This weekend is Easter (our only 4 day weekend!) for myself and many of us, Passover for many more and Sikhs and Hindu’s have Vaisakhi and in a week or so Ramadan will be starting also. It will be very different this time of course. I must confess I have never enjoyed Easter since 2013… Continue reading Coronavirus Diary 15 – Easter and Passover in splendid isolation – How solitude can lead to creativity.
Tag: Faith
The Strasbourg Dancing Plague of 1518
We’re fast approaching mid-summer and in the UK the next few months are marked in amongst other ways, masses of music and folk festivals with the most famous of which being Glastonbury. Well before the hundreds of thousands spent their summers dancing under the gaze of King Arthur and Joseph of Arimathea, there was an… Continue reading The Strasbourg Dancing Plague of 1518
ST PAUL’S MONASTERY IN JARROW AND THE OLDEST STAINED GLASS WINDOW IN THE WORLD
Recently when I was in the area for my Hadrians Wall walk, I took a detour to a place I had long wanted to visited. Not too many miles from the ancestral home of George Washington which I visited on the same trip. Whilst sights such as the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and Durham Cathedral… Continue reading ST PAUL’S MONASTERY IN JARROW AND THE OLDEST STAINED GLASS WINDOW IN THE WORLD
Crows, Ravens & Halloween
Over the years, I have written quite a few posts on Halloween related subjects such as Halloweens of past and present (updated) Top 10 Haunted places in the U.K. the fearful Spring Heeled Jack who wrought terror in mostly distant times and the Enfield Poltergeist who terrified a particular family in modern day London. This year I… Continue reading Crows, Ravens & Halloween
The festival of Raksha Bandhan
Two weeks ago today on August 7th, was the festival of Raksha Bandhan. Originating with the Hindu faith in India (though long observed by Sikhs too), it centres on a ceremony wherein a sister will tie a Rakhi (a simple cloth bracelet) on the wrist of her brother as a symbol of her love and… Continue reading The festival of Raksha Bandhan
Prince Philip and the islanders who worship him as a god.
Most people know who Prince Philip is. He’s held in quite high esteem and perhaps even loved for his politically incorrect remarks and insults and fiery Greek temper. However, outside of Buckingham Palace there is no where quite on earth that thinks as much of the man as the Kastom people in the tiny Pacific… Continue reading Prince Philip and the islanders who worship him as a god.
Lost and found at Lambeth Palace.
As the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury for centuries, Lambeth Palace, which sits on the south bank of the River Thames in London might be expected to have its fair share of graves of prominent people in history. However, recent building work at the now deconsecrated church of St Mary-at-Lambeth has unearthed some incredible… Continue reading Lost and found at Lambeth Palace.
Aleister Crowley – The Wickedest Man In The World
Whilst writing my blog on Bloomsbury recently and following a day spent exploring every single street that I could happen upon, I became intrigued by a man who was once known as ‘The wickedest man in the world’. This is quite some going for a man who lived whilst Stalin and Hitler were going strong.… Continue reading Aleister Crowley – The Wickedest Man In The World
The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace – Benedictus
Do you ever have a situation where you hear a piece of music and don’t know what it is? Perhaps you hear a new song on the radio that you like the sound of but miss the introduction at the beginning or annoyingly the presenter doesn’t credit it at the end. It’s hard enough when… Continue reading The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace – Benedictus
Sunni and Shia Islam – All you Need To Know – Islam 101
You’d have to be living on another planet not to hear about the seemingly endless troubles in the Middle-East. To many in the west, Muslims are Muslims but it is much more complex than that with an ancient schism dominating the religion and threatening to engulf the world whether we know about it or not.… Continue reading Sunni and Shia Islam – All you Need To Know – Islam 101
Stephen Liddell 