Once he heard that a priest was on a passing ship, and he endured the humiliation of shouting his confession over the waves because the man could not land. Damien soon became an international figure, and money poured in, largely from Protestant sources. It was, however, too late for Damien himself. He endured one last trial. A Presbyterian clergyman accused him of contracting leprosy because he was sexually promiscuous. He died before he was vindicated by Robert Louis

Father Damien was a Catholic priest who attended to a colony of lepers on the island of Molokai, Hawaii in the mid-1800s. He was one of the few noninfected people willing to come into contact with the more than 800 members of the colony.

Stevenson, the famed writer, who stayed at Moloka’i for a week, and in 1890 wrote a ringing defense of Damien’s work and personal integrity. Damien was declared a saint by the Catholic Church in 2009 and named patron of those afflicted with leprosy or AIDS, and the anniversary of his death, April 15, is observed by the State of Hawai’i and is the feast day there. In the rest of the United States it is May 10. His statue represents Hawai’i in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol Building. Damien’s body was returned to Belgium, where it lies in Louvain, near his original village. His hand was returned to Moloka’i for a shrine in St. Joseph church, which he built. Access remains restricted and difficult.

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Day of the Dead altar on Olvera Street in Los Angeles, California. Along with personal memorabilia of the dead, the altar is decorated with flowers, papel picado (colorful tissue paper), family photographs, fruits and food offerings like pan de muerto (bread of the dead), calaveras (skeletons), candy skulls, candles, and religious icons.

An official tour is the only means of entry, and trips are limited to flights or a mule trek down the mountainside.

REFERENCES Matthew and Margaret Bunson, Saint Damien of Molokai. Huntington, IN, Our Sunday Visitor, 2009. John Tayman, The Colony. New York, Simon and Shuster, 2009. Paul Cox, Molokai. Vision, 2008, video.

DAY OF THE DEAD The Day of the Dead, el Dia de los Muertos, is a Mexican and Mexican-

American celebration of the afterlife that takes place each year on the feast of All Souls, November 2. The theology of All Souls, which is observed primarily by Catholics, but also by Anglicans and many Orthodox, is based on the idea of Purgatory. The souls of the dead are not yet ready to enter heaven and be face to face with the divine due to their sins in life. Therefore, they enter a period of purification that can be reduced by prayers and sacrifices on their behalf. Far from being a negative observance, the Day of the Dead is celebratory because of the belief that the souls in Purgatory have a complete assurance of salvation. In Anglo-European cultures the day is often observed by visits to cemeteries to leave flowers or other tokens. Church congregations may spend the day cleaning graves and cemeteries on November 2. It is also customary to have books in churches where congregants enter the names of those they wish remembered in prayer. The day is kept as a kind of Memorial Day. In Eastern Christian Churches, both Orthodox and Catholic, there are seven Saturdays of the Dead, with appropriate liturgical prayers. For Latinos, however, the celebration takes many forms that express both respect for the dead and rejoicing at their salvation. There is also an element of mocking Death and rejecting its power over humanity. In the Aztec roots for the feast, native peoples believed that life was a dream, and only in death was one freed to full humanity. Death was not mysterious or fearsome but a part of life and its fulfillment. With the arrival of Christianity, this emphasis continued in new forms. Many families, offices, and classrooms set up ofrendas, small memorial altars,

Debra Libanos, Ethiopia | 127 decorated with candy skulls, copal incense, candles, and flowers. The special flower is a large golden type of marigold. Yellow gold is the color of El Dia de los Muertos. There are round pastries, pan de muerto (bread of the dead), and perhaps cigarettes or liquor if they were enjoyed by the dead while they were living. If the deceased was a child (angelito), favorite toys will be on the altar. Usually, there is a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and perhaps of favorite saints. Center to it all are the pictures of loved ones who have died. The ofrenda is often kept up for the month of November, following Aztec custom of having a full month of memorial. On November 2 the family will go the cemetery, decorate it, and place a food offering there to nourish the visiting spirits for their journey to their new home in the next world. The family may picnic together, using the favorite foods of the deceased. This is part of the celebratory aspect of the feast, and parties often follow, with dancing and storytelling. It is an important occasion for passing on to the young the stories of their ancestors. There is a tradition of Mexican folk art featuring dancing skeletons drinking and eating at great parties. Variants of the Mexican observances can be found all across Latin America and in the Philippines, with slightly different customs. See also: Ancestor Shrines, Ghost Festival, Santa Muerte (Saint Death)

REFERENCES Ward Albro, Day of the Dead: Dia de Muertos. Fort Worth, Texas Christian University, 2007.

Elizabeth Carmichael and Chloe Sayer, The Skeleton at the Feast: The Day of the Dead in Mexico. Bath, UK, Bath, 1991. Peter Hessler, “The Restless Spirits,” National Geographic 217:1 (January 2010).

DEBRA LIBANOS, ETHIOPIA North of Addis Ababa lies Ethiopia’s main monastery, Debra Libanos, founded in 1275 by the national saint, Tekla Haymanot.The name means “Mount Lebanon” in Amharic, the national language. Until after World War II, all Ethiopian bishops were Egyptians appointed by the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria, and few of them spoke Amharic very well. Consequently, the abbot (ichege) of Debra Libanos became the most powerful religious figure in the country because he was the highestranking native. Originally a missionary outpost of Christianity, Debra Libanos was based in a small cave from which St. Tekla expelled a pagan magician. In it he installed a model of the Ark of the Covenant, which the Ethiopians believe rests in a shrine in Axum. A model of this sacred relic is what makes an Ethiopian church holy, and every local church and monastery had one. St. Tekla’s shrine and monastery became an important place of pilgrimage centuries before the capital was built in Addis Ababa in the early 1900s. The cave is a short distance from the shrine church and has a spring from which pilgrims take water for cures. Some water flows down to a bathhouse,

128 | Debra Libanos, Ethiopia

used by pilgrims for ablutions. The cave is a simple affair, fronted by a cement wall with steel doors. Debra Libanos is set in a steep gorge, and the pilgrim’s first sight on descending from the plateau above is the massive silver dome of the shrine built by the Emperor Haile Selassie to house Tekla’s model of the Ark and his blessing cross. These are kept in an inner room, guarded and protected as national treasures. In legend, St. Tekla is credited with restoring the imperial family, which traced itself from Solomon, King of Israel, and the Queen of Sheba. Because of St. Tekla’s importance to Ethiopian national identity, almost every emperor in the Solomonic line (Haile Selassie was the last, ruling until 1974) built a shrine over the place of his relics. This involved tearing down the preceding churches, so the present shrine is a twentieth-century building. In 1531, a Muslim invader destroyed a church that had recently been completed. It was burned down with several hundred monks in it, and in an orgy of murder and looting, the ancient manuscripts of the monastery were lost. Another massacre took place barely fifty years later at the hands of a wandering tribe. When the Ethiopian capital was established at Gondar, the monks accompanied the emperor there, only to suffer another mass execution at the hands of the emperor. The valley was deserted for many years, and when the monks began returning shortly before 1800, the location of the saint’s relics had been long forgotten. A boy revealed that the secret had been passed down in his family, and he led officials to a wooded area. Digging, laborers found a metal object, and the ground miraculously heaved up

in a great earthquake. Following this sign from heaven that they had found the tomb, the sixth church of St. Tekla was completed on the site in 1884. Emperor Menilek II (1844–1913) tore down this church and built another in 1906, and during the construction, the burned medieval church was discovered under the foundations, along with the bones of many martyrs. With this discovery, Debra Libanos entered a period of revival. This brief golden age was brought to a vicious end with the massacre of the monks by Italian Fascist troops in 1937. Deliberately choosing May 20, the day of one of the three annual pilgrimages, the Italians machine-gunned all the monks and deacons, 324 men in total. A small mausoleum to hold their remains was built in 1966. The church was looted by the Italians and some of its treasures were placed in the Vatican museums and have never been returned. Menilek’s church survived the pillaging only to be demolished to make room for the present one, built by Emperor Haile Selassie in 1963. Surprisingly, this latest church survived Communist rule (1974–1991) and has become again a place of pilgrimage. Its long and bloody history has made the monastery and shrine symbols of the triumph of Ethiopian Christianity over every adversity and trial. The monastery church has a semicircular wall with many stained-glass panels. In front of it is an iconostasis centered on the Trinity with saints along the sides. The legend of St. Tekla says that Christ once promised that a pilgrimage to the saint’s tomb would be as meritorious as one to Jesus’ tomb. The three

Deir Mar Antonios, Egypt | 129 annual pilgrimages mix together poor peasants, nobles, the educated, and urban sophisticates. Some walk for days to Debra Libanos, often to fulfill a vow or give thanks. Most bring gifts, either for the monastery (candles, incense, or umbrellas, which are used in liturgical ceremonies and processions) or to distribute to beggars. They bring back water from the sacred spring or mud from its banks. A few climb the sides of the gorge to honor the dead, whose bones are interred on ledges in the cliff face. Many pious Ethiopians believe that those buried near St. Tekla’s tomb will ascend to heaven to be with him, and so pilgrims bring the bones of their dead to rest in the valley. The shrine has long been associated with healing, too, especially for lepers. During the Communist period the ritual healing baths were taken down, but they have now been restored. See also: Axum, Caves, Lalibela, Wells and Springs

REFERENCES Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopians. Hoboken, NJ, Wiley-Blackwell, 2001. Tadesse Tamrat, Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270–1527. Oxford, Oxford University, 1972.

DEIR MAR ANTONIOS, EGYPT The Monastery of St. Antony marks the place where the founder of monasticism formed his disciples and developed a model for monastic life. Its rule was written by his disciple, Macarius, and is still followed today at Deir Mar

Antonios and its neighboring St. Paul’s Monastery. Antony (251–356) heard the gospel message to the rich young man one day in church (Matthew 19:21–22; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22), and, struck to the heart, sold his goods and provided for his only sister, then went off into the Egyptian desert as a hermit. He lived an ascetic life of prayer in an abandoned stockade for twenty years, but the constant begging of disciples caused him to emerge and found a monastery. After six years he returned to his solitude at Deir Mar Antonios, where the present monastery and shrine are located. His feast is January 17. Antony’s friend, the great Patriarch Athanasius of Alexandria, wrote Antony’s biography, and it became the first Christian best-seller. Rooms full of scribes would sit at desks copying the text as a lector read it to them, thus producing large numbers of books before there was printing. Antony’s cult spread throughout Europe. Deir Mar Antonios was founded right after Antony’s death. It is the oldest existing and continuous monastery in the world. During Bedouin raiding between 500 and 700, monks from Wadi el Natrun took refuge at Deir Mar Antonios, increasing its numbers. The settling is typical of ancient desert monasteries. Instead of being a large institutional structure, Deir Mar Antonios is a village compound. Due to past history, it is a fortified town. The monastic village has food gardens, a bakery, five churches, residences, and a clinic. Currently, about 120 monks are members of the monastery. A million pilgrims come annually to visit the shrine in St. Antony’s Church.

130 | Delos, Greece

MACARIUS THE ELDER Macarius (c. 330–391) was one of the early ascetics of the Egyptian Desert and was renowned for his deep spirituality. During sixty years in the Scete, he was spiritual mentor to thousands of monks and hermits. Seeing the need for discipline and order among them, he wrote a rule of life that is still followed. He gave numerous instructions, none of which have survived, although fifty of his homilies have been discovered in the last century. Although Macarius was without formal education, his theology was both orthodox and mystical. He was reputed to have had power over demons. During the Arian persecutions in 379, Macarius was exiled to an island in the Nile but soon returned to the Scete. He led his followers by example and the influence of his preaching rather than by holding office and remained a solitary hermit all his life. He is revered by the Coptic Church, but his feast is celebrated by the Orthodox and Catholics as well.

An eight-year renovation of the buildings was completed in 2010 at a cost of $15 million. This involved repairing the walls and the defensive tower and restoring wall paintings that had been covered by soot and grime. It revealed a unique cycle of paintings, the most complete wall paintings from medieval Egypt. This part of the restoration was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The oldest-known (fourth-century) monastic cell was also uncovered during the work. The reconstruction was a response of the Egyptian government to sectarian violence in which Copts had been shot down in a church. Antony ordered that his body be secretly buried in order to avoid a cult of relics. It was discovered later and brought to the monastery, where it lies beneath one of the ancient churches. His cave dwelling is about a mile away. See also: Abu Mena, Coptic Cairo, Scete

REFERENCES Athanasius, Life of Antony. Elizabeth Bolman (ed.), Monastic Visions: Wall

Paintings in the Monastery of St. Antony at the Red Sea. New Haven, Yale University, 2002. Gawdat Gabra, Coptic Monasteries. Cairo, American University of Cairo, 2002. John Strohmeier (ed.), St. Antony of Egypt. El Sobrante, CA, North Bay Books, 2006. www.stanthonymonastery.org.

DELOS, GREECE Delos was the cultural and religious hub of the Aegean Sea for more than a thousand years. It is a small, waterless, and uninhabited island dedicated to the twin Greek gods, Artemis and Apollo. The Ionian States, including Athens, worshipped here. Today Delos is a great archaeological site visited each year by tens of thousands, although no one other than a few caretakers is permitted to remain overnight. Pilgrims to Delos landed at the Sacred Port and followed the splendid Sacred Way to the Sanctuary of Apollo, which was surrounded by smaller temples,

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A group of Doric columns and a pair of statues among the ruins on the island of Delos. Delos was an important religious and economic center under both Greek and Roman rule.

votive monuments, and treasuries. Many Greek city-states built treasuries along the Sacred Way (as they did at Delphi), and a massive statue of Apollo can still be seen, originally part of the treasury of the Island of Naxos. Four temples were dedicated to Apollo (now all in ruins), and a Sanctuary of Artemis was erected, along with several gymnasiums. The gymnasiums, too, were sacred places, since a healthy body was considered a form of perfection and a sign of virtue. What made them especially fitting at Delos was the honor they gave to Apollo, who was god of physical beauty. Worship of Leto, mother of the twin deities, was well established on Delos by 1000 BCE. Her temple is finely crafted of small stones fitted closely together. The temple of Artemis, called the Artemision, is the best-known site on the island. The

remaining ruins are of a 175 BCE shrine built over earlier ones on a granite foundation. During the annual festival of Theoria, dancers would present the story of Artemis’ and Apollo’s birth, accompanied by a sacred hymn that recounted the legend. According to legend, Apollo left Delphi each winter and took up residence in Delos. Thus, each year on the birthday of the twin deities, the Delian Games were held. Besides temple ceremonies there were musical competitions, along with wrestling matches, horse races, and plays. Oxen were sacrificed to the twin gods. Ritual dances took place that were performed nowhere else. Choral groups vied to sing the most beautiful hymns in honor of Apollo and Artemis. The stadium and open-air theater can still to be seen. The Sacred

132 | Delphi, Greece

Way, forty-five feet wide, was the scene of great processions to the Shrine of Apollo. It was followed by all pilgrims and was the scene of the annual procession during the games. During the Delian Games executions were forbidden anywhere in Greece, and after his sentencing, Socrates’ death was postponed for this reason. A few minor shrines were also built on Delos, including one where marvelous mosaic floors have been found, one showing dolphins (associated with Apollo) and another picturing Dionysius, god of wine and sexual revelry, riding a tiger. The House of Dionysius includes two huge marble male sex organs. A lake (now drained because of the threat of malaria) is the legendary place where Leto gave birth to the twin gods. Along one side is a flanking row of mountain lions, erected by Naxos. Away from the main shrines is the Terrace of the Foreign Gods, a series of smaller temples of Egyptian and Syrian gods. When the Athenians took control of the island, they decreed that no one could die or give birth there, and in 426 BCE they expelled the residents and dug up all the graves, making the island a sanctuary. The point of this was to prevent anyone from claiming any ownership by inheritance. From 325 to 166 BCE, Delos was an independent city-state, becoming wealthy through the slave trade. Delos’ slave market was the largest in the region. Protected by Rome after 166 BCE, Delos happily included the Roman pantheon of gods in its shrines. A temple to the Egyptian god Isis was built around this time. In 88 BCE a slave revolt led to the capture of Delos by a rebel general and the massacre of the entire population. Delos never recovered. By the early

Christian era it was prey to pirates and was looted, with much of the fine statuary carried off. Some of the best existing pieces are in the National Museum in Athens. In 1990, UNESCO listed Delos on the World Heritage List. See also: Delphi, Ephesus

REFERENCES Robin Osborne and Susan Alcock, Placing the Gods: Sanctuaries and Sacred Space in Ancient Greece. New York, Oxford University, 1994. Panos Valavanes, Games and Sanctuaries in Ancient Greece. Los Angeles, Getty Museum, 2004. Photini Zaphiropoulou, Delos: Monuments and Museum. Athens, Krene, 1993.

DELPHI, GREECE The ancient Greek shrine of Apollo rests on the side of Mount Parnassus. Mount Parnassus rises in a long arc from the Gulf of Corinth above a valley whose sides held the groves, caves, and ravines sacred to the gods of ancient Greece. Parnassus itself was sacred to Apollo, god of the fine arts, and to the muses, the nine daughters of Zeus. The muses were considered demigods and were the guardian spirits of writers and artists. The most important of the mountain’s places of worship was the Delphic shrine where the famous oracle of ancient times presided and prophesied. Greek legend recounts how Apollo chose Delphi as one of his chief places of worship, along with Delos. Greek mythology tells of a time when the gods of the sky overcame those of the earth.

Delphi, Greece | 133 Then the infant Apollo took control of Parnassus by killing Python, the dragon snake that had possessed it. Apollo took the form of a dolphin and swam out to sea to capture a group of sailors, whom he appointed the first priests of his cult. Apollo spoke through his oracle, who had to be an older woman of blameless life chosen from among the peasants of the area. The sibyl or prophetess took the name Pythia and sat on a tripod seat over a crack in the mountain, which the Greeks believed to be the navel of the earth. When Apollo slew Python, its body fell into this fissure, according to legend, and fumes arose from its decomposing body. Intoxicated by the vapors, the sibyl would fall into a trance, allowing Apollo to possess her spirit. In this state she prophesied. She spoke in riddles, which were interpreted by the priests of the temple, and people consulted her on everything from important matters of public policy to personal affairs. Since Apollo wintered in a warmer place at Delos, there was no prophecy during those months, and Dionysius was said to live in the Temple instead. Upon arriving at Delphi, the suppliants registered and paid a fee; when their appointments neared, they purified themselves at the Castalian Spring, where the bathing trough is still visible. The stream, which is small, goes underground before entering the Temple and was what produced the cleft in the rock from which the vapors arose. One still sees people taking water from the spring or washing their hands there. They then proceeded along the Sacred Way, a zigzag flagstone walk up the hill. The Sacred Way was lined with statues and offerings, most of which have long disappeared, although a few surviving

examples can be seen in the Delphi Museum. Also along the way were a series of treasuries, small shrines sponsored by various Greek cities as thank-offerings for important victories. The best preserved of these is the Athenian Treasury, built in 490 BCE to celebrate the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon. Because of its balance, harmony, and purity of line, it is regarded as the finest example of ancient Doric style. The treasures in these minitemples were statues and sculptures but often included the spoils of battle. In time, they became a wealthy deposit of gold and silver and arms, and Delphi developed as the central financial depository of all Greece. Their subsequent looting, therefore, caused economic havoc in the citystates and hastened their downfall. The Sacred Way ended outside the temple. There the pilgrims would sacrifice a sheep or goat, whose entrails were examined by the priests for omens. Then the pilgrims entered one by one to ask the sibyl their question. A carved domed rock, the omphalos, or navel of the earth, was kept at the place of prophecy. In an ancient flood story about the creation of the human race, the omphalos was the first thing to emerge from the waters as they receded. In another account, Zeus sent two ravens out from the ends of the earth to find its center, and their beaks touched over the omphalos. The stone is presently kept in a museum. The centerpiece of Delphi was the Temple of Apollo, built with donations from every Greek city-state and from abroad. The base of the temple still stands, with half a dozen of the original columns. On the outside of the base are more than 700 inscriptions, most announcing the emancipation of slaves, which was considered a special act of

134 | Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, USA

piety to be performed at Delphi. At the far end of the Temple is the altar, originally decorated with memorials, exvotos, statues, and offerings. Because it was the hearth of ancient Greece, an eternal flame burned constantly inside the temple. From this fire all the ritual flames of the Greek city-states were lit. The myths said that during the winter, when Apollo went to his other shrine at Delos, the slopes of Mount Parnassus became the playground of the god Dionysius or Pan, patron of fertility. Above and away from the shrine of Delphi is a grove that is difficult to reach, at the end of an ancient cobblestone trail called the Kalkı´ Ska´la, or “evil stairway.” It was the scene of revelry and orgies in honor of Dionysius during the winter. Nearby are two pinnacles from which those convicted of sacrilege against the gods were thrown to their deaths. Also in the area is the Corycian Cave, sacred to Pan, and here each November ancient worship rituals involving drinking and sexual orgies took place. The contrast with the Delphic shrine on the lower slopes is striking, and perhaps out of embarrassment, no attempt has been made either to publicize the place or to make it easy to visit. Pan’s image in art—half man, half goat with horns—was adopted in the Christian era as the image of the Devil. Above the Temple of Apollo is an outdoor theater with thirty-three tiers of stone seats that held about 5,000 people. A stadium seating 7,000 nearby was used for the Phythian Games, held every four years to celebrate the victory of Athens over the Phocians, who had attacked Delphi and tried to seize its treasures. The winners of the games were crowned with laurel wreaths that were harvested during a re-enactment of the slaying of

the Python. There was also a gym on two floors. It was built for the games but used by Greek youth year round. The baths on the lower floor were thought to give the power of communicating with Apollo. This reinforced the Greek conviction of the sacredness of the body and the responsibility to perfect it. Several centuries later, when Rome conquered Greece and Athenian protection collapsed, the Emperor Nero looted 500 statues from the shrine. In the fourth century CE, Constantine the Great looted the shrine and began its decline. Julian the Apostate, a former Christian emperor who reverted to paganism, ordered Delphi’s restoration as part of his campaign to restore the ancient gods, but in an eerie scene, the oracle wailed but refused to prophesy. That event was considered a sign of the end, and in 390 CE the shrine was closed by the Christian Emperor Theodosius. Soon after, the temple was razed. See also: Athens, Delos, Olympia

REFERENCES William Broad, The Oracle. New York, Penguin, 2006. Neville Lewis, Delphi and the Sacred Way. London, Michael Haag, 1987. Panos Valavanes, Games and Sanctuaries in Ancient Greece. Los Angeles, Getty Museum, 2004. In Search of History: Oracle at Delphi. A&E, 2006 (video).

DEVIL’S TOWER, WYOMING, USA Rising more than 1,200 feet from the Wyoming plains, its sides gouged deeply

Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, USA | 135

Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming, also called the Bear Lodge, is a sacred site to several Native American tribes, including the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Kiowa.

from top to bottom, Devil’s Rock has been a sacred site for Native Americans for centuries. More than twenty tribes still revere it, and it is used today as it always has been, as a place for worship and prayer, vision quests, and the sun dance. Devil’s Rock is igneous, formed by a primeval lava upthrust through the surrounding soil. Its striking presence, visible from miles away, produces awe in any visitor. It is a flat-topped column that contrasts with the plain below. Every Indian group has its legend of the origins of Devil’s Rock. The Crow and several other tribes tell the story of two girls escaping a bear. Taking their plight to heart, the Great Spirit raised up the earth into a high column. The bear’s claws gouged out the striations on the Rock as he tried to capture them, but they were thrust up into the sky, where

they became stars. The Lakota Sioux call Devil’s Tower Mato Tipila, Bear Lodge. A Sioux myth speaks of a boy in the same situation, but the bear wandered off after failing to capture him, and the boy ended up at Bear Butte in the Black Hills, while an eagle picked him up and took them to his village. June is reserved for Native American rituals, but by law, national monuments cannot be closed completely to the public. This is a constant cause of tension. Hundreds of climbers ascend every summer after registering with the Park Service. The Park Service requests climbers to stay off Devil’s Tower during June, but this has been challenged by a lawsuit that claims that the park regulations favor religious practice and are unconstitutional. During June the sun dances are held, temporary sweat lodges

136 | Dharamsala, India

built, and individual youth come for their vision quests. Families or individuals may leave prayer bundles as an offering. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt declared Devil’s Rock America’s first national monument, but this has not prevented tourist exploitation. There are many guidebooks on climbing the Tower, even though this is considered sacrilegious to the Indians. They are disturbed by the increased commercialization in the area, with faux-native themes used for motels and shops catering to tourists. See also: Black Hills, Native American Sacred Places, Sun Dance, Sweat Lodge, Vision Quest

REFERENCES Jeanne Rogers, Standing Witness. Devil’s Tower National Monument, WY, National Park Service, 2007. In the Light of Reverence. Oley, Pa, Bullfrog, 2001 (video).

DHARAMSALA, INDIA After the Chinese takeover of Tibet, the Communist government slowly began strangling Tibetan institutions and flooding the country with ethnic Chinese. Many of their actions amounted to cultural genocide, especially in eliminating the influence of Tibetan Buddhism and the leadership of the Dalai Lama. Eight monasteries and temples remain in Tibet today, of 6,260 when the Chinese arrived. The others have all been destroyed. In 1959, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, then twenty-four years old, fled over the mountains to India after

the failure of a Tibetan uprising against the Chinese. He was followed by 80,000 Tibetan refugees. They established themselves in a colonial hill town near the border, McLeod Ganj. It became known as Dharamsala, a town whose name means “place of hospitality” or “spiritual sanctuary.” Today is it one of the largest Tibetan cities and the center of Tibetan Buddhism and worship. Pilgrims from all over the world come to Dharamsala, often hoping to see or even to meet with the Dalai Lama. The first years, however, belie the present-day development. Many Tibetans succumbed to the oppressive climate after lives on the Tibetan high plateau. They were extremely poor and without skills. Under the leadership of the Dalai Lama and with aid from the United Nations Commission for Refugees and the Indian government, agricultural communes were set up. Gradually, they built up an economy, and Tibetan refugees have proved very entrepreneurial. The Tibetan government in exile resides in Dharamsala. The Dalai Lama drafted a democratic constitution and gave up his absolute powers as head of state. The parliament is elected by all Tibetans in exile, along with a prime minister who appoints his own cabinet. It is the religious and cultural institutions that are most important, however. Tibetan Buddhism is a monastic-based faith, and many monasteries and nunneries have been established. Other institutions have also been recreated. The Nechung Oracle, a prominent monk, was an abbot in Tibet. In Dharamsala he lives with the Dalai Lama, fulfilling his role of Official State Oracle. He enters into direct contact with the spiritual world in a sort of spirit possession from

Didyma, Turkey | 137 which he draws insight for the Tibetan people. He does not prophesy nor does he give advice to individuals other than the Dalai Lama. His primary function is to guarantee the integrity of the Buddhist faith, to bring healing in conflict, and to protect the Dalai Lama. His pronouncements are accompanied by elaborate rituals. The most important temple is Tsuglag Khang, the Dalai Lama’s temple. Its main statue is of the Shakyamuni Buddha, with one hand raised to denote fearlessness and the other extended as a sign of compassion. It has a wall of prayer wheels covered with scriptures; pilgrims spin them as they walk past. There are several monasteries that are also visited. The Library of Tibetan Works is the largest collection of Tibetan studies in the world. During afternoons when he is in residence, the Dalai Lama gives general audiences, teaching on “The Perfection of Wisdom” and “The 37 Practices of a bodhisattva.” Pilgrims bring a white scarf to be blessed, and may leave other religious objects, such as prayer beads or statues, to be blessed. Devout Buddhists may apply for a short personal interview to seek spiritual guidance, but few can be accommodated. The Dalai Lama spends most of his day in meditation or study of the Buddhist scriptures, reserving four hours of the afternoon for audiences or affairs of state. See also: Potala Palace

REFERENCES Claude Arpi, Dharamsala and Beijing: The Negotiations That Never Were. New Delhi, Lancer, 2010.

Jeremy Rose, Dharamsala: Tibetan Refuge. New Delhi, Roli, 2006. Nancy Rose, Living Tibet: The Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. Ithaca, NY, Snow Lion, 1995. www.dalailama.com.

DIDYMA, TURKEY Didyma, along the coast of Turkey on the Aegean Sea, was the site of a temple and oracle of Apollo, behind only Delphi and Delos in its importance. It was connected to Miletus, and its Sacred Way went eleven miles between the two. The Way had ritual stopping points and statues of the priestly family that was associated with its history. The name “Didyma” means twin and refers to the twin gods, Apollo and Artemis. Artemis’ temple, of far less significance, was in Miletus. The shrine’s history stretched back to pre-Homeric times, but under Greek influence, the sanctuary was administered by the Branchidae Family until it was destroyed by the Persians in 494 BCE . Supposedly, after the looting of the shines, the sacred spring, the source of the oracle’s prophecies, dried up, and the Persians sent the Branchidae into exile. When the Persians were in turn toppled by Alexander the Great in 334 BCE, the spring was said to flow again and there was an attempt to rebuild the temple. The oracle wisely proclaimed that Alexander was the son of Zeus! The looted image of Apollo was brought back to Didyma and a grove of sacred laurel was planted. A huge temple was started but never finished, although worship of Apollo at Didyma continued until the second century CE.

138 | Dilwara, Mount Abu, India

The oracle was enthroned above a sacred spring, and her prophecies were interpreted by the priests, which gave them great power. After receiving the questions, she dipped her gown into the spring, giving her its powers. The petitions and her answers were written, unlike Delphi, but none of them survive. Prophecies were rationed out; she seldom spoke more than a couple of days a week, and often the intervals would go for months. Before prophesying, she fasted for three days in a secluded spot, then took a ritual bath. Petitioners prayed outside and offered sacrifices. The oracles’ last prophecy was given to the Emperor Diocletian in 303, when she sanctioned his brutal persecution of Christianity. After Constantine converted in 313, the shrine was closed and the priests were executed. Theodosius built a Christian basilica inside the sacred precincts, but all of that was lost to an earthquake in the fifteenth century, by which time the area was Muslim. All that remains are a few massive columns adorned with carvings. See also: Delphi

REFERENCES Joseph Fontenrose, Didyma: Apollo’s Oracle, Cult and Companions. Berkeley, University of California, 1988. Fritz Graf, Apollo. New York, Routledge, 2008. Sarah Johnston, Ancient Greek Divination. Hoboken, NJ, WileyBlackwell, 2008. Philipp Vandenburg, Mysteries of the Oracles. London, Taurus, 2007.

DILWARA, MOUNT ABU, INDIA Dilwara, on the slopes of Mount Abu, is the chief mountain shrine of the Jain faith. It is considered the finest example of Jain architecture, and its carvings are among the outstanding marble sculptures in the world. The Jains follow a religion of nonviolence and revere mountains as the sites of major events in the lives of their twenty-four Tirthankaras, or savior teachers. Jains reject the idea of god, although most revere the popular gods of the Hindus. The word Jain means “conqueror” and refers to Jainism’s demanding asceticism. Their founder, Mahavira (“Great Hero”), began preaching shortly before the Buddha (500 BCE) and shared his experience of rigorous self-discipline. The Jain ideal is found in the lives of the Tirthankaras (“crossing makers”), of whom Mahavira was the last and greatest. These men conquered their desires and thereby attained perfect wisdom; their title means that they have made the passage from the material world to the spiritual, from interior slavery to freedom. This passage is accomplished through the training called the Three Jewels: right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct. The great sins are falsehood, theft, lust, greed, and violence, and the last is the most evil. A true Jain lives by ahimsa, reverence for all life, and casts out any thought or action that might hurt another living being. This extends to avoiding swatting mosquitoes or stepping, even accidentally, on an insect. Jains are strict vegetarians. Their most austere sect, the “sky clad,”

Divina Providencia, Puerto Rico, USA | 139 never wear clothing, as a sign of their contempt for material things. The Jain temples on Mount Abu are a cluster of buildings rather than a single shrine. Of the five temples there, only two are of importance architecturally or devotionally. The oldest temple, Vimal Vasahi, was built in 1031 CE to honor the first Tirthankar and features a statue of him in its central courtyard. Around the temple courtyard are seventy-two cells, each containing a cross-legged, seated statue of a Tirthankara. Leading up to Vimal Vasahi is the House of Elephants, which contains a processional row of stone elephants going to the temple. In the Tejpal Temple (1230 CE) are the finest temple carvings. To say that they are intricate or detailed does not begin to describe them. Every surface above the floors—columns, walls, and ceilings—is covered with traceries so fine that they seem light despite their massiveness. Nothing appears in relief. Instead, the carvers pierced the stone to make all their work stand away from its base. The effect is lace-like, when it might have been overwhelming or confusing. In some places, the carving is so fine that light shines through the marble. All of the temples were built by prominent wealthy Jain families. Because Jains fear any accidental death of a living creature, they have largely abandoned farming and gone into business. Their faith teaches them that accumulating great wealth is a hindrance to holiness, and they tend to be very generous toward temples and monks.

REFERENCES Michael Carrothers and Caroline Humphrey, The Assembly of

Detail of pilaster from Jain temple, Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India.

Listeners. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University, 1991. Paul Dundas, The Jains. New York, Routledge, 1992. O. P. Tandon, Jaina Shrines in India. New Delhi, Indian Ministry of Information, 1986.

DIVINA PROVIDENCIA, PUERTO RICO, USA The patronal shrine of Puerto Rico is dedicated to the Virgin of Divine Providence. The feast is celebrated on November 19. In 1969, Pope Paul VI proclaimed Mary under this title as principal patron of Puerto Rico. The devotion originated in Italy in the thirteenth century, but it soon became

140 | Divine Mercy Shrine, Krako´w, Poland

centered in Catalonia in eastern Spain. An early Catalan bishop, appointed to Puerto Rico in 1848, found the island in disarray and the cathedral falling down. He rededicated it to Our Lady of Divine Providence and within five years had rebuilt the cathedral and stabilized the diocese. The statue that stayed the longest in the cathedral was carved in 1853 and was replaced in 1920. It was carved in such a way that it could be dressed. The Virgin is presented as seated, with the Child Jesus draped across her lap, fast asleep. She holds his hand in a protective gesture of great tenderness. The 1853 statue was brought out for the Latin American Bishops’ Conference meeting in Puerto Rico in 1976. The night before, it was burned in a fire, but in an emotional scene, the assembled bishops crowned it as it was. The statue was sent to Spain for restoration, and the incident spurred plans to build a national shrine to house it and be a pilgrimage site. At present the statue is in a columned chapel in the cathedral of San Juan, beneath a simple cupola. It draws a regular stream of pilgrims, and on the feast there is a procession and ceremonies in honor of the Virgin.

DIVINE MERCY SHRINE, ´ W, POLAND KRAKO The Divine Mercy Shrine is an adjunct of a training center for socially maladjusted girls, mostly former prostitutes and runaways. It operated as a reform school from 1891 until confiscated by the Communist authorities in 1962. In this unlikely setting, Faustina Kowalska (1905–1938) served for twelve years as a visionary and mystic. In 1931, Jesus

was said to appear to her in white robes with rays of divine grace flowing from his heart. She was instructed to commission a painting of the vision. Other visions followed, and she began writing her revelations on the divine mercy of God. Church authorities ranged from grudging tolerance to hostility. For twenty years her writings were banned by being listed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Vatican. It did not help that she had no formal theological background and had had only three years of primary education before going to work. She applied to several religious orders in vain; all rejected her until the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy accepted her. She spent her service in domestic work. John Paul II was archbishop of Krako´w before being elected pope. He was more open to Sister Faustina’s revelations than others and began to promote them. In time, her reputation was rehabilitated, and she became revered in Poland and then more broadly. In 2000, John Paul canonized her a saint. The feast is October 5, and Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated in the Catholic Church on the first Sunday after Easter. Some Anglican parishes observe it as well. The image itself is pious and rather romantic in style, and hardly good art. It is said that when Faustina was upset at the inadequacy of the image, Christ consoled her by saying “Not in the beauty of the color nor of the brush is the greatness of this image, but in my grace.” The original is in the basilica built to house it, a large oval building with a modern steeple. Every year about two millions pilgrims come to the basilica. The relics of St. Faustina are kept in the convent chapel. Between the two churches, there are eleven Masses for Sunday worship.

Djenne´, Mali | 141 An offshoot of the teachings of St. Faustina has been a worldwide devotion to the divine mercy. The unique form of prayer both in the basilica and among devotees around the world is the Chaplet of Mercy. It is said on a rosary, preferably at three p.m., the biblical time of Jesus’ death, called the Hour of Mercy. The chaplet opens with traditional prayers: the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, and Apostles’ Creed. On each of the rosary beads, one prays, “For the sake of his sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and the whole world.” It is especially haunting when it is chanted by a group.

REFERENCE Catherine Odell, Faustina: Apostle of Divine Mercy. Huntington, IN, Our Sunday Visitor, 1998.

The Life of Sister Faustina, Apostle of Divine Mercy. London, JPN Film, 1991, video.

DJENNE´, MALI A cultural center and African crossroads during the Middle Ages, Djenne´’s importance is linked to its role as a religious and missionary center. For centuries it has been an outpost of Islam in the harsh country of southern Mali. The city can be traced to at least 850 CE. Until the development of shipping by the Portuguese in the 1400s, Djenne´ was on the rich and busy caravan routes that carried gold and salt across the vast African deserts. Along with trade goods, the caravans also brought Islam to West

Detail of the Great Mosque in Djenne, Mali. During the reign of Sundiata Keita during the 13th century CE, stunning mosques made of sand were constructed throughout the West African empire of Mali.

142 | Dodona, Epirus, Greece

Africa. Djenne´ formed one of the frontiers between Islam and animism, and it was from here that Islam went forth into the region. For several centuries, its Grand Mosque was the object of pilgrimage and a center of Islamic scholarship. Djenne´ is now difficult to get to. Timbuktu lies to the north, and Mopti, a market town where camel caravans still bring slabs of salt to trade, is fifty-six miles away. A handful of travelers pass through on their way to the Dogon Cliffs, spending a few moments at the famous mosque and then continuing their journeys. The town itself is not only old but has never been modernized. The narrow alleys and mud walls lend a biblical atmosphere. The often-photographed Grand Mosque is the largest adobe structure in the world and the finest example of Sudanese mud architecture. The mud is firmed up with rice husks, straw, and wood. Completed in 1907, it rests on a platform in a great open plaza, facing Mecca. Three towers, some ten stories high, rise to conical points. Its uniform brown color blends with the soil from which it came and creates a sense of unity with the surrounding landscape. The prayer hall holds 3,000 worshippers. The three minarets are each topped by the shell of an ostrich egg, symbol of purity and fertility. From a distance, the Grand Mosque looks like a huge sand castle bristling with protruding timbers. These are used as perches by workers, who replaster the outside walls each year after the rainy season. The event is the occasion for dancing and celebration. Small boys tread the mud and husk mixture. The night before, the replastering is announced with chants and the sound of flutes until a whistle sounds the start of the work. Hundreds of men, under the direction of

eighty master masons, begin to climb the mosque with baskets of mud. Despite the annual repairs, the mosque is subject to extremes of heat and heavy rains. In 2009, a section of one of the towers collapsed after a torrential downpour. The long walls, perhaps six stories high and up to three feet thick to provide cooling in the harsh summer heat, are studded with smaller cones. Ceramic cones cover small vents in the roof and are removed at night to allow the heat to rise out of the building. Despite its mud walls, the mosque looks airy and light rising from the flat plain. It is the center of local activity, and the plaza livens for the Monday market. In 1988, the town and the Great Mosque were named to the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. West Africa’s oldest city, Jenne´-Jeno, lies two miles from Djenne´. It dates from about 250 BCE but has been abandoned since 1400, when the Muslim leadership of Djenne´ made a concerted effort to undermine its remaining paganism. The ruins washed away with the rains centuries ago, and it has been largely looted of its artifacts. See also: Dogon Cliffs

REFERENCES Suzanne Blier et al., Butabu: Adobe Architecture of West Africa. New York, Princeton Architectural, 2003. Trevor Marchand, The Masons of Djenne. Bloomington, IN, Indiana University, 2009.

DODONA, EPIRUS, GREECE Dodona in northern Greece was the oldest Greek oracle shrine. It is first mentioned

Dogon Cliffs, Mali | 143 in Homer’s Iliad. It was pre-Hellenic, possibly dating from the second millennium BCE . In those ancient times, the priests and priestesses interpreted the rustling of leaves of the trees in the sacred grove for signs of divine messages. Homer also has Odysseus come to Dodoma in the Odyssey, “so that he might hear Zeus’s will from the leaves of his oak.” There was no spoken oracle. The shrine was dedicated to a fertility goddess. The priests and priestesses walked about barefoot and slept on the ground so that they could be in direct contact with Mother Earth. This was totally different from any other sanctuary of Zeus, which suggests that the sanctuary was taken over from some more ancient, primitive shrine. The priestesses, who seem to have been the ones actually to pronounce the oracles, went into trances before they spoke. The Greeks continued the shrine as a religious center and maintained many of its earlier traditions. A sacred oak was thought to transmit oracles through its leaves and the movement of birds on its branches. To this movement was added the sound of the waters of a sacred spring. Dodona became a major shrine to the high god Zeus (the Roman Jupiter), the ruler of the pantheon of Greek gods. He was worshipped with his wife Dioni. Their daughter Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty (the Roman Venus), was added later, along with Themis, goddess of justice and order and Zeus’ lover. The shrine was outdoors, with the oak tree surrounded by bronze cauldrons. The whistling of the wind in these cauldrons was another oracular sign. Petitioners came to the shrine with lead tablets on which they wrote their questions in such a way that a

simple “yes” or “no” could give a satisfactory answer from the priestess. As votive offerings came to the shrine and kings began patronizing it, a building program began around the fourth century BCE and was expanded in the following century. A stadium was built for the Naian Games, which honored Zeus. At least three times the sanctuaries were destroyed, and each time they were rebuilt. Until the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the empire, it continued to attract worshippers, until finally it was closed. A Byzantine basilica was erected in the shrine area and the sacred oak was cut down in 391 CE. See also: Delos, Delphi, Olympia

REFERENCES Nanno Marinotos and Robin Hagg, Greek Sanctuaries. London/New York, Routledge, 1993. Tom Stone, Zeus. New York, Bloomsbury, 2008. Philipp Vandenburg, Mysteries of the Oracles. London, Taurus, 2007.

DOGON CLIFFS, MALI One of the most inaccessible parts of the world is the Bandiagara Cliffs of Mali, home of the Dogon people. It can be reached only by four-wheel-drive vehicle after a river launch trip of several days. Here the Dogon, who have resisted both Christianity and Islam, continue their traditional religion with its elaborate cult of the ancestors. The escarpment rises 600 feet above a broad plain. Dogon settlements cling to the sides and hide in the folds of rock.

144 | Dogon Cliffs, Mali

The Dogon people of central Mali have used rock painting to record history for centuries. The West African kingdom of Mali was a trading empire during the 13th-16th centuries.

The highest of many caves in the cliff, the Tellem caves, are used for burial. The Dogon make ropes of baobab fiber to hoist the dead to the caves, where they join very ancient burials left from the earlier Tellem people. The Tellem caves are thought to have great magic, but none is used for religious rituals, and people are forbidden to visit them except when taking a body there. The Dogon worship a supreme creator named Amma. After making the sun and moon from clay, Amma brought them together with earth and produced humankind. Dogon villages are laid out in an oval shape representing the unity of male and female in the body of Amma. At the head is the men’s meeting house; at the feet, the altars. Village homes form the chest, and the two women’s meeting houses, the hands. One of the women’s

houses is for everyday use; the other, guarded by the sacred serpent-god Le´be´, is where women must stay during their menstrual periods. Between the family houses and the altars is the village altar, a pillar representing the male sex organ. Nearby is a stone, used for oil crushing, that represents the female genitals. Each family residence is laid out with similar symbolism of fertility. The Dogon do not separate religion from life, and social order is organized around four cults that descend from the four mythical male ancestors of the people. Each clan is headed by a priest, each with different functions: one is a prophet, another the liaison between Amma and his people, a third administers justice, and the last is responsible for funerals. Diviners plot out grids in the sand where they leave small offerings of food. At

Dogon Cliffs, Mali | 145 night, foxes (sacred to the Dogon) take the bait, and the diviner interprets the paw prints within the grid to answer questions posed by villagers. Funerals are major cultic events, celebrated by the mask society. Every boy is inducted after his circumcision; each carves his own mask and dances with it during funerals. Men are thus associated with death, and women may not get near the masks because women are associated with fertility and life. The mask society, and hence all males, are taught to speak a secret language not known to females. One dance, the dama, may be performed in the presence of women, and this dance is often done for foreign tourists. Wearing long masks and dancing on twelve-foot stilts, the men celebrate the spirits of the ancestors. Scattered throughout Dogon territory are Binu shrines, made of adobe. Nommo, the mythical ancestor of the Dogon, was the first-born of Amma, and he multiplied and became several sets of twins. When one twin rebelled he upset the cosmos, and Amma sacrificed one of the Nommos in response. His body was broken into pieces and distributed around the world. Each Binu shrine is said to have a fragment of his body. It also is home to the ancestral animal spirit of a particular clan, and that animal becomes the clan’s totem or protector. It may not be eaten by any member of the clan. Dogon art is religious and cultural in theme. Besides the marks, which are elaborate and decorated beautifully, the Dogon carve statuettes. These are not for

worship but to honor an ancestor, and they are not displayed but kept in the family quarters. The Dogon also create wall art. Especially impressive are the designs and symbols that adorn the walls of the cave used for preparing youth for circumcision and initiation into adulthood. The wall art is part of the instruction into the lore of the community. Every sixty years the mask society dances the sigi, a sumptuous and elaborate resurrection dance ceremony spread over several days. The next sigi will be around 2030. It marks the renewal of the generations (sixty being the average lifespan) and the rebirth of a white dwarf star near Sirius. The Dogon have danced to honor this star for centuries, even though western scientists only discovered it in 1928 and first photographed it in 1970. Dogon tradition taught that their sacred star orbited Sirius every fifty years; astronomers have determined that they were only two weeks off. See also: Ancestor Shrines, Cemeteries, Fertility Shrines

REFERENCES Caroline Haardt, “The Dogon: Mali’s People of the Cliffs,” UNESCO Courier 1991:5, 42–46 (May 1991). B. O. Oloruntimehin, The Segu Tukolor Empire. New York, Humanities, 1972. David Roberts, “Mali’s Dogon People,” National Geographic 178:4, 100–127 (October 1990).


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of the temples, one of the eighty-eight worldly desires is cast aside. When Kobo Daishi began the pilgrimage, it was the only unrestricted travel permitted in the kingdom. According to Buddhist belief, the pilgrim who prays at all 88 temples is released from the cycle of rebirth and reincarnation and raised to complete fulfillment. Many make the trek on behalf of the spirits of their dead, hoping for the same deliverance for them. The pilgrimage is also made to atone for sins or to mark a departure point in one’s life. It is a popular undertaking for those just reaching retirement, and until World War II, people dying of cancer or other fatal diseases would make the circuit until they died, to be buried by the side of the road. Called “The Trail of Tears,” the eighty-eight-temple pilgrimage is often made in response to a personal crisis—a lost job, serious illness, or family problems. The pathway is more than 700 miles long and takes up to eight weeks to

EIGHTY-EIGHT TEMPLES PILGRIMAGE, SHIKOKU, JAPAN One of the longest pilgrimages in the world is that undertaken by Japanese Buddhists. They visit eighty-eight temples in a great clockwise circle around Shikoku, the smallest of the major islands of Japan. Until the Edo Era (1603–1868), the pilgrimage was confined to monks, but the end of internal wars and economic prosperity allowed more farmers and tradesmen to participate. Roads were built and the first guidebooks appeared. The pilgrimage was begun by Kobo Daishi (714–835 CE), who founded an important Buddhist sect and is revered as Japan’s greatest Buddhist saint. The round of temples is based on those where he prepared himself for nirvana: twentythree temples for becoming religious; sixteen for wisdom and understanding; twenty-six for spiritual awakening; and twenty-three for enlightenment. At each

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148 | Eighty-Eight Temples Pilgrimage, Shikoku, Japan

Map of Skikoku’s 88 sacred temples.

cover, although many people today take package bus tours that compress the pilgrimage into two weeks. Another way to manage the pilgrimage is to take it one or two weeks each year until it is completed, starting up where one left off the year before. More than 150,000 make the pilgrimage each year, and it attracts walkers from all sects of Buddhism. The pilgrim, known as henro, dresses in white, the color of dead souls on their way to heaven. He or she wears a thatch hat and carries a walking stick, which symbolizes Kobo Daishi, who in this way symbolically accompanies every pilgrim. This gear is purchased at the

Ryozen Temple, the first in the circuit. Traditionally, local residents offer food and water to pilgrims as they trudge along. The pilgrim carries a scroll or book to record his arrival at each temple, where he adds the temple stamp. At each of the eighty-eight temples, the pilgrim recites a special Buddhist text appropriate to that place and puts his name and address into a box. The rites at each temple are the same as for a Shinto temple visit: purification of one’s hands and rinsing the mouth, striking a bell to alert the god of their arrival, throwing a few coins, and lighting candles or incense. In themselves, none of the eighty-eight

Einsiedeln, Switzerland | 149 temples is particularly significant artistically or as a religious center; their importance is in being part of the total temple circuit. The number eighty-eight represents the eighty-eight basic passions, and visiting each temple frees one from one of them. Consequently, even visiting one or a few temples is better than none at all. Four of the temples are places where those who have not progressed during their pilgrimages are revealed a sign, requiring them to go back to Ryozen and start over. These “barrier” temples are on top of mountains and particularly difficult to access. There are also substitute pilgrimages to places elsewhere in Japan that have brought in soil from each of the eightyeight temples. A few require a real pilgrimage, but most take an hour or two to traverse. Several temples hold special “Walking on Sacred Sand” ceremonies in which people can stand on a bag of sand taken from each of the eighty-eight temples and pray before scrolls from each of them.

REFERENCES Ian Reader, Making Pilgrimages: Meaning and Practice in Shikoku. Honolulu, University of Hawai’i, 2006. Hiroshi Tanaka, Pilgrim Places: A Study of the Eighty-Eight Sacred Precincts of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. Ann Arbor, MI, University Microfilms, 1975.

EINSIEDELN, SWITZERLAND Set in one of Europe’s most beautiful baroque churches in the foothills of the

Alps south of Zu¨rich, the shrine of the Black Madonna of Einsiedeln has drawn pilgrims since the Middle Ages. The site was established when an early hermit, St. Meinrad, built a cabin there in 828 (Einsiedeln means “hermitage”). In 861 he was murdered by two bandits, and according to legend, two crows that lived with Meinrad pursued the killers to Zu¨rich, where the killers were captured. Meinrad was recognized as a holy man and martyr, and in 934 a monastery was built incorporating the cabin. Throughout the Middle Ages, the monastery prospered and received royal grants and gifts. Monks were chosen from the upper classes, and the monastery became a center for learning and the arts, producing outstanding handlettered illuminated manuscripts of the Bible. The abbot was a prince of the empire and from 1274 the abbey enjoyed the privileges of independence. In the eleventh century the monastery took the leadership in the reform of other monasteries in the region and in 1526 began admitting monks from all social classes. In 1602, Einsiedeln became the center for the Swiss Benedictine congregation, which has built monasteries in a number of countries, including the United States. The present monastery at Einsiedeln was completed in 1780, although it was suppressed and empty for several years during the turmoil following the French Revolution. In 1801 it was reestablished without its feudal rights, and it has grown and prospered since. The monastery today has seventy-four monks, who direct the shrine and two schools—a high school and an agricultural school. The monks also direct a small seminary for future priests.

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All this would be only of historical interest if not for the shrine of the Black Madonna. Legend has it that Jesus himself appeared in 948 to consecrate a chapel on the site of Meinrad’s hut, a tradition that is celebrated by a torchlight procession on the feast of the Miraculous Consecration (September 14). At first the chapel itself attracted the pilgrims, and many reported cures from the water in its sacred spring. Later, the object of reverence became the statue of Mary holding the Child Jesus, mentioned in written records from 1286. The statue is still regarded as miraculous by the faithful, and the spring has now been channeled into Our Lady’s Well, the purification well and fountain that stands on the paved square in front of the monastery. The monastery itself is massive and sits on a low hill above the town. Pilgrims approach across the open plaza where the spring is located. Many wash their hands there as an act of purification. The church itself is a baroque splendor: white walls and pillars lead the eye up to complex paintings and frescoes in the vaults of the ceiling. The most popular of these, the Christmas Cupola, presents the scene of the birth of Jesus. Elaborate gold-painted stuccowork adorns the walls. The effect is one of richness and light. The interior decoration was done by the Asam brothers, Cosmas and Egid, regarded as the finest decorative artists of eighteenth-century baroque. The Lady Chapel is near the entrance, and in striking contrast to the white interior, it is built of black marble. It is built over the place where Meinrad’s cabin stood. The present shrine was built in 1816, replacing one destroyed by French troops in 1798.

The shrine draws several hundred thousand each year. The pilgrimages are subdued in comparison with those at other Marian shrines. The style of Alpine Catholicism is reserved and includes little external pietistic expression. The high point here is the singing of Vespers, the ancient prayer of psalms and scripture readings, followed by the Salve Regina, a plainchant tribute to Mary. The monastery maintains a high level of sacred music, and besides the daily use of chant, masses with full orchestras are celebrated on important feasts. The monastery has two other attractions, a 300-foot painting of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus and the Bethlehem Diorama with 500 figures in an extensive nativity scene. Since 1924, the medieval tradition of holding morality plays has been revived at Einsiedeln. The Great Theatre of the World will next be offered in 2017 (it is performed every five years). It involves 600 participants and lasts several hours. The pilgrimage season goes from Easter to early October. The main pilgrimages are on the feast of the Miraculous Consecration, Our Lady of Einsiedeln in July, the Assumption of Mary (August 15), the Birth of Mary (September 8), and Ascension Thursday. All of these are thronged. The statue, under the title of Our Lady of Hermits, is probably south German and replaces the 1286 statue destroyed by fire in 1465. Dressed in a long red gown, the Black Madonna carries a naked Christ Child in her left arm. She and the child are totally black, probably the result of centuries of smoke from votive lamps burnt in the chapel, although some disagree. Legend says that the original statue was one kept by Meinrad on his hermitage

Eisenach, Germany | 151 altar. The visitor cannot see the full statue, however, since it has been dressed in a heavy brocade gown adapted from Spanish court style since 1600. See also: Wells and Springs, Marian Apparitions

REFERENCES Ean Begg, The Cult of the Black Virgin. Boston, Arkana, 1985. Ludwig Raeber, The Abbey of Einsiedeln. Einsiedeln, Benziger, 1975. Kevin Wright, Catholic Shrines of Western Europe. Ligouri, MO, Liguori, 1997. www.kloster-einsiedeln.ch.

EISENACH, GERMANY After Martin Luther began his denunciation of the corruption in the Catholic Church, he was ordered to appear before the Diet of Worms in 1521. Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire presided, and Luther, who arrived under a letter of safe conduct, was asked to identify his writings and justify them. Luther stood by what he had written, and the Diet declared him a heretic and ordered his arrest. It was a death sentence. The Elector of Saxony, Frederick III, who was sympathetic to Luther, had provided him the safe passage to and from the Diet. On his way back home to Wittenburg, armed men under orders from Frederick took Luther into custody and spirited him off to Eisenach, where he was secretly lodged in the Wartburg Castle. He passed under the name “Junker Jorg,” (Knight Gorge), possibly as a tribute to the town’s patron saint. He grew a beard and let his hair grow long. Under these circumstances, Luther stayed

at Wartburg for a year. He continued his writings there and followed events that were developing back at Wittenburg. Luther’s main task at Wartburg, however, was to translate the Christian Scriptures into German, something he did with such elegance that it became instantly a triumph of German literature and standardized the language. Comparing himself to St. John the Apostle in exile, writing his letters and the Book of Revelation, Luther called Wartburg “my Patmos.” Like John, he also suffered from opposition from the Devil. In one celebrated incident, Satan appeared and Luther dismissed him by throwing an inkwell against the wall where the Devil stood. Devout Lutheran pilgrims have carved away sections of the wall to take souvenirs of Luther’s victory over Satan. His polemical writings during this period produced sharp departures from Catholic teaching. Ranging far beyond his previous denunciations of practices like the sale of indulgences, he rejected sacramental penance (confession), the Mass as a sacrifice and the value of monasticism. After several excursions back to Wittenburg to quiet extremism there, Luther wrote a scathing pamphlet against the Peasant’s Revolt and denouncing the use of violence in attempting to further the gospel message. He staunchly defended the authority of secular rulers. The room in which Luther lived and wrote is preserved, with a copy of the printed first edition of the New Testament displayed under glass. The castle sits in a hill over the town, where Luther had lived as a child, and it draws a constant flow of pilgrims. In Eisenach’s main square is a larger-than-life statue of the great

152 | ekuPhakameni, South Africa

Reformer, with the words to his most famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” on the base. See also: Luther Circle

REFERENCES Derek Wilson, Out of the Storm: The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther. New York, St. Martin’s, 2008. www.eisenach.de.

EKUPHAKAMENI, SOUTH AFRICA The fastest-growing religions today are those of the New Religious Movements, found primarily in the Third World. Among these, the African independent churches stand out for their size, history, and integration into their societies. They incorporate doctrines and elements of Christianity but remain African in culture and practice. Among their practices is usually the acceptance of plural marriages (polygamy). Sometimes Jewish or Islamic food prohibitions are part of their practices. The Church of Nazareth is typical of these groups in many ways. It arose a century ago from the preaching and healing of Isaiah Shembe (c. 1870–1935). It is based in South African Zulu culture and has just begun to reach out beyond its tribal base. After the death of a later leader in 1976, the church split into two divisions, both led by Shembes, a son and grandson. The larger of the two factions has more than a million adherents. The main difference between them is that one is more in line with traditional

Christianity while the other defines the Nazareth Church as an African religion in its own right. The Nazarites take their name from the biblical description of the Nazarite vow in Numbers 6. It is a call to be a warrior against Canaan, and it fits perfectly into the Zulu self-image of the warrior. Members are forbidden to smoke or engage in premarital sex, although the church accepts polygamy. They also practice such ancient Hebrew injunctions as avoiding pork, Sabbath observance, and leaving one’s hair uncut. The Nazareth Church teaches empowerment, practices healing, and reverences ancestors. Shembe himself also taught deep respect for nature and all living things; snakes especially are important because they are seen as the reincarnation of individuals. Nazarites believe that they are immune from snakebite, and no snake may be killed. Nevertheless, animal sacrifice is practiced at ekuPhakameni, the Nazarite place of pilgrimage. It has also become a healing center, since Shembe forbade the use of western medicine. In 1916, Shembe had a vision on a mountain, where the pilgrimage now goes. The name ekuPhakameni means “the place of spiritual uplift,” but for Shembe it was his Mount Sinai, the place where God spoke to Moses. Most of the shrines at ekuPhakameni were built by Shembe himself. The Holy of Holies, the most sacred precinct, is the House of the Tabernacle, approached by a tree-lined road that pilgrims walk barefoot. It contains holy water used for purification rites. The leader of the Nazarites lives in the compound. Living quarters in Nazarite villages are strictly segregated for men and women, with divisions by

Elephanta Caves, Mumbai, India | 153 age group. This corresponds with the agesets that are part of Zulu tradition. The festivals held twice yearly are occasions for great celebration, accompanied by dances that end with the participants falling into trances. Pilgrims arrive in long processions, clad in white robes. The first pilgrimage is the New Year in January, and the second is the Feast of Tabernacles in July. Pilgrims enter by a set of gates, the Gate of Heaven, guarded by ancestor spirits, and proceed to the water rites from the sacred spring at the foot of the Tree of Life before being ready for Communion. The Nazarites practice baptism by immersion and Holy Communion during the festivals, but those who receive it must have fasted for a week in preparation and then taken part in foot washing. See also: Morija

REFERENCES Irving Hexham and Gerhardus Oosterhuisen, The Story of Isaiah Shembe. Lewiston, NY, Mellen, 1997. Irving Hexham and Gerhardus Oosterhuisen, Regional Traditions in the Acts of the Nazarites. Lewiston, NY, Mellen, 1999. Edley Moody, Shembe, Ancestors, and Christ. Eugene, OR, Pickwick, 2008.

ELEPHANTA CAVES, MUMBAI, INDIA A small island in Mumbai harbor is the location of a group of Hindu and Buddhist caves. The five Hindu caves are dedicated to the worship of Shiva, and a second small section has two

Buddhist caves. They were built around the seventh century CE . The original name was Gharapuri, but it took its present name from the Portuguese, who were impressed by a large elephant sculpture on the island, now kept in the city’s Victoria Gardens. The main temple features nine sculptured panels that reflect the changing moods of Lord Shiva. He is by turns destroyer and fearsome, creator and beneficent, ascetic and husband. He appears as Ardhanarishvara, half man and half woman, a sign of procreation of the human race. Shiva’s gender blending is very apparent in the statuary at Elephanta. The entry to the Shiva caves is via a huge hall, with the equally massive Mahesamurti carving. This presents Shiva is his three roles as creator, sustainer, and destroyer. Shiva is shown in the wall carvings in several ways: his marriage to Parvati, his consort; the slaying of a demon; with Parvati on Mount Kailas, his home; and the origins of the sacred River Ganges from the locks of his hair. Many sculptures have been damaged by water, but also by the Portuguese, who used them for target practice. The main shrine is a freestanding cell containing the objects of worship, Shiva’s lingam in union with Parvati’s yoni, the symbols of male–female generativity. All this is in Cave I. The other Hindu caves, which also have important sculptures, have been badly damaged. The Buddhist caves are less spectacular and little visited, since there are few Buddhists in India today. They contain a stupa and water tanks. There is a two-day Elephanta Festival each year, not as a worship or pilgrimage event but to showcase traditional Indian classical dance, art, and sculpture. Still,

154 | Eleusis, Greece

the festival honors Shiva and Nataraja, the Hindu lord of the dance and another manifestation of Shiva. Unfortunately, the island is a tourist mecca, and the unsustainable crowds of visitors have added to damage of the sculptures and take away from the pilgrim atmosphere. See also: Ajanta, Caves, Ellora Caves

REFERENCES Charles Collins, Iconography and Ritual of Siva at Elephanta. Albany, SUNY, 1988. George Michell, India Series: Elephanta. Mumbai, India Book House, 2006. Global Treasures: Elephanta. Travelvideo, 2009, video.

ELEUSIS, GREECE The Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece involved a cult of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, who were worshipped in Euleusis. It lasted from about 1600 BCE to the end of the pagan period, 2,000 years. At first a local observance, it spread throughout Greece by the eighth century BCE and finally to Rome, despite enduring the Persian wars and several sackings. The Romans enriched the sanctuary and built an aqueduct. Several Roman emperors were inducted into the mysteries. The ceremonies, which were part of a major festival, were secret and initiation was a prized goal. The initiate took part in visions of the afterlife and took on divine powers and immortality. Some scholars find in the descriptions of the

mysteries an indication of the use of hallucinogenic plants similar to the sacred mushroom (peyote) of the Native American Church. At this point, this is conjecture, but it is reinforced by the fact that Demeter was goddess of agriculture. The legend of Demeter says that Persephone was kidnapped and taken to the underworld, during which Demeter cursed the world with a great drought. While in Hades, Persephone ate four pomegranate seedpods, and because eating was forbidden in Hades, she was condemned to return there for four months every year. While Demeter mourned her absence, winter came, and when she returned, the spring blossomed. Eleusis celebrated the return of Persephone with a grand festival each year. The main festival took place every five years and a smaller one annually. Numbers increased as initiation became unrestricted—even slaves could be accepted after a time. Each cultist progressed through stages from initiate to entry into the fullness of the mysteries. The ritual objects were brought from Athens at the start of the ceremonies. The cultists walked along a Sacred Way, waving tree branches. They then took a ritual bath and fasted for a day before entering the temple. There were three elements to the ceremony: a play telling the Demeter/Persephone story, the revelation of the sacred objects, and an explanation of them. Together, these constituted the mysteries, and the penalty for revealing them was death. After celebrating the mysteries, there was dancing and feasting, with the sacrifice of a bull. We still do not know for certain what the sacred objects were. Some say fire was involved, others physical objects of some kind, kept in a chest and

Ellora Caves, India | 155

Ellora Caves, a World Heritage site, are located in Maharashtra, India. They were built by the Rashtrakuta rulers between the 5th century and 10th century.

transferred to a basket as part of the ritual. Between ceremonies, the sacred objects were kept in a temple, the Eleusinion, at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens.

REFERENCES Michael Cosmopolous, Greek Mysteries. New York, Routledge, 2003. Jon Mikelson, Ancient Greek Religion. Malden, MA, Wiley/Blackwell, second edition, 2010. Carl Ruck, Sacred Mushrooms of the Goddess. Oakland, CA, Ronin, 2006. Dudley Wright, The Eleusinian Mysteries & Rites. Lake Worth, FL, Nicolas-Hays, 2003.

ELLORA CAVES, INDIA About 200 miles east of Mumbai lie the Ellora Caves, thirty-four religious caves

noted for their fine sculpture. One of them, Kailasa, was built over a period of 100 years during the eighth century. It is considered the greatest cave temple in India. Built on a site where prehistoric cults performed blood sacrifices, Ellora is sacred to Buddhists, Jains, and Hindus. Twelve of the caves are Buddhist (1–12), seventeen Hindu (13–29), and five Jain (30–34). Constructed between the fifth and tenth centuries after the completion of Ajanta, a similar group of religious caves just fifty miles away, Ellora is thought to be the work of the same builders. But unlike Ajanta with its steep cliff face, Ellora’s hillside slopes gently, allowing entrance halls and easier access to the cave temples. The carved fronts and great arched entries are as elaborate as any western cathedral. By far the most important artistically are the Hindu caves with their intricate carvings of

156 | Ellora Caves, India

gods victorious over demons and their traditional scenes, such as the god Shiva with his beloved consort Parvati. Most of the caves were monastic dwellings, with cells, kitchens, and meeting spaces. Evidently, the complex involved many monks who served pilgrims as well as lived lives of prayer and asceticism. All of the first nine Buddhist caves are monastic. Some sculptures are violent, such as one of Shiva baring fangs like an angry baboon while spearing one victim with a trident and holding another down with his foot. He rattles a drum and catches his prey’s blood to drink, while Parvati holds out a bowl to catch some blood for herself as well. Until the 1700s, the Thugs, a Hindu cult that practices ritual murder, regarded Ellora as a source of the mysteries of their gory rites. The greatest cave temple in India is the Kailasa (Shiva’s Paradise), a Hindu cave carved not horizontally but vertically into the living rock. Great trenches more than a hundred feet deep were cut along the lines that would become the edges of the temple, and 200,000 tons of stone were removed. The temple was then hewn from the massive block bordered by the trenches, leaving a freestanding solid stone temple below ground level. The main walls of the trenches were then removed to leave the temple open. In this respect the Kailasa resembles Lalibela in Ethiopia. Although Kailasa is counted as one of the Ellora Caves (#16), it really is not a cave at all but an enormous rock sculpture. The Kailasa, which honors Shiva, is huge. The courtyard entryway alone is 240 by 150 feet, and 100 feet high. It is named for Mount Kailas in the Himalayas, the great Hindu pilgrimage

site and Shiva’s traditional home. Around the temple are a number of chapels and monks’ cells cut into the rock. From a wide porch, the visitor enters the portico and a large room with a shrine to the bull Nandi, the vehicle of Shiva, flanked by two columns more than fifty feet high. The porch, the Nandi shrine, and the inner shrine are connected by flying bridges, cut directly from the stone, twenty-five feet above the floor. A magnificent relief carving of Nataraja, Shiva’s manifestation as Lord of the Dance, reveals the paint that once covered much of the shrines. Other important carvings, all in excellent condition, show the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, and the divine couple seated on Mount Kailas—both popular themes in Hindu iconography. In the inner shrine the sacred lingam, Shiva’s sex organ, was worshipped, surrounded by flowers and candles. Hindu faithful still worship at this shrine. The five Jain caves are smaller but no less detailed in their carvings, which depict deities in various poses. The Jain caves were created in the ninth and tenth centuries and are the work of the Digambara sect of Jainism. One cave is two stories tall. At one time the ceilings were covered by paintings, but these have faded or deteriorated. The entire Ellora complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983. See also: Ajanta, Elephanta Caves, Mount Kailas

REFERENCES James Burgers and James Fergusson, The Cave Temples of India.

Emei Shan, China | 157 Philadelphia, Coronet, second edition, 1969. M. K. Dhavalikar, Ellora. New Delhi, Oxford University, 2005. Trilok Majupuria and Indra Majupuria, Holy Places of Buddhism in Nepal and India. Bangkok, Tecpress, second edition, 1993.

EMEI SHAN, CHINA Emei Shan, “the lofty eyebrow mountain,” is one of the four sacred mountains of Buddhist China. At its zenith in the fifteenth century, the mountainside contained 150 monasteries. Today, even after decades of Communism and extensive damage during the Cultural Revolution (1966– 1969), twenty monasteries remain. They are used as rest houses by pilgrims undertaking the trek up the 10,000-foot mountain. At the base of the mountain is a monastery of the Emei sect, which is devoted to martial arts. The visitor to the top of Emei climbs through groves of pines up thousands of stairs that are draped by flowering bushes in the spring and covered treacherously by snow and ice in the winter. As a concession to religious tourism, buses and a cable car have been installed to replace the climb, but there still remains an hour’s ascent through rarified air. Both of the two walking routes begin at the Baoguo Temple, which can be traced to the sixteenth century. The easier path is twenty-seven miles long; the forty-mile path is not only long but also rugged and challenging. Buses usually take pilgrims to a starting point about two days’ walk from the summit. Both paths pass by caves and temples that serve as stations along the route, with names like Crouching Tiger Temple (once also a

martial arts monastery), Myriad Ages Temple, and the Nine Immortals Cave. Here the devout pray and burn votive papers with sacred texts written on them. The two paths converge at the Elephant Bathing Pond, where purification rites take place. The patron of Emei Shan is the Bodhisattva Puxian, who is represented in art riding an elephant. (A bodhisattva is a Buddhist saint who forgoes entry into complete bliss in order to devote himself to the spiritual needs of lesser persons.) A thousand-year-old bronze statue of Puxian stands at the point where most pilgrimages begin. The final ascent brings the pilgrim to the Golden Summit and the view of Buddha’s Halo, an effect of light refracted from water crystals suspended in the cold air at the summit. Although there are numerous Buddha shrines along the mountainside, the preeminent one is Huazang Temple at the top, rebuilt in 1989 after it had been destroyed by a 1972 fire. In 1996, Mount Emei was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has breathtaking scenery across the mountain gorges, rocky crags, and forested hillsides. The monasteries have been built to accommodate themselves to the setting, using a variety of building techniques. The Buddhist monasteries date back to the third century CE, but before that, the mountain was used for Taoist worship. See also: Four Sacred Mountains, Mountains, T’ai Shan

REFERENCES James Hargett, Stairway to Heaven: A Journey to the Summit of Mount Emei. Albany, NY, SUNY, 2007.

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Mary Mullikan and Anna Hotchkis, The Nine Sacred Mountains of China. Hong Kong, Vetch & Lee, 1973. Robert Orr, Religion in China. New York, Friendship Press, 1980.

EMERALD BUDDHA, THAILAND Adjoining the Royal Palace in Bangkok is the Wat Phra Keo, or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the royal chapel where the king of Thailand performs his official religious duties. Its gilded spires and pavilions, rising between the Chao Phraya River and one of the many canals that crisscross the city, are among the unforgettable sights of Bangkok. Wat Phra Keo has been made sacred because of its official standing and because it houses the national religious treasure, the Emerald Buddha. Built by King Rama I in 1782 as a setting for the Emerald Buddha, Wat Phra Keo has expanded into a complex of buildings, each seemingly more wondrous than the last. The walls surrounding the shrine are painted with 178 murals telling the story of the Ramayana, the Hindu epic, in the Thai version called the Ramakien. Pilgrims walk around the compound, following the ancient tale. The monkey-god Hanuman is the hero who defeats the forces of corruption in the Ramakien, one of the great literary myths of the battle between good and evil. This is one of the most outstanding pieces of religious art in all Asia, and it remains in excellent condition. Anyone basically familiar with the tale can follow the paintings without difficulty. The numerous reliquary spires, both rounded (chedi) and pointed (prang),

are covered with mirrored tiles, mosaics of bright-colored glass, and gold leaf. The tallest and most striking of these spires is the Golden Chedi, covered completely in gold. It rests on a marble platform that it shares with the library (Mondop) and the Royal Pavilion. The Golden Chedi contains a major relic of the Buddha. The Mondop houses a cabinet containing Buddhist scriptures and a number of statues of the Buddha and of sacred white elephants. The Royal Pavilion, which serves as the monarch’s private chapel, contains a model of the famous temple at Angkor Wat, which has always been influential in Thai religious architecture. In front of the buildings and in the courtyards stand statues of mythical creatures: the nagas (protective cobras), yakshas (short, fierce, fanged warriors who keep away evil spirits), and the Thai national symbol, the garuda (a great bird with the lower body of a man). The Emerald Buddha, the most sacred object in Thailand, is about twenty-five inches tall. It is actually a single piece of green jasper or jadeite; emerald refers to its color. It sits in a meditation pose on an altar, forty feet high and made of intricate goldwork, flanked by crystal balls representing the sun and moon. A ninetiered umbrella rises above it, a sign of great honor reserved only for the King. Surrounding the throne are a number of five-level stylized umbrellas in bronze and gold. Since five-tiered umbrellas are reserved to members of the royal family, the symbolism is that they are in attendance before the Emerald Buddha. The statuette was taken from the Temple in 1820 in a grand procession to invoke its powers against a plague that killed 30,000. A later king, the great

Ephesus, Turkey | 159 modernizer Rama IV (reigned 1851– 1868), who had been a reforming monk for twenty-seven years before ascending the throne, ended the custom as part of his campaign to teach the people about modern infection and medicine. The sanctuary, roofed in iridescent blue tile, rests on a marble base, guarded by garudas holding nagas in their claws. Several sets of murals in the shrine present the life of the Buddha. Before entering the sanctuary, pilgrims remove their shoes; they usually prostrate themselves and make offerings of flowers or incense. The atmosphere is one of deep reverence, with none of the chatting and informality that goes on throughout the rest of the compound. Around the sanctuary are twelve pavilions. Among the religious functions of the king is to change the robes of the Emerald Buddha three times a year to indicate the beginning of each new season. There are three gold robes: a robe with blue highlights for the rainy season (also known as Buddhist Lent), an enameled robe for the cool season, and a robe with diamonds for the hot season. The Emerald Buddha was found in 1436 inside a chedi where it had apparently been hidden. It was plastered over and gilt, probably to disguise it from bandits or invaders. When it was cleaned, the gemstone body was revealed. It was stolen at one point, then taken as booty of war, and finally came into the hands of Rama I in a battle in 1778. On Chakri Day (April 6), which celebrates the founding of the Chakri Dynasty (of which the present king is ninth), people take flowers and incense to the Temple in honor of past Chakri kings. The Pantheon houses the statues of each king and is open to the public only on this day.

See also: Wat Po

REFERENCES Karen Schur Narula, Voyage of the Emerald Buddha. New York, Oxford University, 1994. Rita Ringis, Thai Temples and Temple Murals. New York, Oxford, 1990. Alistair Shearer, Thailand: The Lotus Kingdom. London, John Murray, 1989. Donald Swearer, Becoming a Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand. Princeton, NJ, Princeton, 2004.

EPHESUS, TURKEY The city of Ephesus (Efes in modern Turkey) was an important religious center, not only for the Greeks and Romans but also for Christians. It was the center of worship of Diana, goddess of the hunt, and St. Paul established an early Christian community there, to which he later addressed one of his epistles. At one point, seventeen gods and goddesses were worshipped in Ephesus. In the first century CE, Ephesus was the center of the cult of Artemis, or Diana. Its religious life centered on her shrine, the largest Greek temple in antiquity and one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. The cult of Diana was organized on the principle of the beehive. Diana, the queen, was surrounded by priests and priestesses, musicians, dancers, and acrobats. The temple had its own mounted police, and the economy of the city benefited greatly from the silver statues and ex-votos produced for her worship.

160 | Ephesus, Turkey

As a gateway to the East, Ephesus in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) became one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean.

Diana’s temple was the center of this thriving city. Any criminal could find sanctuary there and could not be taken within a bowshot of the temple. Temple prostitution flourished, involving both temporary devotees and the temple priestesses. Special rooms inside the structure were set aside for this purpose, and it seems that both male and female prostitutes were available. This pagan practice was a threat to the integrity of the tiny Christian community. Unfortunately, the magnificent temple of Diana is now only an outline on the earth, its archaeological remains removed to the British Museum. In its day, though, the annual festival of Diana stopped work for a month while huge numbers of pilgrims arrived in the city and celebrations erupted on every corner.

The ruins of the city reveal some parts of the cult of Diana, such as the Sacred Way that led to the temple. Remnants of some of the other temples also survive. When Christianity made its appearance, Ephesus was the largest port in the Middle East, so important to trade that distances were measured from it. There was also a large Jewish community, but little evidence of it remains. St. Paul spent his longest missionary tour in Ephesus (Acts 18–20). In the midst of the maelstrom of the festival, Paul decided to preach the Gospel. The silversmiths fomented a riot against him, and the excited crowd chanted, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” The mob would have lynched him if they could have found him, but Paul was persuaded to depart for Greece. The Great

Erawan Shrine, Thailand | 161 Theater, where the riot occurred, still stands. There is no biblical evidence that the Apostle John lived in Ephesus, but Christian literature from the second century on attests that he did. His supposed tomb is in the Basilica of St. John. John was exiled from Ephesus to Patmos, where he wrote his two epistles and the Book of Revelation. Tradition says that he wrote his Gospel in Ephesus, and his tomb is a major shrine there. The present Church of Mary is a heavily restored version of the cathedral built by the Emperor Justinian in the 500s and last remodeled in 1950. It served as location of the third Christian Church council in 431, which proclaimed Mary as the Mother of God (Theotokos). Pious tradition has always associated Ephesus with the Virgin Mary, because at the time of his death, Jesus consigned her to the care of John (John 19:26–27). It is her supposed home that attracts most pilgrims. In 1841, a book by a German mystic, Blessed Anna Katerina Emmerich, was published, recounting visions of Mary living in Ephesus. Following her descriptions, a house was discovered that was proclaimed to be Mary’s. It is known as the Panaya Kapula (“Doorway to the Virgin”) and was said to be the place of her death (or “dormition,” in the Orthodox tradition). Since 1892 it has been an official pilgrimage site, and Pope Paul VI visited it in 1967. On August 15, Orthodox and Muslim clergy conduct a service together at the shrine, one of the rare occasions this happens anywhere. The church is a pilgrim site for both Muslims and Christians. Under it runs a small spring from which the devout drink as part of the pilgrimage.

Near Ephesus is the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers, a cave where seven Christian youth were walled up during the Roman persecutions. An earthquake supposedly freed them two centuries later, and they arose as if from sleep. It is a popular shrine with the Greek Orthodox, although several other sites claim the identical tradition. See also: Seven Sleepers, Caves of, Ephesus, Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Petra, Jordan, Patmos

REFERENCES Clive Foss, Ephesus After Antiquity. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University, 2010. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, St. Paul’s Ephesus. Collegeville, MN, Liturgical, 2008. Erdemqil Selabattin, Ephesus. London, Scala, second edition, 2004.

ERAWAN SHRINE, THAILAND The shrine at Bangkok’s Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel is one of the most elaborate spirit shrines in Thailand. It honors the Hindu spirit Thao Maha Brahma (the Four-Faced) who, along with the spirits of the place, guards against bad luck. The intersection was once used to expose criminals to public abuse. The shrine was built in 1956 during construction of a previous hotel after several accidents had occurred among the workers. The hotel had been begun on an inauspicious date according to the stars. The hotel was completed without further

162 | Esquipulas, Guatemala

injuries. Thus the shrine gained a reputation for protection and good fortune by overcoming this dual bad karma. It is now one of the most frequently visited shrines in Thailand, and a plaza has been built around it to handle the flow of suppliants. Alongside Buddhism, the main religion of Thailand, belief in a spirit world persists. The Thais refer to spirits as phi and believe that they outnumber the human race. Many phi engage in mischievous behavior, tempting people or tricking them, and one bothersome phi is known to trick women into taking off their clothes in public. Throughout the country, the Thais build spirit houses near homes, farms, and public buildings. These small structures, often no larger than a birdhouse, provide a resting spot for the spirit of the place, and Thais often leave small offerings—flowers and incense sticks—before them. The location of the spirit house is chosen after calculating astrological signs. Usually it is situated so that the shadow of the building does not fall on it—which takes careful calculations in Bangkok because land values are high and plots small. Spirit houses in public buildings—hotels, schools, and shopping malls—are usually larger and more elaborate than those found near homes and farms. Where spirit houses are found along major streets in city centers, stands sell freshly made flower garlands, small carved elephants, and other offerings. At Erawan, the spikes on the fence along the periphery of the shrine are always topped with garlands of flowers. Thai teenagers sporting the latest fashions drop by Erawan from the upscale shops nearby to leave offerings before examinations. They mix easily

with the elderly and the visiting peasants and workers. In thanks for favors, petitioners can arrange to have a classical Thai dance performed, but this practice is much less common at Erawan than at Lakmuang Shrine. By custom, women danced naked before the shrine in thanksgiving, but the shrine’s location on a busy street has made this sort of practice impractical. The ingenious solution has been to allow playing of sexually explicit videos, although the shrine guardians confine the practice to the late night. The Erawan shrine seems to have an affinity for matters of love and sex. Popular petitions are for a good mate, a happy marriage, or the birth of a son. Prostitutes from the red-light district often pray for generous clients. In 2006 a deranged man smashed the statue of the deity. Bystanders immediately beat him to death in an orgy of mob justice, and the affair became involved in Thai politics. The statue was replaced within two months. See also: Lakmuang Shrine, Spirit Houses

REFERENCES Trilock Majupuria, Erawan Shrine and Brahma Worship in Thailand. Bangkok, Tecpress, 1993. Ormond McGill, Religious Mysteries of the Orient. South Brunswick, NJ, Barnes, 1976. Rudolph Wurlitzer, Hard Travel to Sacred Places. Boston, Shambhala, 1995.

ESQUIPULAS, GUATEMALA The shrine of the Black Christ in Esquipulas has gone from being a local

Externsteine, Germany | 163 devotion to a national icon and patron of Guatemala and is followed throughout Central America and in the United States. The major feasts, all with large international pilgrimages, are January 11–15 (Lord of Esquipulas), March 9 (translation of the image to the shrine), Holy Week, July 21–28 (St. James), and December 26 (St. Stephen). The site may have been an ancient Mayan religious center. The statue was not discovered miraculously, as alleged in so many other instances of shrines, and there are no legends of its first appearance. It was commissioned in 1595 to observe the acceptance of Spanish rule (and Christianity with it) by the native Indians. Soon, however, accounts of miraculous cures came to be associated with the statue, and after a bishop was healed there, he ordered the construction of a large church to house the image. It is a large white basilica in Spanish colonial style. Esquipulas is easily accessible by bus, thanks to the Pan-Am Highway that crosses Guatemala. Pilgrims alight a mile from the church and walk the final way, singing hymns and praying the Rosary. Many go on their knees or barefoot as a sign of penance. On entering the church, votive candles are offered, either individually or as a group token. Some leave candles for friends who cannot make the journey as a kind of substitute pilgrimage. A million pilgrims come each year. The image is on a raised area and is circled clockwise, which allows only a moment before the statue. Pilgrims then back away from the statue rather than turn their backs to it. Unlike Guadalupe in Mexico City, which uses a people mover, hurrying along the stream of pilgrims is a difficult task. Cofradias

(confraternities) of laymen manage many of the aspects of the pilgrimage. The statue is flanked by the Virgin Mary and St. John, who remained with Jesus on Calvary. Masses are celebrated all morning, and afterwards, pilgrims may have religious articles blessed. See also: Chimayo

REFERENCE Jacqueline Hogan, Migration Miracle. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 2008. www.esquipulas.com.gt.

EXTERNSTEINE, GERMANY This outcropping of five enormous limestone pillars near Detmold in northern Germany has been a sanctuary and place of mystic power since prehistoric times. A network of hermitages, chapels, Celtic stones, and sacred sites is bound together by a series of straight lines called Heilige Linien (holy lines), adding to the mystery of the place. Little is known of the activities that took place at Externsteine in the early Christian period; holes were carefully drilled for no apparent reason, stairs lead to dead ends, platforms seem to serve no purpose, and a large space faces the midsummer sunrise. This last element has led many analysts to assume that Externsteine was a solar observatory, or that this was part of its cultic use. In other such rock sanctuaries, the apparently aimless holes and structures symbolize multiple entry points into the earth to release its energies. One thing

164 | Externsteine, Germany

is certain, however—one large room was used to initiate the priests of an ancient, pre-Christian cult. Externsteine was a pagan cultic center until 782, when Charlemagne, as part of a campaign against Saxon paganism, forbade its use for ceremonies. Shortly thereafter, hermit monks settled into caves in the base of the rocks to Christianize the spot and drive out its evil powers. Beautifully preserved carved reliefs date from this period. Their purpose—to show the triumph of Christianity over paganism—is shown most clearly in the twelfth-century wall sculpture of the Tree of Life. It is an extraordinary bas relief carving of the traditional northern European Irminsul, a pagan representation of earth power, showing it bowing down in adoration as the body of Jesus is taken from the Cross. Nicodemus, who is described in the Gospels as helping remove the body of Jesus from the Cross (John 19:39–40), lowers the body, stepping on the pagan tree symbolizing the backbone of the universe, which curves obediently under his weight. The sun and moon— important pagan fertility images of masculine and feminine—are weeping. The ancient tree of pagan knowledge submits to the Tree of the Cross. The snake symbol of the earth energies is pushed down into the earth beneath the feet of the disciples. (In Jewish and Christian mythology, the serpent is the symbol of the Devil, the Evil One.) This bas relief, carved from the living rock, is the only example of German sculpture showing a Byzantine influence. Atop one of the pillars, accessible only by a metal footbridge, is a chapel with a tiny pillar altar cut out of the living rock. A twenty-inch window is

directed at the midsummer sunrise and the most northerly rising of the moon. During the Middle Ages, hermits prayed in the chapel. Scholars think that the monks demolished an observatory that they built over the chapel to drive out the pagan influences. Some investigation shows that the chapel may have been part of a zodiac orientation, in which the rays of the sun are thrown in such a way as to tell time (as in a sundial) or to indicate its path through the zodiac. Since astrology—prophecy through the study of the stars—was universal before modern science, this explanation is not unreasonable. The position of the chapel allows the first rays of the summer solstice to cut an arc of light in the center of the wall behind the altar. Perhaps the light beam originally was cast on some ex-voto or sacred object placed upon the altar. During the Nazi period (1933–1945), Externsteine was made one of the shrines that Heinrich Himmler used in his drive to encourage a revival of paganism. The rites of the Nazi neopagan religion were practiced here, and until recently, neo-Nazi groups assembled to observe Hitler’s birthday and the solstices. A few miles away is Hermann’s Denkmal, a shrine glorifying German nationalism. Today, Externsteine is no longer a Christian shrine, but it does draw many devotees. Most follow various New Age beliefs and are attracted to Externsteine by its astrological aspects. They gather in summer and winter to celebrate the solstices. Neopagans are also drawn to Externsteine. Some of them are motivated by extreme nationalism. See also: Verden

Ex-Votos | 165

REFERENCES Paul Devereux, Secrets of Ancient and Sacred Places. London, Blandford, 1992. Einhard and Notker the Stammerer, Two Lives of Charlemagne. New York, Penguin, 1969. Walter Matthes, Corvey und die Externsteine. Stuttgart, Urachhaus, 1982.

EX-VOTOS Ex-votos, sometimes called votive offerings, are gifts presented to a shrine as a sign of the pilgrim’s devotion. The Latin root of the word votive— votum (vow)—reveals that the gifts originally symbolized pilgrims’ promises to fulfill some pledge if they received the help for which they prayed. Through the offering, the givers dedicated themselves to the god or saint. Pilgrims who pray for some blessing—a healing, success in exams, or the conversion of a loved one—are making a promise to persist in prayer themselves. An ex-voto may be a simple gift or souvenir of a person’s visit to a holy place. Pilgrims often leave some token of their visit, a gift that represents themselves. This might be money, a donation of work, or a symbolic offering. (Money is sometimes given in ways not always appreciated by shrine staff, such as pinning currency to the gowns of statues or tossing coins into sacred waters.) Some religions believe that the deities will use the offerings; thus it is common to see cigars, uncooked rice, and rum before the shrines of Santerıá saints in Cuba. Besides tangible gifts, many give their services or talents. A popular American

Christmas song, “The Drummer Boy,” tells the tale of a poor crippled boy who played for the Christ Child as a way of giving his gift of self. Lourdes in France is famous for its brancardiers, stretcherbearing pilgrims who offer days or weeks of service to the sick and handicapped, carrying them to services or the clinics and seeing to their needs. At Walsingham in England, the annual pilgrimage for the severely handicapped depends on large numbers of volunteers. Perhaps the best known of this type of ex-voto is the Passion Play at Oberammergau, put on every ten years by the townspeople in thanksgiving for deliverance from the plague in 1634. In France, marble plaques with the word Merci (thanks) etched in gold are common, usually with a comment written on the back, with a plea for success in exams or a happy relationship. The most elaborate form of thank-offering is a votive painting commissioned by the pilgrim showing the cure or deliverance, usually with the holy protector hovering in the heavens above. Some of these are pictures of ships being torpedoed in war, or cars in accidents, to show the disaster from which the grateful pilgrim was delivered safely. In the cathedral of Turin, Italy, are several paintings showing people who have been saved from near-fatal falls during mountain climbing. Another common form of thankofferings are milagros, tiny images stamped in tin of an ear, hand, or eye, giving thanks for the cure of that part of the body. At Catholic shrines in Portugal and Spain, milagros are also found in molded wax, but in ancient Greek pagan shrines like Delphi and Delos, they were cast in bronze or terra cotta.

166 | Eyup Camii, Istanbul, Turkey

Military veterans leave their medals as thanks for safe delivery from battle. The tiny shrine chapel of St. Michael, patron of Mont Saint Michel in France, has a display of medals from the FrancoPrussian War and World Wars I and II. Lech Walesa, first president of Poland after the collapse of Communism there, presented his 1983 Nobel Peace Prize Medal to the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa at Jasna Go´ ra in thanks for his preservation from Communist persecution. Even Ernest Hemingway left his Nobel Medal for literature at the Cuban shrine of El Cobre. At the Peace Shrine at Hiroshima, thank-offerings take the form of tens of thousands of strands of folded paper cranes, symbols of new life in Japanese culture. Most common, however, are the votive offerings that simply testify to the pilgrim’s presence and are understood to prolong that presence. Candles, incense, and flowers are the most universal forms of this type of ex-voto. Some pilgrims leave graffiti or put their names on rocks near a shrine. In Japan, pilgrims paint their names on smooth stones that are then tossed into ponds. In Turkey, on the tombs of Muslim holy men (tu¨rbes), visitors commonly leave a strip torn from their clothing. In Tibet and India, tree branches flutter with pilgrims’ small, personally inscribed banners. Like the “rag offerings,” they remain until they rot away. The most dramatic of this type of ex-voto is the presentation of a woman’s hair, a custom that goes back to pre-Christian Rome but is still seen in modern Italy. The contemporary forms of this ex-voto of presence are photographs and the visitor’s book, where pilgrims sign their names and

comment about the experience for the edification of those who follow. Votive offerings are also found at cemeteries, where some cultures leave food and drink for the dead. In Africa, people pour out a libation (beer or a soft drink) for their ancestors on important occasions. It is a Jewish custom to leave a stone at a cemetery, and they can be seen all over the areas around the crematoria at Birkenau and other Holocaust sites. One shrine, the Hill of Crosses in Siauliai, Lithuania, is composed entirely of ex-votos: tens of thousands of crosses of all sizes and shapes cover the hillside as a striking testimonial of faith. See also: Hill of Crosses, Hiroshima, Oberammergau, Relics

REFERENCES Isabel Borg, The Maritime Ex-Votos: A Culture of Thanksgiving. Valletta, Malta, Midsea, 2005. Samuel Butler, Ex Voto: An Account of the Sacro Monte. Teddington, UK, Echo Library, 2006. Martha Egan, Milagros: Votive Offerings from the Americas. Santa Fe, Museum of New Mexico, 1991.

EYUP CAMII, ISTANBUL, TURKEY Eyup al-Ansari was a friend and companion of Mohammed and the last surviving member of his inner circle. As commander and standard-bearer, he led the Muslim forces in the 678 attack on Constantinople. He died in battle on the

Ezekiel’s Tomb, Hillah, Iraq | 167 ramparts and was buried in Constantinople. When the Turks finally took the city in 1453, they sought out his grave and built a shrine-tomb and mosque outside the walls. It almost immediately became a place of Muslim pilgrimage. The legend was put about that the tomb was discovered by miraculous divine revelation, but in fact, the preservation of the tomb had been part of the cease-fire signed at the end of the siege. The Eyup Camii was used for part of the installation ritual of Turkish sultans. For several centuries they went there for the Girding on of the Sword of Osman, the first Ottoman emperor, in a solemn ceremony. The present-day mosque dates from 1800, a replacement for the original, which was destroyed by an earthquake. Inside is a large courtyard, with the mosque on one side and the tomb across from it. The tomb itself is behind a silver screen, which the pilgrims touch while praying. It is considered a privilege to be buried near the tomb, and cemeteries have sprung up around it. One of the main activities is the visit of young boys just before their circumcision. They are dressed as little Ottoman princes. Young couples also come before their marriage, dressed in their wedding garments, to seek the blessing of the saint. Fridays, the Muslim day of prayer, bring out the largest crowds. The Ottoman Mehmet Band entertains with traditional Turkish music in the plaza before noon prayers, adding to the festive atmosphere.

REFERENCE Anna Edmonds, Turkey’s Religious Sites. Istanbul, Damko, 1997.

EZEKIEL’S TOMB, HILLAH, IRAQ Dhu’l-Kifl Shrine, the tomb of the Jewish prophet Ezekiel, is near Najaf and eighty miles from Baghdad. At one time, Iraq had one of the largest Jewish communities in the Middle East outside Palestine, and as many as 5,000 Jews came to the tomb each year for Passover. But after the establishment of Israel, 120,000 emigrated in a secret operation engineered by the Israelis, called Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, ending 2,500 years of Jewish presence. Ezekiel, who went into exile with his people to Babylon, came to this place in exile to die, and today the Iraqi Jews have gone into exile from here. The complex consists of a turbe or tomb and a minaret. It was for generations a place of Jewish pilgrimage until it was transferred to the Muslims in 1316. The autumn pilgrimage on the Feast of Tabernacles brought thousands of Jews to the shrine. Ezekiel is listed as one of the honored prophets in the Quran and Muslims had also begun visiting his tomb in numbers. Thus it continued until early in the nineteenth century, when it was restored and returned to Jewish use (although the minaret remained). The shrine is adobe-covered brick, attached to the former mosque. The base is square, with a tall conical dome. The inside is whitewashed to make the best use of the restricted light. The tomb is covered with a gold cloth that pilgrims kiss. According to legend, the medieval library contained books from the time of the First Temple. One torah scroll (the five books of Moses) was supposed

168 | Ezekiel’s Tomb, Hillah, Iraq

to have been inscribed by Ezekiel himself. The belief was that gifts to the shrine would bring about a large family and cause animals to multiply. No goods were stolen from the shrine because the Jews were convinced that theft would cause illness and death. As a consequence, merchants left large sums and treasure at the tomb for safekeeping, and it served as a sort of primitive bank. The Iraqi government has begun a new restoration, but even during the rule

of Saddam Hussein the shrine was protected. During the Iraqi War, buildings around the shrine were shelled or destroyed, but the shrine itself was not damaged. All of the trickle of pilgrims today are Muslim.

REFERENCE Robert Jenson, Ezekiel. Grand Rapids, MI, Brazos, 2009.

F

The first apparition came to Lucia and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco, as they tended sheep in an isolated ravine called Cova da Iria. Suddenly they saw a woman in white, “more brilliant than the sun, shedding rays of light.” She told them that she came from heaven and promised that they would suffer much, but said that they should continue to pray the rosary. News of the vision only brought mockery and derision, but sixty people came to the second vision in June. Only the children saw the Lady, who again told them to pray the rosary. She told them to learn to read and predicted the deaths of the younger two. As she left, the small crowd could see a cloud rising and tree branches bowing toward it. After the apparition, authorities put great pressure on the three children to deny what they had seen. Nevertheless, they returned to Cova da Iria on July 13. Lucia asked the lady for a sign and was promised that in October she would reveal her name and give a sign for all. She also gave the children three secrets:

FATIMA, PORTUGAL A rural village in central Portugal was the site of one of the best-known visions of the Virgin Mary, which has become a main pilgrimage center. On the thirteenth of every month from May to October 1917, three illiterate children said they had visions of the Virgin Mary. The visions were vivid and the Virgin’s messages pointed, involving prophecies concerning world events about which the children were completely ignorant. The alleged vision immediately became part of conflicts between the Church and the anticlerical government, which accused Church authorities of trying to mobilize the peasants. The visions of Fa´tima soon moved beyond Portuguese politics, however, and became a worldwide phenomenon. Our Lady of Fa´tima became a symbol of resistance to Communism, and the shrine became among the most popular Catholic pilgrimage destinations in the world.

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170 | Fatima, Portugal

Worshippers attend an international pilgrimage at Fatima Sanctuary in Fatima, Portugal, May 13, 2009.

the first was a vision of hell “like a sea of fire,” the second predicted World War II and prophesied that Russia would be converted if people prayed (this occurred several months before the Communists took power there). The third secret was written by Lucia in 1943, deposited in the Vatican and not opened until 2000. The third secret describes an apocalyptic vision of a great martyrdom of the faithful and of the pope. The third secret became a matter of contention among Catholics, some of whom regarded it as superstitious and others as an ultimate message from God. Even after it was revealed by Pope John Paul II, the Vatican was accused of covering up the real message. Conspiracy theories have never abated, including a popular one that the pope would become the antichrist. Eighteen thousand people came for the August apparition, but the children

were kept in detention for three days by an antireligious local official. He threatened them to no avail. On the nineteenth, the Lady appeared, expressing displeasure at the cancelled meeting. Thirty thousand people crammed the area for the fifth apparition in September, and the children had difficulty getting through. By this time, the press was covering the apparitions and all Europe had heard of them. A few people believed they saw a globe of light as the children spoke to the Lady, and when Lucia asked for healings, the Lady promised to cure some of those present. The October apparition drew 70,000 people. Mary announced that she was Our Lady of the Rosary and asked that this prayer be offered for an end to World War I, and that a church be built in her honor. She then disappeared in a blaze of light, to be replaced by several

Fatima, Portugal | 171 visions of Mary, Joseph, and the Christ Child. All of this was seen only by the children. The crowd had patiently stood throughout, drenched by a heavy rain, when Lucia cried out, “Look at the sun!” It seemed to dance in the sky, whirling toward the earth and then back. After the spinning of the sun, the crowd found its clothing completely dry. This was the sign that the Lady had promised, and it was experienced by all those present. Francisco and Jacinta both died during the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918–1920, and Lucia, constantly harassed by the curious, became a nun in 1926 and moved to Spain. Four years later, the apparitions of Fa´ tima were approved by the Church. In 1948 Lucia entered a cloistered convent and rarely left it afterwards. She visited the shrine only five times since the church was built. She died in 2005 at age 97. In 2000 Francisco and Jacinta were beatified. Due to its connections with antiCommunism, Fa´tima has lost popularity since the fall of the Soviets, though it still draws more than four million visitors each year. It has become a symbol of conservative Catholicism, and its followers include many critical of reform in the Church. The town of Fa´tima was desperately poor in 1917. Though it has expanded to accommodate pilgrim hostels and commercial development, much of it remains simple and even austere. The sanctuary, completed in 1953, is a massive white colonnaded structure. In front of it is a huge paved plaza, necessary to handle the crowds on the feast days. Down the center of it is a marble path for those who wish to approach the shrine on their knees. Pilgrims go first to the tomb of Francisco, around whom

a cult has developed, and many devotees are promoting his recognition as a saint. An open chapel has been built on the site of the apparitions, and Mass is celebrated there continually from dawn to dusk. Worked into the crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fa´ tima at the chapel is the bullet removed from Pope John Paul II after the assassination attempt on him in 1981. A large chapel and assembly hall has been built to accommodate crowds as well, and it was used by Pope Benedict XVI on his 2010 visit to the shrine. To the east of the sanctuary, a path winds through stony farm fields to Aljestrel, the hamlet where the three seers lived. The path is lined with fifteen Stations of the Cross commemorating the Passion and death of Jesus, erected by refugees who fled Hungary in 1956. The fifteenth station, the Resurrection, was built after Hungary’s liberation from Communism. Along the way is the tree of Mary’s fourth apparition (August 19, 1917), the only vision that did not take place at the Cova da Iria. At dusk, local residents often come here to sing a haunting chant in the local dialect in honor of the Virgin. Years later, Lucia revealed that the children had seen three visions of angels in 1916. Near the way of the Cross is the spot of the first and third of these. The second is at the well in the backyard of Lucia’s home in the village. See also: Marian Apparitions

REFERENCES Tarcisio Bertone, The Last Secret of Fatima. New York, Doubleday, 2008. James Vessels, “Fatima: Beacon for Portugal’s Faithful,” 158 National

172 | Fertility Shrines

Geographic 6:832–839 (December 1980). Sandra Zimdars-Schwartz, Encountering Mary. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 1991. Pilgrimages to Europe: Fatima. Janson Media, 2004, video.

FERTILITY SHRINES Religion and sexuality have been connected since the beginnings of worship. Primitive tribes beseeched the powers of nature for bountiful harvests and fertile cattle. It was a small step to asking for children. In ages past, when the majority of babies died before their fifth birthdays, large families ensured the survival of all. Women who could produce healthy children were prized. Early peoples also realized the connection between the forces of sexuality and religion—both produced ecstasy and carried humans beyond their everyday feelings. But these very powers prompted cultures to surround sexuality with taboos and moral restrictions, which were ascribed to the gods. The worship of the procreative is part of many traditions. To the Westerner, some of these seem too explicit, but in other cultures, they are natural, part of the normal expression of humanity. Phallic symbols, symbolic representations of the male penis, are the most obvious form that this takes. In Hinduism, among of the universal symbols of the god Shiva are stone pillars that reflect his power and generativity. The idea of sexual reproduction and the creation of the world come together. The lingam is often paired with the yoni, or female vulva, of his beloved consort Parvati. In ancient Greece, the god of livestock and genitalia was Priapus, son of

Aphrodite. In art and sculpture, he is shown with an erect penis. The Greeks, who glorified the human body, considered neither that embarrassing nor unusual, but Priapus was a minor god. As in every religious expression, there were those who took the worship to extremes. Some young women would submit their virginity to the statue as an act of worship before marrying. Among pagan groups in the ancient Middle East, women might offer themselves to the service of a temple as temple prostitutes serving pilgrims. In Ephesus at the Temple of Diana, goddess of fertility, the priestesses served this role, although others supplemented them. In a sense, which seems twisted to westerners, this was a form of ex-voto or thanks offering. Diana of Ephesus is presented in statuettes with a hundred breasts. The Jews rebelled against temple prostitution when the Greeks introduced it to their temple after the occupation of Israel (2 Maccabees 6:3–5). Germanic and Celtic cultures in northern Europe celebrated May Day with a symbolic May pole, where boys and girls danced. The Puritans, recognizing its meaning, forbade it in England from 1570 to 1630, and it was banned in France around the same time. The timing (spring) coincides with the start of the seeding season. In its contemporary form, the May Pole dance seems innocent of most of these associations. Boys and girls dance around the pole in opposite directions, each holding the end of a ribbon that twines around it. At the end, they meet at the foot of the pole. The Japanese have several fertility festivals each year in which huge phalluses are taken in riotous parades through the streets from the temples that enshrine

Fire, Sacred | 173 them. There is a lot of merriment and silliness attached, lest one take the parade too seriously. Souvenir stands sell penisshaped lollipops, for example. Despite all that, the shrines themselves are solemn places. The reverence of the phallic statues is not about sexual license but fertility and the delivery of healthy babies. It is as common to see elderly men bowing and reverencing the statue as young women. Near Nagoya is a prominent shrine where the March 15 festival celebrates fertility and renewal. The procession takes several hours, centering on the huge phallus, which weighs some 800 pounds and is carried by teams of sixty men. Among the Shinto priests is one who is costumed as the deity of the shrine. The worship is not of the phallus but of the power of nature to regenerate itself. Interestingly enough, the resident deity or kamii is a female spirit. Nearby is another shrine dedicated to the eternal feminine, with symbolic carving of female genitalia. The largest Japanese fertility festival is held at Kawasaki in April, when the fruit trees have begun to blossom. It involves a sacred fire and a Buddhist service as well as the parade with the large phallus. While all the activities are going on outside, women slip into the museum to pray before the many carved representations for a child or a safe pregnancy. See also: Chao Tuptim, Maximon

REFERENCES Richard Knight and Thomas Wright, Sexual Symbolism: A History of Phallic Worship. Mineola, NY, Dover, 2006.

Devdutt Pattanaik, Shiva to Sankara: Decoding the Phallic Symbol. Mumbai, Indus, 2006.

FIRE, SACRED The ancient Greeks identified four elements of the world: earth, air, water, and fire. All these, in one way or another, became objects of worship. Fire, which consumes and yet purifies, has always had a place in worship and has often had shrines dedicated to it. There are many references to fire as part of sacrifice throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. The Jews denounced human sacrifice, especially of children who were thrown into a furnace in honor of the god Moloch (Leviticus 20:2). II Kings 16:2 condemns King Ahaz because he lapsed into pagan practice and burned his son. When the Bible wants to give a story of fidelity in the face of persecution, it tells of a trial by fire (Daniel 3:19–26). No doubt that fiery furnace was the same sort used for the sacrificial burning of human victims. The use of burnt offering of animals at the Jerusalem Temple lasted until its destruction. In some cases parts of the animal were reserved for the priests or the poor, but in others there was holocaust, the complete consumption of the animal by fire. The fire purified and sent the sacrifice to the Lord. The Zoroastrians worship fire as a presence of the divine, and it is part of their ceremonies in every temple. In the early Vedic period in India before Hinduism, there were no temples. Fire was used as a representation of the divine and sacred fires were lit on platforms in the open, and offerings were made.

174 | Flight into Egypt, Egypt

Fire circles were used by some Plains Native Americans for weddings. In the East, Indian towns used fires as manifestations of the sun. The first European explorers describe how the Natchez kept a temple fire guarded by a group of men called the Suns. Four stout logs were placed in the cardinal directions, and at various times the fire was offered tobacco, animal fat, or grain from the harvest. The smoke from the offerings was thought to carry their pleas to the gods above. Some Indian fires may have been maintained for centuries. Even the sacred pipe is a small fire, and it has its keeper. Treaties and agreements of all sorts were settled by passing the sacred pipe, so that the high god would be witness and sealer of the agreement. The worship of volcanoes as abodes of the gods is found in many cultures, including Hawai’i and Java in Indonesia. Native Hawai’ian religion believes that the fire goddess Pele lives in the volcano Kilauea and that eruptions are her way of demanding sacrifice. The St. John’s Fire is a feature of midsummer celebrations, which are preChristian but have been incorporated into rituals all across Europe. Large bonfires are built for the feast. Until the Revolution in France, cages full of cats were thrown into the fires, since the cat was a symbol of the Devil. Similarly, at places like St-Jean-de-Doigt, dedicated to John the Baptist, a bonfire is lit as a sign of consuming sin and defeating the Devil. Midsummer is held on the feast of St. John the Baptist (June 24 in Orthodox, Catholic, and many Protestant calendars). In Quebec it is the national holiday. Even in contemporary secular memorials in the West, fire has a place, and

eternal flames are a popular expression. Another expression of the use of fire symbols in secular memorials is the Olympic Flame, which is lit from the sun at Olympia in Greece every four years, and then carried around the world until it lights up a cauldron of fire at the Olympic venue of that year. Fire symbols are used as ex-votos at shrines in the form of votive or offering candles. Candles are part of Catholic and Orthodox liturgies, with the symbolism of attending angels. The Easter candle is lit from the great fire during the vigil of Easter, as the deacon intones three times, with ever-rising notes, “Light of Christ.” The candle, always a large one, is lit for forty days at every liturgy and at other times during the year for baptisms and funerals. The menorah, or seven-branched candlestick of solid gold, was one of the important items in the Jerusalem Temple, its manufacture mandated in Exodus 25:31–40. A menorah is found in every Jewish synagogue and observant homes, where lighting it at sundown is a ritual beginning the Sabbath. The Hanukah menorah, which commemorates the miracle of the eight days that the Temple menorah burned without oil, has eight branches. See also: Kilauea, Midsummer, St-Jean-deDoigt, Zoroastrian Shrines

FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, EGYPT The story of the flight into Egypt is told in the Christian Scriptures at Matthew 2:13– 15, where Joseph, warned in a dream, took the child Jesus and his mother into

Four Sacred Mountains, China | 175 Egypt to escape the murderous fury of Herod. From this simple account, the Coptic Orthodox Church has developed legends of the many places the family stayed on their journey and miraculous events during their time in Egypt. The Matthew passage says that “this was to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the Prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son’” (Hosea 11:1). In this and other scripture passages the Copts found authority for the Holy Family’s sojourn in Egypt. The sites associated with this are still visited by Coptic pilgrims, and it forms a sort of pilgrimage route. The most important place associated with the legends of the Holy Family is the Church of the Virgin Mary at al-Muharraq Monastery, where the Family stayed for six months. The altar stone is considered the bed upon which the child was laid, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 19:19, “there will be altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt.” Tradition says that while they were here, Joseph received the dream that told him that it was safe to return to Israel (Matthew 2:20–21). Further reinforcing the legends, Coptic Pope Theophilus at the end of the fourth century claimed to have had the Holy Family’s path revealed to him in a vision, and that account is the basis of the pilgrim route up to the present. After negotiating the Sinai Desert at great peril, the Holy Family crossed the Suez to Zagazig. There we hear of Jesus’ first miracle, causing a spring to come up from the ground and the idols to be smashed. They then went toward Cairo, and nearby there is a site where the Virgin supposedly bathed the child. These stories multiply, and it is interesting that many are associated with wells and springs that Jesus caused the gush

forth. Water in a desert area is, of course, a sign of new life. The Holy Family trod to the edge of the great desert of Wadi el-Natroun, where Jesus prophesied that many ascetics would be raised up there. They returned to the area around Cairo and then into the city itself. Here we find the most accessible and popular sites of the Flight: five churches in central Cairo and many nearby. From Cairo they went south along the Nile to Minya. Here they hid in a cave when they were pursued by soldiers, and a monastery now stands over it. All of these places are marked by churches or monasteries. They receive a constant flow of pilgrims, and on June 1, larger numbers come to celebrate the feast of the arrival of the Holy Family. The largest pilgrimage, however, is to Dirunka, a fortified convent five miles from Assiut, in the heartland of Coptic Christianity. Here again a cave was supposed to have sheltered the Holy Family. Each August 15 to 30, a million Copts converge on the area for the Moulid of the Virgin, her dormition and rising up to heaven. See also: Coptic Cairo, Scete

REFERENCE Gawdat Gabra, The Churches of Egypt: From the Journey of the Holy Family to the Present Day. Cairo, American University of Cairo, 2007.

FOUR SACRED MOUNTAINS, CHINA Before the arrival of Buddhism in China, Daoists worshipped on several mountains known for their beauty. They were

176 | Four Sacred Mountains, China

Map of China’s Buddhist sacred mountains.

thought to be the homes of powerful spirits. Ascetics sought them out for refuges and their hermitages gradually attracted disciples. With the arrival of Buddhism and its domination of the Chinese religious scene, four of these mountains emerged as the most important. Monks took over the caves and hermitages and pilgrims began wending their ways to the peaks. Each of the four sacred mountains was regarded as special to a bodhisattva, a Buddhist saint who had gone to the edge of enlightenment but deferred it to help others on their spiritual paths.

All of the shrines and monasteries were attacked during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) under Mao Tse-Tung, when Communist Red Guards burned Buddhist scriptures, emptied monasteries, and broke precious treasures. Many monks and nuns were sent off to punishment camps for communist indoctrination. An unknown number were murdered and centuries of Chinese culture were erased. Emei Shan (west) is dedicated to the bodhisattva Puxian. Even after the Cultural Revolution, which destroyed so many religious sites, twenty monasteries remain on the mountain. The summit

Four Sacred Mountains, China | 177 monastery, Huanzang, was rebuilt in 1989. The Communist government recognizes the value of the shines as cultural centers and also encourages religious tourism. The arduous climb can be cut short by a cable car to the top today. Various Emei monasteries are worship centers for other bodhisattvas; for example, Kwan-yin is worshipped at one of them. Putuo Shan (east) is sacred to Kwanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion, whose worship is found all over Asia; in Japan she is known as Kannon. She is perhaps the most popular of bodhisattvas. Her mountain is on an island not far from Shanghai. About seventy monasteries and temples remain on the island, with some 3,000 monks and nuns, despite the fact that the shrines were severely damaged in the Cultural Revolution. They serve the pilgrims, who come hoping to have a vision of the goddess. To prepare themselves properly, pilgrims usually fast and abstain from sex, but they may also use extreme ascetic practices such as piercing their skin with pins and medals. At the same time, the island has recreational facilities, including two beaches with water rides. Jiuhua Shan (south) is the abode of the spirit of the protector of the souls in hell, Ksahitigarba (in Chinese Dizang). Often called “Dizang of the Great Vow,” he is presented as a haloed monk with a staff to force open the gates of hell. As a bodhisattva, he has vowed not to reach buddhahood until all the hells are emptied. Jiuhua is located in Anhui Province, one of the poorest regions of China. Despite that, it attracts Buddhist pilgrims from Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea. There are about a dozen

functioning monasteries on the mountains today, some more than a thousand years old. In the north is Wutai Shan (“five plateau mountain”), the home of Wenshu, the bodhisattva of wisdom, who is said to manifest himself on the mountain as a wandering pilgrim. Otherwise, he is shown carrying a sword to cut through poor thinking and expose the truth. The name comes from the physical surroundings: Wutai is actually five high plateaus surrounding a ten-mile valley. The area lends itself to many caves, once used by hermit monks. Some are the goals of pilgrims, who believe that they can see Wenshu in the gloomy darkness or enter the deepest caves and emerge spiritually reborn. Wutai Shan is less accessible than the other three mountains and so suffered less in the Cultural Revolution. Fifty-three monasteries have survived. Wutai has a long connection to Tibetan Buddhism, despite the fact that it is furthest from Tibet of all the four sacred mountains. There is a major Lamaist monastery on one of the peaks. In 2009, Wutai was named to the UNESCO World Heritage List. See also: Emei Shan, T’ai Shan, Taoist Sacred Mountains

REFERENCES Edwin Birnbaum, Sacred Mountains of the World. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1998. James Hargett and Fan Chena, Stairway to Heaven. Albany, NY, SUNY, 2006. Yang Junlei, Auspicious Clouds Above the Wutai Mountain. Beijing, Foreign Languages, 2009.


G

slaughterers wave their curved knives in the air as they dance to the field. About 350 are appointed to this task by the high priest of the temple. The event begins with the ritual slaughter of two rats, a rooster, a pig, a goat, and a lamb before the temple. Devotees then may bring their own sacrificial animals to the temple for ritual purification before taking them to the slaughtering grounds. The sacrifices are propitiations, that is, they are believed to relieve the anger of the God Gadhimai. The only comparison is to the Islamic observance of Eid ulAdha, where numbers of goats and sheep are slaughtered in memory of the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, but in that instance, the meat is distributed to the poor. The festival has been held for 300 years, and the Nepali government has been reluctant to curb what they see as an ancestral custom, despite the fact that eighty percent of those attending come from India. Neighboring Indian states have banned the slaughter, driving Hindu devotees to Nepal every fifth year. A few Hindus bring fruits and flowers as

GADHIMAI FESTIVAL, NEPAL While animal sacrifice disappeared in the practices of most religions centuries ago, it continues in Nepal at the Gadhimai Mela (festival), despite protests and attempts to end it. Both animal-rights activists and Buddhists oppose this Hindu celebration, where half a million animals are slaughtered. It lasts a week in late November and is the largest sacrificial festival in the world. A million Hindus gather in southern Nepal for the feast, which slaughters about 35,000 to 40,000 buffalo in a single event at the temple. The total for the week includes buffaloes, goats, chickens, and pigeons. About 400,000 animal sacrifices are held each Gadhimai. Before the slaughterers begin their grim task, they take part in Hindu rituals. A priestess of the temple awaits the dawn, and when the goddess awakes with the first light, the priestess is possessed by the spirit of the goddess. She shudders and quakes in ecstasy. The

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180 | Garden Tomb, Israel

alternative offerings to the god, and the roads to the temple are lined with animalrights advocates selling cocoanuts and other possible offerings. Ram Bahadur Bamjan, regarded as a reincarnation of the Buddha, has strongly condemned the slaughter and threatened to come to the 2009 festival, but Nepali police prevented him, due to fears of a riot. Numbers both of pilgrims and of animals sacrificed are wildly different. No one keeps count, and the border is simply opened to Indians. Some say those coming are upwards of ten million, others as low as 800,000. The number of animals has been suggested to be as many as 500,000.

REFERENCE Mary Anderson, The Festivals of Nepal. New Delhi, Rupa, 1988. www.gadhimai.com.

GARDEN TOMB, ISRAEL The Garden Tomb, supposedly the place where Jesus’ body was laid when it was taken down from the Cross, is the primary Protestant shrine in Jerusalem. It was discovered in 1867 and has been authenticated as a first-century tomb. It gained currency in 1883 when the charismatic British hero, General “Chinese” Gordon, had a vision before the tomb that it was the burial place of Jesus. Gordon had been angry that Protestant services were not allowed at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Garden Tomb fits the criteria of Jesus’ burial place: it lies outside the Damascus Gate near Calvary, is rock hewn, and was clearly prepared for a wealthy, prominent man. It also has a deep

groove in the ground in front of the entrance, lending credence to the biblical account of a stone being rolled over the opening to seal it. It is set into a stone face. Some parts that have eroded have been repaired with brick. The hill in which the tomb is built can also be seen as shaped like a skull; one of the possible translations of Golgotha is “place of the skull.” As befits its name, the Tomb is set in a beautiful garden of stone pathways, flowers, and rocks with inscriptions proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. It is maintained and funded by a Britishbased foundation. Excavations have revealed two interior rooms that once had benches along the sides. Arguments against its authenticity point to its probable use as a stable by the Crusaders, who used the groove as a trough. It is not strong enough to have supported a large stone. Regardless of the arguments pro and con, the Garden Tomb remains a place of pilgrimage for Protestants, especially evangelicals and Mormons. The Anglicans, who had early approved of the Garden Tomb as the site of Jesus’ burial, have since withdrawn their endorsement. See also: Jerusalem, Christian Sites

REFERENCE Andrew Skinner, The Garden Tomb. Salt Lake City, UT, Deseret, 2005. www.gardentomb.com.

THE GARGANO MASSIF, ITALY In southern Italy along the Adriatic Sea lies the Ga´rgano Massif, a breathtakingly beautiful mountainous area that is the

The Gargano Massif, Italy | 181 site of both Italy’s oldest pilgrimage route and its newest shrine. Even the names of the mountains tell of the region’s spiritual traditions: Monte Sacro, Monte Salvatore, Monte Sant’ Angelo, and Monte degli Angeli. Monte Sant’Angelo is named for St. Michael the Archangel, invoked in the medieval period as the chief protector against the power of the Devil. Michael’s cult was widespread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, and Michael was traditionally honored on high places. According to local legend, St. Michael appeared at a grotto to a peasant around the year 490, after his bull wandered into a cave. He shot an arrow to dislodge him, but the arrow turned around and struck him in the foot. Michael then left a red cloak as a testimonial. Immediately Christians undertook pilgrimages to the site, which previously had been a pagan holy place. In the eighth century, a monk named Aubert took a piece of the cloak to France, where he built Mont-SaintMichel to shelter the relic. Michael is related in the Bible (Revelation 12:7–11) as the leader of the angels who cast down the devils into Hell and whose name was their battle cry. All his shrines are on high places, where he is honored as a protector against the power of Satan. The town of Sant’Angelo is surrounded by two circles of walls, inside which are several buildings built from 1000 to 1200 to care for pilgrims. The cave can still be accessed from the basilica, where pilgrims leave ex-votos and take away vials of water from the spring. The Archangel Michael was said to have appeared several times, the last in 1656 to stop a plague. In the late sixth

century the area was invaded by the Lombards, who embraced Christianity and especially the image of Michael as a warrior-angel. Each succeeding wave of conquerors—Byzantines, Normans, Italians—shaped the shrine to its own culture. At least twice Michael is credited with appearing with a flaming sword to bring about the defeat of enemies, once against the Orthodox Greeks and another time against a horde of pirates. In time the pilgrimage route became known as the Via Sacra Longobardorum, the Lombard Sacred Way, and it was also one of the ways for the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when crusaders sailed from nearby Manfredo´ nia, they would visit the shrine to ask the blessing of Michael, patron of warriors. The present sanctuary church dates from this period. A magnificent Byzantine bronze door, crafted in Constantinople in 1076, opens to the cave where Michael was alleged to have appeared. Inside the grotto is a church and a fountain with miraculous waters. Major festivals are held on May 8 (the anniversary of the apparitions) by the Greek and Latin Churches, and September 29, the Feast of St. Michael. Very early Christian documents suggest that the building of this shrine on Ga´rgano was the occasion for establishing this last feast day. The Gargano Massif and its shrines are listed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. See also: Mont-St-Michel, Padre Pio Shrine, Wells and Springs

REFERENCE www.santuariosanmichele.it.

182 | Geneva, Switzerland

Statues of four Swiss reformers on the wall at the Reformation Monument, Geneva, Switzerland.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND Geneva, the largest city in Frenchspeaking Switzerland, is one of the earliest and most prominent foundation

places for Protestantism. Here John Calvin (1509–1564) developed the major alternative to Lutheranism, and from here his doctrine spread to France (where Calvinism is the main expression of Protestantism), the Netherlands, and Scotland. Known as the Presbyterian Church in the English-speaking world, Calvinism is also prominent as far afield as Korea, where it is the largest Christian denomination. A number of sites in Geneva evoke the spirit of Calvin and his message, but because of Calvinist disapproval of shrines and pilgrimages, these places are seen as memorials, sources of inspiration, and reaffirmation of faith. Geneva was governed as a city-state by prince-bishops from the twelfth century. Thus, when Calvin arrived in 1536 and Geneva accepted Protestantism, it was easily transformed into a republic with a religious leader. Calvin ruled unchallenged for a quarter century, leaving his mark on the spirit of the city and

JOHN CALVIN Calvin is among the most prominent Protestant founders of the sixteenth century. He was born Catholic and entered the law. At twenty-one, he had a conversion experience that led him to leave Catholicism, and he embarked on the writing of a massive and influential work, The Institutes of Christian Religion, which he expanded and developed throughout his life. His basic teaching was on the total sovereignty of God in determining personal salvation, which became known as predestination. In danger in France, he moved to Geneva, then a hotbed of the new reform movements, but he soon fell out with the city council. Calvin accepted a post in Strasbourg, where he pastored a church, despite having never been ordained to any religious office. In 1541, he returned to Geneva, where he undertook the reform of the city. There was immediate opposition, and he was almost expelled. In 1553, however, he arrested a Spanish heretic, Michael Servetus, whom he had burned at the stake for denying the doctrine of the Trinity. Others of his opponents were arrested and beheaded or exiled. Calvin’s triumph made him the undisputed leader of religious affairs, and he undertook a thorough reform of worship and morals.

Geneva, Switzerland | 183 making Calvinism its universal faith. Refugee Protestants fled to Geneva, sparking a revival of the economy. Calvin preached the morality of capitalism, and in a sense, prosperous Geneva is a monument to his social doctrine. Another monument to Calvinism is the International Red Cross, founded in Geneva in 1864 and inspired directly by a Calvinist sense of calling to service. For the same reason, the city has become a beacon for peace-making and armsreduction efforts as well as truce negotiations. Often called the “Protestant Rome,” Geneva is also headquarters of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Ironically, the city today is half Catholic. Geneva has become a city dedicated to peace making. Besides the Red Cross, it is headquarters for the World Trade Organization (WTO), the WCC, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches. It is the European center for the United Nations, even though Switzerland is not a member. The International Court of Justice, the UN Commission for Human Rights, and the World Health Organization have their central offices there. St. Peter’s Cathedral, recently restored, contains the pulpit from which Calvin preached for twenty-eight years. Originally built between 1150 and 1225, the cathedral shows the effects of the Reformation, which sought to eliminate those Catholic devotions that came between the individual and God. It became Protestant in 1536. Not only statues but also stained-glass windows, church music, and tabernacles were removed. The interior of St. Peter’s is notable for its simplicity. It contains the tomb of the Duc de Rohan, an early head of the Reformed Church in France. Beneath the cathedral is an archaeological

site with displays from the earliest periods of Christianity in Geneva. The Chapel of the Maccabees was restored in 1875. It is richly ornamented in bright colors, with fine stained glass. The Calvin Auditory, a former chapel next to the cathedral, was where Calvin taught and led bible studies every evening. Later, it became the foundation building of the University of Geneva and was made into a Calvinist chapel for refugees who worshipped in languages other than French. John Knox preached there to the English community during his exile from Scotland. The Reformers’ Wall, more than 100 yards long, is a carved granite and quartz monument to the leaders of the Reformation. Its ten statues, with the most prominent Calvinists at the center (Guillaume Farel, Calvin, Theodore Beza, and John Knox), include a statue of Roger Williams, the Pilgrim who founded Rhode Island. There are also plaques dedicated to Martin Luther and to Ulrich Zwingli, the other major personality in Swiss Protestantism. It is inscribed, in Latin, with the motto, “After the darkness, light.” Protestant Geneva still observes a September day as a day of fast known as Jeune Genevois. It commemorates the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre in 1572, when thousands of French Calvinists were martyred. It is a public holiday in Geneva, symbolic of Genevan identity and proud Protestantism. While the religious aspect has waned, many still eat plum cakes on that day—once the only food in Protestant homes during the fast. The major celebration in the city is Escalade Day, December 12. It commemorates the Catholic attack on the city in 1602 and the brave resistance that saved

184 | Ggantija, Gozo, Malta

Tourists at Ggantija temple remains, Malta.

it. Processions and scenes are performed in period costumes, including a scene where the defenders, running out of rocks, poured their rations—cauldrons of boiling soup—from the tops of the walls on the attackers. The site is now a public garden and the celebration has become a festival.

REFERENCES Bruce Gordon, Calvin. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 2009. E. William Monter, Calvin’s Geneva. New York, Wiley, 1967. The Geneva Reformer: John Calvin. Nashville, TN, Apologetics, 2009, video.

GGANTIJA, GOZO, MALTA Ggantija is the site of a collection of prehistoric shrines located on Gozo, the

second-largest island in Malta. One temple is believed to be the oldest freestanding stone structure in the world, several hundred years older than Stonehenge or the Egyptian pyramids. Prehistoric shrines are not uncommon in Europe, but the small island nation of Malta has remnants of more than forty of them. The earliest Maltese shrines were burial caves. Later temples were used for animal sacrifices to appease the powers of the sea. The most complete complex, estimated to have been built between 3600 and 3000 BCE, is found at Ggantija. The site actually consists of two temples surrounded by a common wall and sharing a common forecourt. The temples are massive. The two sanctuaries cover 10,000 square feet, with lobe-shaped chambers off each. The outer wall reaches up to seventeen feet, and the stones that form the many niches

Ghost Festival, Asia | 185 and altars weigh several tons. The question of how early peoples were able to quarry and move the stones remains unsettled, although the slabs may have been rolled into place on stones. A number of these stone “rollers”—about the size of cannon balls—have been found. The two sanctuaries suggest the shape of the body of the Earth Mother, with broad hips and full breasts. Much of the temple interior, which was roofed in ancient times, was painted red, the color of life. Carvings of snakes (a fertility symbol) can still be found. The ritual rooms themselves are round, suggesting that the cult priestess entered as if into her mother’s womb, to return reborn. At the dawn of the spring equinox, the first rays of the rising sun fall on the main altar stone. Ggantija is the oldest example of architecture in the world, and it delights in rounded, curved forms, reflecting a mother goddess who is powerful, massive, and full-figured. An ancient legend has it that the temple walls were built in one night and one day by a female giant named Sunsuna, nursing a baby while carrying the rocks on her head. Ggantija is the Maltese word for “giant’s grotto.” The temples were part of the cult of the Great Earth Mother, a goddess of fertility, and Ggantija was probably used to pray for healing. Evidence indicates that there was an oracle, a consecrated woman who prophesied while in a trance, possessed by the spirit of the goddess. The few artifacts that have been found have been placed in the national museum. They include a small clay figure of a sleeping goddess and another of a seated one. Both have the corpulent, full-breasted form of a fertility goddess. The sleeping figure was found in an

egg-shaped chamber, another symbol of fecundity. The temple seems to have been a place of pilgrimage for the island population and even attracted worshippers from the North African coast and Sicily. Though the religious cult was not the only major cultural activity of this ancient people, it does seem to have taken up much of their time and energies. Because of its age (3600 BCE), there are few remnants of practices at Ggantija. A small stone basin may have been used for ritual washings, and there is evidence of animal sacrifice as well as of a sacred fire. There are several stone blocks with spiral designs, which are often fertility symbols. Since 1980, Ggantija has been listed, along with other megalithic sites in Malta, on the UNESCO World Heritage List. See also: Fertility Shrines, Hagar Qim and Mnajdra

REFERENCES J. D. Evans, Malta. New York, Praeger, 1959. Marija Gimbutas, The Civilization of the Goddess. San Francisco, Harper San Francisco, 1991. Andis Kaulins, Stars, Stones and Scholars. Victoria, BC, Trafford, 2003. Peg Streep, Sanctuaries of the Goddess. Boston, Little, Brown, 1994.

GHOST FESTIVAL, ASIA All across Asia, Chinese celebrate the Ghost Festival in honor of the spirits of their ancestors. It is observed by

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Buddhists, Confucians, followers of folk religions, and Taoists. The origins of the feast began in folk religion around 450 BCE. It celebrates the opening of the gates of the netherworld, permitting the ghosts to emerge and seek food and drink. For this reason, it is often called the “hungry ghost festival.” The ghosts come forth because they were never properly mourned at death or died suddenly. This is especially important for those more recently deceased, since the tradition held that every soul spent its first years after death wandering aimlessly. Ghost Month falls approximately in the autumn on the western calendar and the middle of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Food is an important part of the festival. Families will have elaborate meals featuring the favorite foods of the deceased, with a place set for them. Ritual (and usually symbolic) food objects are also offered at the graves. Families visit temples to burn incense and joss paper and make offerings in the form of papier-maˆche´ “gold” or clothing or other gifts. It is common to see effigies of things the souls might like to have in the underworld, like cars, televisions, or houses. All are burned so that they can enter hell when the ghosts return there. In Japan, Buddhists will make little paper boats with a small candle in each, to be set adrift on a river, to carry the souls of the deceased back to their resting places. Gifts, especially of food, are given to monks by the Buddhists. Because not all ghosts have someone to remember them, stores will put out offerings on the street, usually rice, incense sticks, and fruit. A Buddhist priest will intone a blessing and ring a bell to alert the forgotten ghosts, and

then the offerings will be thrown into the air for them to catch. The ghosts also expect to be entertained, and during the month shows and Chinese operas are put on for their entertainment. The front rows are kept empty for them. In Malaysia, the shows are popular concerts, and sometimes even risque´. See also: Ancestor Shrines, Day of the Dead, Qinming Festival

REFERENCES Robert Buswell, “Ghost Festival,” Encyclopedia of Buddhism, pp. 307– 310. Farmington Hills, MI, Gale, 2003. Carol Stepanchuk and Charles Wong, Mooncakes and Hungry Ghosts. San Francisco, China Books, 1991. Stephen Teiser, The Ghost Festival in Medieval China. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 1996.

GLASTONBURY, UNITED KINGDOM A place built on centuries of magic and legend, Glastonbury is surrounded by myth. It attracts people of many religious traditions from Christianity to paganism and New Age spiritualties. Medieval legend says that Joseph of Arimathea came to the hill of Glastonbury right after the crucifixion of Jesus and built the first Christian church there. Joseph supposedly brought the Holy Grail with him, the chalice used at the Last Supper and that Joseph used to catch the blood of Jesus from the

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Glastonbury Tor is a conical hill rising from the plains of Glastonbury, England. According to some the area is the site of Avalon of Arthurian legend. St. Michael’s Tower is all that remains of the church constructed there in about the 15th century.

cross. Joseph’s staff, planted on the Tor (hill), grew into a hawthorn tree that still blooms every Christmas day. An abbey on the Tor still has hawthorns from cuttings said to be from the original, which was chopped down by the Puritans. Each year, the local Anglican priest takes a small cutting to send to the queen, and there are regular Anglican pilgrimages in the summer. Avalon is the mythic place where King Arthur was buried. Medieval monks claimed to have found his grave inside a carved-out tree trunk, a typical medieval pious fraud created in order to attract pilgrims. Another of these stories was that St. Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary, came to Glastonbury with the child Jesus, who lived with him there for awhile. St. Patrick was also supposed

to have come to Glastonbury, where he rediscovered Joseph’s chapel. A sacred spring flows from beneath the tree, and its waters are supposed to be healing. The spring (known as the Chalice Well) is inside an underground chamber and is said to be a symbol of the eternal feminine, while the tower on the Tor is a male symbol. This attracts feminist pagan worshippers. Each year there is a goddess procession complete with goddess hymns and banners and a statue of the goddess. In the town, there is a goddess temple as well. There are other pagan associations; the Celts worshipped the home of the faeries here and said that the Tor was the entrance of the underworld. Add to these the Buddhist center, the Hindu ashram, and the Anglican retreat house, and one

188 | Glendalough, Ireland

sees the variety of expressions that meet in this powerful place. The abbey lasted from 705 until Henry VIII closed the monastery in 1539 and hanged the last abbot. The ruins lay neglected and ignored until the last century, when spiritualists began to come there. The Tor, a cone-shaped hill, has a tall square tower at the top. It is one of the remnants of the fourteenth-century abbey, which was built to replace the earlier one that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1275. The Lady Chapel remains in fair condition; in the Middle Ages, Glastonbury was a major Marian shrine and pilgrimage. Some former abbey buildings have been remodeled for present-day use, such as the barn (part of the local museum) and the Pilgrim Inn. Every summer there are Catholic pilgrimages from the Tor to the abbey ruins at the foot of the hill for prayer and a Mass. The ruins are owned by the local Anglican diocese. Today Glastonbury is a New Age center, commonly called Avalon after its earliest Celtic name. It is considered to be on an intersection of ley lines, which are lines of mystical power that connect sacred places. The lines at Glastonbury are thought to connect to the Avebury stones. Some call it an “acupuncture point” of the world. These are important aspects of New Age spirituality. See also: Avebury, New Age, Wells and Springs

REFERENCES Marion Bowman, “Going With the Flow: Contemporary Pilgrimage to Glastonbury,” in Peter Margery, Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 2008.

Kathy Jones, In the Nature of Avalon: Goddess Pilgrimage in Glastonbury’s Sacred Landscape. Glastonbury, UK, Ariadne, 2000. Philip Rahtz, Glastonbury: Myth and Archaeology. Charleston, SC, History, 2009.

GLENDALOUGH, IRELAND Glendalough (Glen of the Two Lakes) rests in the Wicklow Hills south of Dublin, one of the best-preserved Irish monastic settlements. It was settled by the hermit St. Kevin in 622 as a place to escape the temptations of young women. Legend has it that when one determined colleen found his hiding place, he threw her into a lake. A more charming tale recounts that Kevin discovered an abandoned baby and raised it, and a doe came each day to give milk for the child. He is said to have worn animal skins and slept outside in the winter, and he often prayed while up to his waist in icy water. Myth and fact blend hopelessly in the legends of St. Kevin, but all the stories illustrate his kindness and his asceticism. As Kevin’s reputation for holiness spread, disciples were attracted to him, and he abandoned his life as a hermit to found the monastic village of Glendalough. At its height, Glendalough had a renowned school and a population of 4,000, of whom 1,000 were monks. The largest group of residents were students. Some residents were criminals who were safe from arrest under the law of sanctuary as long as they remained within the walls and committed no further crimes. Besides the residents, a steady flow of pilgrims visited the settlement. Evidence of the medieval pilgrim path can still be

Golden Temple, Amritsar, India | 189 found, although the stone crosses that marked the way have been gathered into the local interpretive center. The present buildings at Glendalough date from throughout the long period of Celtic monasticism, stretching from the fifth to eleventh centuries. Buildings from Kevin’s time still stand, as does the cathedral built in the seventh century. A bishop-abbot governed here until 1214, when the bishopric was merged with Dublin. Glendalough was also the burial place of the O’Tooles and the kings of Leinster, the family of St. Kevin. The cathedral is noted for several massive stone crosses, one dedicated to St. Kevin, the others erected in remembrance of now-forgotten Irish chieftains. A small oratory called St. Kevin’s House or St. Kevin’s Kitchen is often thought to be the saint’s hut, but in fact, he lived across one of the lakes in “St. Kevin’s bed,” a pagan burial cave barely four by seven feet and four feet high. The main feature for the visitor to Glendalough, however, is the hundredfoot-high tower, fifty feet around. This structure provided the monks with a refuge from bandits and Viking raiders by means of an entrance ten feet above the ground, accessible only by ladder. Since the monks were completely pacifist and would not even defend themselves from attack, they needed a refuge from raiders. Once they were safely inside, the monks pulled the ladder after them. Glendalough was abandoned in 1398 after an attack by the English that left the village in ruins. Pilgrimages continued long after Glendalough was abandoned but were finally suppressed in 1862 because of rowdiness and fights. Families saved grudges until the St. Kevin’s pilgrimage on June 3, then

settled them with brutal contests fought by chosen champions. Although the pilgrimage is being restored as an ecumenical event for Catholics and Anglicans, Glendalough is now primarily a tourist destination whose 500,000 visitors overwhelm the few hundred religious pilgrims. Monastic community life has been restored recently by a small band of Benedictine monks, and a hermit has taken up residence. St. Kevin’s feast is June 3.

REFERENCES Linda Dolan et al. (eds.), Glendalough: City of God. Dublin, Four Courts, 2010. Marcus Losack and Michael Rogers, Glendalough: A Celtic Pilgrimage. Dublin, Columba, 2010. Robert Van der Weyer, ed., Celtic Fire. New York, Doubleday, 1990. A Guide to Celtic Monasteries. Dublin, Irish Visions and Sounds, 1995 (video).

GOLDEN TEMPLE, AMRITSAR, INDIA Located in Amritsar, a city founded by Sikhs, the Golden Temple is the holiest Sikh shrine. The original Adi Granth, the Sikh holy book, is enshrined here in a magnificent temple. Although Guru Nanak, the founder and prophet of the faith, disapproved of pilgrimage, the Golden Temple has become the major pilgrimage center of Sikhism. Guru Nanak (1469–1539) experienced an essential unity between Hindu and Islamic teachings on a pilgrimage to their holy places. In preaching this unity, he founded the Sikh religion, which was expanded and developed by

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his successors. The fifth of these men, Guru Arjun (+1606), began building the Golden Temple. By this time, the writings and hymns of Guru Nanak had become recognized as the religion’s scriptures, the Granth Sahib (Book of the Lord). In it was the basic doctrine of nonviolence. However, Sikhs were attacked from the beginning (Arjun was martyred), and they became militant in response. Sikh men all carry a small dagger in their belts as testimony of their commitment to defend their faith. They are also bearded and never cut their hair, which is worn under a turban. The Golden Temple, which sits over a reflecting pool at the end of a marble causeway, is the centerpiece of Amritsar. The building is a simple two-story square topped by a dome representing an inverted lotus blossom, pointing down to show Sikh concern with the everyday concerns of the world. The first level is marble with floral patterns inlaid in mother of pearl and semiprecious stones; the second is covered with gold leaf. Sikhs are monotheists and do not use images, so the shrine contains no statues or pictures, only the sacred scriptures. Upon entering, the pilgrim immediately sees the Adi Granth before him, with a pool of water on the side. Pilgrims dip their hands in its water before entering the temple barefoot, carrying offerings. The Granth Sahib is enshrined in the inner sanctum each morning in a solemn procession, and all day long a reading from the Granth is broadcast by loudspeaker. Nanak’s hymns are also sung continuously throughout the day. The Golden Temple has numerous small shrines, including one, Akal Takht (“Throne of the Ever-Living God”), which displays the arms of warrior gurus.

The temple is open to both Sikhs and other visitors, but it must be approached with head covered and feet bare. On arriving, pilgrims give sweet bread to the attendants, who redistribute it to visitors as they leave the temple. The compound surrounding the reflecting pool contains sleeping accommodations, and meals are served daily to thousands of pilgrims, all without charge. During the Punjab unrest in the 1980s, the Golden Temple was taken over by extremists demanding an independent Sikh state. They were driven out by the Indian army in 1984 at a cost of several thousand lives, mostly innocent pilgrims. Most Sikhs do not approve of the extremists, but all regard the bloody eviction as a sacrilege. Later that year, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh guards, and the resulting tension between the Sikhs and the government has never been resolved.

REFERENCES J. S. Greval, The Sikhs of the Punjab. New York, Cambridge University, revised edition, 2008. W. H. McLeod, The A to Z of Sihkism. Lanham, MD, Scarecrow, 2009.

GOREÉ ISLAND, DAKAR, SENEGAL The most famous of all African slave trade centers, Goreé Island lies two miles off the port of Dakar, Senegal’s modern capital. Its peacefulness belies its bloody history. The main purpose of its 1,000 residents today is to preserve the memory

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The slave house on Goreé Island off the coast of Senegal was built by the Dutch in 1776.

of its slave depot and of the antislavery movement. The House of Slaves was built by the Dutch in 1776, possibly as a place of detention before captives from the interior were shipped off to the Americas to be sold. After being kidnapped or captured inland by slavers, the men and women were force-marched to Dakar and taken out to Goreé. There they were inspected, weighed, and priced like animals. Those under 130 pounds were sent to a feeding room to gain weight. Others were crammed naked and chained into tiny pens—twenty men in a seven-by-eightfoot room—where they stayed for an average of three months before a slave ship arrived for a new cargo. For children there was a separate tiny dungeon. Conditions in slave depots were inhuman. The captives were given little food so that they were forced to fight for it;

in this way they were kept divided and unable to organize against their captors. Seawater was pumped into the cells so that the slaves stood or lay constantly in water. Women were routinely raped by their captors, and virgins were kept in a special cell to be available to officials. Many slaves died. Those who survived were branded before being shipped off. Resisters were chained to the walls, and those who tried to escape were thrown out the exit to their deaths in the sea. This was the notorious “door of no return,” an opening at the end of a stone corridor; through this door Africans were led to ships taking them into slavery. Close to five million slaves were shipped through Goreé. The House of Slaves was restored in 1990 and is listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Since the publication of Alex Haley’s book Roots, and the television series

192 | Goreme Caves, Turkey

based on it, the House of Slaves has become a place of pilgrimage for many people from the worldwide African diaspora. About 30,000 African Americans retrace the journey of their ancestors each year. Many write in the visitors’ book of “coming home to Mother Africa.” They often invoke the spirits of their ancestors, pray with them, and offer ex-votos, such as candles or flowers. African-American groups have placed a number of plaques and monuments near the House of Slaves. Besides being the site of the House of Slaves, Gore´ e was the home of many prominent people. Free people of mixed race settled on the island, and many became prosperous traders. Gore´ e also provided a place where free women of mixed blood (metis) could enter into business without prejudice because of their gender. Ironically, many of these women, whose mothers had been slaves, became slavers themselves. The home of Anne-Marie Javouhey, a progressive nineteenth-century French nun who fought for the emancipation and education of Africans, is maintained as an antislavery memorial. There is also a museum in a nearby fort. In recent years, the validity of Goreé’s claims to have been a major slave port has been challenged by scholars of the slave trade. For many years, Goreé was tirelessly promoted by its curator, Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye (1922–2009), who always insisted that Gore´ e was a main slave transit point. Today it is thought to have been the home of a wealthy peanut exporter. Its importance, however, lies in its symbolic value, what one leading scholar calls “an emotional shrine to the slave trade.” It is certain that slaving did exist on Gore´ e, and that

many prominent families engaged in it, including the powerful trading women of mixed African-French blood. These women owned ships and property and undoubtedly dealt in slaves as well as legitimate goods. If the role of the House of Slaves is unclear, that does not diminish its iconic importance. See also: Slave Depots

REFERENCES Caroline Haardt, “Goree, Island of Slaves,” UNESCO Courier 48:3, 48– 50 (October 1992). Alex Haley, Roots. Garden City, NY, Doubleday, 1976. James Searing, West African Slavery and Atlantic Commerce. New York, Cambridge University, 2003. Goreé: Door of No Return, Princeton, NJ, Films for the Humanities, 1992, video.

GOREME CAVES, TURKEY Across Cappadocia in central Turkey lie a series of caves, hiding places and underground churches dating from the fifth century. The geography of the area is dominated by the remains of ancient volcanoes, which left soft rock and strange cones of lava after the volcanoes wore away. At various times, these places served as secure hideaways from persecutors and bandit tribes. When first constructed, the persecution came from the Roman authorities. Later, taking advantage of the ease in excavating the soft rock, hermits began to settle in the lava cones, encouraged by St. Basil the Great (329?–379), one of the

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Rock cathedrals in the Goreme Valley, Turkey.

theological giants of Byzantine Christianity. Eventually, whole monasteries were created. Many Orthodox monks fled to the caves during the iconoclastic persecution (725–842), when gangs of radicals destroyed images and icons and martyred their defenders. After this period, wall paintings flourished and the cave churches displayed some of the finest Byzantine religious art of the age. The underground cities came again into use when Arab Muslim raiders began attacks in the seventh century. The Kaymakli Underground City was just such a refuge. More than a hundred miles of tunnels have been opened, containing living spaces, chapels, and kitchens. All in all, some 200 underground cities, large and small, have been mapped in the region. The most complex is the Derinkuyu Underground City, where the passageways go 280 feet beneath the surface,

eleven stories in all. Besides the living quarters and common rooms, there were stables, a ventilation and a water shaft, a school, and a church. Miles of tunnels connected Derikyuku with other cave complexes, and it could accommodate large numbers, probably in the tens of thousands. Each floor could be closed off by a large rolled stone at the entrance. The largest church is the Church of the Buckle, with frescoes of the life of Christ, the Twelve Apostles, and many saints. The ceiling dome features a large fresco of the crucifixion scene in blue and white. There are multiple frescoes in the four chambers of the church, with such topics as the life of St. Basil, Jesus’ miracles, scenes from the Christian scriptures, and even St. Menas of Egypt. The Snake Church is so named because of its main fresco of Ss. Theodore and George slaying the dragon (or snake) who symbolized the devil. There is also

194 | Got Kwer, Migori, Kenya

a fresco of the Emperor Constantine and his mother St. Helena with the True Cross, which she claimed to have discovered. The Dark Church, so-called because it has no light source, is a spectacular domed and arched Byzantine chapel, the walls covered in brilliant paintings of saints, scenes from the Bible, and above all, a Jesus in Majesty (a recurring theme in Byzantine art). The absence of sunlight has allowed the bright colors to remain unfaded. Unfortunately, during restoration a portion of the roof collapsed, and the colors will have to be preserved. Originally, this was a monastic chapel. The last occupation of the underground cities was in the 1920s. During the Greco-Turkish War of 1919 to 1922, numbers of Greeks fled, and the following year the Lausanne Convention decreed an exchange of two million Greeks from Turkey to Greece, and a number of Turks to their ancestral homeland. By 1932, Greeks remaining in Turkey had been barred from more than thirty trades and professions. The Goreme caves were abandoned and now are objects of tourism. See also: Caves

REFERENCES Edward Katowicz, The Rage of Nations. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1999. Spiro Kostof, Cappadocia and Its Churches. New York, Oxford University, 1989. Raymond Van Daan, Becoming Christian: The Conversion of Roman Cappadocia. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 2003.

GOT KWER, MIGORI, KENYA Got Kwer, a small town in the heart of the Luo nation in northwest Kenya, is the home of “Calvary,” the headquarters and chief shrine of the Legio Maria Church. The Legio Maria began in a Catholic lay movement, the Maria Legio (“Legion of Mary”), brought by Irish missionaries in the 1930s. It was a main instrument of Catholic evangelization among the Luo, Kenya’s second-largest tribe. Dissent and tension arose among many Luo Catholics as part of the fervor leading up to national independence in 1963. The colonialist attitudes of some missionaries and the impact of Africanist movements in Protestant denomination led to open conflict. In this mix arose a prophetess, Gaudencia Aoko (1943–1988), who joined with a charismatic figure, Blasio Simon Ondetto, to lead 90,000 Luo out of the Catholic Church and into a new foundation. Aoko became known as the Holy Mother and was equated with the Virgin Mary. Ondetto was proclaimed the Messiah, and all the powers of Jesus were attributed to him, including miracles of healing, casting out demons, and raising the dead to life. He himself was said to rise from the dead, and his return to earth is awaited. At first, the Legio Maria was a tribal faith, but it has spread across Kenya and into neighboring countries. Current estimates of membership are between two and three million, making it one of the largest of the African independent churches. It is based on Catholic structures, headed by a pope with cardinals

Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe | 195 and bishops under his jurisdiction. The services are conducted according to older Catholic rites, in Latin. Both Aoko and Ondetto received visions of Hebrew prophets and the Virgin Mary, who told them that she had abandoned the Catholic Church and come to Africa. They taught that the so-called Third Secret of Fatima was about the foundation of the Legio Maria. The Legio believes that since Europeans rejected and killed Jesus, God “slipped through their fingers and came to Africa.” The headquarters and shrine are at the New Jerusalem, “Calvary” in Got Kwer. This was Simon Ondetto’s family home, and he is buried there. It is a long, cloth-covered stone block. Various devotional articles surround it. These are typically Catholic—rosaries, crosses, and the like. Legio belief is that the bigger the item the greater its spiritual power, and so these are quite large. The entry to Got Kwer is guarded by “checkers” in bright gowns of yellow and blue. The visitor removes his shoes and kneels in front of them while they sniff around him to detect the presence of either good or evil. This comes from African traditional religion, where ngwecho, those with the gift of sniffing out evil, served to protect sacred shrines. It is a form of divination. After being allowed to enter, the visitor or pilgrim kneels again before the flag in the courtyard and then before the church itself. One kneels throughout the service, except for the sermon. There are no pews or chairs, but people assemble on the floor. Most Legio members will be dressed in white gowns, a few in yellow, blue, or pink. On the back wall are pictures of Ondetto (Baba Messiah), Aoko, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary. These are

placed in a uniform way in each Legio church, with Ondetto in the center. Incense is used liberally throughout the service and the holy portraits are honored with it. The service is conducted in Latin, with the sermon in the local language. After the service, people assemble in the courtyard for blessings and exorcisms. Casting out of demons is prominent in the Legio Maria. As in every African independent denomination, healing is an important feature of faith. Certain prophets are considered to have healing powers and are much sought after. They are distinguished by having long matted hair that they do not cut, and they are referred to as “Nazarites.” Their ministry is charismatic and deeply respected but not part of the Legio Maria hierarchy.

REFERENCES David Barrett and John Padwick, Rise Up and Walk! Nairobi, Oxford University, 1989. Robert Schreiter, ed., Faces of Jesus in Africa. Maryknoll, NY, Orbis, 1991.

GREAT ZIMBABWE, ZIMBABWE Once the capital of a large African empire, Great Zimbabwe is an abandoned city, at its height home to thousands of inhabitants and a sacred city to its Shona-speaking people. It is an enclosed compound of 1,800 acres, with granite walls towering more than fifteen feet. Its rise as a political center was probably due to the gold deposits in the

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The Great Enclosure at Great Zimbabwe, most likely built by Bantu-speaking Shona. Great Zimbabwe, which comprises 100 acres of stone buildings, was the center of a thriving trade region up until the 15th century.

area, although there were iron mines as well. Zimbabwe religion came south from Lake Tanganyika. It practiced ancestor divination through spirit mediums, who channeled their petitions to the creator god. Great Zimbabwe became the religious center for the region, which was practiced in caves and small enclosures. There the high god was petitioned for rain and protection. The name “Great” distinguishes it from some two hundred lesser “zimbabwes,” or sacred enclosures, found throughout the region. Its cultural importance has embroiled it in controversy, political conflict, and racism. The modern nation of Zimbabwe takes its name from it, and the national symbol, the Zimbabwe Bird, comes from Great

Zimbabwe. In 1986 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. By the time that Portuguese explorers came upon Great Zimbabwe in the 1600s, it had already been abandoned. In the 1900s it was first investigated by archaeologists, which set off a storm of angry controversy. The white supremacist government of then Rhodesia brought great pressure on scholars to declare that Great Zimbabwe was too advanced for an “inferior” African race to have built it. All sorts of accounts for it began to emerge—that it was built by Phoenicians or Arabs or as a copy of the temple of the Queen of Sheba in Jerusalem! Every attempt was made to reject any notion of African creativity. Scholars were censored by the government and scientific information was

Groves | 197 withheld. Some submitted and some left the country in protest. Following independence in 1980, the new African government did not hesitate to use the image of Great Zimbabwe for its own purposes, as a sign of African genius and an early form of “African socialism.” The Great Enclosure, the largest ancient building south of the Equator, has a thirty-five-foot high wall. It surrounds several smaller structures and another wall. A high tower stands between the two. The Hill Complex, the oldest section, has a boulder in the shape of the Zimbabwe Bird, now found on the national flag. Eight soapstone Birds have been found, along with possible sites for them on the Hill Complex, lending support to the theory that this was some sort of temple. A lesser collection of ruins, the Valley Complex, was primarily residential. See also: African Shrines, Ancestor Shrines

REFERENCES Joost Fontein, The Silence of Great Zimbabwe. London, UCL, 2006. Peter Garlake, Early Art and Architecture of Africa. New York, Oxford University, 2002. Innocent Pikirayi, The Zimbabwe Culture. Lanham, MD, Rowman, 2001.

GROVES Alongside caves and springs, sacred groves are one of the natural formations that have been used as sacred sites, especially in nature religions. Wicca has

always used forest settings for their rituals, the better to be in touch with Mother Earth. Celtic and Germanic nature religions and Druids worshipped at sacred groves, as well as later pagan religions, such as the Greeks and Romans. These forest settings were chosen as places where the gods made themselves manifest. They were often attached to temples, such as the grove at the Vestal Temple in Rome. Christianity disapproved of sacred groves and rarely endorsed them. In the earlier years of the christianizing of Europe, missionaries often destroyed the groves as pagan sites and superimposed Christian shrines upon them. When the Baltic states were converted (among the last areas of Europe to accept Christianity), the many groves there were eliminated. Sacred trees in the groves were centers of power and magic for Germanic peoples, and there are many stories of the cutting down of the great oaks that were worshipped. St. Boniface, apostle of Germany, personally chopped down a mighty oak sacred to Thor, the god of thunder, and used the timber to build a church in honor of St. Peter the Apostle. He was later martyred with forty companions by a group of followers of the Norse gods. Shortly after becoming emperor, Charlemagne launched a campaign against the Druids, slaughtering hundreds and crushing paganism. At Externsteine in Germany, a bas relief shows the Cross of Christ in triumph over the irminsul, or sacred tree, which bows down in defeat before the new faith. Christians were not the only ones to destroy sacred groves. The Romans did so as part of their subjugation of Celtic peoples in their conquests of Gaul,

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present-day France. Most of the Celtic groves were thus eliminated in the first century BCE . The Celts had used them for animal (and perhaps human) sacrifices, presided over by Druid priests. Sacred groves are found in West Africa, and in Ghana they are protected by the government and used as wildlife refuges. This is an expanding practice, and many cultures forbid hunting or logging in sacred groves. Certain areas are also set aside for vision quests and prayer by Native Americans. Some traditions, however, forbid even human access to their groves, which are thought to be the abodes of the gods and thus off limits to anyone, including worshippers.

tongue) was walking past a hill called Tepeyac on the outskirts of Mexico City. Usually he avoided this hill, because it belonged to the Aztec mother goddess Tonantzin. But when he passed the hill this time, he heard a sound like flocks of birds singing. Suddenly a woman appeared and spoke to him in Nahuatl, a language forbidden by the Spaniards. She addressed him as “my littlest son” and called herself “the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the Living God, for whom we live.”

See also: Camp Meetings/Brush Arbor Meetings, Dodona, Mormon Sacred Grove, Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove

REFERENCES Celia Nyamweru, Sacred Groves. Oxford, UK, James Currey, 2008. V. D. Vartaj et al., Focus on Sacred Groves and Ethnobiology. Bangalore, Prism, 2004.

GUADALUPE, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO Site of the oldest recorded miracles in the New World and the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, Guadalupe is also a rallying place for Mexicans and Chicanos. On a cold December day in 1531, just ten years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, a recent Christian convert named Juan Diego (Quauhtlatoatzin or “Talking Eagle” in Nahuatl, his native

A typical rendition of The Virgin of Guadalupe. Also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, the image is based on a vision experienced by a Mexican Indian in 1531. Though the vision was clearly the Catholic Virgin Mary, her features were Mexican, her attire indigenous, and she carried objects of Aztec significance. Depicted in many ways since then, she legitimized religious and social equality for Indians, and helped consolidate disparate Spanish and indigenous beliefs into one unifying cultural icon.

Guadalupe, Mexico City, Mexico | 199 She asked that a chapel be built on Tepeyac and sent him to the bishop, the imposing and powerful Fray Juan de Zuma´rraga, who treated him indulgently and sent him away. Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac to report his dismissal, addressing Mary as an old man would: “Lady, the smallest of my daughters, my child.” He begged her to send someone important, saying, “I am nobody.” But she sent him back, saying, “There are many I could send, but it is you whom I have chosen.” Obediently, he returned to the bishop’s office. The attendants made him wait for hours before admitting him to see the bishop, who this time asked for a sign—some proof that this was the Lady of Heaven. The Lady promised a sign the next day, but instead of visiting the hill, Diego went in search of a priest to anoint his uncle, Juan Bernardino, whom he found ill and close to death. When he skirted Tepeyac to escape Mary, she stopped him and assured him that his uncle was cured. At that moment, Mary appeared to Juan Bernardino and he was healed—the first of the miracles of Tepeyac. In this simple and trusting way, the legend of Guadalupe begins, the oldest Christian tale of the colonial New World. For the promised sign, Mary sent Juan Diego to the top of the hill to gather flowers, even though Tepeyac was craggy and bare and the temperature was below freezing. When he returned, he had many kinds of flowers in his tilma, a mantle made of cactus fiber. He went to see the bishop and was again admitted, but only after harassment from the attendants. He opened his tilma and everyone gasped as the flowers fell to the floor. The bishop went to his knees,

for on the tilma was an image of Mary as a dark Aztec princess, wearing the garb of a pregnant woman. They then went to see Juan Bernardino, who told them that the woman’s name was “the Virgin who crushes the head of the serpent.” In Nahuatl, this is Tequatlaxopeuh, which the Spaniards could not pronounce. In memory of the shrine of the Conquistadors in Spain, however, they named the shrine Guadalupe. Juan Diego and Juan Bernardino lived as caretakers near the sanctuary that was built in 1533. Juan Diego died in 1548, aged 74, and was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. His feast is December 9, three days before that of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The tilma has been investigated by infrared spectrographs and computer enhancement, but the nature of the image cannot be determined. Ordinarily, cactus fabric should have disintegrated in about twenty years, but after more than four centuries it remains sturdy and the image has not cracked or faded. A basilica was dedicated on the hill in 1709, but it became too small to handle the crowds and was damaged by earthquakes, so another was built in 1976. About twelve million people come each year to see the image, which has become a symbol of Mexican identity and of the new mestizo race created by the intermarriage of Spaniards and Indians. In 1555, the apparitions were officially approved, and Our Lady of Guadalupe was proclaimed Patroness of the Americas in 1945. The image has become a symbol of Mexico, and the forces of Miguel Hidalgo carried her banner into battle against the Spaniards in 1810. Far removed from that event, the Farm Workers Union in

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California under Cezar Chavez carried Quadapulan banners in their marches for justice for workers in the 1960s. For Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, she is the “first mestiza,” the “mother of all Mexicans” and their uniting symbol. Contemporary pro-life activists have adopted her as “mother of the unborn.” See also: Guadalupe, Spain, Marian Apparitions

REFERENCES Paul Badde, Maria of Guadalupe. San Francisco, Ignatius, 2009. Virgilio Elizondo, Guadalupe, Mother of a New Creation. New York, Orbis, 1997. Maxwell Johnson (ed.), American Magnificat: Protestants on Mary of Guadalupe. Collegeville, MN, Liturgical, 2010. Jeanette Rodriquez, Our Lady of Guadalupe: Faith and Empowerment among Mexican-American Women. Austin, University of Texas Press, 1994. Our Lady of Guadalupe. Middletown, NJ, Keepsake, 1994 (video).

GUADALUPE, SPAIN One of the major sanctuaries of Spain, the Royal Monastery of Guadalupe perches on the high cliffs of the Altamira Range in Extramadura, the frontier province from which the Conquistadors came to the Americas. Rivaling El Pilar, Guadalupe is famous for its thirteenthcentury image of the Virgin. Despite the shrine’s remoteness, 1,000 to 2,000 pilgrims visit it every day in good weather. In the winter, the narrow mountain roads make access difficult.

The shrine began as a small chapel, but a monastery was established in 1347 by royal decree to celebrate a victory over the Muslims during the 700-year Reconquista that eventually drove the Moors from Spain. In 1389 the monastery came under the care of the Order of St. Jerome, or Hieronymites, who were scholarly aristocrats with strong ties to the Jewish financial community. In their monastery, hermits and monks lived monastic life together, and Hieronymite spirituality had a strongly mystical bent. The Hieronymite period was one of great expansion, and the present church and monastery were built and decorated in lavish style. The monastery sponsored a choir school, a medical center, and other charities. St. John of God, the founder of the first hospital order, studied here for two years before beginning his work. The Hieronymites continued in the monastery until 1835, when religious orders were disbanded in Spain. Today, the Hieronymite order, once large, has only two monasteries, and the shrine is in the care of the Franciscans. The shrine derived its importance from its central role in Extramaduran faith. Extramadura produced large numbers of knights and fighting men for the Reconquista, the crusade to drive the Muslims from Spain. Christians freed from Moorish slavery saw the Virgin as their patroness and brought their chains to the shrine, where they were forged into the massive ironwork found throughout the church. Kings of Spain came to the shrine to pay homage and pray for victory, and foreign expeditions, including Columbus’s voyages to the New World, were commissioned from the shrine. The defeat of the Muslims took place in 1492, and the Conquistadors

Gunung Agung, Bali, Indonesia | 201 soon followed Columbus, conquering the Aztec and Incan empires. When the Virgin appeared in Mexico, she was given the name the Virgin of Guadalupe. The statue of the Virgin is covered with rich robes in Spanish style, so that her face and right hand are all of her that is seen. She holds the Child Jesus, who raises his hand in blessing. The statue is garlanded with jewels—one dress is covered with 150,000 pearls—and both figures are crowned. Legend has it that the statue was made by St. Luke the Evangelist and made its way to Spain around 600. Hidden during the Moorish occupation, it was supposedly rediscovered around 1300 by means of a miracle. It is kept in a separate chapel on a turntable above the main altar so that it can be turned to face the congregation during services. The chapel is small but sumptuously decorated in baroque style. From 1835 to 1908, the shrine operated as a parish church, and that year the Franciscan friars took charge, with instructions to restore the complex to its former glory. In 1928 the statue of the Virgin was crowned as Queen of All the Spains, a name that was intended to include Latin America as well as Spain itself. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), the extensive lands of the monastery were taken and distributed to their peasant workers. The monastery is in Mude´ jar style with Gothic and baroque sections, all blending together into a harmonious architectural statement. The art collection is outstanding, especially the collected works of Zurbara´ n, who had a great affection for the Hieronymites and did a series of paintings of the abbots. A variety of museums house collections of miniatures, manuscripts, and fabrics and

embroideries. The monastery also maintains a pilgrim hotel, where the superior presides daily over the main meal. Across from the monastery and shrine is a government parador, or travelers’ hotel, in the buildings of a fifteenthcentury pilgrim hostel and a choir school once sponsored by the monastery. See also: Guadalupe, Mexico, Marian Apparitions

REFERENCES Arturo Alvarez, Guadalupe: arte, historia y devocion mariana. Madrid, Ediciones Studium, 1964. W. A. Christian, Apparitions in Late Medieval and Renaissance Spain. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 1981. Gretchen Starr-LeBeau, The Shadow of the Virgin. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 2008.

GUNUNG AGUNG, BALI, INDONESIA Mountains on the island of Bali are the abodes of the gods, who have the power to reward good and punish evil. The most important of these is the volcano Gunung Agung. At its base lies the greatest Balinese temple, Pura Bisakih, the “Mother Temple.” Gunung Agung means “great mountain.” According to legend, it is a piece of the mythical Mount Meru, the cosmic mountain where, in the Hindu tradition, humans first encountered the supreme God. Favoring Bali, the gods plucked a peak from Meru and used it to anchor Bali in the sea. The Balinese also call Gunung Agung “the navel of the world,”

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Gunung Agung, Bali.

and their everyday lives are oriented toward it. The devout situate their beds so that their heads lie pointing toward the mountain, while the dead are laid out facing the sea, the home of evil spirits and the powers of death. At 10,308 feet, Gunung Agung towers above the island, a smoldering volcano of terrifying power. Lines of people struggle through the lava fields to bring offerings of food and flowers to the high god of the mountain. The demons living in the sea and the jungles are placated with food offerings. The Pura Bisakih is a series of twentytwo temples terraced along an ascending line of shrines and courtyards to the highest temple, which is the model of Mount Meru. Balinese religion is an artful blending of two traditions. The ancient animist religion worshipped the gods of rice, sea, sky, and mountain. Hinduism and

its pantheon of gods and goddesses arrived later and became the primary religion of the island without removing the reverence for the ancient deities. In Bali, the Hindu gods are worshipped but their statues are rarely seen. Over the Hindu trinity of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer, the Balinese place a high god of purely local origin, Sanghyang Widhi Wasa. Balinese Hinduism seeks a middle way that brings the favor of good spirits and neutralizes the powers of the evil ones. It is intensely communal and enforces common values through collective responsibility. Contact with death, menstruation, and recent sexual activity are believed to make one spiritually unclean and unworthy to enter a temple. These and other local traditions and religious customs make Balinese Hinduism foreign to a Hindu from India.

Gunung Agung, Bali, Indonesia | 203 There is considerable reverence for the ancestors, but the Balinese have a special devotion to the spirits. They are found in everything, living and inanimate—rocks, animals, springs, and trees. Offerings are made to them to appease them, especially on special feast days. The Balinese calendar has 210 days, and sixty of those are marked by ceremonial festivals. Throughout Bali one finds little merus, shrines dedicated to Gunung Agung and its god, in every temple except Pura Besakih, the Balinese “mother temple.” Built in the eleventh century, it was a state temple until 500 years ago, with every Balinese god represented there. It is a huge compound with more than thirty buildings—pagodas, shrines, housing, and courtyards—and sits on the flank of Gunung Agung itself. At its center is the main shrine with three altars, one for each manifestation of the high god Sanghyang Widhi Wasa—as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Periodically, the priests of the temple perform unique ceremonies. The Panca Wali Krama takes place every ten years, and the Eka Dasa Rudra every century. Rudra, the “howler,” is the god of wildness and danger. His festival brings the Balinese people to the shrine over a three-month period. The Eka Dasa Rudra can be celebrated at other intervals if the temple priests decide that crisis or calamity call for it. In this ceremony, Sanghyang Widhi Wasa, in his incarnation as Shiva, drives out battalions of evil spirits in response to animal sacrifices. The ceremonies are done in ascending order of intensity: first, a single chicken is sacrificed before a small shrine, then five birds, and finally, four-footed animals. At the temple, priests begin by building eleven shrines for the eleven points of the earth, each

with its sacrificial animal. Rice sculptures are presented in intricate forms, large and beautifully painted. They are then dismantled as a sign of the transitory nature of all things. The animal sacrifices teach the same lesson, and during the festival period, human deaths may not be marked nor cremations done in public. This foreshadows the final ceremony of sacrifice on the last day. In a great procession up the mountain, with the gods of each of the five other major temples, thousands of people scramble over steep terrain. The perfect white bull that has been chosen usually cannot make the trek, but has to be carried by teams of men. The animals have their throats cut on top of the mountain and are then thrown live into the volcano. The purpose of the ceremony is to right the imbalance of evil and good in the world, driving out sinful forces and restoring harmony to the universe. The Eka Dasa Rudra had been skipped several times, and so in 1963, in the midst of a national upheaval, the Eka Dasa Rudra ceremonies were conducted outside their usual schedule. It lasted for six months. Gunung Agung erupted, killing several thousand people and devastating huge tracts of farmland. This was regarded as a sign of the anger of the gods, but the fact that the lava flow passed the temple within feet was seen as a miracle. The most recent ceremonies were held on schedule in 1979, attracting more than a million people, half the population of Bali. See also: Mountains, Mount Meru

REFERENCES Edwin Bernbaum, Sacred Mountains of the World. San Francisco, Sierra Club, 1990.

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Julian Davison, Introduction to Balinese Architecture. North Clarendon, VT, Tuttle, 2003. David Fox, Once a Century: Pura Besakih and the Eka Dasa Rudra Festival. Jakarta, Penerbit Citra, 1982. Angela Hobart et al., The People of Bali. Malden, MA, Blackwell, 2001.

GYPSY PILGRIMAGES, STES-MARIE-DE-LA-MER, FRANCE The Roma people are popularly called Gypsies in most of Europe and America, Travelers in England and Ireland, and Gitans (from Egyptians) in France. They live an itinerant life in caravans, moving from place to place. Every year since the Middle Ages, numbers of Roma have come to the seaside town of Stes-Marie-de-la-Mer in pilgrimage in honor of their patron saint, St. Sarah. The main pilgrimage is May 24 to 26, with a lesser one in October. The accompanying festival includes a running of the bulls in the streets and a ceremony of homage to the leading Roma civil rights advocate. The legends of the Three Marys, while totally unhistorical, have a charm and attraction that is hard to resist. A late tradition has it that St. Anne, grandmother of Jesus, had three husbands in succession, from each of whom was born a daughter Mary. The two latter remained faithful to the Virgin Mary through the time of the crucifixion until her death. Then this fanciful tale has three women set sail from Palestine after the Virgin’s death, in a boat with neither sail nor rudder: Mary

Salome, Mary of Clopas, and their Egyptian servant Sarah. Another version has three Marys, adding Mary Magdalene. Still another has them joined by Lazarus. To add to the incongruity, Sarah is patron saint of tattoos and piercings! The fortress-like Romanesque parish church has the supposed relics of St. Sarah, who remained there after the three Marys went on elsewhere in Europe. At the festival, the reliquary box is slowly lowered from its perch high in the ceiling, to the cries and wails of the crowd. Since the Roma are a wandering people, the crypt where Sarah’s statue is kept has become their “home church,” where large numbers of baptisms and weddings are held during the festivals. Until World War I, only Roma were allowed to enter the crypt chapel. A highlight of the festival is the procession of the relics on white horses, along with a model of the boat with statues of Mary of Clopas and Mary Salome. The statue of Sarah shows her as a Black woman, and she is known in Romani as Sarah e kali (Black Sarah). The shrines are carried into the sea and then returned to their place in the church. The next day, the statues are taken along the coast by boat and then left in the church for an all-night vigil. The festival is managed by a group of men known as the guardians, who are ones who ride into the sea on horseback.

REFERENCES Isabel Fonseca, Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey. New York, Knopf, 1996. Pilgrimages to Europe: Stes-Marie-dela-Mer. Janson Media, 2002, video.

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Veli (thirteenth century, dates unknown) wandered the Middle East for some years, making the Hajj, and finally settling in Anatolia. He forged a new Islamic movement based on four doors to wisdom: mysticism, truth, religious law, and spiritual insight. His teachings were open, borrowing some elements from other streams of Islam and even from the Greek Orthodox traditions that lingered in Anatolia after the Turkish occupation. The Bektashis had close connections with the Janissary corps, the elite of the Ottoman army. When the Janissaries were disbanded, the Bektashis were also suppressed in 1826, an action that suited the more orthodox Muslim branches. Kemal Ataturk, the secularizing father of the modern Turkish state, closed down all dervish brotherhoods in 1925, and the Bektashi moved their headquarters to Albania. The tariq practiced by the Bektashis is the ecstatic dance, but unlike the followers of Rumi, the other famous dervish master of Anatolia, both men and

HACIBEKTAS, TURKEY Central Turkey has been for many centuries the heartland of Sufi dervishes. The dervishes are religious brotherhoods who believe that by practicing certain spiritual disciplines, a devotee can enter into contact with the divine. It is one of the distinguishing characteristics that separates orthodox Sunni Muslims from the Shia. The spiritual practice, or tariq, can be one of several types, but all lead to a mystical state. Some brotherhoods recite the Ninety-Nine Names of God over and over on a thirty-three-bead rosary. Others memorize and chant Quranic verses, while some engage in deep meditation or play rhythmic drums. Perhaps the best-known tariq is that of the so-called Whirling Dervishes, who engage in broad circular dances, spinning until they suspend all rational thinking and enter into a sense of the divine. Dervish masters are regarded as great saints in Shia Islam, and their shrines are places of pilgrimage. Haci Bektas

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women may perform it. This teaching that women could ascend to the highest levels of spirituality was radical for its time. It is also one of the reasons that the Bektashi are regarded as heretical by many traditional Muslims. Regardless, Bektas Veli’s teachings touch the heart and are less legalistic, with emphasis on humility and reaching out to others. Bektashis teach that the Quran as a dual meaning, external and interior, of which the inner spiritual meaning is the more important. Several hundred thousand pilgrims flock to Hacibektas (named for him) every year. There are two shrines. The first is a former dervish monastery, reproduced as it was in the time of Bektas Veli. It is more a museum than a pilgrimage site. The main place sought out by the pilgrims is the turbe or mausoleum of the sage. Pilgrims take off their shoes, then tie small ribbons to a “wishing tree” outside the shrine as petitions for prayers to be answered. Throughout the three-day festival, dancers from various countries perform traditional dances, alternating with musicians and theater groups. The shrine has a series of courtyards with fountains in front. The third courtyard has the turbe of Bektash Veli, along with those of two of the early leaders of the brotherhood. Entering, pilgrims walk three times around the sarcophagus before praying for their needs. A short distance away is a cave used by Bektash Veli for a forty-day solitude in prayer. It is said that anyone who can manage to enter its narrow opening will be one of a pure heart. See also: Konya

REFERENCES Huseyn Aliwa (ed.), The Malakat of Haji Bektash. Raleigh, NC, Babagan, 2007. John Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes. Llangefni, Wales, Luzac Oriental, 1994.

HAGAR QIM AND MNAJDRA, MALTA On the Maltese island of Gozo are two closely connected temples of an early fertility goddess, a few hundred yards apart. Hagar Qim has been dated about 2200 BCE, and Mnajdra about a thousand years earlier. This makes them among the oldest religious temples ever found, from the Neolithic period. The Hagar Qim site yielded relics, especially statuettes of a fertility goddess dubbed “the fat lady.” They are now housed in the National Museum of Malta. The limestone used in the construction of Mnajdra is much harder than that used at Hagar Qim, which has suffered from weathering. As a consequence, a tent has been erected over Hagar Qim as a protective covering. The entryway of the main temple has stone benches in a large forecourt. There are several elongated oval chambers along a central passage. Stone balls are found along the foundations, and for a long time archaeologists theorized as to their meaning, but it is now understood that they were part of the construction process, used to roll the huge slabs of stone into place for the walls and corbelled roofs. The largest is a standing stone in the façade of the main temple, weighing fifty-seven tons. Inside the

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Visitors tour megaliths at Hagar Quim on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. Malta is home to the oldest monumental architecture in the world. These Neolithic post-and-beam megaliths have existed for more than 5,000 years.

temple were shelf altars with evidence of ritual fires, and freestanding carved altars. The Mnajdra temple group has three structures, well built and decorated with spiral designs. The three temples are not joined. The construction is the simple use of lintels and corbelling, which depend on gravity to keep their positions. Originally, there was a vault over the main temple, which is an amazing balancing feat without the use of nails or supports. The third temple at Mnajdra was aligned with the stars and might have served as an astronomical observatory. At the equinoxes and the solstices the sun lights up various fixtures in the temple. The temples had a cultic role in their society. There are remnants of animal bones, which indicate that sacrifices were conducted there. The fertility statuettes suggest that this was the focus of

the cult, perhaps to ask the goddess for safe birth or to bless the crops. As a group, the megalithic temples of Malta have been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1992. See also: Fertility Shrines, Ggantija

REFERENCES Cristina Biaggi, Habitations of the Great Goddess. Manchester, CT, KIT, 1995. Karen Tate, Sacred Places of Goddess. Chatsworth, CA, CCC, 2006.

HAGIA SOPHIA, TURKEY For centuries the most important church in Eastern Orthodoxy, Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom”) in Constantinople

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Hagia Sophia, built under Byzantine emperor Justinian I and dedicated in AD 537, was for centuries the most important church in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Located in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey), Hagia Sophia was a symbol of the greatness of the Byzantine Empire. It was later adapted for use as an Islamic mosque and today houses a museum.

(today’s Istanbul) was a symbol of the greatness of the Byzantine Empire. The first church was built by the Emperor Constantine two years after his conversion in 322 CE. Two centuries later the Emperor Justinian commissioned the present basilica to celebrate his victory over the Nika revolt, which he put down brutally by slaughtering 30,000 rebels. Tradition has it that when Justinian rode into sight of Hagia Sophia on the day of its dedication in 537, he exclaimed, “Solomon, I have surpassed you!” Magnificent in scope and an engineering feat of mammoth proportions, Hagia Sophia is the only true domed basilica in Christian architecture. The architects added to the Byzantine style, which is characterized by a vast central space for worshippers, by building a Western-

style processional aisle. The dome itself is more than 100 feet in diameter, and at its base the walls are pierced by forty windows. The effect is one of lightness and buoyancy, not massiveness or heaviness. One hundred four slim marble columns bear the weight of the dome and walls. To make it possible for such slender pillars to support the tremendous mass, the columns are bound with metal rings. The tops of the columns are decorated in acanthus leaves, a Greek motif. Because the Byzantines had already invented the drill, the decorations are open and lacy, creating an impression of delicacy and lightness. Galleries circle the second level, providing segregated areas for men and women worshippers. Hagia Sophia is intended to inspire awe. Its vast central space is open. The

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Eleventh-century fresco of Yaroslav the Wise with his wife and daughters, in the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey. The grand prince of Kiev from 1019 to 1054, Yaroslav established the first library in Kievan Rus and Russia’s first codified law. He also continued the conquests of his forefathers, and as a result, Kievan Rus reached its pinnacle during his rule. One of Yaroslav’s daughters, Elizabeth, married the Norwegian king Harald III Sigurdsson.

altar (long ago removed) was gold encrusted with jewels, and the sanctuary around it was inlaid with twenty tons of silver, with the most majestic of the mosaics covering the apex of the dome. This triumphal assertion of imperial wealth and power is underlined everywhere in the basilica. Emperors and their consorts are presented in mosaics as saints or shown by the side of Christ, and even the religious themes reflect imperial power. The Christ shown is never the suffering Savior but the creator and universal ruler. Justinian and his successors presided here over religious ceremonies of great splendor. Robed and bejeweled, surrounded on feast days by

courtiers costumed as the Twelve Apostles, the emperor sat on a throne across from that of the patriarch and presided over church synods. One of the most impressive mosaics is the apse mosaic of the Theotokos, Mary with the child Jesus. It was the first created (867) after the iconoclasts stripped Hagia Sophia of all its images. It is set against the original sixth-century gold background and is probably a reproduction. The huge Christ Pantocrator (“creator of all”), a universal theme in Byzantine mosaic art, towers over the Imperial Gate. Because of its riches, Hagia Sophia was a target whenever the city was attacked. The worst damage was suffered

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in the sack of 1204, when Crusaders stripped it of its treasures. Catholic troops defiled the basilica, stabling their horses under the dome and installing a prostitute on the throne of the head of the Byzantine Church—all the while carrying on a drunken orgy and burning precious manuscripts and relics. This blasphemy was one of the causes of the break between Eastern and Western Christianity. In 1453 the Turks captured the city, and the sultan promptly went in procession to Hagia Sophia to give thanks to Allah for his victory. Shortly after, the church was turned into a mosque and the mosaics were whitewashed, since Islam does not permit images. When Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, secularized the state after World War I, he turned Hagia Sophia into a museum and had the mosaics restored. The whitewash had actually protected them from erosion. The restored mosaics now share space with the Islamic Arab calligraphy that had replaced them. Outside, four minarets (prayer towers) were added during the Islamic period, as well as fountains for the cleansing rituals required of Muslims before entering a mosque. Today the only prayer services held in the Hagia Sophia are Islamic; they take place in a small corner of the building. There is also a small prayer room both for Muslims and Christians in the museum complex. More radical Islamists want the Hagia Sophia restored as a mosque, which has caused suspicion of any foreign support, including financial, in the restoration of the mosaics. The building is extremely complex and under constant restoration. Unfortunately, it sits in an earthquake zone on a fault line. An earthquake would be devastating,

and no one knows how well the structure would survive. See also: Istanbul Mosques

REFERENCES Fergus Bordewich, “Fading Glory,” 39 Smithsonian 9:54–64 (December 2008). Robert Nelson, Hagia Sophia, 1850– 1950. Chicago, University of Chicago, 2004. Merle Severy, “The Byzantine Empire: Rome of the East,” National Geographic 164:6, 709–730 (December 1983). Stephanus Yerasimos, Constantinople: Istanbul’s Historical Heritage. Potsdam, Germany, h.f. ullmann, 2008. William Niedringer, Hagia Sophia: The Jewel of Christendom. Sterling, VA, Stylus, 2009, video.

HAJJ, MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA Each year, millions of Muslims converge on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in the largest single pilgrimage in the world, called the Hajj. Mecca is the spiritual home of Islam. Here Abraham built the first house of God on the spot where, according to legend, Adam first erected a place of worship and where the Prophet Mohammed received the revelation of the Qur’an directly from God. One of the basic teachings of Islam is that every able-bodied Muslim must make a pilgrimage to the holy places at least once during his or her lifetime. Muslim tradition recounts that the Prophet Abraham, patriarch of the

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Muslim pilgrims gather at Mecca’s Grand Mosque on November 18, 2009. Some 2.5 million Muslims from more than 160 countries converge annually on the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage. This pilgrimage is to be completed at least once in a Muslim’s lifetime, under the tenets of Islam.

Jewish people, left his wife Hagar and his son Ishmael in the Arabian desert at the command of God. When their water ran out, Hagar ran to and fro across a narrow valley, pleading for God’s mercy, which was granted her when a spring (the Well of Zamzam) was revealed by the Angel Gabriel. Hagar had been buried under a mound that turned out to be the ruins of Adam’s temple, and it was there that Abraham built his House of God. At the end of the construction, God brought forth a black stone to finish the work, one he had given to Adam. Today this Black Stone is imbedded in the wall of the Ka‘bah. It is the most sacred emblem in the most sacred place in Islam. Legend has it that the stone was originally white but became black as it absorbed the sins of the world. Abraham and Ishmael circled the shrine seven times and began to preach a pilgrimage of salvation. All these events told

in the Qur’an figure in the devotions of the Hajj, the pilgrimage of purification. With time, the Ka‘bah became a den of idolatry filled with pagan statues. Only a few worshippers remained true to the One God, Allah. Among them was a prophetic figure, Mohammed, who would lay the foundations of Islam and be proclaimed by Allah as the last and greatest of his prophets. To Muslims, Mohammed is known simply as The Prophet. He received his revelations in a long series that he dictated to his first followers. Together they form the Qur’an, the divinely revealed sacred scripture of Islam. For ten years Mohammed preached to disbelieving crowds until he was welcomed into Medina. His migration there in 622 CE, the Hegira, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. Gathering strength, Mohammed’s forces crossed Arabia, entering Mecca triumphantly in 632. Mohammed reclaimed the Ka‘bah


Map of Hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia.

by touching each of the 360 idols, which smashed themselves to the ground before his authority. The pilgrimage today is made mostly by air, but in the past pilgrims faced daunting and exhausting treks to achieve their goal. Because of the numbers involved, the Saudi government, whose royal family have the title Guardians of the Holy Places, manages the Hajj in detail. Quotas are assigned to every Islamic community at a rate of 1,000 pilgrims per million Muslims. The government provides security, especially in the light of tensions between Iran and other Islamic countries in recent years. Saudia Arabia also provides basic necessities, but the Hajj is not luxurious or even comfortable for most. Pilgrims camp out, cooking in the streets over charcoal fires and often sleeping in the

fields. Only the wealthy can afford to stay in modern hotels. About two million pilgrims make the Hajj each year during the month of Dhu al-Hijjah in the Muslim calendar. At any time of year, the ‘umrah, or “lesser pilgrimage,” may be made, visiting the same places but with fewer rites involved. Women may come to either, but only in the company of their husbands or a male relative. The pilgrimage takes place within the precincts of the haram, a sacred area six miles wide and twenty miles long, stretching from the Sacred Mosque, which contains the Ka‘bah, to the Plains of Arafat. Each man must follow a purification ritual during the Hajj in order to enter the state of ihram or consecration. He must trim his facial hair (many also shave their heads) and remove all body

Hajj, Mecca, Saudi Arabia | 213 hair before donning a pair of sandals and a garment made of two unsewn pieces of white cloth. No other dress is permitted for men. As a symbol of how believers will appear as they meet Allah on Judgment Day, many hajji (pilgrims) keep this dress to use as a burial shroud. There are many other prescriptions: there may be no stitched items worn, including sandals; no scents or cosmetics may be used, including scented soap; any robes that a have become dirty must be exchanged for new ones. During the Hajj, there is to be no use of tobacco, no meat eaten, and no sexual activity, shaving, or cutting one’s fingernails. The pilgrim is to remain clean at all times. Most men perform both the main pilgrimage and the ‘umrah during the hajj. The ‘umrah consists of the seven circuits around the Ka‘bah and running back and forth across the valley in imitation of Hagar’s plea for mercy. The focus of the pilgrimage is the Sacred Mosque, rebuilt and enlarged a number of times. Entered by a magnificent gateway flanked by two minarets, it has a capacity of 500,000 during the prostrations at midday prayers. As the pilgrim enters, he says a set prayer asking for Allah’s blessing and mercy. Then men begin the circuits around the Ka‘bah, each begun by kissing or touching the Black Stone, encased in silver and set into the southeast corner of the Ka‘bah. Muslims do not believe that the stone has magical power, but they kiss or revere it because the Prophet did. Women perform these rites separately. The circuits provide one of the most awesome sights in the Hajj— circling masses of humanity united in prayer. The day the pilgrim walks around the Ka’bah is one of total fasting from

food; only water is allowed because of the dry heat. After completing the rotations, the pilgrims pray at the Station of Abraham, where the prophet prayed. In a golden cage is the stone that Abraham reputedly stood on as he built the Ka‘bah; it bears the imprint of his foot. Pilgrims make three prostrations at the Station of Abraham while reading or reciting from the Qur’an and then rest for a moment at the Well of Zamzam. Despite the extraordinary demands upon it, the well never fails to provide refreshment for the multitudes of pilgrims. Then the hajji move to the two small hills where Hagar ran back and forth and reenact her desperate run, praying for the mercy of Allah. This is done in a long arcade that juts out from the Sacred Mosque and crosses the streets of the city, providing shade from the sun. To avoid accidents, pilgrims run in wide, one-way galleries in the colonnade. On the seventh day of the month of pilgrimage, the king of Saudi Arabia arrives to wash the Ka‘bah and bedeck it with a new black cloth, embroidered in gold with Qur’anic verses. The cloth is hand-woven on wooden looms by 100 men who spend a year on its creation; it weighs two tons when completed. The ceremony is performed in the presence of representatives of Islamic nations and before thousands of pilgrims. The pilgrims have now purified themselves in humble devotion to Allah. Dressed alike with no distinction between poor and rich, powerful and unimportant, people of all nations, they have humbly entered into purity of heart and worshipped the one true God. The moment has come to reaffirm the pilgrims’ faith and solidarity with other


Muslims. It is the thirteenth and secondto-last day of the Hajj, and all those in attendance come together in a last act of veneration, the Standing at Arafat. A stream of pilgrims moves toward Mount Arafat, Jabal-al-Ramah, the Mount of Mercy, site of Mohammed’s farewell address. Here he told his followers, “This day have I perfected your religion for you and chosen Islam for you as your religion” (Qur’an 5:3). He also received his last revelation here and taught of the brotherhood of Muslims and their commitment to Islam. The Hajj ends at this spot with a rededication to Islam. Legend has it that it was to the Plains of Arafat that Adam and Eve came after the Fall and began the human race. Thus its consecration to Allah closes a circle of physical and spiritual birth. The hours at Arafat are usually the most profound experience of the Hajj. On the Plains of Arafat, the pilgrim gathers either forty-nine or seventy small stones. Leaving Arafat, he proceeds to the town of Mina, a short walk back toward Mecca, where three pillars stand, symbols of the devils who tempted Abraham. The pilgrims stone the pillars in several rituals over two days as a sign of rejection of evil in their lives. After throwing the first seven stones, men shave their heads. If a hajji misses his target, he must repeat the ceremony. The Hajj closes with the great feast of Idd al-Adha, in which sheep, camels, and goats are slaughtered in memory of Abraham’s sacrifice. United with the hajji, Muslims all over the world slaughter animals on this feast. Most of the meat is given to the poor. So many herds are killed and dressed in Saudi Arabia during the feast that the government arranges a fleet of refrigerated ships to

carry the excess to other countries for distribution. One aspect of the pilgrimage remains optional but still compelling to most Muslims. Islam’s second-holiest city, Medina, lies 275 miles north of Mecca. Many pilgrims go to Medina for a few days before returning to Mecca for the trek to Mount Arafat, the stoning of the pillars and the celebration of Idd al-Adha. On the way to Medina pilgrims usually stop at Badr, the site of the Battle of al-Farquan, the first decisive clash with the infidels that gave Islam its first martyrs. Mosques have been built at various places where the Prophet was welcomed after his rejection in Mecca, and pilgrims visit them on their journey. The high point of the visit to Medina is the Mosque of the Prophet, his burial place. He is buried under a large green dome built in 1860. Nearby is the tomb of Abu Bakr, Mohammed’s closest friend and leading disciple. Other mosques in the city recall various revelations to Mohammed. Their interior decorations feature inlaid colored marbles, intricate carving, and brasswork. Praying before the gorgeously adorned spot where the Prophet himself led his followers in prayer is a high point in a pilgrimage that has been a lifetime goal of most of its participants. See also: Muslim Pilgrimages

REFERENCES Mohamed Amin, Pilgrimage to Mecca. London, Macdonald & Jane’s, 1978. Reem al Faisal, Hajj. Reading, UK, Garnet, 2009. Inside Mecca. Narjis Pierre.

Hasedera Temple, Japan | 215 Hajj Journal: Complex, Up Front and Personal. Scotts Valley, CA, CreateSpace, 2007. Inside Mecca, Washington, DC, National Geographic, 2009, video.

HASEDERA TEMPLE, JAPAN Hasedera Temple, which stands atop a hill with lovely views of Sagami Bay, near both Tokyo and Yokohama, is known for both its importance to the cult of the Hase Kannon and its garden where women pray for the souls of aborted children. The Hasedera Temple is one several pilgrimage routes that go from one shrine to another, but it is the major one on the route. The main shrine in Hasedera is that of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. Her statue is an immense and powerful presence, gilt and majestic. Carved in 721 CE, it is thirty feet high with an eleven-faced crown. The faces look in all directions as a sign of Kannon’s ability to see and hear the pleas of all and to save them. In a nearby building is a prayer wheel more than twenty feet tall containing Buddhist scriptures; it is sometimes called “the revolving bookcase.” Pilgrims believe that when they spin the wheel, the texts inscribed on it are continually recited. Important though the cult of Kannon is, the shrine to Kannon is not what attracts most visitors. In the beautifully tended gardens covering the hill are thousands of small grey statues of Jizobosatsu, the god of travelers and of children. They are dedicated to the souls of aborted children. Small toys have been placed before many of them, and some have been dressed in tiny bibs and baby clothes. The women who have purchased them to honor their lost children

come to pray, make offerings, and write little notes to their children on the backs of the statues. Ironically, at its origins, Hasedera was a place for women of the nobility to pray to become pregnant. Abortion does not stir the religious controversy in Japan that it does in the West, but it does cause a deep sense of loss. Many women believe that the spirits of their unborn live at the temple and need to be mourned. The gardens contain a wide variety of ex-votos: statuettes, banners, plaques, candles, smooth stones with mothers’ names on them, and lucky ¥5 coins. Landscaped pools, streams, and waterfalls, along with a quiet cave and lush trails, provide places for reflection and meditation. The two shrines to the unborn in the temple gardens are festooned with colorful garlands of folded paper cranes, a symbol of life. From time to time, a Buddhist priestess conducts ceremonies of purification here for doctors with abortion practices. A few minutes’ walk away is the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) at the Kotokuin Temple, a forty-two-foot, 850-ton seated image cast in 1252. It once sat in a vast hall, but a tidal wave washed the building away in 1495, leaving the statue in the open air. It is the main Buddha shrine of several Japanese sects popular for teaching a simple personal doctrine of salvation. Pilgrims usually visit both the Great Buddha and the Hase Kannon. There are also seventy other lesser shrines and temples in Hasedera.

REFERENCES Joseph Kitagawa, On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 1987. Peter Popham, Wooden Temples of Japan. London, Tauris Parke, 1990.

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Karen Tate, Sacred Places of Goddess. Chatsworth, CA, CCC, 2006. Buddhism: The Land of the Disappearing Buddha—Japan. Richmond, VA, Time-Life, 1978, video.

HEARTH OF BUDDHISM, INDIA/NEPAL The major sites of the life of the Buddha form a pilgrimage way known as the Hearth of Buddhism. These four sites mark the places of the Buddha’s birth, his enlightenment, his first sermon, and his death. The Buddha himself is said to have asked his disciples to observe the custom of visiting these places, and visitors come from all over the world. Organized pilgrimages are especially popular among Buddhists from Japan and Southeast Asia. Siddhartha Gautama, who would become the Buddha, the Enlightened One, was born in Lumbini, in westcentral Nepal near the Indian border, around 540 BCE. Lumbini is not easy to get to, and the numbers who come here are small, mostly from Southeast Asia, Japan, and Tibet. No Buddhists live in the area, which is completely Hindu. The site is a garden with a grove of pipal trees. Legend has it that his mother, Queen Mayadevi, rested here as she traveled to her parents’ palace to give birth. A bas-relief shows the Buddha standing on a lotus leaf, his mother above him, holding onto a branch of the tree, the pose she took as he came from her side. Buddha is said to have announced, “This is my final rebirth,” a reference to the Buddhist belief that individuals are reborn or reincarnated after death in a

cycle until they reach perfection. The legend of the Buddha includes a number of nativity stories. He stood and walked immediately after his birth and took seven steps, under each of which a lotus flower bloomed. The garden was lost until 1895, when a German archeologist came upon an ancient pillar set up by the Emperor Ashoka in 249 BCE bearing the inscription, “Buddha, the blessed one, was born here.” A number of monasteries and temples were erected on the site up to the ninth century CE. But after the arrival of Islam (and, later, of Hinduism), Buddhism declined, and only a sculpture remained, revered by local women as a fertility symbol. A temple was later uncovered and named the Maya Devi after Buddha’s mother. Its fragile sandstone sculptures have been removed to the National Museum in Kathmandu for protection. Little was done to protect the shrine until 1977, when a design for its development was advanced by a Japanese architect. It has been developed very slowly, and at present, the area is largely parkland. Besides the Ashokan pillar, the main feature is the Mayadevi sacred pond, where the queen bathed and where the newborn was washed by two dragons. Next to the pond is the ancient temple housing the bas-relief. The remaining places associated with the life of the Buddha lie in northern India. Bodh Gaya marks the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment. He had tried to achieve holiness through fasting and asceticism but experienced no success. He meditated for six years, according to legend, eating one grain of rice a day at first, and then nothing. He became so emaciated that when he touched his stomach he could feel his backbone.

Hearth of Buddhism, India/Nepal | 217

Six common Buddhist Mudras.

Voices told him that mortification would not bring enlightenment, so he began meditating under a banyan (bodhi) tree until he reached enlightenment. Of the Hearth of Buddhism centers, Bodh Gaya is the most important. The others are archeological sites, but Bodh Gaya is alive with activity. Buddhist communities from eight Asian countries have already built monasteries here, and several other monasteries are being constructed. This is called the International Zone, with monasteries from each officially Buddhist country plus Japan. The Dalai Lama, spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, often spends the month of December at Bodh Gaya, as do many Tibetan pilgrims. The spire of the main temple, Mahabodhi, reaches 160 feet into the sky, a

four-sided structure with an intricately carved surface. The temple houses a statue of the seated Buddha, his hand touching the earth as a sign of enlightenment. There is a bodhi tree, raised from a sapling taken from the original, on which the faithful tie scarves, flags, and banners as ex-votos. The place where the Buddha meditated is marked by a stone platform. According to legend, during the first week after his enlightenment, the Buddha meditated under the bodhi tree. The second week he stood motionless, staring at it; a statue of the standing Buddha marks the spot. Bodh Gaya is managed by a joint Hindu-Buddhist council, since Hindus revere the Buddha as a reincarnation of Vishnu. The Hindus form a majority of the council by law and until 1949 owned

218 | Hearth of Buddhism, India/Nepal

the site. Hindu carvings were added to the structure during renovations over the years. Hindus have insisted on the right to erect their own shrines and have even placed a Shiva lingam pillar before the Buddha statue, which has angered Buddhists and caused incidents of violence. In 2002, the Mahabodhi complex was listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Sarnath, where the Buddha first taught and gave his first sermon, is near Varanasi, Hinduism’s holiest city. The Buddha walked from Bodh Gaya, and as he approached, five ascetics who had been his earlier followers saw him. At first they wanted to reject him for turning away from asceticism, but they were soon drawn in. The Buddha, having achieved enlightenment, came here to a deer park to begin his mission of spreading the message of the Four Noble Truths: that human existence is comprised of sorrow and suffering; that this suffering is caused by human desire; that desire can be overcome; and that desire is overcome by following the EightFold Path. The Eight-Fold Path, the basis of Buddhist philosophy, consists of 1. Right Understanding (know the Four Noble Truths) 2. Right Aspiration (choose the true path) 3. Right Speech (speak truth in charity) 4. Right Behavior (do not kill, steal, lie, be unchaste, or use stimulants) 5. Right Living (take up work that fosters liberation of spirit) 6. Right Discipline (persevere in the daily effort for improvement)

7. Right Mindfulness (be self-aware and conscious of every action) 8. Right Contemplation (meditate deeply on the reality of life) In the fifth century CE, Sarnath had 1,500 priests and a number of monasteries, a great stupa (a conical shrine containing relics), and the prominent stone pillar erected by Ashoka, the great Buddhist emperor. Sarnath went into decline when Muslim invaders destroyed the city, and it remained deserted for 1,000 years until 1836, when the British began its restoration. The spot where Buddha is said to have preached his first sermon is marked by a hundred-foot stupa dating from 200 BCE . The main shrine (actually only the foundation of a destroyed sanctuary) indicates where the Buddha meditated. A seventh-century writer described it as 200 feet high, with a hundred niches along each outside wall, each containing a Buddha carving. A life-sized statue shows the Buddha turning the wheel of the law. Near the statue are the remains of the Ashoka Pillar, with some interesting carvings on the base. Most of the ancient buildings were destroyed by Turkish invaders in the twelfth century. The Ashokan lion, the national symbol of India, survived a drop of forty-five feet when the Muslims broke the pillar that it stood on; it is displayed in the Sarnath Museum. The Wheel of Life from its base is on the Indian national flag. Six national temples have been built by various Asian Buddhist communities, and the deer park is maintained as a kind of open animal park. There are many legends of the Buddha’s presence at Sarnath during his

Hebron, Palestinian Authority | 219 previous lives, as a rabbit, an elephant, a bird, and a bodhisattva. The Buddha died at Kushinagar, supposedly by mistakenly eating poisoned mushrooms. His last words were, “Decay is part of all conditioned beings.” In a sense, Kushinagar is testimony to the impermanence of life that Buddha’s last words describe, since little remains there today. The Buddha’s disciples berated him for dying “in this miserable little town.” It has never become more than a poor village, so far off the beaten track that it is the destination of only the most dedicated pilgrims. There is a Buddhist Center here and a temple with a large reclining Buddha statue intended to show him dying. The main pilgrimage attraction is the brick stupa where the Buddha was cremated. Conflict over the Buddha’s relics broke out into the War of the Relics in India, and the eight Buddhist kingdoms finally divided them and took them to their respective countries to be enshrined. There are none at Kushinagar. See also: Buddhist Pilgrimages

REFERENCES Heinz Bechert and Richard Gombrich, eds., The World of Buddhism. London, Thames & Hudson, 1984. Swati Mitra, Walking With the Buddha: Buddhist Pilgrimages. New Delhi, Eicher Goodearth, 1999. Rana Singh, Where the Buddha Walked. Varanasi, Indica, 2003. Alan Trevithick, Revival of the Buddhist Pilgrimage at Bodh Gaya, 1811– 1949. New Delhi, Motilal, 2007.

HEBRON, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY A sacred site for both Jews and Muslims, the city of Hebron is the site of the tombs of Abraham, father of the Jewish and Islamic faiths, and his wife Sarah. Located in the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, not far from Bethlehem, the atmosphere in Hebron is hostile and tense today. The Patriarch Abraham is one of the towering figures of the Hebrew Scriptures, a nomadic chieftain who, around 2000 BCE, led his clan across the Near East to Israel. Abraham purchased a cave called Machpelah in Hebron as a burial place. Here also were buried Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah. Because Abraham had no settled home, Hebron became the focus for his family. After the Jewish commander Joshua conquered Hebron, it became a town of refuge. David made Hebron his capital and reigned there as king of Judah for seven years before moving to Jerusalem. David’s son Absalom used it as his headquarters when he plotted against his father. Herod the Great built the existing enclosure around the Cave of Machpelah. The Ibrahim Mosque attracts Muslims, the Cave of the Patriarchs Jews, and the shrine at Machpelah attracts people from both groups. During the Byzantine period, a Christian church was built over the caves. The enclosure of the shrine, with its log-like stones (the largest of which is more than twenty-four feet long), is architecturally notable. The massive shrine itself shows patchwork signs of its history: a Crusader church and the later

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The Tomb of the Patriarchs, Hebron.

mosques and synagogues. The base, with three-foot-thick walls, dates from King Herod’s reign. Several synagogues have been erected on the site and remain today, one containing symbolic empty tombs for Abraham and Sarah. The two mosques (one for men and one for women) are ornate, their floors covered in gorgeous Persian carpets. The cave, actually a series of caves fifty feet below ground, is thought to be the location of the remains of Abraham and Sarah. From the mosque above, pilgrims can peer down into the darkness through a grating. The entry to the cave was cemented over after a group of Jews went down the shaft leading to the tombs in 1979. Only a few others have ever penetrated to the caves in the past 500 years. Both Judaism and Islam accept that the caves hold the remains of Abraham

and Sarah, Isaac and Jacob, Rebekah and Leah, and also Adam and Eve. Jacob’s other wife, Rachel, is entombed in Bethlehem. The shrine has had a checkered history. The first was built by Herod the Great, a roofless enclosure of thick walls some nine feet tall. The Byzantines built a basilica inside, but it was later demolished by the Persians and then replaced with a mosque by the Muslims. The Crusaders restored the shrine as a church, and then Saladin restored the mosque, which has remained to the present day. Many legends surround the Hebron shrines. Jewish tradition holds that Abraham chose this site because Adam and Eve are buried here. Muslims have erected a marker for the patriarch Joseph, whom they believe was buried on this hill.

The Hiding Place, Haarlem, The Netherlands | 221 In the women’s mosque is a small stone impressed, according to myth, by the footprint of Adam, who landed on it when he was cast out of the Garden of Eden. A mile west of Hebron is the Oak of Mamre, where Abraham pitched his tent and entertained the three angels who foretold the birth of Isaac (Genesis 18:1–15). A Russian Orthodox monastery has been built around the oak, which has been much damaged by relic and souvenir hunters. Hebron today is disputed ground, a place of bitter controversy between Jews and Arabs. Due to tensions, foreign tourists are discouraged from visiting, and Arab Christian pilgrims are rare. Jews and Muslims once lived together in the city, but in 1929 Arabs attacked the Jewish quarter, killing sixty-seven Jews and driving the others out. In 1994 a Jewish settler opened fire with an automatic weapon, killing twenty-nine Muslim worshippers at the mosque and wounding 125 during the predawn prayer of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim calendar. Dr. Baruch Goldstein, the American responsible for the slaughter, is buried at nearby Qiryat Arba, a large settler enclave. His grave, with a small shrine, has become a place of prayer for militant Jewish settlers who oppose the Israeli– Palestinian peace process. Rock-throwing demonstrations broke out in 2010 when the Israeli government added Machpelah and the Tomb of Rachel to the national heritage list, a move seen as a pretext for the Jewish settlers to lay further claim to the area. Accords allot eighty percent of the city to Palestinians and twenty percent to Israelis, although only a few hundred ultranationalist Jews remain among 170,000 Arabs.

Security at the Cave of the Patriarchs is strict. All weapons are prohibited, and the two groups are kept apart. The Isaac Hall is reserved for Muslims, and two smaller halls, named for Abraham and Jacob, are set aside for Jews. Metal detectors, steel gates, and video surveillance equipment have been installed. Entry is restricted to 300 from each group, and on ten annual holy days for each faith, no one from the other group is allowed to be present. See also: Caves, Rachel’s Tomb

REFERENCES Deborah Campbell, This Heated Place. Toronto, Douglas & McIntyre, 2004. Bruce Feiler, Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths. New York, Harper, 2004. David Rosenberg, Abraham: The First Historical Biography. New York, Basic, 2006. John Van Seters, Abraham in History and Tradition. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 1975. Amy Wilentz, “Battling over Abraham,” The New Yorker 72:27, 46–50 (16 September 1996).

THE HIDING PLACE, HAARLEM, THE NETHERLANDS The Hiding Place, also known as the Corrie Ten Boom House, is the preserved apartment of the Ten Boom family who, along with the members of her family and a network of helpers, helped many Jews escape from Nazi-occupied Holland.

222 | The Hiding Place, Haarlem, The Netherlands

Before the Nazi occupation, Corrie was an active member of the Dutch Reformed Church. She organized girls’ groups all over the country, and after they were disbanded by the Nazis, she used her contacts to develop her escape network for Jews. At one point, Corrie had eighty people working within her network, placing Jews with farm families who disguised them as refugee relatives. A simple watch and clock shop in Haarlem, with the proprietor’s apartment above it, was the scene of quiet but firm resistance to Nazi oppression during the 1940s. Casper Ten Boom, then eighty-four years old and an evangelical Christian, was disgusted by Nazi racist doctrine and began to welcome Jews and members of the resistance movement into his home. He constructed a small hiding place behind a wall in his daughter Corrie’s bedroom, hardly space enough for two or three people, but useful for emergencies in case of a Gestapo raid. Motivated by deep faith in the providence of God, the family (which included two sons and two daughters) began to take in and protect Jews. Since the house had so little space, it was used as a transit point. Crammed into the little home, the fugitives amused themselves with cultural lectures, songfests led by the ebullient Casper, and earnest discussions. The Jews taught the devout evangelicals to sing Hanukkah songs, and Casper loved to talk of God’s love and mercy with a young synagogue cantor he was hosting. Somehow, the Ten Boom family even provided kosher food. In 1944 the family was betrayed and sent to concentration camps. About thirty of their friends were also rounded up, but six Jews, crammed into the hiding place by standing, outlasted the

Gestapo, which stayed in the house for several days looking for them. Casper, a daughter, and a son perished in the camp; the other son died shortly after liberation. Corrie was sent to Ravensbru¨ ck women’s camp, where she saw her sister die. Rather than make her bitter, this terrible event was a call to further conversion, to forgive the guards who caused her death. On returning to Holland after the liberation, Corrie set up refugee camps that brought together concentration-camp survivors like herself with Dutch Nazis who had lost their civil rights. Corrie spent the rest of her life until her death in 1983 preaching and witnessing to her faith around the world, especially to children. In 1973, the popular preacher Rev. Billy Graham sponsored a film of her autobiography, The Hiding Place, which spread her message worldwide. The site of the Ten Boom store and apartment in Haarlem was purchased by a foundation in 1987 and is maintained as a shrine to Corrie Ten Boom and the family. Despite the fact that it is listed in no tourist guide, it receives a constant stream of visitors and is especially revered by evangelical Protestants. Corrie was knighted by the Queen of The Netherlands and honored as one of the Righteous Among the Nations by Israel.

REFERENCES Carole Carlson, Corrie Ten Boom. Old Tappan, NJ, Revell, 1983. Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place. New York, Random House, 1988. Corrie Ten Boom, Corrie Ten Boom: Her Story. Cleveland, OH, World, 2004.

Hill of Crosses, Silauliai, Lithuania | 223 The Hiding Place. World Wide, 1975, film/video. www.corrietenboom.com.

HILL CUMORAH, PALMYRA, NY, USA In 1820, amidst a constant searching for religious truth, Joseph Smith, a pious teenager, entered a grove to pray, as he sought a religious path for himself. He received a vision of God the Father and Jesus as a pillar of light descended upon him. God told him not to follow any of the faiths he was testing, but to await further inspiration, because he was called to bring about the restoration of Christ’s church. He was also assured that his sins were forgiven. Joseph’s inspiration came in the form of a set of golden plates on which were inscribed a new testament of Christianity. In 1827 he and his then wife moved about 200 miles to Harmony Township, Pennsylvania, where by divine inspiration he was able to translate them into what has become known as the Book of Mormon. Two years later Smith revealed the tablets to eight disciples, known as the Eight Witnesses. Two disciples were baptized in the Susquehanna River at the command of John the Baptist, who restored the priesthood of Aaron with them. Later, the apostles Peter, James, and John appeared and ordained the three men to the priesthood of Melchizadek. The place of the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood is marked by a monument. Since 1937, the Mormon Church has sponsored a religious pageant at Hill Cumorah: America’s Witness for Christ. Seven sound stages and multiple actors present the Mormon story. It begins with

a pilgrim group who left Jerusalem in 600 BCE and came, under divine guidance, to what is now America. In 420 CE, the last survivor of this civilization, Moroni, planted the twelve tablets on this hill. In 1827, Moroni, as an angel, delivered the tablets to Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon gives the account of the travels of the Israelites to the New World, where they became in time the Native Americans. A large Mormon temple (10,700 square feet of floor space) was dedicated in 2002 next to the Smith family farm. Nearby is the Seneca Lake Camp for workshops and religious retreats for women and families. The Smith farm has been restored and is open to visitors and pilgrims. See also: Groves Mormon Temple

REFERENCE Daniel Ludlow, ed., The Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York, Macmillan, 1992. www.hillcumorah.org.

HILL OF CROSSES, SILAULIAI, LITHUANIA Kryziu kalnas, the Hill of Crosses, is the Lithuanian national pilgrimage center, combining Christian devotion with Lithuanian national identity. It lies outside Silauliai, a small city near the northern border of Lithuania. The custom of planting crosses on the hill began in the 1300s, probably as an expression of Lithuanian defiance of the Teutonic Order, which attempted to control the area and subjugate it. Silauliai is

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the center of the last province in Europe to convert to Christianity, finally doing so through union with Poland in 1413. After that, the Hill of Crosses represented the passive resistance of Lithuanian Catholicism to oppression. It was only under Soviet occupation (1940–1990), however, that the Hill took on its strongest expression. The Communists leveled the Hill three times, once with the removal of 5,000 crosses. The Soviets covered the hill with waste and sewage. Yet each time it was destroyed, the hill reappeared, covered with crosses. It remained one of the few avenues of protest during the period of Soviet occupation, when 36,000 Lithuanian national leaders were executed or deported. Today the twin-ridged hill is covered with tens of thousands of crosses, some tiny and simple, others large and ornate, including masterpieces of folk carving. Rosaries hang from some of them, producing a constant gentle tinkling in the wind. Attached to a few crosses are pictures of Jesus or saints; others memorialize loved ones with a photograph. For many years the photos of exiles predominated. Statues placed on the Hill soon become draped with crosses and rosaries. Crosses were added as memorials to patriots, especially following uprisings against occupying Russians in the nineteenth century. Since 1985, when the Soviets abandoned efforts to suppress the Hill, the number of crosses has increased; the current estimate is 60,000. Paths and stairs lead pilgrims into the forest of crosses. Though visitors arrive in small numbers daily—and add to the thicket of crosses—the main pilgrimage occurs at Easter. The Hill of Crosses has never had a religious association with the sufferings

of Jesus, but with the triumph of the cross over evil—more a symbol of Resurrection than of death.

REFERENCES Michael Bordeau, Land of Crosses: The Struggle for Religious Freedom in Lithuania, 1939–1978. Chumleigh, UK, Augustine, 1979. Saulius Suziedelis, The Sword and the Cross: A History of the Church in Lithuania. Huntington, IN, OSV, 1988. Bob and Penny Lord, Miracle of the Hill of Crosses, Morrilton, AR, Journeys of Faith, n.d., video.

HINDU TEMPLES Among the faiths that practice pilgrimage, Hinduism stands out for the sheer size of its gatherings and the extent of its pilgrimage sites. Hinduism does not accept converts, and so its base in India gives it a large yet confined geography. The temples (Mandirs) that are the usual goal of pilgrims, as well as the basis of everyday worship, follow a general pattern. Hindus worship many manifestations of the gods, the most important being the avatars of the high gods. There are numbers of other, lesser gods, patrons of tribes, regions, or even families. It is no exaggeration to say that Hindus worship well over 300 million gods and goddesses. While a Hindu temple will enshrine one or another of the high gods, it may very well honor an obscure one. This is particularly true for village and family shrines. The proliferation of gods and goddesses comes in large measure because each of the god’s attributes is seen as a god in itself.

Hindu Temples | 225 All gods and goddesses are emanations of the One, called Brahman, but curiously enough, there are almost no temples dedicated to him. His absolute creative power takes form in three high gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma is the creator god, Vishnu is the sustainer and preserver or life, and Shiva the destroyer. Each of these gods has a consort, herself a goddess, and the three each have a sacred vehicle that carries them around the universe. Vishnu and Shiva and their consorts (Lakshmi, goddess of the oceans, for Vishnu, and Parvati for Shiva), each has progeny and avatars. Vishnu alone has nine emanations, all gods such as Krishna and Rama, to name two who are well liked. Perhaps the most popular of the minor gods is the son of Shiva and Parvati, the elephant-headed Ganesh. His legend says that one day, after a long absence, Shiva returned home to find a young man in bed with Parvati. Enraged, he struck off his head, then discovered it was his own son. Shocked at his hasty reaction, Shiva vowed to restore him to life with the first living thing he saw, and as he turned, an elephant appeared before him. Ganesh is the god of prosperity and new beginnings, and it is a rare Hindu temple that does not have a shrine to him. Pilgrims wash his statue in milk and make offerings to him. Important temples have turned into shrines and pilgrimage sites. The Kumb Mela, for instance, attracts millions of Hindus from all over the world. The car procession of Lord Jagannath in Puri is a regular spectacle. Aside from these great events, however, the Hindu temple goes on day by day serving the worship needs of its followers. People come in the morning to offer puja, the regular

prayer that they could offer at home, but often bring to the local temple. After entering, they walk around the temple and perhaps visit the water tank for a ritual ablution. The temple will usually be built as a cone, representing Mount Meru. Going to temple is not a Hindu obligation, since there is a puja shrine in every home, but it is customary for many. Before going into the temple, the devotee removes all footwear. Because all life is sacred to Brahma, animals are not kept away, and it is common to see cows, dogs, and other creatures wandering into the precincts. Inside the temple, the devotee goes to a small unlit shrine in the interior, where the image of the principal deity rests. The name of this inner sanctum in Sanskrit means “the womb chamber,” and in South India only the temple priest may enter it. Northern Indian temples are far more relaxed about this restriction. A flower offering, a prayer, prostrations are given to the image through the priest. A libation may be offered, milk or water poured in front of the image or even over it. In return, the worshipper receives darshan, a blessing. The usual offering is food, which is placed near the image, and then returned to the worshipper as a gift. The food will later be shared with those, perhaps the elderly, who could not come to temple. Each temple has a hall for meditation, chanting, or just observing the priests going about their observances. It may also be used for religious discussions and presentations on the Hindu scriptures. Temples also serve for rites of passage. Couples are betrothed there (but seldom married in a temple) and most of all, the dead take their final trip from the banks of the stream by the temple. If the stream leads eventually into the

226 | Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Japan

HINDU DEITIES Despite the appearance of having many gods and goddesses, Hinduism is monotheist. The Supreme Being is manifested in multiple gods and goddesses, each of whom is the embodiment of an aspect of the Ultimate Reality. No Hindu god or goddess has an independent existence from the One. There are three aspects of God: creation, preservation, and destruction and recreation. These three cosmic aspects are revealed in the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Together they form a trinity. They are not separate gods, but aspects of the One, just as a woman might be a nurse, mother, and wife at the same time. It is common to speak of Hinduism as a religion of 330 million gods. The really refers to the presence of atman, the God in everyone. The number is symbolic of all living beings. Perhaps the most popular god is the elephant-headed Ganesh, worshipped as the god of education, wealth, and success, who wards of evil. His head represents his atman and his corpulent body the things of earth. The goddess Kali, the many-armed manifestation of death wearing a garland of skulls, is worshipped both as Mother of Creation and slayer of demons.

Holy Ganges, it is a special blessing for the soul to hasten into the next stage of life. The body will be cremated and the ashes spread on the waters. Only the poorest of the poor lack the means for cremation, and as their bodies float away, it is understood that these were people of the lowest caste, facing many reincarnations in their future. See also: Orissa Triangle, Angkor Wat

REFERENCES Shyam Banerji, Hindu Gods and Temples. New Delhi, IK International, 2003. Joanne Waghorne, Diaspora of the Gods. New York, Oxford University, 2004. www.indiantemples.com.

HIROSHIMA PEACE MEMORIAL, JAPAN Hiroshima, the western Japanese city that was the target of the first atomic

bomb, is now the site of a memorial to the hundreds of thousands of civilians who died in the blast. It is also a peace center for those who oppose the use of atomic weapons. The bomb was dropped by an American plane on 6 August 1945. The effect was horrendous. The center of the city was vaporized by 12,632º heat, leaving behind a ghost scene. More than 75,000 people died instantly.One haunting image is that of a shadow burned into stone, the only evidence that a person once stood there. About 200,000 died later of the effects of nuclear radiation, especially cancers and leukemia. The epicenter of the blast was downtown, at a spot where a unique T-shaped bridge connects two sides of the river and an island. The blast center is marked by the steel skeleton of the Atomic Bomb Dome, which at the time of the bombing was the Industrial Promotion Hall. The heat of the blast burned away the concrete covering of the dome, leaving the skeletal outline, which has become the city’s symbol.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Japan | 227 The rebirth of Hiroshima as an “international city of peace” began soon after the bomb fell. After the war, a Peace Memorial Park was built on the island as a monument to the commitment to work for world peace. A Peace Museum shows photos of the devastation, although it also includes exhibits on the causes of the war and Japan’s aggression. A Peace Flame burns in the park and will continue to burn until the last atomic bomb has been eliminated. The Cenotaph for A-Bomb Victims, a large vault shaped like the clay figurine saddles found in ancient tombs, contains a chest containing the ashes of people killed by the blast. On it are engraved the words “Rest in peace, for the error will not be repeated.” The main memorials are placed in the gardens in such a way that a visitor standing in front of the Cenotaph can see the Peace Flame and the Atomic Dome in a direct line. The park includes many quiet areas for rest or reflection, even though it is busy throughout the day, especially with school groups. Traditionally, Japanese students make long strings of folded paper cranes, a symbol of life, and lay them at the various memorials. At any time, millions of colorful crane leis decorate the park. Besides religious shrines, many small memorials honor special groups: schoolchildren who were killed; members of unions; construction and office workers; residents of nearby neighborhoods. One popular memorial honors the Mobilized Students, a group of high-school youth who were doing community service in the area when the bomb fell. Perhaps the most visited memorial is the A-Bombed Children’s Statue, a vaulted concrete dome with a statue of a

Hiroshima Peace Memorial, commonly called the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Japan.

twelve-year-old girl, Sadako, holding out a crane. Sadako believed that if she made 1,000 paper cranes she would be cured of leukemia, but she died after making 644. Schoolchildren often bring the other 356 to the memorial in memory of the 356 her classmates made so she could be buried with 1,000 cranes. In 1996, despite criticism from China and the United States, the A-Bomb Dome was listed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. Every August 6 a million people come to a solemn festival, with paper lanterns floated on the river for the repose of the souls of the dead. After a Peace Memorial Ceremony, there are dedication prayers of water and flowers, and the names of the dead are memorialized. A silent prayer is observed as the Peace Bell is rung, and the ceremony closes with the release of a flock of doves.

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REFERENCES Ted Gap, “Hiroshima,” National Geographic 188:2, 78–101 (August 1995). Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, The Spirit of Hiroshima, 1999. John Hersey, Hiroshima. New York, Knopf, revised edition, 1985. Ishii Takayuki, One Thousand Paper Cranes (youth). New York, Laurel Leaf, 2001. www.pfc.city.hiroshima.jp.

HOLOCAUST SITES The mass extermination of European Jews by the Nazis during World War II, known as the Holocaust or the Shoa, was the worst instance of genocide in modern times. The Nazis, who came to power in Germany after its defeat in World War I, in 1941 decreed the murder of every person with Jewish ancestry, regardless of age or sex. At first, Jews were selectively executed. But when the war began in 1939, every German military command included a special unit whose task was to seize the Jews in each town and execute them. Soon even this procedure proved inefficient, though, and the Nazis turned to a calculated plan of systematic extermination called the “Final Solution.” Jews were gathered together into concentration camps as slave labor under conditions that hastened their death from malnutrition and exhaustion. Then, after 1942, death camps were set up to which Jews were shipped in large numbers. The only purpose of these camps was mass executions.

Detained Jews were herded onto sealed cattle cars, forced to stand for days with little water or food and no toilet facilities. Along the way, a few stops would be made to remove the bodies of the dead. On arrival, two lines would be formed: one of the weak, elderly, and children, the other of the able-bodied. The first group was immediately taken to the gas chambers, stripped, and executed. The second was put to work in slave labor factories. Any sign of weakness was cause for a beating or death, which any guard could inflict without answering to superior officers. Besides Jews, who constituted the vast majority of prisoners in the concentration camps, there were numbers of political prisoners and other “undesirables” who were also slated for elimination, primarily Roma (Gypsies) and homosexuals. Living conditions were unspeakably harsh. People slept in rows, crammed onto ledges with a few inches’ clearance, in dormitories that had no sanitary facilities beyond a few slop buckets. Disease spread rapidly under these conditions, and prisoners died in large numbers of typhus and dysentery. Food consisted of a little bread, often made with sawdust, and some weak soup with rotten vegetables. Whippings were given for the least infraction of the rules, such as hiding a carrot or beet in one’s pallet to eat later. For such “crimes” as smuggling out a letter or hiding money, an entire barracks could be ordered to march for up to ten hours a day, regardless of weather. Groups of prisoners were distinguished by cloth triangles sewn onto their clothing: red for political prisoners, yellow for Jews, black for Gypsies, green for criminals, and pink for homosexuals.

Holocaust Sites | 229 The work camps were critically important for the German war effort, producing armaments, building roads, and draining marshes to provide increased farmland. Some work camps were large enough to have their own barracks, but when a prisoner was too exhausted to work, he was returned to the main camp to be disposed of. At the gate to each camp was the cynical slogan Arbeit Macht Frei, “Work makes one free.” The most frequently visited Holocaust sites—visited by many in order to pray for the dead or to reaffirm a commitment that such evil must never happen again— are named below. The most notorious and most visited site is Auschwitz-Birkenau outside Krako´w, Poland. It became the most efficient killing camp in the system and was primarily used as part of the Final Solution, although some Gentiles were also taken there. At first, Auschwitz was a prison camp for Polish prisoners, especially the clergy and intellectuals, until it became a camp for Jews. Poland had a large Jewish population in 1939 that was decimated during the Holocaust, and then Auschwitz became the death camp of choice for Jews shipped there from across the occupied countries. More than two million perished at AuschwitzBirkenau, eighty percent of them Jews. Bergen-Belsen in Germany was the first concentration camp to be liberated by the Allies. Although Bergen-Belsen never had gas chambers or crematoria, 50,000 people (30,000 Jews) died there, an appalling 36,000 of them in the last six weeks before the liberation. One of these was Anne Frank, deported from Amsterdam. These figures do not include more than 50,000 Russians who perished uncounted. The camp was demolished in 1950.

Today only two memorials mark its existence: an obelisk with a memorial wall and a monument to the Jews. Ironically, it served as a displaced-persons’ camp after the war and had a lively Jewish cultural life, Zionist groups, and Yiddish newspapers. Chelmno, Poland, was the first camp designed for mass executions (1941). Three hundred twenty thousand people were killed there—loaded into two sealed vans into which carbon monoxide gas was pumped as they drove to the burial pits. The camp was destroyed by the Nazis in 1945. After the war, eleven Chelmno camp officers were executed for war crimes committed there. The town, one of the few in Poland that is completely walled, was a medieval stronghold of the Teutonic Knights. Dachau, outside Munich in Bavaria, was never a death camp. It was the first camp established after the Nazi Party came to power and was used primarily for clergy and political dissidents. One of the barracks has been restored and there are memorials to those who died there. Because of its ease of access, Dachau draws large numbers of visitors. Jasenovac, Croatia, was an Ustasha death camp at the center of a complex of internment camps, including one for women. The Ustasha were Croatian fascists who established a puppet state under Nazi patronage, using the opportunity to slaughter both Jews and Serbs. The Ustasha guards were cruel sadists; the most notorious was a former priest who delighted in killing prisoners with his own hands.More than 600,000 perished at Jasenovac, of whom 25,000 were Jews. (Most Croatian Jews were deported to Auschwitz.) The camp was destroyed in 1945 before partisans could liberate it.

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The city of Krako´w, Poland, has one of the few living Jewish communities left in East Europe. Nazi wartime activities there are widely known mainly from the film Schindler’s List, an account of a German businessman who saved wartime Jews assigned to his factory as slave labor. Tour groups can follow the path of events from the movie. Oskar Schindler’s factory still stands, operating today under another owner. The site of the Psaszo´w concentration camp is marked only by a memorial, though the camp built for the film, including a copy of the infamous street paved with Jewish gravestones, is visited on the tour. This camp is a leading example of attempts to educate people about the Holocaust. Majdanek, Poland, outside Lublin, is one of the best-preserved death camps, including guard towers, barbed wire, barracks, and crematoria. It is an immense complex, where 360,000 people met their deaths, about eighty percent of them Jews. A memorial has been erected there, and a domed mausoleum holds the ashes of the dead. Mauthausen, Austria, was a slave labor camp at a quarry near Linz, Hitler’s birthplace. It began operating in 1938, shortly after the Nazi occupation of Austria. The camp population was mixed; it included Germans, Spaniards, Soviet prisoners of war, Jews, and political prisoners from every occupied country in Europe. Its thirty-four satellite camps varied in size from small camps that held a few hundred prisoners to those that held more than 10,000. Prisoners dug underground bunkers for hidden munitions factories or worked in the infamous quarry, where they carried blocks of stone up 186 steps to the

surface. Those who hesitated or fell under blows were instantly killed. Few endured more than a few months. Starvation and disease accounted for ninety-five percent of the deaths. In the last months of the war, the occupants of the satellite camps were brought to Mauthausen and conditions became utterly inhuman. So many were killed that the crematorium could not handle the corpses, and incidents of cannibalism occurred. Two hundred thousand people passed through Mauthausen; 119,000 died, of whom 38,000 were Jews. Paneriai, Lithuania, was a Nazi death camp where 100,000 Lithuanians perished, including 70,000 Jews from nearby Vilnius. A memorial has been erected at the site, along with a small but powerful Museum of Genocide. Trails lead to large hollows, pits, and trenches where the mass executions took place and where the victims’ remains were burned. Under Communism, no mention was made of the Jews executed here, but since the end of Soviet rule, Jews are specifically mentioned at the memorial. Ravensbru¨ck, fifty-six miles north of Berlin, was opened as a women’s camp in 1939. The hub of a labor-camp complex with thirty-four satellites at arms factories, Ravensbru¨ ck itself housed 27,000 prisoners, primarily political prisoners (fifteen percent Jews). Many prisoners were suspected members of the anti-Nazi underground. Sachsenhausen, established in 1936, lies near Berlin in the town of Oranienburg in the former East Germany. Much of the camp is preserved as it was, including the cell block with its torture chambers and the block where medical experiments were performed on live prisoners as well as on corpses.

Holocaust Sites | 231 Sachsenhausen was a labor camp that held, at its height, 48,000 prisoners. About 30,000 prisoners perished there, along with 18,000 captured Russian troops who were brought there for execution. Sobibo´ r, Poland, was a death camp that the Germans ran with Ukrainian guards. Arriving prisoners were stripped and all their valuables were taken; women’s hair was cut off. The Jews were then herded naked along a fenced path (“the tube”) to the gas chambers, which were disguised as showers. About 1,200 people could be gassed at one time. Carbon monoxide was used, and the process took about thirty minutes. The bodies were then thrown into large burial pits. Those who were too weak to walk to the gas chambers were taken directly to the pits and buried alive. In all, about 250,000 people perished at Sobibo´r. As the numbers increased, the Nazis resorted to burning bodies rather than burying them. The camp was closed after an uprising in which several hundred escaped after killing eleven SS troops. All traces of the camp have been removed. Today only a memorial remains. Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic was a ghetto camp. The Nazis took over an eighteenth-century town and deported Jews to it, mostly from Germany and occupied Czechoslovakia. At its height, it had 53,000 internees. It was guarded by local police and governed by a Jewish council, which was responsible for food distribution, work assignments, and the dreaded deportation lists. The Nazis planned Theresienstadt as a model Jewish community that they could show to the Red Cross and other international rights groups. At the same time, they were quietly shipping residents to extermination camps, where most

perished in the gas chambers. The relative freedom of Theresienstadt, despite harsh living conditions, allowed Zionist groups to form there, and a lively program of cultural activities emerged. In 1944 the Red Cross made a formal investigation. Dummy shops were set up, a school opened, and the Jews were forced to act as if they led normal lives. The Nazis even made a film of the event to show the “good” circumstances under which Jews lived. After the visit, all those in the film, including children, were sent to Auschwitz for extermination. One hundred forty thousand Jews were sent to Theresienstadt; 33,000 died there, 88,000 were shipped to their execution in death camps, and 19,000 survived. Treblinka, Poland, was an extermination camp destroyed by the Germans in 1944 after an attempted uprising. It was constructed and operated very much like Sobibo´ r but heavily camouflaged. By 1944, the Nazis’ murderous efficiency meant that they could “process” 2,000 victims in ninety minutes from arrival to burial, using the camp’s thirteen gas chambers. Eight hundred seventy thousand Jews were gassed and burned at the camp. The monument at Treblinka is striking: a tall obelisk, rent in two by a vertical cleft, stands surrounded by 17,000 granite stones of uneven size. Before 1939, Warsaw, Poland, was home to Europe’s largest Jewish community. The Nazis set up a ghetto there where 500,000 people were walled in before being shipped to death camps. In 1943 a heroic uprising took place, and after it was defeated, the Nazis razed the ghetto. Today parts of the ghetto wall can be found and there are many memorials in the area. The best-known

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memorial is the Rapoport memorial, a large sculptured monument depicting the deportations and the ghetto uprising. Yad Vashem in Jerusalem is one of the world’s great Holocaust memorials. Both a shrine and a museum, it tells the story of the mass deaths but also draws the visitor into the experience of a prayer of remembrance. Besides serving as an eternal memorial, Yad Vashem honors those gentiles who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Those who meet the criteria are named “Righteous Among the Nations” and are inscribed on the Wall of Honor at Yad Vashem. See also: Anne Frank House, AuschwitzBirkenau, Babi Yar, Buchenwald, Dachau, Yad Vashem

REFERENCES Patrick Desbois, The Holocaust by Bullets. New York, Palgrave, 2009. Deborah Dwork and Robert Van Pelt, Holocaust: A History. New York, Norton, 2009. Israel Gutman, ed., Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York, Macmillan, 1990, four volumes. Adolf Rieth, Monuments to the Victims of Tyranny. New York, Praeger, 1968. Shoah. Los Angeles, Simon Wiesenthal Center, 1985, video.

HOLY BLOOD, BRUGGE/ BRUGES, BELGIUM A procession of medieval pageantry and splendor takes place each year in Brugge, Belgium, on Ascension Day, forty days after Easter. Ranks of costumed trumpeters, groups carrying the banners of every province of Belgium,

and floats with scenes from the Passion of Jesus precede a mounted couple representing the Count of Flanders and his wife. At the end comes the most sacred relic in the country, a vial reputed to contain a drop of the blood of Christ, carried in a magnificent gold reliquary by a group of bishops. The dress of the participants originated in the golden age of Brugge, but the pageant is much older. Principal episodes of the Bible, from the fall of Adam and Eve to the mission of the apostles of Jesus, are either presented in tableaux, acted, sung, or performed in mime during the procession. The object of this veneration is a vial kept in its own chapel on the town square. The chapel was built in the twelfth century for the Count of Flanders and dedicated to St. Basil. At various times it served as the chapel of the candlemakers’ and stonemasons’ guilds. The building is a small, twostory structure, and the upper chapel houses the sacred relic. It is a vial containing lamb’s wool supposedly used to clean the wounds of Jesus before his burial. It is saturated with dried blood. The container is rock crystal inside a glass vial, probably originally a Byzantine perfume container. Each Friday, the relic is exposed for veneration in the upper chapel. The small building has two chapels. On the lower level is St. Basil’s, a perfect unreconstructed Romanesque chapel built to hold a relic of that Eastern patriarch, brought from Cappadocia during the Crusades. Basil’s relic is in a side chapel of St. Yves, the patron of lawyers. Along with two statues kept in St. Basil’s, it becomes part of the annual procession. The upper chapel of the Holy Blood is Renaissance Gothic, a contrast in styles. Additions and renovations continued

Holy Blood, Brugge/Bruges, Belgium | 233 from the fifteenth century until the twentieth. One of the last was a 1905 wall painting behind the high altar, with a crucifixion scene on the top and the account of the journey of the relic from Jerusalem to Brugge on the bottom. According to tradition, the relic was a gift from the patriarch of Jerusalem to Count Derrick of Alsace for his bravery during the Second Crusade in 1150. Research has revealed, however, that it came from Constantinople in the early 1200s, possibly during the sack of that city by the forces of the Count of Flanders. It soon became the totem of the city, and oaths of loyalty were sworn on it. From time to time, it was presented to the populace for veneration, and from this custom the procession developed. The magistrates and guilds of Brugge took the lead in developing the procession, and the relic and its chapel are still owned by the city. The property has been managed since 1405 by the Confraternity of the Precious Blood,

made up of the most prominent men of the town’s elite families. The present shrine dates from 1617 and is a masterwork of the goldsmith Jan Crabbe. The relic has never been without its critics. St. Thomas Aquinas, the medieval theologian who was a champion of the doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the host, openly doubted its authenticity. When the matter was debated in 1463 in the presence of Pope Pius V, the jury of cardinals adjourned without making a decision. The Confraternity has refused to have the relic tested scientifically.

REFERENCES Joan Cruz, Relics. Huntington, IN, Our Sunday Visitor, 1984. David Sox, Relics and Shrines. London, George Allen & Unwin, 1985. Jeffrey Vallance, Relics and Reliquaries. Santa Ana, CA, Grand Central, 2008. www.holyblood.com.


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the iconostasis but on the side in their own small shrine. In Eastern churches, the altar where the Eucharist is celebrated is behind a wall of icons, which are placed on it in a set pattern. This iconostasis has a holy door through which the priests and deans emerge for the proclamation of the Gospel and to distribute Holy Communion. On it are icons of the Annunciation of the Virgin and the four evangelists. To the right of the Holy Door is a major icon depicting the saint or sacred event to which the church is dedicated. To the left is an icon of the Theotokos, the Mother of God, who has a special role in Eastern theology. Along the top are rows of smaller icons of saints, angels, and prophets. The dynamic of the iconostasis is from top to bottom: the prophets foretelling the coming of the Messiah; the Patriarch’s first covenant with his people; events in the lives of Jesus and Mary; the saints and angels standing in worship of the Christ; and finally the lower level, the holy door, and the local saints.

ICONS Icons are sacred representations of Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints, or angels. They are universally used in Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches and shrines. According to Eastern Christian tradition, the icon takes on the spiritual graces of those who pray before it, making the oldest versions of receptacles of holiness. The icon participates in the saintliness of the one shown on it and is a sacramental sign of the holy one depicted, just as a relic is. Icon art is not concerned to show a realistic picture of its subjects. It is stylized and intended only to represent them. There is none of the lifelike or even romantic style of painting used in western art, and no attempt at showing depth in the painting. On entering a church, the Eastern Christian will bow to the iconostasis and spend a moment in prayer before it. If the church has any important relics, they will not be part of

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236 | Infant Jesus of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

In the eighth century, a controversy known as iconoclasm emerged, with the support of several emperors and the Byzantine army, who opposed the use of images in churches. Icons were smashed by gangs of fanatics, and it is extremely rare to find icons that date before that era. The theological reasoning behind the use of icons is based upon Christ himself, who is defined as an icon of the Father in the Trinity. Jesus is seen as the “image made not by hands,” and on a par with the scriptures as a revelation of God’s life among his people. The icon is theology in a visible form. An icon is not said to be “painted,” but “written.” One “reads” it by looking through it into eternity. One Coptic saint called it “an exercise in remote fellowship.” Icons can be found in Roman Catholic churches and some Protestant ones, but there they are regarded in the same way as statues or stained-glass windows, as representations and aids to prayer. They do not have the same essential role in liturgy as in Eastern Christian churches. Liturgical art in western churches tends to follow trends in the art world in general, while eastern traditions remain static and highly symbolic. Both Roman Catholics and Protestants see images as primarily instructive and devotional. An icon can also occasionally be three dimensional. Some argue that the Shroud of Turin is an icon and not the winding sheet of Jesus. Even in Byzantine churches this form can be seen from time to time. An example would be the casket representing the tomb of Christ in the Russian Orthodox cathedral in Helsinki. There are forms of icons in nonChristian faiths as well. The Tibetan thanka, a silk painting with embroidery

of the Buddha, or of a theme such as the Wheel of Life, is regarded as a manifestation of the divine. Meditation in the presence of the thanka, visualizing oneself as that deity, therefore, is a form of internalizing the Buddha.

REFERENCES Jim Frost, Praying With Icons. Maryknoll, NY, Orbis, revised edition, 2008. Linette Martin, Sacred Doorways: A Beginner’s Guide to Icons. Brewster, MA, Paraclete, 2003. Sobrunn Nes, The Mystical Language of Icons. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 2009. Henri Nouwen, Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying With Icons. Notre Dame, IN, Ave Maria, revised edition, 2007.

INFANT JESUS OF PRAGUE, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC A worldwide popular Catholic devotion has developed from a simple parish church in Prague, center of the cult of the Infant Jesus. It was built in 1613 by German Lutherans as Holy Trinity Church, the first baroque church in the city. After the Battle of the White Mountain (1620), in which Protestant forces were defeated by the Austrian emperor, the victorious Catholics presented the church to the Carmelite Friars, who renamed it the Church of Our Lady Triumphant in honor of the battle. In 1628, Polyxena de Lobkowitz, a member of the Spanish nobility, donated the small (eighteen-inch) wax statue of

Infant Jesus of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic | 237 the Child Jesus, which she had received as a wedding gift from her mother. Over time it became known as a source of special blessings and miraculous favors, and its devotion spread internationally. It is especially revered in the Philippines, where a version of the statue arrived, also from Spain, about the same time as in Prague. It is credited with helping to Christianize the islands and unite them with a sense of national consciousness. The devotion to the Infant Jesus of Prague is also strong in Latin America. Nevertheless, the devotion is presumed to have originated in Spain. The statue, kept on an ornate rococo side altar made of colored marble and studded with diamonds, wears a gold crown and one of more than seventy outfits that are changed regularly, depending on the seasons of the liturgical year and feast days. The child is shown with his right hand raised in blessing, with the left holding a golden orb, the royal symbol of kingship. The statue was probably made in the fifteenth century and has been documented from the 1550s. Devotion to the humanity of Christ was strong in Spain at that time, and the cult of the Infant Jesus was part of a new emphasis on Jesus’ incarnation in a human body. It, along with other influences, resulted in the development of the celebration of Christmas, with its focus on the Infant Jesus. Various pious customs have sprung up around the devotion, including a ninehour set of prayers (novena) to ask the Christ Child for urgent needs. On the feast (May 27), the statue is crowned after a procession through the streets of Prague, amidst singing and ceremony. In 1631 during the Thirty Years’ War, Swedish and Saxon forces pillaged the

Statue of the Infant Jesus of Prague in The Church of Our Lady Victorious is displayed with a new robe on September 25, 2009 in Prague.

church, and the statue was thrown onto a trash heap behind the altar. Around 1640 it was discovered, repaired, and enthroned. After a Swedish siege was lifted following special prayers before the statue, the statue became a national symbol. In 1784 the Emperor Joseph II expelled the Carmelites and entrusted the church to the Knights of Malta. Under Communism during the Cold War following World War II, all religious orders were suppressed in Czechoslovakia, and the parish was taken under the care of the diocesan clergy. The church was never closed, however, and pilgrims continued to visit. Worldwide, the Carmelite Order continued to publicize the devotion to the Infant Jesus. In 1993, after the restoration of religious

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orders in Czechoslovakia following the fall of Communism, the Carmelites were invited back to take charge of the church. See also: Santo Nino de Cebu

REFERENCES Anonymous, Devotion to the Infant Jesus of Prague. Charlotte, NC, TAN, 2009. Ludvik Nemec, Infant Jesus of Prague. Totowa, NJ, Catholic Books, 1978. Bob and Penny Lord, Infant of Prague. Morrilton, AR, Journeys of Faith, video. www.pragjesu.info.

IONA, ARGYLL, SCOTLAND A storm-swept island about a mile off the northern Scottish coast, Iona has been a place of Christian pilgrimage and a center of Scots religious culture since the sixth century. Its history can be divided into three distinct but related eras: Celtic monasticism, Benedictine monasticism, and the Iona Community. Its first development began with the foundation of a monastery by St. Columba in 563 CE. Columba was a powerful figure in Irish politics. Some think he may have founded the monastery as penance for a civil war he instigated in 561, for which he was reputedly exiled with instructions to convert as many souls as had been lost in battle. Until the seventh century, Iona was the most important center of Irish monasticism. It was ruled by bishop-abbots, many of them kinsmen of Columba. Iona governed forty-two parishes in Ireland and fifty-seven in Scotland until the ninth century.

Iona Abbey on the Scottish Isle of Mull is a Christian pilgrimage site dating from AD 600. The island was the site of the monastery established by Saint Columba, who actively converted Picts to Christianity during the sixth and seventh centuries AD.

Like other Celtic monasteries, Iona had a central church surrounded by beehive huts for the monks. There was probably a more permanent house for the abbot, a library, and a rest house for travelers. However, the buildings were built of earth and timber and thatched with reeds; thus nothing remains except a splendid carved high cross. The monks at Iona supported themselves by farming, and not even the abbot was exempt from this duty. The Irish monks were literate— unusual for that era—and devoted themselves to studying the Scriptures. Iona produced several fine writers of Gaelic, as well as those accomplished in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. From their school

Iona, Argyll, Scotland | 239 came several prominent English churchmen, including three abbots of Lindisfarne. Iona remained Celtic in its religious practices even after Roman traditions were introduced into Britain, but the raids of the Danes in the following centuries weakened it. In 806, sixty-eight monks died in a massacre, and in 814 the headship of Iona was transferred to Kells in Ireland. In 825 another mass martyrdom occurred, and by 1204 the monastery was empty and the bishop’s see had been transferred to St. Andrew’s. The original graveyard is regarded as the holiest ground in Scotland, the resting place for both the martyrs and forty-eight Scots kings, including Macbeth. The pope sent the Benedictines to Iona to found a new monastery. They introduced the second period of Iona’s history and built the medieval stone buildings that remain at the site. The Benedictine period ended when the monastery was broken up during the Protestant Reformation. Another martyrdom closed this period, when 400 monks were thrown into the sea by the Calvinists. Shortly before his death Columba prophesied, “Before the world comes to an end, Iona shall be as she was.” He was right. Slowly, people began to return to Iona. At first it was tourists seeking the pleasant charm of the island, but in 1899 the Duke of Argyll restored the church there. The third era of spiritual renewal came to Iona in the person of Rev. George Macleod. Born into the wealth and privilege of the aristocracy, Macleod (1895–1991) became the Presbyterian pastor of the poorest church of Glasgow, then a grim and filthy industrial city. A passionate preacher in an unbroken 550-year line

of Scots churchmen, he was also a poet, a mystic, and a much-decorated war hero of World War I. His war experience turned him into a pacifist, a devoted socialist, and a crusader for nuclear disarmament. Through the 1930s he worked to raise the money to restore Iona’s monastic ruins, which haunted him, and in 1938 he left his industrial mission to found a community at Iona. He rebuilt the abbey for living quarters for his companions and sent missionaries into Scotland as Columba had fourteen centuries before. Macleod, who combined a burning crusade for justice for the poor and oppressed with a delicate sense of liturgy and worship, is regarded as one of the greatest leaders of public worship in modern Scotland. Iona is not a monastic community but a missionary one. It originally attracted those marginalized by society: exprisoners, troubled youth, the disabled and all those whose lives were collapsing. At the same time, “Iona men” became apostles in the public housing settlements, factories, and mean streets of the industrial north. Members of the community commit themselves to sharing the life of labor and worship while they are on the island, but most do not live there. They have jobs and careers and are engaged in religious work elsewhere. Membership in the community requires four disciplines: a daily period of meditation and Bible study; a simple lifestyle and regular giving to help meet the needs of developing countries; a similar donation of time; and a commitment to work for peace. All the members gather for a week and for three shorter meetings each year. The community runs summer youth camps, including one for boys from detention homes. It has 260 full members and 1,600 associates.

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There are three residential centers at Iona: MacLeod, with programs for youth and families; Camas on Mull Island, with environmental education for youth; and the Abbey, which offers common life in a monastic setting. There are also Anglican and Roman Catholic retreat houses on Iona. There is daily worship and Communion twice a week for residents and visitors. During the warmer months, there are also two weekly pilgrim walks around the island and a Cielidh, a traditional dance and song fest. Macleod refused his father’s title in 1934 but was named to the House of Lords in 1967, the only Presbyterian minister there. He took his seat as the only member for the Green Party. Macleod staunchly maintained the necessary connection between religion and politics, spirituality and justice, and the Iona Community became a center for international church conferences. A large Centre for Reconciliation was built to accommodate visitors. Macleod was elected moderator of the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1957, which helped to silence his many critics. He remained leader of the Iona community until 1967, and the community remained vital even after his death in 1991. John Smith, former leader of Britain’s Labour Party, was a devout member of the community and was buried there in 1994. See also: Glendalough, Lindisfarne

REFERENCES Ron Ferguson, George MacLeod: Founder of the Iona Community.

Glasgow, Scotland, Wild Goose, 2001. Irene Glenzier, Columba’s Island. Edinburg, Scotland, University of Edinburgh, revised edition, 2007. Peter Miller, Iona: A Pilgrim’s Guide. Norwich, UK, Canterbury, 2007. Pilgrimages to Europe: Iona. Janson Media, 2002, video. www.iona.org.uk.

ISE, JAPAN Ise, on a peninsula in southern Honshu, is the holiest shrine of Shinto, the Japanese national religion. Originally, it was the private shrine of the emperor, but gradually it was opened to the nobility and then to commoners. During the fifteenth century, shrine clerics traveled throughout Japan gathering donations and promising blessings to those who came to Ise. Thus the tradition was established that all devout followers of Shinto should make the pilgrimage to Ise at least once in their lives. Associations were formed to organize pilgrimages, and on New Year’s Day, a million people visit Ise. The other major pilgrimage is in mid-October, the new rice festival. Each year 8.5 million Japanese pilgrims come, making Ise the leading pilgrimage site in Japan. Pilgrims bow deeply two times before the shrine, clap their hands twice at the height of the chest and worship with hands pressed together. Then they bow to complete the reverence. What makes Ise the holiest shrine of Shinto is its role as resting place for the spirit of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess and highest deity of the Shinto pantheon. Amaterasu is the mythical ancestor of

Ise, Japan | 241

Ceremonial gateway, or torii, Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan.

the imperial family and the grounds for considering the family divine. The myth of Amaterasu tells of her birth from the creators who brought her forth after first creating the islands of Japan. When her brother insulted and shamed her, she withdrew into a cave, causing total darkness to fall on the earth. Another goddess lured her forth by dancing lewdly before the cave to remind her of her duty to foster life and fertility. Amaterasu gave her son three sacred treasures—a mirror used in the dance, a sword, and jewels— and sent him to rule Japan. The present emperor of Japan is the 125th in that line, and the treasures are tokens of his divine right to rule. The Outer Shrine at Ise, dating from 478, honors the Goddess of Grain and Agriculture, who served Amaterasu.

The shrine’s wide approach is flanked by stately cedar trees. Its main hall is made of unpainted Japanese cypress, which quickly weathers to a deep hue that gives the impression of great age. It is surrounded by four fences, so visitors may only glimpse the buildings through a white silk curtain that decorates the main gate. The Inner Shrine, where Amaterasu resides, is several miles away. It is built in a special style forbidden to other shrines, and its holiest relic is the mirror that is one of the three sacred treasures of the imperial family. Except for the years of militaristic Shinto (1868– 1946), a princess of the royal family has served as high priestess of the Inner Shrine, and certain rites are performed there and nowhere else. In October, the

242 | Isis Temple, Philae, Egypt

emperor comes to the Inner Shrine for the dedication of the new rice; other ceremonies are held to pray for a rich harvest. The rice used in the shrine rites is raised in a special rice paddy, and sake (rice wine) is made from it according to an ancient formula. Food offerings, cooked on a sacred fire and later destroyed, are made to the goddess. More than a hundred priests serve at Ise, along with shrine maidens who offer sacred dances for festal occasions. One dance, performed by a single male, is permitted only at Ise and in the imperial household. Every twenty years the entire complex, with more than 200 buildings and shrines, is completely rebuilt without nails. The wood comes from the surrounding forest of giant cryptomeria, a type of cypress that is believed to enshrine the spirits of nature. In a special ceremony, the spirit of Amaterasu is moved to her new quarters. Several thousand sacred items are then transferred in a solemn ceremony. The renewal of the shrines—2033 will be the sixty-third— is followed by “thanksgiving years,” when pilgrimages intensify. Altogether there are 123 Shinto shrines in Ise, ninety-one related to the Inner Shrine and thirty-two to the Outer Shrine. Ceremonies are continual at Ise Jingu, with more than 1,600 each year. For the important ones, the high priest conducts the rituals in the name of the emperor, who appears only for the rice festival. The daily rituals include morning and evening presentation of sacred food to Amaterasu, cooked on a fire kindled on wood by a wooden drill. A sacred well that is believed to have ascended from heaven supplies water for the kamii, or spirits. Ise and the other Grand Shrines are devoted to the imperial cult. Only the

emperor may enter the Inner Shrine at Ise or pass its four entryways. Outside the shrine park is the Shinto university, Kogakkan, closed by the Americans after World War II but reopened after the occupation. Its 20,000 students focus their studies on nihonjinron, the essence of what is Japanese. Traditional Japanese military values are taught along with the doctrine of the superiority of the Japanese race and culture. See also: Shinto Shrines

REFERENCES Peter Popham, Wooden Temples of Japan. London, Tauris Parke, 1990. Ian Reader, Simple Guides Shinto. London, Bravo, 2007. Motohisa Yamakage, The Essence of Shinto. Tokyo, Kodansha, 2006. www.isejingu.or.jp.

ISIS TEMPLE, PHILAE, EGYPT Philae in Greek means “the end” and refers to the location of the Isis Temple at the southernmost border of Egypt. Its temple was dedicated to the goddess Isis, wife of Osiris and mother of the god Horus. The myth tells the story of Osiris’ death at the hands of Seth, who dismembers him. Isis gathers the fragments and reunites them, and Horus is born to the couple. He grows up to avenge his father by facing Seth in combat and killing him. Isis is shown in Egyptian art crowned with a throne. As mother of Horus and the one who resurrects Osiris, she is goddess of eternal

Israelite Sanctuaries | 243 life. Philae was revered as one of the burial places of Osiris. Philae Island was built up over centuries. The first temple to Isis was built about 375 BCE and continuously expanded, last of all by the Roman Emperor Diocletian right at the end of the pagan period. Despite the spread of Christianity, worship of Isis continued for two centuries longer, the last outpost of ancient Egyptian religion. In 635, the Emperor Justinian closed the temple and turned it over to Coptic Christians, who created a church and two monasteries in part of it, which lasted until the arrival of Islam. Unfortunately, the Copts defaced many pagan inscriptions and the Muslims continued the practice due to their opposition to images. In 1902, the Aswan Low Dam began the process of regular seasonal flooding of Philae, and heightening the dam in later years made it worse. The vegetation, including many palm trees, was killed off and much of the remaining paint on the incision in the walls was washed away. For many years, the temple was flooded each year with the rise of the Nile, and the flooding levels are clearly visible on the temple pillars. The temple was threatened further by destruction during the building of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s, which flooded many ancient temple sites and covered the island with Lake Nasser. Led by UNESCO, Philae was surrounded by a coffer dam, and the entire Isis Temple was removed stone by stone to another island on higher ground between 1972 and 1980. All the Nubian monuments, including Philae, have been listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1979. The temple is one of the finest examples of an ancient Egyptian worship

center. In its present form it is largely intact. It is approached by the river, as it was in its original location, and broad stone steps lead to a wide forecourt leading to the main entrance. Two rectangular pylons (150 feet x 60 feet) feature incised pictographs of the three divine persons and Ptolemy XII. Reflecting the pantheism of the Romans, who liked to incorporate the gods of their occupied peoples into their pantheon, there are scenes of Emperors Tiberias and Caesar Augustus. Inside the inner sanctum of the Temple, where the statue of Isis once stood, are inscriptions and incisions showing Egyptian pharaohs and Roman emperors taking part in ritual offerings to the goddess. The rituals served to affirm the descent of the rulers from Horus and thus their legitimacy. New Age groups often come to the Isis Temple for the solstices, considering it a center of cosmic energy.

REFERENCES J. H. F. Dijkstra, Philae and the End of Ancient Egyptian Religion. Leuven, Belgium, Peeters, 2008. William MacQuitty, Island of Isis: Philae Temple of the Nile. Swindon, UK, BCA, 1976. R. E. Witt, Isis in the Ancient World. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins, 1997.

ISRAELITE SANCTUARIES As the early Israelites established themselves in what we now know as Israel and Palestine, they encountered small Canaanite kingdoms. The prophets continually warned them against taking on the worship of the Canaanite gods, but it

244 | Israelite Sanctuaries

was impossible for the Jews not to be influenced by the surrounding cultures. Jews were found at the local temples, offering first-fruits and asking the pagan gods’ blessing on their crops and herds. After establishing themselves in Israel, the Jews sought their own shrines. During the passage from Egypt they had brought the Ark of the Covenant with them, with its sacred tablets of the Law. Now they were becoming a settled people, farmers as well as herdsmen. One of the earliest shrines seems to have been at Shechem, the first place that Abraham stopped upon entering Canaan (Genesis 12:6–7). Like other early sanctuaries, it was a place where God have revealed himself to the patriarch. It seems also to have been the place of a pagan oak tree that was used by priests as an oracle. Later, Jacob would erect an altar there and bury the pagan idols gathered from his wives and attendants under the tree as a sign of the triumph of the God of the Jews. A number of solemn acts took place there, evidently including an annual renewal of the Sinai Covenant. The great oak remained in the sanctuary (Joshua 24:25–28). Jacob had his famous vision of the ladder to heaven at Bethel, and he immediately anointed a stone altar there. (Genesis 28:10–22): “How awesome is this place! It is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven.” Joshua established a center at Shiloh, where he installed the Ark and the Tablets. In Joshua 18:10 he used Shiloh as the place to cast lots to apportion the lands of Israel to the tribes. Judges 21:19–23 describes a wine festival at Shiloh, where the sons of Benjamin are allowed to take wives from the dancers. 1 Samuel 1 tells the story of the barren

Hannah who goes up to Shiloh and prays for a son. When her wish is granted, she returns with a three-year-old bull, wine, and flour. She also makes a vow that the son, Samuel, would never cut his hair, as a sign of God’s blessing. The shrines were all set on high places, so the expression for pilgrimage was “to go up to the Lord.” When David became king, he brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, his royal capital, and built a grand temple there for it. He chose Mount Moriah, where tradition said that Abraham had been told to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 1:1–14). The Jerusalem temple became the focus of worship and pilgrimage. Jews were expected to come to give sacrifice three times a year: Sukkot, Shav’uot, and Passover. In addition, they were encouraged to come to dedicate newborns or to celebrate coming-of-age for boys, what is in modern Judaism today the bar mitzvah. There were several other shrines as well: Bethel, Shechem, and Gilgal. Centuries later, when the Prophet Amos denounced the comfortable and dishonest Judaism of his time (c. 750 BCE), he was expelled from the royal temple at Bethel and forbidden to preach there (Amos 7:12–13) after he prophesied against King Jeroboam. Clearly, by this time, the shrines had become symbols of kingship and of the nation, but they had also fallen into idol worship. Jeroboam attempted to compete with the Jerusalem temple with Bethel and the worship of the golden calf at Dan. The center of Israelite worship was the Tent of Meeting that housed the Ark of the Covenant. It had led the Jews across the desert to Canaan and was the place of God’s presence among them.

Istanbul Mosques | 245 After entering Canaan, the Ark was kept in turn at Gilgal, Bethel, and Shiloh. After it was captured by the Philistines and then returned to the Israelites, it was finally brought to Jerusalem by David, until Solomon would enshrine it in his temple. All this was changed radically in 587 BCE when Jerusalem was laid waste by the Babylonians and the temple destroyed. A majority of the city’s inhabitants were taken to Babylon in captivity. Fifty years later, the Jews returned and built a new temple, but by this time, the Jewish people had begun to be established abroad in Babylonia, Egypt, and Anatolia. Pilgrimage became at most a once-in-a-lifetime event, and the pilgrimages evolved into feast days, often observed in the home. The Jerusalem temple and its successor, built by Solomon, was a center of Israelite identity. Each village also had its synagogue for worship and preaching, but the Temple was different. Sacrifices were offered, which never happened at the synagogues; the temple tax was paid only there; and the Holy of Holies enclosed the Tablets of the Law. The ceremonies in that inner sanctum were elaborate and restricted only to the priests. See also: Jewish Pilgrimages, Shiloh, Solomon’s Temple

REFERENCES Roland DeVaux and John McHugh, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1997. Francesca Stavakopoulou and John Barton, eds., Religious Diversity in

Ancient Israel and Judah. London, T&T Clark, 2010.

ISTANBUL MOSQUES After conquering Constantinople (today’s Istanbul) in 1453, the Ottoman Turks ruled a vast empire from the city for five centuries. In the process, they embellished the city. At first the Ottoman Muslims made do with remodeled Christian churches, but within a few years they were spending huge sums of money to construct a network of mosques that rivaled those in any Muslim city in the world. Although the Hagia Sophia was made into a mosque in 1453 by Mehmet the Conqueror, for some years it has been operated as a museum by the government. Across the park from it is the Blue Mosque, an Islamic architectural wonder facing the Christian one. Properly called the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, the popular name comes from its blue interior tilework. It was the last imperial mosque built (1609–1617) and the only one with six minarets. If the Blue Mosque was an attempt to rival Hagia Sophia, it was a failure. Although it is large and well proportioned, its interior is gloomy and unattractive. The poor lighting reduces the effect of the tiles, and the effect is cavernous rather than awesome. The Blue Mosque is still in use for prayers, although the crush of tourists often makes this impractical. The Fatih Mosque served as Mehmet’s personal royal mosque (fatih means “conqueror”), and consequently it was surrounded by signs of his generosity—religious schools, a soup kitchen to serve the poor, a Turkish bath, and a

246 | Istanbul Mosques

clinic. Mehmet was not pleased, however, when the original dome was not higher than Hagia Sophia’s, and the luckless architect was maimed and then executed. The Su¨leymaniye, one of the largest mosques in the world, was built to replace the Hagia Sophia as the chief mosque of the sultan. The greatest of the Ottoman sultans, Su¨ leyman the Magnificent (1520–1566), commissioned it, and it was completed in 1557. Crowning a hill with a commanding view, it backs up to the gardens of the Istanbul University. Beautifully proportioned, with four minarets, it overlooks the Golden Horn, the inlet of the Bosphorus that divides the ancient city and the new. Hemmed in by the city, Su¨leymaniye and its courtyard are enclosed by a stone wall. A row of seats and water taps provides for the required ritual washings before entering. Visually balancing the courtyard behind the mosque is the royal graveyard. At the center of this is Su¨leyman’s tu¨rbe, or mausoleum, inside a small octagonal building, topped by a royal turban and covered with green cloth. The tomb is often reverenced by Islamic visitors. Green, the sacred color of Islam, is used throughout, starting with the green marble of the entrance and the padded drape that guards the interior. The design is so lovely and harmonious, and the mosque such a part of Turkish culture, that the architect’s portrait is featured on Turkish currency. For special occasions and for Friday prayers, the assembly at Su¨leymaniye is so large that mihrabs (decorated niches indicating the direction of Mecca) are placed on the outside walls for the overflow crowds. Inside, the immense floor is

covered in a sea of red carpets. The dome (85 feet in diameter and 175 high) is decorated in gold calligraphy. The great height is made less awesome by a number of chandeliers, which provide the main light. The Rustem Pasha Mosque was built by Su¨ leyman’s son-in-law and the Grand Vizier. What sets it apart is its lavish use of tiles with a variety of patterns and designs. Since Islam does not allow representations of persons, its artists developed elaborate decorative motifs. The tiling in the Rustem Pasha Mosque covers the walls, the arcaded porch, and the mihrab, which is especially beautiful. Yeni Mosque was commissioned in 1597 for the valide or Queen Mother, but after its architect was executed two years later, it sat unfinished for fifty years until another queen mother completed it. The valide was often the sultan’s chief advisor. She determined which of his wives had access to him (and thus could bear children) and was a powerful figure with her own court. The Yeni Camii is lined in blue tiles and is the last mosque to retain the custom of stringing sacred sayings in lights between its minarets. See also: Hagia Sophia

REFERENCES Suraiyah Faroqhi, Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire. London, Tauris, 2005. Murat Gul, The Emergence of Modern Istanbul. London, Tauris, 2009. Merle Severy, “Su¨leyman the Magnificent,” National Geographic 172:5, 552–601 (November 1987). Living Islam. New York, BBC, 1993, video.

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IZUMO TAISHA SHRINE, JAPAN Among Shinto shrines, Izumo Taisha is second only to the sacred shrines of Ise. It lies on the northern coast of Honshu Island, far from any major Japanese city. The oldest continuing shrine in Japan, it is dedicated to Okuninushi, the deity credited with introducing medicine, silkworms, and agriculture into the world. There is evidence of the shrine by the ninth century, but it became a pilgrimage shrine only in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when national peace came to Japan and the infrastructure was improved. Okuninushi is also the spirit god of marriage. In Shinto shrines generally, one approaches the shrine, bows, and then claps twice to summon the spirit god—or, some would say, to attract his attention. At Izumo Taisha, however, petitioners clap four times, twice for themselves and twice for their spouses or future spouses. Okuninushi is represented in the form of Daikoku, a smiling corpulent man carrying a sack and standing by several bales of rice. Since most marriages in Japan are solemnized by the exchange of vows before a Shinto spirit hall, Izumo Taisha is a very popular place for weddings. At the entrance to the main hall, the largest in Japan, hangs a huge straw rope (shimenewa). It is more than fifteen yards long and weighs five tons. Those hoping for a happy marriage throw ¥45 into the offering box before the shrine, since the Japanese for “45 yen” is shiju-goen, which also means “constant chances for romance.” Young people write the names of their sweethearts on scraps of paper

and attach them to trees in the shrine compound, thus placing them “in the laps of the gods.” By extension of the shrine’s dedication to relationships, it has also become popular in recent years as a place to pray for successful business mergers. The ritual before entering the inner shrine, which towers seven stories high, is one of purification. The visitor dons a white coat and then washes his hands in flowing water. A Shinto priest, waving a wand streaming with streamers of paper slips emblazoned with symbols, brings the visitor to the shrine. There the pilgrim claps four times and then receives a cup of rice wine, which is drunk in honor of the gods. The shrine dates from at least the seventh century, probably earlier, but following Shinto custom, the buildings are replaced periodically. Most of the present structures date from the nineteenth century, and the present main shrine was constructed in 1744. The entrance is a giant torii arch. From there the visitor walks for a quarter of an hour along a pine-shaded path to the shrine. The hall is representative of the oldest characteristics of shrine architecture, with a compressed bark roof that slants from front to back rather than from side to side. Another distinctive feature is two long open shelters that serve as havens for Shinto’s deities—and there are some eight million of them—when they come to Izumo Taisha for their annual gathering in the lunar month of October. The Shinto belief is that they gather to discuss the year’s births, marriages, and deaths. In Izumo, October is called Kamiarizuki, or the “Month with Gods,” while throughout the rest of Japan it is Kannazuki, the “Month without Gods.”

248 | Izumo Taisha Shrine, Japan

Izumo is also revered as the birthplace of kabuki, the uniquely Japanese formal style of theater. It was created in the seventeenth century by Izumo Okuni, a woman dancer and, some say, a priestess of the Izumo Taisha Shrine. Her tomb is near the shrine and is visited by many kabuki actors, who also perform here each year. Izumo Taisha has some 200 satellite shrines, several of which have been targets of arsonists. They are presumed to be radical socialists who oppose both Shinto and the imperial family.

See also: Ise, Shinto Shrines

REFERENCES Sokyo Ono and William Woodard, Shinto, the Kami Way. Boston, Tuttle, 2004. Yasutada Watanabe, Shinto Art: Ise and Izumo Shrines. New York, Weatherhill, n.d. Motohisa Tamakage, The Essence of Shinto. Tokyo, Kodansha, 2006. www.izumooyashiro.or.jp.

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came in disguise to claim her. King Janak built the ghats to refresh the gods who traveled to the nuptials from faraway Mount Kailas. One of the temples is on the site of this sacred marriage, and an annual celebration in early December brings hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to the city. The marriage is reenacted in a massive procession. The Ramayana recounts how Rama was later sent into exile. An evil king took advantage of Rama’s absence to try to seduce Sita, but she remained faithful and rejected all his advances. The monkey-god, Hanuman, discovered her and brought Rama to her side. Rama triumphed over the demon king, and this battle of good and evil is also re-enacted every March in Janakpur by throngs of the ardent faithful. Newlyweds of both Hindu and Buddhist traditions come to Janakpur to dedicate their marriages to the ideal couple, Rama and Sita, in the annual festival of Bibah Panchami. Their main shrine is Janaki Mandir, where at dawn and dust, believers join

JANAKPUR, NEPAL The city of Janakpur in Nepal is the mythical birthplace of Sita, consort of Rama. Rama is the hero of the Hindu epic of the conflict between good and evil, the Ramayana. The city has large numbers of shrines and more than a thousand ghats, or sacred bathing places, where pilgrims purify themselves before reverencing the gods at the many temples. The purification rites take many forms, from washing clothing and bathing oneself to scrubbing down water buffalos. The puja, or ritual offerings and prayers, are not solemn. Pilgrims swim and frolic in the ponds and pools, and the pilgrimage is often a joyous outing, accompanied by eating and even shopping. Tradition has it that Sita was born while King Janak, her father, was blessing the fields to make them fertile. When she came of age, her hand was offered to any suitor who could bend the bow of the god Shiva, and fresh from defeating a group of demons, Rama

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the temple priests in puja rites before an image of the sacred couple. The wedding scene is presented in a tableau at the Ram Janaki Vivek Mandap, a temple nearby. Other major festivals take place at the Nepalese New Year. Nag Panchami honors the serpent-god Nag, the provider of rain, and it is a harvest festival during the monsoons. The birthday of Lord Krishna takes place in August, and a ten-day celebration of the defeat of evil by the goddess Durga. Traditional Hindu celebrations such as Diwali, a gift-giving time sometimes called the “Hindu Christmas,” and Holi, a time for fun and exchanging special sweets, are also among the other festivals. All of them draw large numbers to Janakpur. See also: Hindu Temples

REFERENCES David Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1986. Ormond McGill, Religious Mysteries of the Orient. South Brunswick, NJ, Barnes, 1976. Nepal: Land of the Gods. New York, Mystic Fire, 1976, video.

JAPANESE PILGRIMAGES Japanese pilgrimages involve both Buddhists and Shinto believers, but in many cases, the two faiths intertwine and pilgrims may go to one another’s’ sites. The great pilgrimages involve circuits of from twenty to eighty-eight temples and shrines and are arduous and demanding. Some pilgrims undertake

them in sections, completing them only after several years. Typical of the smaller yet popular pilgrimage circuits is that of the Seven Lucky Gods, not far from Tokyo. Here the pilgrim encounters the seven deities of good fortune and prays for health and prosperity. For someone who cannot make a circuit, there exists the “One Hundred Pilgrimages at One Shrine,” where the devotee goes back and forth a hundred times between the shrine and some other site in its precincts. It is a pilgrimage seeking health for the sick and to avoid disaster. A prayer wheel might mark one end of the route, and the pilgrim spins the wheel with a prayer before returning to the shine. At one shrine there is a hollow stone with a hundred inscribed wooden slats. At each arrival, the pilgrim slides one along the metal pole that holds them until he has accomplished the total number of visits. The most prominent Buddhist pilgrimage is that of the thirty-three temples of the goddess Kannon, bodhisattva of compassion. This takes place in western Japan and is the model for others that honor her. But besides these pilgrimages, there are those of various sects of Buddhism that have their own circuits, several of which involve a hundred temples. An ancient tradition has shamans or holy wanderers pass through villages, dispensing healing and releasing wayward spirits to enter the next life in peace. Many of these holy men concentrate their efforts on sacred mountains, assisting pilgrims as they offer their services. Some of these pilgrimages were suppressed for several centuries but have now returned to life. Japan has many holy mountains (some list forty-three), of which Mount

Jasna Gora, Poland | 251 Fuji is the most revered, along with Mounts Koya, Tateyama, and Hakusan. Each is a popular climbing pilgrimage. They were all associated with mountain ascetics in the early period, dating from the ninth century CE. Today Koya has a famous monastery, and Fuji-san has a number of shrines at its base. Many Shinto shrines are also pilgrimage sites, such as Ise and Izumo Taisha. Each has its resident kamii or spirits and is a place for worship and ceremonies. See also: Buddhist Pilgrimages, Eighty-Eight Temples Pilgrimage, Ise, Mount Fuji, Nara, Shinto Shrines

REFERENCES Peter Ackermann et al., eds., Pilgrimage and Spiritual Quests in Japan. New York, Routledge, 2007. Barbara Ambros, Emplacing a Pilgrimage. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 2008. J. Thomas Rimer, Pilgrimages: Aspects of Japanese Literature and Culture. Honolulu, University of Hawai’i, 1991.

these pilgrims is the chapel of the Black Madonna. It is on the side of the large baroque monastery church that dominates the hilltop. The icon shows Mary holding Jesus on her left arm; the Christ Child holds a Bible in his hands. The image is in a gold frame decorated with hundreds of gems. It was most likely the product of an Italian studio of the fourteenth century. It belongs to the category of icons called Hodigitria, “she who points out and guides along the way.” Many shrines to the Virgin Mary claim to have a painting of Mary done by Luke the Evangelist. The legend of the Jasna Go´ra icon says it was painted on a tabletop built by the carpenter Jesus. The legend also relates that the painting was discovered by St. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine and an avid collector of sacred relics.

JASNA GORA, POLAND As the national shrine of Poland, Jasna Go´ra in the city of Czestochowa attracts a regular flow of delegations from all elements of Polish society. Parliament and government leaders visit regularly, and student groups, war veterans, miners, actors, former Stalinist prisoners, and factory workers arrive in a regular stream of organized pilgrimages. It is estimated to be the fifth-largest pilgrimage center in the world, after Varanasi, Mecca (the Hajj), Lourdes, and Rome. The focus of

Our Lady of Czestochowa (Black Madonna). Byzantine icon.

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It is historically certain that the icon arrived in Poland in 1382 with a Polish army fleeing the Tartars, who had struck it with an arrow. A monastery was established in Czestochowa to care for the icon, but it was again attacked in 1430, when Protestant Hussite invaders slashed the face with a sword. The arrow mark and the two sword gashes remain clearly visible. In 1655, the monks held out against invading Swedes for a forty-day siege, inspiring a popular Polish uprising that led to the liberation of the country within a year. After that event, the shrine of Czestochowa became a symbol of Polish national identity, and the icon was crowned Queen of Poland. Considering its violent history, it is no surprise that Jasna Go´ra is built as a walled fortress, with its shrines and chapels well protected inside. Jasna Gora has always been a center of Polish nationalism and Catholicism. During World War II, when it was occupied by Nazi troops, the monks somehow were able to hide partisans and Jews. During Communism, Jasna Gora openly preached against Stalinism, rallying the devout. In each of his five visits to his native Poland, Pope John Paul II came to Jasna Gora and placed Poland at the feet of the image. The main avenue of Czestochowa has a broad parklike median lined with trees, and every day from early until late, groups march to the shrine along this route, separated by a few hundred feet so that they do not disturb the groups before and behind them.They walk along praying the rosary and singing hymns, young men carrying battery packs and rolling speakers on wheels to lead the singing. The rhythm of song and prayer

from group after group moves along the street in waves of sound. Pilgrims wear badges with the name of their town and a number showing how many times they have come to the shrine. Many have come annually for 30 years or more. Jasna Go´ra receives pilgrims daily in a constant stream, but Marian feast days bring throngs, especially on Assumption Day (August 15), when up to a half million people crowd the city. Since 1711, a walking pilgrimage has left Warsaw and thirtytwo other towns and walked in procession for up to twenty-one days; today it numbers from 50,000 to 100,000 pilgrims converging on the city. After venerating the icon, pilgrims usually pin their badges to the walls of the chapel as an ex-voto. There are four other national pilgrimages: May 3 (Mary, Queen of Poland), August 26 (Our Lady of Czestochowa), September 8 (Nativity of Mary), and December 8 (Immaculate Conception). In 1991 Pope John Paul II held his Sixth World Youth Day at Czestochowa, with some 350,000 young people present from all over Europe. Two museums display the many gifts given the Virgin. Princes have offered their swords and scepters to her along with the spoils of victory, including Turkish guns and the great battle tents of the sultan captured at the siege of Vienna in 1683. Among the treasures is the Nobel Peace Prize medal awarded Lech Walesa in 1983 and rosaries made of dried bread by Nazi concentration camp survivors. There are tear-gas cylinders used against the Solidarity protesters by the Communists in the 1980s, since Jasna Go´ra was a center of anti-Communist resistance during the Cold War. See also: Marian Apparitions

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REFERENCES Zbigiew Bania et al., Jasna Go´ra. Wroclaw, Poland, Interpress, 1986. Jan Pach et al., Jasna Gora Guide. Czestochowa, Poland, Paulinianum, second edition, 2001. Caroline Peters, The Black Madonna. Paterson, NJ, St. Anthony Guild, 1962. Bob and Penny Lord, Our Lady of Czestochowa. Morrilton, AR, Journeys of Faith, n.d., video. www.jasnagora.pl.

JERUSALEM, CHRISTIAN SITES In 325 CE the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine and one of the most powerful

women of her day, went to Jerusalem to identify the places associated with the life of Jesus. She found that they were not as difficult to trace as might be imagined, since the local Christians had kept track of some, while the Roman emperors had been unintentionally helpful by erecting pagan idols over others as markers of Roman triumph. When excavators found a cross and spears in a dig in Jerusalem, Helena regarded it as a miraculous revelation of the cross of Jesus. Legend has it that only an innocent boy could lift it, and when a young lad did so, she felt confirmed. Helena ordered a basilica built over the site of the burial of Jesus. This was the first Church of the Holy Sepulchre, destroyed by the Persians in 614, restored and demolished again in 1009,

Palestinian Christians carry a large wooden cross along the Via Dolorosa, the route tradition says Jesus carried the cross on which he was to be crucified by the Romans, to mark Good Friday on April 2, 2010 in Jerusalem’s Old City, Israel. Thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the world thronged the narrow cobblestone alleys as they retraced the footsteps of Jesus and the Stations of the Cross.

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and then rebuilt by the Crusaders. Their basilica was expanded to bring the nearby rock-cut tomb of Jesus and the site of Calvary under one roof. It is this Crusader church that exists today in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Because Jesus’ burial place was described as outside the walls of the city, the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been disputed, but recent scholarship supports it as the most likely setting; in Jesus’ time it was outside the old walls. The Garden Tomb located on the Mount of Olives, favored by some Protestants, has no support from biblical scholars. The Holy Sepulchre is a carefully controlled shrine. In 1757, Turkish rulers attempted to deal with the bitter rivalries of Christian groups by dividing it into spheres of control, which are maintained today. Roman (Latin) Catholics have the largest share, followed by the Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Syrians, and Egyptian Copts. The Ethiopians have been relegated to the roof of one of the chapels. Only Latin Catholics and Greek and Armenian Orthodox may celebrate Mass in the church, hold processions, or use incense. Each group is jealous of the others’ space and eager to claim rights to it, so that even simple repairs or repainting can generate years of negotiation. Consequently, the Holy Sepulchre has serious maintenance problems. The Mount of Olives is the site of Jesus’ night vigil before his crucifixion. It is a serene setting. There are several “Gardens of Gethsemane” alongside the Chapel of the Ascension, which most Christians accept as the spot from which Jesus is believed to have ascended into heaven. At the foot of the hill is

Dominus Flevit (“the Lord wept”), a tearshaped church on the spot where Jesus wept for Jerusalem (Luke 18:41–44). Mount Zion, the mountain of the Lord that has come to symbolize Jerusalem itself, figures in the messianic hopes of Christians. On one of the peaks of Zion, Jesus fulfilled his destiny by becoming the sacrifice of the New Law, making Mount Zion the New Jerusalem.Evangelicals identify Mount Zion as the actual place upon which Jesus will return in his second coming, to proclaim the end of time and the fulfillment of all sacred history. Since this can happen only when Judaism has been restored to the Holy Land, many evangelicals give strong support to modern Israel and its religious claims to Palestine. Mount Zion, David’s original city, is the site of the Cenacle, the location of the Last Supper. The space is undecorated and unremarkable. Known popularly as the “Upper Room,” (Acts 1:13), it is the place where the apostles gathered with Mary after the death of Jesus. It is also thought to be the room where the washing of the feet of the apostles took place (John 13:3–11), where Matthias was elected to apostleship (Acts 1:23–26), and where the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles (Acts 2: 1–4). It was long attached to a church. At various times, it was destroyed and rebuilt (the present structure dates from the twelfth century), and for four centuries it served as a mosque, being returned to Christian use after the 1948 war ended in Israeli independence. The Via Dolorosa is a narrow set of passageways along which Jesus supposedly carried his cross to his death. It is marked by stations, places where certain

Jerusalem, Islamic Sites | 255 events took place. These are reproduced in Catholic churches around the world by small plaques (Stations of the Cross) showing the various scenes. Some locations are biblical and others legendary, but the devotional pattern is traditional. The Way of the Cross is conducted twice daily for pilgrims, with Fridays being especially popular. A few people carry large wooden crosses along the Way as a penance for their sins. Station I (the place of Jesus’ condemnation by Pilate) is at either the Lion’s Gate or the Jaffa Gate. II (Jesus receives the cross) is on the pavement of the Roman fortress, now a convent. III (Jesus falls) and IV (Jesus meets his mother) are near the Armenian Church of Our Lady of the Spasm. V (Simon carries Jesus’ cross) is by a small Franciscan chapel, and VI (Veronica wipes Jesus’ face) is in a small Crusader monastery. Legend has it that when a woman wiped Jesus’ face, his image miraculously appeared on the cloth. This relic is now in St. Peter’s in Rome. VII (Jesus falls again) is where the Via crosses a market. VIII (Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem) is nearby and recalls when some women wept for him, and he told them to lament for themselves and their children. IX (Jesus falls a third time) is by an Ethiopian monastery. X–XIV (Jesus is stripped, nailed to the cross, dies, is taken from the cross, and laid in the tomb) are all within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the final station. It is a marble chapel built in the center of the rotunda on the ground floor of the church. The site of the burial place of Jesus is marked with lamps and candles. Nearby is the Chapel of Mary Magdalene, where Jesus was first seen after the Resurrection.

Along the Via Dolorosa is the Crusader Church of St. Anne, commemorating the birthplace of the Virgin Mary. It is one of the best-preserved Crusader churches in the Holy Land, but its most interesting feature is in its gardens: the Pool of Bethesda, where sheep were brought to be washed before being sacrificed at the Temple and where Jesus cured a paralytic. A healing pool in biblical times, it does not have that reputation today. See also: Garden Tomb, Jerusalem, Islamic Sites, Jerusalem, Jewish Sites

REFERENCES Steven Brooke, Sacred Journey. Lake Worth, FL, Nicolas Hays, 2010. Raymond Cohen, Saving the Holy Sepulchre. New York, Oxford University, 2008. Hunt Janin, Four Paths to Jerusalem: Jews, Christians, Muslims and Secular Pilgrimages, 1000 BCE to 2001 CE. Jefferson, NC, McFarland, second edition, 2006. Alan Mairson, “The Three Faces of Jerusalem,” National Geographic 189:4, 2–31 (April 1996).

JERUSALEM, ISLAMIC SITES Mount Zion, the city of Jerusalem, ranks second in importance as an Islamic pilgrimage site, after Mecca and Medina, the holy places of the Hajj. To Muslims the city is known simply as Al Quds, “The Holy.” It contains numerous sites associated with the prophets who preceded Mohammed—Abraham, David,

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Solomon, and Jesus—and with Mohammed himself. The Dome of the Rock stands over the site of Solomon’s Temple at the peak of the Temple Mount. Here Abraham offered his son for sacrifice, and here the Prophet Mohammed went into the sky on a winged steed—Al-Burak, “the Lightning”—in his night journey to Paradise (Qur’an, Sura 17), accompanied by the Archangel Gabriel. The name refers to a large rock that bears the imprint of Mohammed’s horse as it leapt into the sky, carrying him off to the delights of heaven. The verse of the Qur’an that refers to this event calls it “the farthest mosque” —in Arabic, alAqsa. From ancient times the rock had been in the center of Solomon’s Temple. Muslim tradition holds that an angel of Allah will come to the Dome of the Rock to sound the trumpet call of the last judgment to mark the end of the world. The Dome of the Rock has become a symbol of Jerusalem because of its magnificent golden dome (actually aluminum with gold leaf) set above a lovely blue-tiled octagonal building. The interior is decorated by bands of Qur’anic inscriptions and panels of bright tiles. The rock is surrounded by a carved wooden screen, and the stained glass and mosaics in the shrine are among the finest in the world. A small reliquary holds some hairs from Mohammed’s beard. Next to the Dome of the Rock is a smaller copy of it, the Dome of the Chain, where a legendary chain once hung that could be grasped only by the righteous. At the end of days, final judgment will take place at the Dome of the Chain, where the sinful will be kept behind by the chain while the just pass

through. It is open on all sides, with the dome supported by eleven arches. The al-Aqsa Mosque at the south end of the Temple Mount commemorates the fact that Muslims once prayed toward Jerusalem instead of Mecca. Al-Aqsa has an intricately carved mihrab, the niche in the wall that shows the direction of Mecca for prayer, and a priceless set of oriental carpets. The minbar, or pulpit, was commissioned by Saladin around 1190 and towers over a story high. The Temple Mount is closed to non-Muslims on Fridays. Since Jews, Muslims, and Christians all venerate Mount Zion, it has been a source of conflict and tension. History records bloody clashes and constant exchanges of jurisdiction as different groups asserted control over the city. The Jewish temples were systematically destroyed by their enemies, the first by the Persians in 586 BCE, the second by the Romans in 70 CE . A triumphant Islam built the Dome of the Rock in 691 CE on the ruins of the temple. When the Crusaders defeated the Muslims, they established their headquarters on the Temple Mount in 1099, only to be dislodged by the Muslims a century later. At the time of the foundation of the Israeli state in 1948, the city was divided, but Israel seized all of it in the 1967 Six-Day War. The status of Jerusalem remains the thorniest issue between the Palestinians and Israel, both of whom claim it as their capital. Most countries (including the United States) avoid recognizing it as the capital of Israel, and the Vatican has called for it to be an international city. One wing of the al-Aqsa Mosque was gutted by a fire set by an Australian evangelical, who hoped to destroy the

Jerusalem, Jewish Sites | 257 entire mosque so that the Jerusalem temple could be restored. This evangelical movement believes that when the Third Temple is built, the second coming of Jesus will take place. Deadly riots erupted in 1990 when an extremist Jewish group announced that it was going to lay a cornerstone for a new temple. See also: Jerusalem, Christian Sites, Jerusalem, Jewish Sites, Muslim Pilgrimages

REFERENCES Roger Friedland, To Rule Jerusalem. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 2000. Rivka Gonin, Contested Holiness: Jewish, Muslim and Christian Perspectives on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Jersey City, NJ, Ktav, 2003. Jerry Landay, Dome of the Rock. Pleasantville, NY, Reader’s Digest, 1972. Francis Peters, The Distant Shrine. New York, AMS, 1993. Yitzhak Reiter, Jerusalem and Its Role in Islamic Solidarity. Basingstoke, UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

JERUSALEM, JEWISH SITES All of Jerusalem is a holy city for Jews, the embodiment of eretz Isra’el, the promised land that is the birthright of every Jew. The most sacred ceremonies of Judaism, the Day of Atonement and the seder meal on the eve of Passover, conclude with the words “Next year in Jerusalem!” Jerusalem means true worship, fidelity to the Torah, and a messianic future. It is a symbol of Jewish

unity, and its restoration has been both a religious hope and a political goal. But the Israeli position demanding an undivided Jerusalem has resulted in bitter debate in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, which wants Jerusalem shared as the capital of a Palestinian state. For Jews, the most important site of pilgrimage and veneration has always been the high place on which the Temple was built. Jerusalem itself is often referred to as “the Holy Mountain,” and the two became identified with one another. To “go up to Jerusalem” meant going to the Lord as Moses had gone up to Sinai to meet God. Mount Moriah, traditionally the place where Abraham bound Isaac, was the site of Solomon’s temple, chosen by King David. The Ark of the Covenant containing the tablets given to Moses on Mount Sinai was brought to the temple, symbolically sealing the union of the two high places. Jews were barred from Jerusalem when Herod’s Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Only the Western Wall (popularly called the Wailing Wall) remained, and it became the principal place of pilgrimage for Jews. The wall is part of the western base of the Temple Mount. Its nickname comes from the Jewish use of the site to mourn the loss of the temple and the keening sound of their prayers. It is faced by an open plaza. Men and women are separated by a low wooden fence, and even gentile men are required to wear a hat or yarmulke, a small traditional skull cap. The scene at the wall reveals the wide cultural base of Judaism— European and American Jews in Western dress topped by a prayer shawl, Chassidic men in hats and black suits, Yemenis in colorful garb, and Russians

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in heavy coats and fur hats. Some lean against the stones, praying; others insert notes with petitions and prayers into the cracks between the massive blocks. Men pray before a veiled Torah, the scroll of the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Young Jewish males are brought from around the world to celebrate their Bar Mitzvah, the ceremonial presentation of a son of the Covenant as an adult in the Jewish community. Devout groups dancing and singing with the Torah are a common sight. Photography is barred on the Sabbath, but on other days tourists abound. Since the Western Wall is managed by an Orthodox religious council, separation of men and women is the rule. When a Jewish girl celebrates her Bat Mitzvah, or coming of age, she must do so with the women only. Jewish religious tour groups that arrange these ceremonies suggest using the Southern Wall, also a retaining wall for the Mount, and where gender segregation is not practiced. The Wailing Wall is unadorned, stark, and austere. Jews believe that even though the temple was torn down, the divine presence still hovers over the remnant. In 637 CE, after the Muslim conquest, Jews were allowed to return to the city. However, the Muslims incorporated the wall into the Dome of the Rock, which commemorates the night that Mohammed was drawn up to heaven from that spot. Throughout the era of the Crusades, Ottoman and British occupations, and the division of the city after Israeli independence, the wall remained the site of Jewish hopes for a new temple. Many people assume that the wall is the last remaining part of Herod’s Temple; it is, in fact, a remnant of a

much later retaining wall of the Temple Mount rather than the temple itself. In 1995, Jerusalem celebrated 3,000 years of Jewish history, beginning from the approximate date that King David conquered the city. Just inside the Jaffa Gate to the Old City is the massive Citadel of David. Its highest point is the Tower of David, built by Herod. According to the Bible, Jerusalem was the last Canaanite city conquered by David and the site of his new capital, which was shrewdly placed between Israel and Judah and belonged to neither. The Mount of Olives lies east of the Old City. In Jewish tradition, the Messiah will come down from the Mount of Olives, raising the dead, healing the sick, judging all souls, and establishing the kingdom of God on earth. Those buried there will be the first to greet the Messiah, and many Jews have chosen to be entombed on its slopes. Jewish pilgrims come to the Common Grave of those who died defending the Jewish Quarter during the 1948 war. The nearby Jewish Graveyard is the largest in the world with 150,000 graves. Mourners place a small pebble on the graves of those for whom they pray as an ex-voto. Just below the cemetery are the Tombs of the Prophets, tunnels with burial alcoves supposedly containing the remains of the prophets Haggai, Malachi, Zachariah, and others. A visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, is a deeply moving experience. One enters by the Avenue of the Righteous, a grove of 26,000 trees, each with the name of a gentile who saved Jews during the Holocaust. Another grove is the Garden of the Children of the Holocaust, and nearby is a Memorial to the Destroyed Communities, commemorating Jewish villages and ghettos in Eastern Europe that

Jethro’s Tomb, Tiberias, Israel | 259 were razed during the Holocaust. Yad Vashem also features a museum that traces the rise of Nazi Germany and the brutality of the Holocaust, along with documentation and education centers. Most moving, however, are the perpetual memorials. The Hall of Remembrance is a simple room with the names of the twenty-two main Nazi concentration camps inlaid in the floor. An Eternal Light burns in a broken bronze cup in front of a vault containing ashes of the dead from each of the camps. A rabbi constantly intones kaddish, the prayer for the dead. In another room, pilgrims walk through a dark room lit only by candles, one for each of the 1.5 million children who died in the infamous camps; the only sound is a voice endlessly reciting their names. See also: Holocaust Sites, Jerusalem, Christian Sites, Jerusalem, Islamic Sites, Jewish Pilgrimages, Mount Sinai, Yad Vashem

REFERENCES Hunt Janin, Four Paths to Jerusalem: Jews, Christians, Muslims and Secular Pilgrimages, 1000 BCE to 2001 CE. Jefferson, NC, McFarland, second edition, 2006. Jay Levinson, Jewish Journeys in Jerusalem. New York, Key, 2010. Leen Ritmeyer, “The Ark of the Covenant: Where It Stood in Solomon’s Temple,” Biblical Archaeology Review 22:1, 45–55, 70–73 (January–February 1996).

JETHRO’S TOMB, TIBERIAS, ISRAEL Nabi Shu’ayb, the Prophet Jethro, is believed to be buried in a tomb

overlooking the Sea of Galilee. This is the most important pilgrimage site for the Druze. Sunni Muslims also revere Jethro and come to the tomb, but since Israeli independence in 1948, their numbers have dwindled because the administration and control of the shrine has been given to the Druze. The Druze are a recognized religion in Israel, and although they are Arabic in language and culture, they have rejected Arab nationalism and serve in the Israeli Defense Forces. In that role, they provide security for the Temple Mount. The Druze came into being in the tenth century as a blending of Islam and Greek thought. The Druze religion does not accept converts, and so its numbers remain modest. There are more than a million Druze, with more than 100,000 in Israel, where they enjoy special status. There are two levels of Druze, the initiates and the common members. The initiates have access to the sacred books of the faith, but the ordinary members are to accept the teachings on the basis of tradition. Women enjoy equality among the Druze, and they make up the majority of the initiates. It is from this latter group that most pilgrims come. All members most avoid pork, alcohol, and tobacco. The Druze regard their faith as a melding of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. They are staunch monotheists whose doctrine was spread by prophet “mentors” who came from all three streams of faith. They included Jesus, John the Baptist, Moses, and Mohammed—all teachers of monotheism. An important figure on the list of prophets is Jethro. Jethro was Moses’ father-in-law and served him as a wise counselor (Exodus 18).

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He was a priest of Midian, but he also offered sacrifice in the presence of Moses and the elders of the Jews. Druze tradition has it that the great Muslim warrior Saladin (also one of the prophet mentors) had Jethro’s grave revealed to him miraculously. There the Druze built a suitable tomb next to a rock bearing a footprint believed to be Jethro’s. The present structure was completed in the 1880s and has been improved and developed since, although a shrine there is mentioned as early as the twelfth century. Modernization has included water and electricity and housing for pilgrims. Druze reject all external observances, so there are no holy days, fasts, or rituals. They do, however, come together for communal discussions, and these events can take on the atmosphere of a pilgrimage. The annual gathering at Jethro’s Tomb takes place on April 25. Pilgrimage is neither encouraged nor forbidden.

REFERENCES Nissim Dana, The Druze in the Middle East. Eastbourne, UK, Sussex Academic, 2003. Philip Hitti, Origins of the Druze people and Religion. New York, BiblioBazaar, 2007.

JEWISH PILGRIMAGES Jewish pilgrimages today are as much secular as they are religious. While devout Jews continue to frequent religious sites, such as the Western Wall, many more come to Israel as an affirmation of their national identity.

The Western Wall, the last remaining fragment of the Temple, draws large numbers of Jews each day, both religious and secular. The religious pilgrims come to offer prayers, leave petitions in the cracks between the stones, and take part in ceremonies, especially during the three traditional pilgrimage feasts. Other Jews come to reverence the greatest symbol of Israeli identity, but they may enter into the feast-day observances, even if they would not do so at home. The three pre-Temple feasts were Sukkot, Shav’uot, and Passover. These were part of the obligations of an observant Jew: “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God” (Exodus 23:17). This applied to all males older than thirteen in ancient times. The offerings to be brought to the Temple were specified: for Passover, the observance of the Exodus, it was barley for the first-fruits; for Shav’uot, which observes the giving of the Torah on Sinai, all-night study of the scriptures; for Sukkot, remembering the forty years in the desert, the four species—fruits, palms, tree branches, and willows. With the rise of the Jewish Diaspora around the Mediterranean, the feast days came to be celebrated in the synagogues and even nonobservant Jews often went to them for the High Holy Days. In a few cases, Jews began to observe the feasts at local shrines. The pilgrim route in Jerusalem consists of several major places. First among them is the Western or “Wailing” Wall, where the pilgrim laments the fall of the Temple. Then follows Mount of Olives, where the devout believe the resurrection of the dead will take place. The tombs of prominent Jewish sages and scholars are

Jim Morrison Grave, Paris, France | 261 honored here. Rachel’s Tomb is another important site. Secular Jews usually add the trip to Masada, the fortress where the last Jewish holdouts against the Romans perished in an act of heroic suicide. It has taken on the aura of Jewish determination to persevere as a people through any and all persecutions. This is underlined by Yad Vashem, the memorial to the fallen of the Holocaust. Holocaust sites around Europe are also places of pilgrimage, especially Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. Many also go to Jewish sites of communities that have dispersed, such as the synagogues of Cairo. North African Jews for centuries visited sages for advice, and after their deaths, their tombs became pilgrimage places. There were hundreds of these in Morocco, but now they are deserted due to the emigration of North African Jews to Israel. Shrines are still created around the tombs of holy men. Rabbi Menachem Schneerson (1878–1994), who was the powerful leader of the Lubavitcher Hasidim, is buried in Brooklyn, New York, where his tomb receives a steady stream of pilgrims, many of whom believe he was the messiah. North African Jews converge on the tomb of Baba Sali in Israel for the anniversary of his death.

David Gitlitz and Linda Davidson, Pilgrimage and the Jews. Westport, CT, Praeger, 2006. Lawrence Hoffman, Israel, A Spiritual Travel Guide. Woodstock, VT, Jewish Lights, 2005. Shaul Kelner, Tours That Bind: Diaspora, Pilgrimage, and Israeli Birthright Tourism. New York, New York University, 2010.

JIM MORRISON GRAVE, PARIS, FRANCE One of the best examples of a secular shrine and pilgrimage is the grave of the rock star Jim Morrison, the lead singer for The Doors.

See also: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Baba Sali, Jerusalem, Jewish Sites, Machpelah, Masada

REFERENCES Issachar Ben-Ami, Saint Veneration Among the Jews in Morocco. Detroit, MI, Wayne State University, 1998.

Grave of Doors singer Jim Morrison, located at Pe`re Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, covered with graffiti by fans.

262 | Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet, China

Morrison (1943–1971) lived the intense life of a rocker. Homeless when he formed The Doors, his success led him into drug and alcohol abuse, while exhibiting bizarre behavior. The success of The Doors brought floods of money and fame, but Morrison had a mystical streak behind his public persona. Nothing in his life seemed to satisfy him. He began a new career as a poet and writer. In his mid-20s he tired of the endless round of fame and fortune and left the United States for France with his longtime companion, Pamela Courson. His health was worn down by his excesses and he was found dead in the bathtub of his hotel, aged twenty-seven. His doctor avoided an autopsy, and he was buried unceremoniously in the famous Pere Lachaise Cemetery among scores of celebrities and prominent French writers and politicians. The grave went unmarked for some time, but its location became known to Morrison’s fans and a ghoulish collection of occult followers and necromancers. Conspiracy theories about his death spun out of control, and cemetery officials found themselves defending the grave from people trying to dig up the coffin. Satanic rites were performed on the grave, fans threw drug parties at the site, and even a few sexual orgies took place. Fans climbed over the fences at night, and patrol dogs and security cameras did not keep them away. Clearly, the adoration of Morrison had spun out of control. The cemetery authorities sealed the grave and placed a large stone block over it, with Morrison’s name incised into it. A barrier was erected in 2004, and the detritus of bottles, drug needles, and graffiti was removed. Regardless, the myth surrounding his life and death

increased, including novels and articles asserting that he was not dead, but reincarnated. Fans come to the grave to commune with his spirit. They leave letters and poems in his honor, along with bags of marijuana. Later visitors take these home as talismans of their devotion. Today, Morrison’s is the most visited grave in Pere Lachaise. The devotees leave bottles of whiskey after draining the contents down into the sandy soil as a kind of libation to his spirit. The bust of Morrison that formerly graced the grave has been removed, and the barrier now prevents fans from touching the gravestone itself. The crowds are greatest on the anniversary of his death, July 3. See also: Pere Lachaise Cemetery

REFERENCES Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend. New York, Penguin, 2004. Jerry Hopkins, No One Here Gets Out Alive. New York, Grand Central, 2006. Peter Magry, “The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison’s Grave,” in Peter Magry, Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 2008, 143–171. The Doors Collection. Los Angeles, Universal Studios, 1999, video.

JOKHANG TEMPLE, LHASA, TIBET, CHINA The Jokhang Temple attracts thousands of pilgrims, many from the far corners of the country, to what is the spiritual center of Tibetan Buddhism. They come

Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet, China | 263 on foot under conditions of great hardship to do penance and pay homage to the temple and its guardian spirits. According to tradition, in the seventh century King Songtsen Gampo’s consort brought a valuable statue of the Buddha from China. To determine where to build a temple to house it, the king threw his ring into the air so the spirits would determine the site. The ring fell into a lake, from which a miraculous stupa emerged, and the lake was filled in to form the base for the temple. The Jokhang Temple sits in the middle of Lhasa, fronted by a large plaza and an open porch. It is believed to rest on the heart of a demon goddess who at first resisted its construction but was placated by the erection of a series of smaller temples. Both the plaza and the porch are usually filled with pilgrims, bowing or lying fully prostrate on the ground in reverence toward the inner sanctum of the shrine. It is not uncommon for the devout to approach the Jokhang crawling on their bellies from considerable distances. A popular route circles the temple for about five miles. The Jokhang has been added to many times through the centuries. The main cloister, which leads to the shrine, is ringed with numerous large prayer wheels, which are kept turning to the hum of pilgrim prayers. Inside the temple are many small chapels dedicated to various gods and bodhisattvas (perfected beings who have voluntarily renounced enlightenment in order to help humans on earth to reach enlightenment). In Tibet, the most important bodhisattva is Avalokiteshvara, “hearer of the cries of the world” and patron of the country. Tibetan Buddhism was reformed in the fourteenth century by a prince believed

A pilgrim makes offerings to the Buddha at Jokhang Temple in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa.

to be a reincarnation of this bodhisattva. The chapels surround the main shrine containing the statue of the Jowo Sakyamuni Buddha, more than 1,300 years old. The pilgrims work their way through the complex, circumambulating the main shrine, often on their hands and knees, and sometimes on their bellies as a sign of complete submission. They bring white scarves to the gods and add small gifts of yak butter to the votive lamps that are the light source inside the temple. The cloister is frescoed, and on a floor above the shrine is another cloister with more beautiful wall paintings. The painted statues, murals, and decorations represent the peak achievement of Tibetan religious art—with one exception: many of the paintings on the entry floor have been removed by the Chinese

264 | Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet, China

authorities since the military occupation of Tibet and replaced with cheap murals. The focus of the pilgrims is not the frescoes, however, but the statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha. In religious art, the posture and the placement of the Buddha’s hands indicate stages of his life, and many of these versions line the walls of the shrine. The Sakyamuni Buddha is often regarded as the “historical” Buddha, although there are no known representations of Gautama Buddha himself. Tibetan Buddhists believe that it is an exact appearance of the Buddha as he was 2,500 years ago. Pilgrims come to see the statue so that they might see real divinity as it was in life. The statue presents him sitting in the lotus position, cross-legged, on a three-tiered lotus throne. It shows him at age twelve, with his left hand lying on his lap, palm upturned, and his right hand touching the earth. He is thus seen to be open to receive blessings from heaven (the upturned palms) and to bestow them on the earth. The statue is gilded and adorned with a riot of jewels, gemstones, and elaborate carvings. The Palden Lhamo, the only female among the Eight Guardians of the Law, is the patroness of Tibet and of the Dalai Lama, whom she protects from false teaching. Her wrathful image is on the third level of the Jokhang. Tibetan Buddhism is based on Mahayana, which emphasizes the Buddha’s compassionate nature, joy, and sensitivity to the needs of his people. There are some twenty branches of Buddhism in Tibet, but the dominant one is the Yellow Hat sect, to which the Dalai Lama belongs. Tibetan Buddhism is often called Lamaism because of the

important role of the lamas, or spiritual masters. The Dalai Lama and his council ruled Tibet until the Chinese Communist occupation in 1951. He and 80,000 disciples fled to India in 1959, and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his constant advocacy of world peace. The Chinese have embarked on a repressive program of cultural genocide during which the Jokhang Temple has been the focus of resistance and has taken on a political role. Ethnic Chinese have colonized the country until they constitute more than half the population and control all government posts. Tibetan casualties over the years total in the tens of thousands. During China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), more than 5,000 monasteries were closed, and part of the Jokhang was converted into a pigsty. Another section was used to billet soldiers after the troops spent five days burning the Temple’s ancient Tibetan scriptures. Jokhang’s monks are kept under close surveillance, since they have often led demonstrations and are the heart of Tibetan resistance. People have been killed in Jokhang protests, and every monastery that has not been closed is restricted. Jokhang has a government quota of 100 monks and presently has close to that number. Some 800 police are reputed to be kept in the area, and it is not safe for Jokhang monks to speak with foreigners. Still, pilgrims throng the shrine, laying their bodies before it, using prayer as their gesture of resistance. In 2000, Jokhang was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Potala Palace. See also: Potala Palace

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TIBET UNDER COMMUNISM Tibetan Buddhism is a melding of Buddhist religion, ancient animist rituals, and tantric practices. It is dominated by the Yellow Hat sect, led by the Dalai Lama. For most of its history, Tibet was under Chinese influence, but in 1911, it became independent for all practical purposes. This ended in 1950, when the Chinese Communist army invaded, claiming to liberate Tibet from feudalism. In 1956, resistance broke into open rebellion, which was crushed by the army with the deaths of tens of thousands of Tibetans. During the crisis, the current Dalai Lama fled to India and established a government in exile. The Chinese embarked on a policy of cultural genocide, flooding Tibet with ethnic Chinese who control the economy. Monasteries were closed, with only a few token ones remaining. In 2008, bloody riots broke out again, and resistance smolders just below the surface. The struggle has spread to Tibetan provinces inside China, where the government attempts ending using the Tibetan language in schools. The current Dalai Lama is elderly, and the Chinese have made clear that they will control his replacement at his death. It is a crime to show his picture in Tibet.

REFERENCES John Avedon, In Exile from the Land of Snows. New York, Michael Joseph, 1984. Gyurme Dorje et al., Jokhang: Tibet’s Most Sacred Buddhist Temple. London, Thames & Hudson, 2010. Thubten Jigme Norbu and Colin Turnbull, Tibet: Its History, Religion, and People. New York, Penguin Books, 1983. Tibet: The Survival of the Spirit. New York, Mystic Fire, 1991, video. www.jokhang.com.

JULIAN OF NORWICH, NORWICH, UNITED KINGDOM One of great mystics of medieval Europe, Mother Julian of Norwich (1342–1416?) is today the object of reverence by feminist Christians, Anglicans, and New Age followers. Her visions were recorded as

Revelations of Divine Love (c. 1392), the first book in English written by a woman. Julian was perhaps her name and perhaps not. It seems taken from the small parish church where she spent most of her life, St. Julian of Norwich. It is an unassuming stone building, still functioning as an Anglican parish, set in a gritty warehouse district of the city of Norwich. In Mother Julian’s day it was a red-light district of bordellos and tanneries. During World War II, the church was bombed beyond recognition but was rebuilt according to the original plans. To the side of the main sanctuary is the small room in which Mother Julian lived as an anchoress for more than forty years. The room was originally sealed off except for a small window from which she could attend divine services and through which food was passed to her. In the reconstruction, a Norman door was placed in Mother Julian’s cell, which did not have one when she lived there.

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Anchoresses were not uncommon in Europe during that period, and they often attained reputations as great spiritual advisors. They spent most of their hours in mystical prayer and, in Mother Julian’s case, communing directly with the Lord. People came to her cell to ask advice and request her prayers. Mother Julian wrote two versions of her revelations, an early shorter one and an expanded version toward the end of her life. Her popularity arose from her optimistic and compassionate view of her faith. She taught God’s endless love and mercy, even in the face of the Black Death that ravaged Europe and the collapse of cultures. She stood against the idea that calamities were the result of God’s punishment or the sinfulness of humanity. She denied that God was wrathful but held that He was all-loving and generous. One of her oft-quoted lines captures her spirit: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” Her attraction to feminist Christians comes from her teaching that God is

mother as well as father, quite literally the mother of all people. After the Reformation, the manuscripts of her visions were scatted and not gathered together until the twentieth century. Parts were discovered in a European convent, others were put together, and finally a complete edition of the Revelations was published. The English feast (both Anglican and Catholic) is May 8, while the extended Catholic Church honors her as blessed on May 13. An Anglican community of sisters maintains a retreat and guest house next to the church. A small but steady stream of pilgrims comes to visit the cell.

REFERENCES Amy Frykholm, Julian of Norwich: A Contemplative Biography. Orleans, MA, Paraclete, 2010. Grace Jantzen, Julian of Norwich: Mystic and Theologian. Eugene, OR, Wipf & Stock, 2000. John-Julian, The Complete Julian of Norwich. Orleans, MA, Paraclete, 2009.

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allowed to enter inside the walls until modern times, and the city has always been an orthodox Islamic enclave in opposition to heretical forms of Islam as well as infidels. In the ninth century it was also a major endpoint of the lucrative trans-Sahara trade routes, and it became wealthy and powerful, especially from the slave trade, until the midnineteenth century. Part of its economic base, however, was the pilgrimages to the holy places. Nothing remains of the original 670 CE mosque. But its successor, the Great Mosque or Sidid Oqba, which dates from 863, is still one of the leading holy sites of Islam. It is rectangular, approximately 400 by 240 feet. It is approached through a large marble-paved courtyard where the devout, having removed their shoes, ritually wash to purify themselves before entering the mosque. The colonnade surrounding the courtyard is supported by 400 pillars plundered from many local sources, and pagan Roman, Byzantine, and Latin Christian symbols

KAIROUAN, TUNISIA The Great Mosque at Kairouan is the oldest Islamic place of prayer in North Africa and is popularly regarded as the fourth holiest in Islam, after Mecca, Jerusalem, and Medina. For many Muslims for whom the Hajj (the pilgrimage to the holy places of Mecca and Medina) is an impossible dream, Kairouan serves as a substitute. Local Islamic tradition taught that seven trips to Kairouan was equal to making the Hajj. The name Kairouan means “the caravan,” which indicates the city’s origins as a settlement where desert trade caravans stopped. It is well watered and thus became an early Arab outpost during the invasions of the seventh century, when it was proclaimed that Kairouan would survive until Judgment Day. A military outpost by 670 CE, it was resettled in 694 as an Islamic religious center, cut off from the surrounding Christian and Jewish populations, which had not yet begun to die out. Only Muslims were

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Muslim holy city of Kairouan, Tunisia.

are scattered about incongruously. The massive wooden doors leading into the prayer hall are beautifully carved in detailed inlaid marquetry. The main aisle leads to the mihrab, a large tiled niche that shows the direction of Mecca so that prayers may be offered facing the holy places. The mosque may be entered through several entries, where one finds the tombs of local saints. Nearby is a cemetery restricted to descendants of the family of the Prophet Mohammed. The minaret, or prayer tower used by the muezzin for the daily calls to prayer, is 115 feet high, a landmark in the city. It is the oldest standing minaret in the world. Although the Great Mosque is the primary goal of the pilgrims, there are other shrines of importance in Kairouan, and it is customary for pilgrims to make the rounds of them. The Three Gates

Mosque was a center for one of the Muslim religious societies, or brotherhoods, that have dominated Islam in Tunisia. At the center of the old town is the Bir Barouta, an ancient well that is pumped by a blindfolded camel trudging in circles. Legend has it that its water comes directly from the well of Zamzam in Mecca, and that the well was discovered miraculously. Desert Bedouins eagerly seek out the well in order to sip water from the holy land. Across the market from the Great Mosque is the Martyrs’ Gate, built to commemorate a group of tenth-century Qur’anic teachers murdered by a Shiite ruler for their orthodoxy. The city is also known for several zaouia, or mosques containing the tombs of important saints. The cult of Islamic holy men began in the thirteenth century and centered on warrior monks who

Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India | 269 lived in the fortified monasteries and gave spiritual guidance to the people. Their festivals are marked by singing and dancing processions. The first of these is the Zaouia of Sidi Amor Abbada, an eccentric prophet whose revelations are inscribed on huge tablets around his tomb, itself massive and impressive. Sidi Amor Abbada was a blacksmith, and on display in the zaouia is a huge anchor, created to keep Kairouan from drifting out to sea—quite a vision, since the city is inland. The most important tomb, however, is the Zaouia of Sidi Sahbi, which draws more pilgrims than even the Great Mosque itself. A sidi sahbi was a companion of the Prophet, and this zaouia is the burial place of Abu Zama Balawi, who wore a locket containing the precious relic of three hairs from the beard of the Prophet. For this reason, it is popularly known as the “Mosque of the Barber.” The zaouia dates from the fourteenth century and is decorated with tiles that cover the courtyard walls. Pilgrims leave scarves as ex-votos on the tomb, and by tradition, babies are brought to the tomb to be anointed. The holiest times for visiting Kairouan are Ramadan, the month of fasting and self-discipline, and the feast of Mouloud al Nabi, which has a special following in Kairouan. This is the birthday of the Prophet and is celebrated with feasting and dancing. See also: Touba

REFERENCES Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Islamic Society in Practice. Gainesville, FL, University of Florida, 1994.

Nikki Keddie, ed., Scholars, Saints, and Sufis. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1972. Living Islam. New York, BBC, 1993, video.

KANYAKUMARI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA Devi Kanya Kumari, both “virgin goddess” and divine mother, is one of the avatars of Devi and thus a sign of the eternal feminine in godhead. The devotion to Kanya Kumari is ancient, beginning before the Hindu period. As early at the first century CE, monks and nuns were living around the shrine and dedicating themselves to Devi Kumari. One of the elements of the sacredness of the Kanyakumari Temple is its placement on a cape at the point where the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean meet. This is the last point in Tamil Nadu and the Indian subcontinent. On the nights of the full moon, it is possible to see sunset and moonrise simultaneously on either side of the horizon. The temple is surrounded by walls, symbolic of its role as the protector of the country. One gate is used by pilgrims, but the other is closed except for special feasts. It is Devi Kumari’s gate, through which she is brought to be bathed in the ocean, in memory of the legend that the goddess bathed here. Devotees also bathe in the ocean before entering the temple. Those who dedicate themselves as monks or nuns purify themselves in the sacred waters in a special rite before taking their vows. The pilgrim follows a path inside the walls, circling the shrine twice. The first circle includes many small shrines,

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including an important one of Sati, the female principle of Hinduism, invoked for marital fidelity. The Act of Sati is the sacrifice of a widow upon her husband’s funeral pyre, a now-illegal (but still practiced) custom. This arises from the legend of Sati’s own sacrificial death. When Sati immolated herself, her husband Shiva lifted her charred body and it broke into parts, falling on fifty-three places now sacred to her. Her back fell on Kanya Kumari. Upon completing the second circle, the pilgrim comes to a flag mast, where the statue is visible. At this point he may approach the holy of holies, the interior sacred place. The goddess is shown as a young penitent, holding a Hindu rosary. Some argue that her dress shows her as a Hindu nun. She has a nose ring (a common adornment of Indian ladies) set with rubies. The statue is made of blue stone. The main festivals are in the months of September/October and May/June, with the exact dates set according to the Tamil Calendar. Modern enthusiasm for this shrine was renewed in 1892 by the great Hindu saint, Swami Vivekananda, who, more than anyone else, was responsible for bringing Hinduism into the western world’s religious consciousness. He became a missionary of Hinduism and had a profound impact on the Congress of World Religions, held in Chicago in 1893 alongside the first world’s fair there. His shrine is on a small island several hundred yards off the cape. Legend has it that on his visit in 1892, Vivekananda swam to the rock and meditated there, reaching enlightenment and receiving his missionary call from Devi Kumari. Tradition says that she had also meditated there and practiced

asceticism on the island, and that her footprint can be seen on one of the rocks. Besides a large statue of Vivekananda, there is a meditation hall and a conference hall for instructions and teaching. In 2000, a 133-foot statue of a Tamil saint and sage, Tiruvallawar, was erected on another small island in the bay. He wrote a classic of Dravidian ethical scriptures of 1,330 couplets grouped into 1,300 chapters, each on an individual virtue. A small temple has also been built in honor of Mahatma Ghandi, the father of modern India. After his assassination, the urn with his ashes was exposed to public veneration here. On his birthday, October 2, the first rays of the sun fall on the spot where his ashes lay.

REFERENCES Devdutt Pattanaik, Devi: The Mother Goddess. Mumbai, Vakils, Feffer & Simons, 2000. Ethankji Ranada, The Story of the Vivekananda Rock Memorial. Kanyakumari, India, V. Kendra Prakashan, 2000. Michael Wood, The Smile of Murugan. London, John Murray, 2002. www.kanyakumari.org.in.

KARBALA, IRAQ At the Battle of Karbala in 630 CE, the Imam Husayn (Hussein), grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, was martyred along with many followers. This was part of the conflict over the right to leadership in Islam between those who thought that after Mohammed, headship should be chosen (the Sunnis) and those

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Shiite Muslims gather around the Hussein Mosque in Karbala, Iraq after making the pilgrimage for the celebration of Arba’een on March 30, 2005. Arba’een is the ending of 40 days of mourning following Aashura, the commemoration of the martyrdom of Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, in 680.

who argued that it descended from the Prophet’s family (the Shi’a). With Husayn’s martyrdom, the two traditions— Shi’a and Sunni—became permanently separated. The Shi’a believe that the Imams, though not prophets, have divine authority and inspiration. The Shi’ites revere their leaders and saints and have developed places to honor them. Husayn’s shrine became a place of pilgrimage immediately after his death in battle, and his more extreme devotees argued that a pilgrimage to Karbala was equal to the Hajj. The cult of Husayn is obsessed with his death, producing laments and dirges that are sung as part of the pilgrimage rites.Shia’a men scourge themselves during the procession in union with the sufferings of the martyrs. The most devout crawl to the shrine on their hands

and knees. Many walk for long distances to get to Karbala. The vast dome over Husayn’s goldand-silver tomb is covered with mosaics of mirrors, and pilgrims kissed the silver cover of the tomb (now looted). The annual period of mourning for Husayn is the time of an extended pilgrimage involving, in normal times, tens of thousands. Devout Shi’a men keep a three-day growth of beard in perpetual mourning for Husayn. Karbala is a religious symbol for redemptive suffering that will lead to liberation from oppression, and many aged Shi’a come to die in Karbala because of their belief that the city is one of the gates to the Heavenly Paradise promised the faithful in the Holy Qur’an. The Day of Ashura, the anniversary of the martyrdom, is the main pilgrimage

272 | Kasubi Tombs, Kampala, Uganda

day. It centers on the shrine-tomb, the Masjid al-Husayn, and the place of the camp where he, his sons, and seventytwo followers died. Because their camp was cut off from water during the threeday siege, in memory, Shi’a always offer water to any animal before it is slaughtered. Besides the shrine of Husayn, a shrine in Karbala is dedicated to his half brother, al-Abas, who is invoked for miraculous cures. Sunni rulers prohibited the Karbala pilgrimage several times and even destroyed the shrines, but they were always rebuilt. Because the Shi’a believe in an eventual messiah, the mahdi, who will establish a kingdom of peace and justice on earth, the cult is regarded as revolutionary and threatening. In recent years, Shi’ite association with the Iranian revolution under the Ayatollah Khomeini caused the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein to suppress the Shi’a, with frightful loss of life. In 1991, the shrines, which were richly endowed, were plundered of their valuables by the Iraqi army. Thirty-two mosques, ten religious schools, and sixty-six prayer halls were destroyed in ruthless shelling and tank attacks to retake the city after it rebelled against Saddam’s regime. Until the rise of the Saddam Hussein regime, Karbala was a place of sanctuary for religious dissidents from Iran and Iraq, but he did not respect this role. Since Saddam’s fall, it has been too dangerous to return to that custom. Karbala was also a gathering place for pilgrim caravans to Najaf and Mecca. Attacks continue. In 2004, at the height of Ashura, bombs killed scores and wounded hundreds. In 2007 a car bomb killed forty-seven and injured another 150. Despite the threats, several million

flock to Karbala for the festival of Ashura. Forty days after Ashura is Arba’een, which has been held since the year after Husayn’s death. His family members returned to the site, bearing the heads of the martyrs for burial with their bodies. Arba’een marks the end of the forty-day period of mourning. It was banned under Saddam Hussein but restored after his removal. Besides the pilgrimage, Shi’a Muslim families give alms to the poor during the pilgrimage. Western estimates of attendance currently are about ten to fourteen million. See also: Najaf, Sayyida Zainab

REFERENCES Kaman Aghaie, The Martyrs of Karbala. Seattle, WA, University of Washington, 2004. Juan Cole, Sacred Space and Holy War. London, Tauris, 2007. Syad Hyden, Reliving Karbala. New York, Oxford University, 2006. Vali Nasr, The Shia Revival. New York, Norton, 2006.

KASUBI TOMBS, KAMPALA, UGANDA Just outside Uganda’s capital city, Kampala, lie the royal tombs of the Buganda kings, the Muzibu-AazaalaMpanga. It is the most sacred site of the Buganda people and is a symbol of nationhood embraced by Christians as well as animists. The shine itself is circular, 102 feet across and twenty-three feet high. It is constructed of wood, wattle, and thatch

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Tourists stand in March 2006 in front of a straw-thatched building housing on the Kasubi tombs near Kampala. Fire ravaged the UN-listed tombs of traditional Ugandan rulers and the army and police deployed across Kampala on March 17, 2010 after protests by youths who claimed it was arson. The fire on late on March 16 destroyed much of the 128-year-old Kasubi tombs just south of Kampala. The tombs are revered by the Baganda people and are a major tourist attraction on the World Heritage List drawn up by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

and modeled on the former palace of the kings. The thatch reaches down to the ground, forming a low mound effect. Work on the shrine is assigned by tribal groups; the Colobus-Monkey Clan renews the thatch, and the Leopard Clan replaces the bark cloth on the poles as needed. These clans take their names from the animal that is their totem. Inside, decoration is provided by the drums, shields, and spears of the kabakas or kings—their royal insignia. The roof is supported by massive poles wrapped in bark cloth, which takes its significance from the fact that bark cloth is used to wrap bodies for burial. The space is portioned off by huge sheets of bark cloth. The flooring is a layer of lemon grass

and palm leaves, which are replaced regularly. The four royal tombs themselves are situated behind the bark-cloth divider. Here royal ceremonies are conducted at the new moon and mediums are consulted. Entrance to the tomb area is limited to the present kabaka, the widows and royal family, the current katikiro (a chief advisor of the kabaka), and the kabaka’s official sister, the Nalinya. She is the official administrator of the tombs. Two of the four kabakas who are buried at the tombs were brought back from exiles where they had been sent during the British colonial era. The royal children are also buried at the site, behind the Tombs. A large area around the shrine, forming a protective green surrounding, is

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farmed using traditional agricultural methods. One section is reserved for the widows of the kabakas. Until recently, there were always several of these elderly ladies in attendance, the last of those who were royal concubines since girlhood. Since the conversion of the royal family to Anglicanism in the last century, the kabakas have been monogamous. A visitor must removed his shoes before entering through the gatehouse and remain seated during his visit, since it is not polite to stand in the presence of the king. He sits with his legs on the side. It is extremely rude to sit cross-legged. Since 2001, the Kasubi Tombs have been listed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. It is a classic of Ganda architecture, culture, and life. In March 2010, the Tombs were destroyed by fire, an event that caused demonstrations that broke out into riots with several deaths. National leaders calmed the crowds and promised prompt rebuilding. A period of national mourning was declared. Though the actual tombs were not damaged, tension continues between the national government and the Baganda, one of four kingdoms in Uganda.

REFERENCE Christopher Wrigley, Kingship and State: The Buganda Dynasty. New York, Cambridge University, 2002. www.kasubitombs.org.

KATA TJUTA, AUSTRALIA The two main Australian Aborigine sacred spaces are Kata Tjuta and Uluru, which are related but distinctive places.

Both are used for initiation ceremonies for youth in which they learn the lore of the native people, its traditions, and the ways that they should act as adult members of the tribe. The basis of Aborigine tradition is the myth of the Dreamtime, when all was well with the earth and all was in harmony. Unlike the Christian account of the Garden of Eden, however, the Dreamtime still has present meaning. It is both the creation story and a living conduit for contact with the spirits of the ancestors. Kata Tjuta was first encountered by Caucasians in 1872, but it had been part of Aborigine life for thousands of years. The English named it the Olgas after a queen of Spain. Kata Tjuta is within the same national park but not physically related to Uluru. The name means “many heads.” It consists of thirty-six rounded knobs of conglomerate scattered over an area of ten square miles. Each of the rock formations represents a person, totem animal, or food that emerged during the Dreamtime. Kata Tjuta forms a kind of Dreamtime map, with many of the domes associated with events from that time of Aboriginal spiritual origins. The Aborigines follow the paths through the domes, singing traditional songs and telling stories. As they follow these tracks, or “songlines,” they believe that they enter into Dreaming and unite themselves with the ancestors. Thus, the past and present become one and history is erased. The spirits present include both noble ones and evil; one cluster of stones represents the last cannibals, killed in Dreamtime by the kangaroo men. In the Waipa Gorge are ancient petroglyphs that illustrate Dreamtime. There are also unique plants found nowhere else. The leading legend is that of the snake king

Kek Lok Si, Air Itam, Malaysia | 275 Wanambi, who lives on the tallest rock, Mount Olga. Most Aborigine mythology is never revealed to outsiders, however. Kata Tkuta is also a place for ceremonies, not only for initiation but also for retribution. Public punishments can be imposed. A woman who has been sexually assaulted, for example, is to spear her attacker through the leg. Kata Tjuta has far more passages and entrances through the rocks than Uluru. It is also far less frequented by tourists and provides a more serene place of meditation and ritual for the Aborigines. At one time there were twelve walkabouts among the rocks, but this is now reduced to two for non-Aborigines to allow the others for religious ceremonies. Even Aborigines who have not been inducted into the proper levels may not access all of Kata Tjuta. The Anangu Tribe is in charge of Kata Tjuta, and their moral system and law is in force. It is very bound up in relationships between humans and the earth and its physical features, animals, and plants.

of Penang, is the largest Buddhist complex in Southeast Asia. Begun in 1890, it took twenty years to complete, although bits and pieces are still being added. It was built with support from the thenemperor of China, who donated 70,000 volumes of Buddhist scriptures. The king of Thailand, Rama VI Vajiravudh, laid the foundation stone. It is also known as the Pagoda of the 10,000 Buddhas from its many statues. The temple is a seven-story pagoda, ninety-two feet high, in the suburban village of Air Itam. Its three-level structure reflects the cultural mix of Buddhism on the island: its octagonal base is Chinese in form, the middle tiers of the pagoda are done in Thai style, and the round stupa-like spiral dome that tops it all is characteristically Burmese. Curiously unified in appearance and attractive,

See also: Ancestor Shrines, Uluru

REFERENCES David Lawrence, Kakadu: The Making of a National Park. Melbourne, Australia, University of Melbourne, 2000. Liz Thompson, Fighting for Survival: The Anangu of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Carleston, Australia, Heinemann, 1998.

KEK LOK SI, AIR ITAM, MALAYSIA Kek Lok Si or the Temple of Supreme Bliss, set on a hill above the island city

Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang, Malaysia.

276 | Kibeho, Rwanda

Kek Lok Si reflects the harmonious relations among the various groups it represents. To reach the temple, a visitor must climb along winding, arcaded steps hemmed in by hawkers and souvenir sellers, push through hanging T-shirts, and clamber over stacks of gewgaws. The loud rock music and the smells of food add to the market atmosphere—the Chinese Buddhist way of bringing together the commercial and the religious. Once the visitor reaches the top of the stairs, he or she emerges into a series of small plazas or squares leading to the shrines and temples. There he encounters the Liberation Pond, where turtles can be released as a form of merit-making. Although Kek Lok Si is a major pilgrimage site with a constant stream of visitors, no shrine predominates among the worship halls. The first open space, forming a frontier between the vendors’ stalls and the last stairs to the complex, contains a gaudy tableau of the Buddha’s first sermon in the deer park at Sarnath. Several temples with seated Buddhas draw devotees. The central statues are usually surrounded by numerous small Buddhas as well as formal statues of famous Buddhist teachers—all identical to indicate surrender of personality. Unlike most other Buddhist temples, there are no niches at Kek Lok Si for the ashes of saints or benefactors. Services are rare at the temples; not even the birthday of the Buddha—Wesak Day, a national holiday—is celebrated at the temple but instead by a nighttime procession in the city of Penang. Penang is a religious melting pot in a predominantly Muslim country, and Malay Buddhists of every extraction join in celebrating one another’s feasts.

Pilgrims worship in a variety of ways, offering incense or burning paper money, using prayer beads, or bowing and clapping (to attract the attention of the spirits); the diverse forms are characteristic of the different ethnic groups. Kek Lok Si also attracts large numbers of overseas Chinese from Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. On a hill above the complex, which includes a monastery for the monks who administer it, is a huge statue of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, which can be seen from miles around. It was built in 2002 and is a hundred feet tall and replaced a plaster version that was damaged in a fire. The current project is to build a temple to house the statue. It will be built in classical Ming Style, based on the design of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Pilgrims can buy paper money to burn before her statue. At this place she is invoked by women for fertility. The original inspiration for Kek Lok Si came from the Goddess of Mercy Temple in Penang. See also: Temple of Heaven

REFERENCES Heinz Bechert and Richard Gombrich, eds., The World of Buddhism. London, Thames & Hudson, 1984. Choon-san Wong, Kek Lok Si: Temple of Paradise. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Sociological Research Institute, 1963. Leon Komber, Chinese Ancestor Worship in Malaya. Singapore, Moore, 1954.

KIBEHO, RWANDA In late 1981, a sixteen-year-old boarder at a Catholic school in Kibeho, in central

Kibeho, Rwanda | 277 Rwanda, had what she realized was a vision of the Virgin Mary. Alphonsine Mumureke heard a voice call her as she was serving lunch in the cafeteria and saw a barefoot woman dressed in a white robe and veil. When asked who she was, the woman replied, “Ndi Nyina wa Jambo,” which is translated as “I am the mother of the Word.” Alphonsine’s fellow students began to mock her, convinced that the vision of the Virgin Mary she had was the result of evil spirits, but soon other students also began receiving visions. A year later, an illiterate pagan shepherd named Segatashya, living in the bush and unknown in Kibeho, heard a voice: “My child, if someone gives you a mission, would you be capable of carrying it out?” He spontaneously answered, “Yes.” Segatashya claims to have received a nonverbal message that sent him on his way. Arriving at a village, he realized that he was naked. Segatashya heard a voice say, “Tell them that the Son of Man has come on the earth and one has to cast off his clothes. If you continue to carry out my message, you will be reclothed.” Segatashya looked up to see an African man wearing a loincloth, surrounded by a brilliant light. His family took Segatashya away, calling him crazy, but two days later, Jesus seemed to appear again, this time in the family compound. He taught Segatashya how to say the Lord’s Prayer and the Rosary while the family looked on. Emmanuel, the name chosen for him by Jesus as he prepared for baptism, continued to have visions of Christ and later of the Virgin. This series of apparitions created tremendous excitement among the Rwandese people. About 15,000 came to

the college to see the visionaries in ecstasy. The local bishop set up an international investigating commission made up of physicians and theologians, a psychiatrist, and an anthropologist. They determined that the seers were mentally healthy and that there seemed to be no evidence of delusion. The crowds swelled to 20,000 at later apparitions but remained orderly and calm. The bishop was disposed to believe the visionaries, but a number of fake seers went to the media, even traveling about in neighboring countries seeking publicity. As a result, it took several years to discern who the true visionaries were, and after seven were officially acknowledged, worship at the site was approved. By this time, foreign pilgrims had begun to arrive, and a video of the visionaries in ecstasy was made in the United States and circulated widely. The effect of the apparitions on the people of the area was profound. Spiritual renewal and conversion abounded, and there was a widespread return to prayer. Few physical cures were reported, however; Kibeho is concerned with spiritual renewal rather than physical manifestations. A special devotion has emerged from the events, the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows, popularly called the Kibeho Rosary. It is based on the biblical Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary: the prophesy of her suffering in Luke 2:35; the flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13–15); finding of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41–51); meeting Jesus on the way to Calvary (Luke 23:28–29); at the foot of the Cross (John 19:25–27); receiving the body of Christ from the Cross (John 19:38–39); placing the body of Jesus in the tomb (Luke 23:55–56). For each of

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the seven, the Lord’s Prayer and seven Hail Marys are recited while reflecting on the mystery. The message of the Virgin was one of repentance and prayer and return to Christ, common themes in apparitions. Emmanuel received messages for the clergy from Jesus calling for fidelity and care for the sick and poor. He reproached them and called the priests to conversion: “Look at yourself and correct yourselves!” The seers often blessed the crowd and sprinkled onlookers’ rosaries with holy water. When the sick were presented to them, they gently laid the Bible on their heads. The seven showed several signs of mystical states, several of them being carried off on what they jokingly called “weekends with the Virgin,” in which they seemed to go into deep coma. Emmanuel once fasted for eighteen days, seven of which were without water. Despite their drama, not all the messages were revealed to the public during the 1981–1989 period of the visions. One vision, which lasted eight hours, prophesied a hideous slaughter, with scenes of rivers of blood, a tree in flames, and fields of headless corpses. It was revealed only after the genocide of 1994–1995, in which nearly a million persons were killed in a wanton slaughter. Meticulously planned down to the village and block level, an atrocity unparalleled in African history took place in which Hutu militia and raging mobs killed most of the Tutsi population. Kibeho became a refuge for fleeing citizens, and the church was the scene of one of the most horrific slaughters. These events have further convinced many of the truth of the apparitions. In the resulting confusion, the visionaries shared the fate of their people: several

were murdered and only one remains in Kibeho. Alphonsine became a Poor Clare nun in the Ivory Coast. Although the genocide of 1994 left only destruction in its wake and no shrine has been built at the site, Kibeho remains the only approved Marian apparition in Africa. It is becoming a symbol of hope for unity and forgiveness in a devastated nation. In 2001, the local bishop gave final approval to the Marian visions of the three main visionaries as authentic. He did not accept the validity of Emmanuel’s visions of Jesus. In his letter of approval, he stressed that no visionary message could be compared to the revelation of the Bible, and that magic and exaggerated claims needed to be avoided. Pilgrimages have now begun from the United States and Europe. See also: African Shrines, Marian Apparitions

REFERENCES Immaculee Ilibagiza, Our Lady of Kibeho. Carlsbad, CA, Hay House, 2008. Carol Tittner, Genocide in Rwanda: Complicity of the Churches? New York, Paragon, 2004. Kibeho, Africa: Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin. Lima, PA, Marian Video, 1989, video. www.kibeho.org.

KILAUEA, HAWAI’I Pele, the Hawai’ian goddess of fire, has her traditional home atop Mount Kilauea, the world’s most active volcano, but her domain extends to all the volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawai’i. The worship of Pele was introduced to the

Kilauea, Hawai’i | 279 islands in the twelfth century by Tahitian conquerors, who also established human sacrifice and reorganized Hawaiian society into a new hierarchical order enforced by elaborate taboos. Pele was made the protectress of the Hawai’ian nation, and she joined the great King Kamehamea in battle against a rival trying to prevent him from uniting the islands. Kilauea exploded during that battle—its only recorded explosive eruption—driving off the enemy warriors. This was taken as a sign of her protective status. Pele is believed to appear just before a new lava flow, to enable people to come to the volcano to observe and make sacrifice. She usually appears as an old witch or a beautiful woman. Since the lava flows are not explosive, they can be approached to the very edge, and devotees leave votive offerings of fruit, tobacco, and alcoholic spirits to be consumed by the flames. Pele herself is believed to live in the caldera, or central firepit, of the volcano, which until 1924 held a lake of molten lava. Smaller lava lakes formed briefly in 1967 and 1982, but the caldera can now be safely crossed. Ongoing eruptions began in 1983 and continue with regularity. The outpouring of the volcano has created a shoreline of black cinder and green sands alongside the white beaches. It is also customary for a pilgrim to leave an offering of ‘ohelo berries from the ‘ohi‘alehua tree, which has fire-red blossoms. In Hawai’ian myths, a young lover once rejected Pele, and in a fury she turned him into this tree. It is sacred to Pele, and leis made of the blossoms are worn in hula dances in Pele’s honor. The hula is also a gift of Pele, who ordered her younger sister Laka to create dance.

Lava streams downhill in several directions, flowing from an eruption of Kilauea’s Pu’u O’o cone.

Hula was a sacred art taught in temple schools, in which the dancers, accompanied by songs that came from the gods, seek to become united with the deity of that dance. Today there are attempts to revive the hula, which has become debased as a tourist entertainment. In 1824, Chief Kapiolani, a recent convert to Christianity, went to the crater rim where she mockingly ate ‘ohelo berries instead of offering them, and then cast stones into the lava and prayed to Jesus. When nothing happened to her, the event became a turning point in the Christianization of the islands. Nevertheless, Pele is the only Hawai’ian deity to have survived the advent of Christianity, and many Hawaiians keep up a quiet reverence to her.

280 | Konya, Turkey

A food offering or a bottle of gin is an acceptable substitute offering for a lei or berries, since Pele likes a drink. Of the food offerings, roast pig is considered the best, since there was a taboo on women eating pork and Pele was the only female with that privilege. Human sacrifices were never offered to Pele, although the molten lava was used in the past for the cremation of bodies. Although followers of New Age religions often make offerings, the Hawai’ians believe that only indigenous people have that right, and they have protested the appropriation of the worship of Pele by others. Native Hawai’ians are also battling the development of a geothermal plant on the slopes of the volcano as a profanation of sacred ground. Visitors are warned never to take souvenir rocks from the side of Kilauea because they bring misfortune. Every day, National Park rangers receive rocks returned by mail, with stories of bad luck that have befallen the senders.

Konya is an ancient city. It was called Iconium when St. Paul visited it, and because of its central location, it continued to thrive during the Byzantine period. (No evidence of Paul’s visit remains, however). Today, Konya remains a holy city with a devout Islamic population. Konya’s glory is that it was the home of Mevla˚na (Our Guide) Jalalu’d-Din Rumi (1207–1273), one of the world’s greatest religious mystics, philosophers, and poets. The most famous of his works is the Spiritual Mathnawi, ethical teachings presented in 25,000 double-rhymed verses written in Persian. The Mevla˚na taught that love is the path to spiritual insight and practiced a broad toleration: “Come, whoever you are—fire-

See also: Mountains

REFERENCES Herbert Kane, Pele: Goddess of Hawaii’s Volcanoes. Kailua, HI, Kawainui, 1996. Leslie Lang and David Burke, Mauna Kea, A Guide to Hawaii’s Sacred Mountain. Honolulu, Watermark, 2005. Katherine Luomala, “Hawaiian Religion,” in Mircea Eliade, ed., Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 6. New York, Macmillan, 1984.

KONYA, TURKEY High on Turkey’s central plateau is an oasis of green amidst a drought area.

The Whirling Dervish Festival held each December in Konya, Turkey honors Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, the 13th-century poet and Islamic philosopher who founded the Mevlevi Order of Whirling Dervishes.

Konya, Turkey | 281 worshipper, infidel, pagan—all who enter will be welcome here. Our brotherhood is not one of despair.” Born in Afghanistan to a distinguished Islamic scholar, Rumi’s family fled the Mongols when he was twelve, settling at first in Mecca, then in Turkey, where the youth was initiated into the Sufi way. He studied further in Syria and returned to Konya at age 23, where he assembled disciples around him. A few years later Rumi came under the influence of a wandering ascetic, whom his disciples killed in a fit of jealousy. This event drove Rumi into seclusion, during which he had visions and began writing his poetry. The building that brings visitors to Konya is the former tekke or monastery of the Whirling Dervishes, now a government “museum,” though the term is somewhat misleading. Even though the Dervishes have been banned, the tekke is really a shrine, and its main room is the tu¨ rbe, or tomb, of the Mevla˚na. It is covered with a great velvet pall embroidered in gold. Beside him is his father, whose sarcophagus stands upright, for legend has it that when Rumi was buried, his father’s tomb “rose and bowed in reverence.” In the museum are vestments and musical instruments from the monastery, as well as a sacred relic, a hair from the beard of the Prophet Mohammed. Next door is the mosque of Selim II. It is considered part of the pilgrimages, which attract more than a million Muslims every year. In addition to the Mevlevi complex, mosques and other Muslim monuments abound in Konya. Among the Sufis—Muslims who practice a mystical form of Islam—religious life focuses on the Brotherhoods.

These are religious fraternities inspired by great Muslim holy men who taught spiritual ways (tariq) to attain ecstasy, a state of trance where one comes into communion with Allah. There are a variety of techniques, including chanting the Ninety-Nine Names of Allah or meditation on some expression from the Qur’an. For the Dervishes, the technique is a sacred dance, the sema. The sema has seven parts that symbolize the rise of the soul to a mystical state and union with the divine. Dressed in long pleated gowns and wearing high, cone-shaped hats, the Dervishes dance with arms outstretched, their right hands turned up to receive blessing from heaven, their left hands turned down to bestow it to the earth. They form a circle, each turning with the rhythm of the accompanying music as the circle itself moves around, a dignified circular dance that begins slowly and picks up tempo until all collapse in spiritual exaltation. The long white robes represent burial shrouds, and the hats a tombstone, symbolizing death to self, as the ecstasy is an entry into divine life. This was the way of the Mevla˚na, and the tradition is still found in Egypt and Syria. The policy of the great national hero, Kemal Attaturk, brought secularization to Turkey after World War I. During the Ottoman period, the Dervishes had acquired power in the sultan’s palace, and the Brotherhoods were regarded as reactionary and dangerous to the new republic. They were banned in 1925 and their properties confiscated, though a few members struggled on in secret until the dances were again allowed in 1953. At Konya, the Dervishes are permitted only two annual festivals; the major one is on December 17. Although they are

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officially only a cultural association, the Dervishes continue their tradition, recruiting new members and passing on the traditions of the order. Today, when the Brotherhoods throughout Islam are the vehicle of fundamentalism, the Dervishes are again on the rise in Turkey and are still regarded as a challenge to democratic government. See also: Kairouan, Touba

REFERENCES Shems Friedlander, Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes. Sandpoint, ID, Morning Light, 2003. Juliet Mabey, Rumi, A Spiritual Treasury. Oxford, UK, OneWorld, 2008. Leslie Wines, Rumi: A Spiritual Biography. New York, Crossroads, 2001.

KOREAN MARTYRS’ SHRINES Korea’s first Christian was a young man who was converted after reading the Bible and some books he obtained from Jesuits at the court of the emperor of China. Returning home, he converted several prominent families to Christianity, which began to spread through study groups. These small communities were begun by Koreans without missionaries. When one of those converts, Yun Chi-Chung, refused to allow the ancestor cult at his mother’s funeral in 1791, he was denounced and decapitated, setting off a widespread persecution. Four others followed in 1801, 1839, 1846, and 1866. The first Korean Catholic priest, Kim Dae-gon, was martyred in 1846, but the

main persecution came in 1866, when eight French missionaries were beheaded, followed by about 10,000 of the 15,000 Korean Catholics. Sixty-four shrines, chapels, and tombs scattered throughout Korea commemorate this sacrifice. They vary from majestic churches to the simplest unmarked burial mounds. What is striking is the number of people who visit them consistently, even those in out-of-the way places far from major cities. All are tended carefully by the faithful. In 1984, 103 Korean Martyrs were recognized as saints by Pope John Paul II in the first canonization ceremony held outside the Vatican. Saenamt’o is a church built in pure Korean style on the site of the old execution spot for criminals. It was built in 1987 by a Korean religious order, the Brothers of the Martyrs, and its tiled and gabled roofs stand out in Seoul. Here various martyrs were killed throughout the nineteenth century, including St. Kim. A public park near the Seoul rail station holds a modern memorial, again on an old execution site. Forty-four of the 103 recognized martyrs died here. The shrine is a narrow marble pyramid, flanked by a smaller one, both marked with bronze plaques depicting scenes of the martyrdoms. Chimyeongjasan Martyrs’ Ground is approached by a pathway of crosses and features the burial site of seven members of the same family who were executed together. This Martyrs’ Ground was established early, already in the nineteenth century. Solmeo, the birthplace of St. Kim, has a large statue of the saint amidst pine trees (Solmeo means “pine tree”). The remains of another martyr,

Kumbh Mela Sites, India | 283 Rev. Kim Dae-gun, are buried there inside the local cathedral. Mirinae Sacred Ground is a huge church with a monastery, convent, retreat center and the tomb of St. Kim. He is buried alongside his mother and eight unknown martyrs in a tiny chapel. More than 35,000 opilgrims come to the shrine on the feast day each year. Choldu-san or Jeoldusan (the name means “beheading hill”) is a rocky promontory overlooking the Han River in Seoul. During the 1866 persecution, thousands of Christians were beheaded on the bluff and their bodies thrown over the cliff into the river. Since no public records were kept, only thirty-one are known by name. At the centenary in 1966, a shrine was built on the cliff, including a church, a museum, and a cemetery for twentyeight of the martyrs. There are also memorials for a number of other Koreans who died for their faith, including a life-sized statue of St. Kim, one for three Koreans who died in Japan, and another honoring several members of the same family who died together. The formal park setting attracts a regular stream of pilgrims and visitors. The Choldu-san site was remodeled in 2009 with a shrine, chapel, and interactive museum. Inside is a wall with the remains of the only twenty-eight martyrs who could be identified. September 20 is the feast day. For the Koreans, martyrdom is not a past event, and the persecution of 1950– 1953 in North Korea, in which thousands of clergy and laity were killed or died in prison, remains a fresh memory and a continuation of the persecutions of the nineteenth century. A cycle of prayer on behalf of North Korean Christians is kept going constantly. See also: Martyrs’ Hill

REFERENCES James Grayson, Korea: A Religious History. New York, Routledge, 2002. Vincent O’Malley, Saints of Asia. Huntington, IN, OSV, 2007. Earl Phillips and Eui-Yong Yu, Religions in Korea. Los Angeles, California State University, 1982. www.jeoldusan.or.kr.

KUMBH MELA SITES, INDIA The Kumbh Mela is perhaps the world’s largest religious gathering. Hindu legend has it that a pitcher (kumbha) containing the nectar of immortality emerged from chaos when gods and demons stirred the ageless deeps at the time of creation. Before the gods won and drank the liquor of eternal life, they fought the demons over the pitcher for twelve years. Four times the precious fluid spilled; these became the four sites of the Kumbh Mela festival: at Allahabad on the Ganges, Nasik on the Godavari River, Ujjain on the Kshipra River, and finally, Hardwar at the point where the Ganges emerges from the Himalayan Mountains. In that order, a festival is held every three years, and every twelve years a “great mela” is held, usually in Allahabad. The most recent drew sixty-five million people, while the intermediate melas attract between thirty and forty million pilgrims. The festival lasts up to two months, its length determined by astrological signs. The Kumbh Mela pilgrimages have been recorded from the thirteenth century and are certainly older. Pilgrims begin their observances with a ritual bath in the river. This is followed

284 | Kumbh Mela Sites, India

The first of expected millions of people bathe in the Ganges River to wash away their sins on the first day of the Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad, India on Jan. 9, 2001.

by singing and chanting, religious instruction, and mass feeding of the poor. Sadhus, Hindu holy men, come in procession with their bodies decorated by ashes. The most extreme are the naga sanyasis, who walk naked as a sign of the rejection of all material goods. Since the idea behind the Kumb Mela is a withdrawal from the cares of everyday life, this is a powerful symbol. The Kumbh Mela is known not only for its holiness but also for its violence, which Hindus accept as a sign that the gods and demons are still in conflict. Every few years there are incidents where hundreds of people are crushed in stampedes to get to the water at the times announced as most favorable by the astrologers. In the eighteenth century, warfare between sects was common, and in one festival, rival monks led armies

into a battle where 18,000 died. Besides epidemics that break out because several million people are gathered under unsanitary conditions, murders and rapes always occur. The Thugs, an extremist sect that practices ritual murder to satisfy the blood-lust of the goddess Kali, finds victims on the steps of the bathing ghats. The devout Hindu believes that the waters of sacred rivers, especially the Ganges, have the power to wash away sin back to the eighty-eighth generation of one’s ancestors. These waters have themselves been washed by the drink of eternal life. Therefore, at the festival times, people throng the waters where broad stairs have been built leading into the rivers from temples and shrines. These ghats, or bathing platforms, are also used to wash away the ashes of those who have been cremated. Two of

Kyoto, Japan | 285 the main duties of the Hindu—worship and cremation of the dead—are therefore satisfied on the sacred rivers. The elderly sometimes come to the sacred cities for their last days, knowing that they will be cremated at the riverside and sent into the next life on the waters of the holy river. Offerings of candles or flowers are made to the rivers, placed on little leaf boats and floated down the streams. At night, the tiny flames mirror the starry skies in a lovely display. The Kumbh Mela is the occasion for gatherings of holy men and ascetics for a kind of “parliament” for religious and spiritual debates, since Hinduism has no teaching authority or hierarchy. There is a procession of naked sadhus nicknamed the “sky clad,” whose nudity is a sign they are detached from every worldly need. To gaze upon one of these men is to be instantly cleansed of sin. Various Hindu cults and sects also use the Kumbh Mela for initiation rites and ceremonies.

REFERENCES Tony Heiderer, “Sacred Space, Sacred Time: India’s Maha Kumbh Mela,” National Geographic 177:5, 106–117 (May 1990). James Lochtefeld, God’s Gateway: Identity and Meaning in a Hindu Holy Place. New York, Oxford University, 2010. Kama McLean, Pilgrimage and Power. New York, Oxford University, 2008. Shortcut to Nirvana. New York, Zeitgeist, 2005, video.

KYOTO, JAPAN Kyoto is a city of 2,000 shrines and temples, and, despite modernization, retains

much of its spiritual aura. From the ninth century it was the imperial capital of Japan, which it continued to be long after Tokyo had become the government center. Rising to the northeast is a sacred mountain, Hiei, which became the center for the politically powerful Tendai sect of Buddhism in 805 CE, whose Enryakuji Monastery once had 3,000 buildings and a standing army. Now a small fraction of that size, it has lasted, with its continuity symbolized by three lamps that have burned ceaselessly for 1,200 years. The monastery, which is a pilgrimage center, conducts regular prayer rituals for the preservation of the Japanese state. The military arts remain part of the monastery tradition. The monks practice Kaihogyo, or marathon running, as a form of asceticism. Over a seven-year period, the monks run a thousand days, averaging nineteen miles a day during various periods, interspersed with meditation and studies of Buddhism. During the fifth year the monk spends nine days in meditation without food, water, or sleep. It is believed that after the 1,000 days, he will enter enlightenment. The Ryoan-ji Temple (Temple of the Peaceful Dragon) is known best for its sand garden, representing the sea. As a sign of the sea’s restless, ever-changing nature, the garden is raked into a new design each day around fifteen rocks that seem to float in this austere setting, surrounded by an earthen wall that anchors its perimeter. In Buddhism,fifteen is the number of fullness, so from the viewing veranda, only fourteen rocks can be seen at one time. Move slightly and the hidden rock appears, but another disappears. All fifteen cannot be seen at once,

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Golden Pavillion reflecting in the Kyoko-chi (Mirror Pond), Japan.

demonstrating the human inability to grasp completeness. Ginkakuji Temple is best approached by the lovely and meditative Path of Philosophy, which follows a small stream lined with cherry, willow, and maple trees. Originally the home of a powerful local ruler, Ginka-kuji was converted to a temple around 1500. The name means “silver pavilion,” in contrast to the “golden pavilion” (Kinka-kuji) across the city, although the plans to cover it with silver foil never materialized. A statue of Kannon, Goddess of Mercy, is enshrined on the second story, and on the first are 1,000 statues of Jizo, guardian god of children. It was at Ginkakuji that the elaborate Japanese tea ceremony was first raised to a high art, and the original tea ceremony room is preserved. Ginkakuji has a sand

garden featuring high cones symbolizing mountains; because it sparkles in the moonlight, it is called the “Sea of Silver Sand.” Kinkakuji Temple, known as the Golden Temple, was first built in 1397, but in 1950 a fanatic monk burnt it to the ground. The present buildings are exact replicas of the first temple. The temple is covered with gold leaf and juts out over a lake, itself an exquisite creation that seems a different place from every angle, with rocks and tiny islets placed to attract the eye. The Kinkakuji is reflected in the water so that the temple seems suspended between heaven and earth. It is the image of the power and magnificence of the ruler who built it, but it is serene in its setting. Kinkakuji presents one of the most-photographed scenes in Japan.

Kyoto, Japan | 287 As a whole, the Historical Monuments of Ancient Kyoto have been listed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites.

REFERENCES Francois Berthier, Reading Zen in the Rocks: The Japanese Dry Landscape Garden. Chicago, University of Chicago, 2000.

Juliet Carpenter, Seeing Kyoto. New York, Kodansha, 2005. Diane Durston, Kyoto: Seven Paths to the Heart of the City. New York, Kodansha, 2002. Charles McCarry and George Mobley, “Kyoto and Nara: Keepers of Japan’s Past,” National Geographic 149:6, 636–658 (June 1976).


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shrine or holy place, the labyrinth appeared there. The pilgrimage concluded by following the labyrinth path after having circumambulated the shrine or sacred site. The most famous labyrinth, and the model for many others, is that on the floor of the Chartres Cathedral outside Paris. It was built in 1220 and is still used. In the United States, the best known are the two in Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco. The spiritual pattern of the labyrinth has several steps. First, the preparation: to quiet the mind and reflect on the issues that need resolution in one’s life. Second, the journey in is a releasing of one’s cares and burdens. Third, the center is a place of contemplation for seeking illumination from one’s god or higher power. Finally, the returning to the outside, when one affirms any insights or decisions that arose during the labyrinth walk. These three stages are often also called purgation (releasing or “letting go”), receiving (illumination), and integrating (empowerment and taking ownership of decisions). Some suggest

LABYRINTHS During the great age of medieval pilgrimage, many ordinary people could not make the time for a long journey. Family obligations often prevented it, or the only time that the weather permitted was during the growing season. Churches began to build labyrinths as a substitute. The labyrinth is a circular pathway leading to a central point. It is not a maze—the path has no turnbacks or dead ends but proceeds inevitably to the center, where the pilgrim rests in a time of meditation. There are twelve rings going to a central rosette that represented Jerusalem, and it is sometimes called the “road to Jerusalem.” The path follows twenty-eight loops, seven each on the left and right to the center and seven each to the outside. The point is not to accomplish a walk to the center, but to go in(ward) and then return to the outside, symbolizing the return to daily life. The medieval labyrinth also served as closure for walking pilgrimages. As the pilgrim approached the final goal, a

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290 | Lakmuang Shrine, Bangkok, Thailand

Rediscovering the Labyrinth. 2000, video.

LAKMUANG SHRINE, BANGKOK, THAILAND

Example of a labyrinth design.

walking the inward path palms down, releasing fears and concerns, and returning outward with palms up to receive strength and energy. As this description suggests, the labyrinth is a form of spiritual discipline that is not bound to any one faith tradition. It is found in many around the world, and this freedom from formal religion makes it especially attractive to New Age devotees, who seek spiritual insight aside from religious commitment. The seven-circuit design goes back 4,000 years and is found on ancient Cretan coins of that period. The classical approach, however, remains the Christian one, the first of which is found in Algeria in the fourth century. See also: Chartres Cathedral

REFERENCES Lauren Artress, Walking a Sacred Path. New York, Riverhead, 2006. Jeff Saward, Magical Paths: Labyrinths and Mazes. MITCH, 2008.

In the center of Bangkok, a small brick temple called Lakmuang Shrine honors the guardian god of the city, represented by a slender red stone idol. Lak Muang means “strength of the city,” and the pillar, set there by King Rama I at the foundation of Bangkok in 1782, is the official place from which all distances in the country are measured. Following Thai tradition, the city pillar was erected before the king started to build the royal palace with its Temple of the Emerald Buddha. In 1853, however, it was removed from its original site and placed across from the royal palace, following astrological oracles. The shrine is a square building, open on all sides, with a white spire. Inside are two gold pillars surrounded by elephant tusks. The first, an unadorned column, is the original one of King Rama I, made of laburnum wood decorated with heartwood. It is seventy-nine inches into the ground and 108 inches above. The second pillar was placed there by Rama IV Mongkut. A covered shed provides an altar for leaving exvotos and bowls of holy water where visitors wash their hands and faces. A smaller separate shrine on the grounds holds two guardian angels. The entire complex was restored in 2007. Lakmuang pillar’s similarity to the Hindu lingam, which represents the sex organ of the god Shiva, has made it a fertility shrine as well, and many women come to pray either to become pregnant or for an easy delivery.

Lalibela, Ethiopia | 291 The scene at Lakmuang is a busy one, reminiscent of a medieval fair. People buy incense sticks and necklaces of flowers to be laid before the idol or hung on the fences around the shrine. Because the deity is also considered an oracle, a number of Chinese, who believe in fortunetelling, also come to Lakmuang. The deity is thought to bring good fortune, especially in the national lottery, and lottery ticket sellers throng the shrine precincts. Fortunetellers and horoscope readers do an active business in the courtyard. When a devotee has received a favor from the guardian spirit of the shrine, he or she often expresses thanks by commissioning a sacred dance. There is a small stage on the grounds for this purpose, where a professional troupe performs traditional dances and songs. Not all are serious. Indeed, some skits are broad comedy or farce, with stage antics reminiscent of vaudeville. They draw laughter and cheers from the audience members, who are, through the act of enjoyment, earning merit. Strolling musicians and freelance entertainers playing gongs and drums roam the precincts offering Buddhist legends set to music. The Thai understanding of virtue allows the devout to earn merit by any good deed, and the most meritorious will be reincarnated in the next life at a more advanced stage. Prayers, offerings, and good deeds combine to benefit both the seeker after merit and anyone who joins in—even one who shares in the enjoyment of a play or musical offered for the god. One can also buy a caged bird from a stall and set it free to earn merit or engage in a number of other activities. See also: Erawan Shrine, Fertility Shrines

REFERENCES Ormond McGill, Religious Mysteries of the Orient. South Brunswick, NJ, Barnes, 1976. Alistair Shearer, Thailand: The Lotus Kingdom. London, John Murray, 1989. Rudolph Wurlitzer, Hard Travel to Sacred Places. Boston, Shambhala, 1995.

LALIBELA, ETHIOPIA A series of thirteen churches was carved into a sandstone cliff in the northern mountains of Ethiopia about 1,000 years ago by King Lalibela. According to legend, when the king began the prodigious task of carving a series of churches from living rock, angels came at night to continue where the workmen left off at the end of the day. The historical facts are more prosaic. King Lalibela was of the line of the Zagwe dynasty, which seized the throne around 1000 CE. When his rivals increased in power, he looked around for some way to gain the favor of the powerful Ethiopian Church and undertook the construction of thirteen churches at his capital, a small town named after him. The result was unexpected in two ways: it created a place of unparalleled religious beauty, and it brought about King Lalibela’s conversion. After laboring for twenty years, he abdicated the throne to become a hermit, living on roots and vegetables. Ethiopian Christians regard him as one of their greatest saints. The king’s intention was to create a New Jerusalem for those who were unable to make a pilgrimage to the Holy

292 | La Vang, Quang Tri, Vietnam

Land. He also intended it to be a replacement pilgrimage place, because Jerusalem had fallen to the Muslims in 1187. He made no attempt to copy the holy places, but he used their names. Even the local river is the River Jordan. The setting is stunning: wild crags a mile and a half high, with hanging cliffs. The thirteen churches there were not constructed but excavated. Each church was cut from the living bedrock and is a single solid piece, painstakingly hollowed out. Each is surrounded by trenches into which hermits’ cells have been cut out. The largest church has walls thirty-five feet high. The roofs are level with the ground and can be reached through stairs descending into narrow trenches. They have been in continuous use since they were built in the twelfth century. Bet Giorgis (St. George’s), perhaps the most spectacular of the churches, is cut forty feet down. Its exterior was carved first; then it was painstakingly hollowed out. Fragile windows are sculpted in many forms of crosses, swastikas (an ancient Eastern motif), and even Muslim traceries. Several churches also have wall paintings. In Bet Maryam is a pillar on which King Lalibela wrote the secrets of the buildings. It is covered with drapes and only the priests may look on it. The churches are connected by tunnels and walkways that stretch across sheer drops. Pilgrims believe that if they pass over these three times they will be saved; if they fall, they will go to hell. The interior pillars of the churches have been worn smooth by the hands of supplicating worshippers. On feast days, the priests bring out the tabots, the carved tablets kept by every Ethiopian church that are copies of the Tablets of

the Law believed to rest in Axum. They are covered by beautiful fabrics and are taken outside to tents, where they are kept during an overnight prayer vigil before being triumphantly returned to the churches in procession. Lalibela has 14,000 people; at least 1,000 of them are priests. The Ethiopian Church retains many ancient Jewish customs, including circumcision and a form of kosher food regulation. Extensive fasts are held. Liturgies are often conducted with crowds of singing and dancing priests, and the church teaches that the original Ark of the Covenant is in Axum. All these elements contribute to the sense of place that is biblical—timeless and serene, largely untouched by modern life. See also: Axum, Debra Libanos

REFERENCES Marilyn Heldman et al., African Zion. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 1994. Paul Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia. New York, Palgrave, 2000. Stuart Munro-Hay, The Quest of the Ark of the Covenant. London, Tauris, 2006. Angela Schuster, “Hidden Sanctuaries of Ethiopia,” Archaeology 47:1, 28–35 (January 1994).

LA VANG, QUANG TRI, VIETNAM During the imperial persecution of Catholics in Vietnam, many found refuge in the impenetrable mountain jungles in the center of the country, near

Le Puy-en-Velay, France | 293 the imperial capital of Hue. Fearing the worst (there were tens of thousands of martyrs by this time), they prepared themselves for martyrdom. The inhospitable jungle conditions caused many to grow sick and die. According to legend, as the people prayed for help in their perilous situation, a vision of the Virgin Mary appeared, dressed in the traditional Vietnamese ao dai, holding the Child Jesus and flanked by two angels. She told them of tree leaves that would provide medicine for the jungle illnesses and encouraged them. From that time in 1798, Our Lady of La Vang became the national Catholic devotion for Vietnamese. She is especially popular among refugee populations in the United States and Europe, and there have been many churches named for her. In 1961, the shrine in La Vang was named the national Marian shrine by the Vietnamese bishops, and the following year the Pope raised it to the rank of a basilica. The first chapel was built of leaves and rice straw immediately after the apparition. It has been rebuilt many times. In 1805, the persecutions reached into the mountains, and thirty Christians were martyred at the entrance to the shrine. The soldiers were too terrified of the holy place to attack it, but in the melee, it was burned down, except for the altar and chandelier, which survived. The simple chapel was replaced, and in 1900 a brick church was completed. Pilgrimages began the next year, when 130,000 took part. During World War II and the anticolonial wars that followed, the mountainous terrain around La Vang was fought over by the French and Japanese and the French and Viet Cong. In 1972, the shrine was destroyed in the

North-South war, with only the steeple left standing. For some time, the Communist government refused to issue permits for reconstruction. A tiny chapel had to suffice during those intervening years. The shrine’s land was confiscated, although some buildings were restored. Finally, a new shrine was completed in time for the second centenary of the apparition, and the government returned the shrine land. The pilgrimages returned, and 100,000 come to the shrine each year on major feasts. The shine is simple, but the complex includes an amphitheater for outdoor services, a guest house for pilgrims, and a lovely statue of the Virgin. The image shows Mary in traditional dress of blue with gold trim, and with a broad hat on her head. She holds the Child Jesus, whose hand is raised in blessing. See also: Marian Apparitions

LE PUY-EN-VELAY, FRANCE Le Puy-en-Velay came to prominence as an assembly point for one of the pilgrimage routes from France to Santiago de Compostala. The Via Podiensis was one of four continental routes to Santiago that merged just short of the French border. Le Puy still remains on the pilgrimage route to Santiago. The region is built on ancient volcanic rock, which has left jagged peaks and crags. The origins of the town are pagan and then Roman. A shrine to a female idol was built on one of the crags of the town, and following the usual custom of the early Christian missionaries, they

294 | Lindisfarne, England

imposed a Christian shrine on top of it as a sign of its conversion. The shrine’s altar was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and soon became a cathedral and pilgrimage site. Charlemagne came there twice, as did many other kings and royals. King St. Louis IX brought an ebony statue of the Virgin as a gift to the shrine on his way back from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This became the main image, one of many “Black Virgins” honored at shrines in Europe. The image was destroyed during the French Revolution but then replaced after the restoration of king and Church. It is black ebony, clothed in gold brocade and housed in the cathedral, itself an imposing piece of architecture. The pilgrims to Santiago assembled at the cathedral, placed their staffs on the altar to be blessed, and venerated the statue of the Virgin. The priest then produced the Pilgrimage Book, which each one signed before setting out. They received a “pilgrim passport,” which they would have stamped (and still do) at each way station along the route. The pilgrimage may be made on foot, horseback, or bicycle, but not by modern transport. On returning from the pilgrimage, it was customary to climb the 268 rock-hewn steps up to the Chapel of St. Michael of the Needle. This is a tiny chapel on a pinnacle of rock. Its dedication follows the ancient Christian association of St. Michael Archangel with high places, from which he protects the people. Overlooking the town is a bronze statue of Our Lady of France, made from 213 Russian cannon captured at the Battle of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. It was set up in 1860 at the height of French identity with faith and nationalism.

The Jubilee of Puy-en-Velay is a curious observance that arose in 992, when a German monk prophesied the end of the world because the feast of the Annunciation (conception of Jesus) coincided with Good Friday (his death). Impressed, the pope permitted a jubilee year when the two feasts came together. In the twenty-first century, the only times this takes place are 2005 and 2025, with the next in 2157.

REFERENCES Thierry Hatot and Anne-Marie Piaulet, Le-Puy-en-Velay: Scale Architectural Paper Model. Alameda, CA, Paper Models International, 1997. Alison Raju, The Way of St. James: Le Puy to the Pyrenees. Milnthorpe, UK, Cicerone, 2004.

LINDISFARNE, ENGLAND One of England’s oldest missionary centers, Lindisfarne is on Holy Island in the North Sea. The site, on Britain’s east coast, is remote and can be visited only at low tide, when enough sand is exposed to make it possible to cross from the mainland. In 635, a Benedictine abbey was built at Lindisfarne by St. Aidan, an Irish missionary from Iona in Scotland. He was succeeded by Cuthbert (+687), who was both abbot and bishop there and was credited with bringing the Christian faith to northern England. After his death, St. Cuthbert was recognized as the apostle of the north. His popularity is based on his efforts for the poor, caring for those struck by the plague and working miraculous cures.

Lindisfarne, England | 295

The rainbow arch is all that remains of the original monastery of Lindisfarne located on an island off the coast of northeast England. Saint Aiden established Celtic Christianity in England when a church and monestery were constructed here in AD 635. The settlement was burned by the Danes in 793 but rebuilt.

Holy Island’s location was its downfall. Because it was directly across from Denmark, it was an easy target for marauding Viking raiders, who pillaged and burned villages and abbeys. The abbeys were particularly easy marks, because the monks were completely nonviolent and refused even to defend themselves. In the ninth century it was decided to remove the treasures of the monastery inland to protect them from raids. Cuthbert’s body, which was already attracting pilgrims, was taken to Durham Cathedral, to which the diocese was transferred in 1000. Cuthbert’s shrine there became a prominent medieval pilgrimage site. When Henry VIII’s agents came to loot the treasure of the shrine in 1536, the body was found incorrupt, causing the shrine to be saved.

After the Norman Conquest, a Benedictine priory was reestablished at Lindisfarne in 1093, and it is the ruins of this foundation that can be seen today. Around 700, a monk at the abbey produced the Lindisfarne Gospels, a magnificent illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels. Three centuries later, an Anglo-Saxon translation was added, being the oldest surviving Old English text of the Gospels. They are now in the British Library in London. Little remains of the monastic settlement on Holy Island—only some walls of the 1093 priory and a few ruins of monastic buildings. Pilgrims visit these ruins, the thirteenth-century parish church, and the empty tombs of St. Cuthbert and St. Aidan. The medieval Pilgrim Route is posted with wooden poles, which

296 | Lisieux, France

disappear under the tide. The island also functions as a nature sanctuary and continues to attract 50,000 visitors annually, including pilgrims. It is managed by English Heritage, but access is not restricted. Lindisfarne is a popular place for spiritual retreats, and two ecumenical retreat centers cater to their needs.

REFERENCES David Adam, The Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Harrisburg, PA, Morehouse, 2009. Janet Backhouse, The Lindisfarne Gospels. London, Phaidon, 1994. Magnus Magnusson, Lindisfarne. Charleston, SC, History, 2004. www.lindisfarne.org.uk.

after she appealed personally to the pope. She lived a life of prayer and briefly served as novice mistress, in charge of introducing young candidates to cloistered life. She died in the convent of tuberculosis in 1897 after writing a remarkable autobiography, The Story of a Soul, at the request of her prioress. Published after her death, it was translated into fifty languages and has never gone out of print. Her message is straightforward, offering a path to holiness in everyday life. Large numbers of pilgrims are attracted by the inspiration of a woman who taught a deep yet simple spirituality known as “the little way.” The´re`se had no visions and performed no miracles in her lifetime; her spirituality is based on the banal routines of life, transformed by God’s merciful love. The positive tone of her teaching

LISIEUX, FRANCE The Sanctuary of the Little Flower, known by the nickname given to SainteThe´ re` se of Lisieux, one of the most popular Catholic saints of the twentieth century, stands in Lisieux, a small town in Normandy. It is neither attractive nor the site of any miraculous events or visions. Indeed, the basilica is ugly and garish, in total contrast to the simplicity of the woman whose remains are enshrined in it. It features eighteen altars from as many countries dedicated to her. The crypt is decorated with mosaics of events in her life: her baptism, first Communion, healing, religious life, and her death. In 1888, at only fifteen, The´ re` se Martin entered the cloistered Carmelite convent in Lisieux after much opposition from Church authorities, who gave in

St. Therese Basilica, Lisieux, Normandy, France.

Loboc, Vizcaya, Philippines | 297 is the book’s greatest attraction, along with the delightful, wry anecdotes with which she illustrates her life story. Despite her seclusion, The´re` se was intensely interested in evangelization and petitioned to be sent to a convent in the Third World. She corresponded with a number of French missionaries in Vietnam and is regarded as patroness of foreign missions. Consequently, many missionaries visit her shrine on their way to their new assignments. In the crypt of the basilica are the tombs of members of her family, but The´re`se is buried simply in the sisters’ cemetery at the convent next to the basilica. Both her parents have been beatified by the Church as an example of a holy couple. Their tombs were outside the basilica in a Way of the Cross until their beatification in 2008, when they were moved into the crypt.

REFERENCES Alain Cavalier, The´re`se. Des Moines, IA, Ingram International, 1986, video. Dorothy Day, Therese. Springfield, IL, Templegate, 1979. Ronald Knox, ed., Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul. San Francisco, Harper SF, 1991. Frederick Miller, The Trial of Faith of Saint Therese of Lisieux. New York, Alba, 1998. www.therese-de-lisieux.catholique.fr.

LOBOC, VIZCAYA, PHILIPPINES In 1843, the town of Loboc was struck by a cholera epidemic, and they turned in prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose image was brought from Extramadura in

Spain by a missionary priest. The epidemic soon abated, and as a thankoffering, the people promised an annual festival on her honor. Although during the Spanish colonial period there was considerable missionary and economic interaction between Mexico and the Philippines, the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Philippines comes from the shrine in Spain rather than the apparition in Mexico. The image is a Black Madonna garbed in a white brocade dress with a blue cape. It has a small gold crown and a sunburst halo behind the head. It stands seven feet tall. It had been brought to Vizcaya and taken around the province, but the cage in which it was shipped was so sealed that no one could open it. When it was brought to Loboc by boat (hence the river celebration each year on the feast), it was opened easily. Taking this as a sign, the statue was enshrined in Loboc. The festival begins with a novena (nine-day) period of Masses before the feast day. At each service, the gozos, a form of praise to the Virgin, are chanted in Spanish and Vizayan, the local language. During the evening hours, various civic organizations put on traditional dances, choir recitals, and dramas. On the eve of the feast day, an image of the Virgin is placed on a decorated barge and taken through the town on the river. Bands perform from the barge, and small boats follow it on its procession. The evening ends with fireworks. The feast is on May 24. Four altars are set up outside the church, each with an image of the Virgin. People move from one to the other, singing a special twopart harmony, accompanied by a brass band and a full orchestra. Each altar has its own musical composition, and the

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singing is again in Visayan. The bishop presides over the Mass. One feature of the observance is the bolibongkingking, a musical dance in front of the image of the Virgin that takes its name from the sounds of the main indigenous instruments that are used. This dance, swaying in tune with the music and drums, is at the heart of the celebration. Participants sway those parts of their bodies in need of cures. This is a healing service in memory of the lifting of the epidemic, and the people believe that it has the power to bring cures. Villages from the area come together to compete in presenting dance dramas of cultural history and folk tales of the region. Music and faith come together in Loboc, and annual feast days are important in the life of the town. It is known for its choirs, especially the Loboc Children’s Choir, but the informal groups that play traditional instruments are never ignored. The major feast is that of the patron saint, St. Peter Apostle (June 29), and the secondary feast, Our Lady of Guadalupe, described before. Easter Sunday is marked by a special tradition, the hugos (“hanging”) at dawn. The men and women assemble in groups before two statues, of the Virgin and of the Risen Christ. Then a small child dressed as an angel is hoisted by a wire and lowered as he or she sings a hymn. The child represents the Archangel Gabriel, who announced the resurrection of Jesus, according to legend. See also: Guadalupe, Spain, Marian Apparitions

LOPPIANO, ITALY Outside Florence lies Loppiano, a small town that is the center of a worldwide

community dedicated to principles of love and unity—the Focolare. Founded by an Italian woman, Chiara Lubich (1920–2008), the Focolare has expanded from its Catholic roots to embrace an ecumenical Christian membership. Loppiano, with some 800 Focolarini living there, is the most important of the movement’s forty “cities of faith.” The Focolare arose from the ashes of World War II. Gathered in an air-raid shelter in 1943, Chiara Lubich and a small circle of friends began to tend to the needs of those confined with them. It seemed that when all their personal hopes and plans for the future were stripped away by the war, only love made sense. They pledged themselves to seek a way that would allow them to spread this experience. Focolare means “gathered around the hearth,” and its spirit includes a strong familial element. Its primary religious practice features regular periods of Scripture sharing using a Gospel text chosen for a month of meditation and reflection. The emphasis is always on the lived and experienced Gospel and its power to create and build community among its members. Chiara Lubich was a powerful but not domineering personality. In 1977 her work of building bridges among Christians was recognized with the Templeton Prize, often regarded as the “Nobel Prize for Religion.” The Focolare has fostered a number of associated ecumenical movements, all of which welcome Muslims, Buddhists, and Jews as well as Christians and have attracted 87,000 members to its various expressions. It is best known for its development of youth gatherings called Genfests—“people’s festivals”—that draw thousands of young people to

Loreto, Italy | 299 experience unity in celebration, sharing, and prayer. Each summer, more than 100 encampments come together, with some 100,000 young people in attendance. These festivals have developed into more permanent Focolare towns modeled on Loppiano. Anyone is welcome to the monthly sharing sessions at any Focolare community around the world, and the members may be from any situation in life—married, single, or divorced, of any age or class. At the heart of the community, however, are the Focolarini, a grouping of dedicated members who live in common, share their goods, and are celibate. They exhibit most of the characteristics of a religious order without many of its structures and are regarded as a lay movement in the Catholic Church. The Focolare does not sponsor schools or hospitals; the members work at whatever professions and jobs their talents allow. The emphasis is on living together in a harmonious community of faith and sharing that gift with others. Its most notable Catholic tradition is a strong devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Loppiano is officially called Mariapolis, the “city of Mary.” Loppiano was founded in 1964 on a property inherited by four sisters and brothers who were members of the Focolare. Its primary purpose is to be a city of the spirit, a place where all expressions of the Focolare may come together from every continent and every race to experience and witness to unity and to refresh themselves at the wellspring of the movement. Loppiano has all the services of a normal town, including a school for residents’ children. A woodworking shop makes craft items for sale, while others make clothing for the residents, produce

artwork, and take in contract work in a small assembly plant. Loppiano also serves as the training center for aspiring Focolarini, who come to the town for a period of two years as part of their candidacy. These young people live in small communities scattered around the town in residential neighborhoods, where Focolare families live in private homes. The focus of Loppiano’s day of work, shared prayer, and common meals is a Mass celebrated for all at noon. Though there is no mistaking the Catholic atmosphere and spirit of the place, Loppiano also accepts and involves a variety of visitors, who flow through it for periods of a few days or weeks. Many of these are merely curious, but others are eager seekers for spiritual truth. All share in the common work while in Loppiano.

REFERENCES Chiara Lubich, Essential Writings. Hyde Park, NY, New City, 2007. Frank Johnson, Focolare Movement. London, CTS, 2002. Paul Numrich, The Faith Next Door. New York, Oxford University, 2009, ch. 8, 104–116. www.focolare.org.

LORETO, ITALY One of the odder shrines and relics of Christianity is the Holy House of Loreto, in the town of that name in central Italy. It is alleged to be the house where an angel told Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:26–35). The Holy House first appears in history in 336 when St. Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, heard of its

300 | Lough Derg, Ireland

discovery in the Holy Land and protected it by building a church around it. Thus it remained through the Arab occupation and the Crusader period, until the Muslims again began to invade Palestine. Miraculously, according to legend, it was transported to Dalmatia in modern Croatia in 1291, to a field where there had been no house before. A vision revealed that it was Mary’s house, which had disappeared from the Holy Land shortly before the Muslims seized the area. Three years later, angels again carried it across the Adriatic Sea in advance of another Muslim invasion, this time to the town of Loreto in Italy. The myth of the Holy House says that the trees bowed down in respect as it was lowered into place. Archaeological evidence attests, more prosaically, that the house was shipped by sea. It is made of limestone and cedar, neither of which is found in the region of Loreto. The walls of the structure are the originals, and the materials match the foundation of the supposed Holy House in Nazareth. As one authority has written, Loreto has received “the ridicule of one half of the world and the devotion of the other.” The Holy House itself is quite small, a single room with a small altar, a black Madonna statue, and a blue ceiling with gold stars. To protect it, a large church was built around it in 1500 in typical Renaissance style, and it was approved for pilgrimages in 1510. Inside is a marble ambulatory where pilgrims circle the House, often on their knees. After centuries, there is a well-worn groove in the marble flooring from this practice. The feast day is December 10, the supposed date on which the House was transferred to Loreto. Some four million pilgrims come to Loreto each year.

Its most popular devotion, the Litany of Loreto, is a series of invocations of Mary addressing her by many of her medieval titles, such as Ark of the Covenant, Mystical Rose, Seat of Wisdom. This devotion is popular throughout the Catholic world. Because of the legend of the “flying house,” Our Lady of Loreto is patroness of aviators. A Loreto statuette went along with Charles Lindbergh on the first solo flight across the Atlantic, and a Loreto medallion accompanied Apollo 9 on its trip to the moon. On September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, there is a pilots’ pilgrimage to the shrine. See also: Marian Apparitions

REFERENCES Bob and Penny Lord, Holy House of Loreto. Morrilton, AR, Journeys of Faith, 2009, video. www.santuario-loreto.it. Kenneth MacGowan, An Illustrated History of the House of Loreto. Loreto, Italy, Santa Casa, 1976.

LOUGH DERG, IRELAND Station Island is the site of one of Ireland’s great penitential pilgrimages. Large numbers of pilgrims continue to come to the island every year during the penitential season, as they have for centuries.Lough Derg means the “red lake” and refers to one located on the island. Lough Derg is surrounded by legends, including one that contends that a cave there is the entrance to Purgatory, and that the voices of the dead can be heard

Lough Derg, Ireland | 301 speaking from its depths. Its association with penance comes from the tradition that St. Patrick once spent the forty days of Lent in prayer and fasting on the island; during his stay, he drove the evil spirits from the cave and received a vision of Purgatory—hence the island’s popular nickname, “St. Patrick’s Purgatory.” Whatever the tales, the island has been a place of pilgrimage since the eighth century, and the ruins of six hermits’ cells—“the penitential beds”—attest to ancient use since the fifth century. Today the island is completely covered with buildings, including a large basilica church famed for its stained-glass windows of the Stations of the Cross. Lough Derg was known throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, when pilgrimages were harsh and demanding. From 1100 to 1500, noblemen came to do penance for their sins, especially for the atrocities of war. The penitent spent fifteen days on the island for the prescribed spiritual exercises, ending with being locked up in the cave without food or water for twenty-four hours as a symbol of Purgatory. To prepare for this day, penitents spent the first two weeks fasting on bread and water, with total abstinence from food or drink on the day before entering the cave. They lay on the ground as a sign of passing through death, and the full Office of the Dead was chanted over them by monks. When they emerged, the penitents plunged themselves into the Lough Derg three times as a sign of being cleansed. In 1632, during the Reformation, the pilgrimages were banned by the Puritans and the statues and relics smashed. Despite this and the fines that were levied against them after 1704,

pilgrims continued to come to the island. Catholic Emancipation in 1829 permitted Catholics full liberty to practice their religion, and the number of penitents increased. During the terrible famine year of 1846, 30,000 pilgrims visited the island. The pilgrimage season is from June 1 to August 15, and about 25,000 come each year; the minimum age is sixteen. Today, the spiritual regimen at Lough Derg is three days, not counting a day of fasting before arrival. The first night is spent in an all-night vigil of prayer. One daily meal is served on the island— black tea, oatcakes, and bread. The penitents remain barefoot and keep total silence at all times, except for group prayers. Pilgrims make their ways around nine stations, or shrines, including crosses that honor St. Patrick and St. Brigid, patrons of Ireland. At each, they recite the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, the Creed, and Psalm 16. There are 1,449 prescribed prayers; one, for example, requires pilgrims to stand facing away from St. Brigid’s Cross, intoning, “I renounce the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.” They also circle the basilica and the penitential beds several times, an ancient Irish pilgrim custom. One night is spent in vigil inside the locked basilica, its closing doors a reminder of the medieval enclosure in the cave. The cave itself has been sealed since 1780. See also: Croagh Patrick

REFERENCES Peter Harbison, Pilgrimage in Ireland. Syracuse, NY, Syracuse University, 1991.

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Mother and son touch the rock inside the grotto of Massabielle, Virgin Mary Shrine in 2004 in Lourdes, France.

Mary McDaid, Pilgrims’ Tales and More. Dublin, Ireland, Columba, 2000. Joseph McGuinness, St. Patrick’s Purgatory. Dublin, Ireland, Columba, 2000. Peggy O’Brien, Writing Lough Derg. Syracuse, Syracuse University, 2006. www.loughderg.org.

LOURDES, FRANCE A small city framed by mountains in the south of France, Lourdes is the site of the most famous series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary. An endless stream of pilgrims comes here to find healing, both physical and spiritual. The story begins simply with a peasant girl of fourteen named Bernadette Soubirous. On cold February day in

1858, as she was gathering firewood, she saw a mysterious Lady. Bernadette was not overly religious, and indeed, had been held back from receiving her first Communion because she did not know her catechism. The vision emerged from a small grotto across the millstream from where Bernadette stood, and she said later that all fear left her in the Lady’s presence. It was the first of nineteen apparitions of the Virgin Mary that Bernadette would experience. During the ninth apparition, Mary revealed a small spring, which soon became known for the miraculous cures associated with it. Mary later asked that a chapel be built on the spot, and finally, Bernadette asked her name. She had to insist three times, and at last the Lady said, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” The Catholic tradition that Mary had been

Lourdes, France | 303 conceived without original sin so that she might be worthy to be the mother of God had only been formally defined as official Church doctrine in 1854; the theological expression would have meant nothing to the semiliterate peasant girl. Bernadette’s parish priest became convinced of her sincerity, but government authorities were less approving and fenced off the grotto, arresting and fining people who crossed over to pray. It took an order from Emperor Napoleon III to open the area to pilgrims. Even then, the local bishop undertook an exhaustive (and, to the frail girl, exhausting) investigation, and Bernadette was quizzed, questioned, prodded, and harassed by theologians, physicians, and psychologists. She never altered her account: “I do not ask you to believe; I only told you what I have seen.” The bishop accepted the apparitions and approved the shrine in 1862. In 1866, Bernadette entered a convent hundreds of miles north, but she still suffered from the incessant curiosity of tourists. She never showed interest in the miraculous healings and never sought one. She died of tuberculosis in 1879 and was recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1933. The railroad to Lourdes was completed the same year Bernadette entered the convent, which made Lourdes the first shrine to benefit from modern transportation. The number of pilgrims quickly began to expand. Today’s pilgrims come from all over the world by bus, chartered plane, and special trains, most as part of organized pilgrimages complete with chaplains. Lourdes is the first shrine to be involved with religious tourism. It is extremely rare to find anyone coming there who has been part of

a walking pilgrimage. Most tours are organized by commercial agents, who base their business plan on getting clergy to recruit a certain number of travelers with the offer of a free trip for the leader or recruiter. It is mass religious tourism and it blends together religious aspects and holidays. More than five million come to Lourdes each year. The spirit of Lourdes is bourgeois, and the streets leading to the shrine are lined with shops selling every religious trinket imaginable, some reverential and others merely tacky and tasteless. Glowin-the-dark rosaries, water jugs in the shape of the Virgin Mary, automobile pendants, and Marian refrigerator magnets all compete for the tourist’s attention. The shrine area, however, turns its back on the commercial vulgarity of the town. In a peaceful park with no commercial outlets, it accommodates the large crowds in an atmosphere of dignity and recollection. Pilgrims feel that they have left a tawdry world and entered a place of prayer. The focus of the pilgrims is an area known as the grotto, where the miraculous spring has been channeled into a long row of spigots so that visitors may collect “Lourdes water” and take it home. People bring votive candles up to several feet in height to set against the grotto wall, and even on a day when the shrine is not crowded, these can number in the thousands. It is possible to attend Mass at the grotto in a variety of languages. The local anthem, the Lourdes Hymn, has been translated into most languages in the world and is known by Catholics worldwide. To hear it sung simultaneously in many languages— German, English, Italian, Tagalog, and Polish—would not be an unusual

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combination, and it is to experience an affirmation of the universality of faith. The daily processions, especially the Rosary procession held by torchlight each evening, are moving, but the entire shrine area is active throughout the day and evening with various services, processions, and blessings of the sick. The Basilica of the Apparitions rises in three tiers with ramps arching out to allow access by wheelchairs to all levels. Another smaller sanctuary sits across the stream from the grotto, and a cavernous underground church has space for 20,000. Outside the confines of the shrine area, there are several places associated with Bernadette, which are part of the pilgrim route. Some begin at the village of Bartres, a couple of miles from the shrine, and visit her childhood home, the farm where she tended animals, and the parish church. In Lourdes itself is the Mill, where her family lived for ten years until M. Soubirous failed at business. They then moved into a former prison cell, and it was from this dank and unhealthy room that Bernadette went out to the grotto and had her visions. In Lourdes are a small hospital and a number of hostels to serve the needs of the infirm and seriously ill, for Lourdes is a place renowned for miraculous medical cures. Teams of brancardiers (stretcher bearers) volunteer year round to carry or wheel the infirm. The first cure took place after the thirteenth apparition, restoring the sight of a blind stonecutter after his eyes were bathed in Lourdes water. Since then, thousands of physical cures of the most astounding sort have taken place. Baths were set up, and in 1882 a medical bureau was

established to test the validity of the cures. Lourdes is the world’s most prominent center for the application of scientific analysis to alleged miraculous cures. A permanent staff documents the cures in collaboration with an international committee that includes physicians from every important medical specialty. The committee is open to medical professionals of any faith (or none) who wish to examine pilgrims claiming cures, and its archives are available to medical professionals for research. Anyone claiming a miraculous cure must have come to Lourdes with medical testimony that he suffers from an incurable condition. Without this, or if the record is too vague, no medical investigation will be conducted. When an investigation occurs, the conclusion is placed in one of four possible categories: first, that there has been no cure; second, that a partial cure has taken place; third, there has been a cure, but there are medical or psychological reasons for it; or finally, fourth, there has been a cure for which there is no natural or scientific explanation. The pilgrim must then return after a year for further examination. The medical bureau never pronounces a cure to be a miracle, which would be beyond its scientific scope. Nor does the shrine certify a miracle here. The information is referred back to the diocese of the person involved, which makes its own judgment. People are left free to believe or disbelieve as they wish. By 1910 there were more than 4,000 “category four” cures, and they continue at a rate of about fifteen a year. See also: Marian Apparitions, Religious Tourism, Wells and Springs

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REFERENCES G. Bertin, Lourdes: A History of Its Apparitions and Cures. New York, Gordon, 1973. Sally Martin, Every Pilgrim’s Guide to Lourdes. Harrisburg, PA, Morehouse, 2005. Phillip Vann and Greg Tricker, Bernadette of Lourdes: The Mystery of Mary and the Eternal Feminine. London, Paul Hoberton, 2009. In Search of History—Lourdes: Shrine of Miracles. New York, History, 2006, video.

LUTHER CIRCLE, GERMANY Martin Luther (1483–1546), the leader who brought the simmering religious discontent of the sixteenth century to the boiling point and sparked the Protestant Reformation, lived and died within a small area in eastern Germany. The circle of towns associated with his life has become a pilgrimage route. Luther was born in Eisleben, where he also died while on a return visit. His birthday and his baptism are jointly observed there on November 10–11 by Catholics and Lutherans, who celebrate together the feast of St. Martin of Tours, after whom Luther was named. The “birth house,” as it is known locally, has been a museum for more than three centuries and is the logical first stop on the Luther Circle. The “death house” contains the winding sheet placed on Luther’s body after his death. This is revered by many Lutherans as a holy relic. In the town are two churches associated with Luther: Ss. Peter and Paul, where he was baptized, and St.

Andrew’s, where he preached his last sermon two days before his death. In the nearby village of Mansfield is the substantial Luther home where Martin was raised. A law student, the son of a miner turned prosperous merchant, Luther had a conversion experience when he was knocked down by lightning and made a vow to become a monk. At Erfurt, Luther studied as a young Augustinian friar and was ordained a priest. The monastery cloister where Luther lived is used today as a Lutheran school. Several books on display have notes in Luther’s handwriting, and a cell in which he slept has been preserved. Here he began his spiritual journey, in which he struggled to contain his passions through the ascetic practices of fasting, long prayer, and vigils. He often despaired until he concluded that faith alone, and not practices, would being one to salvation. Wittenberg, where he lived for thirtysix years, is the city most associated with Luther and the first place to accept his teachings. Tradition says that it was here, in 1517, that Luther, a professor of scripture at the university, nailed ninetyfive propositions for debate to the door of the Castle Church, setting off the arguments that ended with the establishment of Protestantism. The church contains the tombs of Luther, his disciple Philipp Melancthon, and his powerful sponsor and protector, Elector Frederick the Wise. Its interesting decorations include statues and fine stained-glass windows, installed in 1983, depicting the twelve leading European reformers. In 1989, the tradition of protest against authoritarianism was renewed; the Castle Church pulpit was a leading one in the movement that opposed and

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eventually brought down Communism in then-East Germany. Besides the Castle Church on the main square, there is the Town Church where Luther preached, with a magnificent altarpiece done by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Luther’s friend and the first Protestant artist. The lower panels of the altarpiece show the Lutheran religious system: Melancthon performing a baptism, the Communion of the people, public confession, and Luther preaching from the open Bible. Here the first Mass was celebrated in German (1522) and the Communion cup was first given to the people, causing the Town Church to call itself the “Mother Church of the Reformation.” Luther baptized his six children in its baptismal font. One of Cranach’s paintings depicts Judas, the traitor, as a contemporary Jew, and a carved relief outside the church is offensively anti-Semitic, with a blasphemous inscription, revealing something of the dark side of German Lutheran culture. Cranach, perhaps the most important friend and associate of Luther’s after Melancthon, was deeply involved in the civic community. He was the most important artist of the German Renaissance, a printer shortly after the invention of the printing press, a small businessman, and eventual town councilor and mayor. Melancthon arrived at the University of Wittenburg as professor of Greek a year after Luther posted his disputations on the Castle Church door. He embraced the new theology and became its teacher and is credited with reorganizing the German educational system. He intervened on the more ecumenical side of Lutheranism, trying to integrate other theological approaches (such as

Calvinism) and even making concessions to Catholic thought. This contrasted with Luther’s polemical and denunciatory approach, yet they remained fast friends. One gains the best sense of Luther as a person, however, from the Luther Hall, the priory where Luther lived as an Augustinian friar and that the town gave him after the friary was dissolved. Here he lived with his family and a few students. His wife’s wedding ring, other personal effects, a Gutenberg Bible, his pulpit, and several of Cranach’s paintings all bring the visitor closer to the great reformer. Cranach’s house is nearby, as is that of Luther’s great friend, the theologian Melancthon, whom Luther called “Germany’s teacher.” This house is still as Melancthon left it; it was both his home and a school in the 1520s. After Luther’s denunciation for heresy in 1521, he was spirited away for safekeeping to Eisenach, where he lived at the Wartburg Castle high above the town, translating the New Testament into German and writing tracts. At one point, legend says, Luther was tempted by Satan, and he dismissed the Evil One by throwing an inkwell at the Devil. The wall has been carved away by the faithful seeking mementoes of that legendary event. Eisenach attracts Lutheran pilgrims from around the world. See also: Eisenach

REFERENCES Herbert Brokering and Roland Bainton, A Pilgrimage to Luther’s Germany. Minneapolis, MN, Winston, 1978. Merle Severy, “The World of Martin Luther,” National Geographic 164:4, 418–463 (October 1983).

Ly Bat De, Dinh Bang, Vietnam | 307 Where Luther Walked. Burnsville, MN, Charthouse International, 1983, video.

LY BAT DE, DINH BANG, VIETNAM It was traditional in Asia for many centuries to build shrines for the ancestors of prominent families, most especially lords and emperors. The Ly Dynasty, which ruled Vietnam from 1009 to 1225, produced eight rulers, all of whom are honored by an ancestor temple. The first of the Ly Dynasty, Ly Cong Uan, founded present-day Hanoi as a fortified citadel. Den Do Temple was built in the northern village where Ly Cong Uan was born. In 1010, he made a dragon-boat trip to offer incense at his mother’s tomb. On the way he measured out a large plot where the mausoleums of the Ly kings were built. Upon his death in 1028, his son and successor built Den Do Temple, usually known as Ly Bat De, as a place to worship the ancestors. Over time, even long after the end of the Ly Dynasty, the temple complex was enlarged and developed. By 1602 it encompassed almost one and a half square miles, with twentyone buildings. In the war for independence against the French in 1952, the temple was destroyed, but in 1989 it was reconstructed according to the seventeenth-century plans. A stele with the inscribed announcement of the move of the national capital to Hanoi by Ly Cong Uan was used for target practice by the French.

In front of the temple is a lake with a floating stage for water puppetry, a traditional Vietnamese art for presenting legends of the past. There is a large open plaza that leads into the temple area through the Five Dragon Gate. Small structures remain from before the war, and then the statues of the eight kings. A mile away is the temple of Ly Chieu Hoang, the last of the dynasty. She took the throne at age seven but stepped down after three months in favor of her husband, who founded the Tran Dynasty. The temple includes relics of the kings, including altars and their thrones, their statues, and the shrines of their wives. The building itself, and the interior, is quite simple, even austere. There are also two small shrines for the worship of the spirits of civil mandarins (state bureaucrats) and military mandarins (generals). There is an annual festival during the third lunar month. It is both reverential and celebratory, with water puppetry, special music, and dragon dancing. There are processions of inscribed tablets and of the statues of the kings. For instance, Ly Cong Uan’s tablet is taken to his mother’s shrine so that he may worship her there in spirit. The kings are buried not at the temple but a short distance away at their mausoleums. Most pilgrims include that visit. See also: Ancestor Shrines

REFERENCE Justin Corfield, The History of Vietnam. Westport, CT, Greenwood, 2008.


M

A sacred river runs in a horseshoe around the base of the mountain. From it, Machu Picchu rises in terraces, laboriously farmed to provide food for the nobles and residents. Machu Picchu was occupied from 1476 to 1534 CE, and it sits on a steep hill guarding a pass to the Amazon River Valley. The ruins are substantial and extensive, including houses, a temple plaza, and granaries. There are 140 structures in Machu Picchu, most built of polished dry-stone walls, which are more earthquake resistant. The Sacred Plaza, reached by thousands of granite stairs, was the scene of most ceremonies. At one end of the plaza is a large temple with an altar stone cut from a single, fourteen-foot piece of granite, evidently modeled on the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco. The temple priests conducted rites to “tie” the sun to the altar of the god Inti at the winter solstice, so that the sun would return and not fade away. Since the emperor himself (called the Inca) was considered a descendant of the sun,

MACHU PICCHU, PERU The mysterious Inca city and ceremonial center of Machu Picchu lies high in the Peruvian Andes, fifty miles northwest of Cuzco, capital of the Inca Empire. Its existence was unknown until 1911; it is not mentioned in accounts of the Incas from the time of the Spanish conquest. Machu Picchu (“old peak”) is not the city’s Inca name, which is unknown. Since 1983, it has been on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. The Incas worshipped the features of the earth, especially high mountains. The mountains were perceived to be the source of water and weather and had to be appeased with human sacrifices. In late 1995 a fifteenth-century ceremonial center was discovered on a mountain that included several well-preserved bodies of sacrificial maidens. The mountain gods, in particular, were worshipped at Machu Picchu, which straddles a ridge between their two most sacred mountains—both of which are more than 20,000 feet high.

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these rites were critical for the continuance of the nation. Second only to the Inca himself were the sacred Virgins of the Sun, its mystical brides, who served the temple. The altar, the Intihuatana (“hitching-post of the sun”), was also used as a solar observatory and for divination, which involved examining the entrails of slaughtered llamas for signs from the gods. The mountain city was also used for ritual burials, and in 1912 a burial cave was found with 173 skeletons, 150 of which were women, who had the richest graves. It is speculated that these are the remains of the Virgins of the Sun. Other graves of important women have been found in the city itself. No one knows the cause of Machu Picchu’s decline. Clearly a royal center, it was a well-protected refuge that the Spaniards never discovered. Perhaps the populace fled during a plague. Or perhaps the residents were ritually slaughtered—the punishment for any town where one of the Virgins of the Sun was defiled by having sex. The answer has remained a mystery. Along the southern Peruvian coast stretches a long series of lines, animal figures, and designs that are observable only from the air. The Nazca Lines, as they are called after a prehistoric people who inhabited the area, date from the third century BCE . They point toward sacred mountains and may have been used to invoke the blessings of rain. Machu Picchu’s site was evidently chosen in accord with astrological and geographic lines. See also: Cuzco, Nazca Lines

REFERENCES Richard Burger and Lucy Salazar, eds., Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 2004. John Hemming, Machu Picchu. New York, Newsweek, 1981. Kim MacQuarrie, The Last Days of the Incas. New York, Simon & Shuster, 2007.

MARIA LIONZA, SORTE, VENEZUELA Maria Lionza is a mythical figure who is the central deity in an indigenous religion in Venezuela that has many of the earmarks of Santeria or Voodoo. The Maria Lionza religion blends together native, African, and Catholic elements. Legend says she was born in 1502, just as the Spanish conquerors were entering the region. She is presented riding a tapir and is said to rule over all animals. Sorte, her mountain home, is where she resides today and where her devotees come to worship her. On October 12 the cult priests of Maria Lionza gather at the mountain to worship at the altar built there for her. Pilgrims come from nearby Caribbean islands. The date is auspicious; at the same time it is the national feast of Spain, the date of Columbus’ first encounter with the New World, and the dia de la hispanidad (the day of the Hispanic peoples). Curiously, all these are Spanish rather than native observances. In Venezuela it is also observed as the Day of Indigenous Resistance.

Marian Apparitions | 311 The worship is celebrated with food offerings, fire dances, trances, and ecstatic prayer, after the pilgrims purify themselves in the river. Pilgrims honor her by smoking cigars, another ritual shared with Santeria. As many as thirty percent of Venezuelans join in the rituals, despite the fact that they are also Catholic. Mediums prophesy and bless those attending who come to them with their needs. These are persons who are possessed by the spirits known for their strength. The Norseman Eric the Red is one such who inhabits a number of mediums. Pilgrims draw designs in chalk in the dirt and lie inside them to await possession. Maria Lionza, in the religion’s theology, is one of a sacred trinity of gods. She is the goddess of nature and love who creates harmony among people. The other gods are an Indian chief and a Black slave who were both executed by the Spaniards. They preside over “courts” of lesser gods and goddesses, similar to Voodoo loas. The Indian Court is led by Maria Lionza and is made up of Indian chiefs. The Medical Court is made up of healers and doctors. The Black and African Court includes prominent Blacks from Venezuelan history, while the Celestial Court is made up of Catholic saints. The Political Court of famous officials includes Simon Bolivar, the Liberator. The more recent Court of Malandros is for criminals and drug lords. Even this list is hardly exhaustive, as Maria Lionza expands its pantheon of saints and creates new courts to accommodate them. See also: Plaine du Nord, Saut d’Eau

MARIAN APPARITIONS Large numbers of shrines around the world are connected with apparitions of the Virgin Mary. In recent years alleged apparitions have increased notably— more than 150 in the United States alone since 1980. Because Marian apparitions lend themselves to superstition and credulity, religious officials have been universally slow to approve them until they have been tested. More than ninety percent have been rejected as based on unbalanced delusions or erroneous doctrine. Most of these have lost their followings soon after, but a few have created their own cults, such as the apparitions of Garabandal and those of Bayside, New York (1975–present). Among other eccentric teachings at Bayside is Mary’s reputed allegation that the pope is a satanic agent, an imposter created by a plastic surgeon. Not surprisingly, the revelations from Bayside include anti-Semitic statements. A weeping icon of the Virgin at a rogue Greek Orthodox monastery in Texas was found to be a hoax and the monks engaged in sexual improprieties. The abbot committed suicide and several “monks” were imprisoned. The monastery was dissolved and the property sold. Yet for several years it attracted a devout following from several faiths. More common than this dramatic example are persons who are either mentally unstable or given to exotic religious experiences. In both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, the authority for approving apparitions rests with the local bishop, not with the pope or the patriarch. The

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criteria for approval are straightforward: (1) The visionaries must be honest, psyzchologically balanced, morally upright, and respectful of Church authority; (2) those responding to the message should experience healthy religious devotion and not collective hysteria; (3) the revelations should be free of doctrinal and moral error; (4) making money should not be a motive for the visionaries; (5) the facts of the case should be free from error and studied objectively by experts, usually including a psychiatrist. Protestant traditions have historically disapproved of any apparitions, most especially those involving Mary. They consider any mediator between God and his people, other than Jesus Christ, unnecessary. All Christian traditions agree, however, that God’s revelation to humanity ended with the biblical period. Any further inspiration or revelation is strictly private and unable to add anything to basic Christian teaching. Apparitions usually result in the creation of a shrine. These are numerous; the account of Marian shrines in Spain alone fills three volumes. In addition to those featured in this book because of their importance, the following are a cross-section of Marian apparitions of modern times: Akita, Japan, 1973. Sister Katsuko Sasagawa was totally deaf when she first saw a white light coming from the tabernacle (the small metal safe used for storing the Eucharist) of the chapel of her convent in northern Japan. A few weeks later, a wound shaped like a cross appeared on her left palm, and when she prayed before a statue of Our Lady of All Nations that had been carved by a Buddhist sculptor, she heard a voice address her as “my daughter.” The next

day a wound like Sister Katsuko’s appeared on the hand of the statue, oozing blood. During this time, Sister Katsuko experienced visits from her guardian angel, who joined her in prayer, and Mary spoke again to her, asking for repentance from sin. In two weeks, her wound was cured. The statue, however, continued to exhibit dramatic manifestations. More than a hundred times in the following years it was seen to weep, and in 1982 Sister Katsuko was instantly cured of her deafness. In response to this and other cures, and after investigations, in 1984 the bishop of Niigata proclaimed the visions to be valid. Banneux, Belgium, 1933. When Mariette Beco, aged eleven, saw a beautiful Lady in the garden, she immediately recognized her as the Virgin Mary. Mariette and her family were poor prospects for visionaries; they had stopped attending Mass and Mariette had dropped her catechism classes. Her mother, who could see only a vague outline, declared the vision to be a witch and forbade her daughter to go out. A second appearance took place a few days later when the Lady led Mariette to a place where she uncovered a spring. Mary brought Mariette to the spring several more times, saying, “I am come to relieve suffering.” She called herself the Virgin of the Poor. The spring became an important curative shrine, and in 1949, after an exhaustive study, the bishop proclaimed the authenticity of the apparitions. The grounds, in a pine forest, include a number of chapels and small shrines and a 320-bed hostel for the sick and elderly who come on pilgrimage. Garabandal, Spain, 1961–1965. Garabandal is typical of the majority of Marian apparitions that have been never

Marian Apparitions | 313 been approved by church authorities, but it continues to draw a devoted following. It began with a superstitious group of girls who heard a clap of thunder after raiding an apple orchard. Believing that the Devil had discovered their theft, they began throwing stones over their left shoulders. They then saw a young man radiant in light, whom they took to be an angel. They ran off to tell the villagers and returned often to meet the angel. During one of these apparitions, they were promised a vision of Mary, who appeared to them the next day with the Archangel Michael. There was also a large eye, which the girls took to be the presence of God. The girls soon demonstrated extraordinary physical powers, racing backward at full speed, bending backward until their heads touched their waists, and running on their knees. Many Christians considered their powers demonic. The girls claimed that the Virgin appeared to them more than 2,000 times over the following four years. The messages were those of many other apparitions: people must do penance for their sins, pray, and reform their lives or God would bring down punishment on the world. Twice, they were shown the punishment, which the girls found terrifying but would not describe. During the visions, the girls entered a trance in which they had no feelings, as attested to by doctors who touched them and stuck them with needles. Once Conchita, the leader, fell to her knees and a Communion bread appeared on her tongue, placed there, she said, by an angel. A great miracle was later promised on a secret date known only to Conchita. If the world rejected this miracle, God’s wrath would follow.

Mary also predicted that the girls would renounce the apparitions, and indeed, all four recanted in 1966. Several church commissions have investigated the events at Garabandal, and the local bishop has refused to authenticate the apparitions. Knock, Ireland, 1879. When the parish housekeeper saw three figures outside the church, she thought the priest had bought some new statues. A passerby thought the same and complained about “another collection” to pay for them. Only in the evening did someone realize that the figures—Mary, St. Joseph, and St. John—were hovering several feet above the ground. Fourteen people saw the silent apparition that night (the apparitions never spoke). Experts tried to reproduce the sight with lights to no avail. In 1882, the archbishop of Hobart, Tasmania, was cured of blindness when he visited the shrine. The miraculous cures continued, and now a million pilgrims come to Knock each year. It has the distinction of being the only shrine with its own international airport. La Salette, France, 1846. In an inaccessible meadow high in the French Alps, two young shepherds named Melanie and Maximin were surprised by a vision of the Virgin Mary. She was seated on a rock with her head in her hands, weeping. She spoke to them, recounting her sorrow at the neglect of faith in France and prophesying that her son Jesus was about to strike down sinners. She condemned cursing and secular observance of Sundays, and warned of a famine. Mary then held out a promise that if people repented, “the rocks will become piles of wheat and the potatoes will sow themselves.” After intense

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interrogations during which the children held to their story, they were taken back to the site. When a man broke off a bit of the rock, a spring gushed forth, and later a woman was cured after drinking the water. On the first anniversary of the vision, 50,000 people came to the hillside, and in 1851 the apparition was approved by Church authorities. Despite this, La Salette has always had its critics. Both the seers led aimless and troubled lives after their experience. Melanie drifted into superstition and wrote a book about her visions and revelations that was banned by the Church. Pontmain, France, 1871. In a town near the battlefront during the FrancoPrussian War, five children saw Mary crowned with three bright stars. Soon the entire village had assembled and began to pray and sing hymns as signs appeared in the sky: “Pray, my children,” and “My Son has been touched.” The adults could see the stars, but not the Virgin’s image. The first miracle attributed to Mary was halting the German army and the ceasefire signed ten days later. The apparitions were approved in 1872. Zeitoun, Egypt, 1968–1971. The first to see the Virgin on top of a Coptic Orthodox church north of Cairo was a Muslim who thought she was a woman about to commit suicide. Soon crowds assembled to watch the vision, statuelike, rising into the air above the church dome. Cures and conversions were reported in the following weeks, and the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church declared the visions “not false or hallucinations, but real.” The visions continued, accompanied by flights of white doves and the odor of incense. Mary never spoke. Zeitoun has attracted a middleclass and educated following of both

Christian Copts and Muslims, who also revere Mary, who is praised in the Qur’an. Both Catholics and some Protestants have attested to the validity of the visions. In the People’s Republic of China, Marian shrines have become entwined in the Communist government’s religious policy, which rejects the “underground” Catholic community that is loyal to the Vatican while approving a state-controlled Catholic Church. In Dong Lu is the shrine of Our Lady of China, built after the Virgin appeared in the village during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion and saved the Christians from attack. It became the official Marian shrine of China in 1932. The shrine was destroyed by Japanese bombardment in 1941 and rebuilt in 1992 as the largest church in northern China. During a pilgrimage of the underground Catholics in 1995, the Virgin’s image was seen in the sky by 30,000 for twenty minutes. The crowd then swelled to 100,000. The following year the shrine was closed and demolished by the government. At the same time, the Chinese authorities have permitted a shrine to develop in Fujian, Rosary Hill. It is sponsored by the official Church and includes a church, pilgrim hostel, retirement home, convent, and gardens. While some Vatican Catholics come, they usually refuse to take the sacraments from the official clergy. Rosary Hill was built with the hope that it would be a place of unity between the two factions, but this has not happened. There has never been an alleged apparition connected with Rosary Hill. The shrine of Lourdes, France, is perhaps the most famous Marian apparition, and its visionary, Saint Bernadette, is one

Mariapocs, Hungary | 315 of the few who has been recognized as a saint. The apparitions took place in 1858 and were immediately popular. Two years later, Bernadette moved into a local hospice because of persistent poor health, and in 1866 she entered the Sisters of Charity in Nevers. She patiently suffered indignities under a superior who felt that Bernadette needed to learn humility. In 1879, thirty-five years old, she died after a long illness, and she was proclaimed a saint in 1933, not because of her visions, but because of “her total commitment in simplicity, integrity and trust.” Her incorrupt body lies in state in the chapel of the convent, and many pilgrims to Lourdes visit there. See also: Fa´tima, Guadalupe, Mexico, Kibeho, Lourdes, Medjugorje, Our Lady of the Roses, El Pilar, Tinos, Walsingham

REFERENCES Donal Foley, Marian Apparitions, the Bible and the Modern World. Leominster, UK, Gracewing, 2002. Anna-Karina Hermkins, Moved by Mary: The Power of Pilgrimage in the Modern World. Farnham, UK, Ashgate, 2009. Robert Ward, Virgin Trails: A Secular Pilgrimage. Toronto, ON, Key Porter, 2002. Sandra Zimdars-Schwartz, Encountering Mary. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 1991. Marian Apparitions of the 20th Century. Lima, PA, Marian Video, 1991, video.

MARIAPOCS, HUNGARY The Weeping Virgin of Mariapocs is an icon of the Virgin Mary credited with healings and is the object of deep

devotion among Eastern Orthodox and Uniate Catholics in Hungary. The miracle of a weeping icon, which is seen elsewhere in the Byzantine tradition, began in Mariapocs in 1696. The Ruthenian Catholic eparch (bishop) promptly sent an investigative team that declared the event authentic. When word of the phenomenon reached the AustroHungarian emperor in Vienna, he had the icon brought there and installed in the Cathedral of St. Stephen, where it still remains. One of the supposed causes of the weeping was said to be the state of Hungary’s subservience to Austria and its lack of autonomy. Consequently, the seizure of the icon caused dissention in Marianpocs. The emperor sent a reproduction back to the village, and in 1715 it, too, began to weep! The third shedding of tears took place in 1905, and there has been none since. This time the investigation spanned all Christian believers. After the icon was removed from its frame and inspected by experts, they declared that there was no sign of fraud. Sixty witnesses, including Latin and Byzantine Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants, testified to have seen the icon weeping. The shrine church at Mariapocs was built between 1731 and 1756 and dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. The Byzantine Basilian monks took charge of the pilgrimage and ministered at the shrine. The icon became also a healing image, and pilgrims come seeking cures. The Communists suppressed the pilgrimages from 1945 to 1989, but that only eliminated groups, and individuals still went to the shrine. Pope John Paul II visited the shrine in 1991. See also: Icons

316 | Mariazell, Austria

REFERENCE Kevin Wright, Catholic Shrines of Central and Eastern Europe. Ligouri, MO, Ligouri, 1999.

MARIAZELL, AUSTRIA The national shrine of Austria was founded in the twelfth century, supposedly by a miraculous intervention in which the Virgin Mary opened a path through the Styrian Mountains and revealed where a monastery should be built. Soon the story attracted pilgrims to the site and a church was built to house a small statue of the Virgin. Over the next several centuries, kings and emperors enlarged the church to accommodate the growing crowds, and the present shrine church was built in 1643. Mariazell was an imperial shrine; the Austro-Hungarian emperors came in pilgrimage with their court retinues, nobles from across the far-flung empire followed suit with their own courtiers, and local governments brought their councils and civil servants. The basilica church has a central tower that is pure Gothic, flanked by twin towers that are middle-European Baroque. There was a traditional pilgrimage route from Vienna that passed by way stations, usually little roadside chapels. One of these is the Chapel of the Holy Spring, where healing water flows that is used for cures for eye ailments. It is decorated with frescoes of water themes from the Bible: Moses striking the rock, Naaman bathing in the River Jordan, Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman, and the healing of the blind

man at the pool of Siloe. Monasteries along the way offered hospitality to pilgrims. The courts sometimes imposed a pilgrimage to Mariazell as punishment and atonement for small crimes. Pilgrimages were briefly banned during the late-eighteenth-century anticlericalism, but today the shrine draws about a million pilgrims each year. On arrival, pilgrims ascend the steps. Those who come seeking forgiveness can be seen going up the shrine steps on their knees or even carrying blocks of stone. Inside, they head for the Chapel of Grace where the statue of Mercy resides, and here they cluster along the railings to present their petitions. The statue is only nineteen inches high, made of lindenwood. It is crowned and swathed in voluminous robes bearing the insignia of the provinces of Austria. The two main feasts are those of the Assumption (August 15) and Our Lady of Mariazell (September 13). Mariazell has been a healing shrine. Pilgrims come seeking some favor, and up until World War I and the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the sick would sleep at the shine as a form of urgent petition to the Virgin for a cure. So many ex-votos were gathered after cures attributed to the shrine that they are now kept in the shrine treasury museum. Mariazell is also a regional shrine for Bohemia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. See also: Marian Apparitions

REFERENCE Kevin Wright, Catholic Shrines of Central and Eastern Europe. Ligouri, MO, Ligouri, 1999. www.basilika-mariazell.at.

Martyrs’ Hill, Nagasaki, Japan | 317

MARTYRS’ HILL, NAGASAKI, JAPAN Martyrs’ Hill is the foremost Christian shrine in Japan, and perhaps in all Asia. Nagasaki developed as a Christian center with a small village of several hundred families, two hospitals for lepers, and a church. This was during the period in which Catholicism was growing significantly in Japan, due to the efforts of foreign missionaries and, increasingly, of native Japanese clergy. A number of prominent regional leaders and generals embraced the new faith. In 1587, the Regent Hideyoshi ordered an end to Christian evangelism, which had been increasingly successful, but local Catholic rulers protected the missionaries and Japanese clergy. Ten years later, whipped up against the Christians by a hostile provincial governor, Hideyoshi ordered the arrest of the leading Christian figures. The resulting raids also caught a number of simple workers and several children in their dragnet. Hideyoshi ordered that twenty Japanese, four Spaniards, an Indian, and a Mexican be crucified on a hill above Nagasaki. But first the victims’ left ears were cut off, and they were marched to Nagasaki from neighboring Urakami, about two miles away, leaving a trail of blood. The way is now followed as a pilgrimage route by Christian pilgrims. The group ranged in age from twelve to sixty-four and included clergy, church workers, and laymen. On their crosses, they sang and chanted psalms and verses from the Bible. Paul Miki, a Jesuit seminarian, delivered a brief sermon from his cross that impressed even the soldiers. The martyrs’ lives were ended in the

traditional Japanese manner, with two long lances simultaneously thrust through their bodies from either side. The corpses were left for the vultures but went untouched for eight months until they were removed by the local Christians. The following year, the last remains were removed on the petition of Philippine authorities, and the crosses were taken down. The local Christians planted an evergreen tree in each post hole as a memorial. During a period of renewed persecution from 1616 to 1632, thousands of other Christians died for their faith, many crucified or burned alive on Martyrs’ Hill. In 1862, the martyrs were declared saints by the pope, and the first parish in modern Japan was named for them. In 1865 a group of Japanese women timidly approached a priest there and revealed that there were tens of thousands of secret Christians who had maintained a clandestine faith during the centuries of persecution. The return of these people to Catholicism marked the first surge of Christianity in Japan in modern times. Martyrs’ Hill became a place of pilgrimage, and in 1962 a shrine was built. It includes a long granite wall with bronze bas-reliefs of each of the martyrs. The other side of the monument is inlaid stone, symbolizing the arduous march from Urakami to Nagasaki. A large museum includes historical artifacts and beautiful mosaics. The shrine church is constructed in an art nouveau style, and the complex is completed by the Nagai Student Center, named for a prominent Catholic physician and victim of the Nagasaki atomic bombing. The feast of the Japanese Martyrs has been added to the liturgical calendars of the American Episcopal Church, the

318 | Masada, Israel

Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Church of England, and other parts of the Anglican Communion, as well as the Catholic Church. Since the canonization of the original martyrs of Nagasaki, smaller groups have been recognized by the Catholic Church, and 188 further Nagasaki martyrs were beatified in 2008. See also: Korean Martyrs’ Shrines

REFERENCES Neil Fujita, Japan’s Encounter with Christianity. New York, Paulist, 1991. Diego Yuki, The Martyrs’ Hill, Nagasaki. Nagasaki, 26 Martyrs’ Museum, 1979. Spirit of the Rising Sun: Christians in Japan. Nashville, EcuFilm, 1990, video.

MASADA, ISRAEL On a butte protected by a sheer drop of 1,300 feet to the Dead Sea rests the rock fortress of Masada, site of a mass suicide that is one of the great episodes of Jewish history. The last free Jewish kingdom, that of the Maccabees, was overthrown by the Romans in 64 BCE. But despite the appointment of a ruler whose family were converts to Judaism (Herod the Great), Roman occupation forces faced constant resistance for nearly a century. In 66 CE the last resistance campaign collapsed. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and demolished the Temple, leaving only its Western Wall. The Jews were expelled and forbidden to live in Israel. Only Masada continued as a center of resistance.

The Fortress of Masada was a mountaintop stronghold in Judaea used by Jewish Zealots in their revolt against the Romans.

Masada, Israel | 319 There had been fortified buildings on Masada for many years, but around 30 BCE, Herod the Great expanded this complex into a major military bastion with watchtowers, a wall, barracks, and an ingenious water collection system. Intended as a royal refuge, it included two palaces. Masada was seized by Jews of the Zealot sect in 66 CE, shortly after the rebellion began, and remained the last resistance center of the war. The Roman army surrounded Masada in 72 CE with 15,000 troops. After a protracted siege, the army broke through the walls. This was a massive undertaking that included building a six-foot wall all around the plateau, with twelve towers and eight camps, and an earthen ramp to the top. The clear intention was not only to capture the heights but to destroy the Masada defenders. Rather than surrender to a life of slavery, 960 Jewish men, women, and children took their own lives, the men slaying their families and then themselves. Two women and five children survived. In the fifth and sixth centuries CE a small colony of Byzantine hermits lived on the butte, but otherwise it was left abandoned. Between 1963 and 1965, the site was excavated by an Israeli archeological team. The earthen siege ramp built by the Romans is the main approach, although a cable car was installed in 1971. Arduous work by archaeologists has revealed some of the treasures of Masada. Mosaic floors and wall paintings in Herod’s palace have come to light, as well as his Roman baths. Here were found the skeletons of a Masada warrior with his wife and child; they evidently died together. Many everyday items—pottery and oil lamps, sandals, and cosmetic cases—

have also been found, along with several hordes of coins made for the Jewish revolt. Some of the greatest finds were the parchment scrolls of biblical passages and other Jewish writings. The ruins of the synagogue and mikvah (ritual bath) are particularly important for pilgrims. About twentyfive skeletons of Masada defenders were discovered in a cave on one of the wall faces. One of the mysterious and awesome finds is of eleven potsherds with names on them. Since the historian Josephus records that the defenders chose lots to determine the ten who would execute the others, these are revered as the possible means of that fatal lottery. Masada has become a major tourist site despite the difficulty of getting there. The first pilgrims were members of Israeli youth groups who began trekking to Masada as part of the enthusiastic flowering of Jewish identity that followed the establishment of the state of Israel. Today, not only pilgrims and tourists come to Masada, but also the young recruits of the Israel Armored Corps, who come to the heights each year to swear their oaths of allegiance to Israel with the cry, “Masada shall not fall again!”

REFERENCES Amnon Ben-Tor, ed., Back to Masada. Washington, DC, Biblical Archaeology Society, 2009. Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War. New York, Viking Penguin, 1984. Ehud Netzer, “The Last Days and Hours at Masada,” Biblical Archaeology Review 17:6, 20–32 (November– December 1991). Yigael Yadin, Masada: Herod’s Fortress and the Zealots’ Last Stand. New York, Welcome Rain, 1998.

320 | Masjid al-Badawi, Tanta, Egypt

Masada: A Story of Heroism. Teaneck, NJ, Ergo, 1987, video.

MASJID AL-BADAWI, TANTA, EGYPT A large shrine mosque has been built over the tomb of Ahmad al-Badawi, founder of one of the largest Sufi brotherhoods in Egypt, the Ahmadiya. His cult has always attracted primarily the poor and uneducated, but it soon spread from its place of origin in the Nile Delta into the emerging city of Cairo to the south, where it attracted the urban masses. Although revering saints is not taught in the Qur’an, it is practiced among Shi’a Muslims and is an important part of Sufi devotional life. The Sufis are members of religious brotherhoods who practice various spiritual disciplines in order to attain communion with Allah. Best known are the Dervishes, who worship by means of ecstatic dancing, but each brotherhood has its own tariq, or practice for entering into contact with the divine. Most Islamic saints come from the Sufi tradition and are renowned holy men who founded brotherhoods. It is believed that they had special spiritual powers and are able to dispense divine blessing (berakah). In death, their tombs became centers of popular worship where the saint’s intercession before Allah is believed possible. Ahmad al-Badawi was born in Morocco in 1199 and raised in the holy city of Mecca. As a young man, he went to Iran to place himself under Sufi masters. During his training he received a vision commanding him to move to Tanta, in the broad delta where the Nile River

enters the Mediterranean Sea. Tanta was (and is) a prominent trading center, and al-Badawi’s reputation spread across Egypt. Soon he attracted many followers by his miraculous powers and formed the Ahmadiya brotherhood. As a warrior, he took part in the defense against the Crusades, including the campaign that defeated King St. Louis IX of France at the Battle of the Mouth of the Nile. When al-Badawi died in 1276, his followers came to Tanta to pledge their covenant to his successor as head of the brotherhood, the Kahlif Abd-al-Al. This gathering has been repeated annually as a mawlid, or anniversary pilgrimage. Abd-al-Al erected a building over alBadawi’s tomb and built a large mosque, and this compound is known as the Masjid al-Badawi. The shrine holds al-Badawi’s tomb in the usual Islamic style: the saint is buried below ground, with a cloth-covered wooden frame above it, surmounted by a wood plaque draped in green cloth. This symbolizes the saint’s divine power. Islamic teaching allows no statues or pictures of the saint in the shrine. All around the tomb is a latticework grille through which the tomb can be seen but that protects it. Encircling the shrine is an ambulatory, or circular walkway, used by pilgrims in walking around the shrine a number of times while praying for blessings. There are also processions around the ambulatory, accompanied by a cacophony of cries, clapping, cheers, and pleas for blessings. A black stone has been placed in this corridor, a copy of the Ka‘bah in Mecca, and it is a prominent object of devotion at the shrine. On it are two footprints said to be those of the Prophet Mohammed, and it is considered a blessing to touch this. This practice is especially popular

Maximon, Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala | 321 among the poorest, and making the mawlid to al-Badawi’s shrine several times is considered almost as good as the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. The mawlid is not made on the saint’s birthday or even the anniversary of the pledge taken to Kahlif Abd-al-Al, but after the harvest, so that the delta peasants, his original devotees, can come in large numbers. The mawlid has the spirit of a fair, with food stalls, games, and shows. It has become a national observance in Egypt, although it is not an official holiday. Two million people, mostly farm workers, come to the pilgrimage each year. The festival ends with two processions. One reenacts the submission trip of a brotherhood founder who acknowledged al-Badawi’s leadership. The second involves the brotherhoods themselves, led by an army contingent with a band. The current Khalifa rides a white horse, followed by a large number of the faithful. The main goal of the pilgrimage is the performance of dhikr, a remembrance ritual that is characteristic of Sufi spirituality. It can take many forms, and at the Mawlid al-Badawi various Sufi brotherhoods set up tents to conduct rituals. The most common is the chanting of the Ninety-Nine Names of God, a litany of praise to Allah. The chief dhikr at Masjid al-Badawi, however, is rubbing the stone imprinted with the footprints of the Prophet. Orthodox Muslims condemn such practices as superstitions, but they are universal among the Sufis. See also: Kairouan, Touba

REFERENCES Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Islamic Society in Practice. Gainesville, FL, University of Florida, 1994.

Nikki Keddie, ed., Scholars, Saints, and Sufis. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1972. Living Islam. New York, BBC, 1993, video.

MAXIMON, SANTIAGO ATITLAN, GUATEMALA Maximon is a powerful, raffish folk divinity and saint with a following in Central America. There are some twenty shrines in Guatemala dedicated to Maximon and featuring his effigy. His legend begins with a tale that one day many years ago, the men in a Mayan village went off to fight in a battle, leaving Maximon to guard the women. When they returned, they found all the women pregnant and killed Maximon in retribution. The women, enraged at the death of their lover, forced the men to worship Maximon, and thus he became a deity. At his leading shrine on the shores of Lake Atitlan, Maximon is rotated from house to house each year in a procession during Holy Week, and the host is expected to provide space for visitors. The procession stands out against the Passion processions held in Guatemala at the same time. On Good Friday, after Maximon has been washed in the lake, there is a Passion procession with Jesus on the Cross. At the end, the Christ-figure is cut down and Maximon rises up to confront him. This is interpreted as a clash between the indigenous religion of the Mayans and the Christianity introduced by the Spaniards. A brotherhood dedicated to Maximon manages his shrines and worship. Maximon is presented as a carved statue with a peasant’s hat and adorned with scarves that have been left as

322 | Maximon, Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala

Faithful venerate San Simon of Guatemala, known also as “Maximon” in the Mayan culture, on October 30, 2010 in Zunil, Guatemala. Maximon is a syncretic local deity portrayed as a man wearing a black suit, red tie and a hat, seat on a crossroad, referred to make miracles in economic and love issues and for whom Guatemalan people offer tobacco, alcohol and other gifts during the week before the Saints’ Day.

ex-votos. He often appears with a cigar in his mouth, although his favorite exvotos are cigarettes and rum. He is prosperous and well dressed, with fine leather shoes. He is a powerful deity who needs to be placated with gifts, lest he punish anyone who does not honor him. Devotees therefore often pray for curses to be placed on enemies or those of whom they are jealous. Maximon is also the patron of gambling and drunkenness. The worship of Maximon has its roots in pre-Christian Mayan culture in the god of the underworld, Maam. After the introduction of Christianity, he became joined with St. Simon Peter the Apostle. The name Maximon is a conflation of the names Maam and Simon. He is often shown in pictures as

a mustachioed man dressed in a black suit, holding a staff and with a money bag on his lap. Due to his legend, he is fertility symbol, and his feast day (Wednesday before Holy Thursday) is at the beginning of the planting season. Devotees don’t like to have foreigners or clergy visit Maximon’s statues or shrines, because if encouraged, his sexual libido can be unleashed. A gift of money, however, usually opens the doors to visitors, as long as they are reverential. See also: Fertility Shrines

REFERENCE Jim Pieper, Guatemala’s Folk Saints. Pieper Associates, 2002.

Medicine Wheels, Canada/USA | 323

MEDICINE WHEELS, CANADA/USA Throughout the Great Plains of North America lie a number of medicine wheels, sacred places outlined by a circle of stones, constructed by the Plains Indians. They are sometimes called sacred hoops. Designed for predicting both seasons and the lunar month, they were also used for special councils and worship, including sacred dances. All of those found have been at high altitudes, usually on mountains, and are challenging to get to. A few are still in use, and ruins of a number can be identified. Medicine wheels (Native Americans use the term “medicine” to mean supernatural power) are laid out as large circles of rocks around a central cairn, or rock pile. Rows of stones radiate out from the cairn to the rim, following solstice lines. Some have interpreted this design as a symbol of the sun. Before the arrival of Europeans, a class of astrologer shamans may have interpreted signs from the medicine wheels. In a few cases, there is a break in the stone circle that allows a path to the center. Besides tribal ceremonies (some have evidence of dancing), medicine wheels have been used for vision quests. Although medicine wheels have been in use by a number of Native tribes for centuries, evidence suggests that they began to be used before Amerindians entered the West. Medicine wheels share the same pattern as Plains Indian medicine lodges, which have caused some scholars to propose an Amerindian origin for them, but it is as likely that there is a common ancestry from unknown tribes that predated the arrival of the modern Plains

Indians. Majorville Wheel in Alberta, for example, has been dated as 4,000 to 5,000 years old. The number of spokes radiating from its center is the same as the number of poles of a medicine lodge or a Sun Dance ground among the Sioux, Crow, and Cheyenne. Because the edges of tepees were held down by rocks, some speculated that medicine wheels are tepee rings, but this theory has been disproved. According to Crow tradition, the medicine wheels were built by the “little people,” a race that went before them. The “little people” are dedicated to impish devilment and will confuse and distract those who come to the medicine wheel without proper reverence. The dignity of the wheels must be respected, therefore, and this insistence has caused clashes with the United States Forest Service, which often owns the lands where medicine wheels are found. Amerindians have resisted attempts to set up viewing stands so tourists could watch them at prayer and are attempting to maintain a two-mile tourist-free radius around Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming. Moose Mountain Medicine Wheel in Saskatchewan is the most notable of a number in western Canada. It consists of a central cairn and four smaller ones on the rim. The rim cairns align exactly with the solstice sunrise and sunset and with the morning stars. Moose Mountain Medicine Wheel, which is about 1,700 years old, seems to have the same alignments as the Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming, but Moose Mountain has only five spokes, while Bighorn has twenty-eight. A few miles from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is Wanuskewin, where there are many tepee rings, a number of

324 | Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina

prehistoric archeological sites, and a medicine wheel. As a prayer center, it was a place of neutrality among the Plains peoples; the name means “being in harmony” in Cree. No violence or conflict was allowed on its premises. The wheel is protected by a national park, and access is restricted. Sweat lodges are still in use here. A Cheyenne elder has said that the center of their wheels was a place of offerings to a buffalo skull that would be kept there. This was to invoke a bountiful hunt. There are many myths about the origins of the wheels, varying from tribe to tribe. Sedona, Arizona, in the heart of the Navajo nation, has one of the few complete medicine wheels in the American Southwest. Simply built of stones without cairns, it overlooks Long Canyon and is set amidst red rock cliffs and tablelands. Interpreters often assume that the wheels have the same meaning to all Native peoples, but there are a variety of meanings. For some, it is a place of healing, for others an astronomical device, and for still others, a symbol of the never-ending circle of life. Seventy wheels have been identified, with the largest number in Alberta Province in Canada. The rest are scattered over Saskatchewan, Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota. Because of their connection with the sun and their alignments, medicine wheels have interested adherents of New Age spiritual groups. Prayer and offering sessions have been devised using medicine wheels that are constructed for that purpose. After establishing a rim of stones with a center, the four directions are carefully determined.

Spiritual traits—wisdom, feelings, change, spirit—are attributed to the four directions, which are used for meditation, homage, or offering. These rituals, however, have no roots in Amerindian culture, either recent or ancient, and are a cause of friction and hostility between New Age pagans and followers of Wicca and Native Americans, who resent the appropriation of their cultural and religious traditions. See also: Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Black Hills, Native American Sacred Places

REFERENCES John Eddy, “Probing the Mysteries of the Medicine Wheels,” National Geographic 151:1, 140–146 (January 1977). Sam Gill, Native American Religions. Florence, KY, Wadsworth, second edition, 2004. Brad Olsen, Sacred Places of North America. San Francisco, CCC, second edition, 2008.

MEDJUGORJE, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA From 1981, the Virgin Mary is alleged to appear at Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia, beginning when it was part of Communist Yugoslavia and continuing to the present day, despite the devastating civil war that intervened. Worldwide popular response has been tremendous. Organized pilgrimages have come from across the globe, even during the worst of the war, and Medjugorje has been transformed from a small village to a booming shrine town with shops, tourist

Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina | 325 motels, and restaurants. It has also become one of the most prominent Marian shrines in the world. When Mary was said to have first appeared to six young Croatians, they ranged in age from ten to seventeen. On the third day of her appearances, Mary said that she was “Gospa,” the Mother of God. The crowds that began gathering immediately made the Communist authorities extremely wary. They had doctors examine the children and tried to keep them away from the hill where they said Mary had appeared. After a week, the police came to arrest them, but the pastor, who had once seen Mary when the visionaries did, hid them in the parish church. He was later arrested, held, and tortured for eighteen months, and forbidden ever to return to Medjugorje. Still, the apparitions continued almost daily, in a variety of places, and the Lady gave herself another name: “the Queen of Peace.” Others began to see visions as well. Several times hundreds claimed to see the sun spin on its axis and the word “peace” in Croatian appear in the sky. The Virgin promised ten secrets to each visionary and said that a permanent sign would appear on the mountain, but “those who wait for the sign will have waited too long.” Since the Virgin called for prayer and fasting, most followers fast completely one day a week, taking only water. Since 1981, the visionaries have become adults, married, and begun families. (One of the young men briefly attended a seminary but decided not to continue studies for the priesthood.) Three of them still receive daily visions, the others a few times a year. One has moved to Italy, from which she faxes accounts of her visions back to Medjugorje. One visionary came to the United States for an

eye operation and afterward toured the country. During her tour, her visions took place at the same time each day, including once while she visited Disney World! These daily messages from the Virgin are often phrased in end-time rhetoric. The relationship of the apparitions to Croatian nationalism, as well as the callous way many in the area have exploited the war and its refugees, has cast doubt on the truth of Medjugorje. Muslim villages in the area were ethnically cleansed by Croatian Catholics, who occupied their homes after they were expelled. Mosques were destroyed. Father Jozo, one of their Franciscan mentors, commented that “Gospa wanted it that way.” Some critics see the hand of the Franciscans, who have long been in conflict with the diocesan authorities, in the promotion of the apparitions. When the diocesan bishop tried to send in local priests, they have been assaulted. The former bishop of Mostar, who had jurisdiction in the matter, called the visions “collective hallucination.” Both he and the Vatican have forbidden organized pilgrimages, a ruling that bishops from Europe and the United States routinely ignore. Two commissions of theologians, psychologists, and scientists have repudiated the visions, but the distinguished scholar and critic, Rev. Rene´ Laurentin, perhaps the world’s leading authority on visions and apparitions, has consistently supported the visionaries. The former Vatican exorcist denounced the visions in 2008 as “the work of the Devil” and “a sham.” The following year, the Franciscan spiritual director of the six visionaries was expelled from the priesthood by the Vatican after an inquiry into what was called “dubious doctrine and suspect mysticism.” He was also discovered to have fathered a child by a nun.

326 | Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, India

Pope Benedict XVI is known to be skeptical about the visions. Despite questions of credibility, believers come by the tens of thousands, seeking out the visionaries, sharing lengthy and fervent prayer vigils, fasting, and confessing their sins. Even the devastating war only reduced but did not eliminate the flow of pilgrims. Each year, a million communion wafers are used at Medjugorje’s Masses. A typical pilgrimage is made with a group organized by specialized tour companies, some of which sponsor trips only to Medjugorje. Pilgrims are housed either in small hotels or with local families. Every day Masses are held and the Rosary is recited. Processions to the apparition sites also occur daily, and a visit with one of the visionaries is usually included on the tour. Most climb Mount Krizevac, a shalecovered hill with a large cross at the top. See also: Marian Apparitions

REFERENCES Donal Foley, Understanding Medjugorje. Nottingham, UK, Theotokos, 2006. Rene Laurentin, Medjugorje: Fifteen Years Later. Milford, OH, Faith, 1996. Elizabeth Rubin, “Souvenir Miracles,” Harper’s Magazine 289:1737, 65 ff. (February 1995). Pilgrimages to Europe: Medjugorje. Janson Media, 2002, video. www.medjugorje.org.

MEENAKSHI TEMPLE, MADURAI, INDIA Near the southern tip of Tamil Nadu on the Indian subcontinent is a Hindu

temple dedicated to Meenakshi, consort of Lord Shiva. Its 1,000-pillared hall fills for the many festivals that attract the devout from across India, but even on an ordinary day, up to 10,000 pilgrims visit. Shiva, destroyer and reproducer god, takes many forms: he is the Great Yogi meditating on Mount Kailas (where Meenakshi met him), the god of the dance who so shook the cosmos that he frightened off ignorance and created the world, and the seed of life whose lingam (phallic statue) is worshipped. Meenakshi is pure energy. In her generous form she is Parvati the beautiful, and in her terrifying form she is Kali or Durga, who demands sacrifice. The Meenakshi Temple has roots 2,000 years old, but the present structure was built from 1623 to 1655. It covers fifteen acres and has four entrances and twelve towers, and the total temple complex is forty-five acres. Each tower (gopuram) is a multistoried structure in its own right, covered with tens of thousands of stone figures of animals, gods, and demons painted in bright hues. Inside, more than 30,000 statues compete for the pilgrim’s attention, although the major ones are Shiva’s mount (a bull named Nandi) and his lingam at the center of the courtyard. The temple has a number of extra features, including a large pool or bathing tank for purification (the Tank of the Golden Lotus), markets, a museum, and a music hall, in addition to dozens of minor shrines. The museum has a fine exhibit on the Hindu pantheon of gods and goddesses, who are so numerous as to be confusing sometimes even to Hindus. One feature is a shrine temple to Ganesh, the popular elephant-headed god. The shrine to Kali features a coalblack statue of the goddess, ten feet high,

Meritxell, Andorra | 327 her four arms frozen in a frenetic dance of fury. She wears a necklace of skulls, and pilgrims honor her by throwing balls of cold butter onto the statue to cool her anger. Many pilgrims come to Meenakshi Temple to fulfill a vow or atone for sins; traditionally, they abstain from meat and sex for forty-eight days beforehand and must sleep only on a hard pallet. They make the pilgrimage clad only in a black loincloth. The legend of Meenakshi says that she was born a princess, but with three breasts. A holy man told her she would lose the third breast when she met her husband, which she did on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailas. He was Lord Shiva, and for 1,300 years, every evening before closing the temple, a raucous ritual procession led by drummers and a brass ensemble carries an image of Shiva to Meenakshi/Parvati’s bedroom to consummate their union. Each shrine on the way is honored before Shiva spends the night, to be taken back to his day setting the next morning at dawn. The procedure for a pilgrim begins with entrance through the East Gopuram, dressed in clean clothes and bearing offerings of fruits, incense, and the like. He then goes through to the Golden Lotus Pond for purification. Along this path he is to reverence several small shrines; at the Tank he admires the sixtyfour miracles of Shiva painted on the walls. At the Shiva shrine, men and women stand in separate lines, reciting specified prayers, singing praise songs, and walking around the lingam. As pilgrims go around the inner corridors, they are to worship at a series of shrines in order. The divine marriage is celebrated each year in April by a month-long

festival in which Meenakshi and Shiva, mounted on a golden bull, are carried through the city on carved temple chariots. Other lesser festivals are scattered throughout the year. See also: Mount Kailash

REFERENCES Lynn Foulston and Start Abbott, Hindu Goddesses. Eastbourne, UK, Sussex Academic, 2009. Sanjay Patel, The Little Book of Hindu Deities. New York, Plume/Penguin, 2006. The Hindu World. Columbus, OH, Coronet, 1963, video. www.madurai-meenakshi.org.

MERITXELL, ANDORRA Meritxell is the home of the national shrine of Andorra, the Mare de Deu. It has existed since sometime in the twelfth century and is a symbol of nationhood in the only Catalan-speaking country in the world. The statue is mentioned in the Andorran national anthem. The account of the miraculous discovery of the statue is one that is found among the legends of many other Marian shrines. During the dead of winter high in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France, some travelers found a statue of the Virgin with a blooming wild rose at its feet. They brought the statue to the local parish church, from which it disappeared overnight, only to be found again at the spot where it was first seen. This repeated itself again, and after the second time, they found that the ground around the statue was clear of snow in a rectangular

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outline. This was taken as a sign from heaven that a shrine should be built there, and a simple stone and wood chapel was erected, with the statue placed in it. The original statue was thirty-two inches high and decorated with bright polychrome paint. The Virgin is seated with the Child Jesus in her lap. The style is Romanesque, angular and expressionless. Both mother and child wear crowns. The church is also severe, made of local stone with only a few slit windows. It has altars for each of the patron saints of every parish in Andorra. A cloister of concrete arches topped by stone is a feature of the new church. In 1873, the joint government declared the Mother of God of Meritxell as the patroness of Andorra. Until recent years, Andorra was governed by co-rulers (the prime minister of France and the Bishop of Urgell in Spain), a relic of the feudal system. In 1972 the shrine and the statue were destroyed in a fire, but the church has been enlarged and rebuilt and the statue reproduced. The feast day is September 8, when Andorrans come from all corners of the small country for pilgrimage and an affirmation of their country and culture. See also: Marian Apparitions

REFERENCE Colin Leakey, Dots on a Map. Guildford, UK, Grosvenor House, 2006.

MERON, ISRAEL The cave-tombs of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son, Rabbi Eleasar, have been a pilgrimage place since the second

century CE. Today Mount Meron is site of Israel’s largest annual pilgrimage. The celebration of Lag B’Omer, a month-long period of mourning during which weddings and music are forbidden, ends in a great festival of release from grieving. The observance is kept mostly by Orthodox Jews. The festival is on the thirty-third day after Passover each year. It is celebrated by a quartermillion Jews at Meron and has become its signature observance. Some say that the date marks also the date of Rabbi Shimon’s death. The end of the period is marked with dancing, singing, and bonfires, which are lit in remembrance of the bright light that suffused everything when Rabbi Shimon lay on his deathbed. Lambs and sheep are slaughtered for feasts. Despite its relationship and origins with the ultra-Orthodox, the pilgrimage includes Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, those of other branches of Judaism and secular Jews as well. Rabbi Shimon fled to Meron after the defeat of the Jewish Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 CE and lived in a cave there for thirteen years. He became known as one of the great mystics of the Jewish tradition, a central figure in the teaching of the kabbalah, the mystical tradition of Judaism that contends that there are secret understandings of the Torah that can be revealed only with mystical knowledge. He is credited with being the author of the Zohar (“The Book of Splendor”), one of kabbalah’s seminal works. Legends of Rabbi Shimon’s wonders abound. During his exile in the cave, he and his son shed their clothing and buried themselves in sand and studied Torah all day. God provided them with a miraculous carob tree and a spring that

Meteora Monasteries, Greece | 329 met their needs for food and water. His one trip away from the cave came when he went to Rome to drive out a demon who had possessed the daughter of the emperor. God sent the demon just so that Rabbi Shimon could manifest his holiness and power. There are many more stories of miraculous cures. Rabbi Shimon also had negative powers; whatever he looked upon with disapproval was consumed by fire. When one of his students reported him to the Roman authorities for treasonous remarks, he looked at him and the man was burnt to ash at his gaze. The shrine was built long after Rabbi Shimon’s death, although Jews had been coming there for centuries. There are synagogues and pilgrim hostels, all with strictly separate entrances and facilities for men and women. The main synagogue is built in Crusader style and probably dates from that period. Pilgrims try to wash in water that collects in stones at the shrine, water that only the pure of heart can see. This has led to various water rituals being associated with the shrine, such as prayers for rain. Because haircuts are forbidden during the period of mourning, another ritual is to give three-year-old boys their first haircuts during the festival. Nearby is the grave of Rabbi Hillel the Elder, a member of the Sanhedrin from the first century CE, and the grandfather of Gamaliel, the teacher of St. Paul (Acts 22:3). Despite the fact that Hillel was a moderate in theology and not a kabbalist, his grave is part of the pilgrim route.

REFERENCES Yahuda Berg, The Way of the Kabbalist. Los Angeles, Kabbalah, 2008.

Jonathan Duker, The Spirits Behind the Law. Jerusalem, Urim, 2007. Arthur Kurtzweil, Kabbalah for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ, Wiley, 2007. Berel Wein, The Life and Times of Shimon bar Yochai, Kabbalist and Talmudic Hero. Jerusalem, Destiny Foundation, 2007, audio CD.

METEORA MONASTERIES, GREECE The monasteries of Meteora, clinging on pinnacles of rock high above the surrounding plains, are almost totally inaccessible. Until the sixteenth century, twenty-four monasteries clung precariously to these rock spires Today six are occupied, five for monks and one for nuns. These are the monasteries of Great Meteoron, Agia Trias, Varlaam, Rousanou, and Agios Nikolaos, and the convent of Agios Stefanos. Roads now lead to all of them, but in former times, only ladders or rickety basket lifts brought supplies or visitors. Meteora is part of an ancient volcanic upthrust that left enormous masses of stone and the gigantic pillars that attracted Orthodox monks seeking solitude. Hermits preceded them as early as the ninth century, and a few small cloisters were set up. But around 1360, Athanasius, a notably holy recluse, attracted disciples for whom he founded the Great Meteoron and wrote a rule that all the pinnacle monasteries still follow. It forbade all contact with women and required an oath of silence and a life of great austerity. Alongside the monasteries, numbers of hermits nested in caves and tiny huts on the sides of the rock faces.

330 | The Mezquita, Spain

In the generation after Athanasius’ successor, the monastery fell into decline. The endowments were stolen and the lands on the plains were confiscated by corrupt monks and laymen. A renewal came when the Byzantine Empire began losing power to the advancing Turks. Where the Grand Meteoron had been the only monastery, the others were founded in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries around it. Because they were unreachable, the monasteries became places of refuge where Byzantine culture and art were preserved during the centuries of Ottoman Turkish occupation. All the monasteries retain priceless icons, wall paintings, and frescoes, and each monastery keeps a small museum of its treasures. Perhaps the best artwork is Varlaam’s chapel frescoes of the Last Judgment and the life of St. John the Baptist, and Agios Nikolaos’s marvelous sixteenth-century frescoes by the Cretan master Theophanes, whose work is also found at Mount Athos. Great Meteoron’s Chapel of the Transfiguration is a gem of Byzantine art, although some find the grisly martyrdom scenes a bit extreme. Unfortunately, during World War II the monasteries were bombed and many art treasures were looted. In 1988, Meteora was added to the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. All of the monasteries may be visited today by both men and women, and several are regular stops on tours. Some visitors complain at rarely seeing a monk, but in general, the areas open during visitors’ hours are shunned by the monks and nuns, who attempt to maintain their solitude. The monastic communities are very small, none exceeding ten members. The tiny garden plots, made from

soil carried to the pinnacles in baskets, no longer serve to raise enough vegetables for the inhabitants, and the monasteries today are supported by entrance fees. But somehow, around the distraction of tourism, they preserve the spirit of prayer. See also: Mount Athos

REFERENCES Demetrius Constantelos, Understanding the Greek Orthodox Church. New York, Seabury, 1982. Theocharis Provatakis, Meteora: History of the Monasteries and Monasticism. Athens, Michalis Toumpis, 2006. Merle Severy, “The Byzantine Empire: Rome of the East,” National Geographic 164:6, 709–730 (December 1983). www.meteora-greece.com.

THE MEZQUITA, SPAIN Once the third-ranking Islamic pilgrimage site in the world (after Mecca and Jerusalem), the Mezquita (mosque) of Co´rdoba in southern Spain is one of the most beautiful mosques ever built. Still the third-largest mosque in the world, it is also one of the oddest, because it contains a Christian cathedral built inside it after the expulsion of the Moors in 1236. The graceful Moorish architecture combined with the triumphant Baroque cathedral memorializes in stone the conflict between Christianity and Islam that wracked Spain for 700 years. The mosque was constructed in 785 and enlarged four times during the following 200 years; the cathedral was added in the sixteenth century.

The Mezquita, Spain | 331

The interior of the the Great Mosque, or la Mezquita, in Co´rdoba, Spain, is famous for its alternating red and white arches.

The structure began as the Christian Visigothic church of St. Vincent around 600, which was in turn built on the remains of a Roman temple. In 784, the local emir bought it and began replacing it with the mosque. It was enlarged and embellished over the next two hundred years. The main entry is through the Gate of Pardon, which leads into the Patio de los Naranjos (Court of the Orange Trees), a formal garden where hundreds of sour orange trees grow, as well as cypresses and olive trees. Before entering the mosque, a Muslim pilgrim purified himself at the fountain, supplied with water from a large tank built beneath the patio. Entering the interior of the Mezquita, the visitor is struck by the sight of aisles of columns topped with candy-striped arches that alternate white bands with red, yellow, and green. In the dim light,

the impression is not garish or distracting, but of long, inviting corridors. The stone for the columns was taken from the ancient Roman temple and various other Roman ruins in Cordoba. The columns lead the eye to the walls, along which are chapels with mosaics and tiles in intricate combinations, contrasting with the elegant austerity of the columned aisles. The jewels of these small rooms are the two mihrabs. A mihrab is usually an arched indentation in the wall to show the direction of Mecca (qibla) so that worshippers may face the Ka‘bah, the central holy place of Islam. At the Mezquita, the two mihrabs are small chapel rooms, superbly decorated even though they were never intended to be entered. Jewel-like tiles sparkle in the reflected sunshine from small skylights. Because the Mezquita was built on the foundations of an earlier

332 | Midsummer

Christian church (facing Jerusalem), its mihrabs face south rather than southeast as they normally would. The glory of the Mezquita is its decoration. The eastern gate, for instance, is a scalloped arch flanked by smaller arches. The latticework and intricately carved niches contrast with the tiles of the interior. Since Islam does not permit statues, pictures, or other representations, Islamic art has perfected decorative styles using bas-reliefs, floral designs, and elaborate Arabic calligraphy. Covering eight of the Mezquita’s nineteen aisles is the cathedral, which in itself is a marvelous place of worship but a clash with the unity of the Mezquita. The first church was built shortly after the recapture of the city by the Spaniards in 1236, but the present cathedral was constructed between 1523 and 1600 over the protests of the cathedral council and the townspeople.When he saw it, Emperor Charles V said in dismay, “You have destroyed something unique to build something commonplace!” Indeed, the cathedral, completely contained within the Mezquita, is a collection of styles: a Gothic transept and apse, a Renaissance dome and decorations, and a Baroque high altar. From the outside, the whole massive cathedral structure seems to erupt from the low roof of the Mezquita as if exploding from beneath. The bell tower encloses the original minaret from which the muezzins called the Muslim faithful to prayer. Despite the obvious intrusion, the cathedral is so overwhelmed by the sheer size of the Mezquita (the square footage of three football fields) that its styles interact with the Islamic, which itself included some pre-Islamic elements from the earlier Christian Visigothic culture. The cathedral’s decorative work,

especially the Baroque ceilings and altar, is magnificent and allows for comparisons with the equally gorgeous Moorish style of adornment. Although it has been centuries since Muslims have been able to use the Mezquita regularly for prayer, Arabs still come to Co´rdoba in such numbers that the local tourist office must print its literature in Arabic as well as the usual western languages.

REFERENCES Thomas Abercrombie, “When the Moors Ruled Spain,” 174 National Geographic 174:1, 86–119 (July 1988). Chris Lowrey, A Vanished World: Muslims, Christian, and Jews in Medieval Spain. New York, Oxford University, 2006.

MIDSUMMER Midsummer is a summer solstice celebration found all through Europe on the feast of St. John the Baptist, June 24. It has its roots in an ancient Celtic and pagan festival for the beginning of summer, but it became a mix of pre-Christian and Christian customs after the conversion of Europe. The connection with John the Baptist developed because the feast of his birth came on the same day as the Roman date for the solstice. The festival can also be found in a few places outside Europe where European customs were introduced. St. John the Baptist is the patron of Quebec, where the festival is still kept, although now it has been named the National Holiday of Quebec.

Midsummer | 333 There are a number of different practices, although not are all found in every country. For all, however, the atmosphere of festival is important. Especially in Northern Europe, the end of the long and punishing winter and the opportunity for fresh fruits and vegetables brought people out for community fairs, feasting, and dancing. In the Baltic States and much of Scandinavia, it is a public holiday. Carnivals are a common part of the festival, although the country fairs of past years are often replaced by music festivals today. Group singing is a feature of the festivals, and some countries, notably Latvia, have a number of midsummer folk songs. Many countries begin the festival on the night before, a throwback to the use of the lunar calendar, where a day was said to begin on its vigil. A special blessing was thought to be bestowed on anyone who was awake to see the sun rise in the morning. In Bulgaria and Spain, women go out at dawn to gather herbs in the conviction that then they are at their most potent. This is especially true for herbs used in healing. Bonfires began as night fires lit to drive off the evil spirits, which were believed to be freed to roam freely after the end of winter. They are universal in Scandinavia and the Baltic States. In Denmark straw effigies of witches are thrown on the fires to be consumed and their spirits cast out of the country. The medieval French burned cats in the bonfires; the black cat is an ancient symbol of the witch. In a few places, modern fireworks are slowly taking over from bonfires, especially in cities, where large fires are considered too dangerous. In the Baltic States and some other countries, dancing includes leaping over

the bonfire. Young men demonstrate their virility to the young women, who supposedly admire their strength. The bonfire frightens off the evil spirits and guarantees a good harvest, and the jumping shows that the young man is capable of being a good provider. In Ireland, lovers leaped over the fires together, clasping hands. In the northern countries, the bonfires are most often lit on the shores of the sea or inland, along a lake. Some of this seems to be convenience, since midsummer is the traditional start of holidays, and many families move to the lakes and ocean beaches to summer cottages. The maypole is a custom common to Sweden and England, but also found elsewhere. A large pole is erected in a field and covered with flowers and greens. Steamers of cloth in many colors are attached to the top and reach to the ground. The dancers each take the end of a streamer, and as they dance around the maypole to the music and singing of onlookers, they intertwine the streamers until the maypole is covered from top to bottom. Along the Baltic coast and in Russia, it is customary for young girls to throw flower wreaths into the ocean to ensure that they will have their love come to them. Since midsummer is thought to be a time of powerful magic, casting flowers is also a way of trying to divine the future. Originally, the maypole was wrapped in flowers, perhaps as part of its symbolism as a phallic fertility rite; erecting the maypole was a way of affirming the impregnation of the earth, which had just been seeded. This is part of the fertility rituals that are part of midsummer. As the biggest gathering after the end of winter, it was

334 | Monte Cassino, Cassino, Italy

an opportunity for young people to dance together, flirt, and meet one another. In people’s minds it was connected with the sowing of the fields that had just been completed. Norwegians have kept up an ancient custom of mock weddings between adults and children. More blatantly, nude partiers run through a few Latvian villages in the middle of the night. In the warmer climates along the Mediterranean Sea, the stark contrast between winter and summer is less apparent. Here one is more likely to find fireworks rather than bonfires, special foods, and parades in traditional costumes, with statues of St. John the Baptist along with those of the local saints. Christian customs have become part of the midsummer celebrations. Casting out witches becomes the casting out of sin and the Devil. Catholics and Orthodox are encouraged to attend special church services, to spend the night in prayer and the day before in fasting. Broken rosaries, crucifixes, and statues are saved for the feast day and placed reverently on the fire to be consumed. While praying the rosary, the pious would walk around the fire clockwise (circumambulation). After the fire died down, the ashes would be carried off to be spread on the fields as a blessing on the crops from St. John. Midsummer is a major observance for followers of Wicca and Neopagans (especially Druids), who celebrate it as a wedding of heaven and earth. At midsummer, Stonehenge is open to access and its barriers removed so that people may wander among the stones. It attracts an international gathering of Druids, pagans, and various New Age practitioners. See also: St-Jean-de-Doigt

REFERENCES Ann Franklin, Midsummer: Magical Celebrations of the Summer Solstice. St. Paul, MN, Llewellyn, second edition, 2003. Christopher Hill, Holidays and Holy Nights. Wheaton, IL, Quest, 2003.

MONTE CASSINO, CASSINO, ITALY Saint Benedict, the patron saint of Europe, and his twin sister, Saint Scholastica, are closely associated with two places in central Italy—Subiaco and Monte Cassino. Subiaco has never attracted many pilgrims, while Monte Cassino, where the saints’ tombs are, has become a place of pilgrimage. Historically, the two are prominent as the founders of monastic life in the West. Benedict’s monasteries and his Rule of Life became the standard for monasticism throughout the Middle Ages and remain vigorous even today. At first, Benedict had no elaborate plans. He was a hermit, living in a small cave fifty miles from Rome—the place that became Subiaco. Benedict’s cave at Subiaco is preserved, and two Benedictine monasteries have been built there. Disciples were soon attracted to him and he realized that he had been called to lead a community rather than be a hermit. Benedict moved to Monte Cassino in 528, where he wrote his Rule, a model of common sense. It avoided the twin perils of rigorism and fanaticism and introduced such novel elements for the time as the election of abbots. From Monte Cassino, Benedictinism radiated out and became the major force

Mont Saint-Michel, France | 335 for converting the barbarian tribes that thrust into Europe during the Dark Ages. The monks also provided havens of stability during troubled times and helped preserve the ancient learning that was being lost during the barbarian onslaught. For several centuries after Benedict’s time, Monte Cassino was the center of his movement, and the men’s and women’s monasteries still crown the mount there, although almost nothing original remains. Beautiful frescoes show scenes from his and Scholastica’s lives, including one showing their last meal together and another of the vision Benedict had of his sister’s death, with her soul ascending to heaven as a dove. In 584, thirty-three years after Benedict’s death, Monte Cassino was sacked by the Lombards. It was rebuilt by the eleventh century and developed into the wealthiest monastery in the world. It became an independent abbey with territorial jurisdiction, in effect a kind of city-state. It still retains its ranks as a territorial abbey in the Catholic Church, giving the abbot the authority of a bishop. The abbey was sacked by Napoleon’s army in 1799 and secularized by the Italian state in 1866. Despite repeated attacks and pillage, the monastery still holds magnificent manuscripts, illuminated Bibles, and other examples of medieval art. Two Panzer officers contrived to evacuate the manuscripts to the Vatican during World War II to protect them. Monte Cassino rises on a steep hill. Its modern history is engraved in the memories of many as the site of a terrible battle of World War II, one that continues to be controversial. Thought to be heavily fortified by Nazi forces, the hill was the

target of assault after assault by Allied troops until the fortification was destroyed by air bombardment. The hill was finally captured at fearful cost by the Polish Army. A large Polish war cemetery covers a hillside across the valley, facing that of Monte Cassino. Although the monastery was destroyed, the crypt with the tombs of the saints was not damaged. The monastery buildings were last rebuilt after the 1944 bombings, using the old plans. A museum recounts the history of monasticism, but the object of pilgrims’ visits is the monastic church, where an urn under the high altar contains the relics of Benedict and Scholastica. The basilica is richly decorated in stucco and mosaics. Most visitors today are tourists rather than pilgrims, although religious tourism predominates. The largest groups come for the feasts of the two saints, Scholastica on February 10 and Benedict on July 11.

REFERENCES Benedict of Nursia, Saint Benedict’s Rule. Mahwah, NJ, Hidden Spring/ Paulist, 2004. Matthew Parker, Monte Cassino: The Hardest Fought Battle of World War II. New York, Anchor/Random House, 2004. Life of St. Benedict. Fairfield, NJ, Keep the Faith, 1975, video. www.officine.it/montecassino.

MONT SAINT-MICHEL, FRANCE One of the most spectacular sights in Europe is the approach to Mont

336 | Mont Saint-Michel, France

Rocky tidal island, Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France.

Saint-Michel, a vast monastic structure on top of an island mountain that emerges from the sea as if straining to escape its bonds. The island is bound by fifteenthcentury walls and topped by a massive thirteenth-century abbey, La Merveille (The Marvel). The pinnacle of its highest tower is 500 feet above the sea, crowned by a statue of the Archangel Michael in the act of striking down the devil in the form of a dragon. The monastery buildings seem part of the rocky island, which is attached to the shoreline at the base of the Norman peninsula by a narrow causeway, formerly covered at high tide. At the full moon, the waves of the tide are among the most dramatic scenes along the Atlantic Coast. The Mont has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979.

Mont Saint-Michel has been a shrine since the dawn of history. The Celts worshipped their god Belenus on the mountain, and the Romans built a shrine there to Jove. Early Christian hermits took possession in the fifth century, but Mont Saint-Michel’s real history begins in 708, when Bishop Aubert of Avranches received an inspiration in a dream to build a shrine to St. Michael on the mount. Up to this time, the hill was along the shoreline, but the following year a freak riptide scoured a channel between it and the forests, and Mont SaintMichel became an island. Thus it also became a bastion against Viking raiders and English invaders—a place of refuge. The Mont sided with William the Conqueror in his claim to the British

Mont Saint-Michel, France | 337 throne, for which it was rewarded with lands (and islands) in England. It also earned the enmity of the English and the emerging French kingdom, which wanted to integrate the autonomous duchies in France. In the Middle Ages the mount was fortified, and in 1425 its 120 knights (from the military Order of St. Michael) held off 8,000 English troops during the Hundred Years’ War. Mont SaintMichel was never taken in battle. For several centuries the abbey was wealthy and owned land in several countries, but by the sixteenth century it had gone into decline. Its monks went through cycles of fervor and disorder, and several times all the monks were dismissed to be replaced by new ones from more faithful monasteries. After the French Revolution, the abbey was secularized and the island used as a prison until 1863. When restoration began, much of the statuary was found destroyed. Through the centuries portions of the walls have collapsed and been replaced. After entering the narrow gate from the causeway, the traveler walks up a long street, no more than a widened alley. Pretentiously named Le Grand Rue, it is lined with tawdry souvenir shops, overpriced eateries, and shoddy displays masquerading as museums. The senses are assaulted on all sides by a cacophony of sounds and odors and the jostling of boisterous crowds. The impact is claustrophobic and overwhelming, but it is exactly the way Mont Saint-Michel has been experienced for centuries. The medieval pilgrim, too, was part of a noisy, commercialized, and raucous crowd, pushing and shoving toward the summit of the island. The contrast between the awesome and

solemn sight of the mount as it is approached and the herded confinement within its walls is part of the pilgrim experience. Mont Saint-Michel is the second-most-visited site in France. To get the full flavor of its popularity, a visitor should brave the dense crowds on the feast of St. Michael, the last Sunday in September (officially September 29). Halfway to the abbey lies the parish church of St. Michael, an easily overlooked tiny chapel built to serve the workers and residents. On either side of the statue of the archangel are boards with ex-votos attached—badges and petitions, symbols of cures, and military medals presented in thanks for returning home safely after combat. The church remains an active parish for those who live on the island. In 1966, for the thousandth anniversary of the monastery, the French government permitted the restoration of monastic life on Mont Saint-Michel, and a group of monks, nuns, and lay oblates inhabits part of the abbey, where they give tours and provide services to pilgrims. The abbey church, where Mass is celebrated daily in several languages for pilgrims, is a soaring triumph of light and elegance. The lightness of the stone and windows shows the best of the Flamboyant Gothic style. The interiors are stark, since the revolutionaries of 1789 looted the tapestries and art and took down the blue and gold ceiling in the monks’ refectory. Government projects of recent years have proved controversial. Environmentalists have been enraged by a proposal for nine wind turbine farms within sight of the Mont. This debate has raged on for ten years. In 2006, the French government began a project to construct

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a hydraulic dam that would channel the tides so as to remove the accumulating silt that had been building up. The causeway has been removed and the last step was to put up a light bridge to the island that rises above the tide waters. Mont Saint-Michel is again an island. Cars are not allowed on the bridge.

REFERENCES Henry Adams, Mont Saint-Michel and Chartres. 1905, reprint, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 1981. Kenneth MacLeish, “Mount Saint Michel,” 151 National Geographic 6:820-831 (June, 1977). Mont-St-Michel. Port Washington, NY, Applause, 1991, video. www.ot-montsaintmichel.com.

MONTSERRAT, SPAIN The monastic shrine of Montserrat perches on the side of a 4,054-foot mountain, an hour northwest of the Catalonian capital of Barcelona. It is surrounded by serrated sandstone peaks that give its approach a moonscape appearance, especially for those who arrive by the aerial tramway that swings across the yawning gorges. Since 1025, this shrine has been a sanctuary of the Virgin and the center of Catalan national identity. By 1500 the monastery had the first printing press in the region and began a long tradition of publishing in Catalan. Napoleon’s troops leveled the monastery in 1812, and the statue was hidden to protect it. Montserrat has been closed briefly several times, most recently during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. Though its influence abroad

was extensive during the sixteenth century, when it had daughter houses in Portugal, Austria, Mexico, and Peru, today it is simply the shrine of the Black Virgin honored as the patroness of Catalonia. During the Spanish Civil War, Catalonia was a hotbed of patriotic fervor for the left-wing government and the last area to fall to the Fascist forces of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Persecution was extreme, and large numbers of priests, nuns, and prominent laity were tortured and murdered. The monks of Montserrat dispersed, but twentythree lost their lives to anticlerical anarchists. They were beatified as martyrs in 2001, and their bodies are buried in the crypt of the basilica. Franco’s victory did not bring much improvement to the monastery. Although monastic life returned during Franco’s dictatorship (1939–1975), the public use of the Catalan language was banned and publications in the language were prohibited. Even so, the monastery continued to print secretly in Catalan. Montserrat became a refuge for Catalan intellectuals, writers, and politicians, and the Franco secret police regularly stationed agents nearby in the hopes of capturing wanted opponents of the regime. The renowned statue, gilded polychrome wood, shows the seated Black Virgin holding Jesus in her lap. The color has caused her devotees affectionately to nickname her La Moreneta—“Brownie.” It sits in a special “holy room,” richly decorated, above the main basilica, a huge vaulted eighteenth-century church. In typically Benedictine tradition, the liturgy is the focus of the services in the basilica, and every service is conducted with solemnity and dignity. Each day, the boys’

Moradas, New Mexico, USA | 339 choir (the monastery maintains a choir school) sings a special litany honoring the Virgin of Montserrat, the Virolai, considered a gem of Catalan poetry. The basilica is decorated with chapels and paintings from all periods up to the present. The art is not lavish or bejeweled, but it does include excellent examples of the work of each generation. Although the Black Virgin is what many pilgrims come to see, they can choose among several pilgrimage paths. One, which leads through the surrounding forests past life-size Stations of the Cross, ends at a chapel, Our Lady of Solitude. Above this chapel is a medieval hermitage and another chapel, one of thirteen mountain hermitages that can be visited. An alternate path follows the theme of Mary’s biblical song of praise (Luke 1:46–55); it is marked by lovely ceramics set into the rock faces along the way. At the foot of the mountain is the Holy Grotto, where the image of the Virgin was supposedly found in the ninth century. According to legend, the statue fled from Jerusalem to escape the Muslims and ended up in the mountains above Barcelona. The various combinations of shrines, chapels, and hermitages there make up eight “itineraries.” To provide for pilgrims, there are two simple pilgrim hostels, a cafeteria, and a hotel on the mountain.

REFERENCES Ean Begg, The Cult of the Black Virgin. Boston, Kegan Paul, 1985. R. Berleant, Montserrat. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 1991. Brad Olsen, Sacred Places, Europe. San Francisco, CCC, 2007. www.abadiamontserrat.cat.

MORADAS, NEW MEXICO, USA Moradas, simple prayer and meeting rooms found only in New Mexico and southern Colorado, are built of La Santa Madre Tierra, Holy Mother Earth, made into adobe. The word “morada” is also used to refer to a local chapter of the brotherhood that built them. Moradas are built by members of the Penitente Brotherhood, many of whom are descendants of those brought to the frontier from New Spain (Mexico) in the eighteenth century to counterbalance the licentious, drunken settlers and soldiers of the time. The ancestors of other brotherhood members were Spanish captives freed after being held in slavery by the Navajos or Apaches. Properly, the Penitentes are known as La Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesu´ s Nazareno, the Pious Society of Our Father Jesus the Nazarene. It is strictly a lay fraternity and not a religious order, and its ties to the Catholic Church are informal at best. It began sometime around 1800 to provide spiritual support for Hispanics during a period when the Church had few priests. After Mexican independence in 1821, the friars were all withdrawn, and most communities saw a priest no more than once a year. Into the gap the penitents stepped. Members baptized, witnessed marriages, buried the dead, and cared for widows and orphans. Their piety is based on the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Under colonial American bishops they were driven underground, but since 1927 the Catholic Church has recognized them. Presently, there are from 600 to 700 penitentes in forty moradas in New Mexico.

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A morada is small, barely enough for a dozen men to squat around in a circle. It has no windows and is made of adobe, sun-baked bricks mixed from soil, water, and a little straw. A few are plastered. Some moradas have stone bases, but characteristically a morada’s architecture and spirit are one with the surrounding landscape—they are made of the earth and will eventually return to it. Moradas are considered outstanding examples of southwestern folk structures. Primarily, though, they are regarded as holy places and are used as chapter houses, where the members of the brotherhood meet to pray and make decisions. They offer informal prayers, sing, and invoke favorite saints or ancestors. The brotherhood’s more organized rituals are secret, which has given rise to fanciful accounts of exaggerated penances. After the Mexican-American War (1846–1848), most Mexican clergy were either expelled or suspended, and the French and American missionaries had little understanding of native religious traditions. In the late nineteenth century, the brotherhoods were treated poorly by both Church and non-Catholics, and they retreated into secrecy. Some circulated stories of bloody scourgings and even crucifixions to frighten people away and help maintain seclusion. The stories had the opposite effect, however, attracting the curious and causing the false accounts to become even more lurid. They were accused of bringing dishonor on the Church and of stirring up negative publicity about New Mexico in eastern newspapers, all of it based on ignorant rumors. The highlight of Penitente observance is Semana Santa, Holy Week. The moradas enact traditional religious dramas,

which were part of their teaching function during the colonial period. They sing hymns, alabados, which were also used to instruct the people. The processions followed the tradition of the Way of the Cross. It is led by a prayer leader, who reads or chants the story of Christ’s suffering and death. This is followed by a flute player who fills the air with a mournful lament. In a few places, the penitents follow, stripped to the waist and scourging themselves with yucca strips. More commonly, the procession consists of men, women, and children, who fall to their knees every fifty yards or so. The procession ends at a large cross. Finally, the group ends up at the candlelit morada, where a prayer and a hymn would be offered in turn, with one candle extinguished after each. As the last one was put out, chains and rattles sounded. This is clearly based on the Holy Week office known as tenebrae, which the earliest brothers would have experienced among the Franciscan missionaries, and which they have preserved in this attenuated form. See also: Chimayo

REFERENCES Angelico Chavez, My Penitente Land: Reflections on Spanish New Mexico. Albuquerque, NM, University of New Mexico, 1974. Alberto Pulido, The Sacred World of the Penitentes. Washington, DC, Smithsonian, 2000. Michael Wallis and Craig Varjabedian, En Divina Luz: The Penitente Moradas of New Mexico. Albuquerque, NM, University of New Mexico, 1994.

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MORIA, SOUTH AFRICA The pilgrimage and healing center of one of the most important African religion movements is located in the north of South Africa, in the Province of the Transvaal, at the religious settlement of Moria. It is sometimes called Morija, but it is not to be confused with the town of that name in Lesotho. In the early twentieth century, a religious movement called Zionism sprang up in southern Africa. Although it had roots in Protestant mission churches, it brought together Christian beliefs and African traditions in a new way, creating indigenous African Christian churches. With more than three million members, the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) is one of the taproots of the Zionist movement. It was founded in South Africa around 1910 by Ignatius Lekganyane (+1948), later led by his son Edward and his grandson Barnabas. Their authority came in part from their founding role, but mostly from their healing power. Through prayer, laying on of hands, and blessing with water or ashes, they cured the faithful and drove out evil spirits. The Lekganyanes proclaimed Jesus Christ the cornerstone of their work, but they were also personally exalted as prophets and divinely sent messengers. Later, some of their disciples, while acknowledging their descent from the Lekganyanes, founded independent Zionist churches in other African countries. The ZCC is the largest African independent denomination in southern Africa and the second largest on the continent. Although Zionism developed a considerable following in the cities of South

Africa, its spiritual homeland was in the rural areas, in what were then called the Native Reserves. In the Zionist churches, the reserves were regarded as a kind of Promised Land. Here the sick were healed and here were the holy places where the Spirit could be encountered. Ignatius Lekganyane baptized his disciples in a river he called the Jordan, a short distance outside Pretoria. Sacred hilltops were dubbed “Jerusalem” by the various sects, and it was on one of these that Lekganyane purchased fifty acres. He named it Moria, after Mount Moriah, a biblical name for Jerusalem. Part of ZCC theology includes a spiritual geography that identifies Moria with the Mount Moriah on which Solomon’s Temple was built. It is thus a “New Jerusalem” for the ZCC. Moria is twenty-five miles from Pietersburg in the Transvaal, where South African blacks maintain many of their original traditions. It is also considered a place that stands apart from and contrasts with the political power of nearby Pretoria, the nation’s capital and the economic power of Johannesburg. In the African townships around both of these cities, many ZCC faithful live under squalid conditions, but they travel in pilgrimage to Moria to find a sacred place of spiritual liberation. They come on regular occasions for pilgrimages, scores of thousands at a time, to witness to the power of the spirit. Moria has successful farms and businesses, and the bishop of the church maintains a fleet of expensive cars. Edward had forty-five, including several Rolls-Royces. Material possessions are considered signs of God’s blessings. Of the three major pilgrimages, the largest and most important is held at Easter. In excess of a million ZCC

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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS Among the effects of the interaction of colonial Christianity and indigenous faiths has been the rise of many blended religions, which meld Christian teachings with primal practices. Depending on the customs of the primal faith, these may include acceptance of polygamy, animal sacrifice, or various forms of divination. Worship services tend to be demonstrative and animated, with emotional and ecstatic expressions. Spirit possession and prophecy are common. While most new religious movements have arisen in Africa and Latin America, they are not unknown in Europe and North America. The religions of the developing world have found a large following, and numbers of these faiths have membership exceeding 1 million. A few, like Voodoo, have existed for several centuries, but the majority has sprung up in the recent past. In Africa, many were part of the independence movement in the mid-twentieth century, where they expressed a revolt against western religion. This is a characteristic of Cao Dai in Vietnam and Kimbanguism in Central Africa, both of which have several million followers.

members come to Moria. During each pilgrimage there is common worship, healing, and celebration. Clergy are ordained and sent back to continue the healing ministry. Members line up to throw donations into ten-gallon drums and then join dance circles. Dance is used in worship, and at Moria a dance group called the Soldiers of Zion, dressed in khaki uniforms, does a stomp dance wearing large white boots. It is similar to the “gum-boot” dances performed in the miners’ slums in South Africa, where the stamping of feet is a form of percussion. In ZCC ritual, the boot dancers are stomping evil underfoot; sometimes this symbolic action takes concrete form, as when pilgrims throw cigarettes beneath their feet. The Zionists emphasize manifestations of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in tongues. They believe that the second coming of Christ is near, and they practice baptism by immersion. Their

moral code is strict. At first they forbade having more than one wife, but after some years this policy was softened in the face of African reality. Now plural wives are accepted, a change that has attracted many converts from Western Christian churches. The code of moral purity forbids eating pork and the use of alcohol or tobacco. ZCC members also refuse all use of medicine, either that of witch doctors or modern medicine. To identify themselves, and so that others may hold them up to their strict code, ZCC members wear a cloth badge embroidered with “ZCC.” They are known for nonviolence and obedience to authority. During the apartheid era in South Africa, they accepted the social policy of the government and refused to engage in the resistance movement. In 1985, President P. W. Botha was invited to speak at the Easter pilgrimage at Moria. See also: Cao Dai Temple

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REFERENCES Allan Anderson, African Reformation. Trenton, NJ, Africa World, 2001. Adrian Hastings, A History of African Christianity, 1950–1975. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University, 1979. A. F. Walls and Wilbert Shenk, Exploring New Religious Movements. Elkhart, IN, Mission Focus, 1990.

MORMON TEMPLE, UTAH, USA The Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the center of Mormonism, one of the few religions founded in the United States and one of the world’s fastest-growing faiths. Today its missionaries, mostly youth who give eighteen months of their lives to the church, are found across the globe. As a force in American society, Mormonism has long stood for solid family values, the sacredness of marriage, and cooperative effort, as well as generally conservative stances on the moral and political issues of the day. Until 1890, the church permitted a man to have several wives, but under intense U.S. government pressure, the head of the church, who is believed to receive direct teachings from God, proclaimed a revelation forbidding the practice. The religious practice of Mormonism is based on revelations given Joseph Smith in the 1820s, capped by the apparition of the Angel Moroni, bearing golden tablets on which were engraved the scriptures of the new faith, the Book of Mormon. After Smith’s martyrdom during attacks on him and his followers, the faithful were led west to Utah in

1847 by Brigham Young. As they arrived at the unsettled desert land, Smith was inspired to say, “This is the place.” Salt Lake City was developed as a Mormon holy place, and the temple is its spiritual and cultural heart. The temple is central to forty-two others around the world, and the secret rituals of Mormonism may be solemnized at any of them. Brigham Young designed Salt Lake City on a grid pattern with Temple Square at its center. It covers ten acres, and all buildings there are open to visitors except the temple itself. Atop one of its three towers is a golden statue of the Angel Moroni, a symbol of the city. An elaborate visitors’ center presents the history and beliefs of the Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as the Mormons are formally known. Mormons teach that Native American Indians are the lost tribe of Israel, descended from Hebrews who arrived from Jerusalem in 600 BCE, and that Jesus visited America after his resurrection from the dead. These events are pictured in large murals at the visitors’ center. Most guests also visit the Mormon Tabernacle, built in 1867 and the home of the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is one of the most acoustically perfect structures ever built, and a coin dropped at one end can be heard 175 feet away. The choir is accompanied by a magnificent organ with 11,623 pipes. Also on Temple Square is the Museum of Church History and Art, and nearby is Brigham Young’s home, the Beehive House, which gives a fascinating insight into early Mormon life in polygamous households. The temple is reserved for Mormon rituals and open only to members of the church. Although such Christian practices as baptism and the Lord’s

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Supper are part of Mormon practice, two customs are unique to Mormonism: baptism for the dead and sealing of marriage for eternity. Mormons believe that a merciful God cannot condemn those who die without hearing the message of the scriptures. Therefore, with a living Mormon witness standing in for them, the names of the dead are baptized into salvation. This practice has resulted in the gathering of the world’s largest genealogical archive for this purpose, and its computerized index is available on Temple Square to anyone wanting to trace their ancestors. Although civil marriage is permitted, the highest salvation is reserved for those sealed together for eternity. At the wedding ceremony, men and women are seated separately and clothed in ritual white clothing. Several men take the roles of God, Jesus, and the Archangel Michael, dramatizing the Creation. The bride puts on a green apron symbolizing the fig leaf of modesty and proceeds to another room, where accounts are presented of the attempts of Satan to deceive the prophets and the people. It ends with a statement that those who do not live up to the covenant will perish. With Satan driven out, the couple is taught the ritual handshakes used in various temple services. They first use these when they are led to a floor-length veil with slits, through which they embrace as a sign that their union will be what brings them through this life to heaven. Each is given a new name—the groom’s kept secret, the bride’s confided only to him. Then the couple goes through the veil to the Celestial Room, where they are greeted by their families. The temple sealing ceremony is followed by a wedding, which is simple. In 1990,

elements of the ceremonies deemed offensive to women of non-Mormon faiths were removed. The most sacred space in the Temple is the Holy of Holies, where the current president of the Church goes in his role as High Priest of Israel, to seek communion with God and, if need be, divine revelation on some point. It is patterned on the Holy of Holies in the ancient Jerusalem Temple. The president, who is considered a prophet through whom God transmits new revelations, keeps the keys to this inner sanctum. See also: Hill Cumorah

REFERENCES Christopher Bigelow, Temples of the Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints. San Diego, CA, Thunder Bay, 2009. David Buerger, The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship. Salt Lake City, UT, Signature, 2002. Terrance Drake, Temple Worship Simplified. Springville, UT, Cedar Fort, 2009. Terryl Givens, People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture. New York, Oxford University, 2009. www.lds.org/temples.

MOUND BUILDERS, USA Three ancient cultures in North America that preceded the Native American Indians built ceremonial earthwork mounds. These were the Adena and Hopewell peoples, centered in the Ohio River Valley, and the Mississippians, who lived along the Mississippi River and in the Southeast. Today, hundreds

Mound Builders, USA | 345 of mounds in various states of preservation are found scattered across the central and southern parts of the United States, with concentrations in Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. The later Native American peoples of the Midwest were not aware of who the mound builders were, and they did not seem to have used the sites, which they knew of, for any ritual purposes. In the southeast, however, the mound-building culture was still active when the first European explorers came in the early 1540s. Hernando de Soto described flattopped mounds that he took to be temples. In present-day Georgia, he met a queen who told him that their mounds were burial sites. A French artist in the 1560s painted scenes of the mounds in Florida, and a century later, French explorers among the Nachez described their use of mounds as temples to the sun god. There were at least five distinct cultures that engaged in mound building. The earliest mounds are found in present-day Louisiana and date from circa 3400 BCE, well before the pyramids of Egypt or Stonehenge in England. Whether these peoples were the immediate ancestors of the Native Americans is disputed. Fantastic theories abounded in the nineteenth century, and there were a number of hoaxes. This type of speculation has not ended today, and a few insist that the mounds were built by extraterrestrial beings. The Adena culture flourished from approximately 1000 BCE to 700 CE and left a number of burial mounds. Adena society was matrilinear. Inheritance descended through the female line, and women chose their own husbands. A

class of priests and rulers dominated the Adena, who were hunters and traders, dealing their jewelry and furs as far as the Gulf of Mexico and into the Southwest. Their burial mounds contain a number of wealth objects from which the extent of Adena trade can be judged. The jewelry uses turquoise, mica, sharks’ teeth, quartz, and obsidian, as well as pearls. Besides the burial mounds, the Adena built several effigy mounds, evidently for religious purposes, in the shapes of animals. The most important of these is Serpent Mound in Ohio (although that is now believed to be from the later Fort Ancient people). Hundreds of the various types of mounds are scattered throughout the Midwest. The Hopewell people overlapped the time period of the Adena but survived until about 1000 CE . Although burial mounds were built by both Adena and Hopewell peoples, the two groups intersected, and the mounds are often commonly referred to as Adena. The trademark mounds of the third group, the Mississippians, were temple mounds, flat-topped pyramids sometimes grouped around an open court to create a huge ceremonial ground. The best example of their work is at Cahokia Mounds Historic Site in Illinois. Besides their obvious relation to the religion of the ancient peoples, the mounds have taken on new religious meaning in the last twenty years as New Age devotees have interested themselves in places where ancient peoples gathered for worship. New Age practitioners have begun to compare effigy mounds to the constellations to see if certain star groups are represented in the structures of the mounds. Serpent Mound, it has been suggested, is patterned on the Little

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Dipper. If this is so, it would indicate a sacred energy flow between heaven and earth. Many mound sites have been analyzed for ley lines, which conduct energy flows between sacred sites in ancient religions, according to New Age thought. New Age followers often use the mounds for solstice celebrations, as do occasional witches’ covens. Because of the gathered spiritual energy present at the mounds, according to believers, focused human energy can trigger emanations of peace and higher consciousness. Effigy Mounds, near Marquette, Iowa, contains almost 200 mounds, twenty-nine of them effigy figures of birds and animals, covering fifteen hundred acres. Certainly the most striking is a series of ten bears in a file—the “marching bears”—with three eagles hovering nearby. Lizard Mound, near West Bend, Wisconsin, with its thirty-one effigy mounds, is the greatest concentration of effigy mounds in the United States. Each is three to four feet high, and there are both animal and geometric shapes. Many of the effigy mounds are graves. The bodies are buried either at the place of the animal’s vital organs or (in the case of birds) in the wings. It is thought that the dead were buried in an effigy of their totem, or sacred creature. If this theory is correct, the place would have been the burial and ceremonial site of several clans, who perhaps gathered there from time to time for religious and funeral purposes. A second theory holds that totem animals appeared in dreams during a vision quest, perhaps to the founder of a clan. In addition to the Lizard Mound, for which the site is named, there are seven panther effigies

ranging from seventy-three to 211 feet in length. Mound City, near Chillicothe, Ohio, is one of the best-preserved Hopewell sites, built around 200 BCE. A low earthen wall surrounds thirteen acres of land with twenty-three mounds. They have been excavated and rebuilt, yielding a ceremonial death mask that was evidently used in funerals, fragments of teeth and bones from prehistoric animals, and other effects. There are no effigy mounds here. Newark Earthworks, near Newark, Ohio, were once an extensive development of earthworks, including effigy mounds, burial mounds, and other earthworks in geometric designs. All of this covered about four square miles and is associated with the Hopewell people. The major structure remaining today is the Octagon, which encloses eight acres of mounds within several parallel walls. Another enclosure, Mound Builders’ Memorial, is a large circle with walls up to fourteen feet high, containing twentysix acres. There is also a museum of Hopewell artifacts. See also: Cahokia Mounds, Serpent Mound

REFERENCES Elliot Abrams and Ann Corinne Freter, eds., The Emergence of the Moundbuilders. Athens, OH, Ohio University, 2005. George Milner, The Moundbuilders. New York, Thames and Hudson, 2004. Mallory O’Connor, Lost Cities of the Ancient Southeast. Tallahassee, FL, University of Florida, 1995.

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MOUNTAINS The perception that the sacred is associated with high places, that mountains point to a heaven above and beyond the earth, is deeply ingrained in human consciousness. Mountains have been seen as the homes of the gods (Kilauea, Mount Olympus), as places of revelation (Mount Sinai, Mount Shasta), as places to discover spiritual insight (Mount Athos, the Black Hills), and as deities themselves (Mount Fuji, T’ai Shan). Forbidding and difficult to climb, with wooded slopes, barren rock faces, and summits of rock or snow, mountains have a harsh beauty not part of the everyday life of most people and, according to Edwin Bernbaum, “extraordinary power to awaken the sense of the sacred.” Religious pilgrims accept the physical challenges of the climb in order to experience the spiritual ascent that goes with it. Mount Olympus in Greece is the bestknown example of a mountain that served as the home of the gods. According to Greek mythology, Zeus, king of the gods, was born in a mountain cave on Crete, where his mother had fled to protect him from a wrathful father bent on destroying his sons and rivals. Zeus was raised on another Cretan sacred mountain, Ida, from which he returned to Olympus to overthrow his father and claim his kingship. From there, as god of storms and thunder, he hurled lightning bolts to earth to demonstrate his power. On Olympus he lived with the other eleven Olympians, the chief gods of the Greek pantheon. Though Olympus was their principal home, each also had another sacred mountain— Apollo at Delphi, for example. When

they gathered at rugged Olympus, they lived in perfect comfort, untouched by wind or snow, feasting and constantly entertained by music and dancing. Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece at 9,570 feet. Bare and stark on its upper reaches, inhospitable to humans, it emanates power and authority. No shrines were ever built on the sides of this mountain. Instead, such secondary places as Delos or Delphi became the sites of shrines and temples. Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa (19,340 feet), has three peaks, and the climate zones on its sides range from rainforest to meadows to glaciers. The Chagga people regard the mountain as an abode of the great god Ruwa, but it is also their tribal home. A wide band around the lower flanks of Kilimanjaro is settled, and the Chagga consider those who reside on the surrounding plains as inferior peoples. Above the settled area is the holy ground, and only males who have passed through initiation may go there. People are honored in reference to Kibo, the highest peak: it is respectful, for example, when passing someone to allow them the side toward Kibo. The dead are buried facing the mountain, and people sleep with their beds facing in the same direction. Some mountains have meaning because they embody the spiritual manifestations of nature. T’ai Shan, for example, draws its importance from being the sacred mount that first receives the lifegiving rays of the sun. Traditional Korean religion believes that energy flows along the mountains that form the spine of the country, influencing and shaping the people and their national character. As part of Japan’s attempt at cultural

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Branches of Eastern Churches.

genocide during the colonial occupation period (1905–1945), huge spikes were driven into the mountain ridges to remind the Korean people of their subjugation. Only today are these being removed by the Korean government. Christian tradition associates many mountains and high places with Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem, a high place, preached a “Sermon on the Mount,” revealed himself transfigured on Mount Tabor, and made his supreme sacrifice on the Mount of Calvary. The Catholic and Orthodox traditions record many examples of appearances of saints or of the Virgin Mary on mountains or in mountain ranges such as Meritxell, Einsiedeln, and Jasna Go´ra. St. Michael the Archangel, protector against evil and the one who defeats the Devil, is

always associated with high places (Mont Saint-Michel, Monte Sant’Angelo, Le Puy-en-Velay). The tradition of high places as locations for revelation are also embedded in Jewish experience; Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and is worshipped on Mount Zion. Mountains also serve as places of refuge, contemplation, and holiness. Christian mystics and saints frequently sought out mountains or preferred high places for their spiritual quests. St. Benedict began Western monasticism at Subiaco, settling on Monte Cassino; Carmelite hermits went to Mount Carmel in Israel. Meteora, St. Catherine’s, and Mount Athos are cradles of Orthodox monasticism; monks consider themselves blessed for being able to live in the vestibule of heaven.

Mount Athos, Greece | 349 See also: Black Hills, Croagh Patrick, Dilwara, Emei Shan, Gunung Agung, Kilauea, Machu Picchu, Monte Cassino, Montserrat, Mount Athos, Mount Brandon, Mount Fuji, Mount Kailas, Mount Kenya, Mount Shasta, Mount Sinai, T’ai Shan, Uluru

REFERENCES Edwin Bernbaum, Sacred Mountains of the World. San Francisco, Sierra Club, 1990. Ronald Clark, Men, Myths and Mountains. New York, Crowell, 1976. Michael Tobias and Harold Drasdo, The Mountain Spirit. Woodstock, NY, Overlook Press, 1979.

MOUNT ATHOS, GREECE Politically, culturally, and socially, Mount Athos is an anomaly. Perched above the sea on a closed peninsula jutting forth from northern Greece, it is a semiautonomous monastic theocracy ruled by monks. The mountain rises 6,670 feet above the sea near the end of the peninsula, and its marble cliffs make perfect perches for the monastic dwellings. Life on Mount Athos moves to their rhythms in an atmosphere of severe austerities. Visitors are screened, after presenting letters of reference and registering with the Greek police, and only ten non-Orthodox men are admitted each day. A visa is stamped in the visitor’s passport. Not only a refuge from the world, Mount Athos is a world unto itself. The legend of Mount Athos says that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was shipwrecked here on her way to join the apostles in their mission of preaching

the Gospel. A statue of Apollo declared itself a false god in her presence, and the pagan idols threw themselves at her feet and were shattered. From that time, the Virgin Mary is the only woman allowed on Mount Athos. No female of any species may enter the confines of the Holy Mountain—no woman, cow, or hen. Twice in the Middle Ages, when empresses attempted to visit, they were met by visions of the Virgin commanding them to go no further. The first monk, Peter the Athonite, received his call in a vision of the Virgin, and in her name he drove out the demons who inhabited the caves on the side of the mountain. These were soon filled by hermits and holy men. History records that the first monks on Mount Athos were Eastern Orthodox hermits, penitential men given to extreme austerities. The most illustrious of these began to attract disciples, and by the ninth century several monastic communities had been established. From the first, the Great Lavra (963 CE), to the most recent, Stavronikita (1540), several hundred monastic communities were founded. The larger monasteries were constructed as monastic villages. The Great Lavra, for example, has fifteen chapels built around a central courtyard. Each monastery has a keep, a tower— often fortified against pirates—that houses the monastery treasury and library. The keep of Vatopedi has 634 Greek manuscripts, 150 ancient musical scores and many valuable books. There is also a well at each monastery, used for blessed water and symbolic of baptism. At its height in the Middle Ages, 20,000 monks inhabited Mount Athos, and to preserve a sense of solitude in the bustling monasteries of that time, many

350 | Mount Athos, Greece

monks moved into small communities (sketes) or reopened hermitages on the mountain sides. The dominant monastic forms on Mount Athos are cenobitic, seventeen monasteries where the monks live in common and share life together. Seven are ideorhythmic, where monks live and worship together but have individual freedom regarding the rest of their day and activities. There are a scattering of sketes and kellia, which are houses where monks live but do not share a common schedule. And finally, hermits continue to inhabit the caves and small huts on the mountainside. It is not unusual for a monk to move from one house to another as his religious needs change. Most monasteries (but not the sketes and kellia) have guest houses, and all religious services are open to visitors. These monasteries are centers of meditation and penance. There are no monastic schools, not even a seminary. The sense of separation from the world begins with the monastic day, which starts at sunset, 12 o’clock by Athonite calculation. (Only one monastery uses modern time rather than this ancient biblical system.) The Julian calendar is used. The Bible is prayed rather than studied, to avoid the temptation of argument and confusion. Mount Athos has been a center for the spread of Christian mantric prayer, where one chants the name of Jesus as a way of entering into ecstasy. The monasteries preserve some important religious art, but it is of little importance to the monks and is rarely displayed, except for those pieces regarded as wonder-working icons. Mount Athos preserves more icons that survived eighth-century iconoclasm than

anywhere else. In this Christian controversy, which split church communities and lined up powerful people on either side, some enemies of images of Christ and the saints destroyed most of the icons created before 800 CE. Mount Athos is one place where many very early icons has been preserved Once there were forty monasteries on Mount Athos; today, twenty selfgoverning monasteries remain. There are about 2,075 monks on Mount Athos, half of whom have arrived in recent years. Few of these are individuals. Small groups have been coming together as monasteries elsewhere in Orthodoxy shrink and decline in numbers. The average age of Athonite monks is forty-eight, and the mean about forty. The new monks are also more highly educated and include professionals. The abbots form a coordinating council on common matters. Though the majority of the monasteries are Greek, there are also Serbo-Croatian, Russian, and Bulgarian Orthodox monasteries on the mountain. Eleven monasteries follow the Rule of St. Basil, which requires communal living and common meals. These are always vegetarian and frugal, and taken either in silence or while one of the brothers reads from a religious book. The monks occupy themselves in tending gardens and orchards and in the tasks necessary for maintaining the monasteries. Some “write” (paint) icons for distribution to Orthodox churches around the world, where they are highly prized. As in every Christian monastic tradition, work keeps the monk anchored in God’s creation even as his soul reaches to attain unity with the Divine. In recent years, the Greek government has refused entry permits to many nonGreek candidates, and a recent conflict

Mount Brandon, Ireland | 351 over authority between the council and the Greek patriarch has disturbed the usual monastic calm of the Holy Mountain. The Mount Athos communities have a history of virulent antiecumenism, especially regarding Roman Catholics. In 2002, the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople ordered Esphigmemon monastery evicted because of its hard stance. Greek police prevent visitors there, its electricity has been cut off, and its fishing boat has been confiscated. Despite that, it is one of the favored monasteries for new arrivals. When Greece entered the European Community, Mount Athos was recognized as a member of a EU member state, but outside its tax jurisdiction. In 2008, the Mount began issuing its own postal stamps. See also: Meteora Monasteries

REFERENCES Kyriacos Markides, The Mountain of Silence. New York, Doubleday, 2002. Graham Speake, Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 2004. James Stanfield, “Mount Athos,” 164 National Geographic 6:739–747 (December 1983).

MOUNT BRANDON, IRELAND At 3,127 feet, Mount Brandon dominates the Dingle Peninsula in southwest Ireland. Before Christian times, it was sacred to the Celtic harvest god. After the arrival of Celtic Christianity, it became a center of pilgrimage in

memory of St. Brendan the Navigator. It is said that Brendan built the trail to the summit himself, where he left an oratory as a sign of the triumph of Christianity. On the peak, Brendan was supposed to have received a vision of a rich western land across the sea and to have traveled there. Brendan is the legendary sailor who first reached “the Heavenly Isles” or the “Promised Land of the Saints,” where food was found in abundance, gems and gold were strewn on the ground, and Christ was said to reign in light. The account of Brendan’s voyage is one of the important tales of the Middle Ages, and from it Brendan became patron of pilgrims. In iconography, he is shown in a wooden boat with sails. In pagan times, Mount Brandon was one of two sites (the other was Croagh Patrick) for the Lughnasa, a harvest festival in honor of the Celtic god Lug. It was held on the mountaintops at the end of July. All around the mountain are groups of rock art, abstract circles and spirals that date to Neolithic times and had some sort of religious meaning. There are also about sixty ogham stones, scored with the earliest form of Irish writing. They seem to be early Celtic grave markers. The use of early hatching as a kind of alphabet laps over the Christian period, and a few ogham stones have been found with crosses and marks indicating the names of priests. The great pilgrimage day is the last Sunday in July, clearly a Christian replacement for the pagan festival. For centuries people came to this combination pilgrimage and fair from as far away as Britain and Scotland, most of them by sea. When they arrived, they found beehive-shaped stone huts for their use.

352 | Mount Carmel, Israel

Several hundred still exist on the slopes of the mountain, and there were many more in former times. The huts are corbelled, that is, made of stones fitted closely together without mortar and gradually sloping to a point. They were so well constructed that after a thousand years, most are still waterproof. Pilgrims might stay for a few days or up to several weeks until the clouds lifted and allowed a safe ascent up the mountain. Along the way, they stopped for prayers at various stations. Several of these were crosses or markers in honor of other pilgrim saints, such as St. Colman. There was even a litany invoking the pilgrim saints for their blessing along the journey. Other important pilgrimage days are the feasts of St. Brendan on May 16 and Ss. Peter and Paul on June 29. The pilgrimage has had its ups and downs. In the eighteenth century it was suppressed by the Church because of the gambling, dancing, and faction fights that became attached to it. The fights were a way for clans to settle scores by choosing champions to challenge one another in bloody contests. At various times the pilgrimage has died out, only to revive, and today it involves a weeklong series of visits to shrines and holy places along the way to the mountain. A revival of the harvest festival has also taken place, although a soccer match has replaced the faction fights. The traditional boat races are still held, however. Local pagan customs have persisted, including one involving the capture of a wild goat on the mountain. The goat is crowned “King of all Ireland” for the three days of the festival. Regard for the ancient pagan god Lug remained until 1993, when his stone head, kept near a

local church, was stolen. People kissed the stone in the superstitious belief that to do so would prevent or cure toothaches. See also: Croagh Patrick, Mountains

REFERENCES Peter Harbison, Pilgrimage in Ireland. Syracuse, Syracuse University, 1992. Damian McManus, Ogham Stones. Cork, Ireland, University of Cork, 2004. Chet Raymo, Climbing Brandon: Science and Faith on Ireland’s Holy Mountain. New York, Walker, 2004.

MOUNT CARMEL, ISRAEL Mount Carmel is a peak revered by all the Abrahamic faiths—Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Jews and Muslims believe it to be the one-time abode of the Prophet Elijah, and Catholics also associate it with the Virgin Mary. The modern Israeli city of Haifa lies at its foot. On the flanks of Mount Carmel, Elijah confronted and defeated the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:19–40), who seemed to have had a sanctuary there. There are two caves toward the base of the mountain that legend associates with Elijah, and they have been visited since the fourth century by Jewish and Christian pilgrims, who have left graffiti along the walls to testify to their presence. The faithful believe that the caves have healing power for the mentally disturbed. Muslim and Jewish women also come there to pray for a successful pregnancy, in the belief that the caves make the birth of a son more likely. This may possibly be a legacy of the classical period, when

Mount Fuji, Japan | 353 a shrine to the Greek god Zeus was considered a healing shrine. During the Middle Ages, Christian hermits began to assemble on the mountain. When the papacy decided to form hermits into proper religious orders, the Mount Carmel hermits founded the Carmelite Order, a community of friars. Today they number about 2,000 men, with many more nuns in both cloistered and noncloistered convents. There are also more than 25,000 lay members of the Carmelite Third Order, affiliated with the friars. They claim that Elijah is their spiritual founder and that there is an unbroken line of hermits on the mountain from the prophet’s day until the present. Today, the Carmelites minister to pilgrims coming to the mountain. They maintain two friaries in the area; one is known for its outdoor Stations of the Cross, and the other is said to be on the spot where Elijah’s sacrifice was consumed by the divine fire. Its name in Arabic means “the place of the fire.” Mount Carmel became a center for the Essenes and it was known as a place where criminals and others fleeing the authorities escaped to find refuge in its caves. Elijah himself was supposed to have lived in a grotto on the mountain. A cave there is preserved as the purported place, with an altar. Some believe this to have been the very altar on which he offered sacrifice in the contest with the priests of Baal. It is located in the crypt of the Carmelite friary, and it is a place of pilgrimage. There is a statue of Elijah. The Carmelites also introduced a popular devotion, the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. A scapular consists of two small squares of rough wool such as is used for the religious garb of

the friars, attached together by strings. It is worn under one’s clothing as a sign of dedication to the Virgin under that title. Mount Carmel is also the headquarters and sacred ground of the Baha’i Faith. Their imposing Shrine of the Bab, with a series of nine garden terraces rising to it, is a landmark in the area. See also: Baha’i World Center

REFERENCE Eugene Getz, Elijah. Nashville, TN, Broadman & Holdman, 1995.

MOUNT FUJI, JAPAN Following the sweeping lines of an inverted fan, in perfect patterns of snow and light, dark woods and iridescent blue sky, Japanese artists have never tired of portraying Mount Fuji as the embodiment of the nation’s spirit. An inactive but not dormant volcano, Mount Fuji floats 12,385 feet above the surrounding landscape of fields, lakes, and sea, the symmetry of its form arresting in its simplicity. Japanese myth asserts that the mountain was created in a single night by ancient gods. Because of its earlier volcanic activity, Mount Fuji was first seen as the abode of a fire god, and in the ninth century several shrines were built along its slopes for rituals to placate the deity and keep the mountain quiet. In time, the fire god was replaced by the Shinto goddess of flowering trees, Konohana Sakuya Hime, who is the primary deity honored in the shrines along the rim of the crater and at the base of the

354 | Mount Fuji, Japan

mountain. She is worshipped by the use of fire, especially at the annual festival that marks the end of the climbing season. At that time, a group of men carries a lacquered model of the mountain, weighing well over a ton, while boys carry a smaller model. At a shrine at the base of Mount Fuji, Shinto priests lead processions of people, who carry straw replicas of the mountain. These are then lighted. Although Mount Fuji’s last eruption was in 1707, hot spots remain on the rim, a reminder of the volcano’s power. The bonfires imitate the lava flow of the volcano, and the sparks dance above the flames like the gods dancing at the summit. According to tradition, every Japanese should climb Mount Fuji at least once in his or her lifetime. Both Shinto and Buddhism surround their beliefs with legendary tales of the origin of the sacred mountain and the powers that dwell there. Buddhists regard Mount Fuji as the home of a deity who is the presence of spiritual wisdom. In the early centuries, they considered climbing the mountain sacrilegious, but in the twelfth century, a Buddhist priest made the first documented ascent to build a temple and then climbed the mountain more than two hundred times to worship there. The word for “the summit,” zenjo, is also the word for “perfect concentration,” and Fuji’s crest is an ideal place for contemplation, raised above the cares and distractions of the world below. Buddhists have identified Mount Fuji as a sacred circle or mandala, pointing out details along the crater rim as manifestations of the lotus petals on which the Buddha rests. A pilgrim route had been established to the summit of Mount Fuji by the fourteenth century. Several centuries later,

Mount Fuji, Japan.

devotional associations began organized climbing. In the seventeenth century, a number of cults were founded, based on visions received by hermit prophets settled in caves on the flanks of the mountain. Gradually Mount Fuji became the preeminent mountain in all Japan. The Japanese had always worshipped sacred mountains, but messianic movements raised Fuji to the first rank, the supreme mountain whose worship transcended all other religions, including Buddhism. It became not only the abode of the gods, but a god itself. Most influential of these cults was Fuji-ko, whose charismatic founder starved himself to death on the mountain in 1733 as a sacrifice to implore the gods to deliver Japan from a famine. The movement spread, and Mount Fuji became a symbol of stability and strength during a time when Japan was wracked by civil wars and economic

Mount Kailash, Tibet, China | 355 collapse. Identified with the emerging cult of the emperor, Fuji-san also became the foundation of the nation as well as the womb from which Japan was reborn. The Shinto cult of Mount Fuji was tied to nationalism, and many Japanese felt betrayed by the mountain after the defeat in World War II. Both Shinto and the Fuji cult suffered as a result. Women were forbidden to climb Fujisan until the Meiji Era (1868–1912), a period of intense modernization in Japan. This coincided with a rebirth of Shinto as the state religion, although Buddhism and Christianity were tolerated. Two cultic acts are associated with Fuji: fire rituals and climbing the mountain. The Fuji-ko perform fire ceremonies before any ascent of the mountain and burn straw replicas of Mount Fuji at home altars. More than 400,000 people make the climb during the official safe season, July and August. Cult groups climb alongside groups of people with only the vaguest religious motives. Customarily, pilgrims start at a shrine at the base of the mountain. Each of the routes has ten rest stations, maintained by descendants of the religious guides of earlier centuries. At each of these stations, a character is burned into the pilgrim’s walking staff. These wooden staffs are much prized, even by the nonreligious. The most popular route has ninety-nine switchbacks, and though arduous, it can be accomplished by anyone in reasonable physical condition. Children and elders make the climb regularly. It is spiritually important that they be assisted if necessary, since the ascent is not an endurance test or an ascetical practice. It is important that all who make the attempt succeed, not just the strong or powerful. A focal

point of the climb is the place where the founder of Fuji-ko fasted to death. The most auspicious time to arrive at the top is in time for dawn, but in all climbs the pilgrim ritually hikes around the crater rim. At the foot of the mountain is a dense forest, Aokigahura, a place of ghostly haunting and the scene of many suicides. In the nineteenth century, it was used for the abandonment of unwanted babies and the frail elderly. See also: Mountains

REFERENCES Kosuke Koyama, Mount Fuji and Mount Sinai. Maryknoll, NY, Orbis, 1984. Sokyo Ono and William Woodard, Shinto the Kami Way. Boston, Tuttle, 2003. Henry Smith, Hokusai: One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji. New York, Brazillier, 1988. Chris Uhlenbeck, Mount Fuji: Sacred Mountain of Japan. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Hotei, 2000.

MOUNT KAILASH, TIBET, CHINA At 22,027 feet, Mount Kailash rises like a huge bald dome from the surrounding highlands in the far western reaches of Tibet, near the borders of both Nepal and India. It is Tibet’s most sacred mountain, now cut off from foreign visitors by Communist authorities because of its proximity to disputed border areas. Nevertheless, Kailash still receives pilgrims from the four faiths that regard it as holy. Under the best conditions,

356 | Mount Kailash, Tibet, China

access to the holy mountain is extremely difficult, and the pilgrimage makes exhausting demands. The area is one of the most desolate and barren places in the world, four days’ hard travel from the nearest entry point. Mount Kailash is important as the source of the Indus, Ganges, Sutlej, and Brahmaputra Rivers, the last of which is Tibet’s main waterway. The first two of these are among the most important sacred rivers on the Indian subcontinent, and the Kailash Range is regarded as sacred by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and adherents of Tibet’s primal religion, Bo¨ n. At the foot of the mountain is Lake Manasarovar, the highest body of fresh water in the world, fed by the Kailas glaciers. For the Hindus, Mount Kailash is the home of Shiva, who lives there in paradise, with his long, dreadlocked hair falling about him. From one of these strands flows the mighty Ganges, holiest of rivers. The Buddhists regard Kailash as the center of the world. To them, the geographical features are heavy with symbolism: Kailash itself is the father principle, the means to enlightenment; Lake Manasarovar represents the mother-principle, transcendent consciousness. For Jains, Kailash is the place where their first saint and founder, Rishabanatha, attained spiritual liberation. The Bo¨ n, holding to the Tibetan indigenous religion, merge national identity with the spiritual power of the mountain. Kailash symbolizes the continuity of the people and protects Tibet, and the swastika-like gash on its southern flank is an affirmation of that great power. To Tibetan Buddhists, Kailash is the Kang Rinpoche, the “precious mountain” or “snow jewel.”

Mount Kailash is identified with the mythical Mount Meru, the “navel of the earth”—the center of the physical and metaphysical universe. Its balanced physical symmetry shows that it is the avatar of Meru. Among the shrines on the mountain was the Buddhist one to Yamantaka, one of the eight guardians of the faith. Many-armed and wearing a necklace of skulls, he stamps out laziness, stupidity, and cynicism. In the shrine he is shown locked in sexual embrace with his consort, symbolizing the mystic union of compassion and wisdom. Unfortunately, almost all of the religious establishments were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) under Mao Tse-Tung. The thirteen monasteries in the area were demolished, as well as the shrines that marked important spots on the pilgrim way. Pilgrims have placed rock cairns at the locations to mark them, but no shrines remain. The pilgrimage was permitted again in 1981. Ten of the monasteries have been reopened under the strict quota system imposed by the Communist authorities to permit token monastic life, but each community has only a handful of monks. Followed for more than 1,000 years, the Kailash pilgrimage is one of the world’s oldest continuing religious journeys. However, it would be the height of sacrilege to climb to the summit of the sacred mountain. Kailash has never been climbed. Instead, the main act of the pilgrimage is the kora, the thirtytwo-mile circuit of the mountain, which can be accomplished in a strenuous day’s trek. Although one circuit is believed to be enough to erase a lifetime of sin, the goal of most pilgrims is to make the kora three times. The most determined seek a

Mount Kenya, Kenya | 357 lifetime total of 108 circuits, which is said to ensure enlightenment to the pure-hearted. Some still make the thirty-two-mile path fully prostrate, “measuring the holy way with their bodies.” At the approach to the mountain are four prostration stations where prayers are offered. Another important stop is the flagpole erected each year for the full moon nearest the anniversary of the Buddha’s birth. There are also three monasteries on the way with small shrines. Four stations mark footprints of the Buddha along the trail. Mantras are chanted along the way, the ideal being to breathe in and out with the words until they merge with the self. Prayer flags, printed with prayers or symbols, are placed on cairns or hung on lines stretched between rocks; as they flutter in the wind, their blessings are released endlessly. At a number of places are chortens, a form of stupa. Simple brick monuments containing a few relics or sacred writings, they are decorated with prayer flags and mani stones engraved with the mantra, Om mani padme hum, “the jewel in the lotus.” From station to station, the kora leads around the sacred mountain, increasing merit and inducing purification, leading to liberation. On arriving at each station, gompa, or chorten, the pilgrim usually circles it three times. The kora around Mount Kailash is considered a pilgrimage through a complete cycle of life and death. Circles within the great circle symbolize the suffering of life, death, and rebirth, and the arduousness of the pilgrimage earns merit for liberation from the drudgery of life. About halfway up to the highest pass is a cemetery of those who have

died on the pilgrimage. At the Dolma pass, which symbolizes the passage from death to new life, pilgrims leave articles of clothing to symbolize leaving behind their old ways. On this spot, death ceremonies are often conducted to drive out evil spirits and make the soul available for rebirth. The high point, both literally and in faith, is the Dolma Stone, the Hill of Salvation at the crest of the pathway. After prayers and prostrations, a celebration is held with sharing of food. The Ramayana, sacred scripture of the Hindus, praises Lake Manasarovar, “its waters like pearls.” Bathing in it ensures entry to paradise; drinking from it releases the soul from the sins of a hundred births. Hindus circuit the shoreline and take ritual baths in its waters, although no ghats are built there. At sixty-four miles, this trek is twice as long as the one around the mountain. It is also made clockwise. See also: Mountains, Mount Meru

REFERENCES Sian-Pritchard Jones and Bob Gibbons, The Mount Kailash Trek. Milnthorpe, UK, Cicerone, 2007. Robert Thurman, Circling the Sacred Mountain. New York, Bantam, 2000. Sacred Tibet: The Path to Mount Kailash. Honolulu, HI, Vendetti, 2006, video.

MOUNT KENYA, KENYA Mount Kenya, a volcanic cone, is the second-highest mountain in Africa after Kilimanjaro, sacred to several peoples. Its three peaks—Lenana, Nelion, and

358 | Mount Kenya, Kenya

Batian—range from 16,355 to 17,058 feet and are named after the three leading laibons, or prophet healers, who ruled the Maasai people in the nineteenth century. As part of the centuries-long great migrations across Africa, the Kikuyu, a Bantu people, arrived at Mount Kenya’s base in the seventeenth century, where they came together with Hamitic and Nilotic tribes. The Maasai, Embu, Meru, and Kikuyu all worship the mountain as the home of their high god, Ngai, creator of the world. They permit no other temples to Ngai. Away from the mountain, they worship under special trees that represent it. Some climb Mount Kenya to commune with their god. A few Kikuyu mystics climb the mountain barefoot, despite the fact that the ascent is more difficult than any major Alpine peak. The Maasai believe that their nation descended from the first hunters, who came down from the mountain. Some have incorporated worship of the mountain into Christianity, equating Ngai with the Creator God of the Bible. A cross sent by Pope Pius XI was placed at Point Lenana in 1933. The Kikuyu people of East Africa have always revered Mount Kenya, the “mountain of brightness,” as the home of Ngai and the place where Ngai first created humanity. The Kikuyu creation myth recounts that Ngai took the first tribesman, named Gikuyu, to the top of Mount Kenya when he created the world and parceled it out among the peoples of the earth. Ngai pointed out a fig grove for Gikuyu, and there he found a wife, Mumbi, awaiting him. Together they had nine daughters, mothers of the nine clans of the Kikuyu tribe.

Ngai has few relations with his people. Troubles, such as violation of taboos or failures in life, are not of interest to Ngai; a person must turn to the ancestors for solutions. Nor do individuals pray to Ngai; only a family seeking blessings together will be granted them. There are four sacred moments when a family raises its hands toward Mount Kenya to seek Ngai’s blessings: birth, initiation, marriage, and death. Perhaps the most elaborate rituals are those of initiation, which may be at the time of circumcision (leaving childhood for adult status) or when becoming an elder. At circumcision the elders draw emblems on the initiates’ bodies in chalk brought from Mount Kenya, a symbol of its eternal snow. At other special times, a red or black lamb is sacrificed to Ngai. The god is also beseeched for rain, and for blessings when holding a council or building a new house. The Kikuyu often build their homes facing the mountain. The mountain has continued to have special meaning in the life of the Kikuyu. During the Mau Mau rebellion against British colonialism in the 1950s, the guerrillas, mostly Kikuyu, took refuge in the forests of Mount Kenya, where they trusted Ngai to protect them. Before raids they offered sacrifices on the side of the mountain. Mount Kenya also represents freedom to the Kenyan people. On the eve of independence in 1963, Kenyan climbers raised the new flag on the summit at midnight to proclaim the new country. See also: Mountains

REFERENCES Mohamed Amin et al., On God’s Mountain. Walpole, MA, Hunter, 1992.

Mount Nebo, Jordan | 359 Edwin Bernbaum, Sacred Mountains of the World. San Francisco, Sierra Club, 1990. Jomo Kenyatta, Facing Mount Kenya. New York, Random House, reprint 1965.

MOUNT MERU Far above the physical world rests the cosmic pilgrimage goal for Hindus and Buddhists, the mythical Mount Meru. This mountain of ageless legend rises up to the abode of the gods—672,000 miles from the deepest reaches of the underworld to the highest point of heaven. It pierces the center of the earth and forms its axis. Everything in Hindu and Buddhist spiritual geography revolves around it. In Hindu mythology, the world is an ocean surrounding continents of mountains, and around the seas is an immense expanse of wind. In the center of all rises Mount Meru. The epic poem Mahabharata describes a hero figure who goes out from human existence to climb Mount Meru, where the king of all the gods, Brahman, lives. Of all the gods in the Hindu pantheon, Brahman, the supreme god, is never represented in art or statuary. He is the great Unknowable. Where Brahman rests on Mount Meru, the hero finds a place of wonder, with its four flanks made of lapis lazuli, ruby, gold, and crystal. From it flows the mighty Ganges, the mother of all rivers. Tibetan Buddhism also sees the mountain as the axis of the world, its roots reaching down to hell and its peak to heaven. The sun and moon circle around it. It rests on the backs of four elephants who themselves stand on the back of a great tortoise swimming in the ocean of life. Since ancient Buddhists thought that

the world was flat and surrounded by the oceans, Mount Meru became its center in their spiritual geography. Many Buddhists used to believe that Mount Meru existed literally. When western science showed the world to be round, some Buddhists rejected the new thinking, while most adapted to a metaphorical understanding of the mountain. The current Dalai Lama has spoken out against flat-earth theories. Many Hindu temples have been built according to the symbolism of Mount Meru. It appears in Buddhist murals and thankas. It rests beyond the physical plane of reality and represents perfection in all things. Beyond Mount Meru lies Shambhala, a mythical land of total peace, shaped like a lotus, the sacred flower of Buddhism. Shambhala is a place where ascended souls rest in their final step to buddahood. The myth of Shambhala gave rise in western fiction, and among some adventurers, to the legend of Shangri-la, a never-never land of riches, peace, and contentment. See also: Mount Kailash

REFERENCES Edwin Bernbaum, Sacred Mountains of the World. San Francisco, Sierra Club, 1990. Edwin Bernbaum, The Way of Shambhala: A Search for the Mythical Kingdom Beyond the Himalayas. Boston, MA, Shambhala, 2001. Donald Lopez, Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed. Chicago, University of Chicago, 2008.

MOUNT NEBO, JORDAN According to the Hebrew Scriptures (Deuteronomy 34:1–4), Moses was taken

360 | Mount Shasta, California, USA

up to the top of Mount Nebo and given a vision of the Land of Promise to which he had led his people from Egypt. He died shortly thereafter and was buried on its flanks in a place unknown. The mountain appears in scripture again, in 2 Maccabees 2:4–7, when the Prophet Jeremiah is said to have hidden the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle in a cave on Nebo. There they are to remain hidden until the ingathering of the Jewish nation in the messianic age. This has given Mount Nebo a mystical aura. Christianity placed its stamp on the mountain in several ways. A basilica and monastery were built on the top in the late 300s CE to commemorate Moses. There are accounts of prominent pilgrims visiting it when they made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Although the ruins were only rediscovered in 1933, there is a memorial church there now. A modern sculpture of the bronze serpent of Numbers 21:9 is also on the top of the mountain, which brings together the image of the serpent and the cross of Jesus. Parts of the expanded fifth-century basilica are intact. The original small church became the priest’s house and three naves were built in the courtyard. There was considerable mosaic work all along the inside walls, but little of that remains today. The beautiful mosaic floors that can be seen today are from the original baptistry. They feature animals and flowers and some abstract designs. From 1564 and for several centuries thereafter, the place was abandoned and then rediscovered in 1933. The memorial church and basilica were restored in the 1970s with a roof to shelter the ancient interior. Rows of broken columns mark

the naves, and the seating is provided by simple benches. Several remaining decorations were placed on the walls. There are small stained-glass windows, although that is anachronistic. The Franciscan friars, appointed the custodians of the holy places under the Catholic Church, maintain the site and have an active friary there. They purchased the property in 1993 and began further preservation and restoration. The Franciscan Archaeological Institute is also at the site. Jordanian Christians come to celebrate the feast of Moses on the Mount on September 5. The seventh-century Theotokos Chapel, dedicated to the Mother of God, has been restored but not developed for use. It has fine mosaic floors. There is an interesting wall mosaic of a ciborium, the container for the Communion bread. Muslims come to the sanctuary on a regular basis, since it is easier for them to travel in Jordan than for Jews. Not many Christians seem aware of the church, but tour companies have begun to add it to their itineraries, especially from Petra.

REFERENCE Amy Marcus, The View from Nebo. New York, Little, Brown, 2001.

MOUNT SHASTA, CALIFORNIA, USA Looming over the Cascade Range in northern California, Mount Shasta has long been sacred to the Native American Indians of northern California. The Shasta people believed that the Great

Mount Shasta, California, USA | 361 Spirit created the mountain from above, cutting a hole in the sky and pushing down ice and snow until a mountain was formed that pierced the clouds. The Great Spirit then used the mountain to step onto the earth, creating trees and calling upon the sun to melt snow to provide rivers and streams. He breathed upon the leaves of the trees and created birds to nest in their branches. When he broke up small twigs and cast them into the streams, they became fish. He cast branches into the forest to become animals; large animals sprang up when he threw down logs. The largest of these was the grizzly bear. For the Shasta, the mountain was at the center of creation. The Modoc people, who share this account, believe that the Great Spirit took up his abode on the mountain. His daughter, who fell from the mountain, was raised by grizzly bears and married one of their clan. Their children were the first humans. In punishment for violating his authority, the Great Spirit condemned the bear to walk on four legs and scattered their progeny all over the world. Later cults, copying quasi-Indian myths, tell the story of Coyote, who took refuge on the mountain when a flood covered the earth. His fires attracted other animals, and from them, life was renewed on the planet. Today, the Shasta people have largely disappeared, scattered or absorbed into other groups through intermarriage. Mount Shasta has taken on new religious meaning in recent years, becoming an important locale for New Age groups. Awed by its power as it sits atop a lava flow along a major fault line, many regard the mountain as a source of cosmic energy. Mount Shasta last erupted in 1786, but there are fumeroles (gas

and steam vents) on the mountain, as well as seven large glaciers. Shasta was one of the centers for the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, in which New Agers gathered at a number of “power points” in the hope that their united spiritual energy might avert world catastrophe and usher in an age of harmony and peace. Mount Shasta’s energy is said to be magnetic, drawing people toward it. More than a hundred New Age sects and groups regard Shasta as a sacred place. It has been identified as a UFO landing spot, a source of magic crystals, the entry point to the fifth dimension, and one of the nine sacred mountains of the world. The reference to the fifth dimension is based on the New Age belief that beyond the third dimension of human experience lies a fourth (time) and a fifth, playful tenderness. Mount Shasta is experienced by New Agers as a great mother and is often described as a mother’s breast, an experience of harmony and belonging. In 1932 the Rosicrucians popularized the claim that Shasta is home to a race of humanoid creatures, the Lemurians, who are so spiritually advanced that they are able to transform themselves from material to spiritual levels at will. They work their power through a great cache of crystals they brought with them from their original continent in the Pacific Ocean when it was destroyed in a volcanic eruption. The most famous New Age association of Mount Shasta has been with the Ascended Master St. Germaine, who first appeared when Guy Ballard, the founder of the “I AM” movement, claims to have met him on the slopes of Mount Shasta in 1930. Ascended Masters in New Age thought are those who have integrated

362 | Mount Sinai, Egypt

thought and feeling and manifest “the luminous essence of divine love.” According to New Age tradition, they guard and assist human evolution. The great popularizer of both the ideas associated with St. Germaine and revelations on Mount Shasta was Elizabeth Clare Prophet (1939–2009), one of the most prominent New Age teachers. The town of Mount Shasta, at the foot of the mountain, has become headquarters for a number of New Age and spiritualist societies. At several study centers in the town, seekers can explore esoteric teachings. In recent years, revived Native American religion has begun to celebrate Mount Shasta. Each year a sweat lodge ceremony is conducted halfway up the mountain. The Wintu, who have always venerated the mountain, invoke its spirit with ritual dances. See also: Mountains, Native American Sacred Places, New Age

REFERENCES William Hamilton, Mount Shasta, Home of the Ancients. Mokelumne Hill, CA, Health Research, 1986. Rosemary Holsinger, Shasta Indian Tales. Happy Camp, CA, Naturegraph, 1982. William Miesse, Sudden and Solitary: Mount Shasta and Its Artistic Legacy, 1840–2008. Berkeley, CA, Heyday, 2008. Christopher McLeod and Malinda Maynor, In the Light of Reverence. 2001, video.

MOUNT SINAI, EGYPT In the heart of the Sinai Desert, in an area with no natural attractions, a small

mountain rises, marking one of the great holy places of the Abrahamic faiths— Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It was there, on Mount Sinai, that Moses met God and received the stone tablets of the Law. It is known variously as Mount Sinai, Jebel Musa (Mount of Moses), and Mount Horeb. Earlier, when Moses was grazing his flocks on the side of the mountain, he came upon a burning bush that was not consumed, from which Yahweh spoke, calling Moses to deliver the Jews from bondage (Exodus 3:1–13). Much of the first half of the book of Exodus is the account of the people going to Sinai, where they camped in the wilderness. Here God spoke: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” Then God offered the Covenant by which the people became God’s “possession among all the peoples.” The people purified themselves for three days and then assembled at the foot of the mountain. Yahweh descended upon it in fire and it was wrapped in smoke and trembled. When Moses went up the mountain, God gave him the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1–17). The glory of the Lord, “like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain,” was visible to all the people. Even after the people built and worshipped a golden calf, God did not desert them but sent an angel to guide them from Mount Sinai to the other holy mountain, Mount Zion, identified with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Because Yahweh came down from the mountain and journeyed with them, Mount Sinai never became an organized place of pilgrimage for Jews, although many come today as religious tourists. The mountain never became holy in its

Mount Sinai, Egypt | 363 own right because God had gone from there, but the Covenant is holy, and the word of God remains. Sinai is invoked in synagogue services as a symbol of the Covenant. Christians, on the other hand, revered Mount Sinai as the site of the scenes so vividly told in Exodus. The area is sere and awesome; the mountain rises 7,500 feet above a wilderness wasteland of sand, rock, and burning sun. It was the perfect isolation for early Christian hermits, who began to settle on Jebel Musa, now known as Mount Sinai. They began to attract pilgrims despite the terrible conditions involved in making the trip. By 300 CE some of the hermits had banded together into monastic communities, partly to protect themselves from raids by desert bands who often murdered them or looted their simple possessions. The Empress St. Helena identified Mount Sinai as the location of the biblical place where the Tablets of the Law were given to Moses. In the sixth century, the Emperor Justinian built a fortified monastery on the site where the monks claimed to have found the burning bush. This became Saint Catherine’s Monastery, which has continued as an Orthodox monastery since that time. Guaranteed the protection of the new Islamic rulers who occupied Egypt several centuries later, the monastery maintained a precarious but continuing existence, and it is the primary Christian presence in the Sinai Desert. Muslims revere Moses as one of the prophets, but the mountain is mostly a Christian pilgrimage site. According to tradition, the body of St. Catherine of Alexandria, an Egyptian martyr, was carried by angels to a nearby mountain. There her relics were discovered and

brought to the monastery at the base of Mount Sinai, which was then named in her honor. St. Catherine’s also became the inspiration for a number of other monasteries throughout the world during the Middle Ages, and its fame spread. On special occasions, the marble reliquary where the relics are kept is opened for veneration, and each pilgrim is given a silver ring in memory of the one that legend says Christ gave to St. Catherine. Next to the monastery is a small mosque, whose mihrab (niche indicating the direction for prayer) is said to be where Moses hid his face before the Lord. The monks are Greek Orthodox, under the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople. Down to only seven monks in 1970, the monastery has grown steadily in recent years and now numbers about twenty. The compound is surrounded by granite walls and contains a principal church, many devotional chapels, a magnificent library of ancient manuscripts, and the monastery quarters. The church is on the supposed site of the burning bush, and the monks will show visitors the plant itself, which they believe to be thousands of years old. The monastery’s collection of icons is one of the finest in the world. Its isolation kept them from being destroyed during the iconoclast conflict, when those who opposed depictions of Christ or the saints broke up and burned any icons they could find. Consequently, St. Catherine’s collection includes the largest number of truly ancient icons in existence. Pilgrims usually attend liturgy at the monastery and may stay in a small hostel there, although most are housed in modern motels in the area, built for tourism. The main attraction is the ascent of

364 | Muharram, India

the mountain, up 3,750 stone steps cut into the mountainside. American tourists nicknamed it “God’s Stairmaster,” but it is more commonly known as the “stairs of penitence.” It is customary to make the climb during the night, both to avoid the heat of the day and to be on the summit for dawn. There is a second and easier way, the Camel Path (4.3 miles). At the top is a small modern chapel built on the ruins of a sixteenth-century church. Legend says that it encloses the rock from which the Tablets of the Law were struck. Close to the top is an arch where monks once heard confessions and refused entry onto the holy ground for those whose sinfulness or lack of faith made them unworthy and thus might cause God to strike them down. Near the peak is a stone hut marking the spot where the Prophet Elijah heard the voice of God in the breeze, telling him to anoint a new king in Israel. At the summit, the view of the surrounding desert and mountains is powerful and moving. Mount Sinai presents itself as a huge altar of God, a place to worship his might. There are other sites that are ascribed to various biblical events of the Exodus besides the burning bush, but few religious tourists seek them out. There is a cave where Elijah hid from the wicked King Ahab, the place where the Golden Calf is said the have stood, and the rock of Meribah that Moses struck to bring forth water for the Jews in the desert. See also: Mountains, Mount Athos

REFERENCES John Gayley, Sinai and the Monastery of St. Catherine. London, Chatto & Windus, 1980.

Joseph Hobbs, Mount Sinai. Austin, TX, University of Texas, 1995. Jill Kamil, The Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai. Cairo, American University of Cairo, 1991.

MUHARRAM, INDIA Shiite Muslims observe a month of mourning in honor of Hussein Ali, who was martyred at the Battle of Karbala. Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. On the tenth day, Ashura, the observance reaches its high point. The remembrance includes gatherings to commemorate Hussein’s death and to study Islamic teaching. There are lamentations and ceremonies of grief. His killers are reviled in speeches and cries from the pilgrims, including ritual cursing of his killers. The memorials began within a year after Hussein’s death in 680 and soon spread through much of the Middle East. It is common to fast during the month, and music and weddings are forbidden for the first ten days. Imams recount the story or the battle, in which seventy-two of Hussein’s companions perished (including his sixmonth-old son), and the rest of the women and children were taken into slavery. The event is often re-enacted in dramas, punctuated by the singing of funeral songs. Pilgrims beat their chests (matam), lash their backs with chainmail whips, and strike themselves with swords, all in union with the sufferings of the martyrs. The fervor and anguish expressed at Muharram can break out into disturbances. In India, where it is known as Azadari, the government finally banned the practice after several fatal riots.

Al-muharraq, Assiut, Egypt | 365 Despite the ban, thousands of Indian Muslims have ignored government restrictions, and several youths have died while on hunger strikes against the ban. When a peace march was organized in 1997, the leaders were arrested, invoking the National Security Act. This was widely interpreted as an anti-Muslim move by the Hindu majority. Finally, the following year a compromise was reached allowing nine processions. Because the distance from Karbala makes the pilgrimage there difficult for most Shi’a, people bring soil from Karbala to their towns and built small mausoleums where the Azadari could be performed. The procession begins with a white riderless horse, representative if Hussein’s. It is said that when his riderless horse returned to the camp where the women waited, they realized that he had been killed. Replicas of Hussein’s mausoleum are built and carried in the Azadari processions, covered with flowers. These exvotos are then ritually buried on Ashura. Similar processions are kept in places as far-flung as Indonesia, Bahrain, and Trinidad, where it is called Hosay. Both Sunni and Shi’a take part, but without the ritual beatings. The passion plays are given by professional groups, although these are now less common. They were banned in Iran by the last Shah, and the ban continued under Saddam Hussein. Since his removal from office and execution, they have returned at Karbala. See also: Karbala

REFERENCES Patrick Gore, The Month of Muharram. Lincoln, NE, iUniverse, 2001.

Frank Koram, Hosay Trinidad: Muharram Performances in an IndoCaribbean Diaspora. Philadelphia, PA, University of Pennsylvania, 2003. David Pinault, Horse of Karbala. New York, Palgrave/St. Martin’s, 2001.

AL-MUHARRAQ , ASSIUT, EGYPT The monastery of Muharraq is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is supposedly one of the places where Joseph, Mary, and the child Jesus stopped on their flight into Egypt. The name means “burnt monastery,” which recalls its destruction by fire at the hands of marauders in the Middle Ages. The Chapel of Mary is supposedly is one of the places where the holy family rested on its journey. It is claimed to be from the first century CE, and the altar stone is believed to be where the baby Jesus was laid. The holy family came down the Nile by boat and landed at a place called Qusquam, where they lived for six months. The cave in which they stayed is the site of the Coptic monastery, a walled and fortified compound with five churches. The current monastery hosts large numbers of Orthodox pilgrims, especially at feasts and from Palm Sunday to Pentecost. During the last ten days of June there is a pilgrimage for the anniversary of the dedication of the Chapel of Mary (al-Adra). It is marked with religious services, dancing, and music. The first monastery was built by St. Pachomius, one of the founders of Egyptian monasticism, and his rule of life is still kept there. The monastery has had a significant increase in numbers since the 1970s and

366 | Muslim Pilgrimage

now has about a hundred monks, many younger men and professionals. It has enjoyed the strong support of recent Coptic popes. The main church has three naves: one for the devout, another for penitents and a third for catechumens (candidates for baptism who are being instructed and are not yet allowed to receive the sacraments). The chapel has never been fully renovated and remains close to the original. The church surrounding it has been repaired several times in past centuries. The interior is lit by pure olive oil, and ostrich eggs, a symbol of the Resurrection, are used for decoration. The second church (1880), behind it, is dedicated to St. George and known for its paintings of the twelve apostles. The third, St. Michael Archangel, is built in the keep, a tower where the monks could take refuge during attacks by desert tribes. Since 1975, the monastery has been the location of a special seminary to educate young candidates for service as rural pastors. The Coptic Church felt that away from the distractions of Cairo, they would be better prepared for the harsher conditions away from the city. See also: Abu Mena, Flight into Egypt, Scete

REFERENCES Gawdat Gabra, Be Thou There: The Holy Family’s Journey in Egypt. Cairo, American University, 2001. Otto Meinardus, Coptic Saints and Pilgrimages. Cairo, American University, 2002. Claudia Wiens, Coptic Life in Egypt. Cairo, American University, 2003. www.almuharraqmonastery.com.

MUSLIM PILGRIMAGE When most people think of Muslim pilgrimages, the Hajj is the only thing that comes to mind. There are, however, many more pilgrimage places in Islam, some of them vying for prominence with others (although few would dare compare themselves to Mecca). The Hajj is enjoined on every healthy Muslim male at least once in his life. Women may go also, but only in the presence of a husband or male relative. Even today with national subsidies, modern transport, and high levels of organization, this can be a burden on an average family. Of the five prescripts of Islam, one requires giving alms, and one of the highest forms of charity is to help pay for the Hajj for another person. Nevertheless, the Hajj requires financial sacrifice, and the Qur’an recognizes this in Sura 2:196–198, when it says that the Hajj should not cause undue hardship on a family. The Hajj is conducted once a year during the period of Id-ul-Adha, but at any other time of year a Muslim may make the umra, or “little hajj” to Mecca. It is not as elaborate and does not replace the obligation of the Hajj itself. The Hajj is supposed to be a transforming experience, one that brings the title “haji,” which the Muslim pilgrim carries with pride. Sura 2:45 says: “Have they not travelled in the land so that they should have hearts with which to understand or ears with which to hear?” Among the theological divisions that have splintered Islam into many sects and interpretations, there are varying expectations of pilgrimage. The Sunni in general reject all veneration of saints

Muslim Pilgrimage | 367 and holy men and discourage shrines and pilgrimages. Therefore, Islamic pilgrimage is largely a Shi’a practice. The most notable exception is found among the Sufis, who have a robust saint veneration tradition. They visit shrines and tombs of their holy men with processions and celebrations of various kinds. The farther away from Mecca that one goes, the less likely it is that a strict interpretation of pilgrimage and saint veneration will obtain. Indian and Pakistani Sunnis have many shrines, as do the Indonesians. These countries have among the largest Islamic populations found anywhere. India alone is estimated to have several thousand Islamic shrines and tombs. North Africa, especially Morocco, has a shrine or holy place in most villages, and local pilgrimages are regular events. They are often regarded as substitute pilgrimages, and Muslims will state that a certain number of pilgrimages to a secondary site is the equivalent of the Hajj to the Holy Places. The Shi’a openly embrace the idea of saints and encourage pilgrimage to their shrines. The most important of these are Najaf and Karbala, the mausoleum of Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet, and the place where Ali was martyred. One of the best known Sufi shrines is that of Rumi, the celebrated Dervish and poet, in Konya, Turkey. Among others are Pakistan’s Lal Shahbaz Qalander and the Masjid al-Badawi in Egypt. Going to these shrines is a form of ziyarat, pilgrimage to the tombs of holy men. The largest pilgrimages are usually on the mawlid or birthday of the saint. Pilgrims come for a variety of reasons, perhaps to honor the saint or to seek some intercession for their needs. Many are fulfilling a vow made when they

asked the saint to bring them good health, bring them a child, or settle some personal matter. One custom is to tie a colored ribbon or a small lock to the grating at the tomb and to vow to return in pilgrimage if the wish is granted. Flowers are a popular offering at tomb-shrines, but food and other items are brought as well to receive the baraka (blessing) of the shrine, which can then be taken home and shared with others. Some who have come to fulfill a vow will buy food to distribute to the poor as part of their promise, and the gates around tomb-shrines tend to attract beggars. Entering the shrine, the pilgrim removes his shoes and gives them to a watchman who oversees them. He is careful not to step in the threshold, and then he walks meditatively around the tomb, greeting the saint as he goes. Most tombs will be shielded by a grating, but sometimes it is possible to reach through and touch the tomb itself. When they are ready to leave, they must back out, never turning away from the shrine. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is also known as the “noble sanctuary.” It is considered one of the three main shrines of Islam, the place where Mohammed received the Qur’an and went on his night journey to heaven on his death in 632. All branches of Islam revere it and come in pilgrimage. They revere the footprint of his horse in a large rock, made when the Angel Gabriel attempted to hold Muhammed back as he ascended. The Dome of the Rock is not a mosque but a shrine, capped by a golden cupola. The walls are decorated by tilework describing the Night Journey and also almost 800 feet of beautiful Arabic calligraphy praising Allah. Beneath the

368 | Muslim Pilgrimage

Rock is a cave where the pious believe the souls of the dead rest before going on to heaven. The mosque on the Temple Mount is the Al-Aqsa. Muslims also go to Jewish and Christian shrines that honor personalities from their common traditions. Machpelah (the tombs of Abraham and Sarah and their families) and Rachel’s Tomb are examples, but one is likely to see Muslims quietly entering Marian shrines in many countries.

See also: Hajj, Jerusalem, Islamic Sites, Kairouan, Karbala, Konya, Najaf

REFERENCES Dale Eickelman and James Piscatori, eds., Muslim Travellers. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1990. Olija Trojanov, Mumbai to Mecca: A Pilgrimage to the Holy Sites of Islam. London, Haus, 2007.

Encyclopedia of Sacred Places


Encyclopedia of Sacred Places Second Edition

Norbert C. Brockman

Volume 2 N–Z

Copyright 2011 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brockman, Norbert C., 1934– Encyclopedia of sacred places / Norbert C. Brockman. — 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–1–59884–654–6 (hard copy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978–1–59884–655–3 (ebook) 1. Sacred space—Encyclopedias. I. Title. BL580.B76 2011 2030 .503—dc22 2011003155 ISBN: 978–1–59884–654–6 EISBN: 978–1–59884–655–3 15 14 13 12 11

1 2 3 4 5

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

Preface, xiii

Baalbek, Lebanon,

Maps, xvii

Baba Sali, Israel, 35 Babi Yar, Ukraine,

Volume 1

Baha’i World Centre, Israel, 40

Abu Mena, Egypt, 3

Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 41

Acropolis, Greece, 4

Batu Caves, Malaysia, 43

Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada), Sri Lanka, 6 African Shrines,

Bayside, New York, 44

7

Begijnhof, The Netherlands, 45

Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Kazakhistan, 8

Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority, 46

9

Alamo, Texas, USA, 11

Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Wyoming, USA, 49

Ancestor Shrines, 13 Angkor Wat, Cambodia, 14

Black Hills, South Dakota/Wyoming, USA, 51

Anne Frank House, The Netherlands, 17 Anurhadhpura, Sri Lanka, 18 Assisi, Italy,

36

Bagan, Myanmar/Burma, 37

Aachen Cathedral, Germany, 1

Ajanta, India,

33

Bodhnath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal, 53

19

Attukal Pongala, India, 22

Bom Jesus, Goa, India,

54

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland, 22

Bom Jesus da Lapa, Brazil,

Avebury, Great Britain, 25 ´ vila, Spain, 27 A

Bom Jesus do Monte, Portugal, 56

Axum, Ethiopia, 29

Breton Pardons, France, 59

Borobudur, Indonesia, 57

v

55

vi | Contents

Buchenwald, Weimar, Germany, 61 Buddhist Pilgrimages, 63

Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, California, USA, 116

Bukhara, Uzbekistan, 65

Cuzco, Peru, 117

Cahokia Mounds, Illinois, USA, 67

Cyber Pilgrimage, 119

Camp and Brush Arbor Meetings, USA, 69

Dachau, Germany, 121

Canterbury Cathedral, England, 71 Canterbury Tales, England, 73

Damien of Moloka’i, Hawai’i, USA, 124

Cao Dai Temple, Vietnam, 75

Day of the Dead, 126

Carnac, France, 77

Debra Libanos, Ethiopia,

Cartago, Costa Rica, 79

Deir Mar Antonios, Egypt, 129

Catacombs, Rome, Italy, 80

Delos, Greece,

Cathar Sites, France, 83

Delphi, Greece,

Caves, 85

Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, USA,

Cemeteries, 86

Dharamsala, India,

Chaco, New Mexico, USA, 88

Didyma, Turkey,

Chalma, Mexico, 90

Dilwara, Mount Abu, India,

Changu Narayan Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal, 92

Divina Providencia, Puerto Rico, USA, 139 Divine Mercy Shrine, Krako´w, Poland, 140 Djenne´, Mali, 141

Chao Tuptim (Penis Shrine), Bangkok, Thailand, 93 Char Dham, India,

94

Chartres Cathedral, France,

96

Damascus, Syria, 123

127

130 132 134

136 137 138

Dodona, Epirus, Greece, 142

Chichen Itza, Mexico, 98

Dogon Cliffs, Mali, 143

Chimayo, New Mexico, USA, 100

Eighty-Eight Temples Pilgrimage, Shikoku, Japan, 147

Chogyesa Temple, Seoul, South Korea, 101

Einsiedeln, Switzerland, 149

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, 103

Eisenach, Germany,

Cluny Abbey, France, 104

EkuPhakameni, South Africa,

El Cobre, Cuba,

Elephanta Caves, Mumbai, India,

105

Colosseum, Rome, Italy, 107

Eleusis, Greece,

Conques, Aveyron, France,

Ellora Caves, India,

109

151 152

154 155

Consolatrice, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, 111

Emei Shan, China, 157

Coptic Cairo, Egypt, 112

Ephesus, Turkey,

Croagh Patrick, Ireland, 115

Erawan Shrine, Thailand, 161

Emerald Buddha, Thailand, 158 159

153

Contents | vii The Hiding Place, Haarlem, The Netherlands, 221

Esquipulas, Guatemala, 162 Externsteine, Germany,

163

Hill Cumorah, Palmyra, NY, USA, 223

Ex-Votos, 165 Eyup Camii, Istanbul, Turkey,

166

Ezekiel’s Tomb, Hillah, Iraq, 167 Fatima, Portugal,

Hindu Temples,

169

224

Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Japan, 226

Fertility Shrines, 172 Fire, Sacred,

Hill of Crosses, Silauliai, Lithuania, 223

Holocaust Sites,

173

Flight into Egypt, Egypt, 174 Four Sacred Mountains, China, 175 Gadhimai Festival, Nepal, 179

Holy Blood, Brugge/Bruges, Belgium, 232 Icons, 235 Infant Jesus of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic, 236

Garden Tomb, Israel, 180 The Gargano Massif, Italy,

228

180

Iona, Argyll, Scotland, 238

Geneva, Switzerland, 182

Ise, Japan, 240

Ggantija, Gozo, Malta,

Isis Temple, Philae, Egypt, 242

184

Ghost Festival, Asia, 185

Israelite Sanctuaries, 243

Glastonbury, United Kingdom, 186

Istanbul Mosques, 245

Glendalough, Ireland,

Izumo Taisha Shrine, Japan, 247

188

Golden Temple, Amritsar, India, 189 Goreé Island, Dakar, Senegal, 190

Janakpur, Nepal, 249

Goreme Caves, Turkey, 192

Jasna Gora, Poland, 251

Japanese Pilgrimages, 250

Got Kwer, Migori, Kenya, 194

Jerusalem, Christian Sites,

Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe,

Jerusalem, Islamic Sites, 255

195

253

Groves, 197

Jerusalem, Jewish Sites, 257

Guadalupe, Mexico City, Mexico, 198

Jethro’s Tomb, Tiberias, Israel,

Guadalupe, Spain, 200

Jewish Pilgrimages, 260

Gunung Agung, Bali, Indonesia, 201

Jim Morrison Grave, Paris, France, 261

Gypsy Pilgrimages, Stes-Marie-de-laMer, France, 204 Hacibektas, Turkey,

205

Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, Malta, Hagia Sophia, Turkey,

206

207

259

Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet, China, 262 Julian of Norwich, Norwich, United Kingdom, 265

Hajj, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, 210

Kairouan, Tunisia, 267

Hasedera Temple, Japan, 215

Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India, 269

Hearth of Buddhism, India/Nepal, 216

Karbala, Iraq, 270

Hebron, Palestinian Authority,

Kasubi Tombs, Kampala, Uganda, 272

219

viii | Contents

Kek Lok Si, Air Itam, Malaysia, 275

Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, India, 326

Kibeho, Rwanda, 276

Meritxell, Andorra, 327

Kilauea, Hawai’i,

Meron, Israel, 328

Kata Tjuta, Australia, 274

278

Konya, Turkey, 280

Meteora Monasteries, Greece, 329

Korean Martyrs’ Shrines, 282

The Mezquita, Spain, 330

Kumbh Mela Sites, India,

Midsummer, 332

283

Kyoto, Japan, 285

Monte Cassino, Cassino, Italy,

Labyrinths, 289

Mont Saint-Michel, France,

Lakmuang Shrine, Bangkok, Thailand, 290

Montserrat, Spain, 338

Lalibela, Ethiopia, 291

Moria, South Africa,

La Vang, Quang Tri, Vietnam, 292

Mormon Temple, Utah, USA, 343

Le Puy-en-Velay, France, 293

Mound Builders, USA, 344

Lindisfarne, England, 294

Mountains, 347

Lisieux, France,

Mount Athos, Greece,

335

Moradas, New Mexico, USA, 339

296

341

349

Loboc, Vizcaya, Philippines, 297

Mount Brandon, Ireland,

Loppiano, Italy,

Mount Carmel, Israel, 352

Loreto, Italy,

334

298

351

Mount Fuji, Japan, 353

299

Lough Derg, Ireland, 300

Mount Kailash, Tibet, China, 355

Lourdes, France,

Mount Kenya, Kenya, 357

302

Luther Circle, Germany, 305

Mount Meru, 359

Ly Bat De, Dinh Bang, Vietnam, 307

Mount Nebo, Jordan, 359

Machu Picchu, Peru, 309

Mount Shasta, California, USA, 360

Maria Lionza, Sorte, Venezuela,

310

Mount Sinai, Egypt, 362

Marian Apparitions, 311

Muharram, India, 364

Mariapocs, Hungary, 315

Al-Muharraq, Assiut, Egypt, 365

Mariazell, Austria, 316

Muslim Pilgrimage, 366

Martyrs’ Hill, Nagasaki, Japan, 317 Masada, Israel,

318

Masjid al-Badawi, Tanta, Egypt, 320 Maximon, Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, 321

Volume 2 Nachman of Breslov, Uman, Ukraine, 369 Najaf, Iraq, 370

Medicine Wheels, Canada/USA, 323

Nankana Sahib, Pakistan,

Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 324

Nan Madol, Pohnpei, 372 Nara, Japan, 373

371

Contents | ix Native American Sacred Places, 375

Pilgrimage, 422

Nazareth, Israel, 378

Pilgrim’s Progress, England, 425

Nazca Lines, Peru, 379

Plaine du Nord, Haı¨ti, 426

New Age,

Plotzensee Memorial, Berlin, Germany, 427

380

Newgrange, Ireland, 382 Nidaros, Trondheim, Norway, 383 Nikko, Japan, 385 North American Martyrs, New York/ Ontario, 387 Nui Ba Den, Tay Ninh, Vietnam, 388 Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany, 391

Pochayiv Lavra, Pochayiv, Ukraine, 429 Po Lin, Hong Kong, China, 431 Potala Palace, Tibet, China, 432 Prambanan, Candi Prambanan, Indonesia, 434 Pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt, 435

Old-New Synagogue, Prague, Czech Republic, 392

Qalandar Shrine, Sehwan, Pakistan, 439

Olympia, Greece, 393

Qufu, China, 442

Orissa Triangle, India,

396

Oscar Wilde Grave, Paris, France, 398 Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, Nigeria, 399

Qom, Iran, 440 Quinming Festival, Taiwan/China, 443 Rachel’s Tomb, Bethlehem, Palestine, 445 Rapa Nui, Easter Island, Chile, 446

Our Lord in the Attic, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 400

Relics, 448

Pac Ou Caves, Laos,

Rey, Iran, 453

403

Padre Cicero Shrine, Juazeiro, Brazil, 404 Padre Pio Shrine, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, 405 Painted Monasteries, Romania, 406 Paray-le-Monial, France,

408

Paris, France, 410 Pashupatinath, Deopatan, Nepal, 413 Patmos, Dodecanese, Greece, 414 Pedro Betancourt Shrine, Antigua, Guatemala, 415 Perchersk Lavra, Kiev, Ukraine, 416 Pere Lachaise Cemetery, France, 418 Petra, Jordan, 419 El Pilar, Spain, 421

Religious Tourism, 450 al-Reza Shrine, Mashhad, Iran, 454 Rila Monastery, Bulgaria, 455 El Rincon, Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, 457 Rocamadour, France, 458 Rock of Cashel, Ireland, 460 Rome, Italy, 461 Sabarimala, Kerala, India,

465

Sabbathday Lake, Maine,

466

Sacre Coeur, Paris, France,

468

Sacrimonte, Italy, 470 Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain, 471 Saint Anthony of Padua, Italy, 473 Sainte-Anne De Beaupre´, Que´bec, Canada, 474

x | Contents

Sainte-Croix, Port Louis, Mauritius, 475

Shrines,

Saint Gobnait, Ballyvourney, Cork, Ireland, 476

Shroud of Turin, Italy, 516

Saint Januarius, Naples, Italy, 477

513

Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar/ Burma, 517

Saint-Jean-du-Doigt, France, 478 Saint Joseph’s Oratory, Montreál, Canada, 479

Simeon the Stylite, Aleppo, Syria, 519

Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy, 481

Snake Temple, Penang, Malaysia, 525

Saint Willibrord’s Shrine, Echternach, Luxembourg, 483

Solomon’s Temple, Jerusalem, Ancient Israel, 526

Saint Winifred’s Well, Holywell, Wales, UK, 484

Songkran, Thailand, 527

San Antonio Mission Trail, Texas, USA, 486

Stonehenge, England, 529

San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, Mexico, 488

Sun Dance, USA/Canada, 532

Skellig Michael, Ireland, 520 Slave Depots,

522

Spirit Houses, 528 Stupa, 530

San Juan del Valle, San Juan, Texas, USA, 489

Swayambhunath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal, 533

Santa Muerte (Holy Death), Mexico City, Mexico, 490

Sweat Lodge, USA, 535

Santiago De Compostela, Spain, 491

T’ai Shan, Tai’an, China, 537 Taize´, France, 539

Santo Nino De Cebu, Philippines, 494

Taj Mahal, India, 540

San Xavier del Bac, Arizona, USA, 495

Taoist Sacred Mountains, China, 542

Saut d’Eau, Ville Bonheur, Haı¨ti, 497

Tarxien and the Hypogeum, Gozo, Malta, 545

Sayyida Zeinab Shrine, Damascus, Syria, 498 Scete, Waˆdıˆ el Natruˆn, Egypt, 499 Sea of Galilee, Israel, 501 Secular Shrines,

502

Taputapuatea, Opoa, Fiji,

544

Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China, 546 Teotihuacan, Mexico City, Mexico, 547

Sedona, Arizona, USA, 504

Thebes and Luxor, Egypt, 549

Sergiev Posad, Russia, 505

Theotokos of Vladimir, Moscow, Russia, 551

Serpent Mound, Ohio, USA, 507 Seven Sleepers, Caves of, Ephesus, Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Petra, Jordan, 509

Thousand Buddhas Caves, Dunhuang, China, 552 Tinos, Greece,

555

Shiloh, Ancient Israel, 510

Titicaca, Copacabana, Bolivia, 556

Shinto Shrines, Japan, 511

Tiwanaku, Bolivia, 557

Contents | xi Tokyo, Japan, 558 Tooth Temple, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 560

Wat Phra Phutthabat, Saraburi, Thailand, 602

Touba, Senegal, 562

Wat Po, Bangkok, Thailand, 603

Trier, Germany, 563

Wells and Springs, 604

Tsechu Festival, Bhutan, 565

Wenwu Temple, Taiwan, 606

Tula, Tula de Allende, Mexico, 566

Wesley’s Chapel, London, UK, 607

Twelve-Year Cycle Pilgrimage, Thailand, 566

Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel, 608

Ubirr, Kakadu, Australia, 571

White Buffalo, USA/Canada, 613 Wieliczka Salt Mine, Krako´w, Poland, 613

Udvada Fire Temple, India,

572

Ugandan Martyrs’ Shrines, Uganda, 573

Westminster Abbey, England, 611

Wondugan Altar, Seoul, South Korea, 614

Uluru, Australia, 575 United States’ Holocaust Memorial, DC, USA, 576

Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel, 617

Uppsala Temple, Gamla Uppsala, Sweden, 577

Yazilikaya, Bogazkale, Turkey, 620

Urkupina Festival, Qillacollo, Bolivia, 578 Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico, 579

Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico, 625 Zebrzydowska Chapel, Krako´w, Poland, 626

Varanasi, India,

Zoroastrian Fire Temples,

583

Verden, Germany, 585 Vestal Temple, Rome, Italy, Ve´zelay, France, 588

587

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, DC, USA, 590 Vision Quest, USA/Canada, 591

Yasukuni Jinja, Tokyo, Japan, 618 York Minster, England, 622

627

Appendix A Sacred Sites Listed by Religious Tradition, 631 Appendix B Entries Listed by Country, 639

Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria, South Africa, 593

Appendix C Entries on the UNESCO World Heritage List, 647

The Vrindavan Krishna Shrines, Mathura, India, 594

Glossary, 651

Walsingham, England, 597

Further Reference Works, 661

War Memorials, 599

Illustration Credits, 665

Wat Arun, Bangkok, Thailand, 601

Index, 671


N

After his death, no successor was named, but his disciples continued to come to him at his tomb, and the grave has become an important Hasidic pilgrimage place. Most Breslovers consider it an obligation to make the pilgrimage, and the preferred time is Rosh Hashana. Under Communism, the pilgrimages were forbidden, although a trickle of Hasidim made the trek to the tomb. The border with Poland, the source of most pilgrims, was closed. All foreigners were forbidden to enter Uman. One result of this was that other Hasidic followers of Rabbi Nachman organized Rosh Hashana gatherings, first in Poland and then in Israel and New York, where they continue. The pilgrimage was totally interrupted during World War II but was resumed after the fall of Communism in 1989. The Holocaust decimated the Breslover Hasidim, but now many other Orthodox Jews began to undertake the pilgrimage. Today, more than 25,000 make the pilgrimage to his tomb annually for Rosh Hashana.

NACHMAN OF BRESLOV, UMAN, UKRAINE Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810) was one of the most prominent teachers of Hasidism, a mystical form of Judaism. He was a great-grandson of the founder of the movement, the Baal Shem Tov (Israel ben Eleazar, c. 1700–1760). In 1810 Breslov left after his home was destroyed in a fire. Already seriously ill with tuberculosis, he accepted the offer of a group of Breslovers to emigrate to Uman, but he died shortly after his arrival. During his lifetime, Rabbi Nachman attracted a considerable following and was sought after for his teaching and advice. He was the acknowledged founder and teacher of the Breslov School, bringing together Kabbalistic mysticism and Torah scholarship. He taught a personal closeness to God, free from condemnation and fear. Disciples gathered around him from his earliest years. It was especially their custom to gather around him for Rosh Hashana for instruction.

369

370 | Najaf, Iraq

When the synagogue built to handle the crowds at Rosh Hashana was made into a factory by the Soviets, the grave was not disturbed. The tomb is housed in a white timber building and it is the focus of the pilgrimage. The events are held elsewhere in the city: teachings in multiple languages and a final parade of all the pilgrims, clad in white and singing and dancing. Rabbi Nachman was a tzaddik, a holy and righteous man, and he taught that every person had the potential to become a tzaddik. This contradicted the tradition that held that a tzaddik had to be the descendant of another in a line of righteous men. He refused to base his credibility on his ancestry, illustrious though it was. He endured much opposition from within the Hasidic movement and from more traditional Orthodox Jews. Among other things, he was accused of claiming to be the messiah, although he never did. See also: Jewish Pilgrimages

REFERENCES Perle Epstein, Kabbalah: The Way of the Jewish Mystic. Boston, MA, Shambhala, 2001. Tamar Frankiel, Kabbalah: A Brief Introduction for Christians. Woodstock, VT, Jewish Lights, 2006. Arthur Green, Tormented Master: A Life of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslov. Tuscaloosa, AL, University of Alabama, 1979. www.breslov.org.

NAJAF, IRAQ Najaf and Karbala, fifty miles apart, are centers of Shi’a teaching and devotion

and are often thought of as a unit. They share the same devotional focus and Shi’a faith, but they are separate, although complementary. After Mohammed’s death in 632, Islam was divided between the Shi’a, who believed that leadership should pass to his descendants, and the Sunni, who believed that their leadership should arise from inside the community. In practice, the latter did not mean a democratic choice, but the assumption of authority by prominent and powerful figures. Najaf is the location of the shrine of the first Shi’ite imam, Ali, son-in-law of Mohammed. Many Shi’a bring their dead to the shrine, carrying the coffin around the sarcophagus before taking it away to be buried. It is considered holy to be buried in Najaf near Ali and to be raised with him on the Day of Judgment. The cemetery is reputed to be the largest in the Muslim world. Ali’s tomb, however, may be only a symbolic resting place rather than the actual one. Legend says he was buried secretly in an unknown place, only to have it revealed miraculously a century later. Besides the traditional dome over the tomb, Najaf has cells for Sufi mystics who have formed convents there. Nearby are other shrines, including a mosque on the spot where Ali was martyred. Many Shi’a are called Twelvers because they believe that the twelfth imam, who disappeared, will one day return as the messiah to inaugurate a new era of justice. According to legend, this Hidden Imam appears each Tuesday for sunset prayer at a certain Najaf mosque, which always draws crowds on that day. For many years, Najaf was the center of Shi’a learning, but in the twentieth

Nankana Sahib, Pakistan | 371 century this role was shifted to Qom in Iran. Najaf, which traditionally avoided all politics, took up the cause of the Iranian ayatollahs in the religious and political revolution of the 1970s against the last shah of Iran. Ayatollah Khomeini lived in exile here from 1965 to 1978, teaching at the seminary and leading opposition to the shah’s government. Subsequently, under Saddam Hussein, most of the Najaf shrines were despoiled by the Iraqi government, and many people believe that the stolen shrine gold and jewels personally enriched the family of President Hussein. Senior clerics were assassinated and many ordinary people disappeared under Saddam’s regime. The most outrageous act, however, took place when a highway was thrust through the center of the cemetery. In a somewhat cynical turnabout, Hussein made a great show of repairing damage to the shrines caused when his army recaptured the city in 1991 after a rebellion against his regime. From the start of the American invasion in 2003, Najaf suffered from attacks and bombings. The city fell to American forces after heavy bombardment and a siege. The Imam Ali Mosque was bombed later that year with great loss of life. One armed faction, the Mahdi Army, occupied the shrine and a number of other mosques. They fought one battle in the cemetery with American tank corps, followed by another against United States Marines and five battalions of the U.S. Army. See also: Karbala, Qom

REFERENCES Fouad Ajami, The Foreigner’s Gift: The Americans, Arabs, and Iraqis in Iraq. New York, Free Press, 2007.

Yitzhak Nakash, The Shi’as of Iraq. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, revised edition, 2003. Living Islam. New York, BBC, 1993, video.

NANKANA SAHIB, PAKISTAN Guru Nanak (1469–1513) was the founder and first leader of the Sikh faith. His shrine-tomb is a major place of pilgrimage for Sikhs worldwide, especially for his birthday in the fall of each year and for the Sikh New Year in April. Nanak founded his new faith around 1500 after a series of pilgrimages to Hindu and Muslim holy places, seeking the true religion. When he found both major faiths in India to be deficient, he was inspired to begin a new movement, which now counts some twenty-five million followers, mostly in India. Nanak became its first guru in a succession of inspired leaders. Guru Nanak was a strict monotheist, and he spoke against ritual and ceremony as superstitions. He insisted that the essence of true faith lay in the interior of the soul. This disapproval extended to pilgrimage, which he downgraded in several of his writings. Despite that, he went to Mecca and to Hindu holy sites in his quest for enlightenment. As a consequence, Sikhs do not consider pilgrimage an essential expression of their religion but follow it because their founder did. The primary pilgrimage site is the Golden Temple, where the scriptures (Adi Granth) of Guru Nanak are enshrined. Nanak’s mausoleum is fairly recent. It contains his tomb and many relics and artifacts from him, including some items of clothing. Pilgrims approach it barefoot

372 | Nan Madol, Pohnpei

and with heads covered as signs of reverence. In Nankana Sahib there are nine gurdwaras, Sikh houses of prayer. The Gurdwara Janam Asthan is built over the spot of Guru Nanak’s birthplace. The birth celebration, which sees about 15,000 pilgrims come to the town, lasts for three days. In a tribute to Guru Nanak’s disdain for ritual, the date chosen is not the supposed birthday, but the full moon of the month opposite it on the calendar. During the observance, the entire Granth is read over two days while fireworks light up the sky. Then the Adi Granth is taken in procession through the city to the singing of hymns. This is followed by the langar, a sacred meal that is served to all. Every gurdwara serves a daily langar to whomever comes, of any faith. It is always vegetarian, so that no one feels excluded by dietary requirements. The spirit of the langar is that of a community meal of sharing and oneness. The Sikhs experience hostility from the majority Muslims in Pakistan, where Islam is the official religion. Guru Nanak was pacifist, but after several of his successors were murdered and atrocities were committed against others, including mass murders, Sikh men began the custom of carrying a dagger in their belts as a symbol of self-protection. After the partition of India and Pakistan, travel to the shrine and its upkeep have been difficult. There are only a handful of Sikhs still residing in Nankana Shahib today. See also: Golden Temple

REFERENCE W. Owen Cole, Understanding Sikhism. Edinburgh, Scotland, Dunedin Academic, 2004.

Harish Dillon, The First Sikh Spiritual Master. Woodstock, VT, Skylight Paths, 2006. W. H. McLeod, The Sikhs. New York, Columbia University, 1989.

NAN MADOL, POHNPEI Between 500 and 1600 CE, a small island in the Caroline Islands near Guam was the social and religious center of a powerful Pacific island dynasty, the Saudeleurs, who ruled Pohnpei (Ponape) for sixteen generations. The clan took its name from a prominent sacred high priest, Sau Deleur, who ruled around 1000 CE and completed the construction of a unique sacred city. On the reef and tidal flats on the eastern shore of Pohnpei, the Saudeleurs built ninety-two artificial islands as their capital and cultic center. The islets are built close enough together that the surrounding water forms a series of canals, and the name “nan madol” means “between the spaces.” One part of the area was set aside as a residence for the priests and rulers, and another was an administrative center that included temples, tombs, meeting houses, and such facilities as public baths and ponds for turtles and eels. The turtles were killed and offered to the sacred eels, who swam into their pond through an opening to the sea. Evidently, their arrival and acceptance of the offering was considered auspicious. The chief temple was dedicated to a crocodile spirit-god, and the sacred spirits were given offerings of cooked shellfish. The most important deities, who were seen as clans of gods, were protectors of seafaring and canoe building. Tombs indicate that ancestor worship was prominent in Nan Madol religion.

Nara, Japan | 373 The city was built of huge slabs of basalt cut from the interior of the island, shaped and used like logs to construct imposing buildings. To a visitor arriving by sea, the sight of thirty-foot-high black basalt walls made of log-like slabs that each weighed twenty-five to fifty tons is startling. The walls are filled with coral rubble to form strong structures. One islet has a seawall of monoliths similar to those of Easter Island. At its height, Nan Madol was home to 1,000 priests and elite of Pohnpei society. Around 1500 CE it was abandoned, and island oral tradition has it that a rival people overthrew the Saudeleurs. Nan Madol had long ceased to be the headquarters of the rulers. Nan Madol is one of the leading archaeological sites in the Pacific Ocean. Since 1979, it has been part of the Federated States of Micronesia, in associate status with the United States since 1986. The local people, descendants of the kings who drove the Saudeleurs out, believe that their ancestors’ spirits remain on Nan Madol, and they generally avoid the site except to take tourists there. See also: Ancestor Shrines, Rapa Nui, Taputapuatea

REFERENCES William Ayres, “The Mystery Islets of Micronesia,” 43 Archaeology 1:58–63. (January 1990). William Ballinger, The Lost City of Stone. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1978. David Childress, Ancient Micronesia and the Lost City of Nan Madol. Kempton, IL, Adventures Unlimited, 1998.

NARA, JAPAN The city of Nara in northern Japan has been a Buddhist center and place of pilgrimage since the eighth century. From 710 to 784, the town was the first capital of Japan. A great deal of Chinese culture was absorbed during this period, which is reflected in the artistic riches of the city’s temples and shrines. Nara became the hub of Buddhism, but the resulting rise of a powerful Buddhist priesthood convinced the Emperor Kammu to move the capital to Kyoto. Thus bypassed by development, Nara has remained a quiet temple city. Paths in the forest surrounding the temple area are dotted with rustic Buddha shrines, including the popular Sunset Buddha, so named because the last rays of the sun light up its face. Most pilgrims visit the major temples. Horyu-ji Temple, one of the oldest temple complexes in Japan, is set at a distance from Nara City. The compound includes forty-five buildings. The collection of priceless Buddhist art in the Golden Hall dates from the seventh century and the architectural details, statuary, and furniture are the finest examples of Buddhist artwork in Japan. The hall itself is the oldest wooden building in the world. But Horyu-ji is no mere tourist attraction; it is a living shrine. Devotees come daily in all seasons to worship in its serene atmosphere, a park-like setting with free-roaming deer, which are regarded as divine messengers. In the sixth century, Horyu-ji was the focal point of the movement that brought Buddhism to Japan and raised it to dominance over Shinto, the traditional nature religion. Clan wars proliferated during

374 | Nara, Japan

Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan. Each year in March, the Todaiji Temple is the site of the Omizutori (Water Drawing Festival), a sacred Buddhist ceremony.

this period until a Buddhist family overcame the last great Shinto clan and Shotoku Taishi became prince-regent (593–622). He began constructing Horyu-ji in 607 and became an ardent promoter of Buddhism, translating major texts and spreading the religion. The Sacred Spirit Hall in the eastern section of the complex is dedicated to Prince Shotoku, built where his meditation chapel once stood. A century after Shotoku’s death, Horyu-ji became the place where Buddhism and Shinto were reconciled; both retain their characteristic beliefs, but many elements are shared or blended. Above the Shaka (historic) Buddha in the Golden Hall are several delicate carvings of heavenly musicians, descending to earth with the Buddha to welcome the spirit of Shotoku. Nearby is the Yakushi (healing) Buddha. Horyiu-ji is listed on the UNESCO List of World

Heritage Sites as part of a general listing for Nara. Kasuga Taisha Shrine, founded in 768, is the main Shinto shrine in Nara and one of the three greatest in Japan, along with Ise and Izumo Taisha. It is actually four shrines dedicated to different Shinto deities. The most distinctive features of Kasuga Taisha are 3,000 stone and bronze lanterns that line the approach to the shrine and are lit for lantern festivals in February and August, lending a dream-like atmosphere to the setting. The bright, vermilion-lacquered buildings contrast with the surrounding greenery. As is Shinto custom, the entire temple complex is rebuilt approximately every twenty years. The Treasure House, a modern building, contains artifacts for Shinto ceremonies. Thousands come to Kasuga Taisha in February and August for the Lantern Festivals.

Native American Sacred Places | 375 Chugu-ji is a convent with an extensive collection of Buddhist art and artifacts, which attract art lovers and students of Buddhist culture. Its main feature is a statue of Kannon, goddess of mercy and compassion. Nearby is the Omiwa Shrine, a Shinto shine dedicated to Mount Miwa, where it stands. The mountain is home to the kami (spirits) who are worshipped there, which differs from other shrines in that the usual place of the kami is a shine itself. Consequently, Omiwa does not have any of the usual sacred images. The mountain itself serves as the main hall instead of a shrine building. For centuries, the emperors sent messengers to Omiwa to report on events in the nation. There is said to be a white snake that inhabits the mountain and is its chief kami. Snakes are featured in Shinto worship, especially at Omiwa. The Todai-ji Shrine, which spreads over sixty serene blocks in the heart of the city, is a contrast to Horyu-ji, which is usually thronged with visitors. Its gate is supported by nineteen pillars, and two huge guardian figures protect the entrance. The sense of triumph is reinforced by the Great Buddha Hall, advertised as the largest wooden structure in the world, 160 by 190 feet. The Great Buddha itself is a 550-ton bronze, fiftythree feet high, constructed in 749. Todai-ji was founded in 752, with a lavish dedication ceremony, to be the head temple of all Buddhist temples in Japan. The Great Buddha Hall has twice burned down and was last rebuilt (1708) at two thirds the original size. Others of the many buildings contain priceless artwork: statues, wall paintings, and ceramics, all gifts to the shrine.

Toshodai-ji Temple is another that was founded in the eighth century as a missionary center for Buddhism. It attracts more pilgrims than tourists, who come to honor huge statues of the Buddha and of Kannon. Both are gilded and lacquered and have been declared national treasures.

REFERENCES John Breen and Mark Teeuwen, Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami. Honolulu, HI, University of Hawai’i, 2000. Michael Cunningham, Buddhist Treasures from Nara. Manchester, VT, Hudson Hills, 1999. John and Phyllis Martin, Nara: A Cultural Guide to Japan’s Ancient Capital. Tokyo, Tuttle, 1994. Charles McCarry and George Mobley, “Kyoto and Nara: Keepers of Japan’s Past,” 149 National Geographic 6:636–658 (June 1976). www.oomiwa.or.jp.

NATIVE AMERICAN SACRED PLACES Although many Native Amerindian traditions acknowledge special holy places, these are usually not shrines but sacred landscapes, especially mountains and rocks. Certain streams, because they are living water, are used by eastern tribes for purification rites, and the Cherokee, an agricultural people, conducted various rites in the fields, using tobacco as incense and offering prayers for the harvest. Several categories of Native American sacred places provide some clarity across the hundreds of cultural and language

376 | Native American Sacred Places

groups found in North America. There is a common belief in a supreme being who guards the earth and provides for the people. The supreme being governs the skies and the land, provides water and animals for the hunt, and is usually believed to be the founder of the tribe. Spirits live in a complex of natural sites—mountains, rivers, and burial places. Sacred sites offer herbs for healing and secluded spots of communing with the spirits, and in some tribes an annual gathering of healing herbs at a specific hold place is a sort of pilgrimage. Ceremonies are held there, vision quests are sought in the vastness of the hills, and prayers and sacred bundles of bones and sweet grass are left as tokens. Rarely are there any permanent structures (medicine wheels are among the rare exceptions). Many of the sacred places are associated with the tribe’s creation myth. There are also newer sites that have taken on a sacred meaning from events in Indian history. The revival of the Sun Dance is one such ceremony, and many Sioux visit the killing field of Wounded Knee as an affirmation of ethnic identity. Indian Christians, now a majority, often make traditional-style pilgrimages to Auriesville to the shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the only Amerindian with a feast day in the Catholic calendar. The major Native American sacred places are described in separate articles, but others of note include the following: Onagazi, a mesa in the Dakota Badlands, is the site of the 1890 Ghost Dance held by Red Cloud and his disciples. The Ghost Dance was believed to bring back the souls of warrior ancestors, who would then join the living Indians in driving the white man from Indian land.

It so infuriated and frightened government agents that it was forbidden, which led to the massacre at Wounded Knee later that year. The mesa is a high, windswept tableland, revered as a holy place but not used for pilgrimage or ceremonies. Mato Tipi, or “Bear’s Lodge,” is known to whites as the Devil’s Tower. It rises abruptly from the plain northwest of the Black Hills and is regarded as a sacred place by the Sioux. Each year the war chief Crazy Horse brought his clan here for the Sun Dance. In the Sun Dance, young braves demonstrate their willingness to endure suffering by having skewers inserted beneath the skin of their breasts. Thongs are tied to the skewers and also attached to a central pole. The dancers lean away from the pole, dancing and gazing into the sun, increasing their pain, until the skin rips free. They believe by enduring the Sun Dance, they have suffered for their people and guaranteed the Great Spirit’s blessings and protection. The warriors who pass out are considered to have entered into communion with the spirit world. Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, contains an extensive collection of Anasazi ruins. The Anasazi—referred to as “the Ancient Ones” by their successors, the Hopi, Navajo, and Zun˜ i—flourished in the Southwest from about 500 to 1400 CE. They left thousands of settlements, some of them multilevel buildings built on the sides of steep cliffs. When the Anasazi dispersed, they broke into smaller groups (perhaps clans) that evolved into the later Amerindian tribes. Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “de shay”) reflects this unfolding with evidence of later occupation. The Anasazi

Native American Sacred Places | 377 ruins line the canyon, which stretches for twenty-six miles. Farming was conducted along the better-watered canyon floor, while hunting took place in the forested areas in the mountains above. The Navajo later occupied the site, leaving wall paintings, and in 1863 they made their final stand here against Kit Carson. The area was returned to the Navajo in 1868 and is now managed by them in conjunction with the U.S. Park Service. Access is restricted to those with permits. In the dwellings, one may see kivas (worship rooms) and the characteristic hole in the main room, the sipapu, a symbolic entrance to the underworld from which the Anasazi believed they had come. There is also a burial cave, Mummy Cave, and several houses noted for their Navajo murals. A parallel Anasazi development is found at Mesa Verde in Colorado, which at its height had 7,000 inhabitants. It was also abandoned around 1300 CE. It is listed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. Amerindians often created temporary sacred spaces (and continue to do so), either for specific ceremonies or as places to seek wisdom and enlightenment. Prominent among them are the sweat lodges of the Plains Indians, built for purification, insight, and as part of a vision quest. Among the Apache, a special wikiup (a small tipi or hide-covered hut) was erected for a young girl’s coming-of-age ceremony. It was used as a place for her to dance before the rituals conducted in the open. Though tipis were generally built for everyday use, special ones were constructed for ceremonies, often with ritual elements like specially painted lodge poles. Ceremonial circles, some of them very

elaborate, were used in many Native American traditions. All of these are examples of sacred spaces created for special events and then removed or allowed to decay and return to the earth. Many of these traditions continue. Permanent religious shrines are uncommon in Native American cultures. One of the exceptions was the Cherokee Sacred Fire, kept burning in a national shrine until 1729, when it was allowed to die. When the tribe was forcemarched to Oklahoma in the 1830s along the “Trail of Tears,” ashes from the Sacred Fire were carried with them. The sacred fire is rekindled regularly for gatherings of the Cherokee, where the religious Stomp Dance is performed around it. The dance cannot be held unless all seven Cherokee clans are represented by their medicine men. Then the senior chief lights a pipe, puffs it seven times, and hands it to the next until it goes around the circle. The dance begins with a man and woman and passes from clan to clan throughout the night until dawn. The woman wears shell rattles on her ankles. Sacred wampum belts that encode mythical stories are taken out to be shown. Because Indian sacred places are often unmarked, they are vulnerable to encroachment by modern development. There have been many conflicts over the rights of Native Americans to maintain their traditional places. California has won a court order allowing it to use sewage for artificial snow making in the sacred San Francisco Mountains, and the Black Hills have been exploited for mining. In 1986, President Bill Clinton issued an executive order to protect Native American sacred sites on federal lands. It provides for accommodation

378 | Nazareth, Israel

and access for ceremonies and protects the physical integrity of the sacred sites. June 19–23 (the solstice and St. John’s Day) are days of prayer for the protection of Native sacred sites. See also: Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Black Hills, Cahokia Mounds, Chaco, Devil’s Tower, Medicine Wheels, Mound Builders

REFERENCES Don Doll, Vision Quest. New York, Crown, 1994. Sam Gill, Native American Religions. Florence, KY, Wadsworth, second edition, 2004. Peter Nabokov, Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places. New York, Penguin, 2007. John Snow, These Mountains Are Our Sacred Places. Markham, ON, Fifth House/Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2005.

NAZARETH, ISRAEL Mary and Joseph’s village in Galilee, northern Israel, is the town where Mary accepted her role as the mother of the messiah (Luke 1:26–38). It was a hamlet of about 480 people when Jesus was a youth there, the town where he returned after his presentation in the Temple (Luke 2:22–39). This biblical scene is followed immediately by the account of his three days in the Temple with the teachers of the Law (2:41–52). He left Nazareth to be baptized by his cousin John and begin his preaching. When he later returned to speak in the village synagogue, he was met with hostility (Luke 4:15–24). After the expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem under the Emperor Hadrian, Nazareth was resettled

by refugee priests from the temple. Jesus’ family remained there, however, and in the third century, a Christian descendant named Conon, who had become a missionary, was martyred in Turkey. The tiny Nazareth of Jesus’ time contrasts with bustling, noisy Nazareth today. The chief shrine is the Church of the Annunciation, a double church completed in 1969 by the Franciscans. It is so large that it covers the entire area occupied by the village of Jesus’ time. It is a beautiful structure, built with good taste and restraint that blends harmoniously into its surroundings. It incorporates the sacred grotto where the angel Gabriel is believed to have appeared to Mary. It also joins together the remnants of an earlier Byzantine church (430 CE) and later medieval Crusader church. The art is outstanding, especially the stained-glass windows and mosaics from around the world. Wall paintings present the Annunciation as seen in different cultures, and magnificent bronze doors portray the life of Christ. Beneath the Church of the Annunciation, excavations have revealed a small chapel facing toward Jerusalem, with a cross worked into its mosaic floor. It was probably a primitive Jewish Christian synagogue. (Early Jewish Christians observed all the Jewish prescriptions but also celebrated the Lord’s Supper.) A ritual bath from the second century was also located. In or near the town are many other shrines and churches. Next to the Church of the Annunciation is St. Joseph’s, built above what is thought to be Joseph’s home, a single-roomed cottage used for both work and living space. The location of the synagogue where

Nazca Lines, Peru | 379 Jesus preached is now marked by the Greek Catholic Synagogue Church in the midst of the Arab market, a warren of unmarked alleys with shops and kiosks. Just north of Nazareth is Kafr Kana (Cana), regarded as the site of Jesus’ first miracle. To the east is Mount Tabor, which St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, identified as the place of the Transfiguration; a large church marks the spot. There was a Christian church in Nazareth by 350 CE, and in 570 a pilgrim wrote of visiting the synagogue where Jesus had preached and the house of Mary, which by that time was a basilica. After the Arab conquest in the eighth century, conditions deteriorated and the Christians had to pay an annual “ransom” as a tax for using the Church of the Annunciation. For most of the past hundred years, Nazareth has been an Arab Christian town, but pressure from the Israeli government has caused large numbers to emigrate to America and Europe. Along with an influx of internally displaced Muslim Arabs, this has begun to turn the population of the town into a Muslim majority. There have been tensions between the two faiths; attempts to build a mosque next to the Annunciation Basilica were finally shelved in 2002 after much conflict. In 2006, a Jew and his Christian wife detonated an incendiary bomb in the basilica during a Lenten service, but by and large, Nazareth has been free of attacks. See also: Bethlehem

REFERENCES Chad Emmett, Beyond the Basilica: Christians and Muslims in Nazareth. Chicago, University of Chicago, 1995.

Christopher Hollis and Ronald Brownrigg, Holy Places. New York, Praeger, 1969. M. J. Stiassny, Nazareth. Jerusalem, Jerusalem Publishing House, 1967. www.nazareth.muni.il.

NAZCA LINES, PERU One of the great unsolved mysteries of the New World is the origin and purpose of the Nazca Lines of Peru, enigmatic scorings across 120 square miles of the southern coastal plain of Peru by which an ancient people drew the symbols of their faith. Created long before humans could fly, they can be seen only from the air. Perhaps they were intended to be seen only by the gods? The designs are large: a 300-foot monkey, a 600-foot lizard, and a 200-foot hummingbird are typical of the desert drawings. They were made by removing the dark surface of the desert floor on a plateau in southern Peru, revealing the underlying chalk to form the drawings. The Nazca people, about whom little is known, inhabited this barren area from about 200 BCE to 700 CE, when they were absorbed into the rising Inca civilization. The lines are not the only relics of their civilization. They were skillful weavers, adept at dyeing in a wide range of colors. They also produced attractive polychrome pottery, which repeats some of the same themes found on the desert floor (the hummingbird, for example). The Nazca Lines are interspersed with spiral mazes, figures of animals, reptiles, birds, and flowers. They were unknown until 1927, when a Peruvian survey pilot discovered them on a routine flight. The lines radiate from hills or elevations, and special points are indicated by cairns

380 | New Age

(rock-pile markers). Spread across 200 miles of desert, the lines cut across valleys and hills without deviation. Similarities with the lines found at Cuzco lead some to speculate that the Nazca Lines preceded the Inca ones, or that the Inca learned them from the people they assimilated. Speculation further suggests that the lines were intended as “roads” for magical processions of the spirits of the ritual animals depicted in the drawings. Legends found among the peoples of the plateau when the Spaniards arrived in the late 1500s support this possibility. The center of Nazca life was the capital, Cahuachi. Here the Nazca worshipped at several temples at a point where the Nazca River emerges from underground, a spring of life in the vast desert. Offerings and ceremonial objects have been found. Water was scarce, and the small streams that flowed through the region were often dried up. The Nazca built a complex system of irrigation canals to make the best use of the scarce water. They seemed to have worshipped the gods of the mountains where the water sources originated. Ceremonial stone circles have been found on top of mountains. And, at the end of Nazca culture, when the wells ran dry and the rivers rarely flowed to even a trickle, ritual sacrifices of young men have been found, vain attempts to appease the gods into lifting the drought. Cahuachi seems to have served as some sort of pilgrimage center. It is one of the convergence points for the lines, and there are a number of ceremonial mounds. There is evidence of animal sacrifice, and artifacts found at the site include ceremonial rattles and votive offerings. A Nazca painted weaving

shows a procession of priests, soldiers, and commoners, giving scholars an idea of the ceremonies. Modern followers of New Age religions have interpreted the Nazca Lines as ley lines, alignments that are considered the paths of earth energy or some form of spiritual force. At Nazca the New Age students call them “ray centers,” because they follow star patterns rather than running parallel. Despite the star shape, all attempts to connect them with sun or star sightings have proved fruitless. Most of the 750 lines radiate out from sixty-two convergence points, which New Agers consider power centers. See also: Cuzco, New Age

REFERENCES Anthony Aveni, ed., Between the Lines. Austin, TX, University of Texas, 2000. Evan Hadingham, Lines to the Mountain Gods: Nazca and the Mysteries of Peru. New York, Random House, 1987. Stephen Hall, “Peru’s Puzzling Lines,” 217 National Geographic 4:63–79 (April 2010). Nazca Lines. Washington, DC, National Geographic, 2010, video.

NEW AGE A large number of movements are gathered under the umbrella of the New Age movement. Although they are very diverse, common strands connect them: the goal of spiritual transformation, a tendency toward mystical experience, and reverence for the natural world and the forces of nature. New Agers share the values of environmentalists. There is

New Age | 381 no New Age authority and therefore no religious “doctrine,” although common agreement can be found for a belief in a Higher Power, universal religion, and the desire for spiritual growth and fulfillment. Many accept reincarnation and pantheistic ideas of the spiritual powers of nature. The leading figures are often spiritual guides who lead groups of disciples. New Age proponents argue that Western philosophy and religion have separated humanity from nature, creating a dualism that is the source of alienation, loneliness, and anxiety. On a social level, this separation results in conflict, war, and racial and ethnic divisions. New Age argues that the exaltation of the intellectual and rational over the mythical and intuitive has resulted in a culture of dominance and competition rather than one of collaboration and mutuality. New Age rejects human superiority over the rest of nature as presented in the first chapters of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. Only by reclaiming the primordial unity of all living beings can balance be restored. New Age theorists incorporate many of the beliefs of primal peoples who worship the forces of nature and live in harmony with it. Where traditional peoples continue to practice their ancestral religions, as with many American Indians and Australian Aborigines, the appropriation of their religious practices by New Age devotees has caused friction and tensions. Sacred sites hold a special place in New Age thought. Since the spiritual quest is focused on the reclaiming of an ancient heritage of unity with all creation, great emphasis is placed on search and pilgrimage. Sacred sites are seen as

centers of earth energy where seekers experience recovery of what has been lost. The most powerful places are those that are naturally attuned or constructed to align themselves with sun lines, astral lines, meridians, or other channels of force and energy. These energy chains are cyclical and reflect the earth’s magnetic fields or the circulating flow of the seasons. One form they take is ley lines, prehistoric paths connecting sacred places. A complex study of ley lines in the southwestern United States, the Nazca Plateau of Peru and in southern England, as well as many other places, has resulted in a systematic theory of energy connection among sacred points. When two or more energy meridians intersect, a psychic vortex results, and it is these natural “power spots” that the ancients recognized and used as places of worship. The comparison is often made with acupuncture points on the body, where oriental medicine believes energy flows center themselves in such a way that illness can be treated by manipulating these points to restore a natural flow of energy in the body. New Age devotees believe that sacred sites, because they concentrate natural energy, are healing places. Because the mysteries of ancient wisdom are encoded and therefore unknowable to a modern mind clouded by rationality, only an elite can grasp true knowledge. Consequently, there are important roles in New Age spirituality for persons with special gifts for deciphering the mysteries. These include gurus, spiritual guides, shamans, and other wisdom figures. The images of pilgrimage, seeking, and spiritual search (“psychic venturing” or vision quest) are very strong elements of New Age thought.

382 | Newgrange, Ireland

Some more fringe groups believe that extraterrestrial beings have visited the earth at various times to bring wisdom, and they tend to support belief in UFOs (unidentified flying objects) and the possibility of being taken up into other worlds. There is also an element of endtime theorists, who predicted a calamity for the turn of the millennium in 2000 and predicted another for the end of the next cycle of the Mayan calendar in 2012. Various followers of New Age conduct rituals at sacred sites, either to unlock the energy forces or to enter into deeper communion with nature and its mysteries. At the full moon in Aquarius in late summer, for example, the Night of the Shamans is celebrated on Mount Shasta, in which spiritual adepts gather to recharge their magical powers for another year. The numbers attracted to Stonehenge at the solstices have grown to such an extent that large security forces are needed for crowd control. In 1987, New Age devotees assembled at a number of sacred places believed to be power points to concentrate the forces of good against evil and thus avert a disaster predicted for the world. These gatherings, called the Harmonic Convergence, were a worldwide extension of smaller assemblies that are common in New Age. New Agers often observe the solstices and eclipses as moments of special power. New Age practitioners have adopted many of the spiritual disciples of ancient faiths and mystical traditions, such as channeling, feng shui, sweat lodges, and curanderas (herbalists). Channeling involves a sort of spirit possession in which the channeler is chosen by an ancient wisdom figure as a voice in the

present, usually to bring messages to the world. Feng shui is the Chinese system of geomancy in which favorable directions for buildings are determined; if they are respected, good luck follows, and if not, disaster can strike. A curandera is an herbalist who can create magical potions for good fortune, love, revenge, or other events in personal relationships. Besides the movements with relationships to Wicca and various neopagan cults, New Age has influenced organized religion, emphasizing the values of closer experience of God and faith and the importance of spiritual growth. It shows itself in such forms as Kabbalistic mysticism among Jews and such cults as Our Lady of the Roses in Bayside, New York, among Catholics. Organized religion is generally hostile to New Age thought and practice, and recognized shrines are at pains to avoid association with it. See also: Mount Shasta, Stonehenge

REFERENCES James Lewis and J. Gordon Melton, eds., Perspectives on the New Age. Albany, SUNY, 1992. J. Gordon Melton, New Age Encyclopedia. Detroit, MI, Gale Research, 1990. The Shaman’s Message. Berkeley, CA, Thinking Allowed, video.

NEWGRANGE, IRELAND Along the Boyne River north of Dublin lies the Brugh na Bo´ inne or Palace of the Boyne, the burial place of ancient tribal kings. The finest of the tombs is

Nidaros, Trondheim, Norway | 383 the passage grave at Newgrange, one of some twenty-six tombs in the valley. Its fame rests on the excellence of its workmanship and rock carvings and its striking astronomical design. The tomb has been empty since 861 CE, when it was plundered by Viking raiders. By then the tombs were already ancient, since Newgrange has been dated to the Bronze Age, approximately 5,000 years ago, and it is not known for whom the tomb was built. The Newgrange tomb covers an acre under an egg-shaped mound called a tumulus, rising from the meadow and surrounded by a stone curbing. Originally there were thirty-eight pillar stones (twelve remain) around the tomb, which is 250 feet across and forty feet high. There are ninety-seven curbstones carved with spirals, which followers of New Age religions interpret as symbolic of the journey to the next world. Scientific analysis suggests, however, that the stones were probably recycled from an earlier burial place and have no meaning at Newgrange. The facing around the perimeter of the tomb is several yards high and made of sparkling white quartz quarried fifty miles away. The bulk of the tumulus is made of 200,000 cantaloupe-sized stones brought in from seventy-five miles away. All of this is covered with soil to a depth of several yards. Clearly, a great effort went into the tomb’s construction. The entrance is marked by the Threshold Stone, which is elaborately carved with spirals framed by concentric circles and diamond shapes. Inside, a sixty-foot passageway leads into a high-domed chamber with three side alcoves for burials. (The kings were cremated and only their ashes interred.) The inner room is made of layered stones

forming a beehive vault, indicating that the builders had not yet discovered the arch. At the time of the midwinter solstice on December 21, the shortest day of the year, the passage to the interior tomb is pierced by a shaft of sunlight that touches a stone basin at the end of the passageway and lights up a series of spiral carvings whose meaning is unknown. This phenomenon lasts about fifteen minutes. The mysteries surrounding Newgrange have inspired a wide range of speculation and attracted spiritualists and modern druids. One theory even argues, based on its appearance, that Newgrange is a model of a flying saucer. Others consider it a solar temple built by a prehistoric race of supernatural people who lived in ancient Ireland before the Celts. It is known that the god of the pre-Christian period was Dagha, a sun idol. Scholars are generally agreed that Newgrange was both a tomb and a place for some sort of ceremonial and religious rites.

REFERENCES Paul Devereux, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ancient Earth Mysteries. London, Cassell, 2000. Peter Harbison, Pre-Christian Ireland. New York, Thames & Hudson, 1988. Michael O’Kelly, Newgrange. New York, Thames & Hudson, 1994.

NIDAROS, TRONDHEIM, NORWAY Nidaros is the medieval name for the modern city of Trondheim along the central coast of Norway, a name that today is

384 | Nidaros, Trondheim, Norway

attached to Trondheim’s great cathedral, Nidarosdomen, the resting place of St. Olav (995–1030), apostle of Norway and heroic king and national figure. As a young warrior, Olav Haraldson sailed forth to England a Viking pirate and returned a Christian. In 1015 he was elected king of Norway by the parliament, which sat in Trondheim. Olav ruled for thirteen years, evangelizing his people so zealously, especially attacking concubinage, that he made many enemies. He was dethroned by King St. Knut (Canute), a Danish ruler of England, and fled the country. Olav gathered his troops and returned in 1030. He died at the Battle of Stiklestad. Olav was buried at Trondheim, where his tomb began attracting pilgrims who regarded him as a martyr. The Christianity he tried so zealously to plant during his life began to take hold after his death. Every year at Stiklestad, a short distance from Trondheim, the martyrdom is commemorated in the St. Olav Pageant on July 29, his feast day. More than 350 participants perform before an audience of 20,000. The pageant recounts Olav’s last days and gives an account of his life and faith. According to legend, one of the warriors who struck the king down saw a blind man cured after touching Olav’s blood to his eyes. The knight went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem as a penance for his sin. The pilgrimage has been revived in recent years, especially from Sweden. The pilgrim route is now signposted, and there has been a Cathedral Minister for Pilgrims since 1994. During the year, there are about 400,000 visitors. The music ministry of the cathedral is highly valued and there are five permanent choirs, including one performing Gregorian chant. A music

service is held every Saturday. The cathedral has been burnt down several times, although the walls have remained intact. The most recent restoration was finally completed in 2001. When Nidaros became the seat of an archbishop in 1152, there had been a basilica there for a century. But as the crush of pilgrims became greater, the church was expanded and decorated. The style is predominantly English Gothic, and Nidaros is Scandinavia’s largest medieval building. The shrine of St. Olav became one of the most important pilgrimage places in the Middle Ages, despite the fact that Trondheim, halfway up Norway’s coast, was difficult to get to by sea and by land was at the end of a twenty-day trek from Oslo. A series of pilgrim hostels was built across the country, and the devout from all over Europe flocked to Nidaros. The Norwegians were generous with hospitality and provided protection, and the way to Nidaros was reputed to be the safest pilgrimage route in Europe. It was marked by devotional crosses and curative springs associated with places visited by the saint. Approaching the cathedral, the pilgrim doffed his shoes and walked around it three times before entering. Some sought a cure, the release from a vow, or atonement for a crime. From 1163 to 1908, most Norwegian kings were crowned in the cathedral. After the death of King Haakon, who held the throne from 1905 to 1957, the later royal couples have come to the cathedral to be blessed, but there have been no coronations. The royal regalia is on display at the Archbishop’s House. Though much of the medieval splendor was destroyed by the Reformation, the fine stained-glass windows remain,

Nikko, Japan | 385 along with a front entrance covered with stone carvings. The original shrine was so encrusted with gold and jewels that it took sixty men to carry it in the annual procession. At the time of the Reformation in 1537, the reliquary was taken and melted down (the receipt still exists), but Olav’s body was returned to Nidaros in 1564. The grave was covered over a few years later, and its exact location in the cathedral is unknown. See also: Canterbury

REFERENCES Anonymous, Great Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and Olaf the Saint. Copenhagen, Denmark, Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1982. Alison Raju, Pilgrim Road to Nidaros. Minthorpe, UK, Cicerone, 2003. Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter. New York, Knopf, 1951 (fiction). www.nidarosdomen.no.

NIKKO, JAPAN The city of Nikko began as a sacred place in the eighth century with the establishment of a Buddhist hermitage, and in time it became prominent for its training centers for Buddhist priests. Shrines and temples are clustered there. An old Japanese proverb says, “You have seen nothing splendid until you have seen Nikko.” Arching gracefully across the Daiya River and leading from the town to the main shrines is the Shinkyo (sacred bridge), a red lacquered span that formerly only the emperor could use. The lacquered bridge at Nikko has long been considered one of the most beautiful

structures in Japan, its simple elegance contrasting with the river gorge, the green hills, and the tumbling waters. Legend has it that the hermit who settled Nikko was carried across the river here by two serpents. From this spot, a road leads into the park, threading through 16,000 towering Japanese cedar trees that date from the seventeenth century. Rinno-ji Temple, governed by a princeabbot since 1300, is built on a hillside in a graceful and extensive meditation garden created in 1815, dotted with ponds and crisscrossed by paths leading amidst flowering azalea bushes. Its ThreeBuddha Hall has many large lacquered statues, the most notable of which are the Thousand-Armed Kannon, Goddess of Mercy, and another Kannon with the head of a horse, protector of animals. Rinno-ji Temple was founded in 766 by the hermit who first settled the area, and a statue in his honor graces the park. At one time Rinno-ji had 500 subtemples under its rule. The Tosho-gu Shrine is the centerpiece of Nikko. Its art either fills the visitor with awe or leaves him or her appalled at its vulgarity. No surface remains uncarved, and the entire shrine is as far from Buddhist simplicity as can be imagined. Fifteen thousand craftsmen and artisans worked for two years, using 2.5 million sheets of gold leaf, to create a worthy shrine for the Tokugawa. It is dedicated to Ieyasu (1542–1616), who founded the Tokugawa Shogunate, a military dynasty that ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867. Ieyasu’s burial at Nikko thrust it into national importance, since he was regarded as a divine being. The enshrinement of Ieyasu’s spirit is reenacted twice a year in the Procession of the 1,000 Warriors, when the temple images are

386 | Nikko, Japan

Shinkyo, sacred bridge of Nikko, spanning the Daiya River.

taken out in a parade through the streets. Daily, Shinto priests conduct nonstop ceremonies in the temple. Although it is a Shinto Shrine, Tosho-gu has several Buddhist elements. Next to the entrance gate is a five-story pagoda lacquered in red and gold. Beyond it is the formal entryway—a Buddhist-style Two Deva Kings (shrine guardians) Gate. It is followed by a granite water font for purification. Nearby is the Sacred Stable, where a white imperial horse is kept (a gift of New Zealand). Toshu-go has become famous worldwide, because carved on its eaves are the original figures of the three monkeys “Hear no evil, Speak no evil, See no evil.” A Buddhist “library” with more than 7,000 scrolls of sacred texts is contained in a twenty-foot revolving case; turning it is the equivalent of praying all those texts.

All the Tosho-gu buildings are noted for their intricate carvings and the splendor of their decoration. Unlike most Shinto shrines, which are well integrated into their natural settings and simple to the point of austerity, Tosho-gu is a riot of bright color and carving. Carved birds and flowers, dancing maidens, and sages follow one another around the buildings. The only exception to this mood of exuberance is Ieyasu’s mausoleum itself, which is relatively simple. If the intention was to inspire awe and majesty rather than devotion, Tosho-gu succeeds. In 1868, at the end of the Tokugawa Era, Buddhism and Shinto were separated, and Rinno-ji became independent of the Tosho-gu Shrine. Futara-san Shrine is the oldest building in the district, completed in 1617, but it pales in comparison with Tosho-gu. It is consecrated to the mountain kami,

North American Martyrs, New York/Ontario | 387 a god and goddess couple and their god-child. They are said to guarantee the prosperity of Japan. See also: Nara, Shinto Shrines

REFERENCES H. Byron Earhart, Religions of Japan. San Francisco, Harper San Francisco, 1984. Japan Travel Bureau, Must-See in Nikko. Tokyo, JTB, 1987. Sakura Petals: The Shoguns. San Francisco, CustomFlix, 2007, video.

NORTH AMERICAN MARTYRS, NEW YORK/ ONTARIO As France expanded its influence in New France—Quebec and the American northeast—its first presence was that of traders and missionaries. Some of the first Jesuit missionaries to the Mohawk and Huron tribes were martyred in a series of attacks along the frontier between 1642 and 1649. When the leading figure, Isaac Jogues, returned to France after having been captured and horribly tortured, he became a celebrity. Unable to offer Mass due to his crushed fingers, he received a personal dispensation from the pope to allow him to celebrate the Eucharist. He returned to the New World and his death. The first three to die were Rene Goupil, Isaac Jogues, and Jean de la Lande. Jogues was head of the mission and the other two were lay volunteers. Goupil, a surgeon, had worked for a time at the hospital in Quebec City before offering to enter Huronia. He was

captured by Iroquois on the voyage, tortured, and finally struck down after he made a sign of the cross over a sick child. Jogues and La Lande were executed by the Mohawk within a few days of Goupil’s death. This took place at Ossernon, now Auriesville, New York. The other five met their deaths in what is now Canada. The tiny mission was overrun by Iroquois as one was finishing the Mass, and he was shot with arrows while wearing his vestments. At the reconstructed mission, a painting shows the scene. Two were subjected to barbaric tortures, having pieces of their flesh sliced off, roasted, and eaten in their sight before their hearts were ripped out. The cult of the martyrs began almost immediately after their deaths, with the gathering of evidence for their eventual proclamation as saints, which happened in 1930. Their work and sufferings caught the attention of France after the publication of the Jesuit Relations, a series of reports written for their superiors. These are now considered some of the best sources of information on Canada at that time. Two shrines exist in their honor. One is at Auriesville, which is well developed and draws large groups of pilgrims. The other is at Midland, Ontario, quieter but busy with ethnic pilgrimages. Auriesville includes a shrine dedicated to Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (1656– 1680), the first Native American recognized for her holiness. Handicapped by partial blindness and disfigured by smallpox, she was one of the rare converts. She was born in Auriesville but later moved to a Mohawk settlement in Ontario, where she died. Her grave there is marked with a monument, and she is a popular figure

388 | Nui Ba Den, Tay Ninh, Vietnam

among American Catholics. She is also patroness of American Indians, who organize pilgrimages to her two shrines. Auriesville today is a highly organized place for religious tourism, and visitors come in groups. The coliseumsanctuary can hold 6,000 people. There is a motel facility and a cafeteria that also caters to those driving by on the interstate highway. Some aspects of the shrine are tasteless, such as the sale of “Ravine Water” from the stream where Goupil died, and a museum that offers “fascinating details of the barbaric torture” of the martyrs. The feast day is September 26. The Midland shrine is more subdued. It hosts a series of pilgrimages throughout the warmer months from many immigrant ethnic groups. Across the shrine church is a government-constructed reproduction of the mission, done with great attention to detail and historical accuracy. See also: Native American Sacred Places

REFERENCES Darren Bonaparte, A Lily Among Thorns: The Mohawk Repatriation of Kateri Tekahkwitha. Akwesasne, QC, Wampum Chronicles, 2009. Allan Greer, Mohawk Saint: Katherine Tekewitha and the Jesuits. New York, Oxford University, 2005. Bob and Penny Lord, North American Martyrs: Auriesville. Morrilton, AR, Journeys of Faith, 1990, video. Bob and Penny Lord, North American Martyrs: Canada, Morrilton, AR, Journeys of Faith, 1990, video. www.martyrshrine.org.

NUI BA DEN, TAY NINH, VIETNAM Nui Ba Den or “Black Lady Mountain” is the highest mountain in southeast Vietnam. It has several temples, caves for hermit monks and nuns, and a lovely legend behind it. The legend concerns one named the Black Lady or Black Virgin, but often casually called “Mrs. Black.” In the 1600s, a Buddhist monk settled on the mountain, where the ruins of his small temple can still be found on its eastern flank. He was assisted by a Cambodian village elder whose daughter, inspired by the monk, embraced life as a celibate Buddhist. Her father rejected the idea and set up an arranged marriage for her. Rather than submit to this, she committed suicide by throwing herself off the mountain. Her spirit is said to haunt the mountain since that time. Another version has a couple settling on the mountain and bearing a son. When the father went away to war, the mother told the saddened child that the shadow on the wall was his father. After six years, the father returned, but his son refused to accept him, saying “My father comes here every night.” Taking this as a sign that his wife was unfaithful while he was gone, the man rejected her and she died of a broken heart. When the boy pointed to the shadow on the wall and said, “There is my father,” the remorseful man built a shrine to his wife’s spirit. Over the centuries, the shrines have been those of the Khmer, Chams, Vietnamese, and Chinese. On one side of

Nui Ba Den, Tay Ninh, Vietnam | 389 the mountain are hundreds of ancestor shrines. The mountain can be ascended by cable car. There are many caves along the sides of the mountain, used in the past by Buddhist monks and taken over by the Viet Cong during the American war. The mountain is close to the Cu Chi tunnels where the Viet Cong lived and worked and is also not far from the Cao Dai Temple. Halfway up is the temple, a confection of pink, white, and gold. A statue of Quan Am, also in white, is in front of the temple. Quan Am is the Vietnamese incarnation of Kannon, the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy and compassion. The Black Lady has an altar in the temple, where she is dressed in black and lavender robes. Her name comes from the black bronze that was used when

one of the Nguyen emperors ordered a casting made of her for reverence. There are several pilgrimage dates, associated with the lunar calendar. The main one, however, is for the lunar New Year (Tet). On the day of the full moon of the first lunar month, people stream to the mountain. They climb to the halfway point, where a pagoda serves free vegetarian meals to all. Private ceremonies go on in the temple in thanks for petitions answered. Monks light incense, chant, and play drums as prayers are offered.

REFERENCE Larry Heinemann, Black Virgin Mountain. New York, Doubleday, 2005.


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needs, with wheelchair access and exhibition space. The play is only given in German, although books in a variety of languages are available. Each presentation takes all day, with a break for dinner. There are eight tableaux, each of which links Hebrew prophecy with events of the life of Jesus. In the first years, the play was performed in the town cemetery on the graves of relatives who had died in the plague, but for centuries it has been staged in a theater. There is competition for the major parts, and until 1990, the part of Mary was played only by a certified virgin under 35. That year a married mother of two shared the role after winning a court battle and enduring harassment and threats to herself and her children. Also, in 1990 for the first time a Protestant was awarded a major part. The original script was rewritten in 1750, 1850, 1980, and 1984 to adjust to changing understanding of the scriptural passages. The key changes in recent years have been in response to worldwide criticism that the text was anti-Semitic,

OBERAMMERGAU, BAVARIA, GERMANY One of the most remarkable ex-votos in the world is the Passion play put on by the people of Oberammergau in Bavaria every ten years. The Black Plague stopped short of the village in 1633, a blessing that the people regarded as a miracle. A vow was taken to enact Jesus’ Passion and death as a thank offering, and it has been done ever since. The next performance, the fortysecond, is in 2020. Half the town takes part, more than 1,100 as actors alone, and a year in advance men begin to grow long hair and beards to fit their parts. No outside help is involved. All props and costumes are made in the village, although in recent performances the director and music director have come from professional companies. More than a half million people descend on the village for the hundred performances at the Passionspielhaus, which seats 4,700. It has been modernized for contemporary

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392 | Old-New Synagogue, Prague, Czech Republic

leading to a boycott led by American Jews. A committee of Catholics and Jews pressed for changes despite resistance from the local people, who argued in favor of tradition and who apparently did not see the anti-Semitism that was obvious to others. The most recent version has made clear concessions, presenting Jesus as a Jew, fixing the blame for his death on the Roman authorities rather than the Jewish people, and redesigning costumes that had been stereotypes. Judas, for example, no longer wears yellow robes, the color assigned to Jews by Hitler, who had praised the play as a “convincing portrayal of the menace of Jewry.” The curse on the Jews, “His blood be upon us and upon our children!” (Matthew 27:25), was no longer jeered by the total crowd but only by some of the Sanhedrin. An American priest called the changes “a magnificent turnaround,” but many on the international committee hope to see further improvements. Oberammergau is a prime example of religious tourism. While the townspeople regard their participation as a religious experience, the tens of thousands of visitors see it as a religious spectacle. The play has become the center of a prosperous tourist industry that extends from one decade’s performance to the next, and the Play has generated great profits for the town. Organized tours (which snap up the majority of seats) begin to market the Passion Play several years before each performance. See also: Religious Tourism

REFERENCES Michael Counsell, Every Pilgrim’s Guide to Oberammergau and Its

Passion Play. London, SMC Canterbury, 2009. Vernon Heaton, The Oberammergau Passion Play. London, Hall, 1983. James Shapiro, Oberammergau: The Troubling Story of the World’s Most Famous Passion Play. New York, Random House, 2001. Passion of Oberammergau. Evanston, IL, Journal Films, 1990, video.

OLD-NEW SYNAGOGUE, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC The oldest active synagogue in Europe, dating from 1270, has an Orthodox congregation. Its curious name comes from its age. It was long referred to as the New Synagogue, but when others were built in the city, it took on the title “Old-New.” Except for the Nazi years 1942–1945, services have been held continuously. The Synagogue as a double nave, probably because that was the prevailing form in Christian churches of the period. Decoration is based on the motif of the twelve tribes of Israel with twelve narrow windows, twelve vines and clusters of grapes, and the like. Men sit in the main section of the synagogue, while women are segregated into a separate room with windows looking into the main worship hall. In honor of Jewish contributions to the defense of Prague against the Swedes, the Prague community was awarded a flag recognizing it as an autonomous community. The flag, with a Star of David and other symbols, is displayed in the sanctuary. The Old-New Synagogue would only be of passing interest except for the

Olympia, Greece | 393 legend of the Golem. There have been tales of Golems among Jews from earliest times, and the Prague golem has become a kind of prototype. A golem is a man shaped from clay by a holy person. The holier the spiritual master was, the closer to God and his power, including the power to form new life. Being merely human himself, however, the golem he makes is a shadow of the divine power, never complete. Therefore, the golem is mentally limited and usually unable to speak, a bundle of inexpressible feelings. In Yiddish lore, golems are stupid servants of mankind, erratic and not always controllable. The golem was brought to life (or half-life, really) when a Hebrew word was inscribed on his forehead—emet or “truth.” By removing one letter, the word changes to “death,” and the golem is deactivated. The golem of the Old-New Synagogue was created by the chief rabbi with Kabbalistic ritual and incantations in the late sixteenth century, to defend the Jewish ghetto from attack. Tragically, the golem turned to violence and finally turned on the chief rabbi. After deactivating the golem, his body was placed in the Old-New Synagogue’s attic, where it is supposed to remain today. A newer addition to the legend has a Nazi soldier going to the attic and trying to stab the golem but turning to dust. Whatever the symbolism of that, the synagogue was not disturbed during the occupation, although services were suspended. The legend of the golem has inspired such popular fiction as Frankenstein and R.U.R., the Czech play that coined the word “robot.” Today, the golem figures in online gaming such as Dungeons and Dragons.

Sketch of golem by Czech painter Mikolas Ales, 1899.

REFERENCES Geoffrey Dennis, ed., Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism. Woodbury, MN, Llewellyn, 2007. Mosche Idel, Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid. Albany, NY, SUNY, 1990. www.synagogue.cz.

OLYMPIA, GREECE Olympia was the site of the greatest of the ancient games, held every fourth year. The games were announced when heralds traveled through ancient Greece proclaiming a sacred truce, thus making travel safe. No war ever kept the ancient Greek Olympics from being held. Legends told of the foundation of the Olympics as part of the cult of the gods,

394 | Olympia, Greece

Archway at the entrance to the original Olympic stadium in Olympia, Greece. The first recorded Olympic Games took place in 776 BC.

and especially of Olympian Zeus, the high god in whose honor the games were held. They began in 776 BCE and lasted unbroken for 1,000 years. A series of four great games was held, one each year in rotation at one of four cities, always culminating in the greatest—Olympia. The Olympic games lasted for five days. The first day was for sacrifices and offerings to the gods, followed by a day of chariot races, the pentathlon, and horse races. (In the horse and chariot races, the honor for winning did not go to the athlete, but to the owner.) The third day always fell on a full moon, and further religious ceremonies took place, closing with a great procession to the altar of Zeus for the sacrifice of 100 oxen, followed by a ceremonial feast. The boys’ events (ages twelve to seventeen) were also held that day. The fourth day

featured men’s races, wrestling, boxing, and the pankration, a vicious fighting competition with almost no holds barred. Strangling, breaking fingers, and blows to the genitals were all allowed, but not eye gouging. There was legal immunity for any unintended homicide, but the dead competitor was declared the winner! The last day was the occasion for ceremonies and a feast in honor of the winners, further sacrifices, and the consecration of thank offerings, which were usually small statues of a runner or racer left at a shrine or in one of the many treasuries built by various city-states from across the Greek world. Winners received only one prize, a wreath from a sacred olive tree. On returning home, however, victors were lavishly honored by their cities and were showered with gifts that could make them wealthy.

Olympia, Greece | 395 Some were even placed on pensions for life. Therefore, few participants were true amateurs. The sacred precinct at Olympia contained many shrines, of which only fragmentary ruins remain. The main temples were dedicated to the goddess Hera and to Zeus, whose statue was an enormous three-story seated figure created by Phidias. He used more than a ton of gold just for the drape the god wore, and the Greeks joked that Zeus had created elephants just to provide ivory for his statue. Around the statue was a shallow trench filled with olive oil, to reflect light on Zeus. The race course and stadium were just outside the sacred precinct. Athletes were admitted after being tested and screened by priests in a month-long conditioning session. Those not in shape were flogged and expelled. Flogging was especially disgraceful, since it was otherwise reserved for slaves. The competitors took part in the nude, a symbol of ritual purity. The Greek cult of beautiful male bodies often caused spontaneous applause for particularly handsome athletes, and lesser games than Olympia included nude male beauty contests. In ancient Greek religion, piety, sport, and physical beauty were melded together. There were even funeral games that combined sport contests with mourning rites—the winner was rewarded with the dead hero’s property. Although thousands of spectators came to the games, adult women (but not small girls) were strictly prohibited, with the single exception of the priestess of Demeter. Women who were caught at the games were thrown over a cliff to their deaths. After one woman sneaked in disguised as her son’s coach, even

trainers were required to be naked during the games. As a concession for females, a footrace for girls and young women was held just before the men’s games, probably part of a religious coming-ofage ceremony for young women. In 67 CE the vainglorious Emperor Nero took part at Olympia, decreeing a special category of music and drama, which he won. He also took part in the chariot races and was awarded the winner’s garland even though he fell off and failed to finish. When he died the next year, his bogus achievements were deleted from the records. In 393 CE the games were closed by the Christian Emperor Theodosius, who banned all pagan cults and sacrifices. Without the religious element, the Olympics could not survive. In the sixth century the area was devastated by earthquakes and was gradually abandoned and forgotten. Olympia was rediscovered in the eighteenth century, giving inspiration to a modern revival of the games as an athletic contest, the first of which was held in Athens in 1896. Today’s Olympic torch is lit by sunlight at Olympia and then taken around the world to the site of the games. The archaeological site of Olympia was placed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites in 1989. See also: Athens, Delos, Delphi, Eleusis

REFERENCES Manolis Andronicus, Olympia: The Archaeologial Site and the Museums. Athens, Greece, Ekdotike Athenon, 2003. Matthew Dillon, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in Ancient Greece. London, Routledge, 1987.

396 | Orissa Triangle, India

Detail of Stone Wheel on Sun Temple.

Donald Kyle, “Winning at Olympia,” 49 Archaeology 4:31–37 (July– August 1996). Panos Valavanes, Games and Sanctuaries in Ancient Greece. Los Angeles, Getty Museum, 2004.

ORISSA TRIANGLE, INDIA Orissa, a city on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, has an ancient religious history as a center of sun worship. Later it became Buddhist, but for many centuries it has been exclusively Hindu. The area is known for lavish temple architecture in a unique Orissan style; its main structural feature is a sanctuary tower rising from a square base with porches or plazas; beneath the tower is the room containing the image of the deity. The tower is layered and ends in a squat capstone. There are two halls: one for

dancing and another for offerings. The outside is covered in carvings of animals and humans, usually in sexual poses. The sculptures on the Orissa temples, which were built between the eighth and twelfth centuries, rank among the finest artwork in India. They are clustered in three sites: Bhubaneswar, Konarak, and Puri. Orissa is intensely religious, so Westerners are often shocked by the sexual art. Hindu belief accepts sexuality and integrates it into religious experience, considering it quite natural to include sexual scenes in the carvings on the walls of the temples. Those at Konarak, in Orissa, are perhaps the most explicit in India. In addition, an ancient Orissan temple dance, the Odissi, which is frankly erotic, has been revived. Bhubaneswar once had more than 1,000 temples, and many are still open.

Orissa Triangle, India | 397 The most impressive of these is the Lingaraj Temple; Lingaraj means “king of lingas” and it is dedicated to Shiva. Its tower is 150 feet high, with several porches around it. Fifty smaller temples cluster around Lingaraj, all decorated with extravagant carvings of gods, spirits, and couples in passionate embrace. Though open only to Hindus, other visitors may catch glimpses of the courtyard from a viewing platform. Nearby is the Bindu Sarovar, or “Ocean Drop,” a purification tank (actually a small lake) into which the waters of all the holy rivers of India are said to flow. Once a year, the Lingaraj image is brought to a pavilion in the lake to be ritually purified. Vaital Temple is dedicated to Durga (Kali), the destroyer and dark manifestation of Shiva’s consort. Several sculptures of various forms taken by Durga show her with eight arms, fangs, and an air of violence. In one she sits on a corpse and wears a wreath of skulls. Konarak has always been the hub of Indian sun worship, and the immense Sun Temple remains its centerpiece. Its tower has collapsed, but the design is still clear: the sun god, Surya, being drawn across the sky by seven horses on a huge stone chariot that forms the temple. Even in its collapsed state, its sheer size is almost overwhelming. The entrance is a pyramid flanked by two colossal lions crushing elephants, a symbol of Hinduism triumphant over Buddhism. Three statues of Surya are placed to catch the rays of the sun at sunrise, midday, and sunset. There are intricate detailed carvings over every temple surface. The erotic carvings are found everywhere and range from tiny to lifesize, but they are only part of a wide

range of subjects: gods, dancers, battles, and court scenes. Since 1984, Konarak has been on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. Puri is the holiest place in Orissa and one of India’s largest Hindu pilgrimage centers. The cult of Lord Jagannath and its annual Rath Yatra festival dominate the town. The Jagannath Temple dates from 1198, and even today, more than 5,000 priests and temple attendants live within its compound, grouped into thirty-six orders and ninety-seven ranks. Lord Jagannath is worshipped as Lord of the Universe, an incarnation of Vishnu, one of the high trinity of Hindu gods. The grounds are surrounded by a high wall (600 feet on each side), and non-Hindus are prohibited from entering. But, unlike many Hindu temples, Puri welcomes all Hindus, even those of low caste. The pilgrims enter at the Lion’s Gate, where they see the Garuda, Vishnu’s vehicle or animal totem. They proceed to the Offering Hall where they leave their gifts and go on to a ceremonial hall where temple musicians play and dancers perform. The assembly hall follows, where they watch the priests take their offerings to the god. The pilgrims can see the images of the gods from here, but only the priests may enter the sanctuary. After leaving the sacred precincts, the pilgrims go to one of several bathing tanks to wash or to the sea for ritual ablutions or to scatter the ashes of loved ones on the waves. Every day, hordes of pilgrims are fed in the massive temple kitchen, although the main task of the 500 cooks and 300 volunteers is to make food offerings to Lord Jagannath. The food, after being offered to the god, is then shared with

398 | Oscar Wilde Grave, Paris, France

the pilgrims. A menu of fifty-six items using eighty ingredients is placed before the image six times a day. Because of its sacred status, Puri permits the use of bhang, a mildly narcotic drink made from marijuana, and the government maintains five ganja shops in the town to control the trade. The statues of Jagannath, his brother, and his sister are ceremonially bathed in preparation for the annual festival. Every eleven to thirty years (depending on astrological signs), new statues are carved from ritually chosen perfect trees. Only three types of wood are acceptable, and gathering it has been the appointed task of one family for many years. The existing statues are then buried secretly by the priests. During the festival the statues are placed on raths, massive ceremonial chariots. They are pulled by 4,000 men to a temple where they spend seven days before being returned to their own temple. The raths, thirty feet square and forty-two feet high with six-foot symbolic carved wheels, are then broken up and the wood set aside for use in cremation fires.

REFERENCES Thomas Donaldson, Konark. New York, Oxford University, 2005. Mano Ganguly, Orissa and Her Remains, Ancient and Medieval. Flushing, NY, Asia Books, 1986. Kulke Hermann and Barkhard Schnepel, Jagannath Revisited. New Delhi, Manchar, 2001. Stephen and Steven Huyler, Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 2003. www.konark.nic.in.

OSCAR WILDE GRAVE, PARIS, FRANCE The Pere Lachaise Cemetery is the final resting place of many of France’s greats and of celebrities who have died in France. Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), a flamboyant writer and famous wit who died in exile in Paris, is one of the most notorious. Wilde came to France after imprisonment in England for homosexuality following his conviction in a scandalous trial that became the gossip of the entire country. Penniless and broken, he died in a small hotel in the city. Wilde was perhaps the first open advocate of gay sensibility and gay rights in England. Because of Wilde’s admitted homosexuality, the grave has become a shrine for gay men and women. Its attraction is not limited, however, and a steady stream of visitors of all sorts comes to the grave and leave tokens of respect such as flowers and notes. Unfortunately, they also leave more destructive ex-votos, such as graffiti and lipstick kisses, both of which erode the stone. The grave marker has seldom been treated with respect, perhaps as an unwitting tribute to the cynical Wilde. It features a naked angel that was originally notable for the size of its genitalia until the cemetery director had them removed and used them in his office as a paperweight. After donors restored them they were stolen in the 1960s and have never been replaced again. The grave was paid for by an anonymous donor and is inscribed on the back with a quote from his poem, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol,” which was written from his prison cell. The white

Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, Nigeria | 399 sarcophagus is surmounted by a striking bas-relief by Jacob Epstein, the greatest British sculptor of the twentieth century. The grave has been refurbished by Wilde’s grandson and his literary executor, who added a sign calling for respect for the grave as a historical monument. It has had little effect. Unlike Jim Morrison’s grave, also at Pere Lachaise, Wilde’s has not rated a security guard. See also: Jim Morrison Grave, Pere Lachaise Cemetery

REFERENCES Merlin Holland, The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde. New York, HarperCollins, 2003. Neil McKenna, The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde. New York, Basic, 2006. John Sloan, Oscar Wilde. New York, Oxford University, 2003.

OSUN-OSOGBO SACRED GROVE, NIGERIA One of the rare groves listed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites, where it is listed as one of only seventeen cultural landscapes, the Osun-Osogbo sacred grove is a continuing site of African animist religion. It is situated in a dense forest, one of the last remnants of the high forest of coastal Nigeria. At one time it was one of many such sacred groves, but now it is the last one surviving. In the past, each Yoruba village had a sacred grove outside its boundaries, but modernization and Christianity have slowly eroded the practice. Consequently,

the Osogbo grove has become a symbol of Yoruba tribal identity. Most of the other sacred groves dedicated to Osun have deteriorated because they were made of mud and wattle and were vulnerable to the heavy rains of the monsoons. When interest in maintaining them flagged, they gradually returned to the earth from which they emerged. The Osogbo grove has survived largely through the efforts of an Austrian artist and advocate, Susanne Wenger, a student of Yoruba religion who married an Osun priest. She recreated sculptures that had been lost. Now in her nineties, Wenger began the New Sacred Art movement in 1960, teaching Yoruba artists how to reclaim their artistic heritage. The shrine is a low-slung mud structure open at the front. It is used for induction ceremonies for secret societies and rituals connected with coming-ofage ceremonies. In some cases, animal sacrifices are offered. One responsibility of the shrine is prayer for the health of the sovereign—at one time this meant the chief; now it is the head of the Nigerian state. Osun is presented as a squat goddess with huge eyes, holding a child. Other wooden statues of gods and goddesses dot the forest, including its protectors, the gods of war and iron. Animists believe the grove to be the abode of Osun, a fertility goddess. She is the “unseen mother at every gathering.” She represents harmony, love, and the eternal feminine. There is an annual festival of Osun that brings out most of the town and many Yoruba from around the region. Sacrifices, dances, and drumming go on for several days. In spirit possession, female devotees

400 | Our Lord in the Attic, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

dance ecstatically, weep copiously, and flirt with those around them. See also: African Shrines, Ancestor Shrines, Fertility Shrines, Groves

REFERENCES Kayode Afolabi, Osun Osogbo: Sacred Places and Sacred People. North Charleston, SC, BookSurge, 2006. Joseph Murphy and Mei Mei Sanford, eds., Osun Across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas. Bloomington, IN, Indiana University, 2001. Isese Osogbo 2008. Scotts Valley, CA, CreateSpace, 2009, video.

OUR LORD IN THE ATTIC, AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS Inside two joined canal houses in a seedy area of Amsterdam is a clandestine chapel known as Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder, Our Lord in the Attic. After the “Alteration,” as the Dutch called the Reformation transition in Holland, Roman Catholics were forbidden to practice their faith openly or to have churches. But the Dutch, in a spirit of compromise, tolerated Catholic worship so long as it was not too obvious. In Holland, Catholicism neither disappeared as in parts of Germany and Switzerland nor went underground as in England but continued discreetly. In 1663, a clandestine chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas was built into the top two floors of a large canal house by a prosperous Catholic merchant. It took its

name from the main church in the city, which had passed to Calvinist use. The chapel features a baroque altar and a pulpit that swings out from a hiding place at the touch of a secret button. Above the altar is a painting of the Trinity, and behind it large paintings were displayed according to periods of the Church year. Three of these (of four originals) remain: the Baptism of Christ, the Resurrection, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Currently, these paintings, along with a later one replacing the missing panel, are displayed in a separate room next to the Lady Chapel. The statue of the Virgin is the original from 1690, in polychrome lime wood. A hidden apartment for the priest includes a secret compartment in case of police raids. Peep holes permitted advance warning. The story is told that during the celebration of the Mass, each man attending would be supplied with a flagon of beer, so that in case of a raid, the group could pretend to be a social gathering! Raids were infrequent, and clearly, the police and authorities were bribed to turn a blind eye to the chapel. Later, the original house was joined to two smaller neighbors, and the chapel expanded across the buildings. With its balconies on either side, it can seat more than 150. The Proclamation of Freedom of Religion in 1795 allowed the construction of proper churches, but many Catholics remained loyal to the clandestine chapels of the earlier period. Our Lord in the Attic became a museum in 1888 when a large church (also dedicated to St. Nicholas) was opened in the area. Amsterdamers insisted on their right to continue the use of the chapel for special events, however. Mass is

Our Lord in the Attic, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 401 celebrated on certain feast days, and baptisms and weddings are held regularly in the chapel. Families often bring their children to the chapel and its secret rooms and passageways to help them understand their religious history. The house and the chapel both contain valuable and artistically important paintings, carvings, furniture, and exquisite silverwork. The museum is often called the “Amstelkring,” after the association of historians who led the move to preserve it in the 1880s. The Amstelkring has undergone restoration within the last

few years. The only other remaining clandestine chapel of the period is in the Begijnhof. See also: Begijnhof

REFERENCES Xander van Eck, Clandestine Splendor. Zwolle, Netherlands, Waanders, 2008. Judith Pollman, Religious Choice in the Dutch Republic. Manchester, UK, Manchester University, 1999. www.opsolder.nl.


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limestone face of the cliff like jagged gashes across the front of the sheer drop. Stairs have been carved into the rock face so that pilgrims (and now tourists) can go to the lower cave and from there, to the upper one, although it is a long and tortuous climb. The lower cave receives enough sunlight to be easily visited during the day, but the upper cave is dark and impenetrable without a flashlight, adding to a sense of mystery. The origins of the Pac Ou caves go back before the arrival of Buddhism. The indigenous people used the caves as places to worship the spirits of the river until Buddhism began to filter into the region from India and Sri Lanka. At the Laotian New Year, people come in droves to wash the old statues in traditional Buddhist fashion. Before Laos became a Communist state, the royal family performed this ritual, but since their execution (they were starved to death in prison), they have no descendants. This doesn’t stop ordinary Laotians, however,

PAC OU CAVES, LAOS Fifteen miles up the Mekong River from the Laotian capital, Luang Prabang, sharp cliffs rise on either side. Nestled in the sheer rock on one side are two sacred caves, accessible mostly by boat. The caves are covered with Buddha statues in every traditional pose from his life: standing, resting in meditation, seated, reclining in nirvana, and teaching. They cover every inch of the floor and wall niches. Most of them are carved from wood by local people, and some, more professional, have been brought as ex-votos by pilgrims. The lower cave (Tham Ting) has about 2,500 and the upper cave (Tham Theung) about 1,500. Many are simple and small statuettes, but some are the size of a normal human. Tham Ting has kneelers before the largest images and places to burn incense sticks. The Pac Ou caves have been places of worship for five centuries. The caves are quite large, naturally formed from the

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404 | Padre Cicero Shrine, Juazeiro, Brazil

and even the regional governor now takes part in the ritual washing. See also: Caves

PADRE CICERO SHRINE, JUAZEIRO, BRAZIL The shrine of Padre Cicero in Juazeiro, northwest Brazil, is a place of pilgrimage where peasant folk religion has merged with Catholicism. In the Third World there are many religious centers where Christianity has become blended with primal religion, the ancestral faith that existed among the people before missionaries brought Western religions. They do not belong to any one religious tradition but have developed spontaneously from some charismatic person or event. One of the largest of these centers is the shrine of Padre Cicero. Padre Cicero Batista (1844–1934) was sent to Juazeiro in 1872 to be its parish priest and spent the rest of his life there, admired by the people for his fervent faith. His ardent sermons drew crowds as he campaigned against prostitution and drunkenness. In 1889, as he was giving Communion, the sacred bread was seen to turn red, and the people immediately proclaimed it to be a miraculous vision of the Blood of Christ. This event repeated itself several times until the bishop sent an investigating team, hoping to prove it a scam. The commission shocked the Church authorities by approving the miracles, but the bishop appealed to the Vatican, which did not, declaring them “vain and

superstitious.” Ignoring this, the poor streamed to the town, and Padre Cicero took them in, fed them, found homes for orphans, and became known as a great saint. His defense of the oppressed peasants took the form of political opposition. Padre Cicero was elected mayor of Juaziero and occupied that post for fifteen years. In 1911 he led armed resistance in the town that forced the federal troops to retreat. In 1921 he was expelled from his priesthood by Church authorities under pressure from the government. He refused to accept this suspension and continued to work in his parish until his death in 1934. A few years ago, the Vatican initiated a review of the matter, with the possibility of his rehabilitation. His home has become both a shrine to his memory and a hostel for beggars. Besides his reputation for holiness, Padre Cicero left a promise that someday he would return. Until then—and fully expecting his second coming from the dead—pilgrims arrive at Juazeiro seeking miracles. They recount stories of healings, and in the museum in the town they pin up milagros, stamped metal ex-votos in the shape of the favor received— an ear for a cure of deafness, a heart for a happy marriage, a leg for curing an abscess, and so on. Thousands bring photos of loved ones, seeking help or witnessing to favors. Dolls, representing children confided to the Padre’s prayers, line one shelf. A giant ninety-foot alabaster statue of Padre Cicero stands in a hill nearby, in his characteristic pose carrying a broadbrimmed hat and cane. It is based on a photograph of him at age eighty. His

Padre Pio Shrine, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy | 405 church is kept in his honor, as are his house and the chapel where he is buried. The greatest pilgrimages take place on his birthday, March 24; on All Soul’s Day (November 2), the feast popularly called “the day of the dead”; and on March 1, the anniversary of the first “miracle of blood.” On these occasions, more than 100,000 people stream into Juazeiro in ancient buses and trucks, carrying posters of Padre Cicero and signs such as “Driven by God.” Many have traveled long distances, crossing a desert to get to the town, which turns into a raucous market for a few days. Stalls sell food, statues of Padre Cicero, religious items, “miracle waters,” and the everpopular milagros. The faith of the people is strong as they press into the Padre’s old home, touch their medals and rosaries to his bed, and light candles. The Catholic Church takes a wary view of the pilgrimages and mixed faith of the people. Padre Cicero was forbidden to preach or function as a priest for continuing to proclaim the miracles, but the present clergy do not condemn his followers or take sides. The peasants who come to Juazeiro ignore all the arguments and believe firmly in the miracles.

REFERENCES Ralph Della Cava, Miracle at Joasiero. New York, Columbia University, 1970. N. Ross Crumrine and Alan Morinis, Pilgrimage in Latin America. Westport, CT, Greenwood, 1991. Lira Neto, Padre Cicero—Poder, Fe E Guerra. Sao Paulo, Brazil, Companhia das Letras, 2009. www.padrecicero.com.br.

PADRE PIO SHRINE, SAN GIOVANNI ROTONDO, ITALY The ancient pilgrim route to Monte Sant’Angelo wound through a river valley past a number of shrines. The first village on the route, which now draws one million international visitors each year, became famous only in the twentieth century. San Giovanni Rotondo originally was known for its venerable statue of Our Lady of Grace, but modern pilgrims come to visit the tomb of a famous mystic, St. Padre Pio (1887–1968), a simple Capuchin friar. Padre Pio came from a deeply religious family who attended daily Mass, prayed the rosary together, and abstained from meat three days a week. Francesco (his baptismal name) took up penance as well, sleeping on a stone floor and having visions of the Virgin Mary and his guardian angel. He decided as a young teen that he wanted to enter the Capuchin order, but he had completed only three years of elementary school. His father left the family to go to New York to earn enough to pay for a tutor, and at fifteen, the boy Francesco was admitted. Although in frail health, he was drafted into the Italian army during World War I as a medic. Throughout his life, he suffered stoically from a wide range of illnesses, including cancer and tuberculosis. During his lifetime, he advised a constant stream of people who believed that he had the gift of reading hearts. On his body he bore the stigmata, the bleeding five wounds of Christ, which caused him to lose a cup of blood a day. Reputedly,

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he was also able to be in two places at once, and several cardinals in the Vatican were shocked to have him appear to them while he was asleep back in San Giovanni Rotondo. When asked about his alleged bilocations, Padre Pio only answered enigmatically, “I am where I am.” Padre Pio was tormented by accusations of fraud and immorality. A fellow friar, a physician and psychologist, called him “an ignorant and selfmutilating psychopath.” In 1923, he was forbidden to teach in the monastery high school as a potential pederast. The Vatican investigated him numerous times, which led to his being forbidden to hear confessions or say public Mass. Even the liberal Pope John XXIII regarded him as deceptive. Only under Pope Paul VI in the 1960s was he exonerated of all charges against him. The entire episode was a cause of great personal suffering. Padre Pio’s prophecies were striking. He is said to have predicted that a young Polish theology student in Rome, Karol Wojtyla, would one day be pope, as he did many years later under the name John Paul II. Because of the saint’s reputation for healings, American devotees have built a hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo named for Fiorello LaGuardia, the first Italian-American mayor of New York. Ironically, LaGuardia was a Protestant, but the cult of Padre Pio cuts across denominational lines and is especially strong in the United States. Even so, the case for Padre Pio’s sainthood moved slowly. Even when mystical phenomena are deemed authentic, they are not regarded by the Catholic Church as a sign of sanctity. He was finally canonized in 2002 before half a million pilgrims, one of the largest crowds ever to

assemble at St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. In 2004, a massive shrine church was built at San Giovanni Rotondo. Its spaceship-shaped walls are dramatic and ultramodern. It holds 6,500, with another 30,000 spaces outside. Padre Pio’s body is in a glass case in the church, and his cell can be visited at the nearby church of Our Lady of Grace, where most of his personal effects are on display. Seven million visitors come to the shrine each year, and a large commercial infrastructure has grown up around it. See also: Gargano Massif

REFERENCES Sergio Luzzetto, Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age. New York, Metropolitan, 2010. Frank Rega, Padre Pio and America. Charlotte, NC, TAN, 2009. Padre Pio Between Heaven and Earth. San Francisco, Ignatius, 2009, video. www.conventopadrepio.com.

PAGAN, MYANMAR/ BURMA See also: Bagan

PAINTED MONASTERIES, ROMANIA The painted churches and monasteries clustered in the rural area of Bucovina in northern Romania are among the greatest treasures of primitive Eastern Orthodox art. The region is on the Ukrainian border, and throughout the

Painted Monasteries, Romania | 407 Communist era under the vicious Nicolae Ceacescu (president, 1974–1989), they barely escaped destruction. They are now being reopened and small monastic communities are settling into the monasteries and preserving them. Since 1993, they have been inscribed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. What is remarkable about the painted churches and monasteries is the fact that the frescoes are on the exterior walls, so that someone coming up them is immediately struck by powerful images of scenes from the Bible and the lives of the saints. These were clearly teaching tools for the illiterate peasants, full of drama and exciting details. In all cases, the church walls are filled with every surface covered. The monasteries and churches were built between 1487 and 1532. Arbore, the Church of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (1503), is small and simple. It was not painted until forty years after its construction. The best frescoes are scenes from the book of Genesis. Humor, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin (the chapel of the former Humor Monastery), was built in 1530. There are a variety of frescoes despite the fact that this is a small chapel intended for a monastery. The Devil appears as woman in one. Humor was looted by the Cossacks and closed by the Austrians. Monastic life was reintroduced in 1991 after centuries. The church has fine collection of old icons. The main fresco is the story of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15:11–32. Moldovita Monastery (1532) has the most active contemporary community, with forty nuns in residence. Visitors are welcome to the singing of psalms and offices, which are announced by a

nun who passes around the compound, striking a wooden clapper. The intertwining of historical events and faith is perhaps most prominent here in the Siege of Constantinople, the scene of the terrible defeat of Eastern Christianity by the Turks. The Jesse Tree, Jesus’ family tree, ties together the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, and also shows his human ancestry according to the Bible. Holy Rood Church of Patrauti (1487) was once a monastery, which was closed after the Austrians occupied the region, when it became a parish church. Probata Church (St. Nicholas, 1531) lost many of its frescoes; the originals were the first among the painted churches. The best are inside today, although some external frescoes remain. Restoration has not always been helpful. Probata is a walled compound with defense towers at each corner. St. George Church in Suceava (1522) includes the Monastery of St. John the New. It was built as a metropolitan (archbishop’s) cathedral, and the monastery is the present residence and office for the Metropolitan of Suceava. The monastery also houses the relics of St. John the New in a silver casket with scenes from his life and miracles. The exterior frescoes feature scenes from the scriptures and are of particularly good quality. The Church of St. George of the former Voronet Monastery (1488) is regarded by many as the most beautiful. It was founded in thanksgiving for a victory of King St. Stephan cel Mare over the Ottoman Turks, one of the greatest defeats they suffered in their attempt to conquer Eastern Europe. Stephen, a man of deep personal piety, celebrated by forty days of fasting and prayer and

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then ordered the erection of the monastery. The main church, an artistic wonder, is dedicated to St. George, patron saint of soldiers. King Stephen had promised the church to his spiritual guide, St. Daniel the Hermit. Daniel became the first abbot of the monastery and his tomb is in the monastery. It is also possible to visit Daniel’s cave as a hermit, a stone and brick hut that is well preserved. Voronet remained a monastery until the Austrians expelled the monks in the eighteenth century, but in 1991, nuns returned. They minister to pilgrims and visitors and conduct tours. The facades of the church are protected by a roof line that extends over the walls, shielding them somewhat from the effects of sunlight. The frescoes are noted for their intense azure color, known as “Voronet Blue,” a vivid cerulean made from crushed lapis lazuli. The Last Judgment is an awesome presentation of the damned being cast down to eternal hell and the saved being exalted with the saints. It covers the western wall and has been dubbed the “Sistine Chapel of the East” in tribute to both its artistic majesty and the enduring biblical themes. Moses stands by the side of the Christ in Majesty, calling the people to salvation, while the Jews and Turks stand below, undecided. To these is usually added Sucevita Monastery and its Church of the Resurrection (1583), but it is not part of the UNESCO List (thought it is on the waiting list). It has been revived since the end of Communism, and there are several dozen nuns working there. It was built with the conflicts of the age in mind and has the appearance of a fortress with defensive walls and towers. The frescoes are found both inside and out

and are painted in reddish purple and intense blue over an emerald-green background. Besides the usual religious and biblical scenes, Sucevita has frescoes of everyday life in the region, one of the few secular sets of frescoes among the painted churches and monasteries. The religious frescoes are predominant, however. The Last Judgment shows Romania’s traditional enemies, the Turks (and a gathering of Jews, also considered infidels) as they are about to be condemned for their heresy and rejection of the Christ. The Ladder of Virtue shows angels helping the good climb to heaven, while a grinning and nasty demon awaits the sinners. It is the quality of the art that rescues these scenes from being mere cartoons, and even today they have the ability to inspire and move the observer.

REFERENCE Alan Ogden, Revelations of the Byzantine World: The Painted Churches and Monasteries. Iasi, Romania, Center for Romanian Studies, 2002.

PARAY-LE-MONIAL, FRANCE In the east of France, not far from the ruins of the great medieval monastery of Cluny and near the modern one of Taize´ , lies Paray-le-Monial, a convent and the center of Catholic devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is one of the leading international pilgrimage centers in France. During the seventeenth century, devotion sprang up in Christian Europe

Paray-le-Monial, France | 409 around the humanity of Jesus. Traditional Christian teaching has always held that Jesus was at the same time both divine and human, a unique person, son of God and son of Mary, sent for the salvation of all people. But the various Christian faiths have experienced tension in emphasizing one or the other aspects of Christ. Because Christ was often presented as a distant and impersonal figure, this new devotion served to balance the excess of stress placed on his divinity. One of the chief forms the new movement took was devotion to the heart of Jesus, a symbol of his love. Its most prominent advocate was Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), a young French nun and mystic. Margaret Mary entered the cloistered convent after being cured of a long illness and having a vision of Christ. Her visions and ecstasies were so intense that many other sisters considered her mentally ill—a few even thought she was possessed by the devil. Only with difficulty was she allowed to stay in the community. After taking her vows, Margaret Mary continued to have visions of Jesus, from whom she claimed to have received a mission of spreading devotion to his Sacred Heart as a sign of his love for all humanity. She was fortunate in meeting a spiritual guide, a Jesuit who showed her that her visions were not delusions. Under his direction, she wrote an account of her mystical experiences, which he used as the basis of a book that popularized the devotion. The sisters began to support Margaret Mary and the devotion spread. After her death, Parayle-Monial became a place of pilgrimage, and it is often included on pilgrimage tours to sites in France that include Lourdes and Nevers.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus became a popular Catholic form of piety, although less so in recent decades. It is usually represented in art by Jesus holding his heart on his chest. The heart has a crown of thorns and is surrounded by a sunburst. The devotion is directed to Christ’s ardent love for his people and his willingness to suffer for them. Many Protestants and even Catholics criticize it as too sentimental and romantic. The church of Notre Dame, in Parayle-Monial, popularly called the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, is a Romanesque church where pilgrim services are usually held, but when the crowds are large, these are transferred to a park behind it, which has a set of Stations of the Cross. In summer, when pilgrimages are largest, there is a diorama of the life of St. Margaret Mary. The church is a smaller copy of Cluny, the monastery that dominated religious life in the high Middle Ages. The monastery was founded in 937 and came under the direction of Cluny. Paray-le-Monial was once one of approximately 1,450 monasteries dependent on Cluny, which also controlled the major pilgrimages, especially the one to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Cluny was destroyed during the French Revolution, but Paray-le-Monial gives an accurate model of what it was like at the height of its grandeur. The basilica is considered the high water mark of Romanesque architecture in France. Near the basilica is the Chamber of Relics, a reconstruction of Margaret Mary’s room, furnished with her bed and clothing and now kept as a shrine. In another room, a media presentation is given daily. A few steps beyond is the Chapel of the Visitation, where she

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received three of her visions in the 1670s. At that time it was the monastery chapel, and her body is buried there. The three chapels make up the pilgrim route. The annual pilgrimages were begun in the 1870s as a counter to the rise of anticlerical socialism, then waned after World War II. A revival was stated again by a lay group, the Emmanuel Community, which sponsors family camps and programs that attract thousands during the summer. Although people come throughout the year, the major pilgrimages are in June, near the Feast of the Sacred Heart, and on October 16, St. Margaret Mary’s feast day.

REFERENCES Margaret Mary Alacoque, Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. Charlotte, NC, TAN, 2009. David Baldwin, The Sacred Heart: A Pilgrim’s Companion to Paray-leMonial. London, CTS, 2010. Jan Bovenmars, A Biblical Spirituality of the Heart. New York, Alba House, 1991. Raymond Jonas, France and the Cult of the Sacred Heart. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 2000. www.sanctuaires-paray.com.

PARIS, FRANCE The sacred sites of Paris are noted for their architecture and art, and all are rich in religious history. There is very little of the true pilgrimage spirit left among them, however, as they have come under the swarms of tourists, including religious tourists.

The most-visited tourist place in France is Notre Dame Cathedral, a gem of Gothic architecture with breathtaking stained-glass windows. It was the first building to use flying buttresses in its construction. Building Notre Dame took from 1163 to 1345. As a symbol of French Catholicism, Notre Dame has been a target of vandals. The worst came with the French Revolution, when it was turned into the Temple of Reason. The statues of the Hebrew prophets were beheaded (they are now in the Cluny Museum in Paris). Lady Liberty replaced the Virgin Mary, and eventually the cathedral was used as a storage warehouse. Restoration began in 1845. Twenty years later, Jeanbaptiste Lacordaire, the greatest French preacher of the nineteenth century, began the annual series of Lenten Sermons, which has continued to the present. Today, Notre Dame struggles between providing tourist ministry and serving the needs of pilgrims. Miraculous Medal Shrine, 1830. In the middle of the night, a young woman living as a candidate in the convent of the Sisters of Charity in Paris was awakened by an angel who led her to the chapel. There Catherine Laboure´ saw a Lady surrounded with light who told her she had been chosen for a special mission. A few months later, the Virgin Mary appeared again, standing on a white globe, crushing a serpent with her foot. Mary told Catherine to have a medal struck with this image, and as she departed, the tableau turned to show a reverse side, a large M surmounted by a cross, and with the hearts of Jesus and Mary below. Catherine was tested by her confessor, who was skeptical of her visions, but the medal was finally struck

Paris, France | 411 with the approval of the archbishop of Paris. It soon became known as the Miraculous Medal from the cures attributed to it, and two million copies were distributed. Catherine’s connection to the medal was kept secret, and she lived an ordinary life tending the elderly until her death at age sixty-nine in 1876. She was recognized as a saint in 1947. The chapel remains a popular center of prayer in the midst of a busy shopping district in Paris. Catherine’s body is kept on display in an altar in the convent chapel. Nearby is the shrine-tomb of St. Vincent De Paul (1581–1660), founder of the Vincentian order and the Sisters of Charity and beloved minister to the poor. His bones are encased in a wax likeness and displayed in the motherhouse of the Vincentians. Vincent was the most popular Parisian of his time. Once a slave captured by North African pirates, he rose to become chaplain of the galley-slaves of France, ministering to them and making every attempt to improve their wretched lot. He established, besides the two religious orders, a network of charitable service groups, orphanages, soup kitchens, and refuges. He is well known in the United States as the patron saint of the St. Vincent De Paul Societies, a lay movement found in almost every Catholic parish to provide for the needs of the poor and elderly. The Basilica of Sacre Coeur was built after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, in a time of national conflict and confusion in France. It is a huge white neoclassical church crowning the hill of Montmartre. This is the area when the first martyrs of Paris, led by St-Denis, were beheaded, and it was already a sacred spot. Sacre Coeur is a statement

of triumphal traditional Catholicism in the face of liberalism. It rose shortly after the Commune, a viciously antireligious occupation of the city, where many clergy were killed and churches despoiled. It is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a devotion associated with monarchism, and the basilica was for many the same kind of symbol. Regardless, most religious tourists who come to Sacre Coeur are ignorant of its French political connotations. They ascend on the cable car to the small plaza that opens on one of the best views of Paris anywhere in the city. Entering the church, they admire the mosaics on the upper walls, especially the Battle of Lepanto, where the Turks were defeated in response to prayer. The interior is lightsome and bright, with lots of white marble, and there is an extensive round of daily services. Sacre Coeur also serves many people who come in pilgrimage, with a regular series of religious retreats ranging from days of prayer to weeklong events. Clergy, counselors, and spiritual guides are on duty every day. The Sainte-Chapelle was built in the thirteenth century as a shrine for the supposed Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus at his crucifixion. It is a two-story structure with one chapel built upon the other. Tourists are drawn by the magnificent stained glass, one of the finest collections in France. Originally intended as a royal chapel, it had no need to provide for large numbers in its tiny lower chapel. After a climb up very narrow stairs, one emerges into a fairy-tale atmosphere of sparkling jewel-like windows. The upper chapel was nothing else than an ornate reliquary in stone to enshrine the most precious relics in Christendom. The main one was the

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Crown of Thorns, which the emperor of Constantinople had given to secure a loan from Venice. King St. Louis IX paid off the loan in order to get his prize. To this were added one of the nails, a piece of the Cross of Jesus, and the spear and sponge from which Jesus took hyssop as he was being crucified. While no one would defend the integrity of such things today, in the Middle Ages, relics were often taken literally. The relics have long since left, but their shrine remains. The Crown of Thorns was transferred to Notre Dame Cathedral, where it rests in a special casket. The thorns were removed as gifts for kings over the centuries, and it is now a bare nest of vine. In the suburbs of the city is St-Denis, named for the patron saint of the city. The neighborhood is now mostly Muslim, but visitors and pilgrims still come to the monastic basilica. It was in its day one of the most important monasteries in Europe, with close relations to the royal family. The crypt was the final resting place of centuries of the kings and queens of France. It was attacked during the French Revolution and much of the statuary smashed. The tombs of the royals were broken open and their bones scattered, so mixed together that few could be identified later. The crypt has been restored, and the large monastery church is still in use today, although the monastery has been closed since the Revolution. Besides its religious use, St-Denis is known for its concerts and organ recitals. There are two newer memorials, less for tourists than for mourners. The Velodrome d’Hiver (Winter Bicycle Race Track) was used by the Nazis and French Police in 1942 to round up for deportation 13,000 Jews, including

4,000 children. The memorial sculpture erected by the French government shows families huddled together, awaiting their fate. In suburban Drancy is the site of the main French deportation camp. The memorial rises from a cluster of statues of deportees to a large symbolic stone sculpture that incorporates a number of Jewish symbols. Three stones form the Hebrew letter shin, standing for the Guardian of the Doors of Israel. The center stone has ten men, representing the number necessary for a minyan, or quorum for Jewish services. Nearby is a cattle car used for deporting Jews to the death camps. Although often thought of as a Holocaust monument, the Memorial of the Deportees was built to honor the 200,000 French citizens who died in concentration camps, including many gentiles sent to labor camps in Germany in order to further the manufacture of war materials for the Nazi regime. It is placed behind Notre Dame Cathedral, with an eternal flame. There is a claustrophobic tunnel under the memorial, where 200,000 lighted crystals show the extent of French loss. See also: Chartres Cathedral, Sacre Coeur

REFERENCES Alaine Erlande-Brandenburg, NotreDame de Paris. New York, Harry Abrams, 1999. Raymond Jonas, France and the Cult of the Sacred Heart. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 2000. Bob and Penny Lord, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Morrilton, AR, Journeys of Faith, video.

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PASHUPATINATH, DEOPATAN, NEPAL Pashupatinath is the holiest and most prominent Hindu temple in Nepal. The legendary home of Lord Shiva and Parvati, it is situated on the Bagmati River, a tributary of the sacred Ganges. There was a worship site here by 500 BCE, but the earliest traces still existing date from 477 CE. It lies a few miles from the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu. On arriving at Pashupatinath, pilgrims immerse themselves three times in the river while reciting texts from the Hindu scriptures. The Bagmati is considered almost as sacred as the Ganges, and bathing in it assures release from a cycle of rebirth. The shrine is the major one dedicated to Shiva, the god of contradictions: creation and destruction, good and evil, fertility and asceticism. He takes on 1,008 forms, but here he is shown as Pashupati, protector of Nepal and “lord of all beasts.” Shiva’s symbol is his lingam, the phallus-shaped pillar representing fertility. Therefore, Pashupatinath’s priceless treasure is its three-foot temple lingam representing Shiva’s penis, a proclamation of his masculinity and fertility and a symbol both of life giving and of pleasure. It rises out of a yoni, the image of the female sex organs; the union of the two shows the universe arising from pleasure. This joined image is intended to teach that love is purest enjoyment and that sexual desire is the root of enjoyment, leading to sublime transcendent joy. On the four sides of the lingam are four faces representing differing aspects of Shiva. On top is a plain surface,

actually the all-powerful fifth face that cannot be represented in art; it is said to have the magical power of the sun. Only the temple priests, all of whom must be from the highest Hindu caste, the Brahmins, are allowed into the presence of the lingam. Each morning, the sacred lingam is washed with a mix of the “five nectars”: ghee, yoghurt, milk, honey, and sugar. It is then bathed with waters from sacred rivers and wrapped in rich cloth. In the afternoon, food offerings are made to it. Many lesser linga are found around the grounds and are accessible to all visitors, although none has the divine power of the one enshrined in the main temple. The lesser ones are honored by libations of milk or ghee, which drains off in the yoni from which the lingam rises. The grounds are frequented by numerous sadhus, holy men who practice great austerities. They often sleep standing up or engage in strict fasts for years. One group, the “sky-clad,” wanders about naked as a sign of the rejection of material things. All this is exaggerated many times over at the annual (February/ March) celebration of Shivarati, the “Night of Shiva.” Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims come to offer puja (Hindu daily prayers), and stalls and wandering vendors take over the area. Sadhus bring large amounts of ganja, a potent marijuana from which they make tea to share with others. Shiva approves of marijuana, although its use is not common among devotees. During Shivarati, the king used to preside over a review of the Royal Nepalese Army. With the end of monarchy in Nepal, this custom has been discontinued. The temple is busy every day, but there are at least eight other major pilgrimages besides Shivarati, all of which

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bring increased crowds from around Nepal and northern India. The temple priests have always been southern Indian Brahmins, but in 2009, the Maoist government removed the head priest and appointed a Nepalese, which caused an uproar in the country. After protests grew violent, the government backed down and reinstated the Indians. The temple precincts are open only to Hindus, but the surrounding area and the stairs leading up from the river, where Hindu cremations are held, are open to all. There are ramps where the dying can be laid with their feet in the water, the equivalent of bathing to cleanse the spirit of sin. Placed on biers of wood— aromatic for the wealthy, simple logs for the poor—the deceased is burnt in a fire lit by the eldest son. From these ghats the ashes are consigned to the river to flow with it to the sacred Ganges and directly to the gods. Non-Hindus may observe the rites and see the temple from a terrace across the river, although photographing the cremations is considered in poor taste. The temple is inhabited by tribes of monkeys, which the Hindus believe are holy. Temple monkeys are protected by law in Nepal and are allowed to feed themselves from the food offerings to the temples. Shrines and small temples abound in the immediate area, including the Guhyeshwai Mandir, consecrated to Durga, Shiva’s consort in one of her terrifying forms. Durga was said to have committed suicide after Shiva was insulted by her father. Shiva roamed the skies with her body, dropping pieces to earth, where they consecrated sacred places. Her sex organs or “secret parts” fell near Pashupatinath (guhya means “secret.”) This is a uniquely sacred place

and also closed to non-Hindus. The annual Teej Festival is limited to married women, who purify themselves by bathing, fasting, and praying to ensure the continuing love and fidelity of their husbands.

REFERENCES Axel Michaels, Siva in Trouble: Festivals and Rituals at the Pasupatinatha Temple of Deopatan. New York, Oxford University, 2008. Sacheverell Sitwell, Great Temples of the East. New York, Ivan Obolensky, 1963; reprint New York, Oxford University, 2008. The Hindu World. Columbus, OH, Coronet, 1963, video.

PATMOS, DODECANESE, GREECE Toward the beginning of the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible, St. John the Evangelist comments on his exile to Patmos, a brief stay that has made the island a goal for pilgrims. The Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. John the Theologian is built on the supposed site of his banishment. Located a few miles off the coast of modern Turkey, the island’s desolate, rocky setting made it a logical place to keep political exiles. It was one of three islands used by the Romans for deporting dissidents, and John was sent there under the Emperor Domitian around 95 CE. In Revelation 1:9, John the Apostle says he was banished “because of the word of God and witness to Jesus.” He was released after two years and returned to Ephesus, where tradition says he died. A cave on Patmos is identified as the place

Pedro Betancourt Shrine, Antigua, Guatemala | 415 where John received the inspiration to write Revelation, and the monastery is built on the hilltop above, on top of the ruins of an ancient temple to Artemis. The monastery, founded in 1088 and fortified against attacks, dominates the island. When the first hermit, St. Christodoulos, arrived to establish the monastery, the island was uninhabited, and it was granted to him by the Byzantine emperor. The emperor’s edict is on display in the monastery museum amidst one of the richest collections of icons and religious treasures in Greece. For centuries, the monks were the island’s only inhabitants, and for 700 years they also served as its government. Because Patmos has the status of a “sacred island,” the monastery, which is part of modern Greece, must be consulted on major issues. It is not a single building but a walled village with a number of chapels that feature fine frescoes. Today it is occupied by two dozen monks; at its most extensive it had 150. Especially solemn celebrations are held for the feasts of Easter, the Assumption of the Virgin (August 15), and the feast of St. John. Tradition says that John received his inspirations in terrifying dreams that came through three cracks in the ceiling of the cave, symbols of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In ecstasy, John dictated the revelations to his disciple Prochorus. A chapel is built into the cave and a small monastery is built around it. The cave is dedicated to St. Anne, and there is a small church in her name adjoining it. Though the grotto is open to pilgrims, it is not sign-posted and tour buses are not encouraged to visit. The monks have successfully protected the religious atmosphere of the island and resisted the impact of tourism. Pilgrims come in small numbers, but

larger groups come for the two main feast days, May 8 and September 26. The main monastery church is shaped like a Greek cross and contains the shrine of St. Christodoulos, who is buried there. Sections of the church date from the eleventh century, and there are choice thirteenth-century frescoes of angels with Abraham and with the Virgin Mary. The library has more than 1,000 manuscripts, including a parchment of St. Mark’s Gospel from the sixth century. See also: Ephesus

REFERENCES Dennis Engleman, Patmos, Isle of Apocalypse. Indianapolis, IN, Christ the Saviour Brotherhood, 2004. Peter France, A Place of Healing for the Soul: Patmos. New York, Grove, 2002. George Montague, The Apocalypse and the Third Millennium. Ann Arbor, MI, Servant, revised edition, 1998.

PEDRO BETANCOURT SHRINE, ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA Formally San Pedro of Saint Joseph, his devotees call him simply “Brother Pedro.” San Pedro (1626–1667) was born in Tenerife, Canary Islands, where he worked as a shepherd and lived in a small cave. He had a relative in colonial government service in Guatemala, and hoping for better economic conditions, he made his way first to Havana, Cuba, where his little money ran out. He worked there

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for a year and departed for Antigua, then the capital of Guatemala. He was so destitute that he depended on a bread line for the poorest, but he decided he wanted to be a priest. Try as he might, however, Pedro was incapable of mastering the studies, and he dropped out. Pedro found his second calling in serving the poor. He became a lay Franciscan and began visiting the poor, the imprisoned, and the sick. Not to neglect what he saw as the real needs of the rich, he wandered the affluent neighborhoods, ringing a bell and calling people to repentance. Hermano Pedro sought out the most neglected: teens who had been thrown out of their homes, immigrants without work, street people, Blacks, and mestizos. Finally he started an infirmary, Our Lady of Bethlehem, followed soon by a homeless shelter, schools, and other works. To sustain and manage this series of establishments, he founded a religious community with branches for men and for women. It spread to a number of Latin American countries before being suppressed in 1821 by the secularization movements after independence. The women’s community was refounded in 1861. Hermano Pedro is credited with creating the popular devotional paradepageant, Las Posadas, common just before Christmas throughout Central America, Mexico, and the southwestern United States. A couple dressed as Joseph and Mary goes to a series of homes, asking for a place to stay. They are ritually turned away until they come to a church or chapel where they are granted entry. Pilgrims carry candles and sing hymns during the procession.

The way can be lit by luminarias, small candles in paper bags. Hermano Pedro was always a popular santo of the poor and dispossessed. The Church accepted the reverence he was shown, and finally he was canonized a saint in 2002. His shrine tomb is in San Francisco Church in Antigua, Guatemala, where a steady stream of people come daily with their petitions and prayers, especially for safe passage for loved ones going to El Norte. Brother Pedro is the patron of illegal migrants. His shrine tomb is covered by milagros, tiny exvotos attesting to miraculous passages through Mexico to the United States. The feast day is April 18.

REFERENCES Marian Canales and Jane Morrissey, Gracias, Matiox, Thanks, Hermano Pedro. New York, Routledge, 1996. Jacqueline Hagan, Migration Miracle. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 2008. P. Manuel Lobo, El Hermano Pedro, Un Santo Para Hoy. Guatemala City, Guatemala, Artemis Edinter, 2002.

PERCHERSK LAVRA, KIEV, UKRAINE The first monastery founded in Russia, the Perchersk Lavra covers seventy-five acres of churches, monastic cells, and buildings, all set over a maze of underground caves and passages that include chapels and burial places. Founded by two monks in 1051, the Perchersk Lavra has the air of a medieval site that has weathered the ravages of Russian

Perchersk Lavra, Kiev, Ukraine | 417 history. It was plundered in 1240 by the Tartars, and for two centuries it barely survived. It was then rebuilt. In the meanwhile, many Christians fled to the north, where a rival establishment, Sergiev Posad, was built in 1337. When the Russian and Ukrainian Churches separated a century later, the two monastic centers became the spiritual and cultural hearts of their respective Orthodox communities. The Perchersk churches are magnificent examples of Byzantine architecture and contain a good collection of icons. The Assumption Church, rebuilt in 1614, has the traditional golden onion domes and a fine series of frescoes along the exterior walls, protected by a walkway. There are also eight other major churches and cathedrals, dating from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries. Pilgrims customarily make the rounds of the monastery churches. The Gate Church is consecrated to the Holy Trinity and built on top of the entrance gates to the monastery compound. The Dormition Cathedral (1089), used as a model for many other churches in the Ukraine, was blown up in World War II but has now been reconstructed using the original plans. The subject of the Dormition’s destruction is a sensitive point. Both retreating Soviet forces and advancing Nazis are blamed. The sight that dominates the Kiev skyline is the Great Lavra Belltower, 313 feet tall. It rises to four levels in classical architectural style. There is a viewing platform on the third level, overlooking the city. It is the underground caves and catacombs that most interest visitors. The caves are in two groups, Near and Far. The Near Caves are more than 200 yards in length, while the Far Caves are almost

300. Along the passageways are several small chapels and a number of cells in which hermit monks once lived. Some cells are almost walled in, leaving only a small opening for passing food and water inside. This arrangement in itself is an indication of the ancient character of the monastery, since individual hermit life was later replaced by community living in most monasteries. The complex is often referred to simply as “The Lavra,” a term for this type of monasticism. The passageways are cramped, about four feet high and seven feet wide. Burial places of saints, with their relics, are scattered along the corridors. The subterranean passages also contain burial places where, in monastic fashion, the bones of the monks have been separated and sorted into piles of skulls, femurs, and legs. The hermit monks were usually just left in the cells where they died, with the opening sealed up. These catacombs (the name Perchersk is a Slavic word for “catacomb”) end in the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. At its greatest extension, the monastery was incredibly wealthy—it owned 80,000 serfs, many villages, and a dozen other monasteries. By the nineteenth century, however, it had declined. Under Soviet Communism it was closed in 1927, although several churches continued in use until the 1960s. It was preserved as a museum, while some artworks were taken away. Pilgrims continued to come to the complex throughout the Communist period. Now the new Ukrainian government has returned the properties to the Orthodox Church. Monastic life has been reinstated in the Lavra, and the property is divided between the museum and the monastery, which is also the seat of the

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metropolitan or head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In 1990, the Perchersk Lavra was placed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. See also: Sergiev Posad, Pochayiv Lavra

REFERENCES John Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism. Englewood, CO, Ukrainian Academic Press, third edition, 1990. Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine. Ottawa, ON, St. Paul’s University, 1987. Yaroslav Shchapov, State and Church in Early Russia, Tenth to Thirteenth Centuries. New Rochelle, NY, Caratzas, 1993. www.lavra.ua.

PERE LACHAISE CEMETERY, FRANCE A lovely park-like setting in northeastern Paris, Pe`re Lachaise Cemetery contains a vast collection of mausoleums and monuments. A number of these have become objects of pilgrimage and attract a constant flow of visitors. The land formerly belonged to the Jesuits and was used as a retreat by King Louis XIV’s confessor, Pe`re La Chaise, who donated generously to the construction of the first buildings, which no longer exist. The land was bought by the city of Paris and made into a cemetery in 1803. At first, no one wanted to be buried in such a distant place, so Napoleon made it fashionable by transferring the remains of prominent people, such as the medieval lovers Abe´lard and Heloı¨se and the playwright Moliere. Pe`re Lachaise now

includes the graves of the composer Fre´ derick Chopin (+1849), the writer Honore´ de Balzac (+1850), and the singer Edith Piaf (+1963), as well as public figures and French military heroes. Prominent foreigners, such as the American author Richard Wright (+1960) and the dancer Isadora Duncan (+1927) were buried there as long-time residents of France. In 1871, after a violent uprising (the Paris Commune) terrorized Paris, the last insurgents were cornered in the cemetery, where fierce fighting went on among the graves. The last 147 were captured and gunned down by army troops and buried where they fell along the Mur des Fe´de´re´s (Federalists’ Wall). It is maintained as a memorial, and socialists and anarchists visit regularly to leave floral tributes. A political pilgrimage is held annually on the anniversary, May 28. Nearby is an avenue of monumental sculptures, each representing a slave labor camp where deported French citizens, mostly Jews, were worked to death during World War II. The most striking represents Mauthausen in Austria, where slave labor was used to quarry large paving blocks that had to be carried up a long stairway to the mouth of the quarry. Many died of exhaustion under their burdens on the “stairway to hell,” and the sculpture is modeled on a series of jagged steps. Two of the graves together constitute the leading gay pilgrimage site in the world, the tombs of the writers Oscar Wilde (1856–1900) and Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), both of whom died in France. Wilde, exiled from England after being disgraced and imprisoned for his homosexuality, died penniless in Paris. He has become a cult figure for the gay

Petra, Jordan | 419 movement, and his tomb is always marked with flowers and touching notes and ex-votos. The tomb was erected by an anonymous woman admirer. Stein, an American writer and patroness of a generation of expatriate American writers such as Ernest Hemingway, was at the center of cultural life in Paris between the world wars. She remained in France throughout the Nazi occupation of World War II and is popular among the French as well as among gays and lesbians. Her life-long associate and companion, Alice B. Toklas (1877– 1967), rests beside her. The most recent place of pilgrimage is the grave of rock star Jim Morrison (1944–1971) of the Doors, who died in Paris while on tour. A mix of fans and rock music enthusiasts regularly visit the vault, and the surrounding tombs in all directions are marked by graffiti giving directions to the rock singer’s grave. Lyrics from Morrison’s songs are scrawled across neighboring vaults: “Break on through,” or “This is the end.” Among the ex-votos found regularly at the site are bongs and other drug paraphernalia. People pour beer or wine onto the ground around the modest grave as a kind of libation, and it is not uncommon to hear visitors humming or singing Morrison’s hit, “Riders on the Storm.”

Lachaise Cemetery. Hudson, NY, Ivy, 2010. Tom Weil, The Cemetery Book. New York, Hippocrene, 1992.

PETRA, JORDAN An ancient city in the desert wastes of Jordan, Petra was forgotten and unknown to the West from the time of the Crusades until 1812, when a young explorer followed rumors to track it down. He bribed a suspicious Bedouin tribesman to take him to the place where Abraham’s brother, Aaron, was supposedly buried, saying that he wished to worship there. What he saw overwhelmed him in its beauty and untouched splendor.

See also: Cemeteries, Jim Morrison Grave, Oscar Wilde Grave

REFERENCES Judi Culbertson and Tom Randall, Permanent Parisians. White River Junction, VT, Chelsea Green, 1986. Anna Eriksson, Meet Me at Pere Lachaise: A Guided Tour of the Pere

The ancient city of Petra, near the Dead Sea in Jordan, is noted for its buildings carved out of sandstone. The city was founded around the sixth century BC as the practically inaccessible capital of the Nabataean Arabs.

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Petra was settled several thousand years before Christ, but somewhere around the fifth century BCE it became a Nabatean stronghold. A complex watersupply system allowed them to create an elaborate farming setup in the desert and a public water supply in the town. At its height, around 40 CE, Petra controlled Damascus and a large area in what is now Syria. A shift of the Arab trade routes caused a gradual decline, and Petra later passed to the Byzantine Christians and then to Arab Muslims. Petra is stunning. Set within a ring of mountains, its red sandstone tombs and buildings cover an area of more than a square mile. Fed by a spring and easily defended, the site provided a protected trade route and a natural place for settlement. The stream, Ain Musa, is believed by local people to be the result of God’s command to Moses to strike the dry rock when the Jews wandered in the desert and lacked water. It would be remarkable merely as an ancient settlement, but it was also the center of a deeply religious culture that has left some of the most striking evidence of ancient religion. The Nabatean’s chief deities were the goddess Al-Uzza (Mighty One), symbolized by a lion, and Dushara, the high god. This god was represented (as was the Hebrew god, Jehovah) as a square block of rock, often referred to as “God’s House,” Beth-el in Hebrew. Dushara’s symbolic animal was the bull. Al-Uzza was the people’s deity, while Dushara was the court god of the nobility and the official cult. In the hills surrounding Petra are a number of sanctuaries known as “high places.” These feature large altars of sacrifice and shaped stones representing Dushara and Al-Uzza. Around them are niches for

lamps, and religious meals were held at these spots. Whether these meals were like modern picnics or sacrificed animals were eaten in some sort of ritual is not known. There are also many tombs, some massive and ornate, and these include formal eating places with benches on which diners reclined during anniversary dinners in honor of the dead. Some of these could accommodate a large group of relatives and friends. A visitor enters Petra via the Siq, a gorge that follows the stream for slightly more than a mile. Many votive niches were carved into the canyon walls to hold offerings, some with stylized carvings of Al-Uzza. At the entry are three massive djinn (spirit) blocks, square blocks of stone sacred to the Bedouin, the nomadic people who live in the area. The visitor then comes upon the Obelisk Tomb, the first of the major burial chambers. It contains five graves set into the walls, carved into the living rock. The final entrance into Petra is very narrow and confining at first, then opens with a shock onto the brilliant, ocher-red Kasneh, a tomb with a beautifully carved classical facade. It has become the symbol of Petra. An elevenfoot-high urn is carved above its doorway. The Kasneh was probably a temple. It has an inner chamber and sanctuary beyond its courtyard and numerous tombs, some holding as many as seventeen graves. The center of Petra was the main public fountain, dedicated to the water spirits and surrounded by shops, which have disappeared. At the end of the street, known today as the Colonnade, is the ceremonial gate leading to the sacred precincts. Within it is the Kasr el Bint, the holiest temple in Petra, built around the time of Christ. The temple is a mammoth building that honored Dushara,

El Pilar, Spain | 421 represented by a large god-block (no longer present). A huge hand has been excavated, indicating that the block was later replaced by a statue of the god. Some of the painted plasterwork that once covered the temple can still be seen on the walls and pillars. A cult was once devoted to the spirit of water and was probably connected with the mountain Umm al-Biyara (Mother of Cisterns), which still has eight large holding tanks for water. A short distance away is the mountain el-Barra, with a shrine on top regarded as Aaron’s tomb; it is jealously guarded by the Bedouin and not open to visitors. There are more than 500 tombs in the Petra area, the most important of which is the Royal Tomb, used as a Christian church from the fifth century CE because of its vast size. Petra also has one of the best-preserved religious sites in the ancient world, the High Place of Sacrifice. On the ceremonial path to the high plateau where it sits are two obelisks a hundred feet apart and twenty feet high, carved from the same mountaintop, an enormous chore that indicates the importance of honoring the deities. At 625 feet above Petra, the High Place was used for both animal and human sacrifice and was equipped with drainage to flush away the blood. A god-block, now disappeared, presided over the scene.

REFERENCES Christian Auge and Jean-Marie Dentzer, Petra: Rose Red City. New York, Thames & Hudson, 2000. Maria Guzzo and Eugenia Schneider, Petra. Chicago, University of Chicago, 2002. James Taylor, Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans. New York, Tauris, 2010.

EL PILAR, SPAIN Regarded as the site of the first apparition of Mary, Mother of Jesus, El Pilar’s story begins with St. James the Apostle. Legend has it that after the death of Jesus, James went to Spain to implant the new faith—but with no success. Mary (presumably still alive in the year 40 CE ) appeared to him, seated on a throne carried aloft by angels. She gave him a column of jasper and a small statue of herself with the request that a shrine be built to honor her on that spot. Folklore though the legend may be, the present Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza stands on the spot of one of the oldest shrines to Mary in Christendom. The relation between Mary and St. James is important in Spanish tradition. James is not only the patron of Spain but also the inspiration for its liberation from Muslim occupation in a 700-year war known as the reconquista or Reconquest. His shrine at Santiago de Compostela is the other national shrine of Spain. In sharing this role, El Pilar was a nationalist rallying point in the Civil War of 1936–1939. At one point, the basilica was bombed by government forces, but when the bomb came through the roof and struck the floor, it failed to explode. The people regarded this as a miracle and keep the unexploded bomb in the church. The present basilica was built in 1677 on the banks of the Ebro River, on the site of several previous sanctuaries. The church is decorated in baroque style, with a splendid alabaster screen behind the main altar. The statue sits in a small shrine in the center of the basilica. It is

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the wooden original, a mere fifteen inches high and obviously of great age. Mary holds the Christ Child in her left arm, and he holds a small dove; behind them is a golden ray like a sunburst. The pillar is encased except for a small space exposing the underlying jasper so the faithful may kiss it. Newborn babies are taken to the shrine so that their first photos may be taken with the statue, in the arms of young server boys in scarlet gowns. Pilar remains a popular woman’s name in Spain, and the shrine is a regular place of pilgrimage for Spaniards. The feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar, October 12, is also the Day of the Hispanidad, commemorating Christopher Columbus’ first landing in the New World. It is a national holiday and is celebrated in Zaragoza with elaborate festivities. The evening before, a solemn torchlight procession wends its way through the streets to the basilica for the singing of vespers. On the feast day, crowds pack the church, where several Masses may be offered simultaneously. Bishops come from various cities in Spain for the privilege of offering Mass in the basilica on that day. Outside, a steel framework outlines the front of the basilica. All through the day, a procession of families in traditional dress brings bouquets, which are fixed onto the frame until, by the end of the day, the church is outlined in flowers, a stunning sight. Then the festival begins, first with a dance contest with groups performing the jota, the traditional folk dance of Aragon. Finally, there is a bullfight for which the finest bulls have been kept. This is the official end of the bullfight season, and partying goes on through the night at sports bars near the stadium. The next evening 350 carriages

with lanterns light a Rosary procession. Throughout the following week there are parades featuring giant figures up to thirty feet tall. See also: Marian Apparitions, Santiago de Compostela

REFERENCES Anselmo Gascon de Gotor, El arte en el templo del Pilar. Zaragoza, Spain, Molina, 1940. Bob and Penny Lord, Our Lady of the Pilar. Morrilton, AR, Journeys of Faith, video.

PILGRIMAGE The experience of pilgrimage is common to all religions. It combines the quest for inspiration, blessing, or grace with the rigors of a demanding journey, a sacrifice made to God. Motives vary: a pilgrimage can be made to fulfill a promise, to plead for a cure or other favors, or simply to seek out a place imbued with the sacred. In many cases, pilgrimages involve a series of stops or stations along the way, which can become destinations in themselves. The pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is an example of this, with many stations along the various routes to the shrine. A pilgrimage requires a person to leave his or her familiar world and go out on a journey to a sacred place. It should involve some inconvenience or sacrifice and asks the pilgrim to disrupt daily life. The journey itself is as important as the goal because it is a symbol of purification. In the Celtic Christian tradition,

Pilgrimage | 423 for example, no greater sacrifice could be made than the peregrinatio pro dei amore, “wandering for the love of God.” Until the eleventh century, Irish Christianity was dominated by this ideal, sending monks out as missionaries and penitents into exile to atone for their sins. These pilgrims did not necessarily seek out any sacred place but journeyed for the journey’s sake. This tradition still is followed by the wandering monks of Russian Orthodoxy and the holy men of Jainism and Hinduism. Not just monks but ordinary members of all faiths can follow in this path. Pilgrims may be seeking the place where their god’s power is most concentrated or the sites of his or her life. Christians, from their earliest times, have sought out the holy places of Israel, just as Jews have continued to return to the remains of the temple in Jerusalem. The crowds that throng Mecca while making the Hajj, or Varanasi on the Sacred Ganges, are probably outnumbered by many other Muslims or Hindus who visit smaller and less famous shrines and holy places. Special occasions, such as the Holy Year proclaimed by Pope John Paul II for the year 2000, can bring massive numbers; twenty million came to Rome alone for that Holy Year. Yet easily that many Catholics make simple pilgrimages to regional and national shrines and sanctuaries each year in Europe alone. In the Middle Ages, pilgrimage was regarded as a suitable penance for sin, and the arduous trip to Santiago was often assigned by judges as a punishment for crime. King Edgar, around 970, decreed that such pilgrims had to go barefoot while fasting, “nowhere spend a second night,” and neither cut their hair

nor trim their nails. Pilgrimages also led to corruption, and St. Augustine said tartly that “not by journeying but by loving we draw nigh to God.” Some used the opportunity of a pilgrimage to run away from obligations, family, or debt, and criminals took the occasion to rob travelers. The Canterbury pilgrims in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (c. 1390 CE) traveled in a group for security. Despite the dangers and hardships, pilgrimages flourish. Even evangelical Protestants, deeply suspicious of such spiritual works as pilgrimages, used the image of pilgrimage as a pattern of the Christian life in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1684). With the reunification of Germany, the traditional Lutheran pilgrimage, the Luther Circle, has been revived. The advent of modern means of travel, which removes the difficulties and the challenges, has transformed the pilgrimage. On one hand, it makes pilgrimages available to many who could not have made the demanding trips before. On the other hand, it reduces or eliminates the meaning of the voyage and places total focus on the sacred place at the end. Some shrines have given in to the modern approach and begun to present themselves like theme parks rather than places of mystery and encounter with the sacred. The plastic dioramas at Kek Lok Si, the moving walkways that keep worshippers from stopping in front of the Guadalupe, and the increased use of multimedia programs show how far entertainment has wormed its way into sacred places. The development of the railroad helped create Lourdes as a major pilgrim center, and the introduction of jet aircraft and the organization of the

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tourism industry have made most shrines within anyone’s reach. Agencies that specialize in religious tourism now dominate pilgrimages to all the most important sites in Europe and Asia, flying in large groups to visit the shrines, attend prearranged services, and stay in hotels booked out for them. The rise of a middle class that can afford such major trips provides a solid base for the portion of the travel industry that caters to their needs. Around such shrines as Fa´ tima and Lourdes, as well as the holy places of Rome and Jerusalem, the religious tourist business often overwhelms the pilgrim tradition. Those who disagree regard this argument as elitist, the argument of those who have the time and means to meander off to sacred places. They point to the new availability of the shrines to people from far corners of the world who could not otherwise undertake the journey to see their sacred places. This effect is seen in all traditions: the organized tours to the shrines of the Baha’i World Centre; the Buddhist tours of the Kumbh Mela sites from Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore; and the massive youth gatherings every year at Taize´ and for the papal World Youth Days. But no matter how one feels about religious tourism, there is no denying that a significant shift in the concept of pilgrimage has occurred—the loss of the pilgrimage as an arduous event that tests the spirit and the advent of the new, massmovement form of pilgrimage. Among Catholics—and to a lesser extent, other Christians—pilgrimage programs are highly organized. Pastors or religious leaders recruit parishioners for the pilgrimage, earning a free spot on the tour for each ten persons enrolled.

Tours usually include time at major holy places as well as shopping and recreational tourism, a system that leads to emphasis on those shrines with an international reputation, recognized by all and easily marketed. If that commercial element seems crass, one has only to note that such a mix of the pious and the profane has a long history. It marked many medieval pilgrimages, especially those to Mont-Saint-Michel and Santiago de Compostela. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales recounts the very mixed motivations of the pilgrims to that holy spot. Traditional pilgrimages continue to thrive, however, and in recent years have undergone a revival. Some of the largest pilgrimages to Poland’s Jasna Go´ ra arrive on foot, and one youth pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela sponsored by Pope John Paul II brought several hundred thousand young people who walked, biked, and hitch-hiked from all over Europe. From Bavaria, a group of factory workers gives two weeks each year to the pilgrimage to Santiago; they gather at the last year’s stopping point and continue on foot for two weeks, to reassemble again the next year until they reach their goal. To foster such groups, the Spanish government has refurbished a number of simple and crude medieval pilgrim hostels, offered free to pilgrims on the Way of St. James. Only the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to the holy places of Mecca and Medina, has remained free from much influence of tourism due to strict control by the Saudi government authorities. Tourists are not allowed into Saudi Arabia, and the holy places are off limits to all nonMuslims. Mecca is a closed city at all times of the year, and as a result, the

Pilgrim’s Progress, England | 425 Hajj has kept its purely religious character. Even here, however, the use of networks of charter flights and the availability of luxury hotels for the affluent have crept in. See also: Hajj, Luther Circle, Varanasi

REFERENCES Phil Cousineau, The Art of Pilgrimage. Berkeley, CA, Conari, 1998. Jim Forest, Road to Emmaus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life. Maryknoll, NY, Orbis, 2007. Christian George, Sacred Travels. Downers Grove, IL, Intervarsity, 2006. Mary Lee and Sidney Nolan, Christian Pilgrimage in Modern Western Europe. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina, 1989.

PILGRIM’S PROGRESS, ENGLAND John Bunyan (1628–1688), an itinerant lay Baptist preacher, wrote the classic story of the path to religious salvation. One of the finest allegories in the English language, it has never gone out of print since its first publication in 1678. Bunyan was a Baptist nonconformist, a member of an unapproved religious body, and his pamphleteering and preaching caused him constant conflict with the authorities. He was imprisoned several times and it was during one of those stays in jail that he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress. Although the Anglican Church persecuted him, today it observes a feast day for him on August 30.

Bunyan was born of poverty and lived always on the edge of failure. He was a tinker and his education consisted of two or three years of home schooling. Despite his limitations, he was an effective and powerful preacher and turned to the Baptist faith as a young man. Under the Puritans he enjoyed a certain liberty, but with the restoration of Anglicanism under Charles II, all nonconformist churches were closed. His refusal to submit to Anglicanism led to his arrest and imprisonment. After twelve years in and out of jail, he was freed by a new law of tolerance and received a license to preach. His preaching power swelled his congregation to 4,000. The book is written as a dream in which Christian (he has no personal name) is led by a figure named Evangelist through the trials and triumphs of life’s pilgrimage to the Celestial City. He sets off carrying a Burden of Sin on his back, but it drops off when he encounters the Cross of Christ. Along the way he meets every imaginable challenge, all named for a virtue or threat to the pathway to his final destination. Some of these, like the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair, have entered the English languages as ongoing metaphors. On the pilgrimage of life, Christian is tempted by Sloth, Hypocrisy, Despair, and Presumption and a host of other evils. To his support come an equal number of the virtuous: Prudence, Piety, Charity, and Goodwill. A companion named Faithful walks the way with him until they come to the Celestial City. The book was written in two parts, of which the first is far superior in style and is best known. The second part is

426 | Plaine du Nord, Haı¨ti

JOHN BUNYAN Bunyan was an itinerant preacher and prolific writer, steadfast in his nonconformist faith despite constant harassment and years of imprisonment. With almost no education, he became a wandering tinker and as a youth joined the Puritan army during the civil war. He found conversion from a life of blasphemy and ill living and at twenty-two married a poor orphan. His life was grim and racked with poverty. Seeking solace, he joined a nonconformist community and in 1655 began to preach, despite being unlicensed. Both under the Puritans and under the restored Anglicans, he spent long periods in prison, where he defiantly formed a convict parish and began writing. Although Pilgrim’s Progress is his only well-known work, he published twenty-eight other books. In his twelve years in prison, indulgent jailors allowed him furloughs to preach, until he was finally freed and licensed to preach in 1672. Bunyan was rearrested three years later, and it was probably then that he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. Widowed and remarried several times, he had a large family. He died of pneumonia in 1688, aged sixty, by then a prominent, if begrudgingly respected, figure in British society.

really a companion book, an allegory of Christian’s wife and children as they make their own way to heaven. What sets Bunyan’s allegory apart from others written in the same vein are its simple colorful style, clear symbolism, and ability to reach an average reader. Each of the many virtues and vices is personified and speaks in convincing conversation. In the town of Bedford, the church at which he preached is still in service, with a museum of artifacts and documents attached. See also: Canterbury Tales, Pilgrimage

REFERENCES Kevin Belmonte, John Bunyan. Nashville, TN, Thomas Nelson, 2010. John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress. New York, Oxford University, 2003. Richard Greaves, Glimpses of Glory: John Bunyan and English Dissent. Stanford, CA, Stanford University, 2002.

PLAINE DU NORD, HAI¨TI Plaine du Nord, on the north coast of Haı¨ti, is a center for the cult of the Voodoo loa (god) Ougou Feray, Yoroba god of war. In popular devotion, he has been joined to the Christian saint James the Greater, one of Jesus’ apostles. James, known throughout the Spanish-speaking world as Santiago Matamoros (“James the Moor-Slayer” or “Infidel-Killer”), is honored in Spain as the divinely sent messenger who led the Spanish to expel the Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages. According to legend, he crossed the ocean and was seen in a vision leading the Spanish conquistadors and their Indian allies against the Aztecs in Mexico, and he is hailed as a Christian war leader. The voodoo feast in his honor is celebrated just before July 25, St. James’ Day. The shrine is Trou St. Jacques (St. James’ Tub), a large mud pond created by

Plotzensee Memorial, Berlin, Germany | 427 a flood in 1909. It is walled into the shape of a swimming pool. It is considered a place of healing. Devotees pour libations and food into the pond as offerings while others plunge themselves into the ooze, because earth and water are the elements from which life comes and which sustain it. Animals are sacrificed to the loa, including bulls, and the blood is collected to be drunk or poured into the pond and at the four corners of the village. Chickens are held against the bodies of the sick in order to absorb their illnesses and then beheaded. Some devotees are possessed by the loa and thrown into ecstasy, and they then share their blessing with others who seek them out to have mud rubbed onto their bodies. Babies are bathed with mud to prevent illness, and the mud is also taken home after the feast and used for healing. Women bring huge kettles of red beans and rice to distribute to the poor at the time of the feast. A little of this ends up as a food offering for the loa, along with libations of rum, wine, and red soft drinks. Red is thought a favorite color of the loas, and it is the special color of clothes worn on that day. On the feast of St. Anne (July 26), there is a voodoo pilgrimage to the beach where Christopher Columbus’ ship, the Santa Maria, sank in 1492. Many of those who took part in the ceremonies at Plaine du Nord go to the sea, where they wash the mud from their bodies in a cleansing ritual. See also: Saut d’Eau

REFERENCES Carole Devillers, “Haiti’s Voodoo Pilgrimages: Of Spirits and Saints,” 167 National Geographic 3:395–408 (March 1985).

Andre Louis, Voodoo in Haiti. Mustang, OK, Tate, 2007. Voodoo and the Church in Haiti. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1988, video.

PLOTZENSEE MEMORIAL, BERLIN, GERMANY During the Nazi era, the Plo¨ tzensee Prison in Berlin was the scene of more than 2,500 executions, among them some of the most important Christian opponents of the regime. Although the prison compound continues in use as a juvenile detention center, the execution building and nearby areas have been set aside as a memorial to the victims of conscience, especially members of the anti-Nazi resistance movement. The movement was organized into “resistance circles,” small groups who circulated pamphlets, practiced passive opposition, and fought the regime with sabotage. This included citizens of conscience who were Communists and Christians as well as a prominent group of high army officers who plotted Adolf Hitler’s death in 1944 and were executed at Plo¨ tzensee when the plot failed. Among these were several strongly committed Lutherans motivated by their faith. The German government utilizes the memorial as a means of confronting German responsibility for Naziism. School groups are brought to Plo¨tzensee in large numbers to be taught about the terrors of 1933–1945. Those who were sentenced to death were kept in cells in the “death house” after their sentence was read out to them. From there they were led to the execution building, where they were either hanged

428 | Plotzensee Memorial, Berlin, Germany

BLESSED JAMES (JAKOB) GAPP Gapp entered the Marianist religious order in 1920 after service in World War I, where he was wounded and made a prisoner of war. He then began an unremarkable service as a teacher, but with the annexation of Austria to Germany, he became increasingly opposed to the Nazis. He refused to give the Nazi salute, rejected placing photos of Hitler in the classroom, and taught his students that Nazi doctrine was unchristian. Fearing for his safety, his superiors sent him to Spain. He did not adjust well there, criticizing his confreres for their support of Francisco Franco and the injustices of Spanish fascism. In 1943, he was approached by a supposed Jew who asked for instructions in the Catholic faith, and by trick he was lured across the border to occupied France and arrested. Gapp was sent to Plotzensee, where he was tried and executed by guillotine after a trial in which he vigorously defended Christian faith against Nazi doctrine. The judge was so impressed that he ordered the body cremated so that no possible relics could be retrieved. He was beatified as a martyr by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

or beheaded by guillotine. The bodies of less important people were used for the instruction of medical students, but those of prominent political and religious resisters were cremated and their ashes thrown on the fields. The meat hooks used for hangings remain in place, although the guillotine was removed after the war. The Plo¨tzensee Memorial attracts few visitors to honor the secular martyrs of conscience, but religious visitors come in larger numbers. In the execution building the documents of a Catholic priest are displayed along the walls. This was James (Jakob) Gapp, an Austrian Marianist who was kidnapped while in exile in Spain and executed in 1945, with instructions from the court that his body be burned and the ashes dispersed so that no possible relics could remain. He was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1996. Also recognized as a martyr was Blessed Alfred Delp, a Jesuit and member

of the Kreisau Circle. His letters from Plo¨ tzensee are ringing affirmations of Christian opposition to the Third Reich. Among the Protestant leaders was the lawyer Helmuth Graf von Moltke, whose religious testimony at the time of his sentencing has often been reprinted. Helmuth Hu¨ bner, a devout seventeen-year-old Mormon youth arrested for circulating copies of British broadcasts, was the youngest to die at the prison. A remembrance day for the victims of Nazi barbarism was begun in 1996; it is observed on January 27. A stone urn before a memorial wall contains earth taken from each of the major Nazi concentration camps. In the neighborhood, both Lutheran and Catholic shrine churches have been established as centers for prayer and education. The Confessional Church was formed by those who resisted Nazi attempts to subjugate the national Lutheran Church. It became the root of the present Evangelical Lutheran Church, which has

Pochayiv Lavra, Pochayiv, Ukraine | 429 built a study center and church nearby. A Carmelite cloister, Maria Regina Martyrium, is also nearby; several tombs of the martyrs are enshrined in its crypt. It also houses a bookstore about the religious resistance. Because they are memorials to victims of Nazi barbarism, Plo¨ tzensee and the religious centers are attacked and desecrated by neo-Nazi vandals and racist skinheads. Graffiti is common, and in 1995, severed pigs’ heads were left at the entrance. See also: Holocaust Sites

REFERENCES John Conway, The Nazi Persecution of the Churches, 1933–1945. New York, Basic Books, 1968. Alfred Delp, Prison Writings. Maryknoll, NY, Orbis. 2004. Karl Meyer, “Digging Berlin’s Chamber of Horrors,” 45 Archaeology 4:24–29 (July–August 1992). Brigitte Oleschinsky, Plotsensee Memorial Center. Berlin, German Resistance Memorial Center, 1996.

POCHAYIV LAVRA, POCHAYIV, UKRAINE Holy Dormition Lavra in Pochayiv, Ukraine, is the second-largest Orthodox monastery in the Ukraine and has been, throughout its history, a center of Ukrainian nationalism, tossed on the winds of political and religious changes in the region yet remaining a bastion where the Ukrainian people have found continuity and strength. Pochayiv Lavra was said to have been founded in 1240 during a Mongol invasion,

when several monks seeking refuge were guided by a column of fire in which they saw the Virgin Mary. She then left her footprint on a rock, from which came forth a stream of healing waters. The first written records, however, date from the sixteenth century. Then, a miracle-working icon of the Virgin Mary was donated to the monastery, and legends tell of several times when apparitions of the Virgin drove back attacking armies of Tatars and Turks. The following centuries were times of constant conflict from within and without. The monastery was besieged by Turks and attacked by others. It was also the target of supporters of the Union of Brest, which brought many Ukrainians into unity with the Catholic papacy. At one point in the conflict, the descendants of the donors took back the miracleworking icon in a raid and kept it for a generation. In 1713, Pochayiv Monastery declared its adherence to the Roman Catholic Church and joined the expanding Uniate movement, which maintains Byzantine liturgy and traditions (including married clergy) while following Catholic doctrine and acknowledging the pope as head of the Church. In its Uniate period, Pochayiv became a cultural and publishing center under the direction of the Basilian Order. This lasted for more than a century until the Russian czar gave the monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church, claiming that Pochaiv had supported the Polish rebellion of 1830 against Russian authority. None of the Catholic monks resisted and most transferred their allegiance to Orthodoxy. Expansion continued under the Orthodox, with new buildings, cathedrals, and many hermitages under its jurisdiction.

430 | Pochayiv Lavra, Pochayiv, Ukraine

ORTHODOXY AND THE UNIATES After the medieval break between western Roman Christianity and the eastern Byzantines, the two traditions remained in conflict for centuries. A few communities of eastern Christians remained in communion with Rome, but the vast majority of the eastern Churches remained aloof. For a mix of religious and political reasons, a shift began around 1700, when a group of Ukrainians joined the Catholic Church while keeping their liturgy, language, and customs. These included married clergy and communion and confirmation of infants. Unlike their Orthodox counterparts, these groups, pejoratively called “uniates,” used the local languages for worship rather than Church Slavonic. Soon the Uniate Catholics became the religious majority, but in 1945 the Soviet authorities suppressed them. After 1990 they experienced a revival and are again the major Byzantine presence in western Ukraine. None of the other thirteen Byzantine-rite Uniates was as successful, but there are parallel Churches for most Orthodox Churches. Of perhaps twelve million Uniate Catholics, almost eight million are Ukrainian, with large diaspora communities in Canada, the United States, and Brazil. In the Middle East, branches of ancient Chaldean, Alexandrian, and Armenian Churches remain, despite Muslim pressures. In India, Eastern Rites are a major and expanding part of the Catholic presence.

In the twentieth century, Pochaiv, now with the high rank of a lavra, became a center for russification and turned against its Ukrainian traditions. It was buffeted by the geopolitical shifts of the period, which found it inside Poland after the Soviet Revolution of 1917, and in 1923 it affiliated with the Polish Orthodox Church. After World War II, however, the region was annexed by the Soviet Union and the Communist antireligious campaign came down hard on Pochaiv. It was stripped of its estates, and priceless images and artifacts were placed in the Pochayiv Museum of Atheism, which was built on the property. The number of monks dropped from 200 in 1939 to a dozen in 1970. Despite that, thousands flocked to the lavra after the Soviet occupation, since it symbolized a liberation from Polish domination. Attempts to close the lavra outright drew

so much resistance from the organized international Ukrainian community that the Soviets backed away. During World War II, the lavra took in refugees from the Nazis and reaffiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate of Russian Orthodoxy. Since then it has been a bastion of Russian Orthodoxy in the now-independent Ukraine, fending off attempts to appropriate it by both the resurgent Catholic Uniates and the Ukrainian Orthodox. Until the Soviet Revolution of 1917, Pochayiv was a major Ukrainian pilgrimage site. The two feasts were the dormition of Mary, celebrating her death and entry into heaven (August 28), and that of St. Yov (Job) Zalizo (September 10). Tens of thousands came to see the miracle-working icon and the “footprint” of the Virgin. The pilgrimages are slowly returning to their former strength. The

Po Lin, Hong Kong, China | 431 cave church of St. Yov, the miraculous icon, and the footprint of the Virgin are the main objects of veneration. Expansion has again returned, and two new chapels have been built recently, in 1997 and 2000. A canonization of a former monk of the lavra in 2002 drew 20,000 pilgrims. The lavra sits on the side of a steep hill with a three-level terrace. On top is the Cathedral of the Dormition (1783), a huge Rococo church that holds 6,000. It is topped by fifteen cupolas. Along with the monastery buildings and other churches, the cathedral is in dazzling white. The decoration is an amazing collection of frescoes, paintings, and sculptures. The icons on the iconostasis were painted in classical style. See also: Marian Apparitions, Perchersk Lavra, Sergiev Posad

REFERENCES Paul Kubichek, The History of Ukraine. Westport, CT, Greenwood, 2008. Serhii Plokhy and Frank Syssyn, Religion and Nation in Modern Ukraine. Edmonton, AB, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Study, 2003.

PO LIN, HONG KONG, CHINA Po Lin is the site of a popular Buddhist monastery and the largest seated outdoor Buddha in the world. It was founded in 1905 by three monks who fled to Hong Kong and settled on an island, Lantau, because they opposed the Manchu regime in China. Po Lin was, for many years, indistinguishable from many other

Buddhist monasteries. It attracted few visitors to its stunning mountaintop setting with views of the sea. But in the 1970s, after plans for a massive seated Buddha were announced, Po Lin began to attract larger numbers of pilgrims. Since the completion of the Buddha in 1992, Po Lin (the name means “Precious Lotus”) has received several thousand pilgrims a day, rising to 15,000 on Sundays. The throngs pray and offer incense for such intentions as a needed job, success in examinations, or good health. The crowds are overwhelmingly Chinese from Hong Kong but include every social class. At Po Lin, the richly dressed mix easily with careworn workers. The main pilgrimage is on the Buddha’s birthday. Lantau is Hong Kong’s largest outlying island. The Po Lin property includes Muk Yu Hill in its highest reaches, where the statue—officially the Temple of Heaven Buddha—was built. The monastery and statue are reached by an hour-long bus ride from the boat landing connecting the island to the city. The statue looks away from Hong Kong city, symbolizing the serenity and peace that come if one turns away from the hustle and commercialism of modern life. The statue was built after numerous conflicts. It was originally designed in 1974, but construction started ten years later. To maintain a structure of such stupendous size, the architect abandoned the original plan to use reinforced concrete in favor of the methods used in building the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, a structural steel frame supporting cast bronze sheets. There are 202 such sheets in the Temple of Heaven Buddha, each weighing more than 1,700 pounds. The statue is 85 feet high and cost some $68 million, much of it contributed

432 | Potala Palace, Tibet, China

by the Peoples’ Republic of China. Ironically, the statue was designed and built by a Chinese Catholic and paid for by Communists, for the reverence of Buddhists. It sits on a three-story platform containing an ancestral hall and a memorial room where several relics of the Buddha are worshipped. The present monastery, a collection of red and gold buildings spread out on the mountain, was built in 1921. It includes a collection of worship sites, temples, and prayer halls where ancestors can be honored and rituals fulfilled. Chief among these is a hall with 500 marble statues of the followers of Buddha. A series of plaques depicts the life of the Buddha. About a hundred monks and nuns keep up the shrines and maintain a routine of prayer while serving the needs of pilgrims. Po Lin is Hong Kong’s largest religious retreat, and many pilgrims come to spend a day or more on the grounds, worshipping, making offerings, and seeking prophecies. The monastery has a number of overnight rooms for pilgrims and serves vegetarian meals from the common kitchen that also serves the monastery. In a sense, Po Lin is an artificial shrine, built to attract pilgrims rather than in response to a vision or historic event. In this, it mirrors Hong Kong itself, a political entity with no traditional ancestral identity.

REFERENCES Heinz Bechert and Richard Gombrich, eds., The World of Buddhism. London, Thames & Hudson, 1984. Ormond McGill, Religious Mysteries of the Orient. South Brunswick, NJ, Barnes, 1976.

Robert Orr, Religion in China. New York, Friendship Press, 1980.

POTALA PALACE, TIBET, CHINA The Potala, the enormous and imposing former palace of the Dalai Lama, spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism and exiled ruler of Tibet, towers thirteen stories (330 feet) above the city of Lhasa on a tall hill. The Potala was built in several bursts. The earliest sections can be traced to the seventh century CE, but the great building periods occurred in the late seventeenth century and the early twentieth. All of its dimensions are superlatives. With more than a thousand rooms, the Potala stretches more than 1,300 feet east to west and more than 1,100 feet north to south. At its base, the stone walls are sixteen feet thick, yet the upper stories are so finely fit together that no nails were used in the construction. As the home of the Dalai Lama and the center of his government, it was until the Chinese occupation the religious and political focus of Tibet. The Potala is divided between the White Palace and the Red Palace, which are joined by a smaller structure used to store the sacred banners hung on the face of the palace on the first and thirtieth days of the second lunar month. The White Palace contained the apartments of the Dalai Lama and other high officials, the seminary for training court and national officials, the printery for printing Buddhist scriptures, and government offices. The state treasury and the personal one of the Dalai Lama were contained in the fortified lower levels of the Potala.

Potala Palace, Tibet, China | 433

The Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet.

The Red Palace is primarily religious and houses the lavish tombs of the Dalai Lamas. The Buddhist scriptures are preserved here in special libraries; they are hand printed from carved wooden blocks and total 335 volumes. Many chapels and shrines contain the full panoply of Tibet’s pantheon— Buddhas, bodhisattvas, saints, and demons. Tibetan Buddhism is a more open version than the dominant Indian form, and it has absorbed a number of deities from the ancient Bo¨ n faith, the traditional religion of the Himalayas. Statues and shrines include a number of uniquely Tibetan figures: several Dalai Lamas, the founders of the prominent sects of Tibetan Buddhism, and such figures as the Eight Guardians of the Faith. In 1951, the Communist regime in China asserted its authority by a combination of military occupation and threat.

During widespread riots in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled to India with several hundred thousand followers. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1977), thousands of monks were executed and many monasteries leveled, some used for artillery practice. The Potala was looted of many treasures and its monks expelled; its buildings also suffered some damage. A few hundred monks have since been allowed to live at the Potala, but under strict supervision. Visitors are limited by the Chinese Communist authorities, who have recently undertaken massive reconstruction to favor tourism. Only a few pilgrims are permitted within the Potala. By tradition, visitors may not cross a room they have entered but must move clockwise around it. The Saint’s Chapel in the White Palace, the major shrine in the Potala, contains a statue of Chenrezi, the bodhisattva of

434 | Prambanan, Candi Prambanan, Indonesia

compassion and mercy. Immediately below this chapel is the room—the Dharma Cave—where King Songtsen Gampo studied the Buddhist scriptures after his conversion. The King is considered the reincarnation of Chenrezi. Both chapel and cave date from the seventh century and are the oldest part of the Potala. The Red Palace highlights the life and works of the fifth Dalai Lama (1617– 1682). It was he who unified Tibet, made the Yellow Hat sect of monasticism the state religion, and built the Potala. He is the most important figure in Tibetan history. His life is presented in murals, and in one chapel he is shown seated on a throne parallel to a seated Buddha, equal in dignity. His tomb contains his mummified body and rests in a fifty-foot stupa covered with four tons of gold and studded with semiprecious stones—all this within only one of the four major chapels in the Red Palace! The tomb of the fifth Dalai Lama is rivaled only by the tomb of the last Dalai Lama, who died in 1933, after making Tibet an independent country for the first time. His stupa tomb is a few feet shorter than the fifth Dalai Lama’s but is also gold covered and jewel encrusted. One votive offering is a pagoda made of 200,000 pearls. See also: Dharamsala

REFERENCES Martin Brauen, ed., The Dalai Lamas: The Visual History. Chicago, Serindia, 2005. Phutsok Namgyal, ed., Splendor of Tibet: The Potala Palace, Jewel of the Himalayas. Paramus, NJ, Homa & Seckey, 2002.

Thubten Jigme Norbu and Colin Turnbull, Tibet: Its History, Religion, and People. New York, Penguin Books, 1983.

PRAMBANAN, CANDI PRAMBANAN, INDONESIA The Hindu temples of Prambanan on the Island of Java are a massive group of intricately carved stupas amidst a field of ruins that in its heyday must have been one of the wonders of the world. It was built in the ninth century to rival Borobudur, the Buddhist complex twenty-five miles away. This was all part of the struggle between Buddhism and Hinduism that ultimately ended with the dominance of Islam several centuries later. The Hindu minority in Indonesia still come to Prambanan in pilgrimage. Since 1991 it has been on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. Prambanan is the largest Hindu complex in Indonesia and one of the largest in Southeast Asia. At its most extensive, 244 temples were built on three terraces; sixteen of these still stand, giving an impression of what once must have been an awesome sight. The main temple is dedicated to Shiva. It rises 157 feet over the plain and is flanked by temples to Vishnu and Brahma. Three smaller temples on the side enshrine their vehicles, the sacred animals on which they ride: Shiva’s bull Nandi; Vishnu’s Garuda, half-man and half bird; and Brahma’s swan Hamsa. The first temple was built in 850 CE, and many others were built in the following years. It served as the royal temple for the Hindu Kingdom of Mataram and was the location for all royal ceremonies

Pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt | 435 and sacrifices. About a century later (930) the temples went into decline, and a major earthquake in the 1500s brought down most of the structures. Looting of sculptures further eroded the temples, and local people carted off much of the stone for construction. It was then abandoned until the 1930s, when restoration began under the Dutch colonial authorities. In the 1990s, an archaeological park was set up to preserve the temple area. A stage has been built for the presentation of the Ramayana dance, and Prambanan is again attracting Hindu pilgrims. Ceremonies are held there again on major occasions. The legend of Loro Janggrang tells of a royal maiden who resisted marriage to a prince but finally accepted if he would build her a thousand temples in one night. Conjuring up the spirits, he finished 999, but Loro Jonggrang (Slender Virgin) ordered her maidservants to build fires to trick them into thinking the sun was rising and they fled. Furious at her deception, the prince cursed her and she turned to stone. She became a statue of a beautiful woman, and in Hindu mythology, she merged with Durga. She is the image of Durga in the Shiva Temple. The Shiva Temple was restored and rededicated in 1953. In the front are statues of Kali, the goddess of death and destruction, and protective naga serpents. Along the outside of the temple is a walkway for pilgrims to use as they circle the temple clockwise, meditating on the carved scenes from the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. Inside are images of Shiva in his three forms as creator, destroyer, and teacher. There are also statues of his son, the beloved elephantheaded Ganesh, god of good fortune,

and Durga, Shiva’s consort, shown slaying the buffalo-demon. The 2006 earthquake did considerable damage to the site, and the interiors of most of the temples are now off limits to pilgrims. The area has been reopened to visitors. See also: Borobudur

REFERENCES Jacques Dumarcay, The Temples of Java. Singapore, Oxford University, 1986. Alessandra Iyer, Prambanan: Sculpture and Dance in Ancient Java. Bangkok, White Lotus, 1997. George Mitchell, The Hindu Temple. Chicago, University of Chicago, 1988.

PYRAMIDS OF GIZA, CAIRO, EGYPT On the edge of Cairo one of the bestknown ancient sites in the world rises above the surrounding neighborhoods— the three pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. Of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the pyramids are the only ones still in existence. Though the purpose of this burial place is clear, the mystery attached to ancient Egyptian burial rites and beliefs and the enigma of the Sphinx make this a spiritual place today, especially for members of New Age religious groups. Essentially, Giza is a royal necropolis made up of massive tombs that reflect the majesty and supreme power of the pharaohs buried here. Architecturally, the pyramids of Giza are the high point of pyramid building, the finest examples

436 | Pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt

The Great Sphinx, Giza.

of more than a hundred such tombs in Egypt and Nubia. At Giza are the tombs of the great Pharaoh Cheops (Khufu), the largest pyramid at Giza, and his son and heir, Chephren, whose tomb is slightly smaller. Much smaller but still grand is the pyramid of Mycerinus, son of Chephren. Cheops was the greatest pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty and an imperial power throughout the region. His son continued this tradition, but Mycerinus lost much royal power in squabbles with other grandsons of Cheops who claimed the right to the throne. Small pyramids were built for three of Cheops’ wives, and a series of flat-topped pyramids holds the remains of his favorite children. At the end of a long causeway lined with minor tombs of court officials, a ceremonial temple

was built just to mummify the pharaoh’s body. The Great Pyramid of Cheops, towering 250 feet above the plain, is built of 2.3 million stone blocks, each weighing from two to fifteen tons each. Originally, it and Chephren’s pyramid were encased in polished limestone, remnants of which can still be seen. Built 4,600 years ago, the pyramids have withstood the elements but not the grave robbers, who removed their treasures in ancient times. In 1818 an Italian drove his way into the burial chamber of Chephren with a hydraulic ram, but the fabled stores of gold, jewels, and riches were long gone. There are two kinds of pyramid myths—those of fabulous hidden treasure and those about mystical powers. Since the Great Pyramid is perfectly aligned to true north, south, east, and west, some argue that it has secret astrological meaning. The absence of any inscriptions has fueled speculation that there is occult or secret meaning in their dimensions, and many numerologies “prove” that the dimensions reveal secrets or can predict the future. None of this speculation would have impressed the Egyptians. For them, the pharaoh was the living incarnation of the god Horus, son of Osiris, lord of the underworld. When the pharaoh died he joined himself to Osiris, and the tomb held all that he needed for his trip to the land of the dead: furniture, statues of servants, and boats. Five pits for funerary ships have been discovered near Cheops’ pyramid. The body was mummified after the brain and internal organs were removed so that his spirit would recognize him in the hereafter.

Pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt | 437 The Sphinx, carved from a single block of stone, is the bust of a man wearing a headdress joined to the body of a lion. It seems to be a guardian figure, protecting the tomb of the king by warding off evil spirits, although some suggest that it is a portrait of Chephren. The nineteenthcentury opinion that it was an oracle has added to the Sphinx’s aura of mystery. It has been weathered by the wind, and air pollution has taken its toll. During the French occupation around 1800, Mameluke troops used it for target practice for their field cannons, breaking off some of its features. Between its paws is a fifteenth-century BCE stone tablet recounting a vision given a prince who slept in the shadow of the Sphinx (and perhaps sought its divine aid) and later became a pharaoh through its intercession. No exotic spot on earth attracts New Age followers as do the pyramids. The sense of mystery that surrounds the place draws Europeans and Americans who believe in reincarnation and seek contact with divine powers and the source of

their previous lives. Since 1990, private groups have been allowed into the Great Pyramid, and the majority of these have been seekers of the mystical. Taken with the harmonic mathematics involved in the pyramids’ structures, which project a sense of order and evoke symmetry, peace, and human accord, many spiritual seekers at the pyramids of Giza get in touch with feelings of awe, majesty, and mystery that they fail to find in traditional religion. See also: Thebes and Luxor

REFERENCES Mark Lehner, “Computer Rebuilds the Ancient Sphinx,” 179 National Geographic 4:32–39 (April 1991). Mark Lehner, The Complete Pyramids, New York, Thames & Hudson, 2008. Lorna Oakes, Pyramids and Tombs of Ancient Egypt. London, Southwater, 2010. John Romer, The Great Pyramid. New York, Cambridge University, 2007.


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through the Muslim world for years before settling in Sind in Pakistan, where he died and was buried. Miracle stories about him abound. He lived as an extreme ascetic, wearing a stone around his neck so that he would constantly bow before Allah. The name by which he is known is his religious name. It is lal (red) for the color of his clothing; Shahbaz denotes his divine spirit; and Qalandar is for his Sufism. The Qalandar Sufi sect dress as beggars and often lived austere and wandering lives with no fixed abode. Marwandi lived as a celibate and after a wandering life around the Middle East, he settled in Sehwan in the Sind, where he lived in a tree. He died in Sehwan and his tomb there is a major Sufi shrine. Lal Shahbaz preached a doctrine of tolerance between Muslims and Hindus. Many Hindus regard him as the reincarnation of a Hindu god. He lived a celibate life and devoted himself to study and writing. His treatises are still studied by Sufis. Lal Shahbaz was the contemporary of several prominent Muslim teachers.

QALANDAR SHRINE, SEHWAN, PAKISTAN The Qalandaris are wandering Sufi mystics, found in Pakistan and a few neighboring areas. They are revered by the Muslim people as holy men, and many have attracted disciples. The most renowned among them are buried in shrine tombs that are sought out by pilgrims who pray for the saint’s blessing and healing. Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177– 1274) was born in Afghanistan as Syed Usman Shah Marwandi, the son of a Dervish. He was a contemporary of Mevlana Rumi and was aware of his writings, and possibly had met him. His birth name was Syed Usman Shah Marwandi. By the time he was seven, he had memorized the entire Qur’an. The family migrated to Mashad in Iran, then returned to Afghanistan, where Lal Shahbaz entered the Suhrawardiyya Sufi Brotherhood. He became a wandering Sufi at an early age and roamed

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His tolerance included assimilating local traditions into Islam, which has earned the movement the opposition of the Mullahs who rule the faith. The Qalandaris are also opposed to the Taliban and other fundamentalist Islamic movements. While hardly political, the movement was a base for the late Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated leader of Islamic moderation in Pakistan. Her followers called her the “Ecstasy of Qalandar.” The shrine tomb in Sind is bright and attractive, set with tiles and mirrors. The gold-plated door was a gift of the late Shah of Iran. The inside opens to a hundred square yards of marble, with the silver tomb in the center. Rows of Korans lie available on reading stands for the faithful, who light joss sticks and oil lamps as ex-votos. The most remarkable thing at the shrine is the annual urs, a festival on the anniversary of his death. Every Thursday is a pilgrimage day at the shrine, but on the urs the numbers swell to half a million. Pilgrims come barefoot to sing and chant praises to Lal Shahbaz to the accompaniment of huge drums. A special dance, the dhamal, involves an ecstatic twisting of the body and head. The dhamal is believed to drive out evil spirits. Finally, the dervishes twirl in their traditional dance until they enter into a frenzy of ecstasy and run screaming into the courtyard. Pilgrims come year round, but especially on Thursdays, the day before the Muslim day of prayer. The urs has been held for more than seven centuries. There is an air of festival, since Sufis believe that death is really a marriage with the Beloved, the divine one. On the second day, there is a marriage ceremony with

Lal Shahbaz as the mystical bridegroom. A bridal procession follows, led by young dancing girls singing wedding songs. Ganja is widely used as well as wine (normally forbidden to Muslims), and temple prostitutes, both men and women, ply their trade. Gambling dens surround the shrine. The word urs comes from an Arabic word for wedding. Devotees believe that death is a mystical marriage when one enters into glory, making the urs a time of celebration, not mourning. Many smoke hashish and enter a druginfused state. See also: Imam Reza Shrine

REFERENCES Nicholas Schmidle, “Faith and Ecstasy,” 39 Smithsonian 9:37–47 (December 2008). KumKum Srivastova, The Wandering Sufis: Qalandars and Their Path. New Delhi, Aryan Books, 2008. Anna Suvarova, Muslim Saints of South Asia. Moscow, Institute of Oriental Studies, 2004.

QOM, IRAN Qom, a dusty town in southern Iran, is the leading center of Shi’ite Muslim theology and an important place of influence in Iranian politics. What draws multitudes of pious pilgrims there, however, is the shrine of Fatimeh, sister of the eighth imam of Shi’ite Islam. Qom (sometimes Ghom) has a thousand-year tradition of politico-religious resistance, and the shrine is its spiritual embodiment. After the death of the Prophet Mohammed in 632, a crisis

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The Holy Shrine of Hazrat-e´ Ma’sumeh in Qom, Iran, is the burial place of Fatima, the daughter of the 7th Imam and sister of Reza, the 8th Imam.

of leadership arose in Islam. A civil war broke out between those who believed that the community should choose its leader and those who felt that the office of imam should descend within Mohammed’s family. These followed Ali, his son-in-law, and his descendants. (Though the imams are not regarded as prophets, they are believed to have divine inspiration in both spiritual and material matters.) Ali’s grandson, Hussein, and his family were brutally murdered in Karbala, an act of barbarity that completed the separation of the main streams of Islam. Within this tradition, the Shi’ites have developed a cult of devotion to saints and leaders and shrines

to honor them—a tradition that most Sunni Muslims reject. The shrine of Fatimeh dates from the Middle Ages, and important rulers considered it an honor to be buried near the holy woman. Because the royal tombs were often magnificent, the shrine itself was embellished through the centuries so that it would not be overshadowed by them. For several centuries, the shrine was a place of sanctuary where those accused of crimes could take refuge until a judgment against them was appealed. Fatimeh is held up as a role model for Shi’a women, making Qom prominent in the Islamic women’s movement. The shrine is entered through a mirrored gate, which opens onto a capacious courtyard of blue tile, surrounded by the tombs of nobles. There are actually four courtyards, and large crowds can be accommodated easily. The tomb itself has a gold dome, under which is the sepulchre, covered by a silver enclosure. Streams of the faithful reach out to touch the silver cage, then run their fingers over their faces, as if to absorb some of the holiness of Fatimeh. The shrine is made from elegant marble, with tiled passageways and alcoves covered in mirrors—an effect that is sumptuous without being gaudy. Fatimeh died in 816 and was buried in Qom. A succession of tombs was built, and they became centers of pilgrimage after her death. The present shrine, a white, gold-domed tomb with two slender minarets, was built in the seventeenth century. It assumed importance as a counterweight to the Najaf and Karbala shines, which were under Ottoman control. Behind the shrine is the blue-domed A’zam Mosque, used by many of the

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pilgrims for prayer. It is also the hub of theological teaching (up to 30,000 Islamic seminarians study in Qom), and its courtyard is the venue for important political sermons. The shrine and the mosque were hotbeds of resistance to the rule of the Shah and flashpoints in the Islamic revolution that toppled him and brought the Ayatollah Khomeini to power. When Khomeini returned from exile to lead the revolution in 1979, he first went to Qom. Since his death, the leaders of the Qom schools have set themselves up as arbiters of his legacy, quick to criticize those who, they believe, stray from the ayatollah’s teachings. Qom is the seat of the Assembly of Experts, made up of eighty-six elected members. It elects (or removes) the Supreme Leader of Iran, who is chosen from its members. It does not make policy, but it is highly influential. Qom has supported the veiling of women, opposed the Communist party, and fought the use of alcohol and television. The religious establishment (including the shrine administration) consistently opposed the attempts of the Shah’s government to modernize Iran from the 1920s to the 1970s. During this period, the government moved to take increased control of the shrine, making it a state religious center and taking over its endowments. In 1963, Khomeini was arrested, and many students were murdered by the police during the demonstrations that followed. A popular shrine devotion before the revolution was the reciting of 20,000 blessings on Khomeini and 20,000 curses on the Shah and his government, all counted on prayer beads. Since the Islamic revolution, the curses have been directed at the United States.

See also: Karbala, Imam Reza Shrine, Najaf

REFERENCES Con Couglin, Khomeini’s Ghost. New York, HarperCollins, 2009. Kamal as-Sayyid, Qom: A Biography of Fatima Al-Masooma. Qom, Iran, Ansariyan, 2003. Living Islam. New York, BBC, 1993, video.

QUFU, CHINA The Temple of Confucius in Qufu is the oldest and largest Confucian temple in the world. Since 1994, it has been inscribed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. Confucius (551–479 BCE) has had a profound effect on Chinese culture. He is respected as a sage rather than as a saint, and in theory Confucians do not worship him. In fact, sacrifices have been offered to him at the temple for centuries, and he enjoys an extensive cult. Qufu is the place of his birth, and at one time his house was inside the main temple hall. It was removed during one of the fifteen major renovations since the foundation of the temple. Some of his descendants still live in the compound. The temple began a few years after Confucius’ death, and as his influence grew, so did the temple complex. It was patterned after a royal palace, with nine courtyards, three ancestor temples, three halls, and a pavilion. Around them are other smaller buildings, and the entire compound is built on a north–south axis. There are sections for offering sacrifices to Confucius, his parents, and his other ancestors. Yellow and red tiles, the color of good fortune, are used throughout. The

Quinming Festival, Taiwan/China | 443 main hall is the largest ancient religious structure in China. In front of it is the Apricot Altar, where Confucius is said to have preached and taught. The pavilion has a library of ancient writings on one floor, with imperial items used in sacrifices on the ground level. There are no images, following Confucian belief that the temple should honor his teachings and not Confucius himself. Various memorial plaques with his sayings are found on the temple grounds. Confucian temples also honor various disciples, and today the number of accepted true disciples has grown to 162. Outside Qufu is the Kong Family cemetery, where his grave lies, along with those of more than 100,000 descendants. A few of the graves were desecrated during the Cultural Revolution, but by that time, the family had fled to Taiwan, where the senior member still lives. When the Red Guards attempted to attack the Temple during the Cultural Revolution, they were opposed by the local populace, and the Red Army finally intervened to protect the site. See also: Ancestor Shrines

REFERENCES Jennifer Oldstone-Moore, Confucianism. New York, Oxford University, 2002. Yang Zhaoming, A Tour of Qufu—The Hometown of Confucius. Shanghai, Better Link, 2009.

QUINMING FESTIVAL, TAIWAN/CHINA Chinese communities in Asia gather 104 days after the winter solstice (about

April 5) for what is variously called “Ancestor Day,” “Tomb-Sweeping Day” or “Clear Bright Festival.” In Taiwan and China it is a public holiday. It is a day to remember ancestors and to honor them by cleaning their graves. The festival has been observed for 2,500 years. Although the origins lie in legends, it seems that an early emperor objected to the ostentatious ancestor ceremonies and decreed that this simple service would be the only one allowed. The Communist Party banned the festival in 1949, along with religious holidays, but reinstated it in 2008. The rituals always involve graveside visits, where the family cleans the grave and offers food and drink to the spirits of the ancestors. The dishes always total an even number, with a large bowl on rice in the center with an incense stick thrust into it. After each family member has bowed to the ancestor, the family feasts on the food and drink they have brought, as a sign of unity between the living and the dead. Libations may be poured onto the grave using the ancestor’s favorite drink. Joss sticks are burned, along with symbolic papers. These might include false money (stamped “the bank of heaven”) or slips with pictures of things that the ancestor might want in the afterlife, such as a television or new car. Prominent figures are also honored with graveside visits. President Chiang Kai-shek died on April 5, and Qinming is set on that date in Taiwan. Many will visit his tomb or that of Mao Tse-tung in Beijing. The changes in Chinese society in recent years have taken many rural townspeople and farmers to city and factory jobs. Qinming becomes more difficult to continue, but “virtual Qinming” sites

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on the web allow a sort of vicarious observance. Overseas Chinese, who have large communities in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, observe the festival by honoring ancestors buried in the countries from which the families emigrated, often centuries ago. They also honor those long ago buried in China, the ancestral home, at a home altar. The entire clan gathers for a memorial feast. See also: Ancestor Shrines, Ghost Festival

REFERENCES Peter Hessler, “Restless Spirits, 217 National Geographic 1:108–119 (January 2010). Carol Stepanchuk and Charles Wong, Mooncakes and Hungry Ghosts. San Francisco, China Books, 1992. Tan Chee-Bang, Southern Fujian: Reproduction of Traditions in PostMao Society. Hong Kong, Chinese University, 2006.

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(Genesis 35:16–20). She became for Jews the model of motherhood, and her tomb became a pilgrimage site from early times. Jewish women pray there for the gift of children and a safe delivery. The tomb remained unchanged until the eighteenth century, except for an enclosure and protective shelter erected by the Crusaders. Rachel’s tomb (Qubbet Rahiil in Arabic) has always been a place of reverence for all three Abrahamic faiths. Not only did Jews honor it but Christians also protected it. Muslim rulers allowed its use for Jews and honor Rachel as the mother of prophets. When a wealthy English Jew bought the property in the nineteenth century, he built a mihrab for the prayers of Muslims. Since the independence of the modern state of Israel, such tolerance has been lost. The tomb site has switched hands several times. During Arab occupation, Jews needed permits to visit the tomb. When Israel retook Bethlehem, the shrine was renovated, and it remains under Jewish control. It is surrounded

RACHEL’S TOMB, BETHLEHEM, PALESTINE Rachel was the wife of Jacob and the mother of Benjamin and Joseph, founders of two of the traditional twelve tribes of Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jacob worked for his father-in-law Laban for seven years to earn her bride price, but Laban substituted another daughter, and he had to work for seven more years (Genesis 29:6–31). Later, Rachel stole her father’s household gods, a symbol of clan headship. Since headship was transferred through women, she thus became the matriarch of all Israel. Tradition says that Rachel weeps for her children and that she wept as the Jews passed her grave on the way to exile in Babylon (Jeremiah 31:14–17). The image was invoked in the Christian Scriptures in the story of Herod’s slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:17–18). In childbirth with her son Benjamin, Rachel died and was buried, and Jacob set up a pillar on her grave to mark it

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by a thirty-foot wall with guard towers and a single entrance. West Bank Palestinians, either Christian or Muslim, may not enter. Technically, the area is under the administration of the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian anger erupted into demonstrations in 2010 when the Israeli government included Rachel’s Tomb in a list of national heritage sites. A general strike closed Bethlehem’s shops, businesses, and schools. Now, only bulletproof buses may go to the tomb. Pilgrims still come daily, despite the difficulties involved. Entering through the guarded and patrolled gate, they come immediately to the vestibule that leads to the main room under the dome built by the Crusaders. The rock marking the grave is covered in a velvet cloth. Eleven smaller stones represent the eleven sons of Jacob who were alive when Rachel died. Men and women pass on different sides to make their offerings. The largest pilgrimage, with about 150,000, is on the anniversary of Rachel’s death, in September or October according to the Jewish calendar. Many Jewish pilgrims measure the tomb with a red string, which is then made into a bracelet worn to ward off evil. It is a popular talisman for pregnant women. It is especially popular with kabbalists, and red string bracelets are sold widely on the web. See also: Hebron, Jewish Pilgrimages

REFERENCES David Gitlitz and Linda Davidson, Pilgrimage and the Jews. Westport, CT, Praeger, 2006. Rivka Gonen, Biblical Holy Places. Mahwah, NJ, Paulist, 2000.

Fred Strickert, Rachel Weeping. Collegeville, MN, Liturgical, 2007. www.keverrachel.com.

RAPA NUI, EASTER ISLAND, CHILE Only forty-five square miles in size and isolated from most of the islands of the South Pacific, Easter Island boasts a mysterious cache of monumental statues. When the first Western sailors contacted the few people living there in the eighteenth century, the people told a legend of having been led there twenty-two generations before from Polynesia—around 380 CE . The Norwegian scholar Thor Heyerdahl argued that Easter Island was settled from South America, and to prove this, he made and sailed a boat made of reeds across the Pacific. Perhaps both accounts are correct and the two peoples intermarried; certainly the recent inhabitants speak Polynesian languages and have Polynesian racial characteristics. Along the coast, the people built stone platforms for the dead called ahu. Bodies of the dead were laid there and left, attended by the family, until birds and weather reduced them to skeletons. Then the bones were buried in the ahu. Later, large statues (moai) were set up on the ahu, facing inland. These were intended as the resting places for the inner power, or mana, of ancestral tribal rulers. Around the year 1400 a new cult appeared, worshipping a bird-man. Some historians believe this was a new race of people, but whether it was or not, around 1680 civil war broke out on the tiny island.

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Moai at Ahu Tongariki, Easter Island. The staggering architectural achievement of the people of Easter Island was the creation, especially the transportation and erection, of hundreds of moai monoliths.

The island had become overpopulated and food was scarce. Alliances were formed along clan lines until there were two rival clans, the Long Ears and the Short Ears. Prisoners were eaten, the ahu desecrated, and their statues overturned. The people believed that this robbed them of their sacred power. The final battle was within living memory of Easter Islanders when the Europeans arrived; warfare continued until 1862, when Peruvian slavers raided the island and carried off the males, reducing the population to 110. Of the traditional tales of the Easter Islanders, a third are about the clan wars and another third about cannibalism. There are more than 600 moai on Easter Island, some still on their ahu platforms, others toppled and half buried.

Most are about fifteen feet high, but a few giants top forty feet. They have elongated faces with jutting chins and short torsos. They were carved from soft volcanic rock, rolled somehow to the ahu, and hoisted into place. Much of what is known about them and their cult is speculative or based only on legend, and so they retain their sense of mystery. This mystery has made them a focus of New Age cults, but the distance of Easter Island from the mainland keeps the numbers of visitors small.

REFERENCES Steven Fischer, Island at the End of the World. Chicago, Reaktion, 2006. Felipe Soza, Easter Island: Rapa Nui. Santiago, Chile, S&E, 2007.

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JoAnn Van Tilburg, “Moving the Moai,” 48 Archaeology 1:34–43 (January– February 1995).

RELICS The remembrance of the dead is a common element in most religions and takes many forms. Often people keep their ancestors present by means of some object that recalls them or where their spirit may rest. In some cases, the remains themselves are kept and revered. In the Buddhist and Christian traditions, the respect shown to the bodies of the dead evolved into a reverence for the remains of holy people or objects associated with them. By 150 CE Christians had developed an explicit cult of the remains of the martyrs. In Rome, relics came into use as objects of reverence during the great persecutions that lasted until 313. After the martyrs’ execution, their bodies were taken away by the Christians to be given an honored burial in the Roman catacombs. After the barbarians sacked the catacombs several times beginning in 410, the popes began moving the relics of the martyrs to churches. The greatest relocation was the move of twenty-eight wagonloads of Christian relics to the Pantheon, a former Roman pagan temple, in 609. In 817, Pope Paschal I had the remains of 2,300 martyrs moved to one church alone. The rising popularity of relics among Christians meant that many pilgrims to Rome began carrying them back home to be enshrined in the altars of their own churches. Churchmen began to deal in relics, and a brisk trade developed for several centuries.

During the Crusades, relics were important booty, and in 1204, Latin Christians looted the Byzantine city of Constantinople of its most precious collections. This theft was followed by the sacking of the ancient Christian cities of Edessa, Antioch, and Jerusalem. In this way, powerful rulers and important pilgrimage shrines accumulated thousands of stolen items. Goldsmiths and jewelers vied with one another to produce the most beautiful reliquaries to hold the relics, and some of these are masterpieces of medieval artwork. The custom spread of celebrating the Mass on altars into which relics of the martyrs had been sealed, in imitation of the Roman custom of holding Mass on martyrs’ tombs. In Catholic and Orthodox churches, relics are still placed into the altar stone or sewed into a cloth placed on the altar, a tradition originating from the Eastern Orthodox. The Orthodox extend this practice through the custom of having small cloths placed onto relics of the saints (see Rila Monastery). These “blessed” cloths are then taken home to be placed in home shrines or used in family prayer. However, Christian churches that recognize relics require them to be authenticated to avoid the excesses of the past. Part of the Christian cult of relics stems from miracles supposedly worked by God through them. Some relics are considered sources of great power, and popular piety has always emphasized this aspect. Church theologians, on the other hand—most notably Thomas Aquinas—have taught that the relics have no sanctifying power but serve only as “tangible signs” of God’s love. The continuing importance given to relics can be seen in the death sentence

Relics | 449 pronounced by the Nazi courts on James Gapp, the Austrian Marianist martyr beatified by Pope John Paul in 1996. The judge refused a request to return his body to his family for burial. Instead, he ordered that, after Gapp’s execution, his body be cremated and his ashes dispersed so that the Christians would have no relics to keep and honor. Ordinarily, the bodies of anti-Nazi political prisoners were used for study in Germanmedical schools. Artifacts can also be relics. These include tiny splinters of the Holy Cross of Christ and such supposedly genuine articles as the winding sheet of Jesus and the seamless robe he is described as wearing on Calvary. Several medieval cathedrals claim to have the head of John the Baptist. Although carbon dating can determine the age of these items from the earliest period of Christianity, only the pieces of the Cross have any chance of being authentic. Carbon dating gives the opportunity of exposing medieval frauds, which were numerous. Later items, such as the famous tilma, or woven cactus cloak, bearing the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico, can easily be authenticated by historical and scientific methods. Protestants in general reject the reverence given to relics as a form of superstition, and the Reformation destroyed many relics. Of the major Reformers, only Calvin tolerated their use. Despite their discomfort with relics, however, Protestants honor a few, such as the death sheet of Luther and the ashes of the Ugandan Martyrs enshrined in the altar at their Anglican shrine. In popular fundamentalist Evangelical piety, such items as cloths, prayer shawls, and “holy oils” consecrated by the prayer and touch

of prominent faith healers are a form of relic. Sunni Islam, too, disapproves of saints and relics, since they subtract from the divine mission of the Prophet Mohammed. Relics of the Prophet are rare, although a few shrines claim to have a hair from his beard or his footprint. Shi’a Muslims revere saints and their relics, and Sufis maintain the tombs of their holy mystics. At Najaf and Karbala, as well as at Touba, the tombs of holy Islamic leaders are centers for pilgrimage. Throughout Turkey one finds tu¨rbe, the tombs of holy Dervishes, where the remains of these saints are honored. Hinduism, with its belief in reincarnation, has no place for relics. The bodies of the dead are cremated, with any remains consigned to sacred rivers. Despite this tradition, some of the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi, the great Indian teacher and independence leader, were kept and enshrined near Bombay until 1997. Buddhism is the other great tradition, besides Latin and Eastern Christianity, that makes use of relics. After the Buddha’s death there was an unseemly argument among the princes of India as to whose kingdom would be honored with the ashes and fragments of the Buddha’s body. This altercation broke out as the War of the Relics, which was finally settled, according to legend, when the great King Asoka (circa 300 BCE) divided the relics into 84,000 shares and ordered the building of 84,000 stupas (shrines that contain relics). One of the most important of the relics of the Buddha is his tooth, enshrined in Sri Lanka, where a corps of priests daily conducts services in its honor, entertains it, clothes it, and offers it food and

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flowers. The Buddha—despite the traditional teaching that he has transcended this world—is believed to be present in his relic. Similarly, several hairs of the Buddha are enshrined at Shwedagon in Myanmar. See also: Holy Blood, Saint Januarius, Shroud of Turin, Stupa, Tooth Temple

REFERENCES Martina Bagnoli et al., eds., Treasures of Heaven. Baltimore, Walters Art Museum, 2010. Joan Carroll Cruz, Relics. Huntington, IN, Our Sunday Visitor, 1983. Stephen Sora, Treasures from Heaven: Relics from Noah’s Ark to the Shroud of Turin. Hoboken, Wiley, 2005. Jeffrey Vallance, Relics and Reliquaries. Santa Ana, CA, Grand Central, 2008.

RELIGIOUS TOURISM The development of modern means of transportation has transformed pilgrimages. The focus of religious tourism has shifted from the journey as purification in anticipation of communing with the holy at a site to the site itself. Some shrines have been defined by this. Lourdes, a major Catholic shrine at a place where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared and where healing miracles take place, benefited from the expansion of the rail network in France in the late nineteenth century. Now, shrines in Europe and elsewhere are a short flight from almost anywhere in the world. Western religious tourism began in 1842 with the first organized tours by

the Englishman Thomas Cook, who sent groups to temperance meetings. He followed this up with religious and then secular tours until the company he founded has become one of the world’s largest. He brought together the idea of the integrated tour, where one agency organizes all aspects of the trip: transport, hotels, meals, visits to cultural and religious sites, and security. The danger and inconvenience of the trip was removed. In recent decades, heritage tourism has been added to this mix, where people travel to witness the sources of their ethnic or cultural roots. Black Americans have made many such trips to the places in Africa from which their ancestors were taken in slavery. The key sites from the life of the Buddha, now in countries where Buddhism is a tiny minority, are places for Buddhist pilgrimages from Japan, Southeast Asia, and even the United States. As a consequence, they have been restored, and Indian and Nepalese tourist ministries see them as sources of tourist visits that enhance the local economies. The Spanish government subsidizes the route to Santiago de Compostela, which lies along a strip of the economically poor northern provinces. To encourage pilgrims, they cleaned and remodeled the medieval hostels to encourage greater use. Religious tour agencies organize these religious tours, often including secular side trips. Hotels, meals, and guides are arranged, and there is a special kind of marketing. Besides offering tours that anyone may sign on for, religious tourism agencies use local religious leaders to recruit pilgrim tourists, called “pied pipers” in the tourism trade. A pastor or other leader is offered a free trip for each

Religious Tourism | 451 ten or so people signed up, and churches come as affinity groups. For Catholics, that includes the promise of daily Mass en route and special Masses at the sacred site. For Protestants, the German Tourist Board publishes a booklet of the Luther Circle that is both suitable for individual pilgrims and a template for Protestant tour agencies to follow. For Protestants, however, the main religious tours are still those to the sites of the Holy Land. More than 50,000 American church congregations have religious travel programs. Religious travel has its own trade association, the World Religious Travel Association. It includes such things as faith-based cruises and fellowship vacations as well as pilgrimages. Is religious tourism a form of pilgrimage? Certainly it lacks several important elements—the journey as purification and preparation, sacrifice, and the sense of separation from the normal routines of everyday life. Yet there is religious encounter in meeting the holy at the shrine. It seems elitist to downgrade a trip that is usually a once-in-a-lifetime experience for ordinary people who cannot afford the extensive time involved in a traditional pilgrimage. For, just as modern means of transport have opened up pilgrimages to many, so has the rise of the middle class in industrial societies made it financially possible. Religious tourism heightens awareness of other cultures and gears itself to appreciation of art and architecture. The most devout pilgrim might regard these as extraneous, only significant if they are signs of honor and worship. For some visitors to Rome, however, the Vatican Museums are as much a highlight of their trip as is St. Peter’s or the Catacombs.

The religious tourist, however, does not go as far out of himself as the pilgrim. He tends to participate in rituals that are familiar to him, such as religious services in his own language. The Catholic or Muslim may use his rosary but feel out of place when pilgrims dance or go into ecstasy. He brings the sort of ex-votos and offerings he knows and perhaps uses at home, such as candles and flowers, but may feel awkward at sharing a food offering at a tomb. He casts himself as an observer of the more fervent expressions of faith rather than a participant. One activity that does attract the religious tourist more than the pilgrim is shopping! A pilgrim may be in search of a relic, such as a handkerchief touched to the tomb of a saint, or a vial of holy water. More likely, if there is a healing spring, he may want to bring home a quantity for use during the coming months. The religious tourist is more likely to look for souvenirs—a rosary of beads made of olive wood from Israel, a statuette or a special container of holy water. Some of these can be incredibly tacky, like plastic rosaries with beads each containing a drop of Lourdes water, water containers in the shape of the Virgin, or velvet paintings of the Kaba’a in Mecca. Some of the shrines themselves can be artistically tasteless, as is the case of garish painted dioramas of the Buddha’s life. Popular shrines are often surrounded by intense commercial development to take advantage of the crowds, and sometimes it is difficult to protect the sacred atmosphere of the shrine. Some, like Lourdes, have succeeded in keeping the shopping district at bay, and the grounds of the shrine are free of any shops.

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Others, like the Buddhist shrine at Kek Lok Si in Malaysia, force a pilgrim to run a gauntlet of salespeople, hustlers, and fortunetellers to get to the shrine. Hindu festivals, which can involve huge crowds, attract those providing needed services, such as food vendors, but also tricksters and entertainers. The festival atmosphere of some shrine celebrations may not seem very religious, but for many they are part and parcel of the observance, an exuberant expression of the unity of belief and an affirmation of an incarnational reality. A new addition to religious tourism is the religious theme park. The Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida, is owned by the evangelical Trinity Network, widely seen on American television, and with a worldwide television ministry. The Holy Land Experience offers dioramas and dramatic re-enactments of biblical events, such as the passion of Christ. There are biblically themed shops and demonstrations by artisans of traditional Jewish crafts. It is even possible to share in the Last Supper with Jesus and his Apostles! The Creation Museum near Cincinnati, Ohio, teaches a literal interpretation of the Bible. It features a “walk through the Bible,” with dioramas of creationist theory and criticism of evolution. Similarly, the Catholic Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, Illinois, is another artificial place of pilgrimage. It has an Annunciation garden, a replica of the grotto of Lourdes, and other attractions. A million visitors come each year. Some Buddhist sites, such as Kek Lok Si, have the same air of reproduction of faraway shrines. Religio-political tours are another aspect of religious tourism that is growing.

Pastor John Hagee, a prominent televangelist, leads regular tours of the Holy Land in support of Israel and opposition to Palestinian claims on the land. His theology posits that when the Jews have a true homeland, the end time will be upon the world and the second coming of Christ will take place with the conversion of the Jews to Christianity and their final judgment. Pilgrimages and religious tourism can be in conflict. In some cases, religious tourists are barred entirely, and sites are closed to outsiders not of the faith. The Hajj is limited to Muslims, and there are strict rules about who may enter Saudi Arabia during that time. Most Hindu temples are off limits, especially where sacrifices are involved. At Pashiputinath Temple in Nepal, non-Hindus are limited to looking on the precincts from a hill across the river, and it has an annual festival to which only women are admitted. Mount Athos limits the number of daily visitors, all of whom must have letters of introduction from a local Greek Orthodox pastor before getting a visa. No females are allowed on the Holy Mount. Even in the United States, the interior of the Mormon Temple is restricted and on certain sacred occasions, Amerindian holy places are closed to visitors. Some sacred places attempt to control behavior, even if they are sometimes overwhelmed by tourists. Roman basilicas, including St. Peter’s, require dignified clothing and routinely turn away those in flip-flops, shorts, and sleeveless tops. Walking about during services is commonly restricted. The use of flash cameras and videos is banned in many places. One means of control is the levying of entrance fees. These are expected

Rey, Iran | 453 by tourists but are resented by pilgrims. Even though it is owned by the French government, Mont St-Michel admits pilgrims for services without fees while charging tourists for visits. The World Tourism Organization estimates that religious tourism (including pilgrimages) exceeds 320 million persons annually, valued at $18 billion. All indications are that the numbers will increase. The U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism recorded a 30-percent increase in overseas religious or pilgrimage trips in a single recent year. See also: Hearth of Buddhism, Lourdes, Luther Circle

REFERENCES Ellen Badone and Sharon Roseman, Intersecting Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage and Tourism. Urbana, University of Illinois, 2004. Simon Coleman and John Elsner, Pilgrimage: Sacred Travel and Sacred Space in the World Religions. London, British Museum, 1995. David Gladstone, From Pilgrimage to Package Tour: Travel and Tourism in the Third World. New York, Routledge, 2005.

REY, IRAN The Shi’a pilgrimage shrine of Shah Abdulazim (786–865), a direct descendant of Imam Hussein, lies a short distance from Tehran. It is an extensive complex with several other shrine tombs: those of Hamzeh, the brother of Imam Reza the eighth imam of shi’a Islam; and two descendants of other early Shi’a imams. Other tombs of scholars and

religious and political leaders surround the shrine. It is considered an honor to be entombed in the vicinity of the shrine. Abdulazim was a noted scholar and interpreter of the law, widely respected in his lifetime. He was close to Imam Reza and recorded many of Reza’s teachings to his disciples. He was born in Medina in Arabia and migrated to Rey due to political pressure from the Sunni rulers. Threated with arrest and death, he fled secretly and settled in Rey, where he found congenial religious conditions. He spent a time in fasting and prayer while living in the basement of a supporter. In time, awareness of his presence and holiness grew and people began to seek him out for advice and interpretation of the Koran. The shine was built in the ninth century, shortly after his death. It has multiple worship spaces and mosques. The main shrines are topped by graceful domes covered on gold leaf or tiles in intricate patterns. They are fronted by a large plaza. Two tiled minarets tower above the shrines. Abdulazim’s silver tomb is covered in an ornate grating carved from betel nut wood. Pilgrims, after walking around the tomb, touch the grating in seeking a blessing. The shrine has seen a rebirth since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and pilgrimages have increased significantly. The extensive nineteenth-century mirrorwork is being refurbished, along with calligraphy and gilding. See also: al-Reza Shrine

REFERENCES Rainer Brunner and Werner Ende, eds., The Twelver Shia in Modern Times. Leiden, Netherlands, Brill, 2001.

454 | al-Reza Shrine, Mashhad, Iran

Juan Cole, Sacred Space and Holy War. New York, Tauris, 2002. Monika Gronke, Iran: A Short History. Princeton, NJ, Markus Wiener, second edition, 2008. www.abdolazim.com.

AL-REZA SHRINE, MASHHAD, IRAN The martyred eighth imam of Shi’a Islam, Ali ben Musa al-Reza (765–817), is enshrined in a mausoleum complex in northeastern Iran, where it has become one of the country’s main pilgrimage sites. Reza was named imam in 817 because he was in the direct line of descent from

Women gather at the tomb of 13th-century Shiite leader Imam Reza in Mashhad, Iran. The site is holy to Shia Muslims of Iran.

the Prophet Mohammed’s son-in-law, Ali. The ninth century was a time of tension and civil war between Shi’a and Sunni Muslim factions, and his choice was a further cause of conflict. Within a year he died, and the common belief was that he was poisoned by his predecessor. The full name of the shrine is “The Place of Martyrdom.” For several centuries, it was a local and regional site until Shi’a Islam became the official expression of Islam in Persia. It began to attract larger pilgrimages until a pilgrimage to Mashhad was declared the equivalent to the Hajj. It received donations and support from Ottoman emperors and other powerful figures up to the present, including Saddam Hussein, the late president of Iraq. Mashhad receives about twelve million pilgrims a year, mostly in the summer months. The main observances are for the anniversary of Reza’s martyrdom and the birthdays of the Imams. A major event is the Saqqah Khneh (“Place of Drinking Water”), which remembers the martyrdom of Hussein and his seventy-two companions, who went thirsty for three days during the Battle of Karbala before their deaths. Ashura, the death date of Hussein, is celebrated with special pomp, with a ritual sermon on the events and a candlelit procession with chanted hymns in Hussein’s honor. Before all feasts, the tomb is dusted and washed with rose water by prominent national figures while Quranic verses are chanted. The devout lash their backs and beat their chests in memory of Reza’s suffering. This is another parallel of the mourning rites given to Hussein. The al-Reza complex is extensive, with several lesser mausoleums and many buildings, including separate hostels for

Rila Monastery, Bulgaria | 455 men and women. The shrine is surrounded by seven courtyards (several dedicated as memorials of the Islamic Revolution) and four sanctuaries, totaling eighty-two acres. There are four Shiite seminaries and a free hospital service that cares for a million persons a year. There is also a mosque, huge prayer halls, and a cluster of other buildings including an extensive library. The Molla Heydar Mosque is a beautiful example of Iranian architecture, with traceries of light-blue tiling along the entrance in ascending peaks with calligraphy and decorations. The entrance gate opens through an arcaded wall. In front of the shrine is a large plaza with ritual washing fountains, where the pilgrim takes a stone made of clay molded from earth from the place where Imam Reza died. On entering the vast mosque (open to Moslems only), the pilgrim removes any footwear and takes a position on the carpeted floor, placing the clay stone before him. The tomb is covered with gold and precious stones, protected by silver latticework installed in 2001 to replace one worn away by pilgrims’ touches. The pilgrim kisses the lattice after prayers and then respectfully backs out, never turning his back to the tomb. The shrine has been attacked at various times in its history. It was shelled by the Russians in 1912. In 1935, the shrine was a center of a rebellion against the Shah of Iran, in protest against his modernization movement. The shrine was taken over by militants, and the shah’s forces refused to violate the sanctuary, until finally foreign Muslim troops broke into the shrine and killed a number of protesters. It was also damaged by forces of the last Shah in 1978, sealing

the enmity between the government and the Shi’a community. It was bombed in 1994 during the Ashura festival, with the loss of twenty-six lives. The shrine still attracts twenty million pilgrims each year. See also: Qom, Karbala, Najaf, Rey

REFERENCES Mahmoud Mahuwan and M. Ali ImanDoust, Imam Reza (A.S.) and the History of the Holy Shrine. Tehran, Ali Khorasani, 1997. Ali Pieravi, Imam Reza’s Pilgrimage: Procedures and Prayers. Qom, Ansariyan, 2004. Hyder Zabeth, Landmarks of Mashhad. London, Alhoda, 1999. www.imamreza.net.

RILA MONASTERY, BULGARIA Situated in the mountains seventy-five miles south of Sofia, the Rila Monastery is the center of Bulgarian Orthodoxy and the heart of Bulgaria’s national spirit. It was founded in 927 by St. Ivan (John) Rilski (876–946) as a colony of hermits, who soon banded together in a monastic community. In 1335 a powerful local ruler built the defense tower that still dominates the courtyard, and by 1400 Rila was a feudal entity owning scores of villages and properties. It was damaged in the Turkish invasions but survived to became a symbol of the national aspirations of the Bulgarian people. The Turks regarded it warily but continued many of its medieval privileges. St. Ivan’s hermitage was built shortly after Orthodoxy began the Christian

456 | Rila Monastery, Bulgaria

Icon of God the Father with saints around Him — taken at the Rila Monastery in Bulgaria — a major landmark in the country, which was built in 14th century to later host monks, two schools, as well as visitors.

conversion of Bulgaria. People began coming to him seeking healing and advice, and after his death, the hermitage became a place of pilgrimage. His relics were seized and carried from one place to another. As the Ottomans extended their domination over Bulgaria, the relics were kept in a secure place. In 1469, the relics of St. Ivan were returned to Rila from Taˆ rnovo, where they had been in safekeeping for several centuries. The procession became a national outpouring of faith as it moved across the country. Groups of people walked alongside the procession as it passed through their regions, and some joined it for the entire route. This event was a turning point in the renewal of Orthodoxy during the Islamic occupation,

and paintings of the cross-country trek can be found in many Bulgarian churches. At Rila, there is an important fresco showing the procession. Bulgarian national and cultural revival occurred in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with Rila at its center. Some of the country’s most prominent writers, historians, and artists were either members of the monastery or living in its territory. In 1833 a popular campaign rebuilt the complex after a disastrous fire, with artisans settling in the region for decades to donate their skills. Bulgarian towns competed for the chance to help rebuild Rila. The Rila they restored is surrounded by multistory castle walls that face inward and form a solid defense, broken only by two gates. Along the inner courtyard are arched balconies on each level, creating a harmonious and restful atmosphere. The 200 rooms built into the walls are used by pilgrims and visitors. A few rooms originally built for local leaders from various towns are preserved. The Koprivshtitsa Room is the most elegant, the walls lined with red couches, the floors covered with hand-woven carpets below a three-dimensional carved ceiling. In the residential wings are four small chapels, also done in luxuriant style. At the center of the plaza created by the cloisters sits the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. On three sides are galleries lavishly covered by murals whose colors are as vibrant as when they were first painted. The facade takes up the theme of the Last Judgment, with drunkards, the lustful, and the fraudulent displayed in satirical scenes while the saved bask in glory. The effect is both simple and powerful. The interior is

El Rincon, Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba | 457 similarly decorated with frescoes from the Bible and the history of Bulgarian Christianity, portraits of saints and the life of St. Ivan. Hardly a square inch is left undecorated; in total there are 1,200 scenes. The iconostasis (the wall that separates the sacred interior chamber containing the altar from the people’s part of the church) is richly carved and gilded. St. Ivan’s relics are kept in a casket, and pilgrims bring cloths to be touched to it. An icon of the Virgin of Ossenovo is also much revered. In the nearby woods are the hermitage of St. Ivan, a cave where he lived, and several other small chapels, all richly decorated and painted. In 1946, the Communists took over Rila’s 6,000 acres, dairy farms, and distillery, but the monastery remained open by serving tourists. An excellent museum was built containing historical documents, priceless art, and icons. Brother Raphael’s Cross, carved from a single piece of wood, contains 650 human figures in 104 religious scenes, none larger than a grain of wheat. He is said to have gone blind in creating it. In 1991, after the fall of Communism, the government returned the monastery to the Church, and the number of monks, once down to eight, has slowly increased. Even under the Communists, Rila was maintained in good condition, and the government proposed it to UNESCO for its World Heritage List, which was granted in 1983. Boris III, the last king of Bulgaria, died under suspicious circumstances in 1943 in Germany, where he had been summoned to meet Nazi officials, where he resisted their demands that he arrest the Jews of Bulgaria. The Communists disposed of his body so that it would

not be the focus of anti-Communism, but his heart was saved, and it is now enshrined in a chapel at Rila. Most pilgrims visit and pray at his shrine, although he is not recognized as a saint. The other prominent part of the pilgrimage is to visit the cave of St. Ivan and its attached monastery.

REFERENCES Georgi Gerov, Bulgarian Christian Civilization. Sofia, Bulgaria, Pensoft, 2007. James Hopkins, The Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Boulder, CO, East European Monographs, 2009. Margarita Koeva, Rila Monastery. Sofia, Borina, second edition, 2003.

EL RINCON, SANTIAGO DE LAS VEGAS, CUBA El Rincon is a shrine to St. Lazarus, the poor man of the Gospel who was rewarded with heavenly life for his suffering. Lazarus is the patron and healer of those with leprosy and smallpox and is popular throughout the Caribbean. He is the only person in one of Jesus’ parables to be given a name (Luke 16:19–31) and consequently has been regarded since the Middle Ages as a historical person. He is often confused with the Lazarus of Bethany, the friend of Jesus who he brought back from death (John 11–12). At El Rincon, the two are thought of interchangeably. Lazarus is presented in art walking with crutches with a leprous or ulcerated wound on his leg. He is attended by two loyal dogs and is thus the patron of street curs. To treat a street dog unkindly is to bring on his wrath.

458 | Rocamadour, France

Lazarus is petitioned for healing. When a petition is made to the saint, it is followed with a promise of repayment by some sort of sacrifice, such as coming to the shrine on one’s knees or even prostrate on the belly. The major feast is December 17, when crowds of tens of thousands come with petitions or to fulfill a vow. Many pilgrims save pennies all year to bring to the saint. They walk the last miles, often barefoot. The date coincides with the main Santeria festival as well, and Santeria elements are found among the crowds. People burn incense and smoke cigars (a typical Santeria act) and drink rum. Purple candles, a symbol of St. Lazarus, are burned in his honor. A few devotees beat themselves. In the Santeria and Voodoo religions, he is conflated with the Yoruba god Babalu-Aye, whose worship was brought to the New World by slaves. Babalu-Aye is a god in seventy West African tribes, powerful against infection and epidemics. The church itself is simple, in colonial style, painted white. The floor is covered in slate and the decorations are not elaborate. Simple wooden benches serve the needs of worshippers. In the back of the church is a statue of Jesus with running water below it. This blessed water is splashed over the pilgrim’s head. The shrine church is next to a hospital for leprosy and other skin diseases and was thought important enough that Pope John Paul II visited it on his trip to Cuba in 1998. See also: El Cobre, Plaine du Nord

REFERENCES Miguel Barnet, Afro-Cuban Religions. Princeton, NJ, Markus Wiener, 2001.

Migene Gonzalez-Wippler, Santeria: Faith, Rites, Magic. New York, Crown, second edition, 2003.

ROCAMADOUR, FRANCE Rocamadour hangs precipitously on a cliffside, where it has been a pilgrimage center for nine centuries. Rocamadour was originally a shrine to the triple goddess Cybele, who was formed by Sulevia, Minerva, and Iduenna. In later centuries it became a Celtic shrine, and it was only taken over by Christians in the early eleventh century. A chapel was built to enshrine a Black Virgin statue, which was installed on an altar over the Druid stone. In 1166 a grave was discovered on the cliff, and people immediately declared the relics those of a saint. Who he might be was another matter. Legends developed, mostly about fictional saints from biblical times. He was first thought to be the Zaccheus of Jericho (Luke 19:1–10), who climbed a tree to better see Jesus pass by, and who repented his corruption as a tax collector after encountering Jesus. Exaggerating further, he was said to be the husband of Veronica, who wiped Jesus’ face as he went to Calvary. Finally, common belief (or credulity) settled on a saint named Amadour, supposedly the loyal servant of the Virgin Mary who came to this place as a hermit after Mary’s death. The cliff shrine soon took on his name. The idea of a manservant appealed to the medieval feudal mind, where a loyal page was respected for being dutiful. Amadour attracted large crowds and many miraculous cures were proclaimed. Prominent churchmen and kings came to

Rocamadour, France | 459 Rocamadour, and King Henry II of England (1133–1189), who had precipitated the murder of St. Thomas a Becket, was cured of an eye disease there. That sealed its importance. Because the climb is difficult and the place is away from any population centers, during the medieval period it was used for penitential pilgrimages. Sinners were assigned a pilgrimage to Rocamadour as a penance for serious sin, and some judges required it instead of a prison sentence. One can still see the symbolic chains left there as ex-votos by those who came seeking forgiveness. During the Albigensian Crusade around 1200, Cathars who defected and returned to the Catholic faith were typically assigned to the Rocamadour pilgrimage as their penance for heresy. Because the Cathars rejected any reverence for the Virgin Mary, it was considered most appropriate to send them to one of her shrines. Brought as prisoners, they had to ascend the steps on their knees naked and wrapped in chains, symbolizing both their emergence into new life and their entrapment in heresy. At the Lady Chapel they were absolved of their heresies and sins, had their chains removed, and were given a certificate of pilgrimage. The shrine was pillaged several times, and the relics of St. Amadour were chopped up and scattered during the Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century. Rocamadour was closed during the French Revolution, but the pilgrimage was revived in the nineteenth century. Volunteer clergy and members of religious orders spend the high season of summer ministering to pilgrims, who now come in a steady stream.

Each year there is a pilgrimage of sailors, grateful to be home safely from the sea. They honor the Virgin under the title “Star of the Sea.” Many come from Brittany, a custom that goes back to Jacques Cartier (1491–1557), the French explorer who discovered the St. Lawrence River in Canada. Their ex-votos can be found in the Lady Chapel. In time, the tomb of St. Amadour was overshadowed by the shrine of the Black Virgin. By the end of the Middle Ages, Rocamadour had become a Marian shrine, which it is to this day. The main feasts (August 15, the Assumption of Mary, and September 8, her Nativity) are marked with great processions up the 223 stone stairs of the cliffside, with thousands in attendance and many going up on their knees. At the top is the Basilica of St. Saviour, half constructed and half excavated from the living rock. It its crypt is the tomb of St. Amadour. There are six other churches, one of which is the Lady Chapel with the latemedieval statue of the Black Virgin. There is also a monastery, now used as a pilgrim hostel. Being on the outcrop of a cliff, the Religious City, as it is called, is compact and crowded. See also: Cathar Sites, Marian Apparitions

REFERENCES Marcus Bull, The Miracles of Our Lady of Rocamadour: Analysis and Translation. Woodbridge, UK, Boydell, 1999. Kevin Wright, Catholic Shrines of Western Europe. Ligouri, MO, Ligouri, 1997.

460 | Rock of Cashel, Ireland

ROCK OF CASHEL, IRELAND Above the town of Cashel sits a fortified hill that was a great religious center and the place from which Ireland was united in the eleventh century. In the fifth century, King Aengus of Munster built a massive walled citadel here as his palace and military redoubt. It was on the Rock of Cashel in southeast Ireland that one of the great legends of Irish Christianity was acted out. When St. Patrick found the local pagans unable to grasp the truths of Christianity, he used a three-leafed clover to explain to Aengus how the Christian God was three-in-one, the doctrine of the Trinity. The young king converted in 450, and Ireland was on its way to embracing the new faith. Another legend has Patrick banishing the Devil from a cave in the region, and the Rock flew through the air and landed at Cashel. The Rock of Cashel—Cashel of the Kings—became central to many major events in Irish history. The first cathedral here was established by St. Declan, a disciple of Patrick’s, and Cashel was a church center from the sixth century. Beginning with Aengus, many monasteries were founded from here. The great Irish hero Brian Boru´ was crowned at Cashel in 977. It was donated to the Church in 1101 and was the place where the English King Henry II received the homage of the Irish chieftains. During the later Middle Ages, many of the kings were bishops as well and led armies into battle. Although there was no shrine on the Rock of Cashel, it was among the pilgrimage places to which penitential

pilgrims were sent to atone for serious sins. In 1543 one Heneas MacNichaill was ordered to make a penitential pilgrimage to sixteen places, including Cashel, Lough Derg, Croagh Patrick, Mount Brandon, Glendalough, and Skellig Michael, to atone for strangling his son. Cashel was a known pilgrimage center through the Middle Ages, and St. Patrick’s Cross, a simple Irish high cross, was a likely station for prayer. The towers of Cormac’s Chapel may have been built to protect valuable relics. The cathedral (1270) is cross shaped and contains what is believed to be the tomb of King-bishop Cormac (+1138), who also built the chapel that bears his name and whose remains are sheltered in its shadow. It is a remarkable example of Irish Romanesque architecture—perhaps the first Romanesque church in Ireland—with two towers and striking carvings. In 1495, the Earl of Kildare burned the cathedral, and when King Henry VII asked him why, he replied that he had done it because he thought the archbishop was inside! Enchanted by the Earl’s candor, the king promptly appointed him Lord Deputy for Ireland. The cathedral contains several memorials, including the tomb of Myler McGrath (+1622), who lived to be 100 and spent fifty-two of those years as Anglican archbishop. He was notorious for holding title to four bishoprics and seventy-seven other church positions, all with incomes attached. The cathedral was pillaged by the Puritans in 1647 in a massacre where 3,000 people were killed, many of them burned alive in the cathedral. Restored yet again, it was finally abandoned in 1748. In its heyday it had a resident choir to chant the many daily cathedral

Rome, Italy | 461 services. The cathedral was originally painted in bright colors, but none of this has survived. The hilltop, which is only two acres, is covered with buildings within its walls. There was a friary for Dominican preachers and a monastery for cloistered monks, as well as a palace for the archbishop. The king’s castle, three stories high, has walls thick enough to contain passages. Both Catholic and Anglican dioceses continue today under the title of Cashel. Neither has its cathedral here, however, since the present town numbers fewer than 2,500.

REFERENCES John Dunne, Shrines of Ireland. Dublin, Veritas, 1989. Kenneth MacGowan, The Rock of Cashel. Dublin, Kamac, 1985. A Guide to Celtic Monasteries. Dublin, Irish Visions and Sounds, 1995, video.

ROME, ITALY The center of Catholic Christianity is the city of Rome, the residence of the pope (who is its bishop) and the repository of a rich Christian history. Its centerpiece is St. Peter’s, but this grand basilica is a relative newcomer (sixteenth century) in a city that is filled with hundreds of churches and sacred spots. Of the sacred places that appeal to Christians of all traditions, the most important are the catacombs and the Colosseum, the ancient Roman stadium where many early Christians were martyred. The Colosseum, which shows no indications of its religious connections, is maintained as a tourist spot but is

popular with religious tourists as the place of the martyrdom of the early Christians of Rome. One adjunct to St. Peter’s is the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museums. While a poorly marked passage connects it with St. Peter’s, it is not one of the basilica’s chapels. It was built in the early sixteenth century by Pope Julius II in honor of Pope Sixtus IV. It is used for rare religious ceremonies but is the place where papal elections are held on the death of a pope. The walls and ceiling are richly decorated in some of the finest frescoes ever created. The ceiling, the work of Michelangelo (1475–1564), is considered his best work as a painter. It has several hundred sections, including the Apostles and scenes from the Bible. Most magnificent of all is the expanse of the Last Judgment and his Creation, which shows God reaching forward to Adam, touching him with the power of life. The frescoes were restored to their original brightness in recent years by a team of restorers, funded by Japanese national television. Unfortunately, the chapel is always so crowded that contemplating the paintings is difficult. Contrary to common belief, St. Peter’s is not the pope’s cathedral church. This honor goes to St. John Lateran, one of four major basilicas, the others being St. Peter’s, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul’sOutside-the-Walls. It is codedicated to Ss. John the Evangelist and John the Baptist. The first St. John’s was built around 313, but after several fires, earthquakes, and sackings, it is essentially a fourteenthcentury church with eighteenth-century restorations. Its historical importance is not only its age; five worldwide Church councils were held here. It is considered one of the architectural treasures of

462 | Rome, Italy

Rome, and the interior features wonderful thirteenth-century mosaics, frescoes, and sculptures. The papal altar, where the pope says Mass as bishop of Rome, is sheltered by a great marble Gothic structure. Pilgrims are primarily attracted to the Scala Santa, a marble stairway of twentyeight steps. Legend says it is the stairway of Pontius Pilate, which Jesus walked on the day of his condemnation and death. It was reputedly brought to Rome in 325 by St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine. Pilgrims ascend the steps on their knees as an act of devotion, kissing the spot on each step where Jesus supposedly trod. St. Mary Major was also begun in the fourth century. It is sometimes called Our Lady of Snows because of a legend that a miraculous snowfall on August fifth left an outline of the future structure as a miraculous sign of where it should be built. After the Council of Ephesus (431) proclaimed Mary the Mother of God, the church was rededicated to her. It is known for its splendid mosaics of Christ and Mary and scenes from the Bible. These are among the oldest Christian mosaics in the city. There are also outstanding paintings, and one of these, a portrait of Mary titled Salus Populi Romani (Health of the Roman People), is the object of great affection and devotion on the part of the Romans. St. Paul’s-Outside-the-Walls, originally a fourth-century building, was destroyed by fire in 1823 and reconstructed. Many of the ancient mosaics survived, as well as the bronze doors (1070) and some of the structure. The church was built over the legendary tomb of St. Paul, which lies under the high altar. Eighty granite columns frame a vast open space, ornately decorated yet

simple in contrast to the baroque artistry of much of Rome. Above the columns are portraits of 265 popes. To see an ancient Christian structure that escaped remodeling every few centuries, one visits the modest fourthcentury church of Santa Costanza. Built as a mausoleum for one of Emperor Constantine’s daughters, its original mosaics—bright and colorful—are some of the finest in the world. It was turned into a church in the thirteenth century but remained unaltered, except for the removal of Constantina’s tomb. San Clemente, near St. John Lateran, best demonstrates the historical continuity of Rome. The crypt holds the remains of a fourth-century frescoed Christian church and a small temple where Mithras, the sacred bull, was worshipped in ancient times by Roman soldiers. This was an all-male pagan cult; women were forbidden to take part. The main floor is one of the finest examples of an early Christian basilica, the original form of the first Christian churches after the Roman persecutions. San Clemente faces east toward Jerusalem. Santa Maria in Aracoeli is popular with Romans for its miraculous statue of the Infant Jesus. It is credited with defeating a medieval plague. Pregnant women come to the statue to pray for safe delivery. The major celebration is the twelve days of Christmas, from December 25 to the feast of the Epiphany (January 6), when children’s choirs come to sing Christmas songs. Each one comes in a candlelit procession up the entry stairs accompanied by bagpipers. On Christmas Eve the statue is taken to the high altar to preside over the Masses, and it stays there until the Epiphany, when it “blesses” the city and is then returned to its chapel.

Rome, Italy | 463 One often-neglected church is St. Peter in Chains, which enshrines the chains by which St. Peter was bound in prison and from which he was released by an angel (Acts 12:6–11). The chains are kept in a special shrine, but many come to see the magnificent statue of Moses by Bernini. Unfortunately, the church is poorly maintained and not on the usual pilgrimage circuit. Santa Maria della Vittoria is one of many Counter-Reformation churches. Almost excessive in its baroque decoration, it leaves no space uncarved. Overcoming this kitsch, however, is the utterly stunning Bernini sculpture of St. Theresa in Ecstasy, showing the Spanish mystic overwhelmed by God’s love as an angel stands above her thrusting an arrow into her heart. It is both a magnificent work of art and a powerful statement of religious mystical experience. The epitome of the baroque style, however, is the Church of the Gesu` (1578), the mother-church of the Jesuits. Its flamboyance is breathtaking, most notably in the altar over the tomb of St. Ignatius, the Jesuit founder, which is so elaborate that it seems to move and undulate. Lapis lazuli and gold leaf abound. One fresco shows heretics, presumably Protestants, being thrown down (to hell?) when they attempt to enter heaven. The ceiling fresco, The Triumph of the Name of Jesus, is a stunning tourde-force of artistic triumphalism. There is a huge statue of the saint; the original was melted down by Pope Pius VI to pay war reparations to Napoleon, and this is a copy. The statue is treated with flamboyant drama; hidden by day behind a painting, at dusk music announces its appearance and the painting slides into

the floor and spotlights illuminate the saint’s statue. The church also enshrines a major relic, the arm of St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Orient. St. Ignatius’ apartment is also open for visits. His chapel also features a number of amazing frescoes from his life, including his death scene, and the over-the-top Francis Xavier Welcomed to Heaven by Angels. The four papal basilicas, plus St. Lawrence, Holy Cross in Jerusalem, and the catacomb chapel of St. Sebastian, make up the Seven Churches. Pilgrims make the round of them during Holy Week, saying prescribed prayers; this is a trek of fifteen miles. During a Holy Year, the pilgrimage is made throughout the year and is blessed by the popes with special indulgences. During Lent, an old Roman custom, the Stations, is reenacted. It stems from the tradition of celebrating Lent as a community, with the pope gathering his people each day at a different church. It always begins with Ash Wednesday at Santa Sabina, and the pattern each day is invariable: Mass at dawn and a procession in the evening, with the people singing the Litany of the Saints. It concludes at the Lateran on Holy Saturday and St. Mary Major on Easter day. Another far simpler pilgrimage, followed almost entirely by Romans, is that to the Sanctuary of Divine Love (Divino Amore). The icon of the Virgin shows her seated with the Child Jesus on her lap and overshadowed by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove (this is the Divine Love referred to in its title). The sanctuary is beloved of the Roman populace, and since 1750, folk pilgrimages have been held. The best known are held

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every Saturday night from Easter to October, on foot and by torchlight for about ten miles. It wends its way along the ancient Appian Way overnight and finally returns to the sanctuary for Mass at 5:00 AM. In 1944, the icon was taken in a longer procession to implore divine protection on Rome as German and Allied forces converged on it. The people promised charitable work in her honor if the city was spared, which it was. In the following years, an orphanage was established, a retreat center, missions in Latin America, and a youth summer camp. On Palm Sunday and Good Friday a Passion Play recalls the events of Jesus’ death. In the Middle Ages, Rome was one of the major pilgrimage destinations, alongside Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela. There were several pilgrimage routes through Europe, each with many way stations that provided lodging and smaller shrines. Once in Rome,

pilgrims found lodging in hostels maintained by the papacy or religious orders, although in time, privately owned residences expanded to meet the need. Many pilgrim residences are still maintained today. One still finds the insignia of the Rome pilgrimage in shops, a badge known as the agnus dei, an image of the Lamb of God with the crossed keys of the papacy. See also: Catacombs, Colosseum, St. Peter’s

REFERENCES Pierre Grimal and Caroline Rose, Churches of Rome. London, Tauris, 1997. June Hager, Pilgrimage: A Chronicle of Christianity through the Churches of Rome. London, Orion, 2001. Philippe Pergola, Christian Rome, Past and Present. Los Angeles, CA, Getty, 2002. Richard Taylor, How to Read a Church. Mahwah, NJ, Paulist, 2005.

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days of each Malayalam month and three feasts (late November, January, and April) are the only times the temple is open. In preparation, the pilgrim must spend forty-one days in austerities, called vrutham. He must clip his nails and cut his hair before beginning his penances, and obtain a dark-colored dhoti, or traditional loincloth. During the time of penance, he may eat only vegetarian food and abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and all forms of sexual activity. He is to avoid all social gatherings. He must bathe twice daily and remain scrupulously clean, though he may not shave or cut his hair. During this period, he will be addressed as “Ayyapan” by others, who prostrate themselves at his feet in homage. There are daily prayers prescribed, which the devotee performs either in his local temple or before his home altar. Vrutham takes over his everyday life during its observance and dominates family and work. He is likely to sleep apart from his wife, and if his work involves labor, he must still remain

SABARIMALA, KERALA, INDIA The shrine of Ayyapan sits on a 3,000foot hill, surrounded by dense forest and a group of eighteen other high hills, each of which is topped by a temple. Ayyapan is a Hindu god born of the union between Vishnu and Shiva, and it was to this remote place that he came to meditate after killing a powerful demoness. Legends of his life and activities abound, and from some of them come the practices that devotees follow in the annual pilgrimage. The pilgrimage to Sabarimala is one of the largest in India, with around forty million coming each year. Almost all of these are men, since Ayyapan was celibate and any woman between ten and fifty who enters the temple is thought to defile it. This is a gendered pilgrimage, a hyper-masculine event in honor of a god born of two males. The men come from all castes and sects of Hinduism without regard for status or wealth. The first five

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clean at all times. It is a sacrilege to climb the final eighteen golden steps to the temple without completing the vrutham. Eighteen is a sacred number, the number of human failings to be overcome by true devotion. A pilgrim who has visited the temple eighteen times has a special title and is honored by being allowed to guide others through the pilgrimage. That number also reflects the eighteen other temples, and climbing the steps is considered the same as visiting all the other temples and placating the hill gods. The pilgrimage is as arduous as the preparation. First, before leaving the devotee splits a coconut and fills it with clarified butter (ghee) as an oil lamp. The family lights this daily until his return, when he breaks another coconut, bathes, and removes his dhoti. The traditional approach to the temple is by a path supposedly taken by Ayyapan in coming to the meditation spot, twentyeight miles of mountainous forest trek. This is followed by a steep (though paved) road for several miles to the temple. He wears an irumudi, a kind of pack. The front pouch holds coconuts, rice, jaggery (raw sugar), and other things to make sweets to offer to the god. The back pack holds his personal needs for the trek. He approaches the temple with the irumudi on his head. On arrival and climbing the eighteen steps, the pilgrim breaks a coconut and presents prayers. Another coconut is presented to the temple, filled with clarified butter to be poured over the image. Due to the crowds, the pilgrim will have only a brief moment before the image, then he throws himself down and rolls on the ground in ecstasy.

REFERENCES Janine Lauber, Chosen Faith, Chosen Land. Camden, ME, Down East, 2009. Caroline and Felipe Osella, Men and Masculinities in South India. New York, Anthem, 2006, chapter 7. Sikraut, Sabarimala, Its Timeless Message. Adesharama, India, Integral, 1998. www.sabarimala.org.in.

SABBATHDAY LAKE, MAINE The last of what were once more than twenty Shaker communities, Sabbathday Lake in Maine is a tiny but vital remnant of the major celibate religious community in the American Protestant tradition. Since the early 1990s, Sabbathday Lake has become the only living example of Shaker life. Mother Ann Lee came to America from England in 1774, preaching a personal salvation open to all who would fashion their lives on that of Jesus Christ by the three-fold disciplines of celibacy, obedience to wise elders, and confession of sins. Mother Ann, who was illiterate, had been married and watched all four of her children die. Depressed and in spiritual agony, she had a vision of Adam and Eve from which she determined that sex was the original sin that separated humankind from God. To reclaim their spiritual birthright, Christians were to reject marriage and sexuality in order to recapture original innocence. This morally demanding regimen was to be lived in a community where all shared equally in hard work and a simple life. By the 1780s, her first farm communities had been established, and Sabbathday Lake was founded in 1792.

Sabbathday Lake, Maine | 467 Men and women lived separately in the colonies, each of which was selfsupporting. Some joined as adults, but many came as orphans, were raised on Shaker farms, and later decided to enter the community. After a period of probation, each Shaker signed a covenant. Elders and eldresses led the communities, received the confessions of the members, and made major decisions. Shakers took their name from their unique form of worship. Gathered in large, simple meeting halls to await the movements of the Holy Spirit, their inspirations broke forth in ecstatic songs and a form of sacred dance in which their bodies trembled all over from the power of grace. After 1875, Shaker communities declined, and only seven remained by 1920. Sabbathday Lake, always modest in size, had dropped to fifteen, all women, by 1950. They had made their own furniture and clothing, and after World War II there was a sudden vogue for Shaker crafts, beautifully simple chairs and cabinets, which often sold for huge sums as communities were closed and their effects auctioned off. In the face of aging and decline, the decision was made to establish a trust to support the last covenanted members in their old age. There was some fear that new members might be attracted by the large trust fund instead of by faith, and in 1965 the Canterbury, New Hampshire, community went further and decided to “close the covenant” by no longer accepting new members. Sabbathday Lake was angered by the decision and refused to accept it. Eldress Mildred Barker commented that “no one has the right to shut the door on anyone who sincerely seeks to enter it.”

The division between these last two communities never healed. At one point in the 1970s, Sabbathday Lake was cut off from funds from the trust, but it persisted. Sabbathday Lake openly invited new members, and today about fifty applicants a year make serious inquiries. Few enter, however, and fewer persevere in the simple, strict Shaker way. One who did was Theodore Johnson, a highly controversial figure who entered around 1960 and tirelessly promoted the Shaker life. Under his guidance Sabbathday Lake began a modest increase. Canterbury ordered his expulsion in 1971, recognizing that he was at the heart of Sabbathday’s rejection of the closing of the covenant. Johnson died suddenly in 1986 at fifty-five, leaving the community in shock. Nevertheless, the last surviving Shaker community now has a handful of members, the youngest in her thirties. The Sabbathday Shakers believe strongly in a prophecy of Mother Ann that the sect would decline sharply, but then one day rebound in numbers and fervor. Until then, the community has planned for the passage of the last members to protect the land from developers and preserve the museum and Shaker Village. Sabbathday Lake continues the routine of farm chores and work and attracts large numbers of visitors who come to share its spirit and to encounter the Shaker way of life. Services are conducted every Sunday and Wednesday, with men and women seated separately. It begins with hymns—Shakers have written more than 10,000—and a Scripture reading. Then there is a period of silence during which anyone may speak of how the text has touched his or her. Each testimony is followed by a spontaneous hymn. Sometimes the

468 | Sacre Coeur, Paris, France

Shakers lead a dance, not the floorstomping, enthusiastic dances of their ancestors, but a simple rhythmic movement, palms raised to receive God’s blessing, and then turned down to impart it to the earth. Shakers are pacifists and strong supporters of women’s suffrage and workers’ rights. They promoted progress, invented a number of labor-saving devices, and accepted electricity. Sabbathday Lake uses computers, enjoys television, and has a library of modern recordings. Sabbathday Lake supports itself by growing gourmet herbs and making herb vinegars, as well as raising sheep. The rhythm of work, prayer, and community living is unbroken. Meals are taken together, with the men and women at separate tables, and the community prays daily at 8:00 A.M. before starting work. There are eighty acres of farmland (the total land covers 1,800 acres) with eighteen buildings, including barns, living quarters, and the meeting house. The community is led by one man and one woman, following Shaker tradition. As the female leader commented, “There is still a group of people living in a place called Chosen Land where there have been Shakers for two hundred years, living the Shaker life.”

REFERENCES Cathy Newman, “The Shakers’ Brief Eternity,” 176 National Geographic 3:302–325 (September 1989). Suzanne Skees, God Among the Shakers: Search for Stillness and Faith at Sabbathday Lake. New York, Hyperion, 1999. Gerard Wertkin, A Place in Time: The Shakers of Sabbathday Lake, Maine. Boston, MA, David Godine, 2006.

SACRE COEUR, PARIS, FRANCE A devotional shrine, a tourist magnet or a triumphal proclamation of French religious conservatism, the Sacre Coeur has from its construction been a cause of ambivalence and conflict. Its huge white bulk looms over the city of Paris and its porch provides one of the best views of the city. The basilica was built between 1875 and 1914, in the wake of the FrancoPrussian War and the occupation of the city by the radical Paris Commune. This brought to a head the longsimmering split between the socialists on one hand and the ultramontanists and royalists on the other. The church was built as a memorial for the war dead and to expiate the crimes of the communards against the Church. Many clergy, along with the archbishop, were martyred during the occupation, and the suppression of the communards was equally vicious. Montmartre was the origin of the communard uprising and a place where many were executed and left in abandoned mine shafts on the mount. Montmartre (the hill of martyrs) is also the legendary place where the first bishop of Paris, the missionary St. Denis, and his companions were beheaded for the faith in 250. Montmartre had been a place for pilgrims long before the basilica was built. After the Commune, arch-conservative Catholics responded with a call to national spiritual revival. The Basilica of Sacre Coeur became their symbol, and its construction the consequence of a fervent National Vow. The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a characteristically

Sacre Coeur, Paris, France | 469 French devotional expression, became the rallying point and was a natural choice for the name and dedication of the basilica. The bitterness of the political division between anticlerical and religious Frenchmen lingered for many years, resulting in several attempts to cancel the construction. George Clemenceau called it an attempt to stigmatize the Revolution. The end result was a magnificent structure, even in its triumphalism. The style is Romano-Byzantine, and it was designed by one of the leading French architects of the day. It was built entirely with donations after the land was condemned by the government and turned over to the Church. Triumphal elements abound: equestrian statues of King St. Louis IX and St. Joan of Arc at the entrance, and a large mosaic of the Battle of Lepanto, the 1571 defeat of the Turks by the combined Catholic navies. The apse mosaic of Christ in Majesty is the largest in the world on that theme. Sacre Coeur is a major destination for religious and secular tours. The dome, after an arduous climb, provides stunning views of Paris, and for the less agile, the front plaza does much the same. To accommodate tourists, a funicular was built from the lower levels to the courtyard, and on weekends, the church swarms with visitors. In the face of this, the ministry staff has a number of religious services and programs and tries to use the occasion of tourist visits to offer ministry. The ministry of the basilica includes spiritual retreats and counseling, and pilgrimage groups come from all over as part of the mix of visitors. The Sacrament has been exposed for adoration in a special

Sacre Coeur, also known as the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Paris in Paris, France.

chapel since the basilica began, and is a focus of pilgrim prayer. Four offices are chanted and several Masses are celebrated every day in the basilica. The official guesthouse offers retreat days on the first Friday of every month. There are also several pilgrim hostels on the mount. See also: Paray-le-Monial, Paris, Religious Tourism

REFERENCES Raymond Jones, France and the Cult of the Sacred Heart. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 2000. Gabriel Weisberg, Montmartre and the Making of Mass Culture. Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University, 2001. www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com.

470 | Sacrimonte, Italy

SACRIMONTE, ITALY There are nine sacred mountains in Piedmont in northern Italy, all with chapels and other shrines dedicated to different aspects of Christian faith. They are blended into the natural environment, but they are decorated with statues and frescoes. The chapels stretch up the mountainsides and form a pilgrimage route along several themes: the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus; the life and mysteries of the Virgin Mary or of a saint; or salvation history as found in the Bible. They were built in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and in 2003 they were listed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites as a group. Varallo is the oldest (1491) and consists of a basilica and forty-five chapels that recall the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus in beautiful frescoes. There are 800 life-sized statues in outdoor dioramas beginning with Adam and Eve and progressing through the life of Christ, all in garden settings. It was planned to be a poor man’s Bible, showing all the major scenes from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Belmonte sits above a valley. It is sixteenth century and its thirteen chapels follow the theme of the Passion. Each chapel has a ceramic statuary scene backed by frescoes, starting with the condemnation of Jesus. Crea was built around an existing shrine of the Virgin, and its chapels follow the mysteries of the Rosary, ending with the Coronation of the Virgin. The culmination is the Chapel of Paradise with more than 300 statues, where Mary, surrounded by angels, is crowned queen of heaven by the Holy Trinity. It is a rich and elaborate presentation.

Domodossola is the farthest north, near the Swiss border. The theme here is also the Passion, with the final chapel that of the Sanctuary of the Crucifixion, with two chapels: Jesus Dies on the Cross and Jesus is taken Down from the Cross (the Deposition). Ghiffa is on the shore of Lake Maggiore, a beautiful setting. It was begun in 1647 but never completed. There is no particular theme. There are chapels of the Patriarch Abraham, the Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, and the Coronation of the Virgin. The main sanctuary has fourteen bays corresponding to the Stations of the Cross illustrated by frescoes and painted tiles. Orta is also placed in a wooded area overlooking a lake. It took more than a hundred years to build from the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries and reflects the architectural styles of that period—late Renaissance, baroque, and rococo. The chapels follow the life of St. Francis of Assisi and were constructed in a spiral fashion. The statues and frescoes are notable for their realism in each of the scenes. The final chapel, San Nicolae, is based on the Lower Basilica of Assisi. Another lakeside mountain is that of Ossuccio, above an island on Lake Como. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and consists of fifteen chapels based on the mysteries of the Rosary, stretched along a winding path up the mount. The chapels have porticos that run along the front of each and tie the chapels together. There are 230 terracotta statues making up the various scenes. The Via Sacra (sacred way) of Varese is the most harmonious in the Sacrimonte, because everything was designed by the same artist. There are fourteen chapels, three arches, and three fountains, all built

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain | 471 around the theme of the mysteries of the Rosary. Each of the chapels has a portico, with glass windows through which the dioramas can be seen. The Nativity Chapel has a modern interpretation of the Flight into Egypt on its outside wall. Oropa (1620) was based on a Marian sanctuary high in the Italian Alps, which enshrined a Black Madonna. There are twelve shrine chapels (of an originally projected twenty-four) that tell the story of the life of the Virgin as revealed in scripture. They are spaced along a zigzag path up the mountain. As is apparent from the descriptions, all the shrines of Sacrimonte consist of multiple chapels in garden settings, grouped, with one exception, around a single Christian theme. Two themes predominate: the Passion narrative of the sufferings and death of Christ and his resurrection; and the life of the Virgin Mary or her traditional mysteries of the Rosary. The chapels are actually small scenes of the event or theological mystery portrayed, rather than places for worship. The final chapel (some of them are large churches) is used for Masses, services, and group prayer, bringing together the experience of the pilgrimage. The intention of the Sacrimonte is teaching a vision of the faith in a dramatic fashion. Most of the sacred mounts were funded by wealthy benefactors, with the assistance of the local people, who took great pride in working on the constructions without reward.

SAGRADA FAMILIA, BARCELONA, SPAIN Antoni Gaudi is the most celebrated artist of Catalonia, and his mark is found throughout his native city, Barcelona, in parks and apartment buildings. His most ambitious work, to which he dedicated much of his life, is the astounding Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family. It is a tour de force of religious architecture that defies definition, although it is best described as Art Nouveau with Gothic elements. Gaudi (1852–1926) began the Sagrada Familia in 1882 and worked on it until his death in a streetcar accident in

See also: Bom Jesus, Zebrzydowska Chapel

REFERENCES Samuel Butler, Ex Voto: An Account of the Sacro Monte. Teddington, UK, Echo Library, 2006. www.sacrimonti.org.

Sagrada la Familia cathedral designed by Antonio Gaudi, in Barcelona, Spain.

472 | Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

1926. Construction has continued since then, only interrupted by the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and best estimates are that it will be completed by 2026, the centenary of Gaudi’s death. All the design work since Gaudi’s death, including contemporary computer design, has been done by Catalan architects and engineers, and the shrine basilica is a source of immense pride in Catalonia. It was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and was opened for worship and tours. Well over two million people come to the Sagrada Familia each year. Eight towers pierce the sky, decorated in religious imagery in every medium: stained glass, sculpture, iron, and plaster. The detail is almost impossible to take in, and there is the overwhelming effect of a phantasmagorical scene. The final plan calls for eighteen towers, ranging in size from the Twelve Apostles, the Virgin Mary, the four Evangelists, and the Jesus Tower standing tall over all. The evangelists’ towers will be topped by their traditional artistic symbols: a winged man for Matthew, a lion for Mark, a bull for Luke, and an eagle for John. The Jesus Tower will have a cross on the top. Two monuments are planned: helixshaped fountains before the baptistery of the Gloria Tower and a monument to fire by the Door of Penitence. Gaudi wanted to integrate all elements of nature, and the interior columns are modeled on trees and branches, giving the effect of a forest in stone. The columns are load-bearing, because Gaudi thought that the Gothic system of flying buttresses was like “the crutches of a cripple.” He planned large, with an ambulatory suitable for processions and

loft space that would hold choirs of several thousand. There are two facades completed, the Passion and the Nativity, with the Glory yet to be finished. The Nativity was finished first and is most clearly the work of Gaudi. Its serene scenes contrast sharply with the Passion, with the flogged and crucified Christ presented as an emaciated Man of Suffering. The Nativity has three doors: Faith, Hope, and Charity. Above Charity is a Jesse Tree of Jesus’s genealogy, and there are sculpted scenes of Jesus in the manger, the adoration of the Magi, and the signs of the zodiac on the date of Jesus’ birth. There are a hundred species of animals represented and a hundred species of plants. It was largely completed in 1926. The Passion façade was not finished until 1978. Three words appear: Veritas, Vida, Via (truth, life, the way). The crucifixion is over the central door, surrounded by the persons associated with it: the women, the good thief, Longinus, and the soldiers. The interiors use liturgical symbols and words in many languages, including Catalan. The Apostles’ Creed will be used in the Glory Tower’s interior. The entire monument was intended as, and will be, a “Bible in stone.” Neither government nor Catholic Church funds have been used for the construction, and current expenses (about $25 million a year) are met by a combination of donations and ticket sales.

REFERENCES Albert Fargas and Pere Vivas, Symbology of the Temple of Sagrada Familia. Barcelona, Spain, Triangle Postal, 2009.

Saint Anthony of Padua, Italy | 473 Jeremy Roe, Antoni Gaudi. New York, Parkstone, 2009. Pere Vivas and Josep Carandell, La Sagrada Familia. Barcelona, Spain, Triangle Postal, 2006. www.sagradafamilia.cat.

SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA, ITALY St. Anthony (1195–1231) is one of the most popular Catholic saints, and his basilica in Padua, about twenty-five miles from Venice in northern Italy, attracts large numbers of pilgrims. A Byzantine-style church with a Gothic interior, it was begun shortly after his death and was embellished by some of the finest artists of the period. Its soaring dome is covered with frescoes, and, despite its size, appears light. One of the basilica’s several side chapels contains the tomb of Anthony, the object of the pilgrimages. Next to it is the Lady Chapel, with a statue of a Black Virgin; these medieval statues of Mary as a black woman are found frequently in Europe. The chapel is the only remaining portion of the Franciscan friary where Anthony lived. The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament (1458) holds the tabernacle containing the consecrated hosts. The arched front and the walls are in banded stones of contrasting colors. The Chapel of St. James has eight windows and frescoes of the legendary life of St. James, but its main feature is a prominent painting of the Crucifixion. Altogether, there are a dozen side chapels. The church’s main altar is adorned with a crucifix and statues by Donatello. Behind it is the Treasury, a baroque chapel with relics of St. Anthony. The

main reliquary is centered so that it can be circumambulated, and some 2,000 pilgrims an hour walk around it. The tomb was opened and the skeleton and other relics authenticated in 1981 for the 750th anniversary of Anthony’s death. In 1991, four gunmen held up the congregation and escaped with the jawbone of the saint. The raid was the work of the Mafia, who held the relic for ransom in exchange for an arrested Mafia chieftain. Within two months, a conspiracy with the Italian Secret Service had been exposed, and the relic was returned. Anthony was born in Portugal around 1195. Shortly after he joined the Augustinian Order, he made a trip to North Africa. His ship was thrown off course on the return and ended up it Italy, where he met St. Francis of Assisi. Shortly after, he transferred to the newly founded Franciscan Order. For a time he was a university lecturer, then retired to Padua as a hermit. He was such a popular holy figure that a year after his death, he was recognized as a saint. Anthony was a simple but powerful preacher with the gift of touching the hearts of his listeners. His body decayed after his death, but his tongue and vocal chords remain intact, which many see as a divine sign. These are kept in a special reliquary in the basilica. Even though stories of miracles are associated with his life, it is his profoundly simple preaching that is best remembered. Sixty-eight cities and places around the world are named after him, forty-four in Latin America and fifteen in the United States. In popular devotion, Anthony is invoked to help find lost items. An unusual ex-voto is the custom of publishing testimonies of thanks for favors received from Anthony in newspaper

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classified sections. On his feast day, June 13, it is customary to bless St. Anthony Bread to be given to the poor. Today, this often takes the form of collections for food pantries.

REFERENCES Anton Rotsetter, Saint Anthony. Cincinnati, OH, SAMP, 2004. Jude Winkler, Anthony of Padua, London, CTS, 2004. Saint Anthony. San Francisco, Ignatius, 2005, video.

SAINTE-ANNE DE BEAUPRE´, QUE´BEC, CANADA More than a million pilgrims a year come to a tiny town on the shores of the St. Lawrence River twenty miles above Que´bec City, in honor of St. Anne, legendary grandmother of Jesus. The first chapel was built by early French settlers in 1658, and by 1688 it was known as a place of pilgrimage for the region. From the earliest years, Indians (who in Canada are called the First Nations) were coming to venerate the one they called “Grandmother in the Faith.”They came in fleets of canoes, singing hymns to St. Anne in their native tongues. The First Nations’ pilgrimages are still held during the month of June, and the canoe procession is still part of it. When a relic of St. Anne was sent to Beaupre´ by the pope in 1892, it stopped in New York, where an epileptic was cured on its first appearance, causing a tremendous excitement in the city. From that time, American pilgrimages to Beaupre´ increased tremendously. The

largest pilgrimages come for the feast of St. Anne (July 26) and the Sunday closest to the feast of the Nativity of Mary (September 8). The cult of St. Anne is an ancient one, but there is no biblical authority for the grandparents of Jesus, who in tradition are named Anne and Joachim. St. Anne first appears in Christian writing around the year 150 CE, when her cult first took root in the Middle East. It developed in the West after the eighth century and was very popular in France at the time of the settlement of Que´bec. The present basilica was completed in 1926 after the 1922 church was destroyed by fire, and its treasures include a number of eighteenth-century sculptures and artworks. The 240 stained-glass windows were created using a new technique that suffuses the light and brings the rest of the art into a harmonious whole. Large mosaics of the saints of Canada and eighty-eight tableaux of the life of Jesus circle the inside of the church. The center of devotion is the miraculous statue of St. Anne, carved from a massive single piece of oak. It is polychromed and wears a gold crown with diamonds, rubies, and pearls. She is shown carrying her child, Mary. It is not this magnificence that draws the pilgrims, however, but the miracle stories. The first was the cure of a crippled workman in 1658, and it was soon followed by the deliverance of a group of sailors from a storm. The ex-voto chapel in the basilica contains piles of crutches, canes, and folded wheelchairs, as well as paintings of instances of deliverance. The basilica is set within a large property that includes a hospital, several chapels, a sacred well, a life-size set of the Stations of the Cross, and a replica of

Sainte-Croix, Port Louis, Mauritius | 475 the Scala Santa, or “holy stairs,” in Rome, the legendary stairs that Jesus mounted on his way to meet Pontius Pilate. There is an incessant round of prayer, with an average of eight daily Masses as well as a public Rosary, Way of the Cross, blessing of the sick with a relic of St. Anne, and a candlelight procession. Besides the places of prayer, the basilica maintains a pilgrim hostel and facilities for the sick and handicapped. The shrine policy states, “The young and the homeless must feel welcome here, for in welcoming them, we welcome Christ.”

REFERENCES Anonymous, Miracles of Beaupre. Charleston, SC, BiblioBazaar, reprint 2009. Michael Gavreau, The Catholic Origins of Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, 1931–1970. Montreal, QC, McGillQueens Universities, 2008. Eugene Lefebvre, St. Anne’s Pilgrim People. Que´bec, QC, Charrier et Dugal, 1981. www.ssadb.qc.ca.

SAINTE-CROIX, PORT LOUIS, MAURITIUS The tiny Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius was occupied at various times by the Dutch, French, and British. The Portuguese discovered it in 1505, but there was no permanent settlement until 1638, and the population of 1.3 million reflects the groups of indentured workers who were brought in. It is a mixture of Indians (forty-nine percent, mostly Hindu), a substantial group of Chinese, and some descendants of French settlers

and Creole former African slaves. Catholics count for twenty-four percent, other Christians (mostly Anglican) nine percent, and Muslims seventeen percent. Jacques-Desire Laval (1803–1864) came to Mauritius as a missionary in 1841 after exploring alternative careers. First, he became a physician and practiced for several years in his native Normandy. Deciding to become a priest, he was ordained and served as a parish priest for two years. Feeling a call to missionary work, he entered the Spiritan Fathers and was sent to Mauritius, even though it was not a mission of that order. Laval arrived only six years after African slaves were freed on Mauritius, and he found the Creoles in a pitiable condition. They were morally corrupt, exploited by the white minority, and suffered from drunkenness and sexual abuse. He cast his lot with these former African slaves who had been brought to Mauritius to work the sugar fields. He threw himself into their service completely, living in a packing crate among them, learning the Creole language that had evolved on the island, and using his medical skills to best advantage. Laval’s compassion and devotion to his people caused him to be nicknamed “the Peter Claver of Mauritius” after the famous missionary to the Latin American slaves. He is reputed to have made 67,000 converts, now the basis of the Christian population of the country. Laval opposed racism in a racist society and became a model of enculturation, respecting and integrating indigenous culture into his ministry. He trained African catechists to extend his ministry. White explorers fought his attempts to bring dignity to the Creoles. His superiors accused him of being too concerned

476 | Saint Gobnait, Ballyvourney, Cork, Ireland

with charity and justice and too little with being a missionary. During a cholera epidemic, he founded hospitals, and later schools, which became the basis for raising \ the social conditions of the Creoles. All this was done in the face of an antagonistic British colonial government that favored the Anglican establishment. Laval’s death came after twenty-three years of unstinting self-sacrifice, and it became a national demonstration. Thirty thousand people, much of the population of Port Louis at that time, followed the casket at his funeral, weeping and wailing. He was declared Blessed in 1989, and his feast day is September 9. The custom has grown of honoring his feast day with a pilgrimage to the grave in Sainte Croix. People begin to leave ex-votos on the vigil the night before and continue to stream to the grave through the day. There is also a festival, and the day has become a national observance, joined by Mauritians of all faiths.

REFERENCES Eileen Cowper, Blessed Jacques Laval. London, CTS, 1984. Joseph Fitzimmons, Father Laval. Tenbury Wells, UK, Fowler Wright, 1973.

SAINT GOBNAIT, BALLYVOURNEY, CORK, IRELAND The sixth-century shrine of St. Gobnait is typical of many kept in local remembrance for local saints. Gobnait flourished during the high point of Celtic Christianity in Ireland, before the im-

position of Roman regulations by the Vatican. There is little written about her, and what is known dates from the thirteenth century and is unreliable. Gobnait was said to be a descendant of King Conaire the Great of Ireland and was appointed abbess of Ballyvourney in southern Ireland by St. Abban. She is described by one writer as “a sharpbeaked nun,” although whether that refers to her appearance or her character is unclear. Her name is the Gaelic equivalent of the Hebrew name Deborah, meaning “honey bee.” Gobnait was known as a healer who used honey in healing wounds. She is the patron saint of beekeepers. On one occasion when a plague wracked Ballyvourney, she declared the town consecrated ground, and the epidemic stopped at the borders. Her legend says that she fled County Clare and was told by an angel to wander the country until she saw nine white deer, which would indicate that she should settle there. She did so and founded a nunnery where she found the deer, at Ballyvourney. The origins of the shrine are clearly preChristian and pagan. The sacred well was in use before Christianity arrived, but it was taken in and consecrated by the new religion. What remains of Gobnait’s foundation is the well and an iron archway that leads to it. In the churchyard cemetery are several pagan carvings, including a sexually explicit one of the fertility goddess Sheela-Na-Gig. On the bushes nearby are tokens left by visitors to the well—small ex-votos, rosaries, notes, and bits of cloth and ribbons, called “clooties.” There is a large outdoor statue of St. Gobnait standing on a beehive. Her grave is in the courtyard, marked by three stones. The pilgrimage ritual consists of

Saint Januarius, Naples, Italy | 477 making the rounds to the statue, the grave, and the well. One circles the well three times (or three times three) clockwise with the sun. Counterclockwise is believed to bring on a curse. At the well, the pilgrim washes hands and face, sips a bit of the water, and takes some home for blessing. The feast day is February 11. It is called the “pattern day,” when her sacred well is decorated. Gobnait’s other (and much older) statue, a thirteenth-century wooden carving, is taken out of the church to bless the people. Pilgrims measure a length of string or ribbon against the statue and take it home for healing. Mass is celebrated at the well. See also: Wells and Springs

REFERENCES Maureen Concannon, The Sacred Whore: Sheela Goddess of the Celts. Cork, Ireland, Collins, 2004. Oliver Davies, ed., Celtic Spirituality. Mahwah, NJ, Paulist, 2000. Eilis Ui Dhailigh, Saint Gobnait of Ballyvourney. Dublin, Ireland, Irish Messenger, 1983.

SAINT JANUARIUS, NAPLES, ITALY Beneath the Cathedral of Naples, in southern Italy, lies the burial place of the patron of the city, St. Januarius, a bishop martyred under Diocletian in 305. What is remarkable about Januarius is the phenomenon of his blood, which has liquefied regularly since 1389. Two vials of Januarius’ blood are kept in a silver reliquary, and three times a year, the larger

is taken in a public procession to a convent, where it is placed on the altar near a reliquary containing the skull of the martyr. The people, led by a group of older women known as the Zie de San Gennaro, or “Aunts of St. Januarius,” pray, often in extravagant and emotional terms, for the miracle to occur. When the miracle takes place, the mass in the vial turns liquid and takes on a rubyred color. It sometimes bubbles up and increases in volume, even though the vial is hermetically sealed. Scientific inquiries have failed to explain the phenomenon, though spectroscopic analysis has determined that the contents are human blood. To the people of Naples, the event is clearly a miracle. They are convinced that if the blood fails to liquefy, disaster will befall Naples. They have attributed such calamities as plagues, eruptions of nearby Mt. Vesuvius, defeats in soccer, and even the election of a Communist mayor to the failure of the miracle to take place. The liquefaction is greeted with a twentyone-gun salute in the city. The story of Januarius’ martyrdom is full of legends that have no basis in history but illustrate the great reverence attached to his memory. Supposedly, he was thrown into a furnace but remained untouched by the flames. After that, he and his companions were sent to the stadium, but the wild bears refused to attack them. The judge, who then ordered them beheaded, was struck blind, but Januarius cured him, causing the instant conversion of 5,000 people. After the beheading, the body of Januarius was taken to Naples, where it rests in a catacomb in the cathedral. This crypt chapel is decorated with frescoes and mosaics and ornately covered with marble, gold, and bronze ornaments. The skull of

478 | Saint-Jean-Du-Doigt, France

Januarius and the vials of his blood are kept in a special chapel. The feast day is September 19 in the Latin Church and April 21 in the Eastern Churches. This is as far as the Church goes in recognizing the phenomenon. Although there have been movements to remove Januarius from the calendar, they have always run aground on local devotion. Italian-Americans in New York celebrate San Gennaro’s Day with a prominent street festival in New York City.

REFERENCES Joan Cruz, Relics. Huntington, IN, OSV, 1984. David Sox, Relics and Shrines. London, George Allen & Unwin, 1985.

SAINT-JEAN-DU-DOIGT, FRANCE A small village on the northern coast of Brittany preserves one of the most authentic Breton pardons. With a population of barely 600, it organizes a pilgrimage that brings together representatives from all over Brittany for the feast of its patron, St. John the Baptist. The festival is held on the last Sunday in June and incorporates both ancient local traditions and characteristic elements of Midsummer celebrations. The church is sixteenth century with fifteenth-century parts, especially a prominent fountain in front of the church, which still supplies drinking water to the village. The compound is enclosed by a low wall and includes a cemetery, the fountain, and a number of figurines. There is also a separate fifteenth-century ossuary, where the

bones of the deceased are placed after some years in order to create space in the cemetery. The church, ossuary, walls, and main features are built of granite. The prize of the parish is a relic of St. John the Baptist, supposedly his finger. This gives the name to the town, “Saint John of the Finger.” It is kept in a small glass and wood reliquary, very simple and even primitive in style. The walls of the church crypt are covered with photos of costumed small boys who have been chosen over the years to play the role of shepherd during the festival, a great honor for them and their families. The pardon is far older than the church, though its beginning cannot be dated. It begins in the morning with a long procession of couples and families from parishes all over Brittany, each grouping dressed in traditional Breton costumes. A native can identify the town of origin of any of them by the style of women’s headgear and shawls. The procession proceeds to the church, where Mass is celebrated in Breton, accompanied by a spirited local choir. A number of clergy take part, and priests are kept busy hearing the confessions of penitents. At the end of the Mass, a blessing is given to the people with the Sacred Finger. After the Mass, the pilgrimage begins. Assembling in the courtyard, it slowly moves along, led by the prominent men of the community in the costumes of the brotherhood that maintains the church. This is followed by the visiting parishes, each carrying its banner. Then, an amazing sight appears: a perfect model of a sailing ship carried on a palanquin by four men. Normally it hangs from the ceiling of the church. This is a model of the ship used by Duchess Anne of Brittany (1477–1514), fierce defender of the

Saint Joseph’s Oratory, Montreál, Canada | 479 autonomy of Brittany, when she visited the village five centuries ago as their ruler. The ship model is followed by several lesser reliquaries and then the Sacred Finger, and last of all the clergy in their vestments. The entire town joins in and begins singing hymns and praying the Rosary as the procession wends it way up a hill behind the village. At the top is a tall rick of thorn-bush woven together tightly. The priest preaches on sin and redemption, and finally turns dramatically to the bush, which is a symbol of the Devil, and cries out: “Cast the Devil into the fire! Cast our sins into the fire!” With that, several teen-aged boys, obviously delighting in their role, set fire to the rick, which explodes into flame. Symbolically, sin and the evil one are consumed. With a prayer, the ceremony ends and people begin to stream down to the town square. A few yards down the hill from the site of the fire is a small sacred spring, clearly very ancient and probably of pagan origin. Over it sits a stubby granite Celtic cross, a triumphal statement of the victory of Christianity over paganism, probably dating from the fifth or sixth century. A few people stop and take water to cross themselves or to fill a small bottle to take home. In the square, the women of the town are beginning to set out a feast of local foods. As they do, the music and dancing begin. This is the traditional circle dance, similar to the Catalan sardana. The festival goes on into the evening. See also: Breton Pardons, Fire, Midsummer

REFERENCE Marcus Tanner, The Last of the Celts. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 2004.

SAINT JOSEPH’S ORATORY, MONTREÁL, CANADA Originally a small, wooden chapel built by a simple brother for his healing ministry, Saint Joseph’s Oratory is now a massive basilica on the slopes of Mont Royale in Que´bec. Pilgrims come from all over North America to Brother Andre´’s shrine to pray for a cure. Alfred Bessette (1845–1937), raised in poverty and orphaned at twelve, a failure at trades and then an unskilled mill worker in Connecticut in his teens, at twenty-five joined the Holy Cross Order, where he became Brother Andre´. Due to poor health, he could only be assigned as receptionist and doorkeeper at the Colle`ge Notre-Dame in Montreál. But in his simple, untutored faith, he had great devotion to St. Joseph, fosterfather of Jesus and one of the patron saints of Canada. Among Brother Andre´’s duties was visiting sick students, and it was noticed that those who took up his prayers to the saint were often cured instantly. As the word of his help to the sick spread, callers to the parlor became too many to accommodate, and parents grumbled that some of the sick visitors were likely to be contagious. Finally, friends arranged to purchase a vacant lot for his healing ministry, across the street from the college, on the slopes of Mont Royale. To build a chapel, Brother Andre´ raised $200 from a combination of small gifts and by giving haircuts to students at five cents each. From 1878, when the first cures took place, public enthusiasm was widespread. The first wooden chapel, grandly named Saint Joseph’s Oratory, measured only fifteen by eighteen feet. It was too

480 | Saint Joseph’s Oratory, Montreál, Canada

small from the time of its opening in 1904, and almost immediately, plans for expansion were made. And the crowds came—to pray to St. Joseph, to seek cures, and to see Brother Andre´ , the miracle worker of Mont Royale. Curiously, Brother Andre´ himself never witnessed a cure. He counseled the sick or prayed with them, but cures took place out of his sight. He later said that this was his greatest cause of suffering. In 1916 alone, 435 cases of healing were reported. At first, Brother Andre´ was denounced as a charlatan and regarded with suspicion by both his superiors and Church authorities. A special commission to test the alleged cures and Brother Andre´’s honesty was set up in 1911. It did not comment on the faith healing, but it did recommend that the pilgrimages continue. By 1914 a major basilica was begun, but the Great Depression halted construction after the crypt had been built. Here Brother Andre´’s body was laid to rest when he died in 1937. A million people filed past his casket despite the snow and cold of a bitter winter. In 1955 the basilica was completed, and in 2010 Pope Benedict XVI declared Brother Andre´ a saint. Brother Andre´’s devotion to St. Joseph was based on his own experience as a laborer and migrant worker, qualities he saw in St. Joseph. Brother Andre´ was a man of deep, constant prayer and simple faith. Though Saint Joseph’s Oratory is a powerful tribute to Joseph, its devotees come even more to honor Brother Andre´. His availability to others, often for hours on end, his unfailing good humor, and his sensitive kindness have left a memory that has endeared him to several generations of North Americans. The producer of the

1986 film of his life commented, “Brother Andre´ is to religion in Que´bec what Maurice Richard was to hockey— the habitant who became a superhero.” As a workingman’s saint, the basilica he built became a focal point for the French trade union movement. The oratory is massive, and it sits on one of the most magnificent sites in Montreál. It is the highest structure in the city, and its dome is second in size only to St. Peter’s in Rome. Many of the two million pilgrims who come each year climb the entrance stairs up Mont Royale on their knees. The oratory seats 4,000 with room for 10,000 more standing. The lower church contains crutches, ex-votos, and symbolic silver mementos from grateful persons who have been cured. The basilica’s most popular chapel contains the embalmed heart of Brother Andre´ , which was stolen in 1972 but recovered two years later. The original chapel remains, with the small apartment where Brother Andre´ lived after 1909. There are also a large outdoor Way of the Cross, a museum dedicated to Brother Andre´, and various exhibition halls. The sculptures, stained glass (ten scenes from Canadian religious history), and artwork are outstanding. An organ with 5,811 pipes, a carillon of fifty-six bells in their own building, and a choir school provide concerts and liturgical music. On summer evenings, Les Jongleurs de la Montagne present a Passion play, and at Christmas a collection of 250 manger scenes, some life size, are exhibited. Brother Andre´’s tomb draws all, but many also find their way up Mont Royale to the Fountain of Redemption, where a spring of water flows from the side of a golden lamb, the biblical symbol of Christ.

Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy | 481 About two million people come to the basilica each year. The annual novena of pilgrimages is from March 10 through 19, the feast of St. Joseph. See also: Sainte-Anne de Beaupre

REFERENCES Patricia Jablonski, Saint Andre Bessette. Boston, MA, Pauline, 2010. C. Bernard Ruffin, The Life of Brother Andre´. Huntington, IN, OSV, 1988. Susan Stein, The Tapestry of St. Joseph. Philadelphia, PA, Apostle, 1991. www.saint-joseph.org.

SAINT PETER’S BASILICA, ROME, ITALY The largest church in Christendom and a triumph of Renaissance architecture, St.

Interior of St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy.

Peter’s is the main church of Roman Catholicism and a symbol of the papacy. It is a shrine to Catholicism itself as a community of believers, a symbolic statement in stone of what it means to be a worldwide church. Priceless art, chapels, and memorials dot the immense expanse of its interior, but the greatest shrine and the reason for the church’s existence is the tomb of Peter the Apostle, considered by Catholics to be the first pope. St. Peter was martyred around 64 CE during the persecution of Nero, and his burial place by the Roman racetrack (circus) was well known. In the fourth century the Emperor Constantine built a basilica over the tomb. It lasted for 1,200 years. Though it was a grand church, by 1500 it was in danger of crumbling. It had been sacked and looted several times by barbarian tribes. Pope Julius II engaged the best architects to

482 | Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, Italy

build its successor, today’s St. Peter’s. The first stone was laid in 1506 and the basilica was completed a century later. Meant to be a tribute to the unity of Christianity, it became instead the occasion of one of its greatest divisions. In order to raise the enormous sums of money needed for construction, the pope authorized a European fundraising scheme, granting indulgences to contributors. In Catholic teaching, indulgences are relief from the punishment sinners endure after death to purify them for heaven. They are normally gained by prayer or sacrifice. Many were shocked at this means of raising money and accused the pardoners, as the pope’s agents were called, of selling indulgences. The scandal caused the German monk Martin Luther to challenge the authority of the Church and to denounce indulgences. This action was the spark that set off the Protestant Reformation. St. Peter’s was completed in 1626. Hemmed in on its sides by the offices and museums of the Vatican, St. Peter’s Basilica opens its wide arms into a vast forecourt plaza. The colonnades encircling the piazza are the work of Giovanni Bernini and symbolize the open arms of Mother Church. On top are statues of saints. Beneath them are three covered walks, the middle one built wide enough for carriages. The center point is an Egyptian obelisk, now with a relic of the Holy Cross on its top. The obelisk once marked the racetrack where Peter was martyred. The facade, completed in 1614, projects majesty and power and adds to the sense of a triumphant Church. From a small balcony at its center the pope gives his annual blessing “To the City and the World.” He also appears daily to lead the crowds in the

Angelus prayer at noon, and occasionally the Rosary. The basilica is designed as a Latin cross with a huge nave and two side aisles that have many chapels branching off them. The interior is open below a soaring dome designed by Michelangelo. There are no pews (the crowds usually remain standing for services, although wooden chairs are set out for some events). This focuses every eye upon the central shrine where pilgrims can look down on the tomb of St. Peter. At floor level is a splendid altar with a baroque wall behind it featuring a papal chair— the Throne of St. Peter—actually a reliquary for a Roman-era throne that St. Peter was alleged to have used. Nowhere else is the visitor reminded more explicitly that this basilica is a memorial of the papacy. Above the throne is an oval window representing the Holy Spirit, God hovering over and protecting the papacy. Bernini, who began his career as a stage designer, created a bronze canopy that rises ninety-five feet above the floor on four spiral columns; the effect is one of majesty and awe. Besides the papal Masses, the largest of which are conducted in the porch facing the plaza, Masses are celebrated in the side chapels many times each day by the numerous pilgrim groups that come. Each group is provided with a song leader and assistance for holding a service that will be memorable for them. St. Peter’s is more of a destination for religious tourism than a true pilgrimage site, and it is constantly thronged with visitors. The dome, 138 feet in diameter, above sixteen windows, creates the effect of an upward movement toward the light of heaven. Around the lower rim is the

Saint Willibrord’s Shrine, Echternach, Luxembourg | 483 Latin text of Jesus’ prophecy to Peter: “You are Peter, and upon this Rock (petros in Greek) I will build my Church, and I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 16:18– 19). This text is regarded by Catholics as the biblical justification for the papacy. Among the other memorials in the basilica is a bronze statue of a seated St. Peter as pope. It is popular with pilgrims, who have kissed the foot so often through the centuries that much of it is worn away. There are also a number of tombs of other popes, both within the church and below in a special crypt. The work of art that draws all visitors, however, is Michelangelo’s Pieta`, kept in a small side chapel and protected by bulletproof glass after an assault on it a few years ago. Sculpted from the finest marble, it shows Mary receiving the body of Jesus after he has been lowered from the Cross. The flowing lines of the Virgin’s dress blend with the corpse of the dead Jesus laid upon her lap, while the detail in the marble shows the veins in Christ’s arms. It is a scene of serene tenderness mixed with great sadness. Done when the artist was only twenty-four, it is regarded as one of the world’s greatest sculptural masterpieces. The other artistic and historical treasure is the nearby Sistine Chapel, which is accessible from St. Peter’s but part of the Vatican Museums, not the basilica. A tiny window under the main altar gives a glimpse of the grave of the Apostle, but St. Peter’s tomb cannot be visited without a permit. It is constantly under study by archaeologists, and large numbers of visitors would damage the area, which is part of an ancient cemetery. See also: Catacombs, Rome

REFERENCES Michael Collins, The Vatican. New York, DK, 2008. James Fallows, “Vatican City,” 168 National Geographic 6:723–761 (August 1984). Michael Grant, St. Peter, a Biography. New York, Scribner, 1995. Keith Miller, St. Peters. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 2007. 500 Years of St. Peters. Kultur, 2009, video.

SAINT WILLIBRORD’S SHRINE, ECHTERNACH, LUXEMBOURG The Basilica of St. Willibrord near the German border honors the Christian apostle of Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Willibrord (+739), an English missionary, was archbishop of the Netherlands and responsible for the introduction of Christianity to the Lowlands. In 698, he established a monastery at Echternach with English and Irish monks. It became a center for missionary work but was also known for its illuminated manuscripts. The basilica was seriously damaged by allied bombing during the Ardennes offensive in World War II, and the retreating Germans dynamited it. The crypt and tomb were unscathed, allowing complete restoration. The present monastery was built in 1953 on the pattern of the old one. It is romanesque, with two towers. The abbey became a center during the Carolingian period, promoted and protected by the kings. It prospered and its scriptorium was one of the most influential in Europe, where it helped determine German script. With the end of the line of Carolingian kings, however, the abbey

484 | Saint Winifred’s Well, Holywell, Wales, UK

lost its influence and the monks were expelled in 847, to be restored a century and a half later. The monks of the later period were German, in contrast to Willibrord’s English-Irish roots. During the annual feast (Tuesday after Pentecost), the people take part in a unique dancing procession that dates from the fourteenth century, though there is some evidence that it goes back to Willibrord’s time. Holding scarves that link them together and accompanied by a simple polka melody, the pilgrims dance in little hopping steps, three steps forward and two back, through the town and into the plaza before the shrine church. The procession originated in prayers for protection against epilepsy, for which St. Willibrord is invoked, and it is a custom for individuals to dance on behalf of ailing relatives too sick to come to the procession themselves. Thousands of people arrive from all over the region, some coming on foot for a hundred miles or more. A reliquary containing the relics of St. Willibrord is carried in the procession as the people chant the refrains of the Litany of St. Willibrord, honoring his memory with many titles: “Father of the poor . . . destroyer of idols . . . founder of churches.” Willibrord’s body is in a marble shrine in the crypt of the basilica near a miraculous spring, formerly used for baptisms. The complex also includes a reconstructed medieval scriptorium, where displays and demonstrations show how medieval manuscripts were created at the monastery in the Middle Ages.

REFERENCES Mary Lee and Sidney Nolan, Christian Pilgrimage in Modern Western

Europe. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina, 1989. Nancy Netzer, Cultural Interplay in the Eighth Century: The Trier Gospels and the Making of a Scriptorium at Echternach. New York, Cambridge University, 1994. Paul Rousseau, Echternach: An Abbey City. Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, Guy Binsfeld, 2001. www.willibrord.lu.

SAINT WINIFRED’S WELL, HOLYWELL, WALES, UK A holy healing well in the town of Holywell on the northern coast of Wales, Saint Winifred’s Well is one of the many memorials left by Celtic Christianity. It has been documented in continuous use for more than 800 years. As Christianity expanded after the fifth century, holy men moved north in Wales to seek solitude as hermits. Most prominent among them was St. Bueno, who took up residence in the court of a Welsh king, where he began instructing the chief’s daughter, Winifred, in religion. One day she was attacked by a chieftain, Prince Caradoc. She refused his advances and ran, but he overtook her and attempted to rape her. When she resisted, he was furious. He drew his sword and struck off her head. The legend of Winifred recounts that where her head fell to the ground, a well of healing waters sprang forth. The moss turned red where the blood was spattered about and emitted a sweet odor of violets and incense. The botanist Linnaeus lists a “violet-smelling” moss that grows only in that area. Winifred’s head rolled to a small chapel, and the horrified people came

Saint Winifred’s Well, Holywell, Wales, UK | 485 out to find Caradoc standing over the murdered body. Bueno gently took up the head and reattached it to the body, praying over Winifred until she came to life again. He then placed a curse on Caradoc, who withered away to nothing in the presence of the crowd. Years later, Bueno and Winifred returned to the well and Bueno blessed it, promising that those who came to the well would receive what they prayed for, if not on their first appeal, then on the second or third. He then made her promise to weave a cloak for him each year and place it in the stream, and God would bring it to him wherever he was. Bueno then took up his staff and went forth as a wandering holy man. Every year on May Day (May 1), Winifred placed a newly woven cloak in the stream from her holy well, and it always reached him. Bueno came to be known as Bueno of the Dry Cloak from this legendary miracle. Winifred’s Well is the only medieval sacred well that has been used by spiritual seekers uninterruptedly to the present day. The legend of Winifred dates only from the twelfth century, however, from which time her sacred well can be dated. Her relics were kept in Shrewsbury, and the monastery church there was a popular place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages. The usual pilgrimage way led from Shrewsbury to Holywell. Along the way were a number of way stations, or stops, supposedly where stones anointed with St. Winifred’s blood were found. The pilgrimage was assisted by a monastery that bestowed indulgences on pilgrims whose penances were believed to free them from the purifying punishments after death that made them worthy

to enter heaven. There was also a commandery of the Knights Templar, a military monastic order that provided travelers with security guards against bandits. In 1416 King Henry V went to St. Winifred’s Well on foot as an act of humility and penance, but the main attraction of Holywell was its reputation as a place for miraculous cures. When King Henry VIII despoiled the shrines, the way stations were dismantled and Winifred’s relics were lost. Only one finger was rescued, kept in Rome until 1852, when it was returned and divided between Holywell and Shrewsbury. Pilgrims continued to come to Holywell during the persecution of Catholics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, despite the martyrdom of several local priests who were hanged, disemboweled, and cut into pieces. In 1629 some 1,500 came on the saint’s feast day, November 3. Throughout the centuries, the sick were said to be miraculously cured when they bathed at the well. Local priests were in residence until the Jesuits made Holywell the center of the Catholic mission to North Wales in 1670. King James II gave the shrine to his wife, the Catholic Mary of Modena, and she restored the chapel in 1683. After Catholicism was legally restored in the mid-nineteenth century, a guest house was built and the pilgrimage thrived. Popes bestowed indulgences on the pilgrims in 1851 and 1887. The shrine is in excellent condition. It draws a steady stream of Anglican and Catholic supplicants and has several annual ecumenical pilgrimages. One of the largest of these, sponsored by Anglicans, is the annual pilgrimage for the handicapped, where hundreds volunteer to assist the frail pilgrims, most in

486 | San Antonio Mission Trail, Texas, USA

wheelchairs, into the waters. The spring itself is inside a large structure built by the mother of King Henry VII in 1500. A chapel is on the ground level, and pilgrims descend to the sacred well, which is under a high vaulted ceiling. There is an ambulatory, or circular passage, where pilgrims circle the well before going to a large pool, which is still fed in part by a mountain spring. The well itself is star shaped. Both Catholic and Anglican parishes adjoin the well, and each day the Catholic pastor blesses visitors with the relic of St. Winifred. A Catholic pilgrim hostel is nearby, following an old tradition, since the priests during the period of persecution passed themselves off as innkeepers and maintained refuges for pilgrims. During the early twentieth century, mining in the area dried up the well, and it is now fed mostly from the local water utility. See also: Wells and Springs

REFERENCES Martin and Nigel Palmer, The Spiritual Traveler: The Guide to Sacred Sites and Pilgrim Routes in Britain. Mahwah, NJ, Paulist, 2000. John Shaffer, Winifred’s Well. Nashville, TN, Cold Tree, 2008. Rowland Tennant, A History of Holywell and Greenfield. N.p., Bridge, 2007.

SAN ANTONIO MISSION TRAIL, TEXAS, USA When Spanish authority moved north from Mexico into what is now south Texas in the eighteenth century, the

major concerns were the pacification of the Native Americans and the protection of the eastern frontier from French expansion, where the border with Louisiana was disputed. Three interdependent elements were constructed at each outpost: a presidio or military barracks; a pueblo, or settlement; and a religious mission. Twenty-six missions were set up in the state, six along the upper reaches of the Rio Grande and the rest in a wide arc from the Louisiana border to the rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. The mission system provided protection of the Indians from marauding tribes, especially the Comanches, and introduced agriculture, trades, and cattle herding. They were to prepare the Indians for assimilation into Spanish society, at which point the missions were to be secularized and their religious functions turned over from the missionary orders (in San Antonio, the Franciscans) to the local bishop. In theory, the missions also protected the Indians from predatory frontiersmen who often pressed them into slavery. By 1830, the missions had all been secularized, under pressure from ranchers who coveted their lands. In the border conflicts of the eighteenth century, many missions were transferred and rebuilt elsewhere, abandoned, or destroyed by hostile Indian raiders. Only a few of these missions remain, but four of the five making up the San Antonio Mission Trail are still active churches, one of them a mission chapel of a larger parish and three with their own pastors. In 2010, a major fundraising campaign was successfully completed to restore and protect the buildings and colonial artworks. The properties are

San Antonio Mission Trail, Texas, USA | 487 administered by the U.S. National Park Service. San Antonio de Valero, the first mission (1718) on the San Antonio River, is now known as the Alamo. The final buildings and walls were constructed in 1744, but little of that remains today. The Alamo is surrounded by the central business district of the city and the touristic River Walk. It is the most visited tourist site in Texas. It was secularized in 1793 and was taken over as a Mexican army barracks, and later gained fame as the site of the Battle of the Alamo in the War of Texas Independence. It fell into disrepair until the State of Texas gave its administration to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who made it into a shrine of Texas independence. Mission San Jose was established in 1720 to handle the number of refugees from closed missions to the east, and it quickly expanded into a large compound, with 350 rooms for Coahuiltecan Indians. By 1824, the mission was closed, but it was restored and returned to parish use in the 1930s. It is the most active of the missions, with a thriving parish community of a thousand families, known for its popular Sunday mariachi Masses. It is still served by Franciscan friars. The Rose Window in the façade of the church is considered the finest example of Spanish colonial ornamentation in the country. Legend has it that it was made by a carpenter as a tribute to his fiance´, who was lost at sea. The Indian quarters can be visited, and a large model of the mission at its height offers a light show that describes daily life in the eighteenth century. Mission Conception, recently refurbished by the United States Park Service, was moved several times before ending

up in San Antonio in 1731. The present church (1755) is the oldest unrestored stone church in the United States. After secularization in 1794, the land was given to the Indians. It then fell into disuse, sometimes housing cattle, until 1855, when the Marianists at nearby St. Mary’s College (now University) occupied it as a home for candidates of the order, cleaned and repaired it, and used the land to grow vegetables for the students at the College for most of the rest of the century. It is in beautiful condition and is used for services. Mission Conception is popular for weddings and quinceaneros, the Hispanic coming-of-age ceremonies for young women. Originally, the church was covered in colorful frescoes inside and out. Most have faded away, but fragments of some are still to be seen in four interior rooms. One is an “Eye of God” design, possibly showing the divine as a mestizo. The friars worked at attracting the Indians to Christianity by developing dramas and religious pageants. Los Posadas, the annual procession from door to door of Mary and Joseph, seeking a place for the birth of the Christ Child, was probably introduced to South Texas through the missions. For a long period, Conception was the headquarters of the director of all the missions in the area. Mission life was regimented. It began with the church bells calling the Indians to Mass, followed by a simple breakfast and a morning of work. Men worked the fields and both men and women worked in one of the many shops that provided for most needs. The main meal was taken at noon, followed by a siesta period before afternoon work. The evening was given over to entertainment, with songs, games, dancing, and dramas.

488 | San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, Mexico

This was the general pattern at all the missions. San Juan Capistrano began in East Texas and was transferred to San Antonio in 1731. The present building was built around 1762, with a stone church and adobe rooms for 200 Indians, built into the protective walls. Despite that protection, it was regularly raided by the Apaches. San Juan had flourishing shops for textiles, ironwork, and carpentry, and the Indians became proficient at trades. The farms were especially successful, watered by irrigation ditches that helped the land produce melons, cotton, chiles, beans, corn, and sugar cane. At one point, there were 3,500 cattle and an equal number of sheep. Since the Indians ate goat commonly, there must have been herds of those also. The mission was secularized in 1794 and the land distributed among the Indians. It is a small parish today. The acequia system for irrigation can still be seen; with its dam, it is one of the most elaborate from the period. It was copied later by immigrants and is in the process of restoration for watering a Spanish demonstration farm that will be part of the park system. San Franciso de la Espada began as an East Texas mission 1690–1693, when an epidemic that the Indians blamed on the priests caused them to flee in fear of an uprising. After several moves, it was re-established in San Antonio in 1731. It continues as a parish church. One of Espada’s fascinating, and highly controversial, events is the monthly celebration of the sun by Aztec dancers. A large group comes in magnificent costumes with feathered headdresses and embroidered garments, accompanied by flutes and drums. They dance all night and at daybreak gather in the chapel for a

candle ceremony with incense before going into the church for Mass. Some traditional Catholics have protested the ceremonies, but the local archdiocese has approved it. Photos of the dance can be seen on the web at youtube.com/watch? v=M4U2HfRfRC8. See also: Alamo, Religious Tourism

REFERENCES Donald Chipman and Harriet Joseph, Spanish Texas: 1519–1821. Austin, TX, University of Texas, 2008, ch. 8. Lewis Fisher, The Spanish Missions of San Antonio. San Antonio, TX, Maverick, 1998.

SAN JUAN DE LOS LAGOS, JALISCO, MEXICO The Marian shrine of San Juan has been in existence since 1623, when the twenty-inch statuette of Mary was first venerated. It is made of paste and cornstalks. Legend has it that when a traveling group of acrobats performed in the village, the young daughter fell to her death. An Indian woman brought the statue to the body and prayed over her until she returned to life. When further miracles caused by the statue began to be reported, people started to come to the village chapel. Several newer and larger churches followed to handle the regular crowds, and the present cathedral basilica was completed in 1797. The church is especially popular with Mexicans from the north of the country and Mexican-Americans from the borderlands. A “daughter shrine” has been built in south Texas, with a replica of the

San Juan del Valle, San Juan, Texas, USA | 489 statue of the Virgin. The shrine basilica was built in the latter half of the eighteenth century in Mexican baroque style. The flow of pilgrims is constant. Pilgrims come up the main aisle (some on their knees) to venerate the image, which rests on an altar caparisoned in gold. The contrast of the simplicity of the statue and the riches of its dress is striking. After services, the statue is taken to a side chapel where it can be touched and where pilgrims can have their pictures taken with it. The statue stands on a crescent reminiscent of the Woman of the biblical book of the Apocalypse (12:1) and is crowned by an elaborate Byzantine crown. Above the sanctuary is a hall with ex-votos from those thankful for the Virgin’s intercession. Along with milagros and symbols of healings are such items as bridal and first communion dresses, soccer (football) uniforms, and graduation diplomas. The area around the basilica has a festival air, with fireworks, vendors of all sorts, mariachi bands, and restaurants. Although people come year-round, the main pilgrimages are on the feasts of the Assumption (August 15) and Candlemas (The Purification of the Virgin, February 2). On those days organized pilgrim groups come in units, following their parish banners. Some walk the last fifteen miles on marked pilgrim pathways, wearing the shrine colors of black and yellow/gold. A few will come barefoot or on their knees, wearing hairshirts and carrying crosses. The line of walking pilgrims can be twenty miles long; more than a million come for Candelmas. See also: Marian Apparitions, San Juan del Valle

SAN JUAN DEL VALLE, SAN JUAN, TEXAS, USA The lower Rio Grande valley is almost entirely populated by Mexican-Americans, who first settled the border before the Republic of Texas in 1836 brought American dominance. When a visionary claimed that the Virgin of Guadalupe had appeared to her in the 1940s, local church authorities feared a popular false apparition. They responded by bringing a replica of the statue of Mary from the shrine of San Juan de los Lagos in Jalisco, Mexico. Within a few years this became a major Mexican-American shrine that attracts pilgrims from south Texas and northern Mexico. In 1970, a plane was intentionally flown into the church and burst into flames. Fifty priests were celebrating Mass together with schoolchildren and a full congregation. A steel beam prevented the plane from falling into the sanctuary, so no one was killed except the pilot, which was regarded as a miracle. The statue was unharmed but the church was destroyed in fire. It took ten years, but a new pilgrimage complex was built, which now includes an enlarged church that seats 1,800, a pilgrim guest house and retreat center, a nursing home, a radio station, and a school. About fifteen thousand pilgrims come each week to what is now a thriving center. Many undocumented migrants come to the shrine to leave tokens of appreciation to the Virgin for bringing them safely to the United States. The statue is taller than the original in Jalisco but similarly clothed in a long blue robe and a silver crown. A forthfive-foot exterior mosaic on the church

490 | Santa Muerte (Holy Death), Mexico City, Mexico

—one of the largest in the world—shows Jesus presenting his mother to the Valley. See also: San Juan de los Lagos

REFERENCES Roseanne Bacha-Garza, San Juan. Charleston, SC, Arcadia, 2010. Gaston Espinosa et al., ed., MexicanAmerican Religions: Spirituality, Activism and Culture. Durham, NC, Duke University, 2008. Jacqueline Hagan, Migration Miracle. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 2008. www.olsjbasilica.org.

SANTA MUERTE (HOLY DEATH), MEXICO CITY, MEXICO One of the strangest santos of popular religion is Santa Muerte, protector and guardian of criminals and narcotrafficers in Mexico. She is represented as a skeleton holding the scythe of death, and her main shrine in one of Mexico City’s worst slums draws the most desperate elements of criminal society. Now her worship is found across the country and in Central America and California, and it is no longer limited to criminals. Drug lords in Mexico have spawned a terrible crisis of authority, with competing gangs running amok and holding off the forces of the government. Living from the proceeds of the drug trade and kidnappings, they terrorize the population with horrific atrocities, beheading informants, torturing people to death, and engaging in random killings. In the face of terror and the breakdown of

society, many turn to the divinity of evil for support and protection, just as the drug lords do. Even orthodox Catholics who detest Santa Muerte turn to St. Jude the Apostle, patron of lost causes. For many in Mexico, their daily lives feel like a lost cause as they pray for survival. Therefore, Santa Muerte attracts those forced by desperation into economic crimes such as prostitution, illegal vending, and petty theft. She has a strong following in Mexican prisons, where she is known as the “Virgin of the Imprisoned.” Government forces often find small shrines to Santa Muerte in raids on safe houses, and in 2009 more than thirty shrines were destroyed in raids. There are forty shrines to Santa Muerte in Mexico City and about 400 nationally, many along the United States border where the drug lords hold sway. There are perhaps two million people who follow Santa Muerte. Some elements of the cult of Santa Muerte have begun to organize loosely and even have an archbishop, who protested the raids. The sect is named the Traditional Catholic Church—Mex-USA and has understandably earned the opposition and ire of the Catholic bishops of Mexico. Both Catholic and Protestant authorities have denounced Santa Muerte as a form of satanic cult. Despite that, it was recognized as an official religion in 2003, although it lost that status in 2006. Most shrines, however, have little contact with the organized cult. Unlike St. Jude or other recognized saints, Santa Muerte does not have a regular feast day. Various disciples celebrate August 15 or November 1. She is honored on the first of every month by crowds of youth who plant kisses on her grinning mouth, decorate her with flowers, and

Santiago De Compostela, Spain | 491 burn incense in her honor. Small votive gifts are left at her altar. Some rituals go back to Aztec customs, such as blowing smoke from one’s mouth onto the statue as a form of prayer. Modern offerings are given as well, little packets of marijuana or pictures of the saint with an AK-47, the traffickers’ weapon of choice. She is also honored with corridos, a form of Mexican country music that traditionally mocked authority. Now they extol the drug trade and Santa Muerte. Santa Muerte is a saint to be placated; if one makes a promise to her, it must be kept, or she will wreak terrible retribution. Devotees insist that she is always faithful to them if they are faithful to her. At the first prominent shrine, La Santissima Muerte, there are no rituals, although on the first day of the month prayers are offered and the people, up to 5,000, pray the Rosary. Incense is replaced by marijuana smoke. The skeleton is dressed as a bride and covered with jewelry given by grateful suppliants whose prayers have been answered. The main shrine of the Traditional Catholic Church holds processions from the sanctuary to the Catholic Cathedral as a kind of peaceful confrontation. Its magazine has more than 25,000 subscribers. A new, large central church has been constructed with modern facilities, including video Internet capacity. The worship of Santa Muerte has also crossed the border into the United States, where it can be found in New York, Chicago, Tucson, and Houston. The Traditional Catholic Church even claims prayer groups as far north as Oregon. See also: Maximon

REFERENCES James Griffith, Folk Saints of the Borderlands. Tucson, AZ, Rio Nuevo, 2003. Alma Guillermopietro, “Troubled Spirits,” 217 National Geographic 5:54–73 (May 2010). La Santa Muerte—Saint Death. Navarre, 2008, video.

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, SPAIN In the far northwest corner of Spain, one of the greatest Christian shrines of the Middle Ages continues to draw several hundred thousand pilgrims each year. Santiago (the apostle, St. James the Greater) is the patron saint of Spain and of the Hispanic world, and his cult remains very popular. The shrine is the endpoint of a long and arduous pilgrimage, the Camino, or the Way of Santiago, that has continued for more than a thousand years. In the Middle Ages it ranked with Rome and Jerusalem as one of the three major Christian pilgrimages. The legend of Santiago begins when James supposedly preached Christianity in Spain and then returned to Jerusalem, where he was martyred. His body was brought to Spain but lost after it was buried to protect it from the Muslims. In a miraculous vision, its hiding place was revealed by a star in 844, and a chapel was built at Compostela, the “field of the star.” As the Christian forces were engaged in battle at Clavijo, Santiago appeared in the sky on a white charger and led the attack against the Moors. Santiago was known thereafter as Santiago Matamoros, James the

492 | Santiago De Compostela, Spain

Map of Pilgrimage to Santiago De Compostela.

Moor-Slayer, and the reconquest of Spain from the Muslims had found a powerful patron saint. Four medieval routes led to Santiago: from Ve´zeley, Paris, Le Puy, and Arles. Pilgrims from outside France assembled at one of these points or joined the British, who sailed to Bordeaux. Within Spain, the Way is some 600 miles long, most of it a footpath still untouched by cars, often wandering through fields. Monasteries were founded along the way to care for travelers, like Roncesvalles on the French border, where the monks washed the feet of pilgrims and fed and housed them. The old dormitory is still there and still used. A military order of monks, the Knights of Santiago, was

established to fight the Muslims. It also provided security patrols to the 500,000 to two million pilgrims who followed the Way each year during the Middle Ages. Most people went to fulfill a vow, or out of piety, or to seek forgiveness for sins. A few went because they were forced to. Medieval courts could sentence a criminal to make the pilgrimage, requiring him to bring back evidence that he had completed it. Because a pilgrimage on foot is a test and often brings inner insight, a few criminals are still sent on it each year, usually juvenile delinquents whom the judge hopes to shock into changing their lives. To this day, a beginning pilgrim obtains a passport that is stamped at each of his

Santiago De Compostela, Spain | 493 stopping points and finally certified at an office in the basilica at the end of the pilgrimage. Medieval pilgrims wore a special costume: a cloak, a broad-brimmed hat, and a walking staff with an attached water gourd. Every medieval pilgrimage had its symbol, and Santiago’s was a scallop shell, worn proudly by those who made the long journey. The wealthy, of course, could ride, but most people walked, an average of three months (often more), across mountain passes and in danger from bandits and wolf packs. After the Reformation, the numbers of pilgrims dropped, and when Sir Francis Drake raided the coast in 1589, the relics were taken out of the cathedral for safekeeping. They were again lost for 300 years and were authenticated and restored only in 1879. The Way has well-marked stops, some of which have become important in their own right: the cathedral cities of Burgos and Leon, regional shrines like Conques, and villages such as Santo Domingo de la Calzada, St. Dominic of the Way. Each has its own legends. At Santo Domingo a local hermit built a rough hostel to shelter pilgrims (it is now a pricey government hotel). According to an old tale, a handsome youth was on the Way with his parents. When they stopped here, he was propositioned by a local barmaid. When the virtuous lad spurned her, she angrily planted a stolen chalice in his bags and caused him to be arrested and condemned to be hanged for thievery. His frantic parents came to the local judge’s home to beg for mercy just as the judge sat down to dinner. Announcing that the boy was already executed, the judge said he could no

more be brought back than could the baked chickens on the table—at which, the chickens came to life and began to crow. And, of course, the youth was found alive on the gallows. From that time, the church in Santo Domingo has had a chicken coop high up near the altar, and pilgrims prize the chickens’ feathers as souvenirs. All along the Way are pilgrim hostels, along with a few expensive paradors, or national hotels. Some of the hostels have hardly changed from medieval times: simple open dormitories, sometimes serving soup and bread at the end of a long day’s walk. In recent years the Spanish government has refurbished stopping places along the Way and allowed pilgrims free use of them. Today’s pilgrims are a mixed lot. About two thirds come for religious reasons, the others for a mix of religious and cultural ones. Most come by modern transportation, but many still walk. A group of Bavarian factory workers annually spends two weeks walking; each year they take a bus to the point where they left off the year before. Two professors from the University of Rhode Island have made the pilgrimage with students five times, spending two summer months on the trek. An average of 20,000 pilgrims make the “official” walking pilgrimage each year, completing a passport at all the way stations, but the actual numbers of pilgrims who make part of the journey or come by plane, train, and bus are many times that. The numbers multiply further in a Holy Year, which is whenever St. James’ Day (July 25) falls on a Sunday. Those who walk a minimum of sixty miles (or bike 120 miles) receive a “Compostela,” the official document. Several hundred

494 | Santo Nino De Cebu, Philippines

thousand of these are issued every year. In medieval times, the first to see the shrine towers as his group neared the city, cried out “Mon joie!” (“My joy!”) and was named Le Roy (the king) of the group. Many a medieval pilgrim changed his name to Leroy after that experience. Today, upon entering the town, pilgrims search out a hostel, and then, after having their passports certified, they enter the great doors of the cathedral, the Port of Glory. The cathedral is filled with spectacles and wonders. It is a riot of magnificent baroque carving, beautiful side chapels, and special places. There are several entrances, but the preferred one is the Portico de la Gloria, with three doorways surrounded by rich carving. An awe-inspiring Last Judgment presents Christ in majesty as judge and redeemer. This is the Christ of the Passion, with the marks of the wounds on his hands and feet. Angels carrying the instruments of his suffering surround him. On the columns are the twelve Apostles, with St. James on the middle pillar. Pilgrims stop by this pillar, worn smooth by countless pilgrims before them, and add their caress to the others. Once inside, at a column with a carving of the architect, they touch their heads to his three times with a prayer to share some of his wisdom. The cathedral plan is cruciform, with the high altar above the crossing. There is a large scallop shell on the front of the altar, which pilgrims kiss in passing. The next stop is the shrine of St. James above the high altar, reached by a circular staircase. Climbing up to a small room, pilgrims reach through an open space to kiss the neck of a statue of the saint above the altar. A casket with his supposed relics is in view in the crypt.

The pilgrimage officially ends with the celebration of Mass in the church. At the main services, eight men lower a huge censer, the botafumeiro, which swings across the vast space of the cathedral crossing a few feet above the floor. Since it is six feet high on a hundred-foot rope and gives out clouds of incense, the sight is spectacular as it soars almost to the transept roof. See also: Conques, Le-Puy-en-Velay, Pilgrimage, Vezeley

REFERENCES Derry Brabbs, The Roads to Santiago: Medieval Pilgrim Routes Through France and Spain to Santiago de Compostela. London, Frances Lincoln, 2008. Kevin Codd, In the Field of Stars. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 2008. Robert Mullen, Call of the Camino. Forres, Scotland, Findhorn, 2010. Pilgrimages to Europe: Santiago. Janson Media, 2004, video. www.catedraldesantiago.es.

SANTO NINO DE CEBU, PHILIPPINES The statue of the Holy Child of Cebu is the oldest Catholic relic in the Philippines. The legend tells the story of the conversion of the first chief and his wife by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. He presented the statue to the queen at her baptism in 1521. Shortly after, he was killed in battle. Whatever its origin, the statue is recorded to have been installed in its church by 1565, after a missionary miraculously discovered it hidden away

San Xavier Del Bac, Arizona, USA | 495 in a pine box. It is a foot high, painted and always dressed in magnificent robes with a gold chain around its neck. The Child holds a globe as a sign of Christ’s redemption of the whole world, and his right hand is raised in blessing. The statue is regarded as wonder working. It is common for devotees to anoint the statue with oil and offer it gifts. Over the next several centuries, the devotion to Santo Nino spread throughout the Philippines. The present church is in a simple Spanish colonial style, built in 1739, integrating Muslim and romanesque elements. The Muslim influence can also be seen in the bell tower, with a bulb dome on top. The discovery is honored as a feast day on the Third Sunday of January, with a procession and special Mass. It begins on the Thursday after Epiphany Day (January 6) with a procession called the Walk with Jesus and ends with another named the Walk with the Virgin, when a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe is taken in procession. (This is the Guadalupe devotion from Spain, not that of Mexico.) The last nine days are a novena introduced in 1889, during which the Santo Nino statue is taken to another town to be triumphally returned by richly decorated boats along the canal. A million pilgrims come for the final procession. Beautifully costumed dancers of all sorts offer their talents, weaving in intricate patterns. Women then do a curious dance of two steps forward and one back while waving lit candles or bouquets of flowers in front of the basilica. They chant a simple prayer Pit Senor! (Hail to the Lord!) over and over to a rhythm that imitates the sound of the flowing river. Gradually, the crowd joins in the cries of praise. The procession

and religious ceremonies are followed by the Sinalog, a festival that brings in performers from all over the region. Sinalog 2007 can be seen on youtube.com/watch? v=qwBIaauNFjk. See also: Infant Jesus of Prague

REFERENCE www.basilicasantonino.org.ph.

SAN XAVIER DEL BAC, ARIZONA, USA The mission shrine of San Xavier, a few miles southwest of Tucson, was founded by Padre Eusebio Kino (1645–1711), the most remarkable missionary to have worked in the Spanish borderlands. A mathematician by training and a cartographer by profession, he proved that Baja California was not an island but a peninsula. He mapped much of lower Arizona and introduced cattle and wheat to the region. San Xavier is the finest of the many beautiful churches he built between 1670 and 1710. A member of the Jesuits rather than the dominant Franciscan friars, Kino was appointed royal cartographer in California, then came to Arizona. Unlike many other missionaries, he respected the native people and refused to allow them to be taken in bondage. He taught progressive farming and spread Christianity by example and preaching but never by force or bribe. The churches he built are his lasting legacy. San Xavier was built in 1700 and named for the great apostle of Asia, the mission to which Kino had first asked to be sent.

496 | San Xavier Del Bac, Arizona, USA

The Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish possessions in 1767 and three years later Kino’s church was burned by the Apaches. The present church was rebuilt completely by the Indians under the direction of the Franciscans. During the various political upheavals of the nineteenth century, it was left vacant for periods, while the Indians maintained it as well as they could and hid its treasures. At that time the custom spread of having pictures of San Xavier in Indian home shrines, where prayers and hymns are offered. San Xavier del Bac remains a Tohono O’odham (Papago) mission, as it has been since its origins. San Xavier del Bac rises from the desert like a white Moorish castle, earning its nickname “the White Dove of the Desert.” A lovely arched gate leads to the church with its large dome and two towers, one with a cupola and the other finished. A promenade surrounds the church to provide a shaded space in the blazing sun, which is intensified as it reflects off the white walls. The fired brick is set with a mortar of sand, slaked lime, and cactus juice. The interior is a spectacular play of gold and white walls, the altar background covered with an ornate baroque rererdos surrounding a statue of its patron saint. An arched wall frames the altar space with three paintings. Recent restoration of a figure long thought to be Christ, the Good Shepherd, revealed that it was actually a portrait of the Virgin Mary. The church attracts a steady flow of worshippers and visitors, but pilgrims come to pray at the curious shrine of St. Francis Xavier. Although it includes a 1759 statue of the saint, the focus of most pilgrims is a coffin holding a statue of the saint in death. Pilgrims come to pray for favors, leaving ex-votos as thank

offerings. The most fervent walk the ten miles from Tucson. The San Xavier Festival is held on the Friday after Easter, with a procession by torchlight. Another important pilgrimage date is October 3, the “transitus” of St. Francis, his going to heaven. There is a procession in the church, led by the statue and followed by choirs, bands, traditional singers, fireworks, and the church bells. After the serenade of the saint, all come forward to touch the statue as an act of respect. The procession, Mass, Rosary, and feasting are repeated the next day. The feast of St. Xavier is December 3, but the two feasts of Xavier and Francis are celebrated together to avoid the December weather. The mission of Santa Maria Magdalena in Sonora in northern Mexico has the remains of Padre Kino and a miraculous statue of St. Xavier. Mexicans and Indians traditionally take part in a long pilgrimage on foot from Magdalena to San Xavier del Bac to join in the October observance, while American Indians make the fourday trek in the other direction. This custom has been threatened in recent years by stricter American border controls and the dangers of the Mexican drug cartels. In 2008, the cartels threatened violence against the pilgrims. Coupled with Arizona’s 2010 search-and-verify law, the numbers coming on the long pilgrimage dropped sharply, but more Amerindians have come to San Xavier instead of taking part in the pilgrimage to Santa Maria Magdalena.

REFERENCES Bernard Fontana, A Gift of Angels: The Art of Mission San Xavier del Bac. Tucson, AZ, University of Arizona, 2010.

Saut d’Eau, Ville Bonheur, Haı¨ti | 497 Alice Hall, 188 “New Face for a Desert Mission,” National Geographic 6:53–59 (June 1995). Yvonne Lange, Mission San Xavier del Bac. Tucson, AZ, University of Arizona, 2004. www.sanxaviermission.org.

SAUT D’EAU, VILLE BONHEUR, HAI¨TI On the edge of Ville Bonheur (“Happiness Town”), sixty miles from Port-au-Prince, is Saut d’Eau, a group of waterfalls sacred to Voudou. It has been a pilgrimage site for more than 150 years, beginning after the waterfalls were created by an earthquake in 1842. Suppliants come to pray, beseech the spirits for protection and success, and play in the waters. Followers of Voudou believe that trees and springs are the natural temples of spirits, who must be solicited for favors and placated so that they do not harm them. During Voudou gatherings, devotees dance, play, and sing. They hope, through these activities, to attract the loas (spirits) who intercede with Le Gran Me`t (the Creator) to their celebration. If a loa is pleased with the disciple’s service, it enters into the worshipper and possesses him or her. The loas are identified both with ancient Yoruba (West African) deities and with Catholic saints. The most prominent have dual names, both African god and Catholic saint. The Saut d’Eau is believed to be inhabited by the Snake God, Danbala Wedo. During the feast of Vye` j Mirak, the Virgin of Miracles, pilgrims are anointed with water and grain for good health by Voudou houngon, or priests. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary (dressed as

Our Lady of Mount Carmel) first appeared in the top branches of a palm tree in 1848, then annually at the time of the feast (July 16); she is identified with the loa of love, Ezili Freda, who also resides in the waterfall. The Catholic Church has resisted the superstitions at the site and attempted to suppress them, with little success. A novena of Masses is offered before the feast day, culminating in a large gathering presided over by the local bishop for the faithful Catholics. Though several thousand come, it competes poorly with the Voudou shrine. The shrine also received the attentions of the United States military, who wanted to stamp out Voudou. During the U.S. occupation of Haiti in the 1920s, marines were ordered to fire on the palm tree, but the vision merely moved, until all the palms in the area were cut down. Legend says that Mary then turned into a dove and fell into the waterfall, consecrating it. Christians join the pilgrimage on the feast day, but the Voudou celebration takes place during the days preceding. Many walk the entire distance to work off a vow or a penance they have chosen because they have offended a loa. They wear ropes and belts in the colors of a favorite loa. Penitents refuse rides, even up the last steep hill, and they make the pilgrimage with only patched clothes and no money, living from the pitifully few alms they receive on their journey. There are various stations along the way, including a major place of offering to Legba, the loa of thoroughfares, identified with St. Peter. The sacred water from the falls is taken home for blessings during the year. At the site are three waterfalls, tumbling more than a hundred feet. People

498 | Sayyida Zeinab Shrine, Damascus, Syria

stand under them to receive strength from the pounding waters. Some bathe in the waters, shampooing themselves to wash away sin, and then bathe their babies. The clothing they wore into the waters is cast off, and new, blessed clothes are donned after the ritual cleansing. Little groups gather around candles and implore the loas for a good harvest, a successful pregnancy, or true love. A pregnant woman will have a houngon tie a cord around her belly, then later remove it and tie it around a tree sacred to her favorite loa. The more recent apparitions of the Virgin Mary are said to take place at a sacred grove there, St. John’s Wood. It is named for St. John the Baptist, who is also said to have appeared here. Miracles are associated with all the sites. Although people visit at any time, the three major pilgrimages occur on September 24, during Holy Week, and on July 16, the anniversary of the apparition. About 20,000 people visit the sacred places each year. Although anyone may come to Saut d’Eau, one must become Catholic before being initiated into Voudou rites. A pilgrimage to Saut d’Eau is a usual prerequisite to being admitted into the Voudou priesthood. Ville Bonheur suffered in the 2009 earthquake, which destroyed 814 houses, with another 2,800 damaged in the town, and 2,100 made homeless. See also: Plaine du Nord

REFERENCES Carole Devillers, “Haiti’s Voodoo Pilgrimages: Of Spirits and Saints,” 167 National Geographic 3:395–408 (March 1985).

Bryan Thacker, The Naked Man Festival. Crows Nest, Australia, Allen & Unwin, 2005. Voodoo and the Church in Haiti. CustomFlix, 2007, video.

SAYYIDA ZEINAB SHRINE, DAMASCUS, SYRIA Sayyida Zeinab was the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed, and her tomb is a major Shi’a shrine. She is a heroine of the Karbala legend and is credited with many healing miracles. In particular, she is invoked for healing of cripples and polio victims. Zeinab was captured at the Battle of Karbala after the martyrdom of her brothers Hussein and Hassan. She is revered for her fortitude and defiance of their murderers. In traditional Shi’a fashion, the aura of the shrine is one of lament and wailing. Groups of pilgrims walk in circles, beating their chests, accompanied by a chant leader. The pilgrims express their emotions freely, as if mourning an only daughter, tears streaming down their faces. This continues inside the shrine, where men and women are separated. Both sit in groups, crying and ululating. Some bring rocks gathered at Karbala and pray kneeling with their faces pressed against their rock in union with the tragedy of the martyrdom. The mosque is fronted by a long colonnade covered with blue tiles, with a striking golden cupola rising above the tomb. It overshadows the minaret, which is tall and slender and placed toward the back of the mosque. The tomb itself is behind a columned screen and topped by a green cover. Although non-Moslems are rare, the mosque is not closed to them.

Scete, Waˆdıˆ el Natruˆn, Egypt | 499 There are dozens of daily express buses from Iran each day, full of older Iranian ladies devoted to Sayyida Zeinab. The neighborhood of the shrine has become an Iranian enclave full of shops and hotels flying Iranian flags. In late 2009, a dozen died when a bomb was detonated on a pilgrim bus to the shrine. There is a parallel shrine to Sayyida Zeinab in Cairo, this time serving Sunni Moslems. It has been rebuilt several times, the last time in 1942. The interior is beautifully decorated in arabesques. There are several cupolas, including one over the mausoleum. An intricate bronze grille covers the cenotaph. The shrine is an important Moslem pilgrimage site in Cairo. A shrine in Medina in Saudi Arabia also claims to have the body. Map of ancient Christian Egypt. See also: Damascus, Karbala

ˆ N, SCETE, WAˆDIˆ EL NATRU EGYPT The monasteries of Waˆ dıˆ el Natruˆ n in the Scete Desert, 100 miles west of Cairo, are both the heart and the backbone of Coptic Christianity, outposts of Christian orthodoxy in a hostile Islamic atmosphere. The wadi is a dry river bed, which centuries ago was a branch of the Nile, now forty miles away. Except for the irrigated farms of the monks, the place is arid, harsh, and uninviting. St. Jerome visited in 385 CE and said that “such a terrible place can be endured by none except those of total resolve and supreme constancy.” Even now, access is difficult, but this remoteness has provided—and continues to provide—both solitude for

monastic life and security from persecution. Today, despite their austerity and seclusion, these monasteries, among the most ancient Christian monasteries in the world, are experiencing rebirth. Many educated and talented young Egyptian professionals are embracing monastic life, despite official oppression and Islamic fundamentalism. The monasteries are havens of solitude, and the daily round of chanted prayer, work, fasting, and meditation goes on as it has for more than 1,650 years. Monasticism originated in Egypt with St. Anthony the Great around the year 300 CE, and by 330 some of his disciples had come to the Scete Desert. The first monastery was founded by St. Macarius the Elder (300–390), a personal disciple of Anthony who came to the Scete as a hermit but soon found himself surrounded by disciples seeking his guidance and

500 | Scete, Waˆdıˆ el Natruˆn, Egypt

leadership. At its height, the Scete had more than fifty monasteries, four of which survive. A few other monastic houses still exist elsewhere in Egypt, some with only a few monks, but the Scete is vibrant and expanding. Each of the four monasteries follows the same rules. The day begins at 3:00 A.M. with the solemn chanting of psalms and prayers for several hours, ending at dawn with the Eucharist. Every monk also spends a period of solitary meditation each day. The monasteries, though austere, support themselves, primarily by farming. Each is surrounded by walls forty feet high and two yards thick, a legacy of the days of frequent raids by desert nomads. As pacifists, the monks refused to defend themselves and relied on a keep—a large tower that could be entered and sealed off while the desert Bedouins looted the place. Monastic churches always face Jerusalem, and seating is by a rigid hierarchy: the priest in the sanctuary, hidden from all by a wood screen with inlaid ivory and icons; a section for the monks and Christians; and a nave with those preparing for baptism at the front, non-Christians behind them, and the “weepers,” public sinners, banished to the very back. Each of the four monasteries—the Syrian Monastery, St. Bishoi, St. Macarius, and the Virgin Mary (Baramus)— has precious artwork that has survived the many sackings. Icons from as early as the fifth century, magnificent inlaid work, and valuable libraries of ancient manuscripts can be found in all of them. In each monastery is a cave or cell originally home to a founding saint and extensive collections of relics. Twelve of the popes who head the Coptic Church have been elected from St. Macarius.

Each of the monasteries has its unique place. The Monastery of the Syrians (also known as the Monastery of the Holy Virgin) has the Tree of St. Ephrem, a tamarind that sprang into life when St. Bishoy struck his staff into the earth while in a miraculous conversation with St. Ephrem. In the Syrian monastery is the Door of the Virgin, made of eight ebony panels, each with eight panels of ivory, all showing Christian themes and legends. St. Bishoy has the incorrupt body of the saint and the Well of the Martyrs. It was here that forty-nine monks were martyred by Berbers who washed their swords in the well and then cast the bodies down it. Paramos, also known as St. Macarius after its founder, is the oldest monastery in the Scete. It presently has fifty monks who engage in farming and maintain a retreat and conference center. It has five churches, one of which holds the precious relics of St. Moses the Black, who was martyred at the monastery. Outside the monastery are several caves used by hermit monks. One of these, Sarabamun, was the hermitage of Coptic Pope Cyril VI (1902–1971), and it is popular among Coptic pilgrims. Cyril VI was pope from 1959 to his death and was prominent as a churchman as well as noted for his holiness. He built St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo and retrieved St. Mark’s relics, which had been stolen by Venetians centuries earlier. He also established the Ethiopian Coptics as an independent branch Church of orthodoxy. The monks eat frugally, generally a vegetarian diet, with many long periods of fasting: the forty-three days before Coptic Christmas, three days in remembrance of Jonah in the belly of the whale, fifty-six days of Lent, from Pentecost

Sea of Galilee, Israel | 501 until July 12 in remembrance of the Apostles, and two weeks in mid-August in honor of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. On fasting days there is one meal of bread and soup, with a vegetable dish added for important feast days. After at least five years in a monastery, a monk may become a hermit, living in total solitude in a cave in the nearby cliffs. Several recent Coptic popes have spent periods of years as solitaries. In some cases, male visitors may stay at Baramus Monastery, but only with a pass from the office of the patriarch, pope of the Coptic Church. During times of fasting, all visitors are forbidden, even by day. Pilgrims, including the rich and famous, have been coming to the Scete since the earliest days. See also: Abu Mena, Mount Sinai

REFERENCES Otto Meinardus, Monks and Monasteries of the Egyptian Desert. Cairo, American University, revised edition, 1989. Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert. New York, New Directions, 1970. Helen Waddell, The Desert Fathers. New York, Vintage, 1998. James Wellard, Desert Pilgrimage. London, Hutchinson, 1970.

SEA OF GALILEE, ISRAEL Jesus preached by the shores of Lake Tiberias, known to Christians as the Sea of Galilee. It is fed by the Jordan River, which flows from there to the Dead Sea.

Several of Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen on the lake, and Jesus calls them to be his disciples along the shore (Matthew 4:18–22). He is described as walking upon its waters in Matthew 14:21–22 and Mark 6:45–52. One of his apparitions after his resurrection took place on its shores (John 21:1ff). Jesus lived in Capernaum. Mary Magdalen lived in Migdal on the shores of Lake Tiberias, and several disciples came from Bethsaida. From the second century CE Tiberias was an important rabbinical center, and the first Talmud came out of its teachings. These events have made the Sea of Galilee a place of pilgrimage for both Jews and Christians, although today the visitors are more likely to be religious tourists. The important city of Jesus’ time was Capernaum, which now exists only as ruins. The synagogue where Jesus is thought to have preached has been excavated. Several events of Jesus’ ministry took place in the city. The supposed house of St. Peter is another visited place; it now has a Catholic church built over it, with the remains of the house in the center under a glass cover. The remains of an octagonal fifth-century Byzantine church were also discovered. In 1986 a wooden fishing boat from the first century was uncovered along the lake, enabling scholars to determine what type of wood was used and its basic construction. A reproduction is on display at a nearby kibbutz. There were three types of fish available in the lake, which is a freshwater body. The “two small fish” brought by the boy in the feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14:17–21) were probably Tiberias sardines, the staple of everyday meals along the lake. There were also breams and

502 | Secular Shrines

what became known as “St. Peter’s Fish.” This can range up to over a foot in length and three pounds in weight. It is a species of tilapia that carries its young in its mouth. Some assume that this is the reference that Jesus makes in Matthew 17:24–27 when he speaks of the fish with the shekel tax in its mouth. There is a pilgrim hikers’ path called the Jesus Trail, which goes from Nazareth to various places associated with Jesus’ ministry, such as Cana, Caparnaum, and Mount Tabor. It follows the River Jordan for a short piece to the Sea of Galilee. International volunteers maintain it, and it is marked along the entire route and has camping sites. The Jesus Trail attracts young evangelical Christian hikers for the most part.

REFERENCES Don Belt, “Parting the Waters,” 217 National Geographic 4:158–167 (April 2010). Yisrael and Phyllis Shalem, The Complete Guide to Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee. Jerusalem, Gefen, 1996. James Strange and Hershel Shanks, “Has the House Where Jesus Stayed in Caparnaum Been Found?” 8 Biblical Studies Review 6:26–37 (November/ December 1982). Shelley Wachsmann, The Sea of Galilee Boat. College Station, TX, Texas A&M University, 2009.

SECULAR SHRINES While pilgrimage is normally associated with religious motivation, there are many shrines whose visitors are moved

by feelings of national pride, affection for special persons, or the spirit of remembrance. One form of secular shrine is the resting place of famous persons who have attracted a cult-like following. The Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris holds the graves of many national cultural heroes, and the tombs of Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison are treated as shrines. Princess Diana of Great Britain lies at her family estate, Althorpe, in a special grave that is designed for public visits. Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, the last home and final resting place of the pop icon Elvis Presley, draws thousands on the anniversary of his death and a flow of visitors throughout the year. Elvis’ grave is placed in a garden setting, and fans leave ex-votos such as music records, flowers, and his favorite sandwich of peanut butter and bananas! The heart-shaped flower arrangements come with romantic sentiments, and many begin weeping when they approach the grave. Some people come dressed in costumes such as he wore when he performed. There is a steady stream of visitors on any day, but on the anniversary the numbers swell immensely. Special flights have been arranged in the past from as far away as Japan. The bodies of national leaders are sometimes embalmed and exposed to view in elaborate mausoleums as an affirmation of their roles in creating the nation. Various Communist states have copied this from the Soviets, who embalmed Vladimir Lenin and installed him in Red Square. The mausoleum of Mao Zedong in Beijing is also at a central point in the city, as is the tomb of Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam. Kim Il-sung of North Korea has a massive

Secular Shrines | 503

Montage of secular shrines (From top left clockwise): Grave of Elvis Presley, Oklahoma City National Bombing Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C., Lenin’s mausoleum, Moscow.

mausoleum in Pyongyang. All these structures serve to perpetuate the cult of personality that surrounded these leaders during their lives and to continue their legacies. Visitors are required to dress appropriately, to be silent in the presence of the body, and to show respect. There is an aura of reverence throughout—dim lights, unmoving guards at attention, and fresh flowers. Ex-votos are not permitted. Memorials to great personalities are often built in clusters to enable citizens to make the rounds as a sort of secular

pilgrimage. The Mall in Washington, DC, features impressive monumental shrines to Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt alongside memorials to the troops of World War II, Vietnam, and other national conflicts. In repose to the horrific terrorist acts of recent years, sites of attacks have been memorialized. In the United States, the first of these is at the Murrah Building Memorial in Oklahoma City, where 168 died, including many children, in 1995. There is a reflecting pool with arches at either end, and 168 symbolic chairs lit

504 | Sedona, Arizona, USA

from beneath. Across the street is a statue, “Christ Weeps.” A wall of tiles designed by children from across the country commemorates those who died in the day-care center in the Murrah Building. The events known as “9/11” have struck a deep nerve in the American people. Three places were assaulted, with a loss of 2,995 lives. The twin towers of the World Trade Center, an icon of American business, were brought down by planes on September 11, 2001. The memorial consists of a park with two recessed reflecting pools where the towers stood, fed by the world’s largest waterfalls. It is entitled “Reflecting Absence.” The designs proposed were all contested, and the final one does not please everyone, a sign of the strong feelings involved. The second site is the Pentagon, where 184 died. They are memorialized by an outdoor setting of 184 benches with names engraved, plus a chapel and memorial wall inside the building. The Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, remembers those who forced the hijacked plane to crash rather than allow it to reach its target in Washington. The families have not yet agreed to a commonly acceptable design. On a totally different scale, individuals erect little roadside memorials to their loved ones who have died in accidents. They are often adorned with flowers or a cross with the name of the deceased on it, or little plaques with sentiments of sorrow. Many of these are removed or decay after a time, but some are refreshed and maintained for long periods. Officials discourage them but usually turn a blind eye toward them.

Heritage or roots tours are one form of secular pilgrimage that has all the characteristics of religious pilgrimage. They are organized like religious pilgrimages, but by travel companies that specialize in ethnic and cultural experiences. This came to popularity with the publication of Alex Haley’s family biography, Roots, later made into a highly successful television series. Haley traced his AfricanAmerican family through segregation to slavery and finally back to West Africa. The village that he identified as his ancestral home has become a pilgrimage site for African-Americans. On the tour they almost always visit one or more of the slave depots, especially Goree Island in Senegal. At home in the United States, Black Americans re-enact the 1965 Selma Freedom March from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery. Stories of the civil rights struggle are shared and there is a stop at the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the martyrs of the movement. In Montgomery it ends at the Civil Rights Memorial, designed by Maya Lin. See also: Cemeteries, Goree Island, Jim Morrison Grave, Oscar Wilde Grave, Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Slave Depots, Vietnam Memorial

REFERENCE Peter Margry, Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University, 2008.

SEDONA, ARIZONA, USA Set in spectacular bluffs high up in the hills surrounded by Native American

Sergiev Posad, Russia | 505 reservations, Sedona has been a sacred site for several Amerindian tribes for centuries. The Hopi, Havasupai, and Apaches all consider it part of their creation myths. The rock formations glow in shades of red, ochre, gold, and violet as the sun moves across them. Over the past thirty years, Sedona has become a major center for New Age practitioners. Psychics, shamans, and various sorts of spiritual guides offer their services to seekers of the spiritual life. Sweat lodges and shamanistic ceremonies are available for those seeking spiritual renewal. Because New Age is so diverse, the spiritual disciplines taught cover a wide range of experiences. A New Age medicine wheel has been set up for meditation, to the chagrin and resentment of Native Americans. The Sedona area has been settled by native peoples since 300 BCE, although hunter-gatherers roamed the region as long ago as 4000 BCE. The first settlers and those who followed learned how to live and farm in arid country by building cliff dwellings and ingenious irrigation systems. From the beginning, therefore, Sedona has fostered intimate contact with the earth. Some of the waves of Indians performed religious rites connected with the seasons and the solstices. The first western contact came through Spanish explorers, but the Spanish did not colonize Sedona. After the American Civil War a trickle of homsteaders came into the valley, and gradually a small American community developed. This grew dramatically from the 1960s, when artists, New Age seekers, and tourists began to flood in. For more than thirty years, Sedona has been the most-visited New Age site in the United States. Many come because of their belief that Sedona

is a center of psychic vortexes that radiate energy. The vortex guides identify two basic forms: masculine/electric and feminine/magnetic. Sedona is a place where both types converge and interact. The local chamber of commerce lists a dozen metaphysical and spiritual services, from astrology and aura reading to vortex tours. It has attracted some of the world’s most noted psychics and healers into a community of like-minded practitioners. Some of the offerings focus on physical integration, such as massage, holistic healing, and yoga. Others delve into the unconscious, such as hypnotherapy and meditation, often as part of special retreat experiences. Pilgrims come seeking healing, especially from inner conflicts and spiritual malaise. In 1987 a Harmonic Convergence was proclaimed for Sedona, Machu Picchu, the Great Pyramids, and Stonehenge. Each of these was declared to be a vortex of psychic energy from which peace and harmony could be broadcast to the world by those gathered there. Ten thousand heeded the call to Sedona. See also: Medicine Wheels, New Age

REFERENCES Richard Anderson, The Heart of a Vortex. Sedona, AZ, Sedona Wind, second edition, 2007. Kathleen Bryant, Sedona: Treasure of the Southwest. Flagstaff, AZ, Northland, 2002.

SERGIEV POSAD, RUSSIA Sergiev Posad, located about forty-five miles outside Moscow, is the center of

506 | Sergiev Posad, Russia

Russian Orthodoxy, much as the Vatican is the center for Catholicism. The Church’s administrative headquarters are here as well as some of its principal places of pilgrimage. It is one of the most beautiful religious complexes in the country—a feast of Byzantine architecture. Though its history of pilgrimages is long, Sergiev Posad only became a recognized town after the Soviet Revolution, when it was incorporated and named Zagorsk after a prominent Communist. The traditional name was restored in 1991, and today the city has about 150,000 inhabitants. The center of Orthodoxy in Russia was originally in Kiev, but the thirteenthcentury Mongol invasion left the Ukraine devastated, and by 1308, the patriarch had set up residence in Moscow, then a minor provincial town. Shortly after the fall of Constantinople (1453) reduced the influence of the Greek patriarch, Moscow and Kiev became rivals for Orthodox supremacy in Russia. Therefore, when the monk Sergius of Radonezh built the first Trinity Monastery in 1337, he provided the newer Moscow faction with a monastic heart rivaling Perchersk, the monastic focal point for Kievan Christianity. Sergiev Posad was rebuilt in 1422 after a Tartar raid destroyed the original wooden monastery outside Moscow, and St. Sergius’ relics were interred in a silver reliquary in Trinity Cathedral, which was built at the same time. St. Sergius became a national symbol of Russian and Orthodox unity, inspiring the resistance to the Tartars. In 1552, to celebrate the Tartars’ defeat and the capture of Kazan, Czar Ivan Grozny (known in the West as Ivan the Terrible) ordered the construction of the Uspensky (Assumption) Cathedral.

Sergius’ tomb became a place of national pilgrimage at the same time that the monastery of Trinity-St. Sergius grew into a position of political and economic power in Muscovy. Consequently, Sergiev Posad became a focus for Russia’s enemies. In 1608 to 1609 the monastery successfully resisted a sixteen-month siege by the Poles, and by 1764 it had become extremely wealthy. It controlled 106,000 male serfs and their families, who tilled its fields, managed its herds, and ran its shops. The Russian Orthodox Church is headed by a patriarch elected by bishops, who, with a council, governs for life. Sergiev Posad is his central office, and until 1988 it was also his residence. The patriarchate was suspended from 1721 to 1917, during which time the Church was governed by the Holy Synod, a council submissive to the Czar. The Communist period brought a brief restoration of the patriarch’s office along with ruthless seizure of the Church’s properties and the destruction of many churches and most monasteries. Thousands of clergy died in prison or in Siberian work camps. Since he needed the support of the Church during World War II, Stalin made important concessions, including the restoration of the patriarchate and the reopening of seminaries. After 1958, there was little persecution, even though the Church’s relations to the state were tense. The ranks of the clergy and bishops were infiltrated by Communist loyalists, however, a development that generated popular suspicion. The city’s Assumption Cathedral has five blue domes with gold stars and crosses. Czar Boris Gudonov is buried

Serpent Mound, Ohio, USA | 507 there. There is a silver shrine with the relics of St. Sergius. The goal of the pilgrims to Sergiev Posad, however, is the monastery of Trinity-St. Sergius. The monastery complex has more than 25 acres within its walls. Throughout the medieval period, it was a center of Byzantine art, and the Russian style of icon painting developed here, especially under the influence of Andrei Rublyov (1360s–1430), a monk of St. Sergius considered the greatest master of the form. His best work was removed to the Tretyakov Museum in Moscow by the Communists, but a great deal can still be seen in the monastery. The iconostasis in the cathedral is largely his work. Besides the superb icon collection, the monastery has outstanding mosaics and frescoes on its walls. It also has a rich collection of church robes, jewelry, and precious metalwork. As part of its collaboration with the Soviets, the monastery was a secret storage depot for hundreds of art treasures looted from Germany during World War II. The Zagorsk complex was never abandoned during the Soviet era, and it continued to draw pilgrims. The Soviets officially closed it from 1920 to 1946, and most of the monks were sent off to labor camps, which did not keep pilgrims away. In fact, from 1938 to 1950, the government embarked on extensive restoration of the monastery. In the late 1980s, it counted a hundred monks in residence, although many were elderly. With the fall of communism, younger men are entering the community. The patriarch moved his personal residence to Moscow in 1988. The monastery is also the location of the Moscow Theological Academy, the main seminary and school of theology

in Russia. Because it has graduate programs, it educates the professors for most of the new Orthodox seminaries springing up throughout the former Soviet Union in the wake of the fall of Communism. There are several churches within the monastery complex, including the Smolensky, known for its icon of Our Lady of Smolensk.Along with several other churches, the tomb of St. Sergius, St. Sergius’ Well, and the icon are a part of the pilgrimage route for visitors. Votive offerings of flowers and candles are usually placed before the icons of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or favorite saints. Icons within the churches and chapels are considered living presences of the saints they depict. They are thought to have accumulated graces from the years of prayers of earlier pilgrims down through the ages. See also: Perchersk Lavra, Pochayiv Lavra

REFERENCES Truskova Fedorovna, The Zagorsk State Historical and Art Museum. Moscow, Sovetskaia Rossiia, 1971. Brad Olsen, Sacred Places Europe. San Francisco, CCC, 2007. The Temple. Oakland, CA, Video Project, 1987, video.

SERPENT MOUND, OHIO, USA Serpent Mound, near Peebles, Ohio, is an effigy mound of an uncoiling snake about to swallow an oval, usually interpreted as an egg. It is a quarter-mile long and rises to between four and five feet in height. It was never used as a burial

508 | Serpent Mound, Ohio, USA

The Great Serpent Mound in Ohio was a product of the Adena civilization.

mound. In the 1880s, after a fundraising drive among Boston women, the site was purchased for Harvard University to save it from developers, and it was later given to the state of Ohio. The Mound stretches along a hilltop within a sunken bowl, known geologically as a cryptoexplosion structure. This crater is almost four miles in diameter. In its center, the bedrock has been upthrust more than a thousand feet. In 2003, geologists determined that it was created by a meteor strike several hundreds of millions of years ago. The dramatic setting must have made it a natural place for a religious center to ancient, pre-Indian peoples. It is 1,200 feet long and five feet high. One reason it is considered an offering to the gods is that it cannot be seen well from the ground level. A viewing tower makes it visible today. Some speculate that the

serpent was built in response to the appearance of Halley’s Comet in 1066, but that remains pure speculation. The serpent clearly had some religious meaning and purpose. It was clearly not used as a burial mound, although later peoples built burial mounds in the area. The serpent motif was used elsewhere as a symbol of the earth, and it may have served as a fertility symbol. Until recently, it was thought to have been built by the Adena People about 2,000 years ago. Carbon testing done in 1995 on pieces of charcoal, however, has dated the construction around 1070 CE , meaning that it belongs with the much later Fort Ancient culture (1000–1500 CE). This gave rise to the suspicion is that the charcoal might be related to the 1066 appearance of Halley’s Comet. There is no certain conclusion as to Serpent Mound’s use, but today it is a favorite place for New Age

Seven Sleepers, Caves of, Ephesus, Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Petra, Jordan | 509 individuals and groups, for meditation and occasionally for rituals. At the winter solstice, 900 luminarias, paper bags with candles in them, outline the mound. The serpent’s coils are aligned with the solstices and the equinoxes, which suggests some sort of astronomical purpose. See also: Mound Builders, Nazca Lines

REFERENCES Eliot Abrams, Emergence of Moundbuilders: Archaeology of Tribal Societies in Southeastern Ohio. Athens, OH, Ohio University, 2005. Brad Olsen, Sacred Places of North America. San Francisco, CCC, second edition, 2008. David Thomas, Exploring Ancient North America. New York, Routledge, 1999.

SEVEN SLEEPERS, CAVES OF, EPHESUS, TURKEY; DAMASCUS, SYRIA; PETRA, JORDAN A charming legend tells the story of seven young men who fled into a cave during the persecution of Decius around 250 CE. Given an opportunity to abandon Christianity, they gave their goods to the poor, expecting to be martyred. They then went into the cave to meditate and fell sleep. Their persecutors ordered that they be entombed in the cave. Almost 200 years later, the cave was opened and they emerged intact and healthy. By that time, Christianity had become the religion of the empire. When they went into the town to buy food after their long sleep, the traders were amazed at the ancient coins they

tried to pay with. They were accused of looting ancient treasure and taken before the authorities. They told their story to the bishop, who recognized the miracle. The Emperor Theodosius, who had been challenged about the Christian doctrine of the Resurrection of Jesus, saw in the story a vindication of traditional theology and promoted the story as a sign of Jesus’s own period in the tomb. The legend spread through the Middle East and has been associated with three cave sites. It evidently began in Ephesus in Turkey, where a large cave is identified with the Seven Sleepers. It has the remnants of a primitive altar and deep niches in the walls. In the seventh century a church was built over the grotto. A Syrian location near Damascus is also popular, and the tale was widely repeated in both East and West. It got greatest currency when it appeared in the Quran’s Sura al-Kahf, where the Seven Sleepers were pious men whose miraculous slumber was a reward for their faith in the One God. The Quran even mentions a pet dog who slept with them! Moslem pilgrims as well as Orthodox Christians go to the various shrine caves of the Seven Sleepers. To all this was added a cave shrine in Petra, Jordan. Most of the Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church have feast days for the Seven Sleepers, although in the West, the tale is not taken literally. Although the story has them dying natural deaths, the Catholic calendar lists them as martyrs. The Damascus site is more popular with Moslems. There is a cave outside Amman as well as one in Petra. The Amman cave at one time had a mosque built over it, and the mouth of the cave faces Mecca.

510 | Shiloh, Ancient Israel

The legend of the Seven Sleepers has appeared in Protestant religious literature as well, and is probably the source of the classic American tale, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” See also: Caves, Damascus, Ephesus, Petra

REFERENCE Clive Foss, Ephesus After Antiquity. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University, 2010.

SHILOH, ANCIENT ISRAEL During the period of the Judges before there were kings in Israel, Shiloh was the center of sanctuary worship and pilgrimage. It flourished in the twelfth century BCE after the Ark of the Covenant was installed there, and it replaced Gilgal as the meeting place of the tribes once the Israelites had occupied the hill country of Ephraim. The Ark of the Covenant is described in Exodus 25:10–22; 37:1–9 as an acacia wood chest forty-eight by thirty inches, and thirty inches high. It was covered with gold, and on the top was a gold place called the Mercy Seat, the place where the throne of God rested. Two gold angels sat on either end and covered the Mercy Seat with their outstretched wings. The Tablets of the Ten Commandments that had been given to Moses on Mount Sinai rested inside. It had rings on the sides so that it could be carried on poles. It went before the Jews when they entered Israel at the end of the Exodus and was used to lead them into battle. It was the living symbol of the presence of the Lord among his people. Its capture by the Philistines

was a devastating humiliation, even though it was later returned. There were probably Canaanite shrines at Shiloh before the Israelites occupied the territory. In Judges 21:16–23, after the fratricidal conflict that killed the women of the tribe of Benjamin, the Benjaminites lay in wait at the annual vintage festival at Shiloh and kidnapped 400 hundred maidens to restart their nation. It is likely that the festival was both a harvest celebration and a fertility rite. 1 Samuel 2:22 reports the use of temple prostitutes by the sons of the priest Eli, which also suggests that Shiloh had not ceased to be a fertility shrine. At Shiloh, the tribes drew lots to apportion the land among them (Joshua 18:9–10) and the Levitical towns were determined (21:2–3). In the Hebrew scriptures there are various references to events that took place at Shiloh that confirm its importance. The site was on a plain surrounded by hills and was thus difficult to defend. It became a target of their primary enemy, the Philistines, who finally destroyed it around 1050 BCE. Once the Ark was established in Shiloh, it was attended only by priests of the family of Eli. It was the place of sacrifice, and annual pilgrimage festivals were held there. Shiloh was the central shrine of the Israelite confederacy. In 1 Samuel 1, the childless Hannah goes to the shrine to beg for a son, and the scripture indicates that she and her husband Elkanah went there regularly in pilgrimage. The festival would have been the annual Feast of Tabernacles, which closed with a sacrificial meal, well described in verses 3–8. Even after Shiloh was destroyed and the central sanctuary shifted to the Jerusalem Temple,

Shinto Shrines, Japan | 511 there is evidence of pilgrimages. Ruins of a synagogue and a Christian church exist there today. After the loss of the Ark of the Covenant, Shiloh lost importance, abandoned by God. Psalms 78:59–72 is a triumphant declaration of the rejection of Shiloh and the exaltation of Mount Zion and the Jerusalem Temple. The Tabernacle and the Ark were eventually relocated to Jerusalem. See also: Fertility Shrines, Israelite Sanctuaries

REFERENCE Donald Schley, Shiloh: The Biblical City in Tradition and History. Sheffield, UK, Sheffield University, 2009.

Shinto shrine at Toshu-gu, Nikko, Japan.

SHINTO SHRINES, JAPAN Shinto, literally “the way of the gods,” is the world’s most important nature religion and the faith of nationalist Japan. Thousands of Shinto shrines dot the Japanese landscape. Since 660 BCE, when Emperor Jimmu Tenno established his rule, the Japanese royal family has ruled in an unbroken line. Jimmu Tenno was considered a descendant of the sun-goddess Amaterasu, who presented the nation with the three symbols of its imperial line—the sacred mirror, sword, and jewels. Amaterasu created the rice fields and the water to supply them and consecrated the sacred rites that are followed to this day. Thus the emperor, as a descendant of the goddess,

512 | Shinto Shrines, Japan

is believed by some to be divine and is the ultimate religious symbol of Japan. Amaterasu is the greatest of many deities who inhabit all the forms of nature— rivers, mountains, fields, and rocks, as well as storms, food, and rice, and all the parts of homes. These are the kami, spirits who abound in everyday life, especially in unique natural formations. Specially shaped stones and trees are prized for placement in the formal gardens that are a part of every Shinto shrine in the hope that they will attract the kami to take up their dwelling there. Shinto shrines offer many opportunities to worship and invoke the kami, especially with offerings of rice or rice wine. A month after birth, Japanese babies are brought to major shrines or neighborhood prayer halls to be presented to the deities, and the baby will remain attached throughout his or her life to the kami of that district. The child (even as an adult, he or she will be a child to the kami) returns to this shrine to pray for success in examinations and to inform the kami of a new job, marriage, or a child in the family. In the sixth century CE , Buddhism began to rival Shinto and eventually became predominant until the restoration of the emperor to full power in 1868, after a long period as a figurehead ruler. Shinto then enjoyed a great revival and became the state religion, tied to the fortunes of a rising Japan. Its cult became obligatory during the militaristic period ending in World War II. In 1945, the victorious Allies demanded that the emperor renounce his claims to divinity, and Shinto became one of several competing religions. Many practice its rituals alongside Buddhism, with Shinto representing reverence for ancestors and the

powers of nature. However, it also has a cult following of ultranationalists who use it as an expression of imperialist politics, and its shrines are popular with war veterans. Some shrines are for the worship of the kami of a particular emperor or the souls of the war dead and feature museums glorifying military sacrifices, such as the cult of the 6,000 kamikaze (military suicide pilots) who died for the emperor in World War II. Approaching a shrine, a visitor passes through the torii, a distinctive gateway that marks the transition from secular to sacred space. The main path, always clean and beautifully landscaped, is usually flanked by two protecting stone dogs, the komainu. A small trough or basin flows with water for the purification rite. Using a ladle, the visitor washes each hand before pouring water into a cupped hand to rinse her or his mouth. Then worshippers approach the haiden, a raised and roofed worship hall where offerings and prayers to the kami are made. An offering is tossed into a box; ¥5 and ¥50 coins are considered auspicious because they have a hole in them. The pilgrims twice strike a gong, bow, and clap their hands to announce their presence to the spirit god. The main shrine building is the honden or inner shrine, which houses the sacred object in which the spirit resides. It is open only to the Shinto priests, who go in to perform rituals. The honden is absent if the shrine is on a sacred mountain where the kami is believed to live. Japanese visit shrines on many occasions: with a newborn; for blessings of children at ages three, five, and seven; and on January 15 in the year one turns twenty, the “day of adulthood.” Marriages, even of Buddhists, are performed at shrines in the

Shrines | 513 presence of a shrine priest. Priests also conduct blessings of buildings and new cars. Shinto makes extensive use of exvotos, and trees, braided ropes, and special boards are covered with plaques with petitions, white slips of cloth, or printed papers. “Wishing boards” record general intentions for the gods, such as world peace. Omamuri, small packets, contain lucky charms for fulfillment in love, success in school, or family harmony. Other charms, sold in shrine shops, protect drivers from accidents, help in romance, or serve a variety of other personal needs. In front of the shrine hall are boxes of long, inscribed sticks, which the devotee shakes until a stick falls out. The number on the stick corresponds with a slip of paper that tells fortunes. If the fortune is good, the visitor keeps it; if not, it is hung on a tree so that the wind may blow away the bad luck. To the outsider, Shinto can be a bewildering mix of the sacred and the profane. On the sacred path leading to the shrine at Izumo, for example, one finds a large steam locomotive that serves as a playground for both children and adults. Some shrine observances involve sumo wrestling, ritual dances, races, and tugof-war contests. See also: Ise, Izumo Taisha Shrine, Kyoto, Nikko, Tokyo

REFERENCES C. Scott Littleton, Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Sacred Places. New York, Oxford University, 2002. John Nelson, A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine. Seattle, University of Washington, 1996.

Shinto: Nature, Gods and Man in Japan. New York, Japan Society, 1977, video.

SHRINES Shrines are, by definition, sacred places. They take many forms: pilgrimage sites, tombs of saints, locations of apparitions or revelations, places involved in the lives of religious founders, places of a special devotion, and centers for spiritual renewal. Any of these might also be wonder-working or miraculous shrines. Because they embody so many characteristics of a faith and a people and excite intense feelings, shrines have been targets for their enemies. There are many examples to demonstrate that point. Bombings of Muslim shrines in recent years have become regular tragic events, and history records the trashing of shrines when victorious religious invaders occupy a country. One of the sights in Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral is that of the beheaded statues. As Christianity began to dominate in Europe, it took over pagan shrines, making churches out of them in some cases, and in others, using them as convenient stone quarries for construction work. The entries from this book that are given for each category are a cross-section of examples. Others can also be found, and many places fit into several categories. Pilgrimage sites include those that are the end point of a religious journey and its way stations, which often take on an identity of their own. Any one of the other types of shrines listed below can be a pilgrimage site. Examples of pilgrimage sites in this book include Baha’i World Center,

514 | Shrines

Batu Caves, Conques, Croagh Patrick, ekuPhakameni, the Hajj, Karbala, Lourdes, the Nachman Pilgrimage, Santiago de Compostela, Varanasi, Orissa Triangle, Saut d’Eau. Tomb shrines reverence the mortal remains of holy men or women. Catholic and Orthodox Christians have many of them, and they are also common in Shi’a Islam. The saint is petitioned for help, which is often focused on a specific need; many saints’ shrines are healing shrines, others are sought after by women hoping to become pregnant, and so forth. Tomb shrines in this book include Pedro Betancourt, Jim Morrison’s Grave, the Kasubi Tombs, Rachel’s Tomb, Sayyida Zeinab Shrine. Apparition sites are places where the Virgin Mary, a saint, or a holy person has appeared, usually with a message or prophecy to be proclaimed. These sites become pilgrimage places as well. Apparition sites in this book include Guadalupe, Lourdes, Medjugorje, Nui Ba Den, Rocamadour, White Buffalo. Places of revelation are where the divine has revealed his messages to his people or given then sacred texts. At the Hill Cumorah in New York, Joseph Smith received the revelation that became the Book of Mormon, an event that is reenacted there in a pageant. Among the ancient Greeks were prophetic shrines where people asked oracles for personal revelations in response to their needs, and where rulers sought advice for the state. Other places of revelation in this book include Delphi, Mont St-Michel, Patmos. Besides apparition sites, temples dedicated to gods or saints have always been built to meet the needs of worshippers. They arise from a desire to express

devotion to a favorite disciple or god. Buddhists have built many shrines to bodhisattvas, those who have reached entry to nirvana but turned away from it in order to serve the spiritual needs of those struggling along the path. Shrines to patron saints are common among Catholic and Orthodox, even when the shrines have no connection with an apparition or miraculous event. Temples dedicated to gods or saints in this book include the Acropolis, Hindu Temples, Vestal Temple, St. Joseph’s Oratory, Ste-Anne de Beaupre. Reliquary shrines are churches or temples with the sacred relic of a saint or deity. It may be in the form of a body part, such as the hand of a great missionary, his heart, or a lock of hair. The Buddhist King Asoka took the cremated remains of the Buddha and distributed them to stupas throughout the Buddhist world, where they became the focus of pilgrimage. Some famous relics are given special processions or viewings by the faithful, as with the annual Esala Perahera in Sri Lanka, when the tooth of the Buddha, one of his most precious relics, is carried through crowds of worshippers on the back of a beautifully draped elephant. Similarly, the purported vial of the blood of Jesus is displayed at the annual Holy Blood procession in Brugge, Belgium. Some relics are exposed quite rarely, such as the Shroud of Turin, making it a special event. Sacred icons reverenced in Orthodox churches are a unique form of relic, from the belief that ancient icons become repositories of the holiness of those who have prayed before them. Reliquary shrines in this book include Conques, Emerald Buddha, Holy Blood, St-Jean-de Doigt, Shroud of Turin, Tooth Temple.

Shrines | 515 Locations sacred to the lives of religious founders might be ancestral homes or places where important events took place in their lives. The Hearth of Buddhism forms a pilgrimage route that goes to the places where the Buddha was born, reached enlightenment, preached his first sermon, and died. Many of the places associated with the life and ministry of Jesus have become marked by shrines and chapels, such as Bethlehem, the Sea of Galilee, and the Holy Sepulchre. While all religious traditions have such places, they are also found among Protestants, who otherwise downplay shrines. Sacred locations in the founders’ lives in this book include the Garden Tomb, Geneva, Hearth of Buddhism, Luther Circle, Mormon Temple, Wesley’s Chapel, Wittenburg. Monasteries and centers of spiritual life are places known for their atmosphere of sanctity. Over many centuries they accumulate an aura of holiness that draws disciples to them. Monasteries and centers of spiritual life in this book include Jokhang Temple, Meteora, Mount Athos, Scete, Skellig Michael, Taize. Places of a special devotion are shrines built around a practice or spiritual discipline. The Miraculous Medal Chapel in Paris is the origin of a medal of the Virgin widely worn by Catholics. The passion gardens in Italy and Portugal mark the Way of the Cross and lead people through a pattern of prayer based on the Passion. Some have a similar focus on the life of the Virgin Mary and the mysteries of the Rosary. Places of a special devotion in this book include Divine Mercy, Infant Jesus

of Prague, Sacrimonte, Zebrzydowska Chapel. Memorials of the dead or of heroes are secular monuments to honor those who have sacrificed themselves in service, either in war or in exceptional leadership. Their meaning is tied to national/ cultural identity. The many Holocaust memorials foster remembrance but also reinforce the conviction that genocide must never again be permitted by civilized nations. Memorials of the dead or of heroes in this book include Anne Frank House, Holocaust Sites, Masada, Voortrekker Monument, War Memorials, Yad Vashem. Centers for spiritual renewal usually involve taking on a new social identity or consecrating oneself to a deity. They can be connected with the celebration of life passages or with a mystical encounter with the divine. Centers for spiritual renewal in this book include Ayers Rock, Medicine Wheels, Sedona, Sweat Lodge, Uluru, Vision Quest. Even this listing does not exhaust the possible categories of shrines. Household shrines for personal prayer are common in many faiths, and roadside memorials to victims of auto accidents are examples of personal types of shrines. See also: Pilgrimage

REFERENCES Tamra Andrews, Legends of the Earth, Sea and Sky. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 1998. Keith Bellows, ed., Sacred Places of a Lifetime. Washington, DC, National Geographic, 2008.

516 | Shroud of Turin, Italy

Brouria Britten-Ashkelony, Encountering the Sacred. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 2005. Stephen Huyler, Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 1999.

SHROUD OF TURIN, ITALY Perhaps the world’s most famous relic, the Shroud of Turin is a long burial shroud—13.5 by 4.25 feet—bearing the imprint of a man crucified and crowned by thorns. The body was placed on one half of the cloth, with the other folded over his head lengthwise to cover the corpse from head to feet. Marks of nails in the crucified man’s wrists are clear. The shroud has been called the burial shroud of Jesus and therefore evidence of the truth of the Gospels; it has also been called the greatest fraud ever created. It may indeed be neither.

Detail of the Shroud of Turin. Thought by some to be the burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth, it is housed in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy.

The shroud first appeared around 1380 in France, but in 1578, after being rescued from a fire, it was placed in the cathedral of Turin, where it is exposed for veneration on rare occasions. Challenges to the authenticity of the shroud arose alongside popular approval. Already in 1389 the bishop of Troyes, in whose diocese the shroud was at that time, denounced it as an artist’s creation and forbade priests from claiming it was Jesus’ burial cloth. When this dictum was appealed to the pope, he permitted display of the shroud but required that people be told that it was only a picture and not the true shroud of Jesus. But by the Renaissance, the shroud was assumed to be the burial shroud of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew, and Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484) called it “the portrait of Jesus Christ Himself.” It is probable that the shroud was created, not as a fraudulent relic, but as an icon (sacred image of Jesus) for use during Holy Week ceremonies. Mystery plays were often woven into the ceremonies in the Middle Ages, and the shroud would have provided a dramatic element. When permission was granted to photograph the shroud in 1898, a sensation followed when it was discovered that the portrait on the shroud was in fact a negative image, and the photographic negative offered a clear likeness, especially of the face. By 1903, more than 3,500 articles had been written on the shroud, the majority questioning its authenticity. The influential Catholic Encyclopedia (1902–1912) considered it a fabrication, but not a fraud. Many scientific theories about the shroud have been proposed, and several analyses were undertaken by laboratories. The first speculation—for many years the

Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar/Burma | 517 accepted view—was that ammonia vapors from Jesus’ body after his violent death caused the photographic negative effect. It was argued that these vapors developed the deep red-brown stains by interacting with the cloth, which was impregnated with the aloes and oil traditionally used in Jewish burials. After World War II, interest in the shroud increased, influenced by a meticulous medical analysis of the death of Jesus undertaken by a French physician, Pierre Barbet, who based his work on the evidence of the shroud. Barbet’s book became a bestseller and created a new audience for the shroud. A series of investigations was undertaken until Church authorities agreed to carbon dating using tiny samples of several cloths. The samples were tested by university laboratories at Oxford, the University of Arizona, and the Zurich Institute of Technology. They agreed, in independent tests, that the sample taken from the shroud was from cloth made between 1260 and 1390. Opinion on the shroud promptly divided between those who denounced it as a fraud and those who stubbornly rejected the scientific analysis and insisted it was Jesus’ true burial cloth. In the media-driven controversy, the traditional argument that it was a second image but not Jesus’ shroud—still the most rational— got little hearing. Church authorities accepted the test results, saying that the shroud, as a representation of the Passion of Jesus, was a true icon but not the burial shroud of Jesus. Some proponents of the authenticity of the shroud argued that the sample used for carbon dating was taken from a later patch. Questions remain unanswered, however. How does one explain that the

shroud anticipates photographic technique by 500 years? It is not a painting; there were no pigments used. The shroud involves gravity effects on blood stains that were only discovered in modern times by forensic medicine. How does one explain the presence in the cloth of plant pollen from first-century Palestine? Or the image of coins, including the “widow’s mite” minted under Pontius Pilate, covering the eyes of the body? These could not be faked, because they were only revealed by a twentieth-century image analyzer developed by the United States National Air and Space Administration (NASA). The shroud raises as many questions as science has been able to lay to rest, and it is this mystery about its origins and purpose that continues to feed popular devotion. See also: Holy Blood, Relics

REFERENCES Pierre Barbet, A Doctor at Calvary. Garden City, NY, Doubleday, 1953. Daniel Scavone, The Shroud of Turin: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, Greenhaven, 1989. Robert Wilcox, The Truth About the Shroud of Turin: Solving the Mystery. Washington, DC, Regnery, revised edition, 2010. Time Machine: The Real Face of Jesus? A&E, 2010, video.

SHWEDAGON PAGODA, YANGON, MYANMAR/ BURMA In the heart of the ancient Burmese capital city of Yangon (formerly Rangoon) is the

518 | Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar/Burma

People at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Burma.

elaborate Shwedagon Pagoda, which houses some of the most important relics of Buddha. According to legend, it was built at the time of the Buddha himself, some 500 years BCE. The Buddha supposedly gave eight hairs from his beard as a gift to two traders who carried them from India to be enshrined in Yangon. Later, a tooth of the Buddha was added to the collection. Through the years, the stupas that held the sacred relics were destroyed by fire or earthquake, but the relics always survived. The present pagoda was built in 1769. The shrine is a forest of spires, all lovingly covered with gold leaf each year after the monsoon rains. There are sixty-four small pagodas covered in gold with tiny bells attached to the spires. The reliquary stupa, at 326 feet, is the highest point. It is adorned with 5,452 diamonds and 1,500 sapphires, rubies, and semiprecious stones. On its tip is a seventy-

eight-carat emerald placed to reflect the last rays of the setting sun. This central stupa, containing the vault with the sacred objects, dwarfs the other spires around it. The pagoda is laid out like a compass, with eight spires surrounding the central reliquary spire. Each has a temple marked with various astrological signs. The pagoda is a major pilgrimage site. Barefoot pilgrims in a constant stream walk clockwise around its base, then enter by one of four stairs, one at each of the cardinal points. They ascend by a long stairway to the terrace to leave exvotos—paper umbrellas, incense sticks, and flowers—in honor of the Buddha. Pilgrims may bathe the innumerable Buddha statues in the pagoda before leaving offerings. Each person then seeks out the temple that is marked with his or her astrological sign, since worshipping at the temple that corresponds

Simeon the Stylite, Aleppo, Syria | 519 to one’s birthday brings good fortune and strengthens character. The main pilgrimage is the festival at the full moon in March, when the entire shrine is lit by candles. Pilgrims come to give offerings to the monks and donations for the upkeep of the shrine. Shwedagon is a favorite place for boys’ coming-of-age ceremonies. The youngster, robed in silk and with a golden crown symbolizing his worldly potential, is carried around the pagoda. Then his head is shaved and he dons monk’s garb and enters the monastery, at least for a few days. The present-day repressive military dictatorship has continued to support Shwedagon as a symbol of national unity and funds it generously. In return, its monks are expected to support government authority. During the national uprising in 2007, many monks helped lead the protests. The resulting crackdown by the authorities included derobing many monks and strict enclosure.

REFERENCES Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism. New York, Routledge, 1988. E. Michael Mendelson, Sangha and State in Burma. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, 1975. www.shwedagonpagoda.com.

SIMEON THE STYLITE, ALEPPO, SYRIA Early Christianity in the Middle East encouraged extremes of asceticism. Lengthy fasts, exile, and isolated hermit

life were common and widely admired. These ascetics were seen as “soldiers of Christ” who endured suffering in union with Jesus on the Cross. In Syria and a few surrounding areas, the fifth century saw a special phenomenon, the stylite. These Christian ascetics live for long periods, often many years, on top of pillars exposed to the elements, where they prayed and from which they preached and gave counsel to pilgrims. The custom continued until the twelfth century, although there were scattered examples in Russia as late as the nineteenth. The model for this movement was St. Simeon the Stylite (390–459). Simeon came from prosperous Christian herdsmen, but the text “Blessed be the sorrowful” so impressed him that he entered a monastery. He was soon made unwelcome because of his strange asceticism, so he left and had himself walled up in a ruined monastery, chained to a rock. Finally, he took up his abode on top of a series of flat rocks, the last one sixty feet high, where he spent the final thirty-seven years of his life. The flat surface was three feet across, allowing Simeon to stand, sit or kneel, but not to lie down. Food was sent up in a basket, and his waste lowered. He spent hours each morning standing with his arms outstretched in prayer, and then engaged in hundreds of solemn prostrations in the Byzantine fashion. People thronged to the pillar saint to hear him preach and to ask his spiritual guidance. Wild Arab tribesmen flocked to him, profoundly impressed by his rigorous asceticism, and were converted in their thousands. Simeon was not totally separated from his monastic brothers; they helped construct the pillar and later

520 | Skellig Michael, Ireland

added sections as it grew to forty-five feet, and ministered to his simple needs. After his death, a vast basilica was built around the pillar. It had four naves centering on an octagon where the pillar stood. The basilica could hold several thousand pilgrims. In its time, it was the second-largest church in Christendom, after the Hagia Sophia. Only a stub of the pillar remains today, since pilgrims have chipped away bits of it as relics. Although pilgrims no longer come in numbers, a small flow of the devout still makes the difficult trip to the ruins. The walls of the four radiating basilicas still stand, and the original fifth-century shrine is clearly apparent.

REFERENCES Robert Doran, translator, The Lives of the Saints. Kalamazoo, MI, Cistercian, 1989. Peter Hatlie, The Monks and Monasteries of Constantinople, c. 350–850. New York, Cambridge University, 2007.

SKELLIG MICHAEL, IRELAND The Skelligs (“stone splinters”) are three rocky islets seven miles off Ireland’s southwest coast. The largest, Skellig Michael, its two peaks thrusting up 714 feet from the sea, was the site of a Celtic monastic settlement from the seventh to the thirteenth centuries. In imitation of Christ and his Apostles, it had twelve monks plus an abbot. It took its name in the tenth century, when the patronage of St. Michael the Archangel

became popular among monks living on mountains. According to medieval legend, a hollow stone outside St. Michael’s Church on the island was miraculously filled each day with enough wine for the celebration of Mass, a gift of the archangel. The monastery is on North Peak, the gentler, more rounded of the two crags. Its terrain permitted a few small terraces for growing vegetables to supplement the monks’ diet of birds’ eggs, seaweed, and fish. Today, the remains include an ancient chapel, St. Michael’s Church, two tiny prayer chapels, and six beehiveshaped huts. These were all made of dry rubble and surrounded by an unmortared wall that protected the monks from falling over the cliffside. The Vikings raided the settlement in 823 but evidently found little worth taking except a captive, the Abbot Eitgall. Since the poor monks had no ransom to pay for him, he was allowed to starve to death. The monastery was finally abandoned due to a shift in the climate, which brought severe storms and made growing food almost impossible. After the monks resettled on the mainland, Skellig Michael was used as a summer retreat, and pilgrimages began. Until the late eighteenth century, Great Skellig was a place of pilgrimage for those doing penance for particularly serious sins. And penance it was, for the settlement lies at the top of 544 stairs cut into the rock. After praying by the monastic ruins, the penitent ascended the peaks, which required careful negotiation along a dangerous route. In the middle of the island the two peaks are separated by “Christ’s Saddle,” a U-shaped depression marked with a rock

Skellig Michael, Ireland | 521

HERMITS, NUNS, MONKS, AND FRIARS Among many religious traditions, men and women consecrate themselves to the service of the divine though prayer, simple living, and service. All embrace celibacy in order to devote themselves completely to these ideals, but there are differences among the various types of consecrated life. Hermits live a solitary life of asceticism and prayer, following no common rule. They are rare among Christians but common in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Monks live together under a rule of life, supporting themselves by their work and sharing common prayer according to their tradition. They usually remain in one monastery for life. Friars go out among the people in small groups, preaching and often engaging in missionary work. Friars were instrumental in bringing Christianity to the American Southwest. Nuns, like monks, confine themselves to a monastery, although they sometimes run a school or hospital inside its walls. Sisters, a Catholic tradition, are far more flexible, and do a variety of ministries, including education, health care, and social work. Unlike monks, friars, and nuns, they usually do not wear a distinctive garb.

inscribed with a cross. Various reliquaries and stone crosses made up the way stations, or places of prayer, along the pilgrim path. A hermitage perches high up on South Peak. It seems almost completely inaccessible, yet there is evidence that pilgrims went there—which required crawling through a rock chimney (The Eye of the Needle) to reach the pinnacle where a narrow rock spit projects out over the sea hundreds of feet below. The pilgrim straddled this and inched along to a cross-shaped stone, which he kissed—the last station. The hermitage itself consisted of three tiny, walled terraces and a beehive hut. The terraces were created on the cliff by building retaining walls—again without mortar—until a speck of land could be supported. The task could only have been completed by a fanatic firmly convinced that each stone brought him a step closer to God. The hermit was probably a

culdee, a prophetic guide who was installed in the hermitage as a source of spiritual power for the monastery. In more recent centuries, engaged couples went to Skellig Michael for a brief retreat before marriage and also because it was the only place where marriage was permitted during Lent. The “retreats” soon turned into frolics and an excuse for escaping Ireland’s strict sexual taboos, and the Church finally suppressed the pilgrimages altogether. Because of the fragility of the Skelligs and the danger of accidents, landings are now restricted. A replica, the “Skellig Experience,” has been set up on the mainland for tourists. Since 1996, Skellig Michael has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In the 1820s, two lighthouses were built on Skellig Michael, and one remains, although it is automated and no one lives in it. See also: Croagh Patrick, Lough Derg

522 | Slave Depots

REFERENCES Peter Harbison, Pilgrimage in Ireland. Syracuse, NY, Syracuse University, 1992. Walter Horn et al., The Forgotten Hermitage of Skellig Michael. Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 1990. Des Lavelle, The Skellig Story: Ancient Monastic Outposts. Chester Springs, PA, Dufour, 1994. Michael O’Donoghue, The Angels Keep their Ancient Places. New York, Continuum, 2001.

SLAVE DEPOTS Although human slavery has been practiced since the most ancient times, it was systematized and organized in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. The development of plantation agriculture in the Caribbean and the southern American colonies made it immensely profitable, and it was practiced by most European powers, as well as the Turks and Arabs. When slaves were captured in West Africa, either after battle or in raids by local chiefs, they were brought to the coast in caravans and exchanged for firearms, ironware, cloth, and alcohol. In some cases, if there was no slave ship waiting and thus no ready sale, the coastal chiefs distributed the captives to local farmers, where they worked in chains until a slave ship arrived. In other cases, the captives were sent to slave depots to await the arrival of a slave ship. The use of slave depots—holding pens in forts and trading posts built by Western or Muslim slave traders—made the slave trade more efficient by allowing the caravans of captives to be sold

immediately. It was also unspeakably cruel. The slaves were stripped, branded with red-hot irons, segregated by sex, and then crammed into small cells with their untreated running wounds. Many slave depots had interior stairways that led from the young women’s pen to the military barracks, and most of the women were raped regularly. Many captives went insane, and the death rate was high. Survival estimates vary from one in ten to one in three. Whatever the figure, the majority of captives perished either in the caravans, in the depots, or on the voyage. Those who survived were shipped to the slave markets of the Caribbean, Brazil, America, or the Ottoman Turkish Empire. From Senegal to Cameroon, a distance of more than 2,000 miles along the coast, there were sixty slave forts or barracoons (holding pens). These slave depots have become places of pilgrimage for diaspora Blacks, the descendants of the survivors of this evil trade, and especially for African Americans. But local Africans have also begun to gather at the sites, leaving offerings and occasionally holding observances in honor of the ancestors. Bagamoyo, Tanzania, was the site of a notorious slave depot and, after abolition of the slave trade, of a village for freed slaves. Bagamoyo is a corruption of a Swahili word meaning “lay down your heart.” It was at the end of the slave trade routes that brought 50,000 victims a year in chain gangs from the interior—about one-fourth of those who began the tragic forced marches. From here they were taken by dhow (fishing boats) to Zanzibar to be sold. Boys between eight and ten were especially prized. They were castrated to provide eunuchs for

Slave Depots | 523 the imperial harems; only a few survived the brutal surgery. All that remains of the slave depot at Bagamoyo is the Caravanserai, a stone slave-holding pen modeled on Arab desert camps for caravans. Bunce Island, Sierra Leone, lies at the mouth of the Sierra Leone River, inland from the capital, Freetown. Between 1750 and 1800, Bunce (pronounced BUN-see) Island was a major slave depot. Captives were gathered from a number of inland points until there were enough slaves to fill one or more ships. The island was fought over, and the British, French, Dutch, and Portuguese held it at various times, with the British emerging as the final owners. The Gullah of South Carolina, the only slave group in the United States to retain much of their African culture, were probably shipped from Bunce, which supplied many slaves for the Carolina and Georgia rice fields. The manor house and other buildings on Bunce Island were constructed in 1795 by Blacks who had fought for the British in the American Revolutionary War and were granted their freedom in exchange. But the slaves kept here were treated no better than the freedmen’s ancestors had been. Hobbled in chained circles in the open air, they ate from troughs and slept on the ground as they awaited their fate. After the slave trade was declared illegal in 1807, Sierra Leone became a center for recaptives—Africans kidnapped by slavers and then freed by the British when the slave ships were captured at sea by the antislavery naval squadron. They were released on the Sierra Leone coast. Cape Coast Castle, Ghana, was built with slave labor in 1653 by Sweden and rebuilt a century later. It changed hands five times, ending up under British

control. The British used it as a slave pen from 1664 to 1833. The town (now more than 100,000) was built around the castle, which faces the sea and held 1,500 slaves at a time. They were shipped to Liverpool, England, to be sold. Conditions were appalling; the prisoners were stuffed into small underground dungeons, fetid and without light, where they could neither sit nor lie down. Over time, the human waste raised the level of the floor by two feet. Scratches made by the despairing captives can be seen on the walls. The church in the castle was built over a shrine to one of the coast’s tutelary gods, Nana Taabiri; a stone shrine has been reestablished here. The Ghanaian government has set up a museum on the grounds and enacts a drama of the slave experience. Christianborg, Accra, Ghana, also known as Osu Castle, is now the seat of the Ghanaian presidency and off limits to visitors. It was built in 1647 by the Danes and used for the slave trade for a number of years. The castle, surrounded by high white walls, is elaborate and includes a fortress. The chapel was built over an indigenous shrine that has been restored. In December 1994, a gathering of chiefs was held outside Accra for a “cleansing of the stools,” a sacred ceremony of purification. Carved stools are a symbol of authority in Ghana, like a Western throne, and are carried in processions and used on important occasions. The ceremony, conducted in red and black robes—the colors of mourning—was in atonement for the complicity of the chiefs’ ancestors in the slave trade. St. George’s Castle, Elmina, Ghana, is the oldest European building in

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sub-Saharan Africa, built by the Portuguese in 1482. At first it was a trading post for gold, but by 1600 the demand for slaves in Brazil had turned it into a major slaving port. The fort was captured by the Dutch in 1637, and they, in turn, sold it to the British in 1872. By that time it had lost its value due to the abolition of the slave trade. The castle could hold 2,000 slaves after the Dutch expanded it, and they shipped some 65,000 slaves from Elmina. An impressive building visible from a distance, it was fronted by a double moat that is now dry. The slave quarters, auction room, dungeons, and governor’s apartments are well maintained and open for visitors. In the women’s quarters, there were separate cells for the attractive and the homely. The governor chose from among the former for his pleasures, and it seems that slave women who became pregnant were allowed to escape. Their descendants can be found in the area. A small shrine to the ancestors has been placed in one of the dungeons. The tunnel leading to the ships has been bricked up, but Africans regularly leave palm wine and flower offerings here. Zanzibar Island, Tanzania, was the main terminus of the Arab slave routes from throughout eastern and central Africa. Throughout the nineteenth century, the Arab slavers brought an average of 50,000 slaves each year to Zanzibar for sale. Whole inland areas were depopulated by the trade, which supplied slaves for the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Gulf states. Most Arab slave depots were in lake towns and left no permanent buildings. In Zanzibar, where the sultan used slaves to work his clove plantations, an underground dungeon remains. After the British forced

the end of the slave trade and later occupied Zanzibar, they built the Anglican Cathedral over the slave market, with its altar directly above the old “whipping stone” where slaves were lashed. The cathedral also contains a cross made from the tree under which the explorer-missionary David Livingstone’s heart was buried after he died in 1873. An antislavery campaigner, Livingstone is revered as a liberator and saint by the Black Africans of the island. At Mangapwani, about six miles north of the city, are caves that were used to keep slaves being held for shipment elsewhere. The iron rings to which they were chained are still visible. South African slaves were less often shipped away but instead used for labor on farms or in shops. The Slave Lodge in Cape Town held up to a thousand, who worked for the Dutch East India Company until the British takeover in 1806. Unusual for a slave depot, the names of half the slaves were recorded, as well as the work they did. The Slave Lodge is now a museum of slavery. Excavations have brought to light many artifacts that reveal the way the slave workers lived and what they ate. In West Africa, from which large numbers of slaves were sent to the Caribbean and the United States, there were several important slave depots. Goreé Island in what is now Senegal was one such transit point and is among the best preserved. Here the slavers included prosperous Creole (mixed-blood) businesswomen who took part in the slaving and other kinds of international trade. About thirty miles upriver in The Gambia was the fort of St. James. It was founded by the Portuguese and changed hands to the Baltic Germans and finally the British. It

Snake Temple, Penang, Malaysia | 525 was contested with the French and finally closed in 1830. There are ruins remaining, including caves where slaves were kept. The village of Albreda has a slavery museum, near the ruins of a French slave depot. Although slavery was abolished in The Gambia in 1895, the Geneva antislavery convention was only ratified in 2008. Descendants of hereditary slaves are still socially stigmatized. See also: Goreé Island

REFERENCES Robert Baum, Shrines of the Slave Trade. New York, Oxford University Press, 1999. Murray Gordon, Slavery in the Arab World. New York, New Amsterdam Books, 1989. Saidiya Hartman, Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Colin Palmer, “The Cruelest Commerce,” 182 National Geographic 3:62–91 (March 1993).

SNAKE TEMPLE, PENANG, MALAYSIA The Snake Temple or Temple of the Azure Clouds was built to honor a deified monk and medical practitioner from medieval China. Chor Soo Kong flourished in the eleventh century in Fujian, a poor coastal province of mainland China. He entered a monastery, but after a few years he left it to become an ascetic, living on a mountain. In the process, he studied medicine and earned merit by serving the poor of the area.

He was said to have sheltered snakes on the mountainside. “Chor Soo” is an honorific title meaning a great historic personage to be revered for generation after generation. Around 1075 a terrible drought hit the area and Chor Soo Kong’s prayers brought rain. The grateful people built a monastery in his honor and at his death, he was deified. In 1850, during the British colonial period, a Chinese monk came to Penang Island, bringing with him a statue of Chor Soo Kong. The largest landowner in Penang was a British agent, David Brown, who donated a tract of jungle to the monk after he was healed of an incurable ailment through the power of Chor Soo Kong. As the temple was built, venomous snakes, including pit vipers, came in from the tropical rain forest and took up residence in the building. With the development of the neighborhood around the temple, the snakes have lost their natural habitat and now live only at the temple. The temple is built in classical Chinese style, with a sloping tile roof that extends over a porch entryway. Outside is a large incense burner; incense supposedly makes the snakes passive. Inside is the statue of the god in the main prayer hall, with the usual altar for offerings. Chor Soo Kong is presented in traditional dress, but his face is black. Legend says that some devils tried to cook him, which caused his face to become black before he escaped from them. Chanting begins at the temple at five in the morning and prayers are offered all day. The devotees of the temple are primarily Hokkien Chinese, who emigrated to Malaysia in past centuries from the area northeast of Hong Kong. They have

526 | Solomon’s Temple, Jerusalem, Ancient Israel

kept their dialect and customs, a blend of Taoism and Confucianism. There are two wells at the site, supposedly the eyes of a dragon that descended when the temple was dedicated. Drinking from the well guarantees health and prosperity. Inside the temple, the snakes are entwined in tree branches set up on the altars. Another room on the side has even more vipers resting in tree branches. The snakes are not regarded as deities or worshipped; they are thought to be in the temple in order to give honor to Chor Soo Kong. Some refer to them as the temple’s guardian spirits. The main pilgrimage is on the sixth day of the first lunar month, a week after Chinese New Year. Not only Taoists but also Buddhists and Confucians come that week. The crowds are so extensive that the temple removes most of the snakes for their well-being. Even during the year, the burning of joss sticks is not allowed around the snakes, who are normally rather docile. They can be handled, and it is a popular thing to have one’s photo taken with a snake draped over the shoulders. The Snake Temple was completely restored in 2008. There are actually three temples in Penang dedicated to Chor Soo Kong, but only the Snake Temple houses serpents.

SOLOMON’S TEMPLE, JERUSALEM, ANCIENT ISRAEL Fifty years after the destruction of the temple of the Ark of the Covenant in Shiloh, King David brought the Ark to

Jerusalem and erected a tent for it, making Jerusalem the main center of worship for Israel. This was in competition with the royal temples of Bethel and Dan, established by Jeroboam I to counterbalance David’s shrine (1 Kings 12:27–30). David planned a temple, but it was his son Solomon who began it and finished it in an amazing seven years. David had purchased a threshing floor for the site, but Solomon took decisive action, getting craftsmen and materials from King Hiram of Tyre and using 30,000 forced laborers. The Temple was rectangular with three sections: a vestibule, the main room for worship, and the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. The temple was not large at 115 by 35 feet and did not accommodate the crowds of pilgrims who came up to Jerusalem for the major feasts. There were also two large bronze columns, Yakin (“he will establish”) and Boaz (“in strength”), framing the entryway, which was open. The worship space contained the table for the showbread, the altar of incense, and ten lampstands, and it was in this room that the priests conducted the cultic rites. Behind olivewood double doors was the Holy of Holies, set above it by a stairway. Inside was the Ark with the cherubim, whose fifteen-foot wings shadowed the empty space where God resided. Needless to say, there was no image. The interior of the Temple was richly decorated with precious woods and metals, including gold inlay. There was no light, and the room was rarely entered, even by the priests. In the forecourt in front of the vestibule was the altar of sacrifice where burnt offerings of animals were made.

Songkran, Thailand | 527 It was thirty by thirty feet and was probably a step altar. Bronze basins stood aside for purification of the priests and washing the animals after slaughter. Beyond this was a courtyard where people gathered during the sacrifices. The most amazing structure was the “molten sea,” a huge tank or basin eighteen feet in diameter resting on twelve bronze bulls and capable of holding ten thousand gallons. While it must have had some practical use, it was more likely symbolic of the oceans from which all life emerged. The kings were anointed in the forecourt, and a throne was set up there. The king was its principal patron and subsidized its operation (and thereby controlled its treasury). Nevertheless, it was the national shrine where the full worship of the kingdom took place. Throughout the history of the people, the Temple rose and fell with the events of the day. At various times it was defiled, restored, and even looted. One king melted down the bronze basins to pay a debt of tribute. Another erected an idol on the altar. In Ezra 9, the prophet describes the deplorable conditions that the returning exiles found at the remnants of the Temple: worship defiled by assimilation with pagan cults and intermarriage of the priests and local pagans. After the Babylonian Exile, during which Solomon’s Temple was abandoned, a smaller replacement was built and the sacred furnishings and vessels returned. After Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated that temple, Judas Maccabeaus restored the furnishings again, and finally, Herod the Great built a new and more expansive temple in 19 BCE ; this was the temple that Jesus knew.

See also: Israelite Sanctuaries, Shiloh

REFERENCES Alfred Eldersheim, ed., The Temple: Its Ministry and Services as They Were at the Time of Christ. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1990. William Hamblin, Solomon’s Temple: Myth and History. New York, Thames & Hudson, 2007. Hershel Shanks, Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. New York, Continuum, 2007.

SONGKRAN, THAILAND Songkran is the Thai New Year, corresponding to Tet in Vietnam. It is also observed in Laos, Cambodia, and Burma/Myanmar. It takes place for three days starting on April 13, although the holiday stretches out for a week. It has its unique rituals and ceremonies that go back centuries and that are still observed outside the capital city. There are both family and public rites, and as many people as possible return to their ancestral homes for the holiday. The home is cleaned thoroughly and prepared for the new year while people say prayers that bid farewell to the year that is passing. There are traditional songkran foods, including coconut rice pancakes and green chicken or shrimp curry. The bases of the Songkran rituals are the Buddhist doctrines of merit-making and blessings. The elders, especially the oldest living members of the family, are honored and asked for their blessings on their descendants. Water is a symbol of purification and renewal, and water splashing is a central rite of the festival. In the family rituals, all the members

528 | Spirit Houses

gather together to splash the home Buddha image with scented water as a sign of cleansing it for the new year. This is done on the third day of Songkran, which officially is the first day of the new year. All the family members dress in traditional-style clothing and wear leis of jasmine flowers, which are also used to scent the water. Then, the younger members of the family gently pour water over the hands of the elders as a show of respect, kneeling before them. In older times, the scented water was then poured over the shoulders of the elders as blessings and prayers were offered for them. Friends are also recognized by the string ritual. People approach their friends and tie a colored string around their wrist while again speaking blessings and good wishes. The strings are left on until they fall off of their own accord. Older people also honor the younger, either friends or family members. This ritual involves a small pot of white paste which is applied to the face and neck. It is believed to ward off evil spirits and provide protection for the new year. The public rituals center around the temples and the sangha, or community of monks. Even the tiniest village will have a few monks who tend the local temple, and at songkran they receive new robes. Families will bring a set of robes to the temple or monastery and present them formally, along with food offerings. The royal family appears on television presenting robes to the monks of Wat Po. Temples will be cleaned and the Buddha statues washed. The statues are approached with several incense sticks and a small bowl of scented water with a flower floating in it. The devotee kneels with his hands pressed together

and raised to the forehead, then lowered until the forehead touches the ground between his hands in what is known as the “five-fold body reverence.” It is the highest gesture of respect in Thai culture. Unfortunately, modern tourism and urban lifestyles have combined to cheapen the rites of Songkran, turning them into a coarse caricature of the original. Bands of youth roam the streets of Bangkok and dash pails of water and colored powders on passers-by and even use toy soakers or hoses to drench adults and passing buses. Foreign tourists are a favorite target, to the extent that many find themselves imprisoned in their hotels while Thai residents who can, leave the city return to their ancestral villages where the traditional ways are still observed.

REFERENCE Ruth Gerson, Traditional Festivals of Thailand. New York, Oxford University, 1996.

SPIRIT HOUSES A spirit house is a small shrine attached to a house or business building as an abode for spirits and a place to make offerings to them so that they bless the owners rather than cause problems. These small structures can be found throughout Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, and less often among overseas Chinese communities in other countries. Spirit houses resemble little temples standing on pillars, and their origin is in pre-Buddhist animist religions. A spirit house will usually have a small balcony where joss

Stonehenge, England | 529 (incense) sticks and other offerings are placed. It is painted in the color associated with the day of birth of the owner, for example, yellow for Monday births, blue for Friday, and so forth. The spirit house must be placed in an auspicious place, following the tenants of feng shui, the Chinese method of determining proper placement according to astrology. It will usually be found at a corner of the property where the building does not cast a shadow on it. Animist believers say that an improperly placed spirit house at a hotel or other large construction will bring on accidents among the workers. If there is no spirit house, the spirits would live in caves, waterfalls, trees, or other natural settings. They can be either good or bad, but mostly spirits are thought to be mischievous and fussy, and they can disturb people’s lives if they are not placated. These spirits who are offered houses to stay in are not ancestral spirits, but the spirits of the land and nature. There are nine main Guardian Spirits of the Land: the Guardian of the Home, of house Gardens, Entryways, Waters, Forests, Temples, Military Establishments, Storehouses, and Animals. There are other versions of these patronages as well. Besides these are spirit houses set up for some special occasion or place, such as a boxing camp. The spirits need both to be placated and to be entertained. Therefore, the offerings may include little statuettes of dancers, flower leis, and fresh fruits with incense sticks. The shrine itself can be simple or very elaborate, depending on the wealth of the owner. In restaurants, the shrine, which may be inside, with have fresh fruit and incense placed there every morning.

Asians see no conflict in the belief in spirit houses and the dominant Buddhist faith. Animism and Buddhism have always existed together in a syncretistic way. Buddhism did not overwhelm animism when it arrived in Southeast Asia so much as it absorbed it and gave it a place within the Buddhist system. See also: Lakmuang

REFERENCE Chamsai Jotisalakorn et al., Classic Thai: Design, Interiors, Architecture. Berkeley, CA, Periplus, 2007.

STONEHENGE, ENGLAND The most famous megalithic monument in the world is the prehistoric stone circle at Stonehenge, in the valley of the Avon north of Salisbury, England. Twenty-six miles farther north is Avebury, enclosed by the world’s largest henge, a massive earthwork twenty feet high and 1,400 feet across. Stonehenge and Avebury do not seem to be connected, though both are pre-Celtic, and their proximity and similarities have caused them to be linked together in popular imagination. Almost nothing is known of the builders of Stonehenge. They left no records or oral history, only their awesome and enigmatic stone monuments. Stonehenge was built in three stages. The first, around 1850 BCE, was the work of a neolithic people who dug fifty-six holes inside a ditch and earth embankment. They raised only one stone, the Heel Stone, so named because of a unique mark on one side. A century later another group raised two concentric circles of

530 | Stupa

five-ton bluestones quarried from mountains in Wales. They were brought 240 miles by raft and sledge. To prove that the feat was possible, it was reenacted for BBC television in 1954. The bluestones were later removed by the Wessex people around 1650 BCE, and those that presently mark Stonehenge were quarried nearby. Thus the building stages took place about a century apart. A horseshoe of five sets of two massive pillars was raised, each set topped by a lintel. Around this was built a ninetyfour-foot circle of posts and lintels known as the Sarsen Circle. Sixteen of the uprights and five lintels remain. Hundreds of burial mounds (barrows) are scattered throughout the area, stripped of vegetation to expose the chalk undersurface. There is also a Long Barrow, which was used for ceremonial processions. There is no evidence that sacrifices were conducted at Stonehenge. A computer-assisted study in the 1960s confirmed beyond a doubt that Stonehenge is an astronomical observatory of some kind. Sunrise at the solstices is easily determined, and the seasons can be defined by the settings of the stones. It is suspected that by moving posts around the holes, perhaps annually, eclipses could be predicted. Stonehenge was also used for some sort of funeral rites, and cremated remains have been discovered in the fifty-six holes. For years it was believed that Stonehenge was a Druid worship center, but it has been proved that the Druids, an ancient Celtic cult, arrived many centuries after the construction of the henge. Nevertheless, contemporary New Age Druids continue the erroneous tradition and conduct services at the time of the summer solstice, the Northern Hemis-

phere’s longest day. Tens of thousands arrive for the ceremonies, but the police have established an exclusion zone around the stones to protect them. Other New Age practitioners also come for the solstices, because they believe that Stonehenge is an energy center. It was one of the designated sites for the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, which attempted to focus positive energy around the world to foster peace. Stonehenge often disappoints visitors. Expecting something spectacular, they find instead a modest collection of stones with few more than twenty feet high. Nevertheless, the stones weigh up to fifty tons each and their erection was an amazing feat of engineering. Though many stones have toppled through the years, some of these were raised again in 1958. See also: Avebury

REFERENCES Caroline Alexander, “If the Stones Could Speak,” 213 National Geographic 6:34–59 (June 2008). Colin Burgess, The Age of Stonehenge. Victoria, BC, Castle, 2003. Aubrey Burl, A Brief History of Stonehenge. New York, Avalon, 2006. Anthony Johnson, Solving Stonehenge. London, Thames & Hudson, 2008. Dan Jones, “New Light on Stonehenge,” 39 Smithsonian 7:36–46 (October 2008). Stonehenge. Princeton, NJ, Films for the Humanities, 1988, video.

STUPA A stupa is a Buddhist shrine structure built to hold the relics of a bodhisattva

Stupa | 531 (saint) or even those of the Buddha. Some stupas enshrine ancient copies of Buddhist scriptures. In later centuries, stupas became acts of devotion contributed by wealthy benefactors but not necessarily containing relics. In this sense, they are reminders of the Buddha’s teaching. Visiting any stupa and offering prayers or ex-votos there is an act of merit making for Buddhists, reducing the effects of sin and weakness in their lives and moving them toward enlightenment. While stupa is the general term, in different cultures they are called by local names: chedi in Thailand, dagoba in Sri Lanka, chorten in Tibet, and thap in Vietnam. The pagoda, a similar structure, has come to be identified with the stupa, even though it often does not house a relic or sacred text. It also can be entered and often has a secular purpose as well as a religious one. Inside the stupa is a treasury made up of offerings such as gems (symbolic rather than truly precious) and tiny model stupas with mantras or scripture passages written on them. The number and variety of items in the treasury adds to the sanctity of the stupa. There are eight special stupas in remembrance of the Eight Great Deeds of the Buddha. These are his birth at Lumbini, his enlightenment, first teaching (turning of the wheel) at Sarnath, his miracles at Sravasti, return from heaven (where he had gone to give teachings to his mother), reconciliation of the monks at Rajagriha, his victory through meditation at Vaishali, and entry into nirvana at Kushinagara. They form the eight prominent styles of stupa on which others are based. There are thousands of other stupas scattered across Asia, with a few in the West.

Architecturally, stupas are of two styles. The simplest are built on a square base topped by a dome and a spire with three rings. These symbolize the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings), and the Sangha (the Buddhist community, often interpreted as the monkhood). The relic, if any, is sealed into the dome. Stupa relics are never exposed for reverence. The basic shape of the stupa is in imitation of the seated Buddha in meditation pose. Every element of the stupa is symbolic; in this instance, the spire represents the Buddha’s crown, his body is the substantial bulk of the stupa, his legs the steps leading up to it, and the base his throne. Different Buddhist cultures elaborate on this basic theme in their own ways. The more elaborate style has a base with a walkway around the dome. It is reached by a series of stairs, more or less in number depending on how grand the stupa is. Pilgrims walk around the dome on the passageway, offering prayers or chants. In Tibet, the base may have huge drums engraved with scrolls of Buddhist scriptures. Pilgrims walk around the stupa, spinning the drums, which is thought to earn the same merit as reading the texts. The Indian emperor Asoka (273–232 BCE ) is said to have gathered the cremated relics of the Buddha from the stupas of the Eight Great Deeds and divided them into 84,000 parts. He then ordered the construction of 84,000 stupas to enshrine them. However mythical this account is, Asoka established stupa veneration and the rituals that accompany it: circumambulation, bowing or prostration, offerings (flowers, incense, white scarves), and chanting. See also: Buddhist Pilgrimages, Hearth of Buddhism

532 | Sun Dance, USA/Canada

REFERENCES Akira Shimada and Jason Hawkes, eds., Buddhist Stupas in South Asia. New York, Oxford University, 2009. Adrian Snodgrass, The Symbolism of the Stupa. Delhi, Motilal Badnarsidass, 1992. Bill Wassman and Joe Cummings, Buddhist Stupas in Asia. Oakland, CA, Lonely Planet, 2001.

SUN DANCE, USA/CANADA The sun dance is a Native American ritual dance prominent among the Indians of the Great Plains. While there are some differences among different tribes, the common elements make it a universal experience. It began in the nineteenth century and is celebrated annually at the time of the summer solstice. Seventeen tribes have sun dances, although today, groups intermingle. The ceremonies last for four to eight days, preceded by a period of preparation. The sun dance celebrates the great circle of life, the continuity of birth and death, and affirms the regeneration of the land and the people and the unity of all life with the earth. Most tribes use sweat lodges as a preparation for those who will take part in the various ceremonies, although others who are less involved are also invited to “take the sweats.” The participants pray for the earth and the people and ask the spirit to remove all bad thoughts from their minds and to cleanse them of impurities from their failures of the past year. Before the sun dance, a group of young warriors seeks out a perfect tree

to serve as the center pole of the main lodge. When it is found, it is attacked as if it were an enemy, and a brave warrior cuts it down. A buffalo-skin bag is placed on the fork at the top, containing religious items such as strips of hide, tobacco, and sweetgrass. This is the eagle’s nest, reminding all that the eagle, which flies closest to the sun, is the intermediary between humans and the sun. In the past, but rarely today, a buffalo head was attached to the top, facing the setting sun. The main dancer leads the team that builds the lodge. The medicine man will carry an eagle feather to touch to the lodge pole and then to someone who is sick, transferring its healing energy to them. Large crowds of Indians gather for sun dances, and the encampments are full of children and families, many throwing up tipis while others stay more

Apsaroke man, leaning back slightly, with strips of leather attached to his chest and tethered to a pole secured by rocks, all part of the piercing ritual of the sun dance, 1908.

Swayambhunath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal | 533 prosaically in camper vans. All will join in the singing, and this is an opportunity for the young people to learn the traditional songs. The camp throbs with drumming from morning to night, the steady background to the singing and dancing. The dancers are of all ages and abilities, with the best among them dancing for hours in the hot sun, wearing elaborate dress adorned with feathers, dyed skins, and beaded clothing. There may be contests as well as freeform dancing. As the drumming and dancing reaches a high point, some participants will start to receive visions, which are treated with great respect as messages from the Great Spirit. The most profound of the visions involve being possessed by the spirit of the buffalo. The dancers fast and do without water despite their exhaustion. They then seek out deliberate torture, to give something of themselves to the sacred buffalo out of gratitude for the food and hides he gives the people. The torture symbolized death and its conclusion freedom and rebirth. Western media from the time of the Indian wars in the 1870s and 1880s to the present have dwelt almost entirely on one aspect of the sun dance, the selfinfliction of pain in the dramatic chestpiercing endurance rite. Thongs are threaded into the chest muscles and attached to the central pole. Then the dancer leans back and dances until the throngs rip free. Bystanders lay him down on a bed of sage and he tells his visions to the medicine man. Canada prohibited piercing in 1885, and in 1904, the United States government followed suit, partly out of fear that it fostered Indian nationalism. Some groups

have reintroduced it in recent years, however. See also: Native American Sacred Places, Sweat Lodge

REFERENCES Black Elk, The Sacred Pipe. Norman, OK, University of Oklahoma, 1989, pp. 67–100. Joseph Jorgensen, The Sun Dance Religion: Power for the Powerless. Chicago, University of Chicago, 1886. Thomas Yellowtail, Yellowtail: Crow Medicine Man and Sun Dance Chief. Norman, OK, University of Oklahoma, 1991. Circle of the Sun, Ottawa, ON, Canadian Film Board, 1960, video.

SWAYAMBHUNATH STUPA, KATHMANDU, NEPAL Swayambhunath Stupa is the chief Buddhist shrine of Nepal, the equivalent of the Hindu Pashupatinath Temple. Pilgrims traditionally walk from Kathmandu, the capital, a little more than a mile, along a well-marked pilgrimage path. In the summer, groups of hundreds will make the short trek from the city together, entering the temple by a steep stairway. The pilgrimage is a source of merit. Swayambhunath can be traced to the fifth century CE, but it is probably even older. An ancient legend says that the present-day city of Kathmandu was once a large lake, from which sprang a beautiful lotus that gave off a miraculous light, swayambu. When the people came to wonder, they found the gods in worship,

534 | Swayambhunath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal

and a wise monk covered the light with a stone and built the stupa above it. Since Buddhist custom dictates that a stupa should normally have a holy relic within it—a hair or tooth of the Buddha, or relics of a holy man—the confined light is regarded as the relic within Swayambhunath. The pilgrim way leads up 365 stairs to the top of the compound, where a square structure with ever-watching eyes on all sides surveys the surrounding area, intended to represent the Buddha’s eyes and eyebrows. Between the eyes of the four Buddhas is a Nepali script for the word “oneness.” Above each pair of eyes is a tiny third eye, representing inner wisdom. Prayer flags flutter from streamers that descend from the pinnacle of the stupa. On each of the four sides are five Buddha statues representing his cosmic authority—his cosmic consciousness, his sacred name, as master of the temple, sensory power, and conformation. The shrine is popularly known as the “Monkey Temple” from the bands of monkeys who inhabit the grounds and scamper everywhere. Following tradition, pilgrims walk clockwise around the stupa, offering prayers. Around the base of the stupa are five shrines to the Buddha, each honoring different directions of the compass. Five other shrines are dedicated to the five elements: earth, air, water, fire, and ether. These go back further than Buddhism itself, stemming from ancient folk religions. A common offering is a Himalayan prayer flag, and colorful streams of them come down from every angle of the stupa. The base is ringed with prayer wheels, and pilgrims spin these as they walk around the stupa.

Besides the stupa, there are several gompas, Tibetan monastery-shrines, and it is here that puja (prayer offerings) are usually made. Swayambhunath is especially important to Tibetan Buddhists. Announcement boards publish the day’s services, and in the busy season families must schedule their puja. The most popular spot for this is the Harati Temple, dedicated to the goddess of smallpox, whom Buddha persuaded not to destroy children by giving her the best of the offerings given him. She is given the choicest food gifts. The original statue was smashed in the eighteenth century by a king whose wife died of smallpox; the present statue is a black stone representation. Shantipur, the Palace of Peace, is a somewhat ominous temple. It is believed that inside a subterranean chamber lives an eighth-century tantric master who has preserved himself from death by esoteric meditation. He is said to control the weather, and in the past, the king went into the chamber to seek a mandala whenever there was a drought. There are a number of other subsidiary temples dedicated to various gods from the Hindu pantheon, recognizing the mix of Buddhism, animism, and Hinduism in Nepali religion. Hindu pilgrims come to the temple on a regular basis. See also: Pashupatinath

REFERENCES Andre Alexander, The Temples of Lhasa. Chicago, Serindia, 2005. Trilok Majupuria and Indra Majupuria, Holy Places of Buddhism in Nepal and India. Bangkok, Tecpress, second edition, 1993.

Sweat Lodge, USA | 535 Nepal: Land of the Gods. New York, Mystic Fire, 1976, video.

SWEAT LODGE, USA In Native American religions, permanent constructed shrines are rare. However, temporary holy places are built for special purposes and then allowed to return to the earth. Notable among these are sweat lodges, which are mostly built and used in the American Southwest but have been found among most Amerindian traditions. The lodge itself is a dome built of canvas or robes over willow saplings that holds about six people. (It is taboo for men and women to take part together.) Prescribed rituals and prayers accompany each step in the building of the sweat lodge and in the ceremonies themselves. A fire is built in the center to heat rocks red-hot, and sometimes sweetgrass or sage is thrown on the coals to sweeten the air of the lodge and purify it. The heat is intense, and water is cast on the rocks to make a suffocating steam. Those taking part wear only loincloths. The sacred pipe is passed toward the end of the ceremony. Depending on the purpose of the sweat lodge, the leader may instruct young people in tribal customs and lore, or participants may pray or share their life stories. A sweat is held before the vision quest for youth embarking on that coming-of-age life passage. The sweat lodge ceremony is also used for healing and is widely employed in Native American alcohol and drug dependency programs. The leader of the sweat lodge must be one who is steeped in the lore of the tribe. He must have gone on several

vision quests and taken part in the Sun Dance. He is to know the language fluently and be able to read the signs sent by the Grandfathers—the spirit ancestors. His life should reflect the values of the community. Finally, he is chosen and inducted in a special ceremony. This process of apprenticeship takes several years. In 2009, the use of a sweat lodge by a New Age practitioner resulted in three deaths, and the Lakota Nation sued the United States and the State of Arizona for desecration of sacred rites in violation of an 1868 treaty. Among the Lakota Sioux there are seven sacred rites, including the Inipi, the sweat lodge ceremony, and its accompanying vision quest, Hanbleceyapi. An ancestral figure known as Woope (the Law), or White Buffalo Woman, gave the rites to the people more than 3,000 years ago. The sweat lodge is a symbol of regeneration, renewal, and rebirth. It attempts to re-create a time before time, when there was unity in all creation, and not the fragmentation caused by selfishness, violence, and lack of reverence. It is a cleansing ceremony in which the sweat pouring from the body not only removes any physical poisons but also purifies the emotions, mind, and spirit. Instead of leaving the participant weak, it strengthens him. In addition to its use as a preparation for a vision quest, a sweat lodge is conducted before a Sun Dance and other ceremonies. Amerindian Christians (the majority in modern times) incorporate it by using sweat lodge ceremonies before events such as Confirmation or marriage. The Native American Church holds sweat lodges before the use of sacramental peyote, which prevents the peyote from being taken merely as a recreational drug.

536 | Sweat Lodge, USA

With some adaptation—often deeply resented by Native American practitioners of traditional religions—the sweat lodge is also a feature of New Age spirituality. Some of this reflects a certain “Indian chic” that appropriates rituals, often without a sense of their context. Practitioners point out, however, the universality of saunas and other uses of steam therapy for ritual and physical purification and to produce spiritual insight. Among New Age groups, the sweat lodge is also used as an adjunct to holistic healing.

See also: Medicine Wheels, Sun Dance, Vision Quest, White Buffalo

REFERENCES Joseph Bruchac, The Native American Sweat Lodge. Freedom, CA, Crossing Press, 1993. Raymond Bucko, The Lakota Ritual of the Sweat Lodge. Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska, 1999. Native American Indian Sacred Purification Sweat Lodge Ceremony. Artistic Video, 2008, video.

T

the emperor would perform a sacrifice in honor of the heavens at the base of the mountain. When he arrived at the summit, he would repeat the ritual sacrifice. A second offering was made in honor of the earth. Along the paths leading up T’ai Shan are several remembrances of visits by emperors, including memorial groves of trees and markers attesting to the glories of their donors. The deity of T’ai Shan was the son of the Lord of Heaven, who gave the emperor his mandate to rule, and the mountain assumed the role of protector of the nation. The last emperor to proclaim his exploits through these ceremonies did so in 1008, although later rulers came on pilgrimage or to build temples. The last emperor to visit the mountain came in 1771, but by that time T’ai Shan no longer involved in the imperial cult. Because of its location between two large cities, T’ai Shan is accessible to a large population. Although its sides are rugged, it is so popular with pilgrims that

T’AI SHAN, TAI’AN, CHINA Chinese religion identifies four imperial sacred mountains that marked off the corners of China. T’ai Shan, located halfway between Shanghai and Beijing, is easternmost and most important. For 4,000 years it has been a pilgrimage center for a mix of traditionalist, Buddhist, and Confucian believers, making it the oldest continuing pilgrimage site in the world. The god of the mountain is the lord of heaven, and every distinguished Chinese ascended the mountain at one time or another, including Confucius. Originally, the imperial mountains were devoted to the ritual cult of the emperor, and T’ai Shan (Exalted Mountain) has always had the place of honor because it is the first to greet the sun, the source of life and symbol of the rebirth of spring. For an emperor, the ascent of T’ai Shan was the symbol that he had attained full power in China and that he could proclaim the triumph of his reign. Before he started the climb,

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538 | T’ai Shan, Tai’an, China

it is like a vast temple yard, peopled by visitors who climb its paths, worship at its temples, and camp along its flanks. The centerpiece of devotion is a great staircase or Pilgrim’s Way of 7,000 steps that climbs from T’ai Shan Temple, a cultural complex at the foot of the mountain, to the Emperor of Heaven Temple on the summit. Along the walkway there are eleven gates, fourteen arches, and other stopping points. Altogether on the mountain there are twenty-two temples and the ruins of a hundred more structures. The staircase is surrounded by an enormous number of temples, shrines, monuments, food stands, inns, and souvenir stalls. Even in its early centuries, T’ai Shan was a cacophony of vendors touting their wares and beggars besieging the pilgrims for alms. At any point, a pilgrim may stop for tea or a meal. Since every aspect of the mountain is holy, people pray all along the climb, leaving little memorials to mark their moments of spiritual insight. They will see the engraved monuments or plaques left by the wealthy or powerful from past centuries, even as they place their little rocks at the foot of trees or braid a strip of cloth into its branches. Women gather herbs to bring home, believing that the tea they will infuse will carry some of the energy of the mountain to their families. Every physical feature of the mountain has been named, dedicated, and associated with some aspect of religion or devotion. The total effect is less confusing than it sounds, since the focus of the pilgrim is always upward toward the summit, which is believed to be the dome of heaven. Each stage of the approach is marked by large gates. The second passage is steepest and most challenging, but the last stage is gentle. Its entrance is

the impressive red brick South Gate of Heaven, and nearby is a temple marking the spot where Confucius rested on the climb, surveying the view below. Another popular shrine along the way is the Temple of the Azure Dawn Princess, daughter of the god of the mountain and goddess of dawn. She is implored for grandchildren, and older women pray and burn paper offerings symbolizing money so that their daughters might conceive. The statue of the Azure Dawn Princess is said to have healing powers. At the summit of the mountain is the Temple of the Jade Emperor with a stone tablet inscribed only with the Chinese character for the word “God.” Pilgrims push one another to get the best spots for setting down and dedicating their exvotos or items of clothing, which they then take home blessed and consecrated. Outside is a cliff, variously known as “The Joy of Life” or “Suicide Cliff,” from the pilgrims who have cast themselves off it in fulfillment of a vow—causing themselves to die on the side of the mountain and ascend immediately to heaven. Because T’ai Shan was the protector of the emperors and the common people, the god-mountain was also the supreme power over life and death. It determined success or failure in life and in death, honor or condemnation. To the foot of the mountain came all the souls of the dead, according to folk tradition, and the mountain has always been a primary place for honoring and worshipping the ancestors. Until the Communist period started in 1949, T’ai Shan had a vast bureaucracy at its service and temples for its worship in every town. Ten thousand people would climb the mountain each day during the spring season. The pilgrimages

Taize´, France | 539 never stopped, even with Communist disapproval and harassment. When restrictions on pilgrimages were removed a few years ago, local officials were shocked to find that devotion to the ascent had not eroded, and millions again flocked to T’ai Shan. The government has bowed to the inevitable and presently exploits T’ai Shan for tourism. In 1982 they built a road and cable car to the top and in 2005 a renovation program was concluded. In 1987, the mountain was entered onto the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. T’ai Shan is often confused with Wu T’ai Shan, a Buddhist place of pilgrimage in northern China. Part of a complex of nine sacred mountains, it is dedicated to a bodhisattva, a Buddhist saint who has turned away from final bliss in order to serve the needs of struggling humans. The bodhisattva is said to appear as a series of orange globes of light in the night sky. See also: Ancestor Shrines, Emei Shan, Four Sacred Mountains, Mountains, Taoist Sacred Mountains

REFERENCES Charles McLane, T’ai Shan, the Most Holy. London, Kegan Paul, 2007. Susan Naquin and Chun-fang Yu, Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1992. Robert Orr, Religion in China. New York, Friendship Press, 1980.

TAIZE´, FRANCE Taize´ is remarkable as the site of a monastic order that includes both Catholics and Protestants and has

become known worldwide, particularly to young people looking for a deeper spirituality unaffected by modern materialism. The Taize´ spirit incorporates meditation and faith sharing with a respectful acceptance of a wide variety of religious traditions. In 1940, at the onset of the Nazi occupation of France, a young Calvinist, Roger Schutz (1915–2005), embarked on an unusual enterprise. He founded a small religious order with monastic vows but made up of both Protestant and Catholic brothers. Brother Roger chose the tiny hamlet of Taize´ , a few miles from the ruins of the great monastery of Cluny, to establish this ecumenical community. The area is poor and out of the way. During World War II the community sheltered Jews and was raided by the Gestapo. Taize´ includes no great art or architecture. Its buildings are rude and simple. Only the atmosphere is impressive. The main worship center is made of poured concrete, without adornment. It was built by a German group in 1962 as a symbol of reconciliation. The places of prayer are plain—one is an open-sided chapel in a wooded area—but they are also intense. At any hour of day or night the former village church and the large underground Church of Reconciliation are occupied by silent praying figures deep in meditation, the only light coming from small candles placed throughout the room. There are no chairs or pews. The atmosphere of contemplation is powerful yet peaceful. Each evening, vespers is celebrated in the church by candlelight, a moving event where all join in the chants as the white-robed monks enter in procession. Taize´ ’s chants and songs have spread all over the Christian world. The style of shared

540 | Taj Mahal, India

prayer popularized here has spawned numerous groups for “Taize´ prayer” across the Christian world. Taize´ is one of the religious phenomena of recent years. During the summer, the hill on which it sits is taken over by numbers of young people, upwards of 5,000 at once. The sight can be daunting—big tented areas with fields tramped into oozing mud. But somehow a semblance of order and cleanliness is maintained, and the spirit of harmony and joy is infectious. The visitors are by no means all Christians or even believers of any kind. Taize´ brings together people of every faith and none, in its gentle way sharing what it has to offer—simple food, shared chores, prayer, and community. Realizing some years ago that the Taize´ property was inadequate, Brother Roger began holding youth gatherings around Europe, often drawing more than 100,000. Since his death, it has been held in cities in the Third World. Small communities of Taize´ monks have settled in other places—in the slums of an American inner city or among Muslims in North Africa—but Taize´ remains the center. The monastery sits amidst the tents and cinderblock housing, maintaining the rhythm of daily prayer. The community of about ninety is ecumenical, including Protestants of several denominations and Roman Catholics, living and sharing together without a loss of identity. Brother Roger himself and several other monks were considered leading ecumenical scholars. Catholic Mass is celebrated daily in a separate facility, although the vespers is the main communal prayer. The community accepts no donations or gifts but lives from its own work and the sale of publications and pottery.

In 2005, Brother Roger was stabbed to death during the evening prayer by a deranged person. He was succeeded by a German monk whom Brother Roger had chosen beforehand. His funeral was presided over by a Vatican cardinal, a sign of a growing Catholic sensibility at Taize that has been troubling to some.

REFERENCES Jason Santos, A Community Called Taize. Downers Grove, IL, Intervarsity, 2008. Roger Schutz, Brother Roger of Taize: Essential Writings. Maryknoll, NY, Orbis, 2006. Kathryn Spink, A Universal Heart: The Life and Vision of Brother Roger of Taize. Chicago, Gia, second edition, 2006. www.taize.fr.

TAJ MAHAL, INDIA The Taj Mahal is the mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal, first wife of Shah Jehan, the emperor of India. Their relationship is a great love story. She bore him fourteen children and died in childbirth with the last. Shah Jehan loved Mumtaz Mahal deeply in an age when arranged marriages meant that love was uncommon between husband and wife, and he built her mausoleum as a shrine. Not surprisingly, the Taj Mahal is a favorite with lovers and young couples. The Great Gate is actually a substantial building in itself. Arabic calligraphy over it reads: “You are at rest, O Soul. Return to the Lord in peace with him and him with you.” This is inlayed into the white marble with jasper and black marble. The interior of the Taj is magnificent,

Taj Mahal, India | 541 with no expense spared. Thirty types of precious and semiprecious stones were incorporated into the inlays, which are delicately and beautifully wrought. Muslims first settled in northern India in the twelfth century, and from 1527 to 1707 the Mughals ruled an Indian empire of splendid monuments and high culture. The fifth emperor, Shah Jehan (1627– 1658), was a Muslim fundamentalist, rejecting his predecessors’ policies of tolerance. He tore down Hindu temples to erect mosques, which caused resentment from his Hindu subjects. He did follow a policy of architectural creativity, however, and the Taj Mahal is the finest of the monuments he built. The Taj Mahal is not only a jewel of architecture, but its placement within gardens with pools, canals, and fountains at the end of a long approach sets it off. The harmonious structure of white marble is decorated outside and in with elaborate floral patterns and verses from the Qur’an, and the massive size of the building is made delicate and light as a result. Four minarets (prayer towers) anchor the corners of the compound. The Taj took eighteen years to build and involved 20,000 workers, including the best artisans in the subcontinent and from Europe. This extravagance led to Shah Jehan’s being deposed by his son, and Jehan spent his last years under house arrest, gazing from his window at his beloved wife’s shrine. He is buried alongside her in the crypt of the mausoleum (the tomb shrines on the floor level are empty). The decorative motifs are a blend of Hindu and Persian artistry. Today the Taj Mahal is threatened by the theft of precious inlays and air pollution caused by a nearby refinery. Preventive maintenance has been poor.

Taj Mahal Agra, India.

Since 1983 it has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To Westerners, the Taj Mahal seems primarily a tourist spot, and the hordes of casual visitors seem to reinforce that. However, it is also a pilgrim site, and every morning at dawn a stream of Indians come to the Taj. These are not Muslims but Hindus from the villages, come to honor the great persons enshrined in the Taj Mahal. They leave flowers and petitions for health, success in exams, and other needs. There is also a mosque on the grounds used by Islamic pilgrims, and Fridays are active with worshippers.

REFERENCES Ebba Koch, The Complete Taj Mahal. New York, Thames & Hudson, 2006.

542 | Taoist Sacred Mountains, China

Giles Tillotson, Taj Mahal. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 2008. Taj Mahal: The Story of Muslim India. Huntsville, TX, Educational Video Network, no date, video.

TAOIST SACRED MOUNTAINS, CHINA There are two groups of sacred mountains in China, the four Buddhist mountains and the five Taoist ones. All are places of pilgrimage and in fact, the Mandarin Chinese word for “pilgrimage” is a shortened version of “paying homage to the holy mountain.”

The five mountains are arranged according to religious geography, with one at the center and the other four at the cardinal points of the compass. The Center mountain is Song Shan, the East is T’ai Shan, the West is Hua Shan, the North is Bei Heng Shan, and the South is Nan Heng Shan. The creation myth tells of Pangu, the creator of the world, whose body fell to earth. His limbs created the four mountains on the cardinal points, and his head made T’ai Shan. Song Shan, or “Lofty Mountain,” is on the side of the Yellow River. Besides its role in Taoism, it is important to Buddhism as well. The famous Shaolin

Map of China’s Taoist sacred mountains.

Taoist Sacred Mountains, China | 543 Monastery, which originated Zen Buddhism, is on the mountain. One of the oldest Taoist temples, Zhongyue, is also there, along with many Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries and shrines. T’ai Shan, or “Peaceful Mountain,” lies to the East and is the first to greet the rising sun. It symbolizes renewal and new life and is the most sacred of the mountains. Hua Shan, or “Splendid Mountain,” is in Shannxi Province in the west. There are five main peaks. This is the most ancient of the sacred mountains as a religious center; its Western Peak Shrine was recorded by the second century BCE. The Taoists believe that it is a gate to the underworld, whose god resides there. As a consequence, its rituals included spirit mediums and rites for immortality. Today, the China Daoist Society manages the shrines and has established monasteries and nunneries, in part to keep out poachers and illegal loggers. Hua Shan has steep sides, and today a cable car provides an alternative route to the top instead of the 3.75-mile plank path that hangs on the cliffside. Rock climbers jostle with pilgrims along the way, and fatalities are common. There are two Heng Shans, North and South, sometimes identified by those names. Nan Heng Shan, “Balancing Mountain,” is in Shanxi Province and relatively inaccessible. While the mountain itself is sacred to Taoists, it is also the locale of Buddhist monasteries, as is true for all the Taoist Five Sacred Mountains. Most amazing is the Hanging Monastery, which teeters on the side of a sheer cliff with only a few wooden supports. There are forty structures, all wood, that have existed since 491 CE.

Bei Heng Shan, “Permanent Mountain” or “Mountain of Longevity,” is in the south in Hunan province. Being far more accessible than its northern namesake, it has suffered from wars, fires, and wholesale renovations. During the Cultural Revolution, its Grand Temple was deemed bourgeois and antiCommunist, and the Red Guards inflicted considerable damage and destroyed all the ancient scrolls and most statues. Recent Chinese governments have rehabilitated the temple by including it in the Mount Heng Key Tourist Resort Zone. Despite all that, original buildings remain. There are eight Taoist temples and eight Buddhist ones, and a building dedicated to Confucianism. The original statue was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution but has been replaced with a new image to replace the old mountain god. Taoism or Daoism is a nature religion dedicated to the forces that create harmony in the universe. The name means the “way” or the “path.” One who follows the true path lives a life of balance between the forces of tension and disharmony, darkness and light—best illustrated by the symbol of yin and yang, forces that are both complementary and in tension. The teachings of Lao-tzu, a sixth-century sage, embody the philosophy of the Tao. Taoism is primarily a philosophy, but its believers have transformed it into a religion with an extensive pantheon of gods and goddesses who govern all aspects of creation. Above all is the trinity of three Pure Ones, unknowable but able to affect the lives of people. Eight Immortals act as intercessors for those petitioning the gods for some need. Opposed to them are the Demon and his

544 | Taputapuatea, Opoa, Fiji

cohort, who represent the forces of disintegration. Taoism has developed elaborate rituals over the centuries. Its temples, even small village ones, begin the day at dawn with a furious drumming to drive away the evil spirits. There are rituals for placating the gods through worship and offerings. The gods and goddesses are believed to live on the sides of the sacred mountains, where harmony is most possible and nature most pure. See also: Four Sacred Mountains, Mountains, T’ai Shan

REFERENCES Paul Clark, The Chinese Cultural Revolution. New York, Cambridge University, 2008. Russell Kirkland, Taoism: The Enduring Tradition. New York, Routledge, 2004. Susan Naquin and Chun-fang Yu, Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1992.

TAPUTAPUATEA, OPOA, FIJI Taputapuatea was once the religious and cultic center of Eastern Polynesia. It was established before the year 1000 as a large marae complex where priests and sacred navigators gathered to share religious and astronomical learning and to offer sacrifices, including human ones. Maraes are open areas used for cult, with tikis and sacrificial altars. They are sacred places consecrated to the gods and used for ceremonies and sacrifices. From Taputapuatea, Polynesian explorers went out to spread their influence

across the region, colonizing Hawai’i, Roratonga, Morrea, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and New Zealand. In each place a marae was built to provide a spiritual link with Tapatapatea. For many years this was facilitated by a treaty of amity that produced cooperation in navigation and exploration. Somehow, a fight broke out at Taputapuatea during a gathering of chiefs and two leaders were killed. The others fled, pronouncing a curse on the marae that was not lifted until 1995. It was said that under the curse the gods had fled along with the common spirit of cooperation. Oro, god of war and fertility, was born on the shores of Opoa, making it the most sacred place in Polynesia from which his power went out to the other islands. This helps explain the sacred nature of the work of the navigators. The cult of Oro replaced that of the creator god Taaroa, and Taputapuatea marae replaced Taaroa’s marae, which was also on Opoa Bay. Taputapuatea’s interisland influence marked the end of many local cults. The Taputapuatea marae is made up of three massive volcanic platforms. In the center is a large stone where Oro’s power emerges from the place where he dwells in the extinct volcano of Raiatea. Along one side of the marae is a stone wall with stylized carved wood sheets, one for each clan on the islands as a sign that they took part in ceremonies there. “Stones of Investiture” stand at the lagoon entrance; they were part of the official ceremonies and heralded the dominant kings, who in ceremonies would be lifted high and carried around the marae. Animal sacrifice was practiced at all gatherings, but human sacrifice was limited to the most important gatherings of high chiefs.

Tarxien and the Hypogeum, Gozo, Malta | 545 Taputapuatea is today a site for celebrating traditional Polynesian culture. It is a place for the ancient fire-walking ceremony, and the spiritual practice of tattoo is being revived by an international tattooing festival. This has little relation to the decorative body art practiced in the West but is an affirmation of Polynesian spirituality. Polynesian tattoos identify the island of the wearer and the person’s place in society. Before the festival a priest prepares the Umu ti, the fiery volcanic rock used for the fire walking. See also: Nan Madol, Rapa Nui

REFERENCES Robert Kay and Tamara Thompson, Hidden Tahiti. Berkeley, CA, Ulusses, 2003. Marshall Salias, Islands of History. Chicago, University of Chicago, 1987. Hiwi and Pat Tauroa, A Guide to Customs and Protocol: Te Marae. Auckland, New Zealand, Raupo (NZ), 2004.

TARXIEN AND THE HYPOGEUM, GOZO, MALTA The Tarxien and Hypogeum complexes were carved out in Neolithic times between 3600 and 2500 BCE. The Tarxien complex, which is above ground, was built between 3000 and 2500 BCE. Both Tarxien and the Hypogeum were used as temples of the fertility goddess. The Tarxien temples are three structures that are together in one but separated. It is not possible to pass from one to the others. The three temples were built about a hundred years apart. The first

temple is notable for its rich collection of carvings, using spiral designs but also including clear pictographs of ships, cattle, and other domesticated animals. The best known are reliefs of two bulls and a sow with piglets. There is evidence of animal sacrifice, and the carvings may be a way to honor the animals that were used. There is also evidence of human cremation, which would have been parallel to the burials that took place at the temples. In the vestibule there was a large statue of the usual obese woman, probably about six feet high and the main fertility image. What remains are two bulbous legs below a skirt. Archaeologists have a good idea how the temples were constructed, since the builders left the stone rollers used in moving the large stone slabs. The construction techniques show sophistication and engineering competence considered advanced for the Neolithic period. About a hundred yards from Tarxien is the Hypogeum, Hal Saflieni, a Neolithic burial chamber that also functioned as a temple. It is a vast complex of tunnels extending thirty-three feet below ground, with rooms and stairs cut from the rock in a series of excavations between 3300 and 3000 BCE. Some 7,000 sets of human remains have been recovered, along with fertility statuettes. It is the only known prehistoric temple built completely underground. The walls of the oracle room are decorated by red ochre spiral designs. The “Sleeping Lady,” a fertility image found in the Hypogeum, represents a generously proportioned woman lying on her side on a couch. A headless and extremely obese figure of indeterminate sex was also found. All the artifacts have been removed to the Maltese archaeology museum in Valletta to protect them.

546 | Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China See also: Fertility Shrines, Ggantija, Hagar Qim and Mnajdra

REFERENCES Cristine Biaggi, Habitations of the Great Goddess. Manchester, VT, Knowledge, Ideas & Trends, 1994. Brad Olsen, Sacred Places Europe. San Francisco, CCC, 2007. Karen Tate, Sacred Places of Goddess. San Francisco, CCC, 2006.

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, BEIJING, CHINA

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing, built in the 15th century, symbolizes the connection between Earth and heaven. Emperors worshipped many gods and this temple was dedicated to the god of heaven.

Visitors are limited to ten at a time and eighty a day, so that human breath does not affect the stone. One suggestion about the use of the Hypogeum was that it was a place to worship mother earth as the source of life by entering into the womb of the earth. Although the various rooms are known as the Oracle Room, the Snake Pit, and the Holy of Holies, there is no clear notion how they were used, or indeed, if any prophecy took place there. The only sure thing is that the spaces were used for cult of some sort, and that after several centuries, they were adapted as burial chambers. In 1980, the megalithic temples of Malta were placed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites as a group.

The Temple of Heaven is a Taoist temple that was used by the emperors of the Chinese Ming and Qing Dynasties for the annual imperial prayer ceremonies for a bountiful harvest. It was built in 1420 and a century later one of the emperors built three other temples, so that each of the cardinal points of the compass would have its own: the Temple of the Sun (East), the Temple of the Moon (West), and the Temple of the Earth (North). The Temple of Heaven thus is sometimes known as the Southern Temple. It continued to be used for the emperor’s ceremonies until the end of the imperial period. Under the Japanese occupation in 1934, the boy-emperor Pu Yi held a ceremony there to bless the founding of Manchukuo. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a round, three-level gabled pagoda set on a three-level base with walkways around it. The temple was built entirely of wood without using nails. The circular platforms are white marble. One approaches by a long walkway that is very gradually elevated, so that the effect

Teotihuacan, Mexico City, Mexico | 547 is rising from earth to heaven. There were three aisles, one for the gods, another for the emperor, and the third for his consort and court attendants. The interior is lavishly decorated. Richly painted panels circle the inside in rising splendor, featuring dragon motifs. Twenty-eight pillars rise to the top, each made from a single tree trunk. The four main ones, representing the four seasons, are painted in red and gold. Nearby is a smaller version with a single gable and a one level base, the Imperial Vault of Heaven. At one time, it contained stone tablets of the emperor’s ancestors. Outside the Vault is a marble platform, the Circular Mound Altar, also three levels, where the actual prayers were offered by the emperor. In the construction of the buildings, great care was taken to incorporate symbols and Chinese numerology: round for the sun, square for the earth; multiples of the auspicious number nine; and the pattern of the Chinese solar system. When the emperors approached the Temple, no commoner was allowed to see the procession. He first entered the Hall of Abstinence, where he fasted for several days. He then offered the sacrifices, which were regarded as critical to the well-being of the nation. If even the slightest word or gesture were poorly performed, it would be a sign of bad times. The ritual, therefore, was completely stylized and predetermined. Since 1998, the Temple of Heaven has been inscribed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. In 2006, the site underwent an extensive renovation in time for the 2008 Olympics. See also: Taoist Sacred, Mountains

REFERENCES Dazhang Su, Ritual and Ceremonious Buildings. Vienna, Springer, 2002. Susan Naquin and Chun-fang Yu, Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1992.

TEOTIHUACAN, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO Just outside Mexico City lies the ancient city of Teotihuacań, a pre-Aztec center of culture and worship. Between 200 BCE and 650 CE it was the largest city in the Americas with a population of at least 150,000. In 650 it was sacked and burned by the nomadic Chichimecs and went into decline. The Teotihuacańo language is unknown and the monuments are the only records of the people who worshipped there. Even the name is from the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, meaning “birthplace of the gods.” Their gods were recognized and worshipped throughout Central America, however, and are still revered among indigenous peoples. The Aztecs, who controlled the area until 1521, regarded Teotihuacań as the home of the gods but did not use it for worship. They treated Teotihuacań as a place of pilgrimage where the souls of kings were transformed into deities. Teotihuacań is centered around a processional mall two miles long and sixty feet wide. It links two pyramids—the Temple of the Sun and the smaller Temple of the Moon—with the Temple of Quetzalcoátl, the Feathered Serpent, whose great plumed stone head juts out from the base. Each temple is approached by long, wide staircases to

548 | Teotihuacan, Mexico City, Mexico

the top. The temple walls and stairs are decorated with stone carvings of the Feathered Serpent and Tlaloc, the rain and fertility god. The Temple of the Sun measures 720 by 760 feet at the base, approximately the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Built over a clovershaped cavern believed to be the birthplace of Tlaloc, it was the site of a shrine for centuries before the Teotihuacań people arrived. Tlaloc was the chief god, though in time Quetzalcoátl rose to first place. Quetzalcoátl’s temple is small but surrounded by thirty-six acres of ceremonial courtyards used for celebrating holy days set by the astrologer-priests. At such times the population of the city would double as pilgrims poured into Teotihuaca´ n. Led by priests wearing feathered headdresses and bearing pots of burning incense, the people joined in begging the gods for rain and bountiful harvests. People’s social rank was indicated by how close they lived to the temples, and the city was ruled by a priest whose palace was near the Temple of the Sun. Teotihuacań was a trading empire whose influence extended well into Central America. It had more than 350 workshops for obsidian, a glass-like stone that was its main export. Its trade routes served to spread the worship of its gods, and its agents built small temples modeled on its own as far away as Guatemala. Because of later Aztec customs, many assumed that the temples were used for human sacrifice, but Quetzalcoátl was a god of peace and gentleness who did not demand sacrifice. Nevertheless, human remains have been found along with animal sacrifices during excavations. Human sacrifices of captured enemies were probably limited to times

when new structures were consecrated. The ritual sacrifice involved decapitation, having the heart of the victim cut from the living body, or even being buried alive. Such sacrifices guaranteed the prosperity of the city. The legend of Quetzalcoátl, who was a celibate god, recounts how he became drunk at a banquet and was seduced by the goddess of the magic mushroom. In despair at having given up his virginity, which was his claim to godliness, he marched into the sea and disappeared. The Aztecs, who worshipped a bloodthirsty warrior god who was appeased only by cutting the hearts from living human sacrifices, believed that Quetzalcoátl would someday return to usher in a new age of peace. The legend said that Quetzalcoátl would reappear in a white ship, and when the Spaniards arrived in ships with white sails, the Emperor Montezuma believed them messengers of the god. They cleverly exploited this belief to give divine approval to their assault on the Aztec empire. Today Teotihuaca´ n is listed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Cultural Sites and is a major tourist destination. Its sacred tradition continues with New Age devotees, who regard it as an energy center. Teotihuacań’s temples are built in mathematical relationship with one another, and the cave beneath the Pyramid of the Sun is aligned with the constellation Pleiades. An Aztec legend has it that as the sun was dying, the four creator gods refused to throw themselves into a consuming ceremonial fire that would bring forth a new sun. When a minor deity offered himself up, he became the Fifth Sun who ushered in a new age, giving order to the world. In

Thebes and Luxor, Egypt | 549 this, New Age interpreters discover evidence of geomancy, the orientation of buildings and landscape to maximize the powers of nature. These alignments, called ley lines, point observers to further sacred power sites.

REFERENCES Geoffrey Braswell, The Maya and Teotihuacan. Austin, TX, University of Texas, 2004. H.B. Nicholson, Topiltzin Quetzelcoatl: The Once and Future Lord of the Toltecs. Boulder, CO, University of Colorado, 2000. George Stuart, “The Timeless Vision of Teotihuacan,” 188 National Geographic 6:2–35 (December 1995). Saburo Sugiyama, Human Sacrifice, Militarism and Rulership. New York, Cambridge University, 2005.

THEBES AND LUXOR, EGYPT Far down the Nile River from Cairo is the ancient Egyptian temple city of Thebes and Luxor. Modern visitors will find three ancient temple areas in the modern city of Luxor: Luxor Temple, the temples of Karnak, and the complex of Thebes across the Nile River. The site is so ancient (2000 BCE) that even Romans and Greeks visited here as tourists, amazed at the monuments and temples they found in the desert. Thebes was a small state until one of its princes united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt into one, ushering in a period of 250 years of prosperity. After a century of foreign occupation, the New Kingdom (1550–1150 BCE) emerged with its capital at Thebes as one of the

One of two colossal seated statues of Rameses II that sit at the Southern end of the columnade at Luxor Temple.

great powers of the age. The capital city was embellished with grandiose temples worthy of the majesty of the pharaohs, the greatest being Karnak. The temple complex of Karnak, dedicated to Amun, was the center of his worship, and that of his wife Mut and their son Khons. Each of them had a precinct, or area, in the temple complex, although the greatest and largest belonged to Amun. There was also a precinct for Montu, the falcon-headed local god. The temple complex is huge, covering a site almost a mile by two miles. Massive size is a characteristic of ancient Egyptian monuments, and active construction went on over a period of 900 years, with each pharaoh leaving a new temple, shrine, or pylon (monumental gateway). Through several dynasties, each pharaoh added to the complex, leaving detailed hieroglyphic inscriptions across every surface

550 | Thebes and Luxor, Egypt

of its buildings. There are more than twenty-five temples and chapels in the complex, including separate shrines for the three boats that took the statues of the gods on their annual trip on the flooding Nile. Sanctuaries, obelisks, and groups of columns all feature accounts of the heroic deeds of the sponsoring pharaoh. Pharaoh Tuthmose III (r. 1479– 1425 BCE) built a Wall of Records celebrating his achievements and conquests, all in the name and for the glory of Amun. Early in this period, Tuthmose I (r. 1506–1495? BCE ) built a tomb for himself in what was to become the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the Nile. His daughter, Hatshepsut (r. 1479–1458 BCE), a rare female pharaoh, built a grand funeral temple for her last resting place. The royal tombs were among the most important religious monuments in the kingdom, where dead pharaohs were often revered as gods. One pharaoh, Akhenaton (r. 1380–1362 BCE ), with his beautiful wife Nefertiti, abandoned the traditional worship of Amun, the god of Thebes, and took up the worship of Aten, the Sun God. He built a temple to Aten at Karnak and moved to a new capital. After his death, the Theban priests destroyed all signs of sun worship, including the temple that defiled Karnak, and the religious center returned to Thebes. Perhaps the most awe-inspiring sight at Karnak is the Great Hypostyle, a hall filled with 134 enormous pillars, the highest seventy feet, and each about forty-five feet around. One is overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the entire complex. It must have impressed every visitor, Egyptian and foreign alike, with the majesty of the god who inspired

it and was the state deity. In the complex was also a Sacred Lake, more than a hundred yards long, used by the priests for purification rites before conducting ceremonies in the temples. At one time there was also a processional Sacred Way, flanked by rows of sphinxes, that stretched the two miles from Karnak to Luxor Temple. Luxor Temple was also dedicated to Amun, a creator god often fused with the sun god Ra into one, Amun Ra. Each year, to ensure the flooding of the Nile that was necessary to national prosperity, the statues of Amun, Mut (goddess of war), and Khons (the moon god) were sailed down the river to Karnak for a great festival. Luxor Temple is quite large and once housed a village within its walls. It has several pylons that are themselves some seventy yards long. The first pylon is more than seventy feet high, fronted by massive statues and several obelisks. There are several open areas, once used for various forms of worship but now empty. Later inclusions are a shrine to Alexander the Great, a Roman sanctuary, and an Islamic shrine to a thirteenth-century holy man. One shrine is the Birth Room, with wall paintings showing one pharaoh’s claim to have been fathered by Amun, and therefore of divine descent. The West Bank was a vast City of the Dead, a necropolis where funeral cults were practiced. The great (and not-sogreat) were buried in majestic monuments, cliff tombs, or ordinary mausoleums. Many funeral temples of the pharaohs were simply places for this cult, while the body was placed in a secret and sumptuous tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The queens were buried in the Valley of the Queens.

Theotokos of Vladimir, Moscow, Russia | 551 Each tomb has a long shaft, some more than a hundred yards long, symbolic of entering the underworld and leading to a burial chamber. The walls were painted with themes from various books of the dead. The sun god Ra was believed to cross the valley each night, where the dead could enter his ship if they knew the right magic texts, which were part of the wall decorations. After judgment and victory over the powers of death, the pharaoh could enter into eternal life with Amun Ra. Most impressive is the tomb of Hatshepsut, set into the cliffs of the mountains. She herself was a divine king and wore a false beard as a pharaonic sign. A hundred-foot-wide causeway leads to the temple, with three terraced courtyards, all covered with sculptured reliefs. Most of the carvings of the queen herself were obliterated by her stepson and successor, who hated her for the way she treated him while he was heir. There are a hundred tombs in the Valley of the Nobles and seventy-five in the Valley of the Queens, not to mention several temple complexes, individual shrines, and many chapels. The cult of death and the lifelong preparation for the afterlife were the focus of Egyptian religion, and the West Bank tombs and sanctuaries are mute testimony to this obsession. Unfortunately, despite the best security of the age, few burial sites escaped the grave robbers. Quite aside from the ancient pharaonic monuments is a much more recent one in the town. The mausoleum of El Mekashtash honors a tenth-century Muslim saint who left a Coptic monastery and abandoned Christianity to convert to Islam. It is a popular Muslim pilgrimage site for the region.

REFERENCES Abeer El-Shaawy, Luxor Museum: The Glory of Ancient Thebes. Cairo, American University of Cairo, 2006. Michael Haag, Luxor Illustrated. Cairo, American University of Cairo, 2010. Donald Redford, “The Monotheism of the Heretic Pharaoh,” 13 Biblical Archaeology Review 3:16–32 (MayJune 1987). Nigel and Helen Strudwick, Thebes in Egypt: A Guide to the Tombs and Temples of Ancient Luxor. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University, 1999.

THEOTOKOS OF VLADIMIR, MOSCOW, RUSSIA The most precious icon of Russian Orthodoxy, the Theotokos of Vladimir has become a devotional object far beyond either Russia or Orthodoxy. Copies are found in churches and homes, and even among other Christians. It has its own feast, June 3 in the Russian Church, and is considered the protectress of Russia. “Theotokos” means “God-Bearer or “Mother of God” and is the highest title of the Virgin Mary in Orthodox spirituality. During the Arian crisis in the fourth century, many Christians denied the traditional doctrine of the divinity of Jesus and by inference, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and the Theotokos became a rallying cry for the Orthodox. When the Council of Nicea (325) defined Mary as the Mother of God, crowds of people surged through the streets by torchlight, cheering and chanting “Theotokos.” The condemnation of

552 | Thousand Buddhas Caves, Dunhuang, China

Arianism was a strong affirmation of the doctrines of Jesus’ divinity and of the Trinity. The Trinity would emerge later as another major theme for Russian icons. The origins of the icon are somewhere in the Middle Ages, although legend ascribes it to St. Luke the Evangelist, who supposedly painted it from life. It is recorded in the twelfth century, however, as a gift to the Grand Duke of Kiev. When his son tried to move it to another location, tradition says that the horses drawing the cart refused to go beyond Vladimir. This the people took as a sign from God, and the sumptuous Assumption Cathedral was built to house the icon. In 1395, a Tatar invasion prompted removal of the icon to Moscow, which then refused to return it. It was placed in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin, where it was credited with repulsing two fifteenth-century Tartar attacks on the city. The icon became a symbol of the Russian nation and was used as part of the consecration of Czars. Josef Stalin, the atheist Communist dictator, cynically manipulated the legend of the icon by having it taken through the streets of Moscow during the German siege in World War II. Within a few days, the Germans began their retreat from the city, which the faithful credited to the Theotokos. The icon was not returned to the cathedral, however, but placed in the Tretyakov Gallery as part of the Soviet policy of reducing the religious authority of icons. It was returned to the Orthodox Church in 1998. The Theotokos of Vladimir is considered the most typical example of Byzantine iconography. Like a relic, the icon shares in the sanctity and glory of

its prototype, in this case the Virgin Mary. It is of the type called Eleusa, meaning “Virgin of Tenderness.” Mary is shown holding the Christ Child, who snuggles against her cheek. Aside from its protection of the nation and people, the Theotokos of Vladimir is not known primarily as a miracle-working icon. Despite all, the icon inspires great devotion. During the worst of the Communist period, one commonly saw Russians in the Tretyakov, seeking out the icon for prayer and reverence, under the baleful eyes of the guards. They would chant under their breath and perhaps carry a flower, even though they were forbidden to leave any ex-votos. Only one other icon received this level of devotion, the “Holy Trinity” of Andrei Rublyov. See also: Icons

REFERENCES Jim Frost, Praying With Icons. Maryknoll, NY, Orbis, revised edition, 2008. Gerold Vzdornov et al., The Russian Icon. Collegeville, MN, Liturgical, 1997. Irina Zazykova, Hidden and Triumphant: The Underground Struggle to Save Russian Iconography. Brewster, MA, Paraclete, 2010.

THOUSAND BUDDHAS CAVES, DUNHUANG, CHINA In 366 CE, a monk traveling in northwest China near the Mongolian border had a vision of a thousand golden Buddhas,

Thousand Buddhas Caves, Dunhuang, China | 553 which inspired him to carve a cave out of the nearby sandstone cliffs as a sanctuary. Over the next 1,000 years, hundreds of caves were cut in these cliffs in a honeycomb pattern, connected by ladders and walkways. They became the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, also known as the Mogao Caves. The caves were used for meditation and for rest along the Silk Road, the world’s oldest continuous trade route. Along the way the caravans passed through the Gobi, some of the most challenging desert country known. Trade goods were not the only things exchanged; Buddhism spread across the area from India. Even the first Nestorian Christians entered China over the Silk Road. It crossed harsh, waterless terrain, connecting China with the Mediterranean. A southern branch originated in India and became the route over which Buddhism was brought to China. The caves are sacred because they mark the place where Buddhism entered China and from which it spread. The Silk Road was a major path for the expansion of Buddhism, and many travelers stopped at the caves to renew their faith as they pushed on to unknown lands. Wealthy traders often commissioned the decoration of a cave as a thank-offering for a safe and prosperous trip. Stencils were invented at the caves, and devout traders took images of the Buddha with them, either as mementos or as aids to help them teach their religion on their journey. The decline of the caves began when Vasco da Gama’s discovery of a sea route to the East made the Silk Road less important. A range of sheer cliffs a hundred feet high drops to a river below, offering a

place for shrines and water for monks and artists. The Buddhists carved out more than 800 caves populated with thousands of Buddhas, representing him in every stage of his life. The first cave has been dated at 538 CE and the last in the fourteenth century. During the decline of the Silk Road, Islam began its march from Central Asia into western China, where it is still the dominant faith. Gradually, the Buddhist faith was reduced to a much smaller presence. Once richly decorated with paintings and embroidered silk wall hangings, the caves and their attached monasteries were gradually abandoned and lay forgotten by the outside world from the eighth century CE until around 1900. The monks, perhaps fearing a Muslim invasion, sealed up the sacred manuscripts in one of the caves, where they remained undisturbed for 900 years. In 1907 after the manuscript cave was rediscovered, a British adventurer purchased twenty-four cases of scrolls from a workman for a few hundred pounds sterling. The prize acquisition was a ninth-century wood block print of the Diamond Sutra, the earliest-known printed book, created 600 years before the Gutenberg Bible. Shortly after, French, Japanese, and Russian expeditions took more of the manuscripts, until the Chinese imperial government ordered all that remained to be shipped to Peking (Beijing) for safekeeping. In 1924, an American cut out a sculpture that now rests in the Harvard Art Museum and stripped away twenty-six of the murals. These rank with the looting of Greece’s Elgin Marbles as one of the worst cultural atrocities of the colonial era. Today, the new enemy is the horde of tourists (about 500,000 a

554 | Thousand Buddhas Caves, Dunhuang, China

year) who trek through the caves. Forty caves are open on a rotating basis to protect the murals from human breath. The caves have been listed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites since 1987. The caves, which vary in size, are all marked, numbered, and dated. Most have vivid wall paintings of the life of the Buddha and the bodhisattvas, Buddhist saints who have sacrificed the entry to enlightenment in order to bring blessings and help to ordinary people on their spiritual journey. Done on a thin layer of porcelain china laid over plaster, the wall paintings cover 484,000 square feet and reveal a great deal about Buddhist popular religion. One large mural shows thousands of treasures raining down like heavenly flowers on 72,000 devotees as one of the bodhisattvas preaches. Some temples are painted with guardian figures—bare-chested, muscular, and aggressive—to keep the evil spirits at bay. All the caves originally contained brightly painted statues, and 2,300 of these remain in the 492 mural caves that have endured erosion and pillage. Their colors are in excellent condition due to the dry climate. They cover 450,000 square feet of the walls. The Mogao Caves contain the most extensive collection of Buddhist art in the world. The caves are artistically important because they show the distinctive styles of each of the eight dynasties during which they were carved. The caves are a riot of color, one of most important collections of Buddhist art in the world. The paintings served as aids to meditation and teaching tools that the monks used for explaining Buddhism to the illiterate. There are walls of jatakas, or tales of the Buddha’s past lives.

The murals sponsored by the emperors tend to depict court scenes and Buddhist saints. More than 2,000 Buddha statues are found in the caves. In Buddhist thought, the image of the “thousand Buddhas” is a sign of eternity. Surprisingly little was looted, although early in the last century many priceless manuscripts of Buddhist scriptures were stolen. Amazingly, the Mogao Caves survived the destruction of the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. Many of the undecorated caves are quite tiny and were originally cut out as hermitages for monks. Only when individual hermits banded together to form monastic communities did they begin the process of creating worship spaces and installing Buddha statues. In time, rulers became sponsors and benefactors, and the statues often show their likenesses on their bases. One of the most striking statues is the seventy-five-foot Buddha carved from the rock face and plastered. It is located in what is known as the Nine-Storey Temple, where it looks out through a small window at the scene below. The Dunhuang Academy is in charge of restoration and study of the grottoes, led by Dr. Fan Jinshi, a scholar who has been there since 1963. She has fostered technological advances and directs a staff of 300. An interpretive center has just opened a distance away, with digitalized images of the murals and films. It is a required stop for all tourists, who then are taken to the site and allowed to enter one or two caves. It is hoped that this will reduce the damage caused by the large number of visitors. A previously unexplored set of caves is now being opened by scholars, who have discovered worship

Tinos, Greece | 555 caves, burial chambers, and storage areas for the monks. See also: Caves

REFERENCES Jan Myrdal, The Silk Road. New York, Pantheon, 1979. Reza, “Pilgrimage to China’s Buddhist Caves,” 189 National Geographic 4:53–63 (April 1996). Fan Jinshi and Shengliang Zhao, The Art of Mogao Grottoes in Dunghuang. Paramus, NJ, Homa & Sekey, 2009. Brooke Larmer, “China’s Caves of Faith,” 217 National Geographic 6:124–145 (June 2010). Roderick Whitfield et al., Cave Temples of Mogao. Los Angeles, Getty Museum, 2000.

TINOS, GREECE Tinos, a small Greek island, is dominated by the national shrine of Panagıá Evangelı´stria, whose treasure is a healing icon of the Virgin Mary. In 1823, in the midst of the Greek Revolution against Turkey, a Tiniote nun, Agia (Saint) Pelagia, received two visions in dreams in which the Virgin revealed the hiding place of a miraculous icon. The bishop dismissed her reports until a plague devastated the island. When a third vision promised relief, he agreed to a search, and the plague ended when the icon was uncovered within the ruins of an ancient chapel. Agia Pelagia has been recognized as a saint by the Greek Orthodox Church. Shortly after the icon was found, an imposing neoclassical shrine church was built of white marble. The icon is

kept directly over the spot where it was found, a cave with a sacred spring. It shows Mary seated, with the Archangel Gabriel announcing to her that she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. However, it is normally covered completely by scores of gold and silver votive offerings, shielding it from view. The icon is called Panagia Evangelistria, Our Lady of Good Tidings. On March 25 (which is both Greek Independence Day and the Feast of the Annunciation) and on August 15 (Assumption Day), major pilgrimages fill the town with worshippers, and on Assumption Day each year, several thousand worshippers are baptized. Because of the large number of visitors and miraculous cures among the pilgrims, Tinos is sometimes referred to as the “Lourdes of Greece.” Covered arcades are set up alongside the church to shield the sick from the sun as they await the daily blessing with the icon. Numerous ex-votos line the walls to testify to cures: tiny silver pieces in the forms of legs, ears, or hands that have been healed. One striking ex-voto is a silver and gold orange tree, given by a blind man who promised the Virgin an ex-voto of the first thing he saw, if his sight would be restored. The Greek government’s Ministry of Religious Affairs reports two to four cures in each pilgrimage period. From the offerings of pilgrims, the shrine supports an orphanage, a home for the elderly, and a technical school for artists. The church is named for the Annunciation, and Our Lady of Tinos has been proclaimed the patron saint of Greece. Besides the two major feast days, pilgrims come on January 30, the anniversary of the finding of the icon,

556 | Titicaca, Copacabana, Bolivia

and July 23, the date of Agia Pelagia’s vision. Tinos was the last bastion of Venetian power in the Cyclades, remaining under their control from 1453 to 1718, despite numerous Turkish assaults. The revelation of the Virgin at Tinos, therefore, is tied to both the Orthodox faith and Greek national aspirations. Though Tinos is operated as a religious shrine, it is supervised by an official of the Religious Affairs Ministry of the Greek government. The island population is half Latin Catholic, however, a legacy of the Venetian occupation, and the shrine is revered by both Catholics and Orthodox. A small Catholic shrine elsewhere on the island is also dedicated to Our Lady of Tinos. See also: Marian Apparitions, Wells and Springs

REFERENCES Demetrius Constantelos, Understanding the Greek Orthodox Church. New York, Seabury, 1982. Jill Dubisch, In a Different Place: Pilgrimage, Gender and Politics in a Greek Island Shrine. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, 1995.

TITICACA, COPACABANA, BOLIVIA Lake Titicaca is on the border between Bolivia and Peru. It was sacred to the Inca, who believed that the creator god, Viracocha, arose out of a great flood to create the sun, the moon, the stars, and the first humans. After creating the sun (Inti) and the moon (Kilya), he formed the first man and woman from stones

and sent them forth to propagate. As the first people, the Incas believed that their spirits returned to Lake Titicaca after death. Much of this the Incas took from the earlier Tiahuanco people, who also settled along the lake before them and left a lasting impression of their religion. There are forty-one islands in the lake, but the most sacred is the Island of the Sun, home of the sun god Inti. On its north side is a labyrinthine complex of stone mazes known as Chincana. Along the way, there are several markers—a stone carved as a puma and two footprints of the sun god. There was a sacred rock (Titikala) where the sun and moon were born, and a sun temple was constructed there. At the sacred rock, virgins were sacrificed to the sun god, as were llamas and other animals. The tenth Inca built a nunnery for mamaconas, or “chosen women,” and a hostel for pilgrims. The mamconas tended the shrine. The pilgrimages were highly orchestrated by the Inca state, with temples and a support infrastructure. The chincana was used to store sacred maize. The sun and moon represented the male and female principles; the Inca was the son of the Sun and his consort, the Coya, daughter of the Moon. The emperor was the sole mediator between the people and the powers of heaven. On the opposite side of the island is Yumani. Here are 206 steps that lead up to a sacred spring that runs underground from Chincana and emerges here. Modern tourism promotes it as the “fountain of youth.” The Island of the Moon is the home of the goddess Kilya or Quila. On the island, the Incas installed women known as the “Virgins of the Sun” to offer ceremonies to the sun. This nunnery was

Tiwanaku, Bolivia | 557 known as Inak Uyu, where the virgins tended an eternal flame. After a time of service, they were married to Incan nobles. There was a main temple to the moon and a number of subsidiary temples. The sun cult was universal for the Inca people, but the lunar cult was left largely to women, who made offerings at the lunar eclipse and at times of childbirth. Copacabana is the main town on the shores of the lake and the departure point for boats to the Isla del Sol. The town has the main Christian shrine, the Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana, the national patroness of Bolivia. The sixteenthcentury basilica is a striking white, in typical Spanish colonial style. It was built over a temple to the ancient Andean fertility god, Kotakawana. There is evidence that the name of the god is the origin of the name of the town. After the conversion of the region to Christianity, the grandson of the Inca ruler was so impressed by a statue of the Virgin that he had seen in Peru that he tried to carve one. His first attempts failed, but he persisted until he learned the craft and in 1576 produced the statue now in the basilica, carved from the wood of the maguey cactus. It is a “dark Virgin” known for its miraculous works. It is four feet tall, with a gold spray above her head (the sun) and a silver ship at her feet (the moon). She stands on a rotating base facing a small chapel, but on Sundays, the statue is turned so that it faces the congregation in the main church sanctuary. The setting of the statue is sumptuous. A magnificent rococo rererdos rises up behind the altar, so intricately carved as to dazzle the eye. During the centuries the basilica endured an Indian uprising against the

Spaniards, the national revolution, and periods of government instability. It has been pillaged, desecrated, and robbed even by its custodians. In 1879, the Bolivian government appropriated its valuables to help finance the War of the Pacific against Chile. The basilica is in poor condition, but the chapel of the statue has never been disturbed. During the main festivals, thousands throng the streets and the plaza, especially on the feast, August 6. Celebrations include Andean dances that harken back to the precolonial, pre-Christian era. In a more modern style, every weekend cars and trucks that are wildly decorated with flags, banners, and flowers are ritually blessed with alcohol in a prayer for road safety. See also: Tiwanaku, Urkupina Festival, Wells and Springs

REFERENCES Brian Basser and Charles Stanish, Ritual and Pilgrimage in the Ancient Andes: The Islands of the Sun and Moon. Austin, TX, University of Texas, 2001. Veronica Salles-Reese, From Viracocha to the Virgin of Copacabana. Austin, TX, University of Texas, 1997. Charles Stanish, Ancient Titicaca. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 2003.

TIWANAKU, BOLIVIA Tiwanaku, on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca, is a pre-Incan sacred place that flourished between 500 and 900 CE . Although the Tiahuanco people had passed from history by 1200, their

558 | Tokyo, Japan

religious influence lived on among the Incas. They expanded into a significant coastal empire and in the process imposed their religious beliefs as a state cult. Religion, along with trade, was their major means of imperial expansion. The Tiahuanco left monumental temples, gates, and statues. Although much of the pottery and gold artifacts were looted or destroyed, massive stone structures still exist. Unfortunately, some of them were used as convenient quarries by later builders and even smashed into rubble for construction of the local railway. The main temple, the Kalasasaya, sits on a nine-foot base approached by a large stairway. This leads into the portico and the ruins of the priests’ quarters. The Portal of the Sun, a forty-four-ton monolith, was perhaps used as a solar observatory. Its opposite, the Portal of the Moon is, like it, carved from a single block of stone. They have relief carvings of a deity, animals, and abstract designs. The Akapana, a cross-shaped pyramid, is 845 feet in length, 645 in width, and fifty-four feet high. Although it has been altered by excavators looking for treasure, a stairway with sculptured figures of pumas and humans survives. Another man-made pyramid, the Pumapunku, is rectangular and much larger, although only fifteen feet high. These, along with other structures, all had cultic purposes, even though how they were used is not clear. The Akapana has yielded evidence of human sacrifice, all male, which seems to have been part of dedication ceremonies to the gods. The offered man would be disemboweled and then cut apart and his body displayed to the sun. There were also ritual beheadings, attested to by sculptures of stylized figures holding severed heads.

Tiahuanco religion was based on a creator god, Viracocha, who ruled a pantheon of lesser gods. His visage is carved into the Portal of the Sun, from which he oversees his people. There is also evidence of ancestor worship and burial rites at Tiwanaku. His worship was taken up by the Incas who followed the Tiahuanco. A rectangular sunken temple, seventyfive feet square, is decorated by 175 sculptures of human faces. There is also a Portal of the Puma with megaliths weighing hundreds of tons. All the stone for these monuments was quarried and moved for distances ranging from a short distance to forty or more miles away. At the solstice on June 21, thousands of people still converge on Tiwanaku for a festival of feasting, sacrifices of llamas, dancing, and general revelry. The festival attracts New Age devotees from abroad as well as locals. In 2000, Tiwanuku was inscribed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. See also: Titicaca

REFERENCES John Janusek, Ancient Tiwanaku. New York, Cambridge University, 2008. Margaret Young-Sanchez, Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Incas. Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska, 2004.

TOKYO, JAPAN As the capital of imperial Japan, Tokyo became a major world city and industrial crossroads as well as the center of Japanese culture. Both Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are prominent in the

Tokyo, Japan | 559 city, and often the two traditions are intertwined in a unique Japanese style. Modern Tokyo often presses around these religious centers, but they retain their vitality and popularity. Hie Jinja Shrine honors Sanno Gongen (+1333), a legendary warrior who was declared a god at his death. Sanno became the guardian god of the Tokugawa imperial dynasty (1603–1867), and in 1882 Hie Jinja was designated a government shrine. Traditionally, Sanno is offered swords and sabers as tribute, and the thirty-one finest of these are to be seen in the treasury. Women come here for protection against miscarriages, and a courtyard statue of a female monkey holding her offspring is usually decorated with red scarves as thank-offerings. Kanda Myojin Shrine is small, with a number of buildings compressed into a city block and thrust up against a parking garage. The shrine honors Jizo, patron of children—a joyous and smiling god holding a sack of grain as a symbol of plenty. There is a picnic atmosphere to the place, and Kanda Myojin has always been associated with popular entertainment. Until 1945 it was in a geisha district, and later a wildly popular detective series set in the neighborhood ran on television for eighteen years. Concession stands surround the main plaza, where visitors can have their photos taken as samurai warriors. The annual festival draws 108 neighborhood portable shrines and floats from every source—the horse-drawn Budweiser beer wagon is always featured. The temple’s four-ton portable shrine is carried in rotation by 1,600 cheering men in happi jackets, led by geishas. The shrine has a golden rooster on top and a little chicken coop inside.

Meiji Jingu Shrine has no roots in the nature-worshipping Shinto tradition. It enshrines the spirits of the Emperor Meiji (1867–1912) and his consort Empress Shoˆ ken, under whose reign Shinto became the state religion and the base of Japanese nationalism. The shrine is set in 175 acres of parkland, with 100,000 plants and trees representing every species found in Japan. The main path is flanked by ginko trees, and the shrine hall is built of finest Japanese cypress wood. A treasure house displays items from the lives of the emperor and empress, and an art gallery features scenes from their lives. Both of these are intended to evoke the virtues of the imperial couple, now revered as gods. The present structures are 1958 reconstructions. The Senkgakuji Temple, founded in 1612, is the burial site of forty-seven samurai (warrior knights) who committed ritual suicide in 1702 to protest the unjust treatment of their leader by a feudal lord. This account of personal loyalty—a preeminent Japanese virtue—is taught to every schoolchild, and ceremonies are still held in honor of the forty-seven samurai. Senso-ji Temple is in Asakusa, a neighborhood that began as a temple town centuries ago. The area has also long been the location of much of Tokyo’s cheap and seedy entertainment, so the entry to the temple is abrupt and without surrounding gardens or greenery. A massive gate marks the entrance to the sacred precincts, but instead of the usual pathway, the visitor negotiates a corridor of theatrical cosmetics shops and souvenir sellers. There is a five-story pagoda and a large bronze incense burner where pilgrims purify themselves by bathing their hands and feet in the incense.

560 | Tooth Temple, Kandy, Sri Lanka

The focus of Senso-ji is the statue of Kannon, Goddess of Mercy, supposedly found in the Sumida River by the Hinokuma brothers, to whom the temple is actually dedicated. The temple was built to house the statue in 1649, but it is buried beneath the main hall and has never been seen. Since Asakusa is an entertainment district, the temple is especially beloved of kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, and geishas. The annual Sanja Festival brings huge crowds to Senso-ji, when more than 100 large shrines are carried by groups of men in a grand procession. Many men strip their tunics to the waist to expose tattooed bodies, often in the symbols of the Japanese criminal underworld. Yasukuni Jinja Shrine, built to enshrine the spirits of Japan’s military war dead, is ironically named “Peaceful Land.” All its priests up to 1945 were appointed by the Ministry of War and held the rank of colonel. After the war, the shrine was closed briefly and its war memorials removed. In 1957, they were restored, and as a further statement, in 1979 the spirits of Japan’s executed war criminals were enshrined. In 1985, a memorial to the kamikaze (suicide) war cult was erected. Much of this is contained in the military museum, which features a locomotive from the Burma railway, a Zero fighter, and human torpedoes, alongside regimental flags and items from past wars. See also: Shinto Shrines, Yasukuni Jinja

REFERENCES C. Scott Littleton, Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Scared Places. New York, Oxford University, 2002.

Shinto: Nature, Gods and Man in Japan. New York, Japan Society, 1977, video.

TOOTH TEMPLE, KANDY, SRI LANKA The Temple of the Tooth enshrines one of the most sacred relics of the Buddha. Begun in the seventeenth century to house a tooth of the Buddha, it was built up over the next two centuries. Because the temple was severely damaged by the eighteenth-century anticolonial wars against the Portuguese and the Dutch, the original wooden structures have been restored in stone. From the outside, the buildings are a low-lying collection, neither magnificent nor elaborately decorated. White with red roofs, they cluster around a lake with a rectangular island that housed the king’s harem in precolonial times. The inside of the shrine buildings provides a striking contrast to the plain exteriors, richly carved and decorated with inlaid woods, ivory, and lacquer. Around the entire complex is a low stone wall, delicately but simply carved with openings that give a filigree effect. During celebrations, candles are placed in the holes, lighting up the entire front. The king’s palace is also in the temple compound. Nearby is the two-story inner shrine where the relic is kept, fronted by two large ivory elephant tusks. The relic is encased in a series of jeweled caskets that rest on a solid gold lotus flower, which in turn sits on a throne. According to tradition, the tooth was smuggled into Ceylon in 313 CE, hidden in the hair of a princess fleeing the Hindu armies besieging her father’s

Tooth Temple, Kandy, Sri Lanka | 561 kingdom in India. Her unique gift immediately became an object of great reverence in Buddhist Ceylon and was encased in a series of nested jeweled reliquaries, each one more elaborate than the last. It was brought out for special occasions and paraded among the people on the backs of elephants, which are sacred to the Buddha. When the capital of Ceylon was moved, the tooth was taken to the new city and placed in temples built to honor it. The present temple in Kandy, in the interior of the country (named Sri Lanka since independence in 1972), is a national center symbolizing not only the Buddhist faith of the majority of the people but also Ceylonese national identity and pride. The tooth is only removed from its votive chapel for the annual ten-day feast of Esala Perahera, which takes place during the full moon in late July or early August. The festival brings together all ranks of Sri Lankan society in a vast throng of devotees who gather to honor the Buddha. Because of the national character of the shrine, many Tamil Hindus and mixed-blood Christians take part as an expression of their common cultural heritage. Each evening, the casket bearing the tooth is taken from the temple in a spectacular procession that lasts for several hours. Whip-cracking porters clear the way through the throngs of pilgrims, followed by teams of musicians, jugglers, torch bearers, boy dancers, and acrobats, and members of noble families in traditional Ceylonese garb. More than a hundred elephants, decked out in elaborate finery, march before the relic, which is carried on the back of a splendidly adorned elephant flanked by two perfectly matched smaller elephants. The throng presses on every side, mixed

with pilgrims burning incense and Hindu fakirs performing feats of penance, piercing themselves with skewers, or walking on red-hot coals. On the last night, the procession goes from the city to the temple, led by elders in the costumes of the ancient kings of Kandy. The procession is lit by candles held by the marchers, who flow into the temple compound to encircle the shrine, following the route of the sun in its course across the skies. Attendance at the Esala Perahera is about a million, with lines of more than a mile where people wait patiently for a chance to see the relic in a glass casket. There are four great festivals held at Kandy. The New Harvest Festival in January celebrates the rice harvest with offerings of the new rice. The New Year Festival is held in April. The July Festival or Sri Dalada Perahera commemorates the fourth-century arrival of the Tooth to Sri Lanka. At the Kartika Festival in November, oil from the temple is distributed to various temple officials; this has strong Hindu roots. Ceylonese Buddhists and Tamil Hindus, who arrived in the third century, have always had a strong and sometimes bitter rivalry. Buddhist stories abound of times when the Tamils were defeated by a Ceylonese king carrying a relic of the Buddha. The kings came to be regarded as bodhisattvas, Buddhist saints who forgo buddhahood in order to help their people. Armed conflict between the central government, representing the Buddhist majority, and an insurgent group called the Tamil Tigers continued until recent years and rendered much of northern Sri Lanka unsafe for visitors. Twice in recent years, guerilla groups have attacked the shrine, but it has not

562 | Touba, Senegal

been harmed. As a consequence, though the casket is paraded, the relic itself is rarely displayed during the feast. The last time was in 1990. The president and leaders of Sri Lanka, however, still continue the nationalist Buddhist tradition in a ceremony in which they dedicate their service to the people in the presence of the sacred relic.

REFERENCES Anuradha Seneviratna, The Kandy Asala Perehera. Colombo, Sri Lanka, Vijitha Yapa, third edition, 2008. Man on Cloud Mountain. Cos Cob, CT, Hartley Film Foundation, 1992, video. www.sridaladamaligawa.lk.

TOUBA, SENEGAL Touba is a holy city to an important Islamic Sufi order, the Mouride Brotherhood, and is governed completely by them. The city (population about 300,000) is exempt from most Senegalese government authority and does not even appear on official maps. This status reflects its religious meaning: Tuˆbaˆ is the Tree of Paradise in the Holy Qur’an. It grows at the edge of the heavens that humans inhabit in the next life and the place where Allah dwells. It is the closest that a Muslim can come to Allah, and the city of Touba, therefore, is considered the abode of the most righteous, the “gate of eternity” for the faithful. Cheik Amadou Bamba (1850?–1927) founded the Mouride Brotherhood, which now counts several million members in Senegal, West Africa. In 1886 he had several visions that made him the

focus of an Islamic prophetic movement as well as a symbol of resistance to French colonial power. He was exiled in 1895. When he was allowed to return home in 1902, his followers declared this a miracle, so the French sent him away again. During this exile he founded his brotherhood, and finally he returned to Senegal for good in 1907. Cheik Bamba taught that salvation came through hard work and total submission to the marabouts, or religious leaders. He commanded his followers to cultivate peanuts, which soon became the leading export crop of the country and made the brotherhood wealthy. Four of Bamba’s sons succeeded him in order, and the city is governed by their male descendants today. The holiness of the city was supposedly revealed to Amadou Bamba in a vision, and it was here that he attained nearness to Allah. While he never claimed to be a prophet, which would have been a profanation of Islam, he declared himself one of God’s messengers, whom the devout believe are sent every century. His tomb is in the Great Mosque with its towering (260-foot) central minaret, the focal point of the city and a symbolic representation of the Tree of Paradise. It is covered by a gilded screen through which the tomb can be seen. The entire urban plan of Touba is oriented toward Mecca, as determined by the alignment of the mosque. The mausoleum is the object of the pilgrims’ veneration, because the Archangel Gabriel is believed to have been sent by Allah to reveal to Bamba that the people of the entire world would one day come to his sanctuary to be freed from their sins. Each year, Amadou Bamba’s 1907 return

Trier, Germany | 563 from exile is commemorated in a pilgrimage called the Grand Megal. Around 500,000 people take part, about half the annual number of pilgrims to Amadou Bamba’s mausoleum. The Grand Magal takes place forty-eight days after the start of the Islamic new year and lasts three days. Near the mosque, directly on a line toward Mecca, lies the cemetery, where the pious believe that burial assures entry into Paradise. At its center is a massive baobab tree, chosen by Bamba as the place for the burial of his first wife, whose death shortly after the foundation of Touba is regarded as the sacrifice that consecrated the city. Pilgrims carve their names on the trunk of the baobab to insure that they will be counted among the saved whom Amadou Bamba will lead into Paradise on the Last Day. The residential areas are organized around the center and usually feature some place associated with Amadou Bamba, such as a spot where he received a vision. Several have sacred trees that are held in veneration. On the outskirts of Touba is a demonstration farm to teach modern agriculture and reinforce Amadou Bamba’s teachings about selfreliance. See also: Kairouan

REFERENCES Ali Mazrui, The Africans—A Triple Heritage. Boston, Little, Brown, 1986. Donal Cruise O’Brien, The Mourides of Senegal. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971. Lamin Sanneh, The Jakhanke Muslim Clerics. New York, University Press of America, 1989.

TRIER, GERMANY Trier, a Roman frontier settlement on the Rhine River, was an early outpost of European Christianity as well. The Romans had a sacred healing spring there and built a hospital consecrated to Asclepius, the Greek and Roman god of medicine. By the time Christianity emerged from the shadows of persecution and was legalized in the early fourth century, it had taken root in Trier. Trier, like most important towns in the early Middle Ages, sought out a major relic to distinguish its cathedral and draw pilgrims. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, had brought amazing relics from the Holy Land, including the Cross of Jesus, his Crown of Thorns and the lance that pierced his side. These she bestowed on favored places, and Trier received the Holy Coat of Jesus if the legends of the period are to be believed. The legend said that this was the seamless garment for which the guards at the Crucifixion cast lots (Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; John 19:23–24). The coat has never been carbon-dated. It is made of a seamless plain brown cloth, as described in the scriptures. It is shown rarely because of its fragility. During the Renaissance the robe was displayed from time to time to the veneration of the faithful. This stopped at the Reformation but resumed in the nineteenth century when its popularity revived. Pilgrims began to return to the cathedral, including prominent citizens. The Chapel of the Holy Robe has the shrine container at its base, with a splendid rococo space above it, containing a crucifix surrounded by golden light. The

564 | Trier, Germany

cathedral treasury holds a number of major relics, some associated with St. Helena. The Altar of St. Andrew is a gold and ivory reliquary said to contain a part of the shoe of the Apostle Andrew. On top is a gilded model of the saint’s foot; the lid slides open to reveal the relic. The Holy Nail is supposed to one of the four used to nail Jesus to the Cross. It is an eight-inch iron spike encased in a gilded and jeweled container that fits it perfectly. It was taken out for medieval processions and used for swearing oaths. St. Peter’s Chains are two links from the chains that bound Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem. Since the cathedral is dedicated to St. Peter, they are especially revered. While the cathedral has parts that date from the fourth century, the original was destroyed by fire in 1093, and its successor was dynamited by the French in 1674. The present cathedral, a sturdy Romanesque bulk, was completed a century later, faithful to the style of the original. In 1986 the cathedral was entered onto the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites as part of a general listing of Trier religious sites. The revival of devotion to the Holy Robe spawned a schism in the Catholic Church in Germany. When the bishop of Trier had the robe exposed for veneration in 1844 for the first time in thirtyfive years, he claimed that it had healing powers. Even Jenny Marx, the atheist Karl Marx’s wife, went with the crowds (presumably, over her husband’s objections). A Silesian priest who was disgusted by the response condemned the bishop for superstition and soon was followed by thousands of disciples. He was excommunicated and formed a sect

called the German Catholics, which rejected most Catholic practices and took the Bible as its sole authority. It became a new Protestant denomination but attracted many dissident Catholics to its ranks. The movement spread widely, but confusion forced it to abandon its name and it became known as the Free Congregations. It became involved in German politics and its founder was a significant figure in the Revolutions of 1848, for which he was exiled to London. The Free Congregations were later absorbed into other church bodies, especially the Unitarians. The most recent exposition of the Robe, in 1996, drew more than a million pilgrims. Other relics also attract pilgrims to Trier. In St. Maximin’s Church are the shrines of two local bishops, Ss. Maximin (+353) and Paulinus (+358). Maximin was an early bishop and a prominent churchman who mediated conflicts involving the emperor and fostered Church councils against Arianism. Paulinus succeeded Maximin and was a staunch opponent of the Arians, for which he died in exile under difficult conditions, which earned him the title of martyr. Their relic shrines have been the objects of pilgrimages since the sixth century. Although the church was destroyed by the French in 1804, the ancient Porta Negra city gate holds the cell in which St. Simeon the Recluse (+1035) walled himself up and lived as an anchorite. Another church in the city claims to have the bones of St. Matthias the Apostle. See also: Aachen, Relics, Wells and Springs

Tsechu Festival, Bhutan | 565

REFERENCES Hans-Joachim Kann, Pilgrims’ Guide to Trier and Area. Trier, Germany, Michael Weyand, 1994. Joe Nickell, Relics of the Christ. Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky, 2007.

TSECHU FESTIVAL, BHUTAN Bhutan, a constitutional monarchy in the Himalaya Mountains, is a stronghold of the Drukpa sect of Buddhism. The country is spread out across the mountains in small villages, and every year a ten-day religious and cultural festival is held to unite the people and reaffirm their common roots. Bhutan is the world’s only country that measures its success not by Gross National Product (GDP), but by what the king calls “Gross National Happiness.” The king heads the Lho Drukpa, or southern tradition, along with the chief abbot of the Central Monk Body. Both reside in the central monastery, which is at the same time the state and royal building, the Trongsa Dzong. The tsechus are held around October on dates determined by the lunar Tibetan calendar. While every district holds a tsechu, the largest are those in Paro and Thimpu, the capital. Buddhism was brought to Bhutan by the great sage Padmasambhava in the ninth century. He did not preach but instead performed rituals and chanted mantras. Some central rituals were special dances to drive out evil spirits and overcome the local gods. He finally achieved his goal when he danced on

behalf of the dying king, who then recovered. Padmasambhava then organized the first tsechu with eight dances to honor the eight manifestations of Guru Rinpoche. Padmasambhava was the last manifestation, the one in human form and the embodiment of all the Buddhas. These eight dances became the Cham dances, which are celebrated at every tsuchu, four to six a day. They include dances to expel evil spirits, followed later in the day by one celebrating their defeat. Several times during the tsechu there will be a dance at the cremation grounds. Masked and costumed dancers offer moral takes and events from the life of Padmasambhava and some bodhisattvas. The dances have been banned in Tibet. At each tsechu, a large tapestry (thangka) is unfurled before dawn and removed again before the sun rises. To look upon it cleanses the soul of all sin. The thangka shows the Guru Rinpoche seated and surrounded by angels and saints. Padmasambhava is also associated with a monastery near Paro, high up in a cliffside cave where he meditated. He hid a number of treasures in caves, lakes, and fields, to be found later by anointed “spiritual treasure finders” who would bring them forth with later revelations. Tradition says that the Tibetan Book of the Dead was one of these.

REFERENCES John Berthold, Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon. Somerville, MA, Wisdom, 2005. Herbert Guenther, The Teachings of Padmasambhava.

566 | Tula, Tula de Allende, Mexico

Leiden, Netherlands, Brill, 1996. Ngawang Zangpo, Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times. Ithaca, NY, Snow Lion, 2002. www.GuruPadmasambhava.org.

TULA, TULA DE ALLENDE, MEXICO Tula was the ancient capital and ceremonial center of the Toltec people between 980 and around 1180. It had characteristically Toltec architecture with stepped pyramids and relief sculptures. Common among these were the reclining chacmools, figures of the rain god Tlaloc. After its fall at the hands of the Chichimecs, Tula was looted by the Aztec, so no artifacts remain. Tula seems to have been populated by Toltecs leaving Teotihuacan when that city went into decline. They were a militaristic people who established a central Mexican empire by overcoming the other groups that had migrated from the north. They took in various cultural elements from these peoples, including the worship of the Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl. Tula has three temples, a palace and two ball courts for the traditional Mesoamerican ball game using stone hoops jutting out from a wall. One pyramid temple has a row of statues known as Antlantean. Along the sides are reliefs of birds of prey devouring human hearts and serpents eating human sacrifices. The legend of Quetzalcoatl tells of a peaceful ruler who never sacrificed humans but was driven out in the tenth century. He went to the sea shore, where he departed over the horizon. His legend is repeated by several Mesoamerican

cultures, which also have him returning to bring a new age of peace and harmony. Parallel in the history of the period is rule of the priests, who maintained peace. Pressures from outside brought the military to power, and the Toltec became one of the strongest and least concerned with human welfare of the peoples of the region. It is generally believed that the ball games ended when the losers were sacrificed. The reliefs and other evidence make clear that human sacrifice of captured enemies was a common practice. See also: Chichen Itza, Teotihuacan

REFERENCES Neil Baldwin, Legends of the Plumed Serpent: Biography of a Mexican God. New York, Public Affairs/ Perseus, 1998, 30–37. Nigel Davies, The Toltecs: Until the Fall of Tula. Norman, OK, University of Oklahoma, 1987. Dan Healan, Tula of the Toltecs. Ames, IA, University of Iowa, 1988.

TWELVE-YEAR CYCLE PILGRIMAGE, THAILAND The Twelve-Year Cycle is a Buddhist pilgrimage tradition that dates from the thirteenth century in Thailand. It is based on the Asian zodiac, which assigns an animal to every year. The pilgrim follows the animal of his/her zodiac year, each of which corresponds with an individual temple on the route. According to legend, as he lay dying, the Buddha summoned all the animals

Twelve-Year Cycle Pilgrimage, Thailand | 567 to his side. Only twelve came and to each he assigned a year of the zodiac. The wats (temples) are chedis (Thai stupas); all have relics of the Buddha that were among those distributed by the Emperor Asoka when he took control of the Buddha’s ashes and relics and placed them in stupas around the Buddhist world in the third century BCE. Seven of the wats are believed to have been visited by the Buddha himself. Each year of the zodiac is associated with a totem animal. In the year of his birth totem, a pilgrim will go to the proper temple during the full moon of the eighth month. At the temple the pilgrims, clad in white garments, perform traditional Buddhist rituals. To go to one’s totem temple is considered an important way of making merit, by which pilgrims are brought closer to enlightenment. They make offerings to the temple spirit, light incense, and pray. Most of the temples of the TwelveYear Cycle are in the north in what was the independent Lanna Kingdom, which remained semiautonomous until it was assimilated into Thailand (then Siam) in the early twentieth century. It has a distinctive culture and cuisine, and the temples and shrines reflect the unique Lana style of architecture. Its capital, and today the second-largest city in Thailand, was Chiang Mai. Chom Thong (1451), southwest of the northern city of Chiang Mai, is one of the most beautiful temples in the north. It is built in Burmese style with massive teak pillars and fine woodcarving on the ceiling and eaves. Its relics include a bit of the Buddha’s skull and a footprint. In the courtyard is a bodhi tree said to be from a cutting taken from the bodhi tree

under which the Buddha meditated at Bodh Gaya and where he achieved enlightenment. It is associated with the Year of the Rat (2008, 2020, etc.). Lampang, associated with the Year of the Ox (2009, 2021, etc.) dates from the eleventh century. It is one of those the Buddha is supposed to have visited. It also has a very old and huge bodhi tree. It is unusual in being a walled temple compound, with an entry staircase flanked by protective naga serpents leading to a monumental gate. The Buddha image is in the courtyard before the chedi, which has several other sacred shrines scattered around it. In February the Luang Wiang Lakon Festival involves a long procession of Buddha images carried on beautifully decorated platforms carried by shirtless young men who have inked (or tattooed) symbols across their bodies. Chaw Hae (fourteenth century) is on a hilltop near Phrae, a bustling provincial capital. Its totem is the Tiger (2010, 2022, etc.), and its chedi is said to help those seeking fertility. The main pilgrim festival is in the spring. The chedi is at end of a long road with nagas alongside. It is covered with gilded copper plates. One of its shrines holds an image believed to grant petitions. Near the Lao border is Chae Haeng, a fourteenth-century temple with a 180foot chedi housing seven bone chips of the Buddha. The region was semiautonomous until 1931, when it was absorbed into Thailand. The temple sits on a hilltop reached by a long royal staircase. At the annual festival on the full moon of the first lunar month of the Asian calendar, there is a pilgrimage with processions, fireworks, and feasting. Some of the food, plus flowers and incense, are

568 | Twelve-Year Cycle Pilgrimage, Thailand

given as offerings to the temple monks. The temple honors the Year of the Rabbit (2011, 2023, etc.). The Year of the Dragon (2012) is observed at Wat Phra Singh, situated in the heart of Chiang Mai. Under the Lanna Kingdom, it was the national shrine temple. Here the Songkran Festival is held at its most authentic. The main image of the temple is bathed by pilgrims as part of the water rites. Many Thais regard this as the Year of the Naga in place of the dragon. One of the few shrines not in Thailand is Bodh Gaya in India, associated in the Twelve-Year Cycle with the Year of the Snake (2013). Because a pilgrimage to India is beyond the means of most ordinary Thais, one can substitute a pilgrimage to Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, one of the largest and most elaborate Buddhist temple complexes in Southeast Asia. It is considered acceptable because it has a bodhi tree descended from the one at Bodh Gaya; in the case of poor peasants, any shrine with a bodhi tree seems to be acceptable. The Shwedagon Temple in downtown Yangon (Rangoon) in Burma/Myanmar is another outside Thailand. It is the temple for the Year of the Horse (2014). If one cannot make the pilgrimage, any Thai temple with a model of Shwedagon can substitute. Doi Suthep, high above the city of Chiang Mai, is a major pilgrimage site at all times for visitors from all over Southeast Asia. For the Twelve-Year Cycle its totem is the Ram (2015). There are many temples, shrines, and prayer halls on the hilltop, and the complex is always bustling with picnicking families and shaved-headed young boys being inducted into their few months as

Buddhist monks. The Cycle pilgrims get lost in the crowds. That Phanom is another temple reputed to have been visited by the Buddha, and it claims to have a piece of his breastbone. Phanom is in the northeast region, known as Isaan, historically Khmer rather than Lanna. The chedi collapsed after torrential rains in 1975 but was immediately rebuilt with a 185-foot chedi that has a spire of 240 pounds of gold on top. This region of Thailand is heavily populated by peasants but very poor. That Phanom’s totem is the Monkey (2016). Pilgrims bring little caged birds to the temple and release them as an act of merit making, a custom that comes from across the Mekong River from Laos. The northeast is culturally more Lao than Thai, and pilgrims cross over from Laos regularly. Haripunchai lies in a formerly independent kingdom in the north, in the town of Lamphun near Chiang Mai. It is now a backwater, but on top of its 150foot chedi, built in the twentieth century, is a nine-tiered umbrella of pure gold. The first chedi here, however, was from 897. The number nine is sacred, and the umbrella is a royal symbol. Haripunchai honors the Year of the Rooster (2017). The eleventh temple is in heaven, on top of the mythical Mount Meru. Its totem is the Dog (2018), and the pilgrimage is fulfilled by going to Wat Ketkaraam in Chiang Mai. Doi Tung is in Chiang Rai, the main city of the far north, and the first capital of the Thai people as they migrated south from their ancestral homeland in southern China. The first temple on this site was built by the tenth century, but today there are only ruins of its thirteenth-century successor. A modern (1988) temple is the

Twelve-Year Cycle Pilgrimage, Thailand | 569 focus of the pilgrimage. It honors the most revered and auspicious emblem, the Year of the Elephant (2019). In the Chinese zodiac this is the Year of the Pig, however, and some Thais observe this. See also: Buddhist Pilgrimages, Songkran, Stupa, Shwedagon

REFERENCE Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala, Know Your Future: Thai Astrology Step by Step. Ropley, UK, O Books, 2010.


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A unique feature of the Ubirr paintings is the “x-ray” paintings, which show humans and animals with bones and internal organs. They also show Wandjinas, the spirit ancestors who guarantee the rains and who, in Dreamtime, shaped the landscape. They control the winds and floods, which they use to punish those who do not respect them or who break the laws of the Aborigine culture. The legend of Dreamtime tells of the Rainbow Serpent who slithered across the continent during the dreaming, when the world came to be. She sang into existence the rocks and physical features of the land, animals, and people. This path, the songline, is sacred to the Aborigine people. Sacred places are defined by where the songlines intersect, such as Uluru. Aborigine people know and pass down the naming songs and integrate them into their rituals. The second gallery, the Rainbow Serpent gallery, is where she went on her sacred path. It is open only to women. The Rainbow Serpent had a human form and a human name, but as the

UBIRR, KAKADU, AUSTRALIA The rock faces of the escarpment of Ubirr were first decorated with sacred signs more than forty thousand years ago. The majority today are two thousand years old. They show the creation myths of the Aborigine people of the area and the animals that they depended upon—wallabies (a small species of kangaroo), turtles, and various fish used for food. These are painted on the rock overhang in gratitude for a good catch or perhaps to ask for one. The rock paintings are in three galleries. The first features paintings of white men and spirits high up in tiny clefts. The white man is clearly from an encounter and not myth; he wears western clothes and smokes a pipe! Legend says that the spirits painted their own picture. There is also the painting of a Tasmanian Tiger, an animal that went extinct in this region two millennia ago.

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572 | Udvada Fire Temple, India

creating serpent she left her mark on many outcrops, river stones, and holes where she rested on her creation journey. Rainbow Serpent stories also teach the lore of the Aborigines, as well as imparting the strict code of behavior that is expected of all. The two Namarrgarn Sisters are the third gallery. They live in the sky and cast down ropes on which they can travel to the earth to bring illness to humans. They have the power to change into crocodiles. This is among the stories used to teach children the dangers of crocodiles; there are many such tales that gradually initiate young people into the lore of the community. See also: Kata Tjuta, Uluru

REFERENCES Josephine Flood, Rock Art of the Dreamtime. Sydney, HarperCollins PTY, 1998. Alexander and A.W. Reed, Aboriginal Myths: Tales of the Dreamtime. Chatswood, Australia, New Holland, revised edition, 2006.

UDVADA FIRE TEMPLE, INDIA Fire is the symbol of the divine for Zoroastrians, and it is included in the worship of every temple and many home shrines as well. Zoroastrianism arose in Persia, modern-day Iran, and the most sacred fire altars were there. Political persecution forced most Zoroastrians to emigrate, and the sacred fire, Atash Bagram, was carried to Udvada in India. The town has become the major

Zoroastrian pilgrimage site, although only around a hundred Parsis still live in Udvada, and they take responsibility for the sacred fire. (Parsi is the term for Indian Zoroastrians.) Nine priestly families are the guardians of the temple and the Atash Bagram. The Atash Bagram in Udvada is the most sacred of all Zoroastrian fires, and the longest continuing burning fire temple in the world of the nine sacred fires, five of which are in India. According to Zoroastrian records, the fire was carried to India in the tenth century, but the Udvada Temple dates from 1742, when the fire was settled there. The Iranshah (as it is sometimes called) was created from sixteen fires, including a potter’s kiln, a funeral pyre, a goldsmith’s furnace, a shepherd’s hearth, and lightning. Legend has it that when there was no lightning, the high priest meditated until lightning struck and he could capture the fire. The present fire was kindled in the nineteenth century. It is renewed by bringing wood carried in ladles to the fire while prayers are offered. The priest undergoes a purification ritual before he is allowed to enter the inner sanctum, normally with a group of priests who have also gone through purification. This takes twelve to fifteen days of silent prayer and simple food. He washes himself first with earth symbolizing renunciation, then with specially blessed cow urine, and finally water. He wears a plain cloth over his mouth so that his breath may not pollute the air. Then sandalwood is brought to the central fire, which is enthroned in the sanctuary. The sacred flame is not merely a symbol of God, Ahura Mazda, but his very presence— the son of God.

Ugandan Martyrs’ Shrines, Uganda | 573 Pilgrims coming to Udvada pray outside the shrine before washing their hands as an act of purification. Both men and women cover their heads. On entering, they remove their footwear and go to the great hall where there are life-sized portraits of Zarathustra (fl. 1500 BCE), the prophet of Zoroastrians, and respected priests. They then enter a carpeted room to offer their prayers. In an austere, undecorated sanctuary beyond is the sacred fire in a large silver urn. In Iran, the fire had been on an altar with a recessed top, but the necessity of moving the fire from town to town under persecution and the threat of marauding bandits led to the development of a vase-like receptacle. Ceremonies are held on the twentieth day of each month of the Zoroastrian calendar, but the major pilgrimage is on a date that commemorates the transfer of the Sacred Fire to Udvada. Children are initiated in the late preteen years by being given a sacred shirt with a pocket that is to hold a record of all their good deeds through life. A cord is tied around the waist as a sign of being a Zoroastrian. It has seventy-two wool strands, recalling the seventy-two verses of the sacred texts of the faith. Fire ceremonies are also part of home services, perhaps to bless a new business or in remembrance of the dead. Two priests will bring a flame from a temple fire and after prayers and invocations, it is either returned to the temple or added to the family hearth. See also: Fire, Zoroastrian Fire Temples

REFERENCES Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices.

New York, Routledge, second edition, 2001. Sooni Taraporevala, Parsis: The Zoroastrians of India. New York, Overlook, 2002. www.udvada.org.

UGANDAN MARTYRS’ SHRINES, UGANDA One of the first modern missionary expansions of Christianity came in the late nineteenth century in what is now Uganda. It was baptized in the blood of Africa’s first martyrs, and the places of their deaths have become important shrines for both Anglican Protestant and Catholic Africans. In the 1870s, the Kingdom of Buganda had its first contact with the West when the American journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley visited the kabaka or king. By 1880 Anglican and Catholic missions were already at the court, both gathering converts, sometimes in competition with one another or with the expanding numbers of Muslims. Until 1884 the competition was kept in balance, but that year a new ruler, Mwanga, an indecisive and impetuous youth of about eighteen, became kabaka. Unstable yet used to absolute authority, Mwanga was infuriated and shamed when several pages of the court refused his sexual advances because they were Christian. He was paranoid and fearful of Europeans, and Mwanga struck back by ordering the murder of Bishop James Hannington as he was traveling to the capital to be the first Anglican prelate in East Africa. Then, in fits of irrational fury, Mwanga had several court attendants killed and began a general persecution of Christians.

574 | Ugandan Martyrs’ Shrines, Uganda

For a time, the head page, Karoli Lwanga, protected many of the younger boys from the kabaka’s wrath, but finally Mwanga broke. He raged through the palace one day, ordering several attendants executed and others castrated. He then summoned the court attendants and commanded the Christians to step to one side. Led by Lwanga, who took the youngest boy, Kizito, by the hand, they lined up. They were taken on a forced march to Namugongo, a traditional execution spot, where they were wrapped in reed mats and burned alive with others who were arrested during the march. Thirteen Anglicans and thirteen Catholics died together on June 3, 1886. The Anglicans maintain the site at Namugongo on the grounds of their national seminary, which, since 1997, has become the Uganda Christian University. A group of life-sized figures representing the martyrs is arrayed on a wood pyre, each wrapped in reed mats to show the death scene. A small chapel contains the relics, but since only ashes remained, these were mixed into concrete to form an altar. The relics of the young men of both faiths are thus united in death as they were in life. In late June, there is a national pilgrimage for both Catholics and Anglicans. During it, the scene is reenacted when the soldiers arrived for Robert Munyagabyanjo, a member of the Anglican community council, who went out to greet his executioners wearing his white baptismal robe. Others among the recognized martyrs died elsewhere. Matthias Kalemba of the Cane Rat Clan was overseer, or mulumba, of the county chief of Ssingo, a position of some importance. He was baptized at age fifty after two years of preparation. On becoming Catholic, he

stayed with his first wife and sent his other wives away after providing for their care, and he also freed his slaves. Because of his stature in the community, his martyrdom was especially cruel. The soldiers were ordered to kill him slowly. The executioners cut off his arms at the elbows and his legs at the knees, tying off the arteries so he would not bleed to death. They abandoned him to thirst and attacks from swarms of insects. Deserted by all, Kalemba died after two days of excruciating agony. He is especially revered throughout black Africa. A Catholic shrine is situated on a tiny island in a pond. It is located on the spot where the Kabaka Mwanga ordered the martyrdom of the pages. Pope John Pail II visited it and celebrated Mass there on his pastoral pilgrimage to Uganda. Another Catholic shrine has been erected in the town of Mityana, west of the capital city. It honors Kalemba and Noe Mawaggali, thirty-five, a potter of the Bushbuck Clan who was speared and then lashed to a tree, where for hours he was attacked by dogs who ripped off chunks of his flesh until he died. Pilgrims scoop up the soil in the church from the spot where he died to keep as relics. Both the Anglican and Catholic Churches recognize the Ugandan martyrs as saints. The common feast day of the martyrs, June 3, is a national holiday in Uganda. It brings pilgrims from all over the East African region in large numbers, including many who come great distances on foot.

REFERENCES J. F. Faupel, African Holocaust. London, Geoffrey Chapman, second edition, 1965.

Uluru, Australia | 575 Aylward Shorter, Cross and Flag in Africa: The “White Fathers” During the Colonial Scramble (1892–1914), Maryknoll, NY, Orbis, 2006. J. P. Thoonen, Black Martyrs. London, Sheed & Ward, 1941.

ULURU, AUSTRALIA The two Aboriginal holy places in the Australian desert are known to white Australians as Ayers Rock and the Olgas and to the Aboriginals as Uluru and Kata Tjuta. While they remain sacred sites for the Aboriginal people of Australia, in recent years they have also taken on importance for New Age practitioners. Uluru is a sandstone dome that rises out of the flat plains as a giant rounded outcrop. At sunrise and sunset it glows with a bright red reflection that gives it a supernatural aspect. A thousand feet high, it stretches for 2.6 miles with a width of 1.6 miles. Uluru is the largest isolated rock in the world. It is bare without the least hint of vegetation, and this starkness adds to its arresting beauty and mysterious bearing. The base of Uluru is a contrast; runoff from the rains leaves pools around the base, nourishing a fertile circle of rich greenery and supporting a variety of wildlife. The oasis conditions have made Uluru a ceremonial place for the Aborigines, who camp in its caves and around the Rock, sustained by the waters and available food. Aboriginal myth begins with a period called Dreamtime, in which ancestral beings roamed the earth, creating the traditional ways the Aborigines followed and the shapes of the earth itself. The physical marks that the ancestral beings left on the earth hardened into rock, and

the features of the land are believed to be their dead bodies. Thus, outcrops like Uluru are considered forces that can still give life. The record of Dreamtime is found in the rock, its fissures, cliffs, and caves. These meanings are expressed in chants passed on to the youth in songs at initiation ceremonies conducted in the caves along the base of Uluru. Various outcrops represent different spirits, and by touching the rock, an Aborigine can invoke the ancestral spirits for support and blessing and put himself in communication with Dreamtime. There are many legendary tales to account for the physical features of Uluru. Some provide mythical explanations for things that are considered gifts of the ancestral spirits, such as the hunting boomerang. Others recount fierce battles between groups of ancestral heroes, resulting in curses such as the creation of the dingo, a wild dog that has been known to kill or carry off babies. In Dreamtime, two tribes were invited to a feast but became distracted by a group of beautiful Sleepy Lizard Women and dallied at a waterhole where Uluru now stands. Angry at having their hospitality rejected, the waiting hosts sang evil into a mud and wattle shape until it came to life as the dingo. A hideous slaughter followed, and then a great battle, ending with the deaths of the leaders on both sides. Then the earth itself rose up to mourn the bloodshed—this rising up in grief is Uluru. In the initiation cave are ancient wall paintings recounting this lore for the teenage initiates. Each clan has a protective animal, its totem, whose spirit oversees its affairs. The cave of those with the hare wallaby totem (mala), for

576 | United States’ Holocaust Memorial, Washington, DC, USA

example, is marked with dark stains, the blood of their hero ancestors who died in the great battle before time. Mala men cut themselves during cave ceremonies in unity with their ancestors. Uluru was under government administration until 1985, when it was returned to the Aborigines. The government manages it under an Aborigine board. But the increasing pressure of 300,000 tourists annually has presented a serious problem, since Aborigines consider it sacrilegious to climb the rock. By tradition, only Mala males may climb the rock face. Despite this tradition, the government has established a regular route to the top as a hiking path for tourists. New Age practitioners often use it, since some of them have appropriated Dreamtime into their religious theory. In 1987, the Uluru-Tjuta National Park was entered onto the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. The park receives about 400,000 visitors a year, which has deepened environmental and safety concerns. In 2009 the government proposed a plan that would forbid all climbing. See also: Mountains, Kata Tjuta, New Age, Ubirr

REFERENCES James Cowan, The Aborigine Tradition. Shaftesbury, UK, Element Books, 1992. Robert Layton, Uluru: An Aboriginal History of Ayers Rock. Canberra, Australia, Institute of Aboriginal Studies, revised edition, 2001. Charles Mountford, Ayers Rock: Its People, Their Belief, and Their Art. Honolulu, HI, East-West Center, 1965.

UNITED STATES’ HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL, WASHINGTON, DC, USA The United States’ Holocaust Memorial Museum is both a shrine to the Holocaust and its victims and a study center on genocide. Since its opening in 1993, more than thirty million people have visited it, with the numbers increasing every year. The archival collection is massive— fifty million pages of records, 13,000 artifacts, 80,000 photographs, and a listing of several hundred thousand survivors. It has developed 10,000 oral histories. The Memorial was built on land adjacent to the Washington Mall, with $190 million in private donations. Although its primary function is educational, the pilgrimage aspect of its halls and memorials are what attract most visitors. The architect, himself a Holocaust survivor, designed the Memorial as “a resonator of memory.” The Hall of Remembrance is a large octagonal room of great simplicity; it has an eternal flame. The Permanent Exhibition is an eerie experience intended to draw the visitor into the experiences of the Holocaust. It avoids the museum display approach for one of involvement. Visitors arrive at the exhibits by an industrial elevator, where they receive the identification card of a real Holocaust victim. They exit the elevator to walk through a history of the Holocaust with pictures and videos, including survivors’ accounts. The fate of “their” prisoner is shown in the identification card. Hate groups have made the Memorial a focus of attacks on several occasions.

Uppsala Temple, Gamla Uppsala, Sweden | 577 In 2009 a guard (who later died of his wounds and is honored on a plaque at the Memorial) was shot by an antiSemite who later died in prison. January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, is observed as International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a candlelighting ceremony. During the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising in April, a week of observances is held. The Holocaust Memorial Museum holds the national ceremony on the steps of the Capitol rotunda. See also: Holocaust Sites

REFERENCES Michael Berenbaum and Arnold Kramer, The World Must Know. Washington, DC, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2006. Edward Lilenthal, Preserving Memory: The Struggle to Create America’s Holocaust Museum. New York, Viking, 1995. James Young, The Texture of Memory: Holocaust Memorials and Meaning. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 1994. For the Living, Washington, DC, Public Broadcasting (PBS), 1993, video.

UPPSALA TEMPLE, GAMLA UPPSALA, SWEDEN Until the final triumph of Christianity in Sweden, the Temple of Uppsala with its Great Tree was the propitiatory center of the kingdom. Its power and influence loomed over the people even after Christianity was introduced, and as late

as the eleventh century it was invoked by a rival for the kingship, who claimed that he could make better sacrifices for the people than the incumbent. The chronicles then say that he was accepted, the king fled, and “all the Swedes abandoned Christianity.” The site was the gathering place for the Swedish chiefs every year, when they made obeisance to the king and heard his levies of men and treasure for warfare. The Temple made it also the cultic center. Legend said that the high god Odin dwelt there, and the Temple was dedicated to him and to Thor and Freyr. There were large statues of each in the Temple, which was itself a large wood building with much gold decoration. There are still three barrows dating from the fifth century, the legendary burial mounds of the three gods. Each had its role: sacrifices were made to Odin for success in war, to Thor the Mighty in times of pestilence or famine, and to Freyr on the occasion of a marriage. The pagan kings of Sweden were also buried in mounds around Gamla Uppsala. First the dead king would be cremated with his armor. The remains were covered by stones and the mound built above them. The fire not only consumed his mortal remains, it also sent him off to Valhalla. There were burials that did not involve cremation. One king’s tomb has been found with animals (for food in the afterlife), his sword and armor, and even a board game for entertainment! The first Christian cathedral was built over the Temple in 1164, but the swampy plain and poor drainage brought about a move in 1273 to a new town a short distance away, the present day Uppsala.

578 | Urkupina Festival, Qillacollo, Bolivia

The Temple and its Great Tree were used to propitiate the gods so that they would not bring ruin on the people. The lurid descriptions we have are from medieval missionaries who were highly critical of pagan practices, though much of what they record is corroborated by other sources. Both animal and human sacrifices were offered to the gods. In particular, a horse would be slaughtered and his blood smeared on the Tree. The meat might then be distributed. Humans were sacrificed by being forced into the spring at the foot of the Tree; if the body was never found, the prayers of the people had been granted. Every nine years around the time of the spring equinox there was a special sacrifice. Nine male victims chosen from every species of animal, including humans, were slaughtered and their blood offered to the gods. One of each kind was killed each day of the festival. The bodies were then hung in a sacred grove next to the Temple until they rotted away. All had to be present for the festival, though Christians could be excused if they paid a substantial fine. See also: Groves, Wells and Springs

REFERENCES Richard Bradley, Ritual and Domestic Life in Prehistoric Europe. New York, Routledge, 2005. M. Lee Hollander, Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway. Austin, TX, University of Texas, 2007. Brad Olsen, Sacred Places Europe. San Francisco, CCC, 2007.

URKUPINA FESTIVAL, QILLACOLLO, BOLIVIA The cult of the Virgin of Urkupina dates from the eighteenth century when, legend says, a shepherd girl had a vision of the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus. According to the tale, she saw the mother and child as she was tending the sheep on a hillside. The woman spoke to her in her native language and allowed her to play with the baby. Her parents and a few villagers secretly followed her to the hill after hearing of the mysterious woman. They were astounded to see the girl with them and the lady and baby slowly ascending to heaven. They then found the image that is now in the shrine. The sacred Cota mountain was a center of life energy for the Quechua people. Specifically, it was a concentration of female energy—a fertility shine to Pachamama, the earth mother. The Quechua are matrilineal, meaning that ancestry is passed through the mother. Women own the property and men join their wife’s families when they marry. Pachamama was a generous giver who provided for the needs of the people, and that attribute was passed on to the Virgin Mary. The statue is above the main altar of the Church of San Ildefonso, a typical Spanish colonial structure. The shrine is built like a tall gilded crown. The Virgin is gowned in white, with a gold crown and gilded copper rays surrounding her head. The babe on her right arm is similarly dressed and crowned. Across the statue is a sash representing the 1998 national proclamation of Our Lady of Urkupina as the Patroness of National Unity of Bolivia.

Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico | 579 On the day the festival starts, August 14, half a million people stream into the little town. Many come from Cochabamba on foot, ten miles away. The day before another parade is held, using only precolonial dances accompanied by panpipes, drums, and reed flutes. The “official” festival begins with the Folk Entry or entrada on the vigil of the feast of the Assumption, by which title the Virgin Mary is honored. Fifteen thousand costumed dancers present traditional dances for sixteen hours. They constitute the most elaborate expression of Bolivian national culture in the country. Every region offers its dances, often enacting events or periods in Bolivian history, such as slavery, colonization, and the mining industry. Each dance group brings its own band. Most of the dances are folkloric, not religious, and some have the air of carnival, complete with girls in very skimpy outfits. It is common for dancers to pledge to dance for three years as a petition to the Virgin. The next day there is a solemn Mass with the statue of the Virgin taken in procession around the streets of the town. Then the traditional folk dances are repeated. The festival closes on August 16 with a massive procession up the hill to the Calvary of Cota, where the vision of the shepherdess took place. Pilgrims bring stones that they gathered (or broke from the rock face) the previous year. The larger the stone, the greater the generosity of the Virgin will be in response. The stones have to be blessed, which is first done by a Quechua shaman with incense and then at the top of the hill by a Catholic priest with holy water. Pilgrims also carry alasitas, or miniatures, of the things for which they

petition the Virgin: houses, television sets, automobiles, and even visas and college diplomas. Little pots of fake gold and sham U.S. dollars are popular ex-votos of wealth. Libations of beer with a sprinkling of coca leaves are another offering. See also: Titicaca, Marian Apparitions

REFERENCE Martha Giorgis, The Virgin Lender: The Feast of Our Lady of Urkupina in the Bolivian Gran Cordoba. Buenos Aires, 2004.

UXMAL, YUCATAN, MEXICO The precolonial site of Uxmal is an abandoned Mayan city originally founded around 500 CE . It was at its height between 700 and 1100 and consolidated its power by an alliance with Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza began a slow decline in 900 and was finally conquered by the Toltecs, which led to Uxmal’s own decline. When the kings moved their capital away, Uxmal slipped into obscurity, leaving great ruins but no continuing population. The rulers of Uxmal became allies of the Spanish against their traditional enemies, the Aztecs, at the time of the conquest. The pyramids and temples have been restored and the site is a major tourist destination today. It is estimated that Uxmal once had a population of about 25,000, but only the ceremonial center remains. Because of their excellent construction methods, the structures are largely intact. During the height of its

580 | Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico

Pyramid of the Magician (also known as the Pyramid of the Soothsayer) at the Maya city of Uxmal in Mexico’s Yucatań Peninsula. At its peak, between AD 600 and 900, Uxmal was home to a population of 25,000. This and other structures feature carvings of Chaac, the god of rain, the most important deity to a people dependent on agriculture.

importance politically and culturally, Uxmal was on a Mayan pilgrimage route that included four nearby shrine temples. Uxmal has been on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites since 1996. The Nunnery Quadrangle was actually a long government building, distinguished by its detailed carved facades both inside and out. The current name was given it by the Spanish, but it may have been a training facility or a school for the sons of the nobility. Some sources suggest that it was for training shamans and priests, but that is conjecture. It has seventy-four rooms. The Magician’s Pyramid is a graceful stepped pyramid, unique in that it is not rectangular but oval. A small ceremonial temple is on the top. The pyramid is also known as the Dwarf’s Pyramid from the

legend that it was built in one night by a dwarf hatched from an egg with magic powers. He was challenged to a series of tests of powers by the king, one of which was to build the pyramid overnight. Inside are five earlier buildings that were layered one on top of another. The Great Pyramid has three ruined temples on top and the Temple of the Macaws. This is a typical rectangular pyramid, but its cult use is unclear. The Turtle House is so-called because of the reliefs of turtles around the top of the building. It is small but perfectly proportioned. The imposing Governor’s Palace is built on a long low base, and it has the longest faç ade in Mesoamerica. The façade is a 320-foot mosaic. More than a hundred stone masks of Chac, the rain

Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico | 581 god, climb the side. In the plaza before the palace is a jaguar throne, a Mayan symbol of kingship. The governor was actually the king or ruler. The Ballcourt (901) for the traditional game played with hoops attached vertically to a wall was dedicated to Chac, who was the primary deity in this area of regular drought and minimal rainfall. While the ceremonial use of the structures is unsure today, there was an astronomical connection. Several buildings are in alignment with planets or stars.

See also: Chichen Itza

REFERENCES Neil Baldwin, Legends of the Plumed Serpent: Biography of a Mexican God. New York, Public Affairs/ Perseus, 1998. Linda Schele et al., The Code of Kings. New York, Simon & Shuster, 1999, 257–291.


V

a duty binding on every observant Hindu. The most important of these is Manikarnika, where Shiva is believed present to liberate souls from the cycle of reincarnation. The cremation pyres, lit always by the closest relative of the dead, burn constantly. At dawn especially, pilgrims come to the river to bathe from the ghats and even to drink the polluted water, to be freed from sin by the blessing of the sacred waters. Hindu tradition says that the waters of the Ganges, even when dirty, never cause illness to a faithful person who bathes in them or drinks them. Though any and all ghats may be used, there are five that form a pilgrimage route; pilgrims bathe from them in the prescribed order and on the same day. All the ghats have unique characteristics that make them favorites of different people: one has a footprint of its god; one holds a dramatic fire ceremony every night to honor Shiva and the sun; yet another is dedicated to the popular monkey-god, Hanuman; a fourth has a well dug by Lord Shiva when his consort,

VARANASI, INDIA According to Hindu belief, those who die in this “eternal city” on the banks of the sacred Ganges River in northern India will receive eternal life in the next world, so many devout Hindus come to Varanasi for their last days. Varanasi is preeminently the city of Shiva, the High God who is destroyer and reproducer and was born here, according to Hindu legend. In recent years, it has also become a center of the Hindu fundamentalist revival and increasingly politicized as a symbol of Indian nationalism. Most pilgrims come to Varanasi to visit the long string of bathing ghats, platform stairways into the sacred Ganges. For three miles, more than a hundred ghats stretch down the river, with shrines, pavilions, or small temples at their entrances. Each has a lingam, a pillar representing the sex organ of Shiva, the traditional object of worship of the god of reproduction. Several ghats are reserved for the cremation of bodies,

583

584 | Varanasi, India

Hindu people taking a ritual bath in the holy Ganges River in Varanasi (Benares), North India, January 15, 2010.

the goddess Parvati or Shakti, dropped an earring into it. The Vishalakshi Temple stands on that spot and is the focus of pilgrimage for the Shakti Hindu sect, which believes that the Ganges is the goddess herself. Besides the five ghats, a more extensive pilgrimage route goes around the city in a fifty-mile path, where stops for worship are taken at 108 shrines. Hindus believe that the five special ghats are fords that smooth the progress of transition to full enlightenment. The final stop is at Manikarnika, a cremation ghat. Since Shiva is present, being cremated at Manikarnika completes the cycle of life and reincarnation without endless repetition. The official protector of Varanasi is the Maharaja of Kashi, who presides over major events. He rides a beautifully dressed elephant at the head of the Dasara procession, which opens that

festival. He then inaugurates an annual month-long cycle of pageants that recounts the story of Lord Rama, as told in one of the versions of the Ramayana. Buddhists also revere Varanasi as one of the four pilgrimage places selected by the Buddha—the others being Bodh Gaya, Lumbini, and Kushinagar. Besides these, Sarnath, the Deer Park, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, is in Varanasi’s suburbs. Varanasi has a number of other religious institutions—such as Benares Hindu University, which is a center for yoga, Hindu philosophy, and Sanskrit learning—and several important temples. The Durga Mandir honors Parvati in her dark and terrible manifestation as goddess of death and destruction. It is painted in deep red, and animal sacrifices are offered to her. The Bharat Mata Temple honors Mother India as a goddess

Verden, Germany | 585 (it was opened by Mahatma Gandhi). The Sankat Mochan Temple, popularly called the “monkey temple” due to its tribes of monkeys, is dedicated to Hanuman, the monkey god, who is one of the heroes of the Ramayana. In 2006, it was the target of a bombing by Islamic militants during a ceremony, along with the train station. One hundred twenty people were killed. A year later another bombing took place in the city, with a loss of twenty. In 1669 the Muslims destroyed the Shiva Temple with the loss of thousands of lives, but its emerald lingam was carried off and dropped into a well, around which the Golden Temple (Kashi Vishwanath) was later built. Besides the emerald lingam in the well, the Golden Temple (covered with 1,500 pounds of gold) contains a black marble lingam set into a solid silver altar. One glance at this lingam is said to bestow the highest merit of any puja or prayer before any other lingam. It is washed in milk every day. Besides the Hindu ghats on the sacred Ganges, there are several riverside Jain temples and ghats. The Jains, who share similar beliefs with Hindus about reincarnation of the immortal soul but are rigorously ascetic, also practice ritual cleansing. Varanasi was the birthplace of the twenty-third (and second-last) Tirthankar, or enlightened teacher of the Jain faith, which gives the city special meaning. See also: Dilwara, Hearth of Buddhism

REFERENCES Neils Gutschow, Benares: The Sacred Landscape of Varanasi. Fellbach, Germany, Axel Menges, 2006.

Jonathan Parry, Death in Benares. New York, Cambridge University, 1994. Benares: Steps to Heaven. Evanston, IL, Wombat, 1987, video.

VERDEN, GERMANY The Nazi pagan shrine in the small town of Verden, unmentioned in any guidebook, is the worship center created by Heinrich Himmler in the suburb of Sachsenhain as part of the Nazi attempt to revive paganism. It is an antishrine, intended less to worship the ancient gods than to provide a substitute religious experience to replace Christianity. Using slave labor, Sachsenhain was constructed in 1935, year three of the Nazi era. Himmler, who came from a solidly middle-class Catholic family, not only rejected his faith in his youth to join the Nazi Party, but he also became a vicious anti-Catholic. He designed a complete system of religious worship, including a naming ritual to replace baptism, a coming-of-age ceremony to replace confirmation, a Nazi wedding ceremony, and a burial service. Every effort was made to restore ancient German paganism and make it part of the doctrine undergirding Nazism. To enforce Hitler’s “master race” theory, Himmler then became the author of the Holocaust, the genocidal attempt to exterminate the Jews. The Saxon Memorial, as it is sometimes called, is made up of 4,500 standing stones that somewhat resemble Carnac. Set near a spot where the Weser and Aller Rivers come together, the stones are lined up in avenues that from time to time open out into circles. The site is thought to be the spot where the Emperor Charlemagne executed 4,500 Saxons in

586 | Verden, Germany

NAZI PAGAN SHRINES Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s deputy, designed the “final solution,” the program to exterminate the Jews. He held the same hatred for all organized religion and developed a plan to undermine Christianity. This was rooted in Himmler’s hatred of the Jews, saying that Germany “can no longer tolerate a religion which makes the Scriptures of the Jews the basis of its Gospel.” The policy had three thrusts: to subjugate the leadership of the Lutheran Church, to belittle the authority of the Catholic Church, and to establish a return to primitive paganism. He created parallel pagan services for the Christian sacraments and required that the swastika replace the cross. Himmler built several places for pagan observances. Besides Verden, the only one to survive today, other shrines were set up. At Quedlinberg Castle, the medieval chapel became a Nazi center, dominated by a swastika and with a picture of Hitler on the altar. Externsteine became a temple to German nationalism. Hermann’s Denkmal, a memorial to the mythical founder of the German nation, became a gathering place for Nazi ceremonies. Nazi youth were indoctrinated in pagan pageants at these sites.

his campaign to eradicate paganism in 782. Sachsenhain was intended as a sign of the victory of Nazi paganism over Christianity. Each of the standing stones came from a different Saxon village. Shortly before the Verden massacre, Charlemagne had promulgated a harsh criminal law for the Saxons. It was antipagan and made such acts as eating meat during Lent, cremation, or performing human sacrifice all punishable by death. A Saxon revolt against Charlemagne followed, and he personally led the troops against the Saxons, who escaped his encirclement near Verden. When news of the loss of a military column with some of his finest nobles reached Charlemagne, he was enraged. In retaliation, he ordered the execution of 4,500 Saxon prisoners. Himmler seized upon this historical atrocity against ancient Saxons to make Verden the site of his reborn pagan religion.

The solstice ceremonies held here (and at Externsteine) for up to 10,000 Hitler Youth and other disciples celebrated the birth of the sun on the ashes of the defeated Christ. Pagan hymns were composed for these ceremonies, which began with an oath of allegiance to Hitler to initiate the youth into “the religion of the Blood . . . the only racial religion of the German people.” This was followed by a sermon “in poetical language,” a Confession of Faith, and the Hymn of Duty. The service ended with a salute to Hitler and nationalist hymns. The Winter Solstice was a reversion to the pagan Yule Feast and was intended to replace Christmas. Himmler designed a full year of such feasts, including Hitler’s Birthday (April 20), the solstices, Labor Day, Harvest Thanksgiving (October), the great public ceremonies of the Nuremberg Rallies (September), and the anniversary of the 1923 Nazi Putsch, Hitler’s first attempt

Vestal Temple, Rome, Italy | 587 to overthrow Germany’s democratic government (November 9). This last was the holiest day of the Nazi calendar. A Nazi altar was erected for these services, featuring a large swastika flag, a flower arrangement symbolizing the sun, and a photo of Hitler. Neo-Nazis continue to gather at Sachsenhain each year in observance of Hitler’s birthday and in recent years have clashed with police. Some Neopagan groups also come to Sachsenhain for ceremonies. In contrast, the Evangelical Lutheran Church runs an educational youth center in the buildings attached to the Blood Field, as it was called. See also: Externsteine

REFERENCES P. D. King, Charlemagne. London, Methuen, 1986. Michael Moynihan and Samuel Flowers, The Secret King: The Myth and Reality of Nazi Occultism. Waterbury Center, VT, Dominion, 2007. Peter Padfield, Himmler. New York, Henry Holt, 1990.

VESTAL TEMPLE, ROME, ITALY The Temple of Vestal ruins of which still exist in the Roman Forum, housed the sacred fire of ancient Rome. The fire was tended by the Vestal Virgins, the female priestesses whose task was to see that the fire never went out. Vesta was goddess of the hearth, and her sacred fire was considered the emperor’s household fire. Any house in imperial Rome

was permitted to light its hearth from the fire of Vesta. The cult of Vesta can be traced to the seventh century BCE, making it one of the original structures in the Forum. It was round, but inside, instead of a statue of the goddess, was the eternal flame. The maintenance of the flame was crucial to the welfare of Rome. If it went out, Rome would be in danger. The Temple burned down several times, not from mismanagement of the eternal flame but due to city-wide fires that destroyed much of Rome. The most notorious of these was the Great Fire of 64 CE, often ascribed to the Emperor Nero. Finally, the Christian emperor Theodosius extinguished the flame in 394. During the building boom of the sixteenth century, the Temple lost its marble to the construction of baroque churches across the city. The ruins that can be seen today are from a reconstruction of the 191 CE temple that was undertaken in the 1930s under the dictator Benito Mussolini. The Vestal Virgins were sent away at the same time that the Temple was closed. Originally there were two, but that grew to six in total. They served for thirty years, during which they had special privileges, and after their service they could leave and marry. Since they were distinguished persons, they could marry into the nobility, but few left. As the only female priests in the Roman religious system, they were influential and powerful figures who lived in luxurious circumstances. They were part of all public ceremonies, carried there in a special carriage that had right of way. Unlike other women, they could own property and pass it on to others by a will.

588 | Ve´zelay, France

Besides the care of the sacred fire, the vestals guarded the emperor’s personal will and other basic documents for the imperial family and certain prominent officials. Vestals were given the power of pardoning prisoners and freeing slaves. The vestals were chosen by lot from a group of prepubescent daughters of free-born citizens whenever there was a vacancy. Their chastity was sacrosanct, and any violation was met with death by being buried in an underground chamber to starve to death. As daughters of Rome, any sexual act would be incest and treason against the state. Her partner would be flogged to death in public. In fact, however, in more than a thousand years, cases were rare. See also: Fire, Rome

REFERENCES John Scheid, An Introduction to Roman Religion. Bloomington, IN, Indiana University, 2003. Robin Wildfang, Rome’s Vestal Virgins. Oxford, UK, Routledge, 2006.

VE´ZELAY, FRANCE Ve´zelay was one of medieval Europe’s great high holy places, rising up sharply from the surrounding valley, topped by a fortified abbey built in 864 CE. It was from Ve´zelay that Thomas a Becket excommunicated the followers of Henry II. During its heyday in the twelfth century, it was the site of significant events. Bernard of Clairvaux announced the Second Crusade there in 1147, with the king and queen of France in attendance, and it was the first town in France to

which St. Francis of Assisi sent his friars. After the decline of the great pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain following the Reformation, however, Ve´ zelay became a backwater until the restoration of the Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene in the 1850s. During the Middle Ages, the Santiago pilgrimage involved hundreds of thousands of people each year. Four streams of pilgrims came from starting points in Paris, Le Puy, Arles, and Ve´ zelay. The Ve´ zelay route crossed the River Loire and passed through Limoges and Pe´ rigueux before converging on the others near the Spanish border. Ve´zelay was chosen as a gathering point because it was itself a place of pilgrimage. The basilica was said to have relics of St. Mary Magdalene, the disciple of Jesus who first discovered his resurrection. Popular piety has always considered her to be the penitent woman in the Bible who dramatically anointed Jesus’ feet and was forgiven her sins. Folk tradition considered her great sin to have been prostitution. There is no hint of any of this in the Bible, but it made the Magdalene a powerful attraction for devout sinners, who flocked to the shrines (there were twenty-one in Europe) of the penitent “fallen woman.” The basilica is an outstanding example of romanesque architecture. After a rival shrine claimed to have the “true” body of Mary Magdalen, the relics were hidden (perhaps buried in the south transept) so thoroughly that they were not recovered. A golden shrine in the crypt holds the only remnant, a gift of the Archbishop of Sens in 1870. It is the reputed finger of the saint. It is housed in a gold reliquary held up by six figures—two angels, two monks, and

Ve´zelay, France | 589

A tympanum at Ve´zelay Abbey in the Burgundy region of France, 12th century. This Benedictine Abbey Church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, with its complicated program of imagery in sculpted capitals and portals, is one of the outstanding masterpieces of Burgundian-Romanesque art and architecture.

two kings. The tympanum above the main entrance is a magnificent piece of romanesque sculpture. The Christ dominates the center, his arms spread wide, less in judgment than to send forth his disciples to convert and defend Christianity. It is a theme born of the Crusades. The basilica is rich in sculpture, although most of it was defaced during the Huguenot Wars of Religion in the seventeenth century, when many of the statues were beheaded, and the abbot abandoned Catholicism to become a Calvinist. When the basilica was in danger of collapse after the French Revolution, the government appointed the architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc to restore it. Viollet-le-Duc would go on to refurbish some of the most important

medieval shrines in France, including Notre Dame Cathedral, but Ve´zelay was his first project. He had the statues restored and added flying buttresses, which are utterly out of place in a romanesque building. On one hand, Viollet-leDuc had an erroneous and romantic sense of the Middle Ages that he often imposed on his restorations, but on the other hand, he saved precious monuments that would never have survived without his intervention. The abbey has had a stormy history despite the popularity of the shrine. The two monasteries there in the 800s were destroyed by the Saracens, and its replacement was ruined by the Normans around 900. After rebuilding the abbey, the relics were enshrined in 1037 and “authenticated” by the Pope in 1058.

590 | Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, DC, USA

The basilica was burned in a peasant revolt in 1105, which killed the abbot and 1,200 others. Succeeding abbots continued to rule so oppressively that the populace did nothing to defend them when they were wiped out during the French Revolution. In 1975, the Brotherhood of Jerusalem, a modern monastic community, took charge of the shrine. They are caretakers of ten pilgrimage shrines in Europe, including Mont-St-Michel. Pilgrims still come to Ve´ zelay, and are cared for by the monks. The numbers of pilgrims have revived during the last twenty-five years along with devotion to the saint, and there is an annual pilgrimage for her feast day, July 22. In 1979, the basilica was entered on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. See also: Conques, Santiago de Compostela

REFERENCES Bruce Chilton, Mary Magdalen, A Biography. New York, Image/ Doubleday, 2005. Veronique Mouilleron, Vezelay: The Great Romanesque Church. New York, Abrams, 1999. Kevin Murphy, Memory and Modernity: Viollet-Le-Duc at Vezelay. University Park, PA, Pennsylvania State University, 1999. Vezelay. Mystic Fire, 1997, video.

VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL, WASHINGTON, DC, USA A few years after the end of the Vietnamese-American War, a memorial

was established to honor those who died there. The war had been highly controversial, and the memorial did not escape the same fate. After a competition with 1,400 entries, the design of the memorial was awarded to Maya Lin, then a senior studying architecture at Yale University. Some were disapproving that she was so young and not a prominent artist. The memorial is two polished black granite walls 246 feet long in a V-shape, on which are inscribed the 58,261 names of the war dead. This includes approximately 1,200 MIAs (missing in action). The names are listed in the order of the dates of their deaths; no rank or distinction is mentioned. Each wall rises out of the earth until they meet, where they are ten feet high. The high polish of the Indian granite reflects the face of the onlooker as he/she gazes on the names, symbolically bringing the past and present together. Although it has undeniable power, some veterans’ groups protested having an abstract memorial. As a consequence, a statuary group of three servicemen with an American flag was placed at the entrance to the monument. They include a Caucasian, a Black, and an Hispanic. A three-person statuary group has also been added as The Women’s Memorial: a woman rising her eyes is named Faith, a praying woman is named Hope, and a nurse tending a wounded soldier is named Charity. Streams of visitors come to see the memorial. Many ask to see certain names of friends or relatives, and volunteers maintain a registry of all the names on the Wall. Visitors are assisted in making rubbings of names. The atmosphere is one of reverent silence, as visitors touch the smooth surface and reflect.

Vision Quest, USA/Canada | 591 Many veterans come in groups, as if on pilgrimage. They often leave exvotos—messages to buddies, bottles of beer, flowers. These are collected, some ten thousand a year, and stored. From time to time, a cross-section is put on display. A wreath-laying service is held at the Wall every November 11, Veterans Day. Because of the impact of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, two traveling versions have been developed by private citizens. The Moving Wall, a half-sized replica, has been visited by tens of millions since it began in 1984. Currently, there are two copies, which together have visited more than a thousand towns across the country, always sponsored by local veterans’ and civic groups. In 1989 a special tribute was established when a veteran’s motorcycle group began the annual Run for the Wall. It is a ten-day cross-country motorcycle run that ends at the Wall on the Sunday before Memorial Day. As the cycles pass through towns along the way, people line the highways and wave flags and local citizens’ groups vie to offer meals and support. The arrival at the Memorial is emotional, and experienced riders offer solace to those overcome by their feelings. There are no common ceremonies, but each participant seems to have his own way of honoring his friends among the fallen.

Located in Washington, DC, and today the capital’s most visited monument, the Vietnam Memorial is inscribed with the names of the more than 58,000 American men and women killed or missing in the Vietnam War. As is fitting for a war that was so controversial, the unconventional design of the monument, done by then 21-year-old Yale student Maya Ying Lin, is both loved and hated.

Brent and Jennifer Ashabranner, Their Names to Live: What the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Means to America. Brookfield, CT, TwentyFirst Century, 1998. www.thewall-usa.com.

See also: War Memorials

REFERENCES Thomas Allen, Offerings at the Wall: Artifacts from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection. Atlanta, GA, Turner, 1995.

VISION QUEST, USA/ CANADA A vision quest is a unique rite of passage and initiation for young men in many Native American Indian tribes. It is especially common among the Plains Indians.

592 | Vision Quest, USA/Canada

When a young Indian comes to puberty, he begins a process of learning the lore and traditions of the community more specifically than he has done as a child. He is guided by the elders, who teach him the responsibilities of manhood. When he feels it is time, he approaches his chosen elder with a pipe of sweetgrass, and his readiness is determined. If he is deemed ready, he embarks on a quest to seek an inspiration and a vision that will show him the direction for his life. He first takes part in a sweat lodge with his elder and his associates, praying to the spirits and the ancestors to protect him on his quest and to provide him with a vision. Although the sweat lodge may be used by anyone for purification or seeking wisdom, it has a special role in the Hanblecheyapi (“crying for a vision”) of the young Lakota Sioux warrior entering upon manhood. The sweat lodge is a purification ritual, removing the poisons from the warrior’s body and freeing his mind from distraction. When a Native American youth leaves the sweat lodge to seek a vision, he wears only a breechcloth and leaves his hair unbraided as a sign of humility before the earth powers who will reveal wisdom to him. He is allowed to carry only a buffalo robe or a blanket to ward off the cold air in the high places where he will go. The purification that takes place in the sweat lodge is an important stage in the vision quest; without it, the young warrior may not perceive the vision, or the dream he is vouchsafed may be the result of some weakness in his body that has not been expelled. He spends two to four days in a high place; each summer many Native Americans from Plains tribes assemble at Bear Butte in the Black Hills, a favored spot for the vision quest.

The youth enters the vision quest fasting. He sleeps rough and continues to pray. In the Lakota tradition, the elder builds a small lean-to and the youth goes through a ritual of prayer to the four directions. During the time of the vision quest, he may take neither food nor water. In most tribes, the young man goes off by himself and finds his own suitable spot for prayer and meditation. Medicine wheels are a natural choice for a number of tribes, and some of them have been used for centuries. The vision may come in a dream or as an inspiration, but normally a guardian animal appears. In many tribes, the young man will take the name of the guardian spirit, which thus becomes his totem, and he will thenceforward be known as “Flying Eagle,” “Sitting Bull,” or something else descriptive of the totem. He will also have an insight into his life direction within the tribe. When he returns to the community, he will seek out a mentor to guide and train him in that direction, be that as a medicine man or carpenter, for example. As a sign of his vision, the youth will gather something to put into a medicine bag as a constant reminder of his vision. It might be a small rock, a feather, or a tuft of animal fur. This ex-voto becomes a source of power and sacred remembrance. Immediately after the vision quest, the youth and his elder will take another sweat, during which the boy recounts all that he heard and saw, and the elder interprets what might be confusing or unclear in the dreams and visions. If there was no vision, that is reported also, but after the sweat, the vision quest is rarely discussed with anyone else. The vision quest is best known from the Lakota Sioux, but is found throughout

Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria, South Africa | 593 the Plains tradition and in other tribes. A version of it is practiced by some Inuit (Eskimo) groups, who send their sons onto ice floes. In various versions it can be found among indigenous peoples elsewhere. In some African cultures, certain tasks are assigned as part of initiation, usually before the youth is considered ready for the vision, such as killing a wild animal. Young girls also make vision quests, but less often. For boys it was mandatory until recent years, but it was optional for girls. After initiation, a man may make another vision quest in search of enlightenment about major decisions in life. It is also used as a preparation for the Sun Dance. See also: Medicine Wheels, Sun Dance, Sweat Lodge

REFERENCES Don Doll, Vision Quest: Men, Women and the Sacred Sites of the Sioux Nation. New York, Crown, 1994. Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks. Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska, revised edition, 1961. Wolf Moondance, Vision Quest. New York, Sterling, 2004.

VOORTREKKER MONUMENT, PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA The Voortekker Monument rises like a massive granite mausoleum outside Pretoria. It is a tribute to the Afrikaners who fought the Battle of Blood River and defeated the Zulu army, probably the best-disciplined infantry of the period. Four hundred sixty-eight Voortrekkers

killed some 3,000 Zulu warriors who came on them in wave after wave. The night before, the Afrikaners had prayed that if they won the battle, they would “keep this day and date every year as a day of Thanksgiving like a Sabbath, and we shall erect a church in [God’s] honor. The Voortrekkers, Boer pioneers, were motivated by the treacherous murder of Piet Retief and his band of men, who had been slaughtered by Dingane of the Zulus right after negotiating a land treaty with him. This was followed by an assault on the main Boer camp, where forty-one men, fifty-six women, and 185 children were surprised and killed. The certainty that it was God’s will that the Afrikaners inherit the land infused the theology of the Dutch Reformed Church and led to the policy of apartheid, which called for the total separation of the races. Blacks were expropriated from their lands and homes and sent away to harsh, barren areas. They were not allowed into many parts of the major cities, except as servants, and they were denied educational opportunities. The covenant with God that marked the conviction that the land was given them is celebrated each December 16 as the Day of the Vow, commemorating the Battle of Blood River in 1838. For many years, the anniversary was known as Dingane’s Day, after the leader of the Zulus. In 1952 the name was changed to Day of the Vow and declared a religious holiday. The same date marks the anniversary of the beginning of the armed struggle against apartheid on the part of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1961. After the fall of apartheid and the creation of a multicultural country, the holiday was retained as the Day of Reconciliation.

594 | The Vrindavan Krishna Shrines, Mathura, India

Despite the efforts at racial harmony, the Day of the Vow remains engraved in the hearts of most Afrikaners. The annual pilgrimage to the Voortrekker Monument brings forth thousands of participants, some in period settler costumes. This is seen as a religious observance of the divine commission given them as a people to take the land as their own. The main hall is a domed room, circled by marble friezes of the trek and the battle. It is the largest marble frieze in the world, with twenty-seven carved panels that tell the story of the Great Trek north. Religious themes are woven into the scenes of everyday life and the history of the Boer people from the start of the Great Trek in 1835. The building is surrounded by a granite wall carved with sixty-four ox-wagons, the number of those in the laager (fortified encirclement) at the Battle of Blood River. In the center of the dome is the cenotaph, an empty tomb in remembrance of those who died on the trek. Exactly at noon on the Day of the Vow, the sun peaks through a small opening in the dome and strikes the cenotaph. It is a moving moment, with the crowd in silence. The highlight of the ceremonies is the solemn reading of the vow. Besides Black Africans, other South Africans found the holiday and pilgrimage offensive. Many English-descended South Africans felt marginalized by the theory of apartheid and its tendency to divide the people on the basis of race and ethnicity. The Cape Malays found themselves between the racial factions, not full citizens yet not total victims of racial policies. Furthering the discomfort of the majority of South Africans today is the adoption of the anniversary by neo-Nazi and racist groups in the United States

See also: War Memorials

REFERENCES Hermann Giliomee, The Afrikaners: Biography of a People. Charlottesville, VA, University of Virginia, 2003. Adam Hochschild, A Mirror at Midnight. New York, Houghton Mifflin, 2007. www.voortrekkermon.org.za.

THE VRINDAVAN KRISHNA SHRINES, MATHURA, INDIA The legendary childhood home of the Hindu god Lord Krishna, Vrindavan lies near Delhi in northern India. Nearby Mathura is regarded as the place where Krishna first appeared as a manifestation of the god Vishnu, come to earth to relieve its miseries. He was born in a jail cell, but through miraculous powers he opened the gates and freed himself. His father then carried him to Vrindavan. Nearby are fields where he supposedly grazed flocks as a cowherd. Vrindavan and Mathura became important as a pilgrimage center in the fifteenth century, when devotion to Krishna was revived. Vrindavan and Mathura have more than 4,000 shrines and temples from all periods. The most recent is the temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known popularly in the West as the Hare Krishnas from their constant chant of that divine name. Their center is in the field where Krishna served as a cowherd during his youth, and where he flirted with the gopis (milkmaids), who, according to tradition, were all infatuated with him.

The Vrindavan Krishna Shrines, Mathura, India | 595 Locally, the ISKCON temple is known as the “American temple.” In addition, almost every Hindu sect has a monastery in Vrindavan, offering free meals to pilgrims. The city lies on the sacred Yamuna River, which has a number of bathing places (ghats) at which pilgrims purify themselves. Besides the rites of purification, pilgrims walk around the shrines, clashing cymbals and chanting. In many of the temples, devotees do an ecstatic dance in honor of Lord Krishna, with both men and women taking the part of his lover, Radha. The most prominent of the many sanctuaries is the Bihariji Shrine, where Krishna is enshrined as the divine seducer. In his most recognized pose in Hindu art, playing his flute and leaning toward the observer, he takes the form that appeals to whatever any of his lovers seeks. The main statue, of miraculous origin, is of Krishna and his consort, Radha, in ecstatic embrace. It is believed that the statue will follow anyone of passionate devotion, so it is exposed from behind a curtain for only a few minutes at a time, lest it leave the temple in the wake of a particularly intense devotee! The shrines offer a variety of displays. In the Kasava Deo Temple, for example, is a jail cell reproduced to show where Krishna was born 3,500 years ago. It claims to have the original stone upon which the sacred birth took place. Every conceivable event in Krishna’s life has been associated with a place, including

the spot where Krishna’s diapers were washed, the place where he rested after killing the wicked king who had imprisoned his parents, and above all, the riverside spot where he snatched away the gopis’ clothes as they bathed, teasing them to come out uncovered. The Shree Rahda Ras Bihari Ashta Sakhi Temple, forbidden to visitors after dusk, is where Krishna and Radha return each night to make love. Devotees claim that they can hear Radha’s ankle bells. Visiting these sites is a common pilgrim activity, but there is a set pilgrimage route, the Parikrama, a five-mile circle that passes the main temples. Evidence of religious tourism is found side by side with the temples, such as mechanical puppet shows of the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu scriptural epic that recounts the legend of Krishna, and endless stalls selling religious trinkets. As in all Hindu holy places, any clothing of leather—shoes, belts, and so on—is strictly prohibited. Vrindavan is a refuge for abandoned widows, with an estimated 20,000 living on the streets of the town. They are a majority of the female population.

REFERENCES Enrico Isacco, ed., Krishna, the Divine Lover. Boston, Godine, 1982. Arjuna van der Kooij, Doorway to Eternity: Celebrating the Land of Krishna. San Rafael, CA, Mandala, 2005. Understanding Hindu Traditions. Huntsville, TX, Educational Video, n.d., video.


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Austin Canons to care for the Holy House. By the fifteenth century a stone building had been built over it to protect it, and pilgrimages had begun. The pilgrimage route included stations, or small chapels for rest and worship. Of the two that remain, one is the Slipper Chapel, now the Roman Catholic shrine. Here the pilgrims took off their shoes and walked barefoot the final mile to the Holy House. Walking the final mile continues today, as pilgrims sing hymns and pray the Rosary. Royal pilgrimages began in 1226; Edward I came eleven times. Henry VIII came on pilgrimage in 1511, walking the “holy mile” barefoot and leaving a necklace for the statue. Among other famous pilgrims was Erasmus of Rotterdam, who left a poem in praise of the Virgin. By 1538, however, Henry VIII was suppressing religious houses and appropriating their wealth. Walsingham Priory surrendered its property to the crown, the Holy House was destroyed, and the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was

WAILING WALL See: Western Wall

WALSINGHAM, ENGLAND Nestled in East Anglia, northeast of London, is the small village of Walsingham, the site of a Marian shrine since 1061. Its uniqueness arises because, after a long period of suppression, it has enjoyed a modern revival that has taken an ecumenical form. It draws more than a quarter of million people a year, both Anglican and Roman Catholic. The original legend is told in a fifteenth-century manuscript, The Ballad of Walsingham. Mary appeared to the lady of the manor, Richeldis, showing her a replica of the home of the Holy Family in Nazareth, where the angel announced the coming of Jesus. Richeldis built a simple wooden copy of the building she saw in the vision, and around 1153 her descendants brought in

597

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burnt in the presence of Thomas Cromwell, the king’s chief agent. Pilgrimages were prohibited, and Philip, Earl of Arundel, who died a martyr for the Catholic faith in 1595, left this requiem among his papers: “Weep, weep O Walsingham, whose days are nights/ Blessing turned to blasphemies, holy deeds to despites.” Only a few ruins remained when John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, preached there in 1781, lamenting, “Had there been a grain of virtue or public spirit in Henry VIII, these noble buildings need not have run to ruin.” Restoration began in the late nineteenth century. The Slipper Chapel was reclaimed by Catholics from use as a barn, and in 1897 a new statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was erected. Pilgrimages were slow to start up until 1931, when a remarkable man, the Anglican vicar, Father Alfred Hope Patten, built a new shrine in the village near the original site. A replica of the Holy House, including its protective outer building, was constructed, and a sacred well opened. The church, modeled on that of the original priory, has fifteen altars, one each for the mysteries from the life of Jesus and Mary associated with the Rosary. Anglican nuns care for the shrine, which also has a pilgrim hostel and a hospice for the sick. Father Patten had to overcome opposition from his bishop and many evangelical Protestants, who opposed the idea of a Marian shrine under Church of England sponsorship. Even today, evangelical Anglicans harass and disrupt the national Anglican pilgrimage. Ironically, the opposition has spurred Anglican-Roman ecumenism; leaders of both Churches insist that there is only

one shrine, Walsingham itself, with several centers of devotion. People of all faiths join together, and there has been an Orthodox chapel at the shrine since 1931. In 1934, the Slipper Chapel was declared the national Catholic shrine, and 10,000 came to dedicate it. The custom of making the “holy mile” between the chapel and the shrine was resumed, and the walking pilgrimage from London, following the medieval route, was revived. In 1947, participants in a Pilgrimage of Peace carried fourteen large crosses from all over England to be erected on the grounds. A pilgrim center and the Chapel of Reconciliation accommodate the crowds. The original site with its ruins is privately owned but open to the public. One of the arches of the chapel remains, and the spot where the Holy House once stood is marked. The wells also remain, although they are now dry. One was used as a sacred well, the other as a wishing well where pilgrims cast in a coin when praying for a favor, an ancient, preChristian custom. The feasts of the Annunciation (March 25) and the Assumption (August 15) are major pilgrimage days, beginning with a torchlight procession the night before around the churches of the village— Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, and Orthodox. Other important pilgrimages are the national Anglican pilgrimage (May) and the Catholic one (September), one for Christian members of Parliament (May), and the Pilgrimage for the Sick (July). At Easter there is the “Student Cross,” a pilgrimage for university students. Besides these large events, groups of pilgrims come on most weekends. Although they avoid receiving sacraments

War Memorials | 599 outside their own faiths, people freely share activities across denominational lines. A typical Anglican pilgrimage involves a sung Mass, candlelight procession, and sprinkling at the well, in addition to prayer services and a visit to the Holy House. Catholics begin in the village and go in procession to the Slipper Chapel for a reconciliation service, Mass, adoration, and litanies and prayers. Both programs last through the weekend. See also: Marian Apparitions

REFERENCES Dominic Janes and Gary Waller, eds., Walsingham in Literature and Culture from the Middle Ages to Modernity. Burlington, VT, Ashgate, 2010. Elizabeth Robbard, Every Pilgrim’s Guide to Walsingham. Norwich, UK, Canterbury, 2007. Colin Stephenson, Walsingham Way: Alfred Hope Patten and the Restoration of the Shrine of Our Lady. Norwich, UK, Canterbury, second edition, 2009.

WAR MEMORIALS Among national and secular memorials, war memorials are among the most common. They call to mind the sacrifices made by the military in defense of their countries and reaffirm the unity of the nation. They evoke sentiments of patriotism and gratitude. In the West, especially after the devastating wars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, local memorials were set up as reminders of what British memorials often call “our glorious dead.” Most English cathedrals display

Cenotaph of the Julii in Glanum, a Roman city south of Saint-Re´my-de-Provence, about 20 BCE.

banners and statues honoring individuals who died and military units who served in various campaigns. After the devastation of World War I, countless memorials were built in towns and villages, with the names of those who died. After World War II, names from that conflict were often added. In the United States, statues and memorials are found in towns across the country, often in the main square. In the South, statues of Confederate soldiers recall the sacrifices of the Civil War, and veterans’ groups band together to erect memorials for recent wars. National memorials are usually placed in the country’s capital and are where the annual observance is held each year. When a visiting head of state makes a state visit, there is an expectation that

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he or she will place a wreath of flowers at the site. Protocol requires that after the wreath laying, the dignitary step away from the shrine and not turn his back on it, as an act of respect. The Cenotaph (“empty tomb”) in London was built right after World War I and has been the scene of the annual remembrance service every year. The monarch and leaders of the government lay poppy wreaths at 11:00 A.M., the time of the armistice at the end of the War, on the second Sunday of November. The poppy has become, especially in Britain, a symbol of wartime sacrifice since the publication of Canadian John McCrae’s poem, In Flanders Fields: In Flanders fields the poppies grow between the crosses, row on row. ... We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Poppies are worn on Armistice Day and are used to outline the Tomb of the Unknown at Westminster Abbey. The poem is often used in commemorative ceremonies. On Ottawa’s Confederation Square, the Canadians erected The Response, built to remember those who served and died in World War I. It now recognizes all those who have died in foreign wars. On top of a granite arch are two bronze figures, Peace and Freedom. Beneath are twenty-two statues representing all branches of Canadian forces. The solemn national observance ceremony takes place here every Remembrance Day, November 11, presided over by the Queen’s representative, the GovernorGeneral. In 2000, the Tomb of the

Unknown Soldier was joined to the monument. The Canadian World War I Memorial at Vimy Ridge in France, where Canadian forces lost large numbers of men, is marked by a grieving statue, Mother Canada, also known as Canada Bereft. The memorial is a low limestone building out of which arise two pylons. There are twenty full-size statues. Under Adolf Hitler’s personal protection, the monument was undamaged during World War II. The official national monument for Australia is in the capital, Canberra, but most Australians are more familiar with the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, a tall square building with a short pyramid on top that stands in a park in the city. The USS Arizona Memorial lies in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where it was sunk during the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. The ship is regarded as a war cemetery, since the remains of 1,177 sailors are entombed in the ship. Arlington National Cemetery, whose motto is “Where valor proudly sleeps,” has a number of memorials, most notably the Iwo Jima Memorial. Others, however, go back to the Civil War. The American Battle Monuments Commission maintains twenty-five memorials around the world. Ninos Heroes (“The Boy Heroes”) is a national shrine in Mexico City to the six teenage military cadets who died resisting the American attack on the Chapultepec Castle during the MexicanAmerican War in 1847. They ranged in age from thirteen to nineteen. The last to die threw himself off a parapet of the castle, wrapped in the Mexican flag so that it would not be taken by the

Wat Arun, Bangkok, Thailand | 601 Americans. The monument is a Carrara marble plaza with six slim marble columns topped in black. A mural depicts the leap of Juan Escutia from the top of the castle. The bodies of the six boys are buried in Chapultepec Park. Warsaw’s Krasinski Square in the middle of the city has one of the most striking war memorials, the Warsaw Uprising Memorial. Brave Polish underground forces rose up in a futile attempt to drive out the retreating Nazi army in 1944. Soviet troops cynically stopped outside the city in their advance, allowing Nazi forces to destroy the last elements of the Polish resistance. The memorial is in two sections: bronze statues of resistance fighters are shown emerging from the underground, and the second shows the defeated remnants fleeing into the sewers of the city. The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is unusual because it brings together the national Shinto faith with a shrine honoring the war dead. The spirits of the dead are believed to reside in the temple, including those who died fighting against Japan. Yasukuni has been controversial for its nationalist associations and a point of sensitivity and tension especially for China and other countries that suffered at the hands of the Japanese in World War II. See also: Arlington National Cemetery, Cemeteries, Secular Shrines, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Voortrekker Monument, Yasukuni Jinja

REFERENCES Larry Bond, The Mighty Fallen: Our Nation’s Greatest War Memorials. Washington, DC, Smithsonian, 2000.

William Kidd and Brian Murdoch, eds., Memory and Memorials: The Commemorative Century. Burlington, VT, Ashgate, 2004. Kirk Savage, The Monument Wars. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 2005. www.sites-of-memory.de.

WAT ARUN, BANGKOK, THAILAND The most impressive thing about Wat Arun is its setting along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. The name comes from Aruna, the Hindu God of the Dawn. It is also known as the Temple of the Dawn because the first light of morning reflects off the temple. Wat Arun rises along the west bank of the river with a 260-foot central tower, or prang, with four small ones around it. The central prang symbolizes Mount Meru, the mythical Hindu home of the gods. The prangs are covered with bits of porcelain and shells, which reflect the rising sun every morning. On top of the central prang is a seven-pronged trident, the trident of Shiva. Inset into the central prang is a green statue of the Hindu god Indra, seated on Erawan, the traditional Thai three-headed elephant. Beneath the prang, the lower section of the wat’s first terrace has images of giants, monkeys, and gods. The second terrace has four statues of scenes from the life of the Buddha: his birth, enlightenment, his first sermon, and entering nirvana. The levels above symbolize the Buddhist universe, the heavens, and the seven realms of happiness. Along the river are six green granite pavilions with river boat landings. Part of the complex is an ordination hall.

602 | Wat Phra Phutthabat, Saraburi, Thailand

After the defeat of the Thais at the hands of the Burmese, General Taksin moved his river fleet and troops to what is now Bangkok to establish a new capital. He landed at the spot where Wat Arun now stands. Taksin became Rama I, the founder of the dynasty that still rules Thailand. He demolished the small Wat Mokok that was there and began Wat Arun. There was already a prominent monastery at the temple. Wat Arun briefly housed the Emerald Buddha after it was reclaimed from the Laotians, until it was installed in Wat Phra Kaew. The Tod Kathin Ceremony takes place at the end of the Buddhist Lent (during the rainy season), when monks emerge from their three-month monastic retreat. Buddhists bring new robes to present to the monks as a means of making merit. A monk may receive a new robe only if he has been present in a monastery for the entire three months. Wat Arun is the venue for the Royal Tod Kathin. In past years, the king brought his gift robes in a procession of the royal barges, a spectacular demonstration of devotion. The king’s barge is the 145-foot Anantanagaraj, with a multiheaded naga prow and powered by costumed oarsmen. Wat Arun appears on the Thai 10-baht coin. See also: Emerald Buddha, Lakmuang Shrine, Mount Meru, Wat Po

REFERENCES Rita Ringis, Thai Temples and Temple Murals. New York, Oxford University, 1990. Wat Arun, Temple of the Dawn. TravelVideo, 2007, video. www.watarun.org.

WAT PHRA PHUTTHABAT, SARABURI, THAILAND Wat Phra Phutthabat houses a sacred relic of the Buddha, his footprint. According to legend, a seventeenth-century king sent a group of monks to Sri Lanka to worship at a footprint of the Buddha and thus make merit for him. Shortly after their return, a hunter found a footprint in the forest and the king visited and authenticated it as the Buddha’s. A magnificent mondop was built to enshrine the sacred footprint, which is seventy inches long and twenty-one inches wide. It is protected by a gilded grid. Pilgrims throw money onto the footprint as offerings. The footprint is believed to have healing powers, and many pilgrims come seeking cures. Inside, the mondop is lavishly decorated with murals showing the Buddha at important stages in his life. Not a square inch of the walls or ceiling is undecorated; the roof is held up by tall columns in blue, gold, and white, and the walls are in a deep red with Buddha figures painted in rows. A long stairway goes up to the mondop, which is built with gilded columns around it and a seven-tiered glazed roof. On each handrail of the stairs is a protective five-headed naga serpent. The mondop has bells along the outside, which pilgrims strike to make merit. Nearby is a well with holy water that pilgrims take home with them. One legend has it that the Buddha washed his robes in its water. Another tells that the hunter who found the Buddha footprint washed in its waters and scars disappeared from his face. Regionally, Wat Phra Phutthabat is known as the shrine of a monk renowned

Wat Po, Bangkok, Thailand | 603 for holiness. His statue shows him seated in meditation. The shrine also serves as a meditation center and school. There are two festivals every year, in February and March, that are major pilgrimages with upwards on 800,000 participants. Until the early twentieth century, the king would come to the pilgrimage and perform a dance on the back of the royal elephant, thus ensuring a long reign. Around the time of the second of these pilgrimages to reverence the footprint, there is a similar procession with a tooth of the Buddha, which is kept in the wat’s museum. This last is strictly a local event, in contrast with the two main pilgrimages. See also: Tooth Temple, Wells and Springs

WAT PO, BANGKOK, THAILAND Close by the Temple of the Emerald Buddha is Bangkok’s second major temple, that of the Reclining Buddha, officially known as Wat Phra Chetuphon and called Wat Po by everyone. It was built in 1860, although the first buildings on the site date from the sixteenth century, making it the oldest temple in Bangkok. It is also the largest temple compound in Bangkok (twenty acres) and the residence of a large group of monks who maintain an active schedule. Despite the bustle, there is an atmosphere of serenity and gentleness here that the crowded and more popular Emerald Buddha Temple cannot match. The temple was refurbished and expanded by Rama I Taksin, who founded Bangkok. He gave the temple

many artifacts brought from temples in the old capital at Ayutthaya after the retreat from the Burmese invasion that destroyed that city. The walls have sixteen gates, two open to the public. There is a long arcade of golden Buddha statues, all identical, massed in serried rows of devotion. Around the grounds are numbers of stone statues of sages carved in Chinese style, originally imported as ballast on ships trading with China. The chedis, pagodalike spires that contain royal relics, are of varying sizes and stand in rows, covered by reflecting colored mirrors and bright tiles. Seventy-one small chedis contain the ashes of members of the royal family, and twenty large ones contain relics of the Buddha. No attempt has been made at architectural uniformity, and what is harmonious at the Emerald Buddha is here mixed and unmatched. To the Thai, however, these artistic and aesthetic issues are beside the point. Wat Po’s seeming jumble of buildings mirrors its variety of activities. One of Wat Po’s early missions was general education for the people, and as a consequence, it includes a series of twenty knolls that illustrate rock formations from around the kingdom. Plaques provide instruction in astrology, literature, and Thai traditions. The most prominent part of this cultural aspect of Wat Po is its program of instruction in folk medicine.There are plaques with information about home remedies for simple ailments, and one small hill has a series of eighty statues showing methods of massage as practiced in early Thailand. Wat Po remains the nationally recognized center for traditional medicine, and every afternoon, traditional healers are available at its monastery for

604 | Wells and Springs

consultations and treatment. During the mid-nineteenth century, the compound was the medical teaching center of the country, but it lost that function when modern medicine was introduced. Traditional medicine is closely interwoven with religious belief in Thai society, however, and Wat Po continues that heritage. The government today recognizes Wat Po in this role as the official teaching center for traditional medicine. In particular, the monks are adept at the techniques of ancient Thai massage, and it is offered for a modest fee. Thai massage courses are given from a few weeks in length to a year. Thai massage is based on principles of energy flow, similar to Chinese acupuncture, and is intended to remove negative forces from the body by opening blocked circulation. It includes sharp, chiropractic-type moves. Though Wat Po is not the pilgrimage center that the Emerald Buddha is, the Reclining Buddha remains a major object of popular piety. It is imposing— 145 feet long and forty-five feet high, covered with gold leaf. The posture is that of the Buddha as he entered nirvana. The soles of its feet—in Thai culture the least-valued part of the body—are inlaid with 108 mother-of-pearl emblems of the Buddha. The ubosot is in the center of a ring of 400 Buddha images in a surrounding cloister. Stone plaques around the base give the story of the Ramayana, the classic Buddhist epic of the victory of good over evil. These were brought to Bangkok by Rama I. Inside the ubosot is a gold and crystal altar with a gilded Buddha statue. Over the statue is a seventiered umbrella, a symbol of authority in Thailand.

Wat Po is a living monastery. Pilgrims may visit the meditation hall used by the monks (bot), which is also the space for ordaining new monks. On occasion, it is possible to be present for an ordination, but usually only by watching from the entrance. In the viharns, or preaching halls, are relics of the Buddha and murals of his life and teaching. See also: Emerald Buddha, Wat Arun

REFERENCES Rita Ringis, Thai Temples and Temple Murals. New York, Oxford University, 1990. Alistair Shearer, Thailand: The Lotus Kingdom. London, John Murray, 1989. Steve VanBeek and Luca Tettoni, The Arts of Thailand. London, Thames & Hudson, 1991.

WELLS AND SPRINGS Springs and wells have been objects of reverence from earliest times as sources of healing and the abodes of spirits and gods. In ancient Greece, when questioners approached the oracle at Delphi for advice, they first had to wash in the sacred waters of the Castalian Spring before presenting offerings to the priestess. Wells were especially revered in Roman Britain. The Romans encouraged them and built a major shrine dedicated to the goddess Coventina alongside a fort in Hadrian’s Wall. When Coventina’s Well was excavated in 1876, a hoard of Roman coins was found, along with a number of bronze heads and a human skull. The last two items indicate that

Wells and Springs | 605 the well was probably old enough to have been part of ancient Celtic cults that worshipped the human head and often offered the severed heads of the dead to win the goddess’s favor. The coins indicate that the spring was used as a wishing well, one where the divine power could be implored through an offering. Besides seeking the protection of the goddess or residing spirit, people came to the wells and springs for healing and divination. Praying for cures of eye afflictions was popular, due to the folk tradition that a well is the eye of God. Every sort of illness was involved at one place or another, from cures of arthritis to leprosy. After praying for the cure, people left ex-votos as token gifts. Even today some wells and springs will have strips of cloth tied around nearby bushes, feathers, special stones, or even plastic bags. Some of the more prominent pagan wells and springs, such as Delphi in Greece, featured oracles who gave prophesies. Wells in many places were fitted with stone “dream beds” where a seeker could sleep and hope to find in a dream, the solution to his or her questions. The dream was supposedly inspired by the spirit of the well. The spirit of the well or spring was always feminine. Although Christianity rejected the power of the goddesses, sacred wells continued in use, connected with a local saint. In Ireland alone, it is estimated that there were once 3,000 of these. People would approach the well after saying five decades of the Rosary, going around it on their knees, offering prayers. Finally, a small container of the holy water was drunk and refilled to be taken home. Small chapels or stone piles were built near some of these wells, or sacred trees

planted. A pilgrim would visit it, leave a small offering at the tree (a rosary, symbolic cloth, or a coin hammered into the tree), or add a stone to the pile. Between 1750 and 1850, the Catholic clergy attempted to restrain pilgrimages to holy wells, because many had become occasions for partying and drunkenness. Priests continued to encourage prayers and vigils, however. The waters of many saints’ wells or springs were considered to have healing properties, often helpful for rashes and skin diseases. St. Bueno’s in Wales has such a well, with steps leading down into it; it is reputed to have the power to cure children’s diseases. Bueno (“The Good”) was the uncle of St. Winifred, whose well is perhaps the best known in the United Kingdom. The Reformation generally attacked sacred wells and springs as superstitious and pagan, and they were officially closed in Britain and Ireland. Nevertheless, many continued to be used by Catholics in secret, and some Anglicans also frequented them. The holy well at Walsingham dried up during this period, and when the pilgrimages there were revived, it was no longer a focus. Though denying any spiritual importance to the spring itself, some Protestant groups require that the central rite of baptism be done by immersion in living water, a spring or river. Catholics, who seldom use immersion, provide for baptism in “the area where the baptismal font flows,” which implies that many churches were built over springs in early times. Healing springs or wells have appeared at the places of a number of Marian apparitions. There were two springs at Walsingham, and a generous

606 | Wenwu Temple, Taiwan

flow of water at Lourdes still supplies visitors with Lourdes Water, much prized as a blessed souvenir of pilgrimage. In the garden of the simple cottage of Sister Lucia, the last remaining seer of the visionaries of Fa´ tima, there remains a blessed well over which Lucia received an apparition of an angel. Water from the well is today eagerly sought by pilgrims. Sacred wells are very common in the British Isles, and hundreds remain today, many of them active. Although the holy spring at Walsingham is secondary to the pilgrimages there, it is used daily for blessing. The water is poured into the hands of those who present themselves. The most common means of honoring sacred wells is by gift offering. Among the Mayans (300–900 CE ) and other Mesoamericans, this included the offering of human sacrifices. A modern version of the custom of placating wells is the popular notion of the wishing well, where a small offering accompanied by a wish is supposed to make the wish come true. It is such a universal custom in modern society that even decorative fountains in shopping centers are scattered with coins. Often, a local charity will be named to receive the gifts to avoid the embarrassment of what is seen as superstitious practice. In Derbyshire, England, the custom persists among Anglicans of “dressing” wells. Elaborate panels are decorated for a feast day or some other traditional date—always in the summer—and erected over the holy well, usually with a floral garland. These panels often depict biblical scenes, using flower petals, seeds, bark, and other natural elements. The “dressing days,” of which

there are about twenty each summer, are accompanied by Anglican religious services. The list for England can be found at www.welldressing.com. Sacred waters are not limited to wells and springs. Certain rivers are revered— the Jordan in Israel, where Jesus was baptized by his cousin John; the Ganges in India where Hindus bring their deceased to scatter their ashes; the sacred Nile of the ancient Egyptians; and the Voodoo waterfall of Sault d’Eau are all examples. See also: Chichen Itza, Saint Gobnait, Saint Winifred’s Well, Saut d’Eau

REFERENCES Nathaniel Altman, Sacred Water. Mahwah, NJ, Paulist, 2002. Rosita Arvigo and Nadine Epstein, Spiritual Bathing. Berkeley, CA, Celestial Arts, 2003. “Sacred Waters,” 217 National Geographic 4:80–95 (April 2010). Sacrifice and Bliss. New York, Mystic Fire, 1988, video.

WENWU TEMPLE, TAIWAN This temple in the mountains of Taiwan is dedicated to three holy men, Confucius and two generals—Guan Yu (160–219 CE) and Yue Fei (1103–1142). They are the only generals ever to be deified. The shrine is sacred to both Taoists and Confucianists. Originally, here were two temples, but in 1934 during the Japanese colonial period, a hydroelectric plant caused the water level to rise and flood them, so the two were rebuilt as a single temple on the northern shores of Sun Moon Lake.

Wesley’s Chapel, London, UK | 607 The atmosphere is more Taoist than Confucian, although there is a large statue of the seated sage with his chief disciples, Mencius and Zihsih. Students come to the Dacheng Hall to pray before Confucius as they are preparing their national exams. Coming up to the temple, the visitor passes the Golden Ball of Wisdom. In Taoist mythology, dragons symbolize power and the thunderball depicts their wisdom. The Golden Ball is grasped by two huge lions holding up the ball and guarding the entryway. Pilgrims touch the Golden Ball as they pass by to take on some of its wisdom. Nearby is a pool with multicolored dragon figures, playing with a ball. The temple was rebuilt and expanded in 1976 to accommodate the increase in pilgrims. Then in 1999 a large earthquake seriously damaged all the halls and the pilgrim hotel. Rebuilding began at once, this time earthquake-proof, and the present temple was completed in 2003. It has three worship halls as before, many courtyards, and a drum tower. Vendors and fortunetellers offer their wares and services. Besides the main deities, side altars hold statues of various other gods. The temple is built in northern imperial style. Of the three halls, one is dedicated to the god of war, one to the god of literature, and the third to Confucius. The name Wen Wu means “cultural and martial temple,” reflecting this. The temple sits on the shores of Sun Moon Lake, and its main entrance is from a steep flight of steps, the “stairway to heaven,” that ascends from a boat landing on the lake. There are 366 steps, one for each day of the year (and an extra for leap year), and each is carved with

information on the twenty-four solar periods of the year. Pilgrims buy a wind chime inscribed with the animal that corresponds with their astrological year according to the Chinese calendar. They sign the chime and write their petition on it. The chime is blessed by incense at the temple and then taken down the steps to the point where their birth date is inscribed and hung there for continuing blessings after they have left. Inside the temple, the ceiling is covered with gilded statuettes of deities. Prayer slips are placed inside incense coils that are shaped like lamp shades, which give off ascending tendrils of smoke. Below, pilgrims burn more incense and “ghost money” in a pagodalike oven as offerings. A boat filled with (paper) gold blocks is offered. Pilgrims shake bamboo tubes with divination sticks until one comes out and the attendant reads their fortune from a wall of numbered scrolls. If that ancient method does not please, there is a mechanical fortunetelling machine where the figure of a girl emerges with a scroll in hand.

REFERENCES www.sunmoonlake.gov.tw, www.wenwu.org.tw

WESLEY’S CHAPEL, LONDON, UK John Wesley (1703–1791), the founder of Methodism and the greatest preacher of his age, built his last chapel to replace an earlier one, the Foundery. It was built in simple Georgian style, and Wesley’s statue stands in front of the building.

608 | Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel

JOHN WESLEY Wesley, an Anglican priest who was one of the greatest religious figures in British history, transformed the dry theology of his day with a dramatic evangelization of the working class. He was strongly influenced by Moravian pietism, where he “felt my heart strangely warmed,” as he described his conversion experience. Convinced that God had given him a special mission, he found Anglican churches closed to him, and he began “preaching in the open air” to whomever he found. By his death, he had given an estimated 40,000 sermons, mostly to people who would never enter a conventional church. His first such sermon was to a group of miners. He preached a personal experience of Christ but never rejected the sacramental life of Anglicanism. Wesley denounced slavery and advocated other social reforms. Besides his preaching, Wesley formed small communities separate from parish life to strengthen the faith of his disciples. His legacy is found not only in the Methodist Church and its offshoots but also in later evangelical movements.

His home is adjacent, along with the Museum of Methodism. Wesley lived in his house for the last eleven years of the life and died there. He is buried in the garden to the rear of the chapel, with several of his disciples and family members. For the centenary of Wesley’s birth in 1981, the chapel was remodeled, with stained glass windows installed and new pillars placed inside, the gifts of Methodist churches around the world. It was again refurbished in 1978 for the second centenary of its opening. The structure of the chapel is in a fairly traditional modern Protestant style. An open foyer with glass walls allows a full view of the nave. The stained glass is lightsome and brings in the sun. The pulpit is front and center. Above the sanctuary is a gallery that extends the seating. The general impression is one of a harmonious but not lavish interior. The chapel has never ceased being an active community. It was the first Methodist church built specifically for the celebration of Holy Communion as

well as for preaching services. While preaching was the heart and soul of Methodism, Wesley never abandoned his Anglican roots. Today it has a congregation of several hundred and serves many more who come to visit the “mother church” of Methodism. Wesley’s Chapel attracts a wide spectrum of Londoners, including many West African immigrants.

REFERENCES Stephen Tompkins, John Wesley: A Biography. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 2003. www.wesleyschapel.org.uk

WESTERN WALL, JERUSALEM, ISRAEL The Western Wall is the remnant of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, built by Herod the Great in 19 BCE. In 70 CE, the

Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel | 609 Romans destroyed the Second Temple, leaving only the western retaining wall. It is also called the Kotel or Wailing Wall. From that date until Israel successfully retook the area in the Six-Day War (1967), Jews were forbidden to go to the Temple Mount. The Western Wall is sacred to Jews because it represents the divine presence in the Temple. Jewish belief held that the Presence, the Shekinah, lived on in the Temple and could never depart from it. The Western Wall, therefore, is as close to the living presence of God as a contemporary Jew can come. For pilgrims through the centuries, the Western Wall became a place to lament the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, and it took on the popular nickname the Wailing Wall. The Second Temple was dedicated in 516 BCE, but in 19 BCE Herod the Great began an expansion that necessitated the Wall to support the extension. After the Bar Kochba Rebellion was put down by the Romans, Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem. During the early Christian era, although they could not live in the city, they were allowed to come to the Wall once a year to mourn the destruction of the Temple. Finally, Jews were readmitted to the city in 425 CE. During the Muslim period, the Wall was permitted for Jewish prayer, but the Moroccan Quarter began to encroach on it to the extent that the open space was only a few feet wide. Through the nineteenth century there were many attempts by Jewish philanthropists and groups to purchase the Moroccan Quarter, but they all fell through. While Jews continued to pray at the Wall after World War I, harassment mounted from Arabs, who

Orthodox Jews pray at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. The sacred Jewish site is also known as the Wailing Wall, and is considered both a monument to the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple in 70 B.C. as well as a national symbol of Israeli honor.

organized noisy demonstrations during prayer and befouled the Wall with excrement. Tensions mounted after an incident on the Day of Atonement in 1928, when British police removed the screen separating women and men, which caused the women to rebel and pelt the police, who responded by beating the women. Rumors of a Jewish plot to take over the Dome of the Rock spread through the Arab community. Conditions deteriorated quickly. Zionist youth sparked a large demonstration in Tel Aviv and then descended on the Wall. In response, several thousand Arabs attacked Jews at the Wall. False rumors were spread that Jews had killed

610 | Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel

a number of Arabs. A few days later, the 1929 Hebron Massacre took place, when many Jews were slaughtered. After that, provocations continued on both sides, often accompanied by violence. The Wall soon became a symbol of Jewish nationalism. On the Day of Atonement, young Jews defied orders not to blow the shofar (ram’s horn) at the Wall and were routinely imprisoned. Elderly Jews who brought chairs to rest had them snatched from under them. After Jordanian forces occupied the Old City in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, Jews were refused entry to the Western Wall. It was a great victory not only for Israel but for all Judaism when the Wall was liberated in 1967. Within a few days, the entire Moroccan Quarter was demolished and the area opened up as a plaza. Since then, the Wall has become the main focus of Jewish pilgrimage in Jerusalem. The Wall is always open for pilgrims. A large square overlooks an area below where prayers and petitions are offered. Christian pilgrims and tourists usually stop at this point to observe the activities below, although they are permitted to go to the Wall. Men, even gentiles, are required to wear a hat or yarmulke or skull cap. Cardboard ones are issued if needed. Women are expected to be very modestly dressed and have their heads covered. The Wall is 187 feet long and sixty-two feet high. The stones are limestone and weigh up to 100 tons each. No mortar was used in the construction. Above the Wall is the Temple Mount and in front of it is a small plaza for pilgrims and a raised paved area for onlookers. In the plaza directly in front of the Wall, men and women are separated by a screen that runs the length of the open area, following Orthodox tradition. The

space is abuzz with activity. Jews in traditional Hassidic dress read prayers as their heads bob up and down. Groups dance around the Torah and chant. A family and friends bring a young teen from America for his bar mitzvah at the Wall. Pilgrims approach the Wall to insert prayer notes between the massive stones in the belief that the Wall is as close as one can come to the Divine Presence. If a pilgrimage to Jerusalem is not possible, agents will deliver a petition to the wall, or even accept it by e-mail. More than a million notes are collected every year and buried on the Mount of Olives. The bar mitzvah is the young Jew’s coming-of-age ceremony by which he becomes a “son of the Covenant” and now counts as an adult toward the necessary ten men required for holding services. It is a major step in his religious life, so doing it at the Wall makes it even more special. Jewish tour agencies make all arrangements from transportation and hotels to the religious service. Celebrating bat mitzvah, the parallel service for a girl, is more difficult, since Orthodoxy does not recognize it. Large numbers of Jewish pilgrims come to the Wall on the anniversary of its destruction, Tisha B’Av, which falls in July or August. The scriptures for that day are from Jeremiah’s Lamentations, written in response the destruction of the First Temple and the exile of the people to Babylon. Many pilgrims also come for the traditional three pilgrimage feasts: Sukkot, Shav’uot, and Passover (Exodus 23:17). On those days the crowds can be very large and the space cramped, so that gentiles are not welcome. See also: Jewish Pilgrimages, Solomon’s Temple

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REFERENCES Simone Ricca, Reinventing Jerusalem. New York, Tauris, 2007. Michal Shafdie, The Western Wall. Philadelphia, PA, Jewish Publication Society, 1998. Hershel Shanks, Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. New York, Continuum, 2007. Unearthed: Herod’s Tomb/Western Wall Tunnels. Exploration, 2008, video.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY, ENGLAND One of the most visited sites in England, often mistakenly considered the Anglican cathedral of London, Westminster Abbey is the chapel of parliament and the Chapel Royal. Until the suppression of the monasteries under Henry VIII, it was also an important abbey, and Parliament met in its monastic meeting hall. The buildings, close by today’s Parliament, are crowded into one of the busiest commercial districts in London, and almost none of the original sense of peace and contemplation can be retained. Nonetheless, along with Canterbury and York Minster, it is one of the great symbols of worldwide Anglicanism and its “middle way” between Protestantism and Catholicism. It is also a national shrine, housing tombs of the famous and the infamous and some 400 memorials to English heroes. There has been a monastic church on this site since about 750. St. Edward the Confessor, the second-last Saxon king, completed the abbey a few weeks before his death. Within a year, England was occupied by the Norman William the

London’s Westminster Abbey is the resting place of many of England’s most famous personages. Designed using both the English and French Gothic styles, the main Abbey was completed between 1245 and 1375, although building continued for centuries. The two towers on the western façade were completed in 1745 by architect Nicholas Hawksmoor.

Conqueror, who was the first to be crowned in Edward’s abbey church. Edward was canonized in 1163 as St. Edward the Confessor, and it was decided to build a shrine worthy of the sainted king. The present church, 530 by 200 feet and ninety-five feet high, was built between 1243 and 1375 in French Gothic style. The twin towers were added in 1722. Because it has the title of “Royal Peculiar,” meaning that it is directly under the authority of the sovereign, Westminster Abbey escaped the vandalism and destruction of the Reformation.

612 | Westminster Abbey, England

The shrine of Edward the Confessor was consecrated in 1269. It remains substantially in its original form behind the high altar, though the gold and mosaic coverings were lost during the Reformation. Throughout the Middle Ages and well beyond, the shrine was considered a place of healing. Pilgrims came to touch the tomb, and the sick were left there overnight in hope of a cure. Around the shrine are the tombs of the medieval Plantagenet kings, and across from it is the coronation throne, used in every coronation since 1296. Inside the throne is the Stone of Scone, the sacred coronation stone of Scotland, brought to the Abbey after Scotland was conquered by England and incorporated into the United Kingdom. Every English monarch has been crowned at Westminster since 1066. Westminster Abbey is a national resting place for the great of British history. Almost all are laid under the paving stones, trod on by every visitor. The tomb of the Unknown Soldier is marked off by a frame of poppies and may not be walked on; the Unknown is buried in earth brought from the battlefields of France. The aisles hold monuments to generals, prime ministers, and politicians, although the Methodist founder, John Wesley, lies among them. Memorials and monuments crowd the walls, including one to a painter who refused burial at Westminster because “they bury fools there.” For many visitors, the highlight of the abbey is the Poet’s Corner, where sculpted monuments to Shakespeare and Handel contrast with simple floor plaques marking the graves of Tennyson, Robert Browning, and T. S. Eliot. Chaucer (+1400) has the earliest tomb. A newer memorial was created above the Great West Door: life-size statues of

ten martyrs of the twentieth century, from all Christian faith traditions. They include Rev. Martin Luther King (USA, Baptist), Archbishop Janani Luwum (Uganda, Anglican), Archbishop Oscar Romero (El Salvador, Catholic), Grand Duchess Elizabeth (Soviet Union, Orthodox), Catechist Manche Mameola (South Africa, Anglican), Lucian Tapiedi (New Guinea, Anglican), Rev. Maximilian Kolbe (Poland, Catholic), Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Germany, Lutheran), Esther John (Pakistan, Presbyterian), and Pastor Wang Zhiming (China, Evangelical). Because it commemorates martyrs from living memory, it has attracted an increased number of visitors. The Chapel of Henry VII was added in the early 1500s. It contains the tombs of the Tudor and Stuart sovereigns. High windows make it light, rising to a carved stone ceiling so intricate that it seems like lace. It has been called “the loveliest jewel of Christendom.” It is decorated with banners of the knights of the Order of the Bath and also holds a memorial to the heroes of the Battle of Britain in World War II. The statuary was not defaced during the Puritan period and includes fine medieval sculpture. Elizabeth I and her half-sister and bitter rival, Mary, lie in a joint marble tomb. Westminster Abbey is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

REFERENCES Richard Jenkyns, Westminster Abbey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 2005. Tony Trowles, Treasures of Westminster Abbey. London, Scala, 2008. The Abbey. London, BBC, 1995, video. www.westminster-abbey.org.

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WHITE BUFFALO, USA/ CANADA The white buffalo, a rare appearance in the herds, is considered sacred by Plains Indians in the United States and Canada. Some are albino and others are the results of cross-breeding. Few live to maturity. The legend of the White Buffalo Woman originates with the Sioux Nation. It is told of an ancient time, before the Indians had horses for the hunt, and at a time when the people were starving. Two young warriors went out from their camp and could find nothing, but they spied a vision coming toward them, floating just above the ground. It was a beautiful maiden wearing a white buffalo garment. One of the youths cast his eyes down in respect, but the other reached out toward her in desire. The lustful one was immediately struck by lightning and consumed in fire. The woman then told the other youth to return to the camp and prepare for her arrival. The buffalo woman arrived bearing a holy bundle and saw that her instructions had been followed: a tipi was erected with an earthen altar holding a buffalo skull. She circled the tipi sunwise and then opened her bundle to present the people with the Sacred Pipe. She then instructed them in the holy ways they were to follow: the use of the pipe, how to pray, and what rituals to follow. She revealed that the Black Hills were their sacred place. Then she taught them the seven sacred ceremonies: the sweat lodge, the naming ceremony, healing, adoption, marriage, the vision quest, and the sun dance. At the sun dance, an older woman takes part in the ritual as the White Buffalo Woman.

As the woman departed, she rolled over four times, each time emerging as a buffalo, first black, then brown, then red, and finally white. She also promised to return every generation. So, the White Buffalo is among the most sacred images in Plains Indian religion, and the appearance of a white buffalo is marked as a sign of the return of the White Buffalo Woman. It is also a prophetic appearance, calling on the people to mend the sacred hoop of life. In modern times, it has been taken as a sign to combat alcoholism, to improve education, and to form the youth in the traditions of the elders. The best known of the white buffalo of recent years was Miracle, a white female born in 1994 at a farm in Wisconsin. She lived for ten years and gave birth to several calves before dying of natural causes. The farm has produced three white buffalo. Miracle was placed under the spiritual protection of the Sioux Nation, who saw her as a symbol of peace and harmony. Thousands of people came to see Miracle, some out of mere curiosity and some to pray in her presence. Indians left dream catchers, webs of thread with an eagle feather attached, which catch the white buffalo’s dreams. See also: Native American Sacred Places

REFERENCE Heyoka Merrifield, Painted Earth Temple. New York, Atria, 2007.

WIELICZKA SALT MINE, ´ W, POLAND KRAKO One of the oddest and yet still compelling religious monuments is the Salt

614 | Wondugan Altar, Seoul, South Korea

Mine at Wieliczka, outside Krako´ w. Over centuries, miners have carved out religious symbols, altars, chapels, and statues from salt. The mine was active for extracting salt from the thirteenth century until a flood in 1996. As they excavated the salt, the miners carved the walls and rooms rather than leave them blank. The results are stunning. There are nine levels in the mine, but only a few are carved. The earliest chapel, dedicated to St. Anthony, was dug out in the seventeenth century. The area open for tours is about two miles in length, but that is less than one percent of the total passageways in the mine. Along this route, however, are multiple statues of saints, prominent Polish historical personalities, and legendary figures. The oldest statues and carvings were done by miners and the newer ones by contemporary artists. Among the more recent statues is one of Pope John Paul II, the only Polish pope and a hero to the Polish working class. The statue was a thank-offering to the pope for canonizing St. Kinga in 1999. The Chapel of St. Kinga or Cunegunda, patron saint of miners, is the most elaborate. She was a thirteenth-century Hungarian princess who did not seem to have any personal connection to mining. Her legend tells the story that she lost her engagement ring down an open shaft, and when miners went to retrieve it, they discovered the salt. Her ring was supposedly in the first block of salt they brought up. This account is shown in six statues in one of the underground chambers. On her feast (July 24), there is a special Mass for miners. The Chapel of St. Kinga (1896) is immense, more than 150 feet long and fifty feet wide. Over the altar is a statue

of the saint in rock salt, and her relics are contained in the altar. The walls have carved reliefs of scenes from the Christian scriptures. Several side chapels jut off from the main room, which was excavated from a single section of rock salt. There is a large circular chandelier in the chapel, made of salt that has been dissolved and recrystalized. The other patron of miners, St. Barbara, is similarly celebrated on her feast, December 4. There are also Masses every Sunday and regular religious concerts. Since 1978, the Wieliczka Salt Mine has been on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. Throughout the excavated area, there are statues of saints and Polish heroes. Distributed among them are statues of gnomes, which the miners considered signs of good luck. The most important of the works, however, is the 177-foot bas relief of biblical scenes. It includes a carved copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. See also: Caves

REFERENCE www.kopalnia.pl.

WONDUGAN ALTAR, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA The kings of Korea began performing the Rite of Heaven during the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392), often called the Age of Enlightenment in Korean history. The first to do so was King Seonjong (1083–1094), an avid promoter of Buddhism. Patterned on the rites of the

Wondugan Altar, Seoul, South Korea | 615 Temple of Heaven in Beijing, it was a ritual for invoking rains for the harvest. The ritual was Confucian rather than Buddhist, and Seonjong melded the two in a desire for harmony in the kingdom. His reign became one of religious stability in the Korean peninsula. In performing the rituals, the king became the son of heaven. The Wondugan Altar was the latest in several altars used for the rite of heaven. It was built in 1897 in the waning years of the Korean kingdom by the Emperor Gojong. The ritual had been stopped centuries before as a concession to the emperor of China, until Gojong restarted it. By proclaiming himself emperor rather than merely a king, Gojong assumed the right to conduct the sacred rites. This was to be short lived, as the Japanese forced his abdication shortly after. In 1910, at the time of the Japanese imperial occupation, the ritual was abolished, and three years later the shrine was torn down and a hotel built on the spot as part of the Japanese policy of cultural genocide against Korean customs. Only one building remained, an

octagonal building with three stone drums, which symbolize those used in the rituals. They are carved with dragon motifs. A hotel still occupies the site, but the shrine remains in its garden. The shrine was built in an auspicious spot, designed to be like the sun and moon. It was three stories tall and was used for animal sacrifice. Today the Hwanggungu or Yellow Palace is what remains. It is also three stories tall in pagoda style, and the annual ritual was resumed in 2002 as part of the Korean cultural revival. It is in Wondugan Park, across from the city hall in the center of the busy city, behind the new hotel. On October 11, dancers in red costumes slowly move across the park, ringing small bells as they go. A priest dressed in black intones prayers to the heavens as incense swirls around him. See also: Temple of Heaven

REFERENCE Chongho Kim, Korean Shamanism. Burlington, VT, Ashgate. 2003.


Y

the death camps and that have been brought there by survivors. Rabbis chant the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer offered at death, twenty-four hours a day. The Holocaust History Museum tells the story of the sufferings, of the persecution, and the deaths of those who perished in the camps. It is a triangular building, much of it underground, with a skylight along the upper edge. There are ten halls of memory that use photographs, artifacts from survivors and victims alike, memories from families, and multimedia presentations. Ninety individual accounts are scattered throughout to personalize the exhibits. At the end of the museum is the Hall of Names with 600 photos and some samples of the more than two million historical records of the dead. In time, it is hoped that all six million victims can be identified. The outdoor Valley of the Communities lists 5,000 Jewish communities destroyed by the Nazis. The names are engraved on 107 stone walls. Perhaps the most moving exhibit is the Children’s Memorial, a darkened room

YAD VASHEM, JERUSALEM, ISRAEL Among Holocaust memorials around the world, Yad Vashem has primacy. It is the largest and most extensive Holocaust memorial in the world. Yad Vashem was established as Israel’s official Holocaust memorial in 1953. It is on the Mount of Remembrance in Jerusalem and consists of a number of sites. Officially the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Memorial, the memorial is surrounded by a forest of trees planted in honor of gentiles, the Righteous Among the Nations, who risked their lives by saving Jews during the Holocaust. Twenty-two thousand gentiles are commemorated there. Foreign dignitaries, including presidents of the United States, two popes, and two chancellors of a united Germany have visited Yad Vashem and have taken part in ceremonies of remembrance. The Hall of Remembrance enshrines the ashes of Jews who were cremated at

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that recalls the memory of 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust. Candles are reflected in mirrors to give the effect of an endless sky of stars, while the names of children, their ages, and countries of origin are recited over and over. Memorial art and sculptures dot the grounds, including the Ghetto’s Children, which honors an orphanage director who chose to accompany his charges to Treblinka, where they all died. It is a mournful statuary group, with the director embracing his children. The Deportees’ Memorial is a cattle car, such as the ones used to transport Jews to the death camps. The educational programs of Yad Vashem are extensive. The International School for Holocaust Studies develops curricular materials for schools and professional education programs for educators. The Central Database for Shoah Victims’ Names has some three million names of those who died in the Holocaust, and its records are available online. The Yad Vashem Archives gathers documentation, with more than seventyfive million pages collected so far, along with 350,000 photographs. It also has a program of oral histories approaching 50,000. There is a research arm and a publishing program, as well as promotion of symposia and conferences on the Holocaust. See also: Holocaust Sites, United States Holocaust Memorial

REFERENCES Martin Gilbert, The Righteous: Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust. New York, Henry Holt, 2004.

Bella Gutterman et al., eds., To Bear Witness: Holocaust Remembrance at Yad Vashem. Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2005. Dorit Harel, Facts and Feelings: Dilemma in Designing the Yad Vashem Holocaust Historical Museum. Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2010. James Young, The Texture of Memory: Holocaust Memorials and Meaning. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 1994. www.yadvashem.org.

YASUKUNI JINJA, TOKYO, JAPAN Yasukuni is the main Japanese shrine honoring the war dead of the country. It is part of the imperial cult and, as such, was built adjacent to the imperial palace. Yasukuni was built in 1869 in remembrance of those who died in the restoration of the emperor and the triumph of the Meiji dynasty. The name yasukuni means “Pacifying the Nation.” In the twentieth century, homage was extended to those who died in the wars against China in the 1930s and, finally, in World War II. Today, the spirits of 2.5 million are enshrined at Yasukuni and listed on the Symbolic Registry of Divinities. In addition to the enshrinement of the spirits of the fallen, some soldiers are interred at the shrine, including Class A war criminals, major military figures such as the executed General Hideki Tojo, architect of the Japanese expansion of the 1940s. Since the end of State Shinto in 1945, the shrine has been the concern of the Shinto priests alone. It is they who decide whom to enshrine, and Yasukuni is funded by private donations. Shinto belief is that the kamii, or spirits of the

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Yasukuni Shrine in Japan.

dead, are freed from any evil done in their lives when they are enshrined. The spirits are believed to be literally in residence at the shrine. Before the separation of State Shinto and the Japanese state, the emperor conducted ceremonies for the dead, and it was the only place where the emperor bowed. There are three daily ceremonies, three monthly ones, and eleven annual festivals. Several of these are harvest and seasonal festivals, but there are also observances for the birthday of the present emperor, Emperor Meiji’s birthday, and the legendary foundation day of Japan. In July is the three-day midsummer festival in honor of the ancestors, when thousands of Japanese come to pay respects to their ancestors, especially those who died in service to the

state. Thirty thousand lanterns decorate the entryway along walls erected for the occasion. The Spring and Autumn festivals in April and October feature sumo wrestling and Noh theater, both of which had their origins in religious rituals. The site itself could not be lovelier. The huge torii entrance arch is eighty feet high, leading to a footpath through a lovely grove of flowering cherry trees. In Shinto shrines, the torii are wood, but at Yasukuni they are steel and bronze. A visitor passes under a series of torii as he passes into the shrine area. The main altar is a large platform roofed and gabled in tile and decorated by imperial chrysanthemums. The inner shrine is simple by contrast, built in the style of Ise; it contains the names of 2.5 million dead, 2.3 million of whom

620 | Yazilikaya, Bogazkale, Turkey

are from World War II. Of the deified spirits, 56,000 are women, since nurses, army prostitutes, and other employees are considered war dead, though the civilians who died when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima are not eligible. Near the main shrine is the Chinreisha, a shrine for the military war dead of other nations; presumably the Chinese who died in Nanking or the Americans at Pearl Harbor are revered here as deities. Needless to say, this excites feelings of repulsion among many in China, Korea, and the United States. Statues and memorials dot the grounds, including a statue of a kamikaze pilot honoring the 5,843 who died in suicide flights during World War II. There are statues to animals who served in the military and women who sacrificed on the home front. A monument recalls the Indian justice at the post-War military tribunal who cast the only dissenting vote against the conviction of the Japanese war criminals. Yasukuni was at the center of Shinto worship during the years of the military dictatorship when Shinto was the official state religion. As such, it was intimately connected to Japanese militarism and nationalism, and that emphasis remains today. Ultranationist groups make pilgrimages to Yasukuni to reaffirm their ideology that Japan’s role in World War II was righteous. In recent years, several Japanese prime ministers have made official visits to Yasukuni, stirring up protests both from within the country and internationally. China and Korea, both of which suffered from Japanese colonial expansion, brought the matter to the United Nations. Both China and Korea have long traditions

of reverencing ancestors but reject the honor given at Yasukuni to convicted war criminals and their own dead. More than 200,000 who died in wars with China are enshrined at Yasukuni, and more than 20,000 from conflicts involved in the dominations and colonialization of Korea. Prominent foreign visitors have made official visits to pay respects to the war dead, including several kings and prime ministers and even the Dalai Lama. See also: Ancestor Shrines, Ise, Shinto Shrines, Tokyo

REFERENCES John Breen, Yasukuni, the War Dead, and the Struggle for Japan’s Past. New York, Columbia University, 2010. Philip Seaton, Japan’s Contested War Memories. New York, Routledge, 2007. Franziska Seraphim, War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945–2005. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 2008. www.yasukuni.or.jp.

YAZILIKAYA, BOGAZKALE, TURKEY Yaziliyaka was the sacred sanctuary of the Hittite imperial capital, Hattusha. It was active from the fifteenth to the thirteenth centuries BCE. It is a natural alcove of rocks with a verdant spring and is thought to have been the personal shrine of the king and royal family. The name means “inscribed rock.” There were at one time several temples on the site, but only some ruins remain.

Yazilikaya, Bogazkale, Turkey | 621 The Hittites became over a time a major power in the region, rivaling Mesopotamia and Egypt. At one point they attacked Egypt and though they were forced to withdraw, they took control of several of Egypt’s border provinces. They were adept at iron mongering and agriculture, the basis of their economy, and used a cuneiform script. Tens of thousands of clay tablet documents have been found in their capital, Hattusha. The social pattern was feudal, but women shared authority with their husbands. Hittite religion was a syncretism of the faiths and practices of its conquered peoples. This is obvious at Yazilikaya, where one finds Hurrian, Mesopotamian, and Akkadian deities. The Hittite pantheon included dozens of gods and goddesses imported from around the region. Originally, there were several buildings, both the temples and a sanctuary that led into the chambers set aside for the gods and goddesses. The main remnants of Yazilikaya today are its rockcut bas reliefs of gods and emperors, which are in excellent condition. There are two open-air natural chambers, both of which have bas reliefs. In Chamber A are two carvings of processional gods, with males on one wall and females on the other. The males wear traditional skirts, pointed shoes, and tall conical hats. The goddesses wear full skirts and crowns. The goddess of war, Shauksha (Ishtar), marches with the male gods. The two lines of gods and goddesses lead up to the supreme deities, Teshub, the Baal of the Bible and god of the weather, and Hebat, goddess of the sun. She is the goddess of the life cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The two high

deities are shown in a marriage ceremony, which the rows of gods and goddesses witness. They all celebrate the fecundity of the joining of heaven and earth in cosmic fertility. It seems that the shrine was also host to sexual trysts at the New Year and the vernal equinox. Because the area is drought prone, water and the fecundity of the land were constant concerns, and so the weather god became the prime deity and fertility a principal symbol. Hebat rides a lion and Teshub is astride two mountain gods. Their son and daughter stand behind them. The Hittites appropriated gods from other cultures, some of which they had conquered, and their pantheon has recognizable images of Mesopotamian and Hurrian gods, and their names are carved over their images in several cases. Their son Sharruma was the personal god of King Tuhaliya IV (1250–1220 BCE) and in one carving they are shown together, with the king protected by the god’s arm around him. It may be a funerary scene of the king escorted to the underworld. In Chamber B, the smaller of the two, are remains of cremations, and it was possibly used for royal cremations. A god is carved on the wall, probably a god of the underworld. There are ledges for funerary offerings and basins for libations. See also: Fertility Shrines

REFERENCES Trevor Bryce, Life and Society in the Hittite World. New York, Oxford University, 2004.

622 | York Minster, England

E.C. Krupp, “Sacred Sex in the Hittite Temple of Yazilikaya.” 3 Archaeology Odyssey 2 (March/April 2000). Jurgen Seeher, Hattusha Guide: A Day in the Hittite Capital. Istanbul, Ege Yayinlari, second edition, 2002.

YORK MINSTER, ENGLAND The cathedral church of the Anglican Communion’s second archdiocese, York Minster is a magnificent structure with a rich history and is the goal of many pilgrims. Bishops were recorded there by the third century. It is built over a small holy spring used for baptisms in early times. Throughout the Middle Ages, Canterbury and York contended for supremacy in the English Church, a matter that was settled in the fourteenth century by accepting the primacy of Canterbury but permitting equal standing for the two prelates. Archbishop William FitzHerbert was canonized in 1226, giving York a saint whose relics would attract pilgrims, just as Canterbury’s shrine of St. Thomas a` Becket did. The chief relic, the head of the saint in a silver reliquary, disappeared at the time of the Reformation when the shrine was broken up. It was replaced in the last century with a simple tomb where both Anglican and Catholic services are held. The major remaining memorial to St. William is a large stained-glass window recounting his miracles. Because of its role in the Anglican Church, York Minster also features many tombs, monuments, and war memorials to British heroes.

Although the St. William window is one of the finest, the biggest (and the largest stained-glass window on earth) is the Great East Window. It covers an area the size of a tennis court, presenting the beginning and end of the world in more than a hundred scenes. York Minster gives perhaps the best opportunity for a visitor to experience the meaning of medieval stained glass as a means of learning faith while being inspired by it. The stained glass, Britain’s largest and best collection, survived a terrible fire that destroyed part of the Minster in 1984. Because the cathedral’s soaring nave is one of the widest in Europe, its ceiling had to be made of wood to reduce weight, making it vulnerable to fire. The restoration has erased the damage of the fire, but a memorial cross of fire-scarred timbers is kept on display as a reminder. Every four years, the York guilds and schools present the York Cycle of Mystery Plays, using hundreds of members of the local community to perform biblical tales. The pageants began in the fourteenth century but were suppressed in 1569 after the Protestant Reformation. They were revived in 1951 and now are held on a four-year cycle. The next performances will be in 2014 and 2016, for about two weeks after Corpus Christi Day. In 2000, a special series of the cycle was held inside the Minster, and over a month of performances it drew 28,000 to see the twelve pageants. In the medieval version of the cycle, there were forty-eight brief plays, but the modern version, which is based on the medieval manuscript texts, has twelve. They touch on biblical events from the Garden of Eden to the Resurrection.

York Minster, England | 623 The medieval plays were sponsored and acted by craftsmen’s guilds, and today several of the existing ones still perform. The pageants are now done outdoors on stage wagons in the city streets and in processions,\ for about two weeks in July. See also: Canterbury Cathedral, Wells and Springs

REFERENCES Thomas French, York Minster: The Great East Window. London, British Academy, 2003. Keith Jones, York Minster: A Living Legacy. Tempe, AZ, Third Millennium, 2008. www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk.


Z

blue scarf of a Mexican general. She also bears an officer’s baton. There has been an extensive procession of the image every year since 1734, taking three and a half months to visit all the churches of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara. Besides this time, when local people come to their church to reverence the statue, the main feasts at the shrine are December 18 (Feast of the Expectation), January 18 (feast of the statue’s coronation), and October 5, when it is reinstalled in the shrine after its pilgrimage around the Archdiocese. This last celebration brings more than a million pilgrims to the shrine. A week later is the annual pilgrimage from the Guadalajara Cathedral to the basilica, called a romeria, a huge affair involving three million participants. Mariachi players, pre-Columbian Indian dancers, priests, and seminarians walk together with most of the population of the area until they conclude with a Mass and fireworks in the plaza of the basilica. The date is October 12, the day celebrating the arrival of Christopher

ZAGORSK See: Sergiev Posad

ZAPOPAN, GUADALAJARA, MEXICO The Basilica of Our Lady of Zapaopan and its attached Franciscan friary is the most visited sanctuary of western Mexico. Its miracle-working image of Our Lady of Expectation dates from the early sixteenth century. A bit more than a foot tall, it is made of corn husk paste with primitive wooden arms and head. The miracles attributed to the image are social rather than healing. To it is attributed the end of plagues and epidemics and making peace between the Spaniards and Indians. She is credited with bringing the Indians to Christianity. She is also recognized for a role in supporting the people during the Revolution of 1821 against the Spanish. As a consequence, the statue wears the

625

626 | Zebrzydowska Chapel, Krako´w, Poland

Columbus to the New World and the Dia de la Hispanidad. The interior of the basilica is Colonial Baroque, with a high vault over the altar where the statue rests. White drapes in great swooping arcs stretch from the ceiling almost to the floor.

REFERENCE Robert Decker, The Virgin of Zapopan. No place, Power Plot, 2007.

ZEBRZYDOWSKA CHAPEL, ´ W, POLAND KRAKO A small monastery chapel near Krako´w is home to a sacred icon that attracts hundreds of pilgrimages annually and up to 40,000 for its intense Holy Week ceremonies. According to legend, in the seventeenth century a local provincial chief named Zebrzydowski had a vision of three fiery crosses on a hill in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. The area reminded the nobleman of the hills of Jerusalem, and in 1600 he began to build an elaborate “holy city” on that model after sending agents to Jerusalem to measure the path of Jesus’ last journey. The heart of the complex is the Bernardine Franciscan friary and church (1603), which are the focus of pilgrimages so extensive that Kalwaria Zebrzydowska has become the second Polish religious center after Czestochowa. A series of chapels was built atop the surrounding hills; forty-two survive. The large friary church is baroque, its every surface covered by carving, imagery, and designs. The object of

pilgrimage during much of the year is the miraculous painting of the Virgin Mary in the Zebrzydowska Chapel. It has a reputation as a “weeping icon,” one that sheds tears that have the effect of bringing observers to penance and conversion. Also inside the main church is a sixteenth-century statue of the Virgin, which is very popular and has its own chapel. All the major feasts of Mary are occasions for large pilgrimages, especially September 8 (Nativity of Mary) and August 13 to 15, which closes with the Solemnity of the Assumption. August 15 is a national holiday, and the custom is to make the round of many of the chapels before coming to the friary church to greet the miraculous painting. The friary is near Krako´w, and Pope John Paul II often visited the shrine as a young man and later as its archbishop. It was a favorite of his, and his father had served as a tour guide there in the pope’s childhood. Among the oldest chapels on the hillside are Pilate’s Palace, Gethsemane, the Last Supper, and the Tomb of Christ. The entire complex makes up the Via Dolorosa, or Way of the Cross. The chapels are built in shapes that suggest their theme, for example, a cross or a heart. There are several chapels on the theme of the Virgin Mary, including her tomb, the Holy House of Loreto, and a chapel of her immaculate heart. Kalwaria is most known for its Passion play during Holy Week, which has been an annual event since the seventeenth century. Events begin on the Sunday before Easter (Palm Sunday) and reach a climax during the last days of the week. Between 30,000 and 40,000 people take part. The great

Zoroastrian Fire Temples | 627 procession in Kalwaria begins on Holy Thursday, moving along to half of the chapels, with a scene from the Passion of Jesus acted out at each by the friars and local residents. Again on Good Friday, beginning at dawn, the procession makes the stations, calling at another twenty or more chapels. The Passion play is in the tradition of the medieval mystery plays, a mixture of theater and deep religious piety. The crowd becomes animated and involved, and it is not unusual for pilgrims to be carried away and attempt to protect Jesus from the actors playing the Roman soldiers who have come to arrest him on the Mount of Olives. See also: Bom Jesus, Sacrimonte

REFERENCES Kevin Wright, Catholic Shrines of Central and Eastern Europe. Liguori, MO, Liguori, 1999. Pilgrimages to Europe: Kalwaria Zebrzydoska. Janson Media, 2002, video.

ZOROASTRIAN FIRE TEMPLES Zoroastrians have been scattered for centuries from their home of origin by political events. Islam has always been hostile to them and their teaching since triumphing over them in Persia in the seventh century CE . For more than 1,300 years before that, Zoroastrianism had been the state religion of the Persian Empire, but after the Muslim conquest, their shrines were either destroyed or converted into mosques. Zoroastrianism had never placed much emphasis on pilgrimage, but the

effect of its exile brought a longing to see and experience the founding places of the faith. Only a tiny fragment of Zoroastrians live in Iran, where the prophet Zoroaster (c. 628–c. 551 BCE) began his teachings. The vast majority live in India, where their major shrine at Udvada is a direct descendant of the main shrines of Iran. Zoroastrian worship centers on the purifying element of fire. The sacred fire, the Atash Bahram, is kept in five primary fire temples. This fire was carried, amidst great danger, to Udvada in India, where it is an object of pilgrimage and devotion. This most sacred fire must originate from lightning, and it is kindled from embers from many social classes and professions. Zoroastrianism is much older than the fire cult, being introduced in the fourth century BCE, perhaps as a counter to the idol worship of the surrounding cultures. At first, the fires were kept in the open, but soon shrine temples were built, perhaps due to the difficulty of maintaining a continuing fire exposed to the weather. A secondary fire (Adaran) is tended in other temples, especially the fire temples of Yazd. It, too, is kindled from embers from the fires of many social classes and craftsmen. Many Zoroastrians also keep a fire (Dadgah) on their home altars, especially at important times such as weddings. When a fire urn is not used, families may simply keep an oil lamp. While Zoroastrian pilgrims visit the regional temples, they feel an obligation to attempt to come to the main shrines in Yazd, Iran ,to venerate the Atash Bahram. In far earlier times, around the second century CE, the main fire temples vied with one another to attract pilgrims by touting the miracles that had taken

628 | Zoroastrian Fire Temples

place at their shrines. This generated a pilgrimage tradition that in time became less competitive and more inclusive; pilgrims sought to visit all the temples. Each of these fires belongs to a specific social class: Dadgah to the householders, Adaran to warriors, and Atash Bahram to the royal family and the kings. Zoroastrians do not worship fire, but they regard it as a medium for communicating with God, the Lord of Wisdom (Ahura Mazda). Ahura Mazda is the creator and sustainer of the universe. The Persian shrines are all clustered within a small area in the mountains around Yazd. A Zoroastrian temple is known as a pirs, and these are the Great Pirs. Although every Zoroastrian who is able is expected to make the pilgrimage to Yazd once in his lifetime, he must await an inspiration or an auspicious time to do so. During the year after a death in the family, no pilgrimage may be made. One consequence of this is that Zoroastrian pilgrimages tend to be individual and family affairs rather than organized for groups. There are nine Atash Behrams recognized today, and Yazd is the only one remaining in Iran; the others are all in India. The temples are simple buildings, since the focus is on the fire. Consecrating an Atash Behram (“Fire of Victory”) takes a year and involves thirty-two priests. Sixteen fire sources are required, including lightning; several tradesmen’s fires such as a goldsmith and a blacksmith; a cremation fire; and so on. Each fire is purified in special rites before it can be used. After this, the fire is borne to its domed sanctuary in a joyous procession, to be enthroned as the victorious king that it is, the force that will overcome evil.

After the dominance of Islam in Persia, a remnant of Zoroastrians maintained the holy shrines (pirs) in the mountainous area of central Iran. The number ranges from four to six. Every Zoroastrian village maintains a fire shrine, but at several times of year, there are communal pilgrimages to the Iranian pirs. Since the number of Zoroastrians in Iran is quite small, these are not huge pilgrimages. When possible, Parsis (Indian Zoroastrians) come as well, although political restraints make it very difficult to obtain visas. The main pilgrimages last five days. Most of the shrines have legends connected with them about miraculous events in their discovery. Usually, a faithful Zoroastrian fleeing from the invading Arab armies found a hiding place in the mountains and was given a vision to build a pirs there. Although it is not part of Zoroastrian teaching, many pilgrims venerate sacred mountains. Today, the sacred fire is maintained in a metal urn in community temples. It is fed with sandalwood, which pilgrims bring and offer to the priests. The priest places the wood on the fire with silver tongs and offers a bit of ash to the pilgrim, who marks his forehead and eyelids with it. The priests do not preach, although they conduct rituals. Since flowing water is also needed for ritual purity, a temple is required to have a spring or well on the grounds. The main service cannot be performed without it. The inner sanctum of the temple, where the fire is kept, is open only to the temple priests. The anteroom is open only to Zoroastrians, and no one who is not of the faith may go to any part of the temple area from which he might see the sacred fire.

Zoroastrian Fire Temples | 629 On arriving at one of the nine Atash Behram temples, the pilgrim offers special prayers, burns incense, and then lights a candle in front of the sacred fire. The pilgrims stay for the night in prayer or singing chants. A goat or lamb is prepared and then sacrificed. The meat is cooked and divided among the family, other pilgrims, and the poor. Each shrine has its own festival that draws large

numbers of visitors, but the New Year is a popular time to visit a temple. See also: Fire, Udvada

REFERENCE Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. New York, Routledge, second edition, 2001.


APPENDIX A

Sacred Sites Listed by Religious Tradition

Bamiyan, Afghanistan Bodhnath Stupa, Nepal Borobudur, Indonesia Buddhist Pilgrimages Chao Tuptim (Penis Shrine), Thailand Chogyesa Temple, Korea Dharamsala, India Eighty-Eight Temples Pilgrimage, Japan Elephanta Caves, India Ellora Caves, India Emei Shan, China Emerald Buddha, Thailand Four Sacred Mountains, China Ghost Festival Hasedera Temple, Japan Japanese Pilgrimages Jokhang Temple, Tibet, China Kek Lok Si, Malaysia Lakmuang Shrine, Thailand Mount Fuji, Japan Mount Kailash, Tibet, China Mount Meru Nara, Japan Nikko, Japan Nui Ba Den (Black Lady Mountain), Vietnam Pac Ou Caves, Laos

GENERAL Ancestor Shrines Caves Cemeteries Cyber Pilgrimage Fertility Shrines Fire, sacred Groves Midsummer Pilgrimage Relics Religious Tourism Wells and Springs

BAHAÌ Bahaì World Center, Israel Mount Carmel, Israel

BUDDHIST Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada), Sri Lanka Ajanta, India Anurhadhpura, Sri Lanka Bagan, Myanmar/Burma

631

632 | Appendix A

Pagan, Myanmar/Burma Po Lin, Hong Kong, China Potala Palace, Tibet, China Shwedagon pagoda, Myanmar Songkran, Thailand Spirit Houses Stupa Swayambhunath Stupa, Nepal T’ai Shan, China Thousand Buddhas Caves, China Tooth Temple, Sri Lanka Tsechu Festival, Bhutan Twelve-Year Cycle Pilgrimage, Thailand Varanasi, India Wat Arun, Thailand Wat Phra Phutthabat, Thailand Wat Po, Thailand Wondugan Altar, South Korea

CONFUCIAN Ghost Festival Ly Bat De, Vietnam Qufu, China Quinming Festival, Taiwan/China Wenwu Temple, Taiwan, China Wondugan Altar, South Korea

HINDU Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada), Sri Lanka Angkor Wat, Cambodia Attukal Pongala, India Batu Caves, Malaysia Changu Narayan Temple, Nepal Char Dham, India Elephanta Caves, India Ellora Caves, India Emei Shan, China Erawan Shrine, Thailand Gadhimai Festival, Nepal Gunung Agung, Indonesia Hindu Temples

Janakpur, Nepal Kanyakumari, India Meenakshi Temple, India Mount Kailash, Tibet, China Mount Meru Pashupatinath, Nepal Prambanan, Indonesia Qalandar Shrine, Pakistan Sabarimala, India Varanasi, India Vrindavan Krishna Shrines, India

ISLAMIC Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada), Sri Lanka Bukhara, Uzbekistan Damascus, Syria Djenne, Mali Eyup Camii, Turkey Ezekiel’s Tomb, Iraq Hacibektas, Turkey The Hajj Hebron, Palestinian Authority Jethro’s Tomb (Nabi Shuàyb), Israel Kairouan, Tunisia Karbala, Iraq Khoja Ahmed Tasawi, Kazakhistan Konya, Turkey Masjid Al-Badawi, Egypt The Mezquita, Spain Mount Carmel, Israel Mount Nebo, Jordan Mount sinai, Egypt Muharram, India Muslim Pilgrimages Najaf, Iraq Qalandar Shrine, Pakistan Qom, Iran Rachel’s Tomb, Palestinian Authority Rey, Iran al-Reza Shrine, Iran Sayyida Zeinab Shrine, Syria Seven Sleepers, Caves of, Ephesus, Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Petra, Jordan

Appendix A | 633 Maximon, Guatemala Teotihuacan, Mexico Tula, Mexico Uxmal, Mexico

Taj Mahal, India Touba, Senegal

JAIN Dilwara, India Ellora Caves, India Mount Kailash, Tibet, China Varanasi, India

JEWISH Anne Frank House, The Netherlands Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland Baba Sali, Israel Babi Yar, Ukraine Buchenwald, Germany Dachau, Germany Ezekiel’s Tomb, Iraq Hebron, Palestinian Authority Israelite Sanctuaries, Ancient Israel Jewish Pilgrimages Masada, Israel Meron, Israel Mount Carmel, Israel Mount Sinai, Egypt Nachman Pilgrimage, Ukraine Old-New Synagogue, Czech Republic Paris Rachel’s Tomb, Palestinian Authority Sea of Galilee, Israel Shiloh, Ancient Israel Solomon’s Temple, Ancient Israel Western (Wailing) Wall, Israel Yad Vashem, Israel

MEZOAMERICAN Chalma, Mexico Chichen Itza, Mexico Cholula, Mexico

NATIVE AMERICAN Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Wyoming, USA Black Hills, South Dakota, USA Cahokia Mounds, Illinois, USA Chaco, New Mexico, USA Chimayo, New Mexico, USA Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, USA Medicine Wheels, USA/Canada Mount shasta, California, USA Native American Sacred Places Sedona, Arizona, USA Serpent Mound, Ohio, USA Sun Dance, USA/Canada Vision Quest, USA/Canada White Buffalo, USA

NEW AGE Aachen Cathedral, Germany Angkor Wat, Cambodia Avebury, England Bighorn Medicine Wheel, Wyoming, USA Black Hills, South Dakota/ Wyoming, USA Cahokia Mounds, Illinois, USA Carnac, France Cathar Sites, France Chaco, New Mexico, USA Chichen Itza, Mexico Cuzco, Peru Dogon Cliffs, Mali Externsteine, Germany Glastonbury, England Iona, Scotland Kata Tjuta, Australia

634 | Appendix A

Kilauea, Hawaii, USA Labyrinths Medicine Wheels Mont Saint-Michel, France Mount Fuji, Japan Mount Kailash, Tibet, China Olympia, Greece Mount Shasta, California, USA Mount Sinai, Egypt Nan Madol, Pohnpei Nazca Lines, Peru Newgrange, Ireland Pyramids of Giza, Egypt Rapa Nui, Easter Island, Chile Sedona, Arizona, USA Serpent Mound, Ohio, USA Stonehenge, England Teotihuacan, Mexico Uluru, Australia

NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS Chaco, New Mexico, USA Cao Dai, Vietnam ekuPhakameni, South Africa Got Kwer, Kenya Maria Lionza, Venezuela Maximon, Guatemala Morija, South Africa Padre Cicero Shrine, Brazil Plaine Du Nord, Haı¨ti El Rincon, Cuba Saut d’Eau, Haı¨ti Verden, Germany

ORTHODOX AND EASTERN CHRISTIAN Abu Mena, Egypt Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada), Sri Lanka Axum, Ethiopia

Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority Catacombs, Italy Coptic Cairo, Egypt Dachau, Germany Debra Libanos, Ethiopia Deir Mar Antonios, Egypt Ephesus, Turkey Flight into Egypt Goreme Caves, Turkey Hagia Sophia, Turkey Icons Mariapocs, Hungary Meteora Monasteries, Greece Mount Athos, Greece Mount Nebo, Jordan Mount Sinai, Egypt Al-Muharraq, Egypt Nazareth, Israel Painted Monasteries, Romania Patmos, Greece Perchersk Lavra, Ukraine Pochayiv Lavra, Ukraine Rachel’s Tomb, Palestinian Authority Rila Monastery, Bulgaria Scete, Egypt Sergiev Posad, Russia Seven Sleepers, Caves of, Ephesus, Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Petra, Jordan Simeon the Stylite, Syria Theotokos of Vladimir, Russia Tinos, Greece

PAGAN Acropolis, Ancient Greece Avebury, England Baalbek, Lebanon Caves Chichen Itza, Mexico Colosseum, Italy Cuzco, Peru Delos, Greece Delphi, Greece

Appendix A | 635 Didyma, Turkey Dodona, Ancient Greece Eleusis, Ancient Greece Ephesus, Turkey Externsteine, Germany Glastonbury, England Hagar Qim and Mnajdra, Malta Isis Temple, Ancient Egypt Machu picchu, Peru Mount Brandon, Ireland Mount Kailas, Tibet, China Newgrange, Ireland Olympia, Ancient Greece Petra, Jordan Pyramids of Giza, Ancient Egypt Spirit Houses Tarxien and the Hypogeum, Malta Teotihuacan, Mexico Titicaca, Bolivia Tiwanaku, Bolivia Uppsala Temple, Sweden Verden, Germany Vestal Temple, Ancient Roman Empire, Italy Yazilikaya, Ancient Turkey

PRIMAL AND NATURE RELIGIONS African Shrines Avebury, England Carnac, France Caves Chao Tuptim (Penis Shrine), Thailand Dogon Cliffs, Mali Erawan Shrine, Thailand Externsteine, Germany Ggantija, Malta Ghost Festival Gunung Agung, Indonesia Kasubi Tombs, Uganda Kata Tjuta, Australia Kilauea, Hawaii, USA

Machu Picchu, Peru Mount Kailash, Tibet, China Nazca Lines, Peru Newgrange, Ireland Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, Nigeria Pagan, Myanmar/Burma Rapa Nui, Easter Island, Chile Rock of Cashel, Ireland Stonehenge, England Taputapuatea, French Polynesia Ubirr, Australia Uluru, Australia

PROTESTANT Begijnhof, The Netherlands Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority Camp Meetings/Brush Arbor Meetings, USA Canterbury Cathedral, England Catacombs, Italy Colosseum, Italy Corrie Ten Boom House, The Netherlands Crystal Cathedral, USA Dachau, Germany Eisenach, Germany Ephesus, Turkey Garden Tomb, Israel Geneva, Switzerland Glastonbury, England Hill Cumorah, USA Iona, Scotland Julian of Norwich, England Labyrinths Lindisfarne, England Luther Circle, Germany Mormon Temple, USA Mount Sinai, Egypt Nazareth, Israel Nidaros, Norway Oberammergau, Germany Patmos, Greece Pilgim’s Progress, England

636 | Appendix A

Plotzensee Memorial, Germany Sabbathday Lake, Maine, USA Saint Winifred’s Well, Wales Sea of Galilee, Israel Taize, France Ugandan Martyrs’ Shrines, Uganda Voortrekker Monument, South Africa Walsingham, England Wesley’s Chapel, England Westminster Abbey, England York Minster, England

ROMAN CATHOLIC Aachen Cathedral, Germany Assisi, Italy Avila, Spain Bayside, New York, USA Begijnhof, The Netherlands Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority Bom Jesus, Goa, India Bom Jesus da Lapa, Brazil Bom Jesus do Monte, Portugal Breton Pardons, France Canterbury Tales, England Cartago, Costa Rica Catacombs, Italy Caves Chalma, Mexico Chartres Cathedral, France Chimayo, New Mexico, USA Cholula, Mexico Cluny Abbey, France El Cobre, Cuba Colosseum, Italy Conques, France Consolatrice, Luxembourg Croagh Patrick, Ireland Cuzco, Peru Dachau, Germany Damien of Molokai, Hawai’i, USA Day of the Dead, Mexico/USA Divina Providencia, Puerto Rico, USA

Divine Mercy Shrine, Poland Einsiedeln, Switzerland Ephesus, Turkey Esquipilas, Guatemala Fatima, Portugal The Gargano Massif, Italy Glendalough, Ireland Guadalupe, Mexico Guadalupe, Spain Gypsy Pilgrimages, France Hill of Crosses, Lithuania Holy Blood, Belgium Infant Jesus of Prague, Czech Republic Iona, Scotland Jasna Gora, Poland Julian of Norwich, England Kibeho, Rwanda Korean Martyrs’ Shrines, South Korea Labyrinths La Vang, Vietnam Le-Puy-en-Velay, France Lindisfarne, England Lisieux, France Loppiano, Italy Loreto, Italy Lough Derg, Ireland Lourdes, France Mariazell, Austria Martyrs’ Hill, Japan Medjugorje, Bosnia & Herzegovina Meritxell, Andorra Monte Cassino, Italy Mont Saint-Michel, France Montserrat, Spain Mount Brandon, Ireland Mount Carmel, Israel Mount Nebo, Jordan Mount Sinai, Egypt Nazareth, Israel North American Martyrs, New York, USA/Canada Oberammergau, Germany Our Lady of Guadalupe, Philippines Our Lord in the Attic, The Netherlands

Appendix A | 637 Padre Cicero Shrine, Brazil Padre Pio Shrine, Italy Paray-le-Monial, France Paris, France Patmos, Greece Pedro Betancourt Shrine, Guatemala El Pilar, Spain Plotzensee Memorial, Germany Rachel’s Tomb, Palestinian Authority El Rincon, Cuba Rocamadour, France Rock of Cashel, Ireland Sacre Coeur, France Sacrimonte, Italy Sagrada Familia, Spain Saint Anthony of Padua, Italy Sainte-Anne De Beaupre, Que´ bec, Canada Sainte-Croix, Mauritius Saint Gobnait, Ireland Saint Januarius, Italy Saint-Jean-du-Doigt, France Saint Joseph’s Oratory, Que´bec, Canada Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City Saint Willibrord’s Shrine, Luxembourg Saint Winifred’s Well, Wales San Antonio Mission Trail, Texas, USA San Juan de los Lagos, Mexico San Juan del Valle, Texas, USA Santiago De Compostela, Spain Santo Nino de Cebu, Philippines San Xavier Del Bac, Arizona, USA Sea of Galilee, Israel Shroud of Turin, Italy Simeon the Stylite, Syria Skellig Michael, Ireland Trier, Germany Ugandan Martyrs’ Shrines, Uganda Urkupina Festival, Bolivia Vezelay, France Walsingham, England Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland

Zapopan, Mexico Zebrzydowska Chapel, Poland

SECULAR Alamo, Texas, USA Anne Frank House, The Netherlands Cemeteries Hiroshima, Japan Jim Morrison Grave, France Kasubi Tombs, Uganda Mount Fuji, Japan Oscar Wilde Grave, France Pere Lachaise Cemetery, France San Antonio Mission Trail, Texas, USA Secular Shrines United States’ Holocaust Memorial, District of Columbia, USA Vietnam Veterans Memorial, District of Columbia, USA Voortrekker Monument, South Africa War Memorials

SHINTO Hasedera Temple, Japan Ise, Japan Izumo Taisha Shrine, Japan Japanese Pilgrimages Kyoto Mount Fuji, Japan Nara, Japan Nikko, Japan Shinto Shrines, Japan Tokyo, Japan Yasukuni Jinja, Japan

SIKH Golden Temple, India Nankana Sahib, Pakistan

638 | Appendix A

TAOIST/DAOIST Four Sacred Mountains, China Ghost Festival Snake Temple, Malaysia T’ai Shan, China Taoist Sacred Mountains, China

Temple of Heaven, China Wenwu Temple, Taiwan, China

ZOROASTRIAN Udvada Fire Temple, India Zoroastrian Fire Temples

APPENDIX B

Entries Listed by Country

AFGHANISTAN

BOLIVIA

Bamiyan

Titicaca Tiwanaku Urkupina festival

ANDORRA

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Meritxell

AUSTRALIA

Medjugorje

Kata Tjuta Ubirr Uluru

BRAZIL Bom Jesus Da Lapa Padre Cicero Shrine

AUSTRIA

BULGARIA

Holocaust Sites Mariazell

Rila Monastery

BELGIUM

CAMBODIA

Holy Blood Marian Apparitions

Angkor Wat

CANADA BHUTAN

Medicine Wheels North American Martyrs

Tsechu Festival

639

640 | Appendix B

Sainte-Anne De Beaupre Saint Joseph’s Oratory Sun Dance Vision Quest

CHILE Rapa Nui

CHINA Emei Shan Four sacred Mountains Ghost Festival Jokhang Temple Mount Kailash Po Lin Potala Palace Qufu Quinming Festival T’ai Shan Taoist Sacred Mountains Temple of Heaven Thousand Buddhas Caves

COSTA RICA Cartago

CROATIA Holocaust Sites

CUBA El Cobre El Rincon

CZECH REPUBLIC Infant Jesus of Prague Old-New Synagogue

EGYPT Abu Mena Coptic Cairo Deir Mar Antonios Flight into Egypt Isis Temple Marian Apparitions Masjid al-Badawi Mount Sinai Al-Muharraq Muslim Pilgrimages Pyramids of Giza Scete Sinai Thebes and Luxor

ETHIOPIA Axum Debra Libanos Lalibela

FRANCE Breton Pardons Carnac Cathar sites Chartres Cathedral Cluny Abbey Conques Gypsy Pilgrimages Jim Morrison Grave Le Puy-en-Velay Lisieux Lourdes Marian Apparitions Mont Saint-Michel Oscar Wilde Grave Paray-le-Monial Paris Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Appendix B | 641 Rocamadour Sacre Coeur Saint-Jean-du-Doigt Taize Vezelay

FRENCH POLYNESIA

Maximon Pedro Betancourt Shrine

HAI¨TI Plaine du Nord Saut d’Eau

Taputapuatea

HUNGARY

GERMANY Mariapocs Aachen Cathedral Buchenwald Dachau Eisenach Externsteine Holocaust Sites Luther Circle Oberammergau Plotzensee Memorial Trier Verden

GHANA Slave Depots

GREECE Acropolis Delos Delphi Dodona Eleusis Meteora Monasteries Mount Athos Olympia Patmos Tinos

INDIA Ajanta Allahabad Attukal Pongala Bom Jesus Buddhist Pilgrimages Char Dham Dharamsala Dilwara Elephanta Caves Ellora Caves Golden Temple Hearth of Buddhism Hindu Temples Kanyakumari Kumbh Mela sites Meenakshi Temple Muharram Orissa Triangle Sabarimala Taj Mahal Udvada Fire Temple Varanasi Vrindavan Krishna Shrines Zoroastrian Fire Temples

GUATEMALA Esquipulas

INDONESIA Borobudur

642 | Appendix B

Gunung Agung Prambanan

Solomon’s Temple Western Wall Yad Vashem

IRAN Qom Rey Al-reza Shrine Zoroastrian Fire Temples

IRAQ Ezekiel’s Tomb Karbala Najaf

IRELAND Croagh patrick Glendalough Lough Derg Mount Brandon Newgrange Rock of Cashel Saint Gobnait Skellig Michael

ISRAEL Baba Sali Baha’i World Centre Garden Tomb Israelite Sanctuaries Jerusalem Jethro’s Tomb Jewish Pilgrimages Masada Meron Mount Carmel Muslim Pilgrimages Nazareth Sea of Galilee Shiloh

ITALY Assisi Catacombs Colosseum The Gargano Massif Loppiano Loreto Monte Cassino Padre Pio Shrine Rome Sacrimonte Saint Anthony of Padua Saint Januarius Saint Peter’s Basilica Shroud of Turin Vestal Temple

JAPAN Eighty-eight Temples Pilgrimage Ghost Festival Hasadera Temple Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ise Izumo Taisha Shrine Japanese Pilgrimages Kyoto Martyrs’ Hill Mount Fuji Nara Nikko Shinto Shrines Tokyo Yasukuni Jinja

JORDAN Mount Nebo (Jebel Musa)

Appendix B | 643 Petra Seven Sleepers, Caves of, Ephesus, Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Petra, Jordan

KAZAKHISTAN

MALAYSIA Batu Caves Kek Lok Si Snake Temple

MALTA

Khoji Ahmed Tasawi

KENYA Got Kwer Mount Kenya

MAURITIUS KOREA

Chogyesa Temple Korean Martyrs’ Shrines Wondugan Altar

LEBANON Baalbek

LAOS Pac Ou Caves

LITHUANIA Hill of Crosses

Sainte-Croix

MEXICO Chalma Chichen itza Cholula Day of the Dead Guadalupe San Juan de Los Lagos Santa Muerte (Holy Death) Teotihuacan Tula Uxmal Zapopan

MYANMAR/BURMA

LUXEMBOURG Consolatrice Saint Willibrord’s Shrine

MALI Djenne Dogon Cliffs

Ggantija Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Tarxien and The Hypogeum

Bagan Shwedagon Pagoda Stupa

NEPAL Bodhnath Stupa Buddhist Pilgrimages Changu Narayan Temple

644 | Appendix B

Hearth of Buddhism Janakpur Pashupatinath Swayambhunath Stupa

THE NETHERLANDS Anne Frank House Begijnhof Corrie Ten Boom House Our Lord in the Attic

NIGERIA

POLAND Auschwitz-Birkenau Divine Mercy Shrine Holocaust Sites Jasna Gora Wieliczka Salt Mine Zebrzydowska Chapel

PORTUGAL Bom Jesus Do Monte, Braga Fatima

PERU

Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove

NORWAY

Cuzco Machu Picchu Nazca Lines

Nidaros

ROMANIA

PAKISTAN

Painted Monasteries Muslim Pilgrimages Nankana Sahib Qalandar Shrine

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY Bethlehem Hebron Muslim Pilgrimages Rachel’s Tomb

POHNPEI Nan Madol

RUSSIA Sergiev Posad Theotokos of Vladimir

RWANDA Kibeho

SAUDI ARABIA The Hajj Muslim Pilgrimages

PHILIPPINES Our Lady of Guadalupe Santo Nino De Cebu

SENEGAL Goree Island

Appendix B | 645 Muslim Pilgrimages Touba

TAIWAN Wenwu Temple

SOUTH AFRICA ekuPhakameni Moria Voortrekker Monument

SPAIN Avila Guadalupe The Mezquita Montserrat El Pilar Sagrada Familia Santiago De Compostela

SRI LANKA Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) Anurhadhpura Stupa Tooth Temple

THAILAND Chao Tuptim (Penis Shrine) Emerald Buddha Erawan Shrine Ghost Festival Lakmuang Shrine Songkran Spirit Houses Stupa Twelve-Year Cycle Pilgrimage Wat Arun Wat Phra Phutthabat Wat Po

TUNISIA Kairouan Muslim Pilgrimages

TURKEY SWEDEN Midsummer Uppsala Temple

SWITZERLAND Einsiedeln Geneva

SYRIA Damascus Sayyida Zeinab Shrine Simeon the Stylite Seven Sleepers, Caves of, Ephesus, Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Petra, Jordan

Didyma Ephesus Eyup Camii Goreme Caves Hacibektas Hagia Sophia Istanbul Mosques Konya Seven Sleepers, Caves of, Ephesus, Turkey; Damascus, Syria; Petra, Jordan Yazilikaya

UGANDA Kasubi Tombs Ugandan Martyrs’ Shrines

646 | Appendix B

UKRAINE Babi Yar, Kiev Nachman Pilgrimage Perchersk Lavra Pochayiv Lavra

UNITED KINGDOM Avebury Canterbury Cathedral Glastonbury Iona Julian of Norwich Lindisfarne Midsummer Pilgrim’s Progress Saint Winifred’s Well Stonehenge Walsingham Wesley’s Chapel Westminster Abbey York Minster

UNITED STATES Alamo Bayside Bighorn Medicine Wheel Black Hills Cahokia Mounds Camp Meetings/Brush Arbor Meetings Chaco Chimayo Crystal Cathedral Damien of Molokai Day of the Dead Devil’s Tower Divina Providencia Hill Cumorah Kilauea Medicine Wheels Moradas

Mormon Temple Mound Builders Mount Shasta Native American Sacred Places North American Martyrs Sabbathday Lake San Antonio Mission Trail San Juan del Valle San Xavier del Bac Secular Shrines Sedona Serpent Mound Sun Dance Sweat Lodge United States’ Holocaust Memorial Vietnam Veterans Memorial Vision Quest War Memorials White Buffalo

UZBEKISTAN Bukhara

VATICAN CITY Saint Peter’s Basilica

VENEZUELA Maria Lionza

VIETNAM Cao Dai Temple La Vang Ly Bat De Nui Ba Den (Black Lady Mountain)

ZIMBABWE Great Zimbabwe

APPENDIX C

Entries on the UNESCO World Heritage List

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) maintains a list of the most important sites for world culture, and helps to raise funds for their preservation and protection. Some entries in this book are listed as part of larger entities.

CAMBODIA Angkor Wat

CHILE Rapa Nui, Easter Island

AFGHANISTAN

CHINA

Bamiyan Mogao Caves Mount Emei Taì Shan Mount Wutai Potala Palace, Tibet Qufu Temple of Heaven

AUSTRALIA Kakadu National Park (Ubirr) Kata Tjuta Uluru

BOLIVIA

EGYPT

Tiwanaku

Abu Mena Historic Cairo (Coptic Cairo) Pyramids of Giza Saint Catherine’s (Mount Sinai) Thebes and Luxor

BULGARIA Rila Monastery

647

648 | Appendix C

ETHIOPIA Axum Gondar Lalibela

FRANCE Carcassonne (Cathar Sites) Chartres Cathedral Mont Saint-Michel Paris Routes to Santiago de Compostela Ve´zeley

INDIA Ajanta Caves Bodh Gaya Churches and Convent of Goa (Bom Jesus) Elephanta Caves Ellora Caves Sun Temple at Konorak Taj Mahal

INDONESIA Borobudur, Java

IRELAND

THE GAMBIA Slave Depots (James Island)

Bend of the Boyne (Newgrange) Skellig Michael, Ireland

GERMANY Aachen Cathedral Luther Memorial Towns: Luther Circle Trier Wartburg Castle (Eisenach)

GHANA Slave Depots

GREECE Acropolis Delos Delphi Meteora Monasteries Mount Athos Olympia Patmos

ISRAEL Baha’i Holy Places Masada

ITALY Assisi Gargano Massif (San Gimignano) Rome Historic Center (Colosseum) Sacrimonte

JAPAN Hiroshima Peace Memorial Kyoto Nara (Horyu-ji) Nikko Toyko

JORDAN HOLY SEE Vatican City (St. Peter’s)

Jerusalem Petra

Appendix C | 649

KAZAKHSTAN Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi

KENYA

PERU Cuzco Machu Picchu Nazca Lines

Mount Kenya

POLAND

LEBANON Baalbek

Auschwitz-Birkenau Kalwaria Zebrzydowska Wieliczka Salt Mine

MALI Djenne´ Bandiagara (Dogon Cliffs)

ROMANIA Painted Monasteries (Sucevita; Horezu)

RUSSIA

MALTA Megalithic Temples (Ggantija Temples) Hypogeum

Sergiev Posad

SENEGAL MEXICO

Goreé Island

Chicheń-Itza´ Teotihuacan

SPAIN NEPAL

Kathmandu Valley (Bodhnath Stupa; Changu Narayan; Pashupatinath; Swayambhunath) Lumbini (Hearth of Buddhism)

NIGERIA Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove

Avila Antoni Gaudi (Sagrada Familia) Cordoba (Mezquita) Royal Monastery of Guadalupe Santiago de Compostela and the Way of Santiago

SRI LANKA Anurhadhapura Kandy (Tooth Temple)

SYRIA

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY Jerusalem

Damascus

650 | Appendix C

TUNISIA Kairouan

TURKEY Goreme and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia Istanbul (Islamic Sites and Hagia Sophia) Hattusha (Yazilikaya)

UGANDA Kasubi Tombs

UKRAINE Perchersk Lavra

UNITED KINGDOM Canterbury Cathedral Stonehenge, Avebury, and Associated Sites Westminster Abbey

UNITED STATES Cahokia Mounds Chaco Hawaıì Volcanoes National Park (Kilauea)

ZIMBABWE Great Zimbabwe

Glossary

Ascetic A holy person who disciplines himself by living an austere life, often involving extreme penances.

Allah The One God proclaimed by Mohammed, the Prophet who first preached Islam. Allah, the creator and sustainer of all, is pure spirit and may not be represented in art. Ambulatory A walkway around the shrine in medieval churches. It symbolizes the final steps of the pilgrim’s journey and final purification. Pilgrims circle the shrine several times (often a sacred number, such as three or seven) before approaching the shrine itself. Ancestralist A follower of a primal religion that either worships or honors ancestor spirits and believes that they affect those who are still alive. Angel A created, bodiless spirit that serves as a messenger of God. The existence of angels is revealed in the sacred scriptures of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Apparition A vision in which one sees a person or object that is ordinarily invisible. Though the vision may be a natural phenomenon (optical illusion), most religions recognize the possibility of supernatural apparitions.

Aura An atmosphere, sensed but not usually seen, surrounding a person or any center of power or energy. Sometimes it is manifested as an electromagnetic field. Baptismal font A mounted basin of water used for baptism in Christian churches. Elaborate ones may have flowing waters. Basilica A Roman Catholic church honored with ceremonial privileges because of some special status. BCE Initials for “Before the Christian Era.” It is the equivalent of the traditional “BC.” Bible The sacred scriptures of Christianity. The Hebrew Scriptures (called the Old Testament by Christians) and the Christian New Testament together form a collection believed by Christians to be the revealed word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

651

652 | Glossary

Blessed (title) In the Catholic Church, a deceased person recognized for holiness but not yet proclaimed a saint. Bodhisattva A Buddhist saint who has freely renounced nirvana in order to help others toward salvation. Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, who received enlightenment and became the founder of Buddhism. Also used to refer to anyone who has reached nirvana. Byzantine Churches The leading form of Eastern Orthodox liturgy and theology, arising from the Byzantine Empire, which flourished from the sixth to fifteenth centuries. Byzantine Christianity remains one of the major Christian faiths. CE Initials for “Christian Era,” a means of dating. It is the equivalent of the traditional “AD.” Celibacy A religious commitment to abstain from sex and especially to forgo marriage. Required of monks and nuns (and sometimes priests) in Catholic, Orthodox, Buddhist, and other religions. Christian Scriptures A term used to refer to the revealed books of the Bible usually known as the New Testament. Corpus Christi The Catholic observance of the Body and Blood of Jesus, which are believed to be literally present in the Eucharistic bread and wine. In many Catholic countries, large public processions are held on the feast (second Thursday after Pentecost), in which the consecrated bread is carried in an elaborate golden monstrance, or portable shrine. Cross A simple crossbar that represents redemption or salvation to Christians, since it was the instrument of Jesus’ death. Crosses are often worn as jewelry or used decoratively to demonstrate faith.

Crucifix A representation of the body of Jesus nailed to the cross, the manner in which he was martyred. It symbolizes for Christians Jesus’ supreme sacrifice, which brought redemption and is a common theme in Christian art. Some evangelical Protestants reject it, believing that since the Resurrection of Jesus, only the cross remains a valid symbol. Dalai Lama In Tibetan Buddhism, the spiritual leader believed to be the reincarnation of the Celestial Buddha. Though he does not manage or direct his followers, the Dalai Lama is regarded as the master spiritual guide. Until 1949, he was also the ruler of Tibet. Dervish A member of a Muslim Sufi order who enters into contact with Allah through ecstasy brought on by a whirling dance and the recitation of the Ninetynine Names of Allah. Devil An angel who followed Satan in rejecting the authority of God and who tempts the faithful and tests their fidelity. Dhikr A remembrance ritual among the Sufis. Equinox The dates (March 21 and September 22) when the sun crosses the equator, making day and night everywhere on earth of equal length. Eucharist The central act of Christian worship, in which bread and wine are shared in remembrance of Jesus’ Last Supper. It is also called Communion in some Protestant denominations. Liturgical religions believe that Jesus is somehow present in the bread and wine, and Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians worship him in these elements. The celebration of the Eucharist, called the Mass by Catholics and the Divine Liturgy by the Eastern Orthodox, is central to their worship.

Glossary | 653 Ex-Voto An offering at a shrine. It may be a bouquet of flowers, a prayer candle, a letter appealing for aid, or a badge symbolizing a favor granted by the saint. Fakir An itinerant Hindu ascetic or wonder worker. Feast Day The annual observance of a saint’s day or some religious event, such as Christmas (the birth of Jesus) among Christians; the solstices among New Age followers; Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) among Jews; Diwali (the Feast of Lights) among Hindus. Also see Mawlid. Saints’ feasts are usually on the date of their death, regarded as their birth into eternity. Fetish In many primal religions, a bundle of items such as bones, feathers, and stones believed to have magic powers. Gaia Theory A New Age concept, named for the Greek goddess of earth, that proposes that all matter, either animate or not, composes a single living being. Within this living earth, sacred sites are energy centers where power is concentrated and made available to those who use them. Ganesh Elephant-headed god of prosperity in the Hindu pantheon, the son of Shiva and Parvati. A very popular god. Ghat A Hindu bathing place for purification rites, either a pond or steps leading down to a sacred river. Hajj The pilgrimage to Mecca required once during the life of every ablebodied Muslim. Harmonic Convergence A New Age event in 1987, in which thousands of people converged on a number of “power points” around the world to draw together cosmic energies and focus them on initiating a new age of peace and harmony.

Hebrew Scriptures The inspired books of the Jewish Bible, made up of the Torah (first five books or Books of Moses), the prophets, the Psalms, and various historical books. They represent the revelation of God to the Jewish people and are also accepted as revealed by Christians, who refer to them as the Old Testament. Hermit A holy person who lives in isolation in order to be free of all distractions and enter more closely into a relationship with the divine. Usually also an ascetic. Holocaust The Nazi campaign to eradicate the Jewish people during World War II by systematic genocide and wholesale slaughter; more than six million died. Holy water Water that has been blessed for use in prayer and ritual as a sign of purification. Christians also consider it a sign of baptism. Holy Week The final days of Christian Lent leading up to Easter, during which the Last Supper, death, and Resurrection of Jesus are celebrated. In many countries, the liturgical ceremonies are accompanied by Passion plays, pageants, and processions. Holy Year In Jewish tradition, a year of jubilee was proclaimed every fifty years (Leviticus 25:8–24), when “each of you shall return to his family.” In Catholicism, this is a year of pilgrimage to the holy places of Rome, usually observed every twenty-five years. About twenty million came to Rome from around the world for the 2000 Holy Year. Icon A representation of Christ or the saints that has the power to take on the presence of the one shown, creating an aura of grace around it. Icons are honored in Orthodox shrines and churches as the presence of holiness.

654 | Glossary

Idol A representation of a god or goddess, usually a statue, which is the object of worship because the god resides within it or the god’s power rests on it. The word is sometimes used in a disapproving way. Intercession Prayer offered for the good of others by a believer or by a saint in heaven. Christians believe that Christ above all intercedes before God for the human race. Jesus The prophetic teacher who began Christianity, preaching a doctrine of salvation through faith and forgiveness of sins. He claimed to be the Messiah and was executed by the Romans by being crucified. Three days later he was raised from the dead. Christians believe Jesus to be the Christ, the son of God and the Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures, one of the members of the Trinity. Ka‘bah The most sacred sanctuary of Islam. It contains the black rock that tradition teaches was given to Ishmael by the Archangel Gabriel. Kali The consort of the god Shiva in Hinduism, she is both the goddess of destruction and the Great Mother, giver of life. She is represented as a black goddess wearing a necklace of skulls and with fangs dripping blood. Because of widespread wars and the threat of nuclear destruction, many New Age adherents refer to the present time as the Age of Kali. Kiva Sacred ceremonial rooms of Pueblo Amerindians symbolizing the womb of Mother Earth. A small hole in the floor represents the umbilical cord and the underworld from which humankind emerged. Kivas are used for discussions and prayer and can be either communal or limited to a certain clan. Koran See Qur’an.

Lama The monks who guide Tibetan Lamaism, a blending of Buddhism and ancient animist beliefs. The lamas also traditionally governed Tibet. Lent The Christian period of forty days of prayer and penance leading up to Holy Week and Easter. Ley Lines In New Age religions, geological lines of spiritual force that are associated with sacred places, such as megaliths, sacred mountains, and springs. Libation A drink, usually wine or beer, poured out as an offering to a god or to ancestor spirits. It can be either a sign of respect for the presence of the ancestor spirits or a means of appeasing their power. Lingam A pillar representing the sex organ of Shiva, one of the Hindu trinity. It is regarded as the source of fertility and pleasure and is shown erect, rising out of the yoni. Liturgy The ritual celebration of religious observances, usually following a cycle of seasons, such as the cycle of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, which commemorates the life cycle of Jesus in Christian faiths. Loa A voodoo god or goddess that can manifest itself by possessing a devotee. Magic The use of supernatural powers, through spells and rituals, to achieve some goal or to harm someone. Mahdi The coming messiah in Sufi spirituality. Marabout A dervish master in African Islam, usually the leader of a brotherhood. Marae A Polynesian ceremonial platform where meetings are held and sacrifices offered to the gods. Martyr A believer who sacrifices his or her life rather than abandon his or her faith. The word means “witness.”

Glossary | 655 Mary, Mother of Jesus Honored by Christians and Muslims, Mary is especially revered by Catholics and Orthodox Christians, who have built many shrines and churches in her name. She, as well as her son, is considered a powerful intercessor in Catholic and Orthodox traditions, and she has a special role of bringing Jesus’ call to conversion to people through apparitions, visions, and miraculous manifestations. Mass Popular word for the Eucharist, the Christian ritual celebration of the body and blood of Jesus. Catholics, Orthodox, and some Anglicans regard it as reliving of the sacrifice of Jesus; most Protestants regard it as a memorial of that event. See also Eucharist. Mawlid The annual celebration or feast day of an Islamic saint or prophet. Except for the mawlid for Mohammed, which is observed internationally, most are kept at the shrines of the saint. The mawlid is usually on or around the saint’s birthday, although some Muslim cultures observe the anniversary of the saint’s death instead. Medicine man or woman In most primal religions, a practitioner of herbalism who is in contact with the spirits of plants, so that through incantations, their healing properties are invoked. Merit making Performing good deeds that will bring one to a higher level of being at one’s next reincarnation. A strong moral element of Buddhism. Messiah In Jewish and Christian teaching, the holy one sent from God to deliver his people. See also Jesus. Midsummer The longest day of the year in northern Europe, when there is often no more than an hour of darkness. It is a time for all-night festivities going back to

pagan customs. It was believed that if someone slept that night, evil spirits could cast a curse on them. Usually observed June 23 to 24, the night before the feast of St. John. In Spain, England, and elsewhere, St. John’s Day is a festival time, traditionally observed with bonfires. Mihrab The niche in the wall of a Muslim mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca, so that prayers may be directed toward the Ka‘bah. Minaret The tower attached to a mosque, used for proclaiming the times of prayer. Minbar The pulpit in an Islamic mosque. Miracle An event with spiritual meaning that defies natural explanation, an intervention in the events of the world by a divine power. At shrines, miracles often take the form of cures without medical explanation, but they can also be suspensions of the laws of nature such as the spinning of the sun or a snowfall in summer. Mohammad The prophet of Islam, who received the Qur’an, the inspired word of Allah, in the seventh century, and formed, led, and inspired the Muslim community. Monastery The residence of a community of monks or nuns, vowed to celibacy and living with common sharing of goods, and engaged in prayer and worship as their primary daily activities. Moroni An angel sent to the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith (1805– 1844), to help him translate the golden plates on which the Book of Mormon was inscribed. Moroni ordained Smith the first Mormon priest. Mosaic A picture made with closely fitted colored stones or pieces of tile.

656 | Glossary

Mystic A believer who seeks direct, personal experience of God through prayer, meditation, or spiritual discipline. New Religious Movements One of several religious movements created by the melding of traditions from existing faiths. Nirvana A state of fulfillment in Buddhism in which the restlessness of existence ceases, and the soul becomes enlightened and moves beyond any form of human experience. Novena A nine-day period of prayer before a religious feast. Occult The teachings and practices of cults that stress the mysterious. These practices can be known only by an elite of enlightened persons. Oracle A prophetic voice that speaks through a medium, usually a special person who is in a trance. Orthodox Literally, one who holds to true faith, but generally used to refer to Christians of various Eastern Churches, especially the Byzantine Churches that accept the leadership of the Patriarch of Constantinople while remaining autonomous. The most observant branch of Judaism is also called Orthodox. Pagan One who follows an ancient religion with multiple gods and goddesses who are ordinarily represented as idols endowed with divine power. Pagoda A Buddhist shrine built over a sacred relic. Passion play A religious pageant of the last days of Jesus, re-enacting his trial, Passion, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. Pentecost The Christian feast celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles of Jesus, as recounted in the Bible in Acts 2.

Pillars of Islam The five duties required of every observing Muslim: professing the creed that Allah is the only God and Mohammed is his prophet; ritual prayer; almsgiving; fasting for the month of Ramadan; and making the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once during life. Prayer Communication with God or saints, either verbally or though interior silence. It may be expressed through formulas (such as the Lord’s Prayer), worship, meditation, or mystical experience. Prayer Wheel In Buddhist ritual, a cylinder bearing the inscription, “Om mani padme hum” (“Hail to the jewel in the lotus”). The devotee spins the wheel, setting the prayer into eternal repetition. Primal religion The religious faith of traditional, preliterate peoples who have no sacred writings. They are tribal and revere spirits and natural powers as well as ancestors. Prophet One who announces a message or warning from God. In Jewish tradition, the ancient prophets called the people back from heresy and proclaimed justice. The Prophet is also the title of Mohammed, who was the vehicle for Allah’s revelation to the world. Qur’an The holy book of Islam, regarded as the literal word of Allah revealed to Mohammed. Ramadan The month in the Islamic calendar during which Muslims are to fast from sunup to sundown, abstaining from all food, liquids, tobacco, or sexual pleasure, as a period of purification. Ramayana A great epic in Hindu sacred writings that tells the life story of Rama.

Glossary | 657 Reincarnation The doctrine that souls are reborn at death and pass through a number of lives before achieving a final state of perfection. Taught by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and many New Age movements. Rosary A string of beads for repeating prayers. Catholic rosaries have five “decades,” or sets of ten beads, on each of which the Ave Maria is recited. Each decade is separated from the others by the Lord’s Prayer. There are three groups of five mysteries, traditional scenes from the life of Christ or Mary, to be used for meditation while reciting the prayers. A Muslim rosary has thirty-three beads for reciting the Ninety-Nine Names of Allah, a litany of praise. Sacrament The external, ritual sign of an inward, spiritual grace, believed to have been established by Christ. All Christians accept Baptism as a sacrament; Catholics and Orthodox Christians also accept Eucharist, confirmation, marriage, priestly ordination, confession of sins, and the anointing of the sick. Among some Anabaptists, foot washing is considered a sacrament. Sacred A sense of awe, holiness, and dependence upon a divine being—God— that is the most basic characteristic of religion. The experience of the sacred calls forth a response: worship, moral living, and membership in a religious community. Sacrifice A ritual offering, either real or symbolic, that allows the faithful to enter into communion with the divine. Sadhu A Hindu holy man, a wandering ascetic who lives a life of austerity. Saint A holy person who is revered by believers and considered a channel of

contact with divine grace or blessing. In Christian tradition, there are recognized saints who have died as heroes of faith and are considered to be in the presence of God. Liturgical religions usually celebrate saints’ feast days. Sanctuary A consecrated place dedicated to a god or saint. Santerıá A Caribbean religion blending ancient West African worship of Yoruba gods with Christianity. Similar to Voodoo, it uses animal sacrifice and an elaborate system of rituals to engage the powers of natural forces on behalf of the worshippers. Satan The personification of all evil; an angel who rejected God in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim belief and became a force for sin. Scriptures The sacred writings of a religion, usually believed to have been directly inspired by God and to contain the wisdom and teachings of the faith. The Jewish Torah, the Christian Gospels, and the Muslim Qur’an are all examples. Shaman A practitioner of sacred magic, able to invoke the powers of nature because of an inborn ability to move between the worlds of the living and the dead. Through magical powers, a shaman diagnoses illness, lifts curses, and finds lost persons and objects. Shamans are found among Amerindians, the Inuit (Eskimos), and the traditional peoples of Siberia and Japan. Sikhism An Indian religion, founded by Guru Nanak in the 1500s and found primarily in India. The men do not cut their beards or hair, which they wear in a turban. The religion has many Hindu aspects, but it is monotheistic and rejects caste distinctions.

658 | Glossary

Solstice The longest or shortest days of the year, in which the sun expands or declines in its power. In the Northern Hemisphere the summer solstice is June 21 and the winter solstice is December 22; the dates are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere. Spell A magic charm or incantation believed to have power over natural forces, usually invoked through a secret formula of words or syllables. Spirit A living soul without a body, either that of the dead, such as an ancestor spirit, or an angel or devil. In primal religions, every living thing is believed to have a spirit. Station A stop along a pilgrimage way, used for prayer and various spiritual activities. It might be a chapel, a small shrine or memorial, or a special site, such as the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem. The popular devotion of the Way of the Cross has fourteen stations of the Passion and death of Jesus. Stupa A Buddhist religious structure that is a solid white mound with a spire on top, usually marking a holy place or a relic. It has thirteen conical rings for the thirteen degrees of wisdom necessary to attain nirvana. Sufi A member of an Islamic brotherhood that follows a common mystical practice by which members attain direct experience of Allah. The practice, or tariq, might be chanting verses from the Qur’an, ecstatic dancing, the recitation of the Ninety-nine Names of God, or similar acts. Syncretism The growing together of two religious traditions that produces a mixture of both. Voodoo, for example, consists of elements of African primal religions and Roman Catholicism.

Tabernacle A small chest, usually decorated, that contains sacred objects. In Catholic churches, it is used to hold the Communion host, believed to be the body of Christ. Tekke A Turkish Dervish monastery. Totem In primal religions, a guardian spirit that inhabits certain animals and protects the tribe or clan. In some African cultures, it is forbidden to eat the meat from the clan’s totem. Amerindians of the Pacific Northwest erected tall totem poles on which ancestors and totem animals are carved. These are sometimes used in graveyards to honor the ancestors, or as protectors. Tu¨rbe The tomb of a Muslim holy man, especially a dervish master. Vehicle In the Hindu faith, the symbolic creature that carries a god. Virgin Mary See Mary, Mother of Jesus. Vision Quest In some Amerindian religions, a solitary spiritual search that ends when a vision of a sacred totem is received or appears in a dream. Sometimes the vision gives the seeker his or her permanent name, and in a few traditions, it is a part of initiation rites. Voodoo A religious system brought from Africa to the Caribbean by slaves. It worships and seeks help from divine power through loas, deities who manifest themselves by possessing worshippers. Animal sacrifices are made to the loas. Way of the Cross A popular Catholic devotion involving prayer and meditation on fourteen scenes from the Passion and death of Jesus, from his arrest to his Crucifixion and removal from the cross. The way is marked by pictures or statues, called stations, and individuals or groups walk from scene to scene.

Glossary | 659 Wicca The religion of modern witchcraft. It has many connections with contemporary New Age religions. Witchcraft The religion, with ancient pagan roots, that worships the powers of nature and has rituals to use these powers for the benefit of the human race, although curses and black magic are also possible.

Worship Prayer directed at honor and praise of God or a sacred object rather than petitioning for the needs of the faithful. Yoni A representation of the sex organs of the Hindu goddess Parvati, Shiva’s consort. It symbolizes the power of nature. See Lingam.


Further Reference Works

David Carmichael et al., eds., Sacred Sites, Sacred Places. New York, Routledge, 1994. Leila Castle, ed., Earthwalking Sky Dancers: Women’s Pilgrimages to Sacred Sites. Berkeley, CA, Frog, 1996. Simon Coleman and John Elsner, Pilgrimage: Past and Present in the World’s Religions. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, 1995. Charles Coulter and Patricia Turner, Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Jefferson, NC, McFarland, 2000. Suzanne Crawford and Dennis Kelley, American Indian Religious Traditions. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 2005. N. Ross Crumrine and Alan Morinis, eds., Pilgrimage in Latin America. Westport, CT, Greenwood, 1991. Linda Kay Davidson and David Gitlitz, Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 2 volumes, 2002. Matthew Dillon, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in Ancient Greece. New York, Routledge, 1997.

Hugh Adamson and Philip Hainsworth, Historical Dictionary of the Bahaì Faith. Lanham, MD, Scarecrow Press, 1998. Susan Alcock and Robin Osborne, eds., Placing the Gods: Sanctuaries and Sacred Space in Ancient Greece. New York, Oxford University, 1994. Aziz Atiya, ed., Coptic Encyclopedia. New York, Macmillan, 1991. P.J. Bearman et al., eds., Encyclopedia of Islam. Leiden, Netherlands, Brill, 12 volumes, 2005. Keith Bellows, ed., Sacred Places of a Lifetime. Washington, DC, National Geographic, 2008. Edwin Bernbaum, Sacred Mountains of the World. San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club, 1990. Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints. Chicago, University of Chicago, 1981. Raymond Brown et al., eds., The Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1968. Robert Buswell, ed., Encyclopedia of Buddhism. New York, Macmillan, 2 volumes, 2004.

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662 | Further Reference Works

Ramesh Dogra and Gobind Mansukhani, Encyclopedia of Sikh Religion and Culture. New Delhi, Vikas, 1995. Virgil Elizondo and Sean Freyne, Pilgrimage. Maryknoll, NY, Orbis, 1996. Carl Erst, The Shambala Guide to Sufism. Boston, MA, Shambala, 1997. David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints. New York, Oxford University, fifth edition, 2003. James Frazer, The Golden Bough. London, Macmillan, 12 volumes, 1906–1915. Nancy Frey, Pilgrim Stories: On and Off the Road to Santiago. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1998. Martin Gilbert, Atlas of the Holocaust. New York, William Morrow, revised edition, 1993. Martin Gilbert, Holocaust Sites of Europe. London, Tauris, 2010. Miranda Green, Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. New York, Thames and Hudson, 1992. Rosemary Guiley, Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. New York, Facts on File, 1992. Rosemary Guiley, Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft. New York, Facts on File, second edition, 1999. Israel Gutman, ed., Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York, Macmillan, 4 volumes, 1990. Alex Haley, Roots. Garden City, NY, Doubleday, 1976. Regis Hanrion, Guide de pelerinages europeens. Paris, Fayard, 3 volumes, 1999. Christopher Hollis and Ronard Brownrigg, Holy Places: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Monuments in the Holy Land. New York, Praeger, 1969. Martha Anne and Dorothy Myers Imel, Goddesses in World Mythology. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 1993.

William Johnston, ed., Encyclopedia of Monasticism. Chicago, Fitzroy Dearborn, 2 volumes, 2000. Davis Keown and Charles Prebish, eds., Encyclopedia of Buddhism. New York, Routledge, 2009. Walter Laqueur, ed., The Holocaust Encyclopedia. New Haven, CT, Yale University, 2001. Davis Leeming, Creation Myths of the World. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 2009. David Levinson, ed., Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Boston, MA, G.K. Hall, 1996. Carl Lindahl et al., eds., Medieval Folklore. Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2000. Daniel Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism. New York, Macmillan, 4 volumes, 1992. Grace Martin and Carl Ernst, eds., Manifestations of Sainthood in Islam. Istanbul, Turkey, Isis, 1993. Susan Maquin and Chun-Fang Yu, eds., Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China. Berkeley, CA, University of California, 1992. Stuart Mathins and Arthur Magida, How to be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook. Woodstock, VT, Skylight Paths, third edition, 2003. Paul Meager et al., eds., Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion. Washington, DC, Corpus, 3 volumes, 1979. J. Gordon Melton, New Age Encyclopedia. Detroit, Gale, 1990. Peter Mullen, Shrines of Our Lady. New York, St. Martin’s, 1998. Peter Mullen and Martin Baumann, eds., Religions of the World. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 6 volumes, 2010. Azim Nanji, The Muslim Almanac. New York, Gale, 1996. Carlos Navarro and Robert Shadow, eds., Las peregrinaciones religiosas. Mexico City, Universidad Autonoma, 1994.

Further Reference Works | 663 John Nelson, A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine. Seattle, WA, University of Washington, 1996. New Catholic Encyclopedia. Washington, DC, Catholic University, 19 volumes, 1967–1996. Mary Lee and Sidney Nolan, Christian Pilgrimage in Modern Western Europe. Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina, 1989. Michael O’Carroll, Theotokos. Wilmington, DE, Michael Glazier, 1982. Robert Ousterhout, ed., The Blessings of Pilgrimage. Urbana, IL, University of Illinois, 1990. Ian Reader and Tony Walker, eds., Pilgrimage in Popular Culture. Basingstoke, UK, Macmillan, 1993. Wade Roof, ed., Contemporary American Religions. New York, Macmillan, 2 volumes, 2000. Robin Ruggles, Apparition Shrines— Places of Prayer and Pilgrimage. Boston, MA, Pauline, 1999. Harold Sceub, A Dictionary of African Mythology. New York, Oxford University, 2000. Thomas Sienkewicz, ed., Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. Pasadena, CA, Salem, 3 volumes, 2002.

Mary Ellen Snodgrass, Religious Sites in America. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 2000. David Sox, Relics and Shrines. London, Allen & Unwin, 1985. Oliver Statler, Japanese Pilgrimage. New York, Morrow, 1983. Robert Stoddard and Alan Morinis, eds., Sacred Places, Sacred Spaces: The Geography of Pilgrimages. Baton Rouge, LA, Louisiana State University, 1997. Norman Wareham and Jill Gill, Shrines of the Holy Land. Ligouri, MO, Ligouri, 1998. Geoffrey Wigoder, The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. New York, New York University, 2002. Colin Wilson, Atlas of Holy Places. New York, Dorling Kindersley, 1996. Kevin Wright, Catholic Shrines of Central and Eastern Europe. Ligouri, MO, Ligouri, 1999. Kevin Wright, Catholic Shrines of Western Europe. Ligouri, MO, Ligouri, 1997. Kevin Wright, The Christian Travel Planner. Nashville, TN, Thomas Nelson, 2008. Xinzhong Yao, Encyclopedia of Confucianism. New York, RoutledgeCurzon, 2 volumes, 2003.


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Index

Page numbers in boldface refer to main entries. For sacred sites listed by religious traditions and by country, see Appendixes A and B.

Aachen Cathedral (Germany), 1–3 Palatine Chapel, 1–3 Aborigine People, 274–75, 571–72, 575–76 Abraham, Patriarch, 219–21 Abu Mena (Egypt), 3–4 Acropolis (Greece), 4–6 Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) (Sri Lanka), 6–7 Adi Shankara, 94–95 African shrines, 7–8, 399–400 Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, 8–9 Ajanta (India), 9–11 Akita (Japan), 310 Alamo (USA), Battle of the Alamo (1835), 11–13 Daughters of the Texas Revolution, 12–13 Film: The Alamo, 12, 486–88 Amaterasu, 240–41 Amsterdam (The Netherlands), 45–46 Anasazi, 89, 376–77 Ancestor shrines, 13–14, 307, 399–400, 442–43, 443–44 Angkor Wat (Cambodia), 14–16 Churning of the Ocean of Milk, 15 restoration, 16

Anne Frank House (The Netherlands), 17–18 Otto Frank, 17–18 Miep Gies, 17 Diary of Anne Frank, 17–18 Anthony of Padua, Saint (Italy), 473–74 Antony of Egypt, Saint, 129–30 Anurhadhpura (Sri Lanka), 18–19 bodhi tree, 18 Apollo, 130–34, 137–38 Ark of the Covenant (Ethiopia), 29–30 Ark of the Covenant (Israel), 244–45 Arlington National Cemetery (USA), 86–87 Asoka, Emperor, 64, 449–50 Assisi (Italy), 19–21 Basilica of San Francisco, 20–21 1997 earthquake, 21 Portiuncula, 21 Ataturk, Kemal, 205, 210, 281 Athena Parthenos, 4–5 Attukul Pongala (India), 22 Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland), 22–25 controversies, 25, 229 Avalon. See Glastonbury Avebury (Great Britain), 25–27

671

672 | Index

Avila (Spain), 27–28 Axum (Ethiopia), 29–31 St. Mary of Zion Church, 29–30 Ark of the Covenant, 29 Ayers Rock (Australia). See Uluru Baalbek (Lebanon), 33–35 Temple of Jupiter, 33 Temple of Bacchus, 34 Bab, The, 40–41 Baba Sali (Israel), 35–36 Babi Yar (Ukraine), 36–37 Bagamoyo (Tanzania), 522–23 Bagan (Myanmar/Burma), 37–40 Ananda Temple, 38–39 Nathlaung Kyaung Temple, 39 Thatbyinnyu Temple, 39 Baha’i Pilgrimage, 40–41 Baha’i World Centre (Israel), 40–41 Baha’uddin Shah Naqshband, 65–66 Baha’u’llah, 40–41 Work: The Tablet of Carmel 40 Bamba, Cheik Amadou, 562–63 Bamiyan (Afghanistan), 41–43 Banneux (Belgium), 311 Batu Caves (Malaysia), 43–45 Thaipusam Festival, 43–44 Bayside (USA), 44–45 Bear’s Lodge (Mato Tipi). See Devil’s Tower Begijnhof (The Netherlands), 45–46 clandestine chapel, 46 miracle pilgrimage, 46 Beguines, 45–46 Benares (India). See Varanasi Bergen-Belsen (Germany), 229 Bernadette, Saint, 302–5, 315 Bessette, Andre, Saint, 479–81 Bethlehem (Palestinian Authority), 46–49 Church of the Nativity, 47–48 Milk Grotto, 48 Shepherds’ Field, 48 Tomb of Rachel, 48

Bhubaneswar (India), 396–97 Bighorn Medicine Wheel (USA), 49–51, 323 Birkenau (Poland), 22–25, 229 Black Elk, 52 Black Hills (USA), 51–53 Bodh Gaya (India), 216–18, 568 Bodhnath Stupa, Kathmandu (Nepal), 53–54 Bom Jesus (India), 54–55 Bom Jesus da Lapa (Brazil), 55–56 Bom Jesus do Monte (Portugal), 56–57 Stairway to Paradise, 56 Borobudur (Indonesia), 57–59 Bowie, Jim, 11 Breton Pardons (France), 59–61, 478–79 Buchenwald (Germany), 61–63 Buddhist Pilgrimages, 63–65, 275–76, 353–55, 355–57, 373–75, 403–4, 431–42, 566–69 Bukhara (Uzbekistan), 65–66 Bunce Island (Sierra Leone), 523 Bunyan, John, 425–26 Cahokia Mounds (USA), 67–69 Calvin, John, 182–84 Camino De Santiago, 491–94 Map: 492, 588–90 Camp and Brush Arbor Meetings (USA), 69–71 Hymnal: The Golden Harp, 70 Canterbury Cathedral (England), 71–73 martyrdom of Becket, 71–72 Canterbury Pilgrimage, 72, 73–75 Canterbury Tales (England), 73–75 Cao Dai Temple (Vietnam), 75–77 Cape Coast Castle (Ghana), 523 Carnac (France), 77–79 Cartago (Costa Rica), 79–80 Catacombs (Italy), 80–83 Capuchin Catacomb (illustration), 81 Priscilla, 83 San Callisto, 82

Index | 673 San Sebastian, 83 Santa Domitilla, 82 Cathar Sites (France), 83–85 Caves of the Seven Sleepers (Turkey/ Syria/Jordan), 124, 161, 509–10 Caves, 9–11, 43–45, 56, 85–86, 124, 152–53, 155–56, 161, 192–94, 403–4, 509–10, 552–555 Cecilia, Saint, 82–83 Cemeteries, 86–88 Chac, 98, 103 Chaco (USA), 88–90 Casa Riconada, 90 Fajada Butte, 89 Pueblo Bonito, 89–90 Chalma (Mexico), 90–92 Changu Narayan Temple (Nepal), 92–93 Chao Tuptim (Penis shrine) (Thailand), 93 Char Dham (India), 94–96 Badrinath, 95 Dwarka, 95 Puri, 95 Rameswaram, 95–96 Charlemagne, Emperor, 1–2, 585–86 Chartres Cathedral (France), 96–98 Chelmno (Poland), 229 Chichen Itza (Mexico), 98–100 Chimayo (USA), 100–101 Chogyesa Temple (South Korea), 101–3 Zen Buddhism, 102 Cholula (Mexico), 103–4 Christianborg (Ghana), 523 Circumambulation, 65, 110, 356–57 Clare of Assisi, Saint, 19–21 Cluny Abbey (France), 104–5 reform, 104–5 Cobre, El (Cuba), 105–7 Colosseum (Italy), 107–9 Christian martyrs, 108 Columba, Saint, 238–40 Conques (France), 109–11 Consolatrice (Luxembourg), 111–12 Coptic Cairo (Egypt), 112–15 Abu Serga, 114

Convent of Saint George, 114 Saint Mercurius, 114–15 Sitt Barbara 114 Sitt Miriam, 113–14 Crazy Horse, Chief, 52 Croagh Patrick (Ireland), 115–16 Crockett, Davey, 11 Crystal Cathedral (USA), 116–117 Cuzco (Peru), 117–19 Temple of the Sun, 117–18 Cyber Pilgrimage, 119–20 Cyril IV, Coptic Pope, 4, 500 Czestochowa (Poland). See Jasna Gora Dachau (Germany), 121–22, 229 Dalai Lama, 136–37 Damascus (Syria), 123–24 Bab al-Saghir Cemetery, 123 Jamii al-Amawi, 123–24 Damien of Moloka’i (USA), 124–126 Dawn, Temple of the (Thailand). See Wat Arun Day of the Dead, 14, 126–27 Debra Libanos (Ethiopia), 127–29 Deir Mar Antonios (Egypt), 129–30 Delos (Greece), 130–32 Delphi (Greece), 132–34 Delphic oracle, 133 Dervishes, 205–6, 280–82 Devil’s Rock. See Devil’s Tower Devil’s Tower (USA), 134–36, 376 Dharamsala (India), 136–37 Didyma (Turkey), 137–38 Dilwara (India), 138–39 Dionysius, 130–34 Divina Providencia (USA), 139–40 Divine Mercy Shrine (Poland), 140–41 Djenne´ (Mali), 141–42 Dodona (Greece), 142–43 Dogon Cliffs (Mali), 143–45 Doi Suthep (Thailand), 64, 568 Dome of the Rock (Israel), 256 Dreamtime, 274–75 Druze, 259–60

674 | Index

Easter Island. See Rapa Nui Eastern Christian Churches, 348 Egun Shrine, 13–14 Eight-Eight Temples Pilgrimage (Japan), 147–49 Einsiedeln (Switzerland), 149–51 St. Meinrad, 149–50 Eisenach (Germany), 151–52, 306 ekuPhakameni (South Africa), 152–53 Prophet Isaiah Shembe, 152 Elephanta Caves (India), 153–54 Eleusis (Greece), 154–55 Ellora Caves (India), 9, 155–57 Elmina (Ghana), 523–24 Emei Shan (China), 157–58, 176 Emerald Buddha (Thailand), 158–59 Ephesus (Turkey), 159–61 Church of Mary, 161 Erawan Shrine (Thailand), 161–62 Esala Perahera (Sri Lanka), 561–62 Esquipulas (Guatemala), 162–63 Externsteine (Germany), 163–64 co-option by Nazis, 164 Ex-Votos, 106, 165–66, 223–24 Eyup Camii (Turkey), 166–67 Ezekiel’s Tomb (Iraq), 167–68 Fatima (Portugal), 169–172 Miracle of the Sun, 170–71 Faustina Kowalska, Saint, 140–41 Fertility Shrines, 93, 172–73, 184–85, 206–7, 240–42, 399–400, 620–21 Fire, Sacred, 173–74 fire circles, 174, 332–34, 572–73 Flight into Egypt (Egypt), 174–75, 365–66 Four Sacred Mountains (China), 175–77 Emei Shan, 176 Jiuhua Shan, 177 Putuo Shan, 177 Wutai Shan, 177 Francis of Assisi, Saint, 19–21 Works: Canticle of the Creatures, 19 Canticle of the Sun, 19–20 Gadhimai Festival (Nepal), 179–80

Gapp, James (Jakob), 427–429, 449–50 Garabandal (Spain), 311–12 Garden Tomb (Israel), 180 The Gargano Massif (Italy), 180–181 Mont Sant’Angelo, 181 Gaudi, Antoni, 471–73 Geneva (Switzerland), 182–184 Calvin Auditory, 183 Reformers’ Wall, Escalade Day, 183–84 St. Peter’s Cathedral, 183 Ggantija (Malta), 184–185 Ghost Festival, 185–86 Ginkakuji Temple (Japan), 286 Glastonbury (United Kingdom), 186–88 Glendalough (Ireland), 188–89 Goa (India), 54–55 Golden Temple (India), 189–90 Golem, 393 Goreé Island (Senegal), 190–92 Goreme Caves (Turkey), 192–194 Got Kwer (Kenya), 194–95 Graham, Reverend Billy, 71, 222 Great Awakening (USA), 69–71 Great Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), 195–97 Groves, 69–71, 142–43, 163–63, 197–98, 223, 399–400 Guadalupe (Mexico), 198–200 Guadalupe (Spain), 200–201 Gunung Agung (Indonesia), 201–3 Gypsy Pilgrimages (France), 204 Hacibektas (Turkey), 205–6 Hagar Qim and Mnajdra (Malta), 206–7 Hagia Sophia (Turkey), 207–210 Hajj (Saudi Arabia), 210–15 Hasedera Temple (Japan), 215 Hearth of Buddhism, 63, 216–19 Hebron (Palestinian Authority), 219–21 The Hiding Place (The Netherlands), 221–223 Film: The Hiding Place (1973) Hill Cumorah (USA), 223 Hill of Crosses (Lithuania), 166, 223–24

Index | 675 Hindu Temples, 224–26, 269–70, 325–26, 396–98, 413–14, 434–35, 465–66 Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Japan), 226–28 Peace Memorial Park, 227 Holocaust, 22–25, 36–37, 61–63, 121–22, 221–22, 228–32, 412, 576–77, 617–18 Holocaust sites, 228–32 Holy Blood (Belgium), 232–33 Holy Death (Mexico), 490–91 Holy Sepulchre (Israel), 253–54 Hussein, Imam, 270–72 Hypogeum (Malta), 545–46 Icons, 207–10, 251–52, 235–36, 315, 429–31, 516–17, 551–52 Infant Jesus of Prague (Czech Republic), 236–38 Initiation, 8, 571–72, 575–76, 591–93 Iona (Scotland), 238–40 Ise (Japan), 240–42 rice festival, 241 Isis Temple (Egypt), 242–43 removal to high ground, 243 Islamic Pilgrimage. See Muslim Pilgrimage Israelite Sanctuaries, 243–45 Bethel, 244 Shechem, 244 Shiloh, 244, 510–11 Istanbul Mosques (Turkey), 245–46 Blue Mosque, 245 Fatih Mosque, 245–46 Rustem Pasha Mosque, 246 Suleymaniye, 246 Yeni Mosque, 246 Izumo Taisha Shrine (Japan), 247–248 Jains, 138–39 James the Greater, Saint, Apostle, 491–94 Janakpur (Nepal), 249–50

Japanese Pilgrimages, 63–64, 147–49, 215, 240–41, 247–48, 250–51, 618–20 Jasenovac (Croatia), 229 Jasna Gora (Poland), 251–53 Jerusalem, Christian Sites (Israel), 253–55 Jerusalem, Islamic Sites (Israel), 255–57 Jerusalem, Jewish Sites (Israel), 257–59 Jethro’s Tomb (Israel), 259–60 Jewish Pilgrimages, 260–61, 445–46, 608–11, 617–18 Jim Morrison Grave (France), 261–62, 419 John of the Cross, Saint, 27 John the Baptist, Saint, 332–34, 478–88 Jokhang Temple (Tibet, China), 262–65 Julian of Norwich (England), 265–66 Work: Revelations of Divine Love, 265 Ka‘bah, 211–15 Kabbalah, 35–36, 369–70 Kairouan (Tunisia), 267–69 Kaleb, King Saint (Elesbaan), 29–31 Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. See Zebrzydowska Kanyakumari (India), 269–70 Karbala (Iraq), 270–72 Kasubi Tombs (Uganda), 272–74 Kata Tjuta (Australia), 274–75 Kek Lok Si (Malaysia), 275–76 Kevin, Saint, 188–89 Khmer Rouge, 16 Kibeho (Rwanda), 276–78 Kilauea (USA), 278–80 Kinkakuji Temple (Japan), 286 Knock (Ireland), 313 Konarak (India), 396–97 Konya (Turkey), 280–82 Korean Martyrs’ Shrines (South Korea), 282–283 Jeoldusan, 283 Kumb Mela Sites (India), 283–85

676 | Index

Kushinagar (India), 219 Kyoto (Japan), 285–87 La Salette (France), 313–14 Labyrinths, 97, 289–90 Lakmuang Shrine (Thailand), 290–91 Lalibela (Ethiopia), 291–92 La Vang (Vietnam), 292–93 Laval, Jacques-Desire, Blessed, 475–76 Le Puy-en-Veleay (France), 293–94 Ley Lines, 78–79, 88–90, 379–80 Lindisfarne (England), 294–96 Lisieux (France), 296–97 Lizard Mound (USA), 346 Loboc (Philippines), 297–98 Loppiano (Italy), 298–99 Loreto (Italy), 299–300 Lough Derg (Ireland), 300–2 Lourdes (France), 302–5 Lumbini (Nepal), 216 Luther Circle (Germany), 305–6 Luther, Martin, 151–52, 305–6 Luxor (Egypt), 550–51 Ly Bat De (Vietnam), 307 Macarius the Elder, Saint, 130 Machu Picchu (Peru), 309–10 Macleod, Reverend George, 239–40 Majdanek (Poland), 230 Maria Lionza (Venezuela), 310–11 Marian apparitions, 44–45, 79–80, 169–72, 198–200, 251–53, 276–78, 292–93, 297–98, 299–300, 302–5, 311–15, 324–26, 327–28, 421–22, 555–56, 578–79, 597–99 Mariapocs (Hungary), 315–16 Mariazell (Austria), 316 Martyrs’ Hill (Japan), 317–18 Masada (Israel), 318–20 Masjid al-Badawi (Egypt), 320–21 Mau Mau, 7 Mauthausen (Austria), 230 Maximon (Guatemala), 321–22

Mecca (Saudi Arabia), 210–15 Medicine Wheels (USA), 49–51, 323–24 Medina (Saudi Arabia), 210–15 Medjogorje (Bosnia & Herzegovina), 324–26 Meenakshi Temple (India), 326–27 Menec Lines, 78 Mengele, Josef, 24 Meritxell (Andorra), 327–28 Meron (Israel), 328–29 Meteora Monasteries (Greece), 329–330 The Mezquita (Spain), 330–32 Michael, Archangel, 181, 335–38 Midsummer, 174, 332–334 Milagros, 56, 80, 91, 165–66 Miraculous Medal Shrine (France), 410–11 Mississippian Culture, 67–69, 344–36 Mohammed, Prophet, 211–14 Monte Cassino (Italy), 334–35 Mont St-Michel (France), 181, 335–38 Montserrat (Spain), 338–39 Montsegur (Spain), 84 Moradas (USA), 339–40 Moria (South Africa), 341–43 Mormon Temple (USA), 343–44 Mound Builders (USA), Cahokia 67–69, 344–46, 507–9 Mountains, 6–7, 51–53, 157–58, 175–77, 180–81, 201–3, 347–49, 351–52, 352–53, 353–55, 355–57, 357–59, 359–60, 360–62, 362–64, 470–41, 537–39 Mount Athos (Greece), 349–51 Mount Brandon (Ireland), 351–52 Mount Carmel (Israel), 40–41, 352–53 Mount Fuji (Japan), 353–55 Mount Kailash (Tibet), 355–57 Mount Kenya (Kenya), 357–59 Mount Meru, 57–58, 201–3, 359 Mount Nebo (Jordan), 359–60 Mount Shasta (USA), 360–62 Mount Sinai (Egypt), 362–64 Mudras, 64, 217 (illustration)

Index | 677 Muharram (India), 364–65 Muharraq, al- (Egypt), 365–66 Murugan, Lord, 43–45 Muslim Pilgrimage, 210–15, 267–69, 270–72, 364–65, 366–68, 370–71, 453–54, 454–55 Nachman of Breslov (Ukraine), 369–70 Najaf (Iraq), 370–71 Nanak, Guru, 189, 371–72 Nankana Sahib (Pakistan), 371–72 Nan Madol (Pohnpei), 372–73 Nara (Japan), 373–75 Native American Sacred Places, 88–90, 100–101, 134–36, 375–78, 613 Nazareth (Israel), 378–379 Nazca Lines (Peru), 379–80 Nazi Shrines (Germany), 163–65, 585–87 New Age, 1–3, 25–26, 49–51, 83–85, 96–98, 117–19, 188, 243, 345–46, 360–62, 379–80, 380–82, 504–5 New Religious Movements, 152–53, 194–95, 342 Newgrange (Ireland), 382–83 Nidaros (Norway), 383–85 Nikko (Japan), 385–87 North American Martyrs (USA/Canada), 387–88 Nui Ba Den (Vietnam), 388–89 Oberammergau (Germany), 391–92 Offrendas, 14, 126 Old-New Synagogue (Czech Republic), 392–93 Olgas (Australia). See Kata Tjuta Olympia (Greece), 393–95 Orissa Triangle (India), 396–98 Oscar Wilde Grave (France), 398–99 Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove (Nigeria), 399–400 Oswiecim. See Auschwitz Our Lord in the Attic (The Netherlands), 400–401

Pac Ou Caves (Laos), 403–4 Padre Cicero Shrine (Brazil), 404–5 Padre Pio Shrine (Italy), 405–6 Pagan. See Bagan Painted Monasteries (Romania), 406–8 Paneriai (Lithuania), 230 Paray-le-Monial (France), 408–10 Paris (France), 410–12 Pashupatinath (Nepal), 413–14 Patmos (Greece), 414–15 Pedro Betancourt Shrine (Guatemala), 415–16 Penis Shrine (Thailand), 93 Penitentes, 339–40 Perchersk Lavra (Ukraine), 416–18 Pere Lachaise Cemetery (France), 87–88, 418–419 Communard Wall, 88, 261–62, 389–99, 418–19 Pericles, 4 Petra (Jordan), 419–21 Phidias, 5 Pilar, El (Spain), 421–22 Pilgrimage, 422–25 Pilgrim’s Progress (England), 425–26 Plaine du Nord (Haı¨ti), 426–27 Plotzensee Memorial (Germany), 427–29 Pochayiv Lavra (Ukraine), 429–31 Po Lin (Hong Kong), 431–32 Pontmain (France), 314 Potala Palace (Tibet), 432–34 Prambanan (Indonesia), 434–35 Puri (India), 397–98 Pyramids of Giza (Egypt), 435–37 Qalandar Shrine (Pakistan), 439–40 Qom (Iran), 440–442 Queen of Sheba, 30–31 Quetzlcoatl, 98–100 Qufu (China), 442–443 Quinming Festival (Taiwan/China), 443–44

678 | Index

Rachel’s Tomb (Palestinian Authority), 445–46 Rapa Nui (Chile), 446–48 Ravensbruch (Germany), 222, 230 Relics, 81–82, 232–33, 448–450, 477–78, 563–64 Religious tourism, 450–53 Remembrance Day, 88 Rey (Iran), 453–54 Reza, al- (Iran), 454–55 Rila Monastery (Bulgaria), 455–57 Rincon, El (Cuba), 457–58 Rocamadour (France), 458–59 Rock of Cashel (Ireland), 460–61 Rome (Italy), 461–64, 481–83 Rumi, Jalalu’d-Din, 280–81 Work: Spiritual Mathnawi, 280 Sabarimala (India), 465–66 Sabbathday Lake (USA), 466–68 Sachsenhausen (Germany), 230–31 Sacre Coeur Basilica (France), 411, 468–69 Sacrimonte (Italy), 470–71 Sagrada Familia (Spain), 471–73 Saint Anthony of Padua, 473–74 Saint Catherine’s Monastery (Egypt), 363–64 Sainte-Anne de Beaupre (Canada), 474–475 Sainte-Croix (Mauritius), 475–76 Saint Gobnait (Ireland), 476–77 Saint Januarius (Italy), 477–78 Saint-Jean-de-Doigt (France), 478–79 Saint Joseph’s Oratory (Canada), 479–81 Saint Peter’s Basilica (Vatican City), 481–83 Saint Willibrord’s Shrine (Luxembourg), 483–84 Saint Winifred’s Well (Wales), 484–86 Saman, 6–7 San Antonio Mission Trail (USA), 486–88 San Jacinto, Battle of, 12 San Juan de los Lagos (Mexico), 488–89

San Juan del Valle (USA), 489–90 Santa Anna, General Antonio Lopez de, 11–12 Santa Muerte (Mexico), 490–91 Santiago de Compostela (Spain), 491–94 Santo Nino de Cebu (Philippines), 494–95 San Xavier del Bac (USA), 495–97 Sarah, Saint, 204 Sarnath (India), 218–19 Saut d’Eau (Haiti), 497–98 Sayyida Zeinab Shrine (Syria), 498–99 Scete (Egypt), 499–501 Schneerson, Menachem, 35 Sea of Galilee (Israel), 501–2 Secular shrines, 502–4 Sedona (USA), 504–5 Sergiev Posad (Russia), 505–7 Serpent Mound (USA), 507–9 Seven Sleepers, Caves of the (Turkey/Syria/Jordan), 509–10 Shakers, 466–68 Shaolin Monastery, 542–43 Shiloh (Ancient Israel), 510–11 Shinto Shrines (Japan), 511–13, 618–20 Shiva, 152–53, 156, 434–35 Shostakovich, Dmitri, 37 Shrines, 513–16 Shroud of Turin (Italy), 516–17 Shuller, Reverend Robert, 116–17 Shwedagon Pagoda (Myanmar/Burma), 517–19 Sikhism, 188–90 Simeon the Stylite (Syria), 519–20 Sistine Chapel (Vatican City), 461 Sitting Bull, Chief, 52 Skellig Michael (Ireland), 520–22 Slave Depots, 190–92, 522–25 Smith, Prophet Joseph, 223 Snake Temple (Malaysia), 525–26 Sobibor (Poland), 231 Solomon’s Temple (Ancient Israel), 245, 526–27, 608–11

Index | 679 Songkran (Thailand), 527–28 Spirit houses, 93, 161–62, 528–29 Sri Pada. See Adam’s Peak Standing Stones (henges), 25–26, 77–79, 529–30, 585–87 St-Jean-de-Doigt (France), 61 Stonehenge, 26, 529–30 Stupa, 53–54, 530–32 Sufism, 65–66, 205–6, 280–82, 320–21, 367, 438–40 Sun Dance (USA/Canada), 532–33 Suryavarman II, King, 15–16 Swayambhunath Stupa (Nepal), 533–35 Sweat Lodge (USA), 52, 535–36 T’ai Shan (China), 537–39 Taize´ (France), 539–40 Taj Mahal (India), 540–42 Taliban, 41 Taoist Sacred Mountains (China), 542–44 Bei Heng Shan, 543 Hua Shan, 543 Nan Heng Shan, 543 Song Shan, 542–43 T’ai Shan, 537–39, 543 Taputapuatea (Fiji), 544–45 Tarxien and the Hypogeum (Malta), 545–46 Tekakwitha, Blessed Kateri, 387–88 Tekla Haymanot, Saint, 127–29 Temple of Heaven (China), 546–47 Ten Boom, Corrie, 221–22 Teotihuacan (Mexico), 547–49 Teresa of Avila, Saint, 27–28 Work: Interior Castle, 28 Thebes and Luxor (Egypt), 549–51 Theotokos of Vladimir (Russia), 551–52 Therese of Lisieux, Saint, 296–97 Work: Story of a Soul, 296–97 Theresienastadt (Czech Republic), 231 Thousand Buddhas Caves (China), 552–555

Tibetan Buddhism, 136–37, 262–65, 432–34 Tinos (Greece), 555–56 Titicaca (Bolivia), 556–57 Tiwanaku (Bolivia), 557–58 Tokyo (Japan), 558–60 Toltecs, 98–100 Tooth Temple (Sri Lanka), 560–62 Totem Poles, 13 Touba (Senegal), 562–63 Tourism, religious, 302–5, 391–92, 423–25, 450–453 Trajan, Emperor, 33–34 Travis, William, 11 Treblinka (Poland), 231 Trier (Germany), 563–65 Tripitaka Pali, 37–38 Trondheim (Norway), 383–85 Tsechu Festival (Bhutan), 565–566 Tula (Mexico), 566 Twelve-Year Cycle Pilgrimage (Thailand), 566–569 Ubirr (Australia), 571–72 Udvada Fire Temple (India), 572–73 Ugandan Martyrs’ Shrines (Uganda), 573–575 Uluru (Australia), 575–76 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 647–650 United States’ Holocaust Memorial (USA), 576–77 Uppsala Temple (Sweden), 577–78 Urkupina Festival (Bolivia), 578–79 USS Arizona, 88 Uxmal (Mexico), 579–81 Varanasi (India), 583–85 Vegetarianism, 77, 84, 138 Verden (Germany), 585–87 Vestal Temple (Italy), 587–88 Ve´zelay (France), 588–90 Via Dolorosa, 254–55, 626–27 Vietnam Veterans Memorial (USA), 590–91

680 | Index

Vishnu, 92–93, 94–96 Vision Quest (USA/Canada), 50, 52–53, 591–93 Voodoo, 426–27, 497–98 Voortrekker Monument (South Africa), 593–94 The Vrindavan Krishna Shrines (India), 594–95 Wadi el Natrun (Egypt), 499–501 Wailing Wall. See Western Wall Walsingham (England), 597–99 War Memorials, 88, 590–91, 599–601 Wartburg Castle (Germany), 151–52 Wat Arun (Thailand), 601–2 Wat Phra Phutthabat (Thailand), 602–3 Wat Po (Thailand), 603–4 Way of Santiago. See Camino de Santiago Wells and Springs, 302–5, 476–77, 604–6, 627 Wenwu Temple (Taiwan), 606–607 Wesley’s Chapel (England), 607–8 Western Wall (Israel), 258, 608–11

Westminster Abbey (England), 611–12 White Buffalo (USA), 613 Wieliczka Salt Mine (Poland), 613–14 Wittenberg (Germany), 305–6 Wondugan Altar (South Korea), 614–15 Xavier, Saint, 54–55, 496–97 Yad Vashem (Israel), 232, 258–59, 617–18 Yasukuni Jinja (Japan), 560, 618–20 Yazilikaya (Turkey), 620–21 Yevtushenko, Yevgeni, 36–37 York Minster (England), 622–23 Zagorsk. See Sergiev Posad Zanzibar (Tanzania), 524 Zapopan (Mexico), 625–26 Zebrzydowska Chapel (Poland), 626–27 Zeinab, 124 Zeitoun (Egypt), 314 Zoroastrian Fire Temples, 572–73, 627–29

About the Author

Norbert C. Brockman, S.M., Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of Political Science and long-time director of International Relations at St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas. He also taught in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Kenya. Besides articles in

scholarly journals, he is the author of ABCCLIO’s award-winning African Biographical Dictionary and the first edition of this work, winner of a 1997 Outstanding Reference Source from the Reference and User Services Association.

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