by Bill McLain
DID YOU KNOW?
One of the most impressive calendars is the Aztec calendar discovered in 1790. It is a circular stone 12 feet in diameter and weighing almost 25 tons.
The center of the calendar stone is the face of the Aztec sun god. Four squares around his face represent the four previous suns, or worlds, and how they came to end: by wild animals, by wind, by fire, and by flood. Aztecs believed that they lived in the fifth and final world.
The Aztec calendar depicts both a civil and a religious year. The Aztec civil year, which is an agricultural or solar year, was divided into 18 months of 20 days, ending with 5 extra days considered to be extremely unlucky.
In addition to the 365-day civil calendar, the Aztecs had a 260-day religious calendar that consisted of twenty 13-day weeks. Both calendars are shown on this single stone.
The name for a year on the civil calendar was different from the name for the same year on the religious calendar. However, every 52 years, the name of the year was identical on both calendars. This was a sacred time because the Aztecs believed the world could come to an end during this period if they did not perform the proper sacred rites.
All of the people let their home fires die out. The priests then held a somber religious ritual that lasted for days. When the ritual was over, the priests lit a new sacred fire on the breast of a sacrificial victim, the people took some of the sacred fire to rekindle their hearth fires, and a time of feasting began.
The Aztecs knew then that the world could not end for another 52 years.
Why are the signs on Pennsylvania Dutch barns called “hex” signs? (Have the signs kept away phones, electricity, and automobiles?)
The colorful hex signs painted on Pennsylvania Dutch barns were used to protect crops and animals from disease and injury caused by witches’ spells and to ward off the evil eye. The word “hex” has two meanings. One meaning comes from the Old High German word hexe meaning “witch.” The other meaning comes from the Greek word for six. The hex symbol combines both meanings because it is a hexagram, or six-sided figure, designed to ward off witches.
The hexagram is considered a powerful symbol for many reasons. It symbolizes the combination of the male (an upward-pointing triangle) and the female (a downward-pointing triangle). The two triangles can also symbolize “above” and “below,” referring to man’s relationship with God.
The Star of David is a hexagram but its origin is not known. In ancient times it was most often found in non-Jewish contexts. In the 1600s Emperor Ferdinand approved a seal for the Jewish community of Prague in the form of a six-pointed star with each point having the letter M, G, N, D, V, and D, or Mogen David (King David). In 1897 the six-pointed star was adopted at the First Zionist Congress and is now on the flag of Israel.
Today most Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs are circles rather than six-pointed stars. They are decorated with geometrical patterns or intricate bird and flower designs. Each symbol represents certain ideas, and the entire hex sign represents a legend that has particular meaning for the family to which it belongs.
Typical symbols include a sun wheel (warmth and fertility), stars (protection against fires), tulips (faith, hope, and charity), oak leaf (long life), and wheat (abundance). Commonly used colors are blue (protection and peace), yellow (health), and green (fertility and growth).
FACTOIDS
Designs similar to those used on hex signs also adorned the Pennsylvania Dutch birth and marriage certificates, Bibles, and some furniture.
Early hex signs were carefully hand-painted directly on walls, doors, books, and barns. Today most hex signs are silk-screened on round disks that can be mounted anywhere.
Some of the first settlers in Pennsylvania practiced “powwowing,” or the art of healing by using incantations and magic amulets.
The early Pennsylvania Dutch settlers were superstitious people but were also quite sensible and practical. Their practical side is evidenced in the legends of Tyl, a mythical immigrant about whom many stories were told. All the stories had the same basic plot—a practical man who always succeeds in outwitting his wily opponent or the devil.
A number of Pennsylvania Dutch families still maintain parts of their culture, especially in their cooking. A traditional dessert is shoofly pie, made of molasses and dough crumbs.
DID YOU KNOW?
It is difficult to think of the Pennsylvania Dutch settlers without thinking about the Amish. The Amish are a group of conservative Christians who settled in eastern Pennsylvania and still have large settlements there. They stress peace, humility, family, community, and separation from the world.
Pennsylvania is known for having at least three pacifist religions: the Amish, the Brethren, and the Quakers.
Most Amish speak three languages: Pennsylvania Dutch (a German dialect) at home, High German during worship services, and English.
The Amish are best known for their severity of dress and lack of modern conveniences. Men wear broad-brimmed black hats and plain clothes fastened with hooks rather than buttons. They have full beards but no mustaches. Women wear long full dresses, bonnets, and black shoes and stockings. No one wears jewelry of any kind.
The Old Order Amish do not use telephones or electric lights. Instead of driving automobiles, they drive horses and buggies. Children go to private one-room schoolhouses and attend only through the eighth grade. After that, they work on the family’s farm or in its business until they marry.
The Amish do change, however. They carefully examine new ideas and gadgets and will accept them only if they help keep their life simple and their families together.
Although theirs is not a large religion, the Amish are to be admired for being pacifists in a warlike world, for maintaining a simple lifestyle that tends to keep them from becoming materialistic, and for placing great importance on family and community.
What is the religious makeup of the United States? (Why do other countries think we are materialistic?)
Christianity is the dominant religion in the United States and is embraced by 87 percent of the people, who belong to one of four major Christian Churches: Protestant (58 percent), Roman Catholic (27 percent), Mormon (1 percent), and Eastern Orthodox (1 percent).
Of the remaining population, 3 percent embrace Judaism, 3 percent belong to lesser-known religions, and the rest have no religious preference.
Christianity has the most followers worldwide, with its members accounting for 32 percent of the world’s population. Islam is second, accounting for 17 percent of the world’s population. However, the growth of Christianity is stable while Islam is expanding rapidly.
There are many hundreds of religious groups in the United States that are typically labeled as denominations, sects, or cults. Unfortunately, there are no hard-and-fast rules and the category a religion is placed in is often left to the whim of the writer or “expert” who is discussing it. For instance, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church) at one time or another has been called a denomination, a sect, and a cult.
A denomination usually refers to an established religious group that has existed for some time and has members throughout the country. Examples are the Methodist Church and the Episcopal Church.
A sect refers to a small group that has sprung from an established religion. Although it adheres to many beliefs of the parent religion, it often introduces new and original concepts. A modern example of a sect is one of the groups that have broken away from the Mormon Church so male members can still have multiple wives, a practice outlawed by the Mormon Church.
A cult brings up images of an evil religious group using brainwashing to control its followers. However, that is the media definition. A cult can also be any emerging religion that has few followers and differs in beliefs from most established religions. As with any organized group of people, a cult can be bad or it can be good.
FACTOIDS
Over half of the people in the United States claim that religion is very important in th
eir lives and about 40 percent attend church once a week, making church attendance in the United States higher than in any other country. On the other hand, less than 3 percent of the people in Japan and Russia attend church once a week.
Although religion tends to decline in developed nations, it remains healthy in countries where people fear the government or where economic downturns are common.
Latin America was colonized by northern Europeans who also converted the majority of inhabitants to Christianity. In a bizarre role reversal, Latin American countries are now sending missionaries to northern European countries where the collapse of religion is particularly dramatic.
DID YOU KNOW?
One of the founding principles of the United States was “freedom of religion.” Because of that, our country is rich with many diverse religious beliefs, traditions, and rituals.
Some of these little-known religions, such as Zoroastrianism and Shamanism, date back hundreds of years. Others are relatively modern but are not often understood by the general public. These include Christian Science, Spiritists, Unitarians, Unity Church, Neo-Pagans, Science of Mind, and so on.
Not all beliefs follow conventional religious thought. Wicca came from ancient pagan beliefs and Santeria is a combination of Roman Catholicism and ancient African traditions.
Although we preach “freedom of religion,” we too often condemn those who do not believe as we do. Animal sacrifices in Santeria are condemned by Christians even though the Bible praises the same sacrifices when performed by ancient Israelites.
We do not have to embrace the religion of others, but understanding what others believe and why can help us become more understanding and tolerant of others.
Isn’t that really what freedom of religion is all about?
What is the history and significance of the Infant of Prague? (An infant protected a city from the ravages of war.)
The Infant of Prague is a statue of Jesus as a child. It stands in the Lady of Victory Church in the Czech Republic city of Prague. In the seventeenth century a statue of the child Jesus was transported to the Czech Republic (called Bohemia at the time) and given to an order of Carmelite nuns in the city of Prague.
The statue is 18.5 inches high, made of wax, and covered with a long elaborate gown. The outstretched arms welcome those looking at it.
Roman Catholics have long venerated the child Jesus, so it was not unusual for such a statue to be given to Catholic nuns. When Polyxena, the granddaughter of Doña Isabella Manrique, donated the statue to the nuns she told them, “I am giving you what I most esteem of my possessions.” At this point the statue became known as the Infant Jesus of Prague.
In 1628 Prague was invaded by the Saxons and Swedes and the Carmelite nuns were forced to flee, leaving the statue behind. Almost 10 years later a young priest found the statue, minus its arms, buried in the ruins of the Lady of Victory Church. Its hands were gone. The priest prayed for financial aid to repair the statue and claimed that the Divine Infant spoke to him, saying, “Place me near the entrance of the sacristy and you will receive aid.” A few days later a man came by the sacristy and repaired the statue.
This and other reported miracles caused an increase in devotion to the Infant of Prague statue among both the masses and the nobles. One of these nobles, Bernard Ignatius, presented a gift of a little gold crown set with precious stones and jewels, which is still on the statue.
Although Prague later endured many wars and years of unrest, the Lady of Victory Church and the statue remained unscathed. In fact, Prague escaped the ravages of both World War I and World War II.
FACTOIDS
The Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas” (who “looked out on the feast of Stephen”) was based on an actual king of Prague.
In the fourteenth century a Bohemian king was named Charles IV, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and chose Prague as the capital. During his reign, Charles IV had a totally useless wall constructed in the city. By being paid to build the wall, the workers retained their pride and didn’t have to rely on charity. The wall was called the “Hunger Wall.”
The fight to overthrow communism in Czechoslovakia was led by Vaclav Havel, a playwright who later became president of the new Czech Republic.
Because of its castles and gothic buildings, Prague is called the “City of a Hundred Spires.”
DID YOU KNOW?
The famous composer Antonín DvoÅ™ák, whose music still has wide popularity, was a citizen of Prague. He used Bohemian folklore as his inspiration and often embellished traditional melodies, as in his famous Slavonic Dances.
When DvoÅ™ák was 51, the founder of the U.S. National Conservatory of Music, Mrs. Jeanette Thurber, asked him to come to the United States. After numerous refusals Mrs. Thurber’s persistence paid off and he finally accepted her offer. He wanted to study the social and political culture of the United States. Dvorak arrived in New York and almost instantly fell in love with the United States.
DvoÅ™ák did return to his beloved Prague. But he left behind a wonderful gift: a musical work based on the rich culture of our country, his ninth symphony, From the New World.
More questions? Try these websites.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF RELIGION
http://www.morehead-st.edu/people/t.pitts/mainmenu.htm
Provides a thorough description of 15 major religions. The description for each religion begins with a short treatment of its founding, adherents, distribution, major teachings, significant writings, symbols, major divisions, and major holy days. A detailed description of the religion follows. Many links to related sites are included.
FINDING PASSAGES IN SCRIPTURES
http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible
The Bible Gateway lets you enter a passage or key words to find the associated reference in the Bible.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF MAJOR WORLD’S RELIGIONS
http://www.omsakthi.org/religions.html
Provides a short history and synopsis of Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Janism, Judaism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism.
Science
Is it true that toilets in Australia flush the opposite direction from those in the United States? (Down the drain.)
Theoretically, draining water swirls clockwise north of the equator and counterclockwise south of the equator, but the effect is so minimal you would probably not be able to see it.
A phenomenon called the Coriolis effect causes the different rotation directions in different parts of the world. It’s also the reason that tropical storms rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere (where they are called hurricanes) or clockwise in the southern hemisphere (where they are called typhoons).
Scientists conducted an experiment in which all of the variables were carefully controlled such as water temperature and effects of friction. They even started by deliberately swirling the water in the wrong direction. They concluded that although water does spiral down the drain in opposite directions in the two hemispheres, the effect is so slight that you would not be able to see it in a sink or toilet.
The Coriolis force is so subtle on a small scale that other rotational forces can easily overcome it, causing the water to swirl in either direction.
In the early nineteenth century Gustave Gaspard de Coriolis introduced the theory of the Coriolis effect, which states that an object moving in a straight line above the surface of the earth (and not parallel to the equator) will appear to curve because the earth is turning under it.
FACTOIDS
In an African country near the equator, some enterprising people have set up two toilets, one on either side of the equator. For a fee, they claim they can demonstrate that the toilets flush in the opposite directions. However, it isn’t true.
If you fill your sink and then pull out the plug, water always goes down the drain in the same direction. However, this is not due to the Coriolis effect; rather, it is because the faucet is usually slightly off-center or there is some
irregularity in the sink itself.
The idea of the Coriolis effect did not come about because of an interest in weather or ocean currents but was based on improved ways of killing. As the range of cannons increased, soldiers noticed that if they aimed at a target to the north, the cannonball usually landed east of their target. The cannonball was fired in a straight line but the rotation of the earth caused the trajectory to curve.
To see the Coriolis effect, get on a merry-go-round and throw a ball to a child across from you on the ground. The ball will appear to go to one side instead of going straight.
DID YOUKNOW?
Although pilots may not know the name of the Coriolis effect, they certainly know its dangers. They use terms such as “graveyard spin” and “graveyard spiral.”
If a pilot performs a rapid roll and then levels off, the inertia of the roll causes him to lean opposite to the direction of the roll even after it has stopped. If the pilot should quickly look down while turning, the Coriolis effect takes hold and he feels as if the plane is descending. Because he thinks he is descending, the pilot might pull back on the stick to gain more altitude, causing the plane to stall and go into a spin.
In a long continued spin the pilot may feel he is spinning in the opposite direction after he makes a correction. Because he thinks he has overcorrected, he counters the spin and goes back to the original spinning pattern. This is the “graveyard spin” because that’s probably where the pilot is heading.
