Coming-Of-Age Rituals

In many faiths & countries

From the pages of Religious Tolerance.

Coming-of-age ceremonies are held when a child or youth becomes recognized as an adult for the first time. These rituals were and are found in almost all aboriginal societies. In modern times, the transition into adulthood often happens without a formal, public celebration.

The Rites of Passage Institute of Cleveland, OH notes that: "The final entrance into adulthood has been provided from time immemorial by the 'coming of age' ceremony. Like the other major life chronicle ceremonies accompanying birth, marriage and death, the coming of age ceremony located the individual anew within the surrounding community and indeed with the universe as a whole. It was a critical moment of expansion, the entrance into larger responsibilities, larger privileges, larger secrets, larger institutions, and larger understandings. It amounted to a second birth, entry not into physical life but into higher life of culture and the spirit. Accordingly, it called for the society to display itself to full effect, giving presence to its myths and traditions, physical expression to its animating beliefs." 10

These rituals take many forms among different religions and countries:

Religiously or culturally-based observances:

Ancient Heathenism:

This is a form of Paganism. It is being reconstructed from the beliefs and practices of various ancient societies which occupied a large area of Northern Europe from Russia to Iceland. They recognize Frey, Freya, Frigg, Odin, Thor, Tyr and others as deities. One Heathen website describes a coming of age ceremony, which is typically performed on the child's birthday or on a seasonal celebration. It may involve posing a riddle, listing the child's talents, optionally choosing a new name, receiving a symbol of adulthood, welcoming the child as a new adult into the Kindred (congregation), and a giving of gifts. 4

Apache Tribe:

The Apaches are one of about 500 aboriginal societies who once occupied North America. They have a four-day rite of puberty -- the Apache Sunrise Ceremony, called "na'ii'ees." It "...is one of the most important events in an Apache female's life." In an act of unusual bigotry and religious intolerance, the U.S. government banned this and other ceremonies in the early 1900s. It was only decriminalized in 1978 when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was signed into law. The ritual "...is intended to imbue the girls with the spirit and characteristics of White Painted Woman, the Apache culture's first woman - also called Esdzanadehe or Changing Woman. The girls' skin is painted and covered with a sacred mixture of pollen and clay, which they must not wash off during the entire ceremony." The ritual itself is physically demanding. The girls have to pray, dance for hours, sit with their backs straight, and perform other physically draining activities. They are given instruction in sexuality, self-esteem, dignity, confidence, and healing ability. They are told to pray towards the east at dawn and in the four cardinal directions, which represent the four stages of life. 12

Christianity:

Roman Catholics: Catholics believe that Confirmation "...completes the process of initiation into the Christian community, and it matures the soul for the work ahead....During Confirmation, God the Holy Spirit comes upon the person, accompanied by God the Father and God the Son, just as he did at Pentecost." Sometimes, those who have been confirmed are called "Soldiers of Christ." This refers to their spiritual duty to fight evil, darkness and Satan. 5

Igbo tribe:

This tribe in Nigeria once had a traditional coming-of-age ritual for both boys and girls. Colonialism and oppression by the Christian church almost destroyed it. An Igbo group of African-Americans, the Otu Umunne Cultural Organization, has attempted to reconstruct the ritual in the U.S. The "...male initiates spent the night with the Otu Umunne fathers at a designated location, while the female initiates did the same with the Otu Umunne mothers" elsewhere. The children are taught teamwork, leadership, values, responsibilities, moral decisions, freedom, and valuing their heritage. Candles are lit, and prayers recited. The children pledge to conduct themselves in a manner that gives glory to God and that will command respect for them, their families abroad, in the ancestral land of the Igbo tribe -- Nigeria -- and to the American community where they live. 14

Interfaith:

The Interfaith Families Project is composed of families from the Washington DC area which follow two religious traditions. They celebrate the passage of their children "into young adulthood and to embrace their emerging identities as adolescents." It is held during the children's 8th grade year of religious education. 3

Judaism:

Girls reach the status of Bat Mitzvah on their 12th birthday. Boys achieve Bar Mitzvah on their 13th birthday. They are then recognized as adults and are personally responsible to follow the Jewish commandments and laws. Males are allowed to lead a religious service. They are counted in a "minyan" -- a quota of men necessary to perform certain parts of religious services. Following their Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah they can sign contracts and testify in religious courts. In theory, they can marry, although the Talmud recommends 18 to 24 as the optimum age range for marriage.

Kenya:

Female Circumcision (a.k.a. female genital mutilation, female genital cutting, and FGM) is widely practiced in the Northern and Western parts of Africa. It is an invasive and painful surgical procedure that is usually performed without anesthetic on girls before puberty. Their clitoris is partially or completely removed. This inhibits or terminates sexual feelings. FGM has been a social custom in parts of Africa for many centuries. Many people incorrectly link FGM with the religion of Islam. Actually, it is a social custom that is practiced by Animists, Christians, and Muslims in those countries where FGM is common. There are many Muslim countries in which the mutilation is unknown. It is currently performed as a rite-of-passage in most of the districts of Kenya. A nongovernmental agency, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (MYWO) has been encouraging the public to abandon FGM. They have introduced an "alternative rite" (AR) in which girls are taken to a secluded location and given family life education, including information on human sexuality. This is followed by a public graduation ceremony in which they are recognized as having become adults. 13

Unitarian Universalist

This is a unusual religion. It is composed of seekers. The purpose of the minister is not to tell the congregation what to believe and how to behave. Her or his main task is to help the membership in their own quest for truth. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Haverhill, MA has a coming of age program which is offered to the ninth grade students in their religious education courses. Each student is teamed with a mentor who is an adult volunteer from the congregation. Students learn about world religions including a detailed study of their own religion. They discuss their personal beliefs with their family, their mentor and fellow students. They are expected to spend at least five hours working on a service project. Finally, each student writes their own statement of beliefs as they currently exist. The program ends with their participation "...in a Sunday service that will honor their Coming of Age."

Secular-based observances:

Australia, New Zealand and many other countries:

A party called "The Twenty First" is often held to celebrate a youth having come of age. It is held on their 21st birthday.

Japan:

Since 1948, people who will have their 20th birthday during a given year celebrate the Coming of Age day on the second Monday in January. It is a national holiday. The male Samurai warriors once had a similar celebration called Genpuku, which was observed between the ages of about 12 to 18. 1

Korea:

The Confucian coming-of-age ceremony is called Gwallye and is held for both boys and girls aged 15 to 20. 2

References used:

1. "Coming of Age," Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, at: http://en.wikipedia.org
2. "Coming -of-Age Ceremony," National Folk Museum of Korea, at: http://www.nfm.go.kr
3. "Interfaith Families Project Coming of Age Program," Interfaith Families Project of the Greater Washington DC Area, at: http://members.tripod.com.
4. Thorskegga Thorn, "Coming of age ceremony (Thorshof)," Milgard's Web, at: http://www.thorshof.org
5. "Coming of Age: Confirmation," Derived from the book by John Trigilio & Kenneth Brighenti, "Catholicism for Dummies," For Dummies, (2003). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store.
6. Laura Bryannan, "Woman Ritual," Chapter 21 from "Dancing in the Shadows," unpublished.
7. The Ethical Society of St. Louis has a web site at: http://www.ethicalstl.org/. The American Ethical Union (AEU) has a web site at: http://www.aeu.org. The International Humanist and Ethical Union has a web site at: http://www.iheu.org .
8. "Coming of Age in the Ethical Society Sunday School," The Ethical Society of St. Louis, at: http://www.ethicalstl.org
9. LadyHakwe (S. Michelle Koon), "Girl's/Young Woman's Coming of Age," ChristianWitches Yahoo! group, 2004-JUN-3, at: http://groups.yahoo.com/
10. "Growing up modern - Coming of age," Rites of Passage Institute, at: http://www.ritesofpassage.org
11. "Coming of Age," Unitarian Universalist Church of Haverhill, MA, at: http://www.uuhaverhill.org/
12. Paul L Allen, "Coming of age: Apache twins Fayreen and Farren Holden are welcomed into adulthood in a four-day tribal ceremony," Tucson Citizen, 2001-JUL-26, at: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com
13. "Kenya Female Genital Cutting: Community sensitization must precede alternate coming-of-age rite," Population Council, 2002-MAY, at: http://www.popcouncil.org.
14. Victoria Nneka Agu, "The 'Rite of Passage' Celebration or 'Coming of Age' in Igbo land," (2002), at: http://www.chiamaka.com/

New Year in many traditions

Yesterday was the day of the Chinese Lunar New Year! I thought it would be interesting to see when other traditions celebrate their New Year, too. Nearly every major religion celebrates a new year, but the diversity in the timing of the new year is amazing!

(New Years Fireworks over Hong Kong...not sure what year.)

African (Ethiopian) – http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/4181

September 11. "It's said that this day has been celebrated every year since the Queen of Sheba returned home after visiting King Solomon in Jerusalem. Tribal chiefs welcomed her back by replenishing her treasury with jewels. And so the New Year's Day festivities began."

Anglo-Saxon – http://englishheathenism.homestead.com/heathencalendar.html

The eve of December 24 (which, back then, would have been the night before the December 25th Winter Solstice).

Baha'I New Year – Naw Ruz – on the Vernal Equinox which was also the traditional Persian and Ancient Roman New Year.

British/Celtic Ancient – Samhain, October 31st.

Buddhist – http://www.buddhanet.net/festival.htm

"In Theravadin countries, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Lao, the new year is celebrated for three days from the first full moon day in April. In Mahayana countries the new year starts on the first full moon day in January. However, the Buddhist New Year depends on the country of origin or ethnic background of the people. As for example, Chinese, Koreans and Vietnamese celebrate late January or early February according to the lunar calendar, whilst the Tibetans usually celebrate about one month later."

Christian – January 1st

Daoist – Chinese New Year – Solar New Year: usually around Feb 4th, when the sun reaches 315 degrees longitude. Lunar New Year: on the day of the second new moon after winter solstice

Egyptian Ancient – http://www.touregypt.net/magazine/mag03012001/magf1.htm

"The first new moon following the reappearance of Sirius after it disappeared under the horizon for 70 days was established as the first day of the New Year ( Egypt: wepet senet) and of the achet (flood) period--even if the Nile had not yet started to rise." (Usually this occurred around the Summer Solstice)

Hindu – http://hinduism.about.com/od/festivalsholidays/a/hindunewyear.htm

"The Hindus of Nepal begin their new year Nava Varsha in the third week of March, and the people of Kashmir start the Kashmiri Lunar year - Navreh - in the second week of March. The southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh begin their new year - Ugadi - in late March or early April. The Maharashtrians celebrate their new year Gudi Padwa, during the same time."

Inca – http://www.crystalinks.com/incan.html

"…at Cuzco, the capital city of the Inca, there was an official calendar of the sidereal-lunar type, based on the sidereal month of 27 1/3 days. It consisted of 328 nights (12X271/3) and began on June 8/9, coinciding with the heliacal rising (the rising just after sunset) of the Pleiades; it ended on the first Full Moon after the June solstice (the winter solstice for the Southern Hemisphere)."

Jainist – http://www.celebratetoday.com/newyears.html

October 29 Jain New Year – Celebrated on the day after Diwali, this is the new year's day for the Jain religion (year 2065 in 2008). It is the day of the attainment of Moksha by Mahavir Swami and the day when his chief disciple Gautam Swami attained Kevalgnan.

Jewish – http://www.celebratetoday.com/newyears.html

September 30, 2008 Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) "begins on the first day of the Jewish month of Tishri (Tishrei), is also called the Day of Judgment and Remembrance. It begins the Ten Days of Penitance. Originally, it was the day of the creation of man and woman. In Mishnaic times, it was the new year for years, for release, and for vegetable tithes. Rosh Hashanah 2008 begins the year 5767 in the Jewish calendar."

Mithraic – Winter Solstice.

Muslim – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_New_Year

"The Islamic New Year is a cultural event which some Muslims partake on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar. Many Muslims use the day to remember the significance of this month, and the Hijra, or emigration, Prophet Muhammad made to the city now known as Medina. Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Muharram migrates throughout the seasons."

Roman Ancient – the Romans originally celebrated New Year on the Vernal Equinox, but it was later moved to January 1, the day the Senate began its session.

Shinto – http://www.religioustolerance.org/shinto.htm

January 1 – 3: Shogatsu (or Oshogatsu)

Sikh – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaisakhi

Vaisakhi is one of the most significant holidays in Sikh calendar, commemorating the establishment of the Khalsa in 1699; which marks the Sikh New Year.

Sumerian – http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/religion/akitu.htm

"The New Year´s Festival could be held in the autumn as well as in the spring. We translate Sumerian zagmuk, which means "beginning of the year", and the Akkadian akitu, which has uncertain meaning, but basically means New Year´s Festival because these feasts are essentially what the modern term indicates - festive celebrations of a new beginning in the annual cycle. However, in the Near East, Nature offers two starting points within the solar year, the one at the end of winter and the other at the end of the even more deadly summer. In Mesopotamia, the rains were important; in Babylon, the Akitu festival was celebrated in Spring, at the first New Moon after the Spring Equinox, in the month of Nisan, whereas in Ur and Uruk the festival took place in the fall as well as in the Spring, in the months of Tishri (or Teshris in the poem above) and Nisan."

Zoroastrian – http://www.persia.org/Culture/nowruz.html

"No Ruz, new day or New Year as the Iranians call it, is a celebration of spring Equinox. . . . . The ancient Zoroastrians would also celebrate the first five days of No Ruz, but it was the sixth day that was the most important of all. This day was called the Great No Ruz (No Ruze bozorg) and is assumed to be the birthday of Zoroaster himself."

Personification of the Earth

The Story of She Who Watches, a Wishram legend.

She said, "I'm Sagalala, She Who Watches. I like to watch over my people to see that they have enough food. I like to watch over my people to see that they have enough fire wood. I like to watch my people to see that they have good shelter. I like to watch my people to see that they live in peace."


























This particular article was a bit of a challenge. There are plenty of Earth Gods and Goddesses, but personifications for Earth are a little harder to come by. However, I did manage to find quite a few after a morning's search.

It is interesting to note that all of the traditions who have personified the Earth have polytheistic or animistic leanings. Their reverence for the Earth leads them to respect and care for it.


Anglo-Saxon
http://www.englishheathenism.homestead.com/introduction.html
The Angles are said to be a tribe that were protected by forests and rivers, and a tribe that along with six others took part in the worship of an Earth Mother goddess called Nerthus.


British/Celtic
http://www.peacexpeace.org/learn/motherearth.asp
Cailleach is the Celtic earth goddess who ruled the imaginations of ancient Ireland's and Scotland's Druids. Her name came to mean "Old Wife," but literally means "The Veiled One," referring to her mysterious and transformative power.

http://www.newtara.org/newtara_glossary.asp
Ériu: 'Noble/High One'. A daughter of the Dagda, this goddess is Sovereignty, and a personification of Ireland itself. It is from her name that Éire, 'Ireland' is derived.


Daoist (Chinese Folk Religion)
http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/nj3/Goddess.html
Hu Tu-" Empress Earth" in Chinese mythology, this Goddess embodies and personifies the earth and in the spring and its fertility. She teaches us how to live abundantly while maintaining a reciprocity with nature. She also teaches us how to see and incorporate nature's lessons.


Egyptian
[One of the few who considered the land male and the sky female] …Geb, god of the earth, and his wife and sister, Nut, goddess of the sky. Geb and Nut, in turn, were the parents of Isis, Osiris, Nephthys, and Set.


















Greek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Nature
Demeter, goddess of the harvest, whose name originally meant 'earth mother,'
In this Greek myth [Demeter and Persephone], Demeter, the earth mother, has the power to deny humankind fruits of the harvest. A mother so powerful and so vengeful is an ambivalent figure in myth and history. The metaphor of mother nature continues to permeate the imagination of painters and writers, whose perceptions shape their audiences' images of, and beliefs about, mother, nature and women in general.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia
Gaia or Gaea derives from the Greek words Ge (γη) = Earth (Pelasgian), and *aia = grandmother (PIE).
























Hindu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_goddess
In the Hindu context, the worship of the Mother entity can be traced back to early Vedic culture, and perhaps even before. The Rigveda calls the divine female power Mahimata (R.V. 1.164.33), a term which literally means Mother Earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prithvi
Prithvi is the Hindu earth and mother goddess. According to one tradition, she is the personification of the Earth, and to another its Mother, being prithivi tattwa, the essence of the element earth.


Lithuanian
http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-176089/Earth-mother
In both Latvian and Lithuanian religions the earth is personified and called Earth Mother (Latvian Zemes mate, Lithuanian Zemyna).


Native American
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Nature
Algonquin legend says that "[b]eneath the clouds [lives] the Earth-Mother from whom is derived the Water of Life, who at her bosom feeds plants, animals and men" (Larousse 428). She is known as Nakomis, the Grandmother.

http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/native_american-mythology.php?deity=CHEHOOIT
Chehooit - started life as a barren formless planet, but it wasn't long before a huge helpful frog, along with certain other Godly Animals, tunneled and burrowed within her and gave rise to hills and valleys, fields and rivers.


Roman
http://inanna.virtualave.net/roman.html
Terra Mater/Tellus, ancient Roman earth goddess. Probably of great antiquity, she was concerned with the productivity of the earth and was later identified with the mother-goddess Cybele. Her temple on the Esquiline Hill dated from about 268 BC. Though she had no special priest, she was honoured in the Fordicidia and Sementivae festivals, both of which centred on fertility and good crops.


Scandinavian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jord
In Norse mythology, Jörð (or Jarð in Old East Norse; Earth, sometimes Anglicized Jord or Jorth) is a goddess and the personification of the Earth. She is identified with Fjörgyn and Hlôdyn (Bellinger 1997:235).

Jörð is the everyday word for earth in Old Norse and so are its descendants in the modern Scandinavian languages (Icelandic: jörð, Faroese: jørð, Danish/Swedish/Norwegian: jord). It's a cognate to English earth. [The J is often pronounced as a long-e sound, equivalent to a Y; as such, "jard" is the equivalent of "yard" as in the earth/plot of land/yard around your house; backyard, front yard, etc.]


Shinto
http://www.unification.net/ws/theme033.htm
All you under the heaven! Regard heaven as your father, earth as your mother, and all things as your brothers and sisters. Oracle of the Kami of Atsuta


Slavic Myth and Religion
http://www.winterscapes.com/slavic.htm
Mokosh is an earth goddess. She rules over fertility and midwifery. She is commonly called Mati-Syra-Zemlya, or "Moist Mother Earth." … Mokosh is dark, like good, black soil. She is portrayed with uplifted hands, flanked by two horsemen. … One prayer to Mokosh involves going to the fields at dawn in August with jars filled with hemp oil. Turn East and say: "Moist Mother Earth, subdue every evil and unclean being so that he may not cast a spell on us nor do us any harm." Turn West and say: "Moist Mother Earth, engulf the unclean power in your boiling pits, in your burning fires." Turn South and say: "Moist Mother Earth, calm the winds coming from the south and all bad weather. Calm the moving sands and whirlwinds." Turn North and say: "Moist Mother Earth, calm the north winds and the clouds, subdue the snowstorms and the cold." Oil is poured out after each invocation, and finally, the jar is thrown to the ground.


Sumerian
http://www.geocities.com/spenta_mainyu_2/sumer2.htm
… goddess Ki was the personification of earth.

http://timeemits.com/HoH_Articles/Sumerian_6_Sign_Zodiac_and_Mayan_Calendar_360.htm
Babylonians replaced the earth-mother Sumerian “Ki” with “Ea.”

Mandala

Mandala: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandala

In practice, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the universe from the human perspective.

Anglo-Saxon & Ancient Scandinavian

The characters of the Anglo-Saxon alphabet (called Runes) were often carved into geometric designs. These were occasionally created to represent the universe, but most often was used in creating magic spells or designs of protection. Similar designs are called Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Signs which once were painted onto barns and houses for good luck and protection

Buddhist and Hindu

http://www.answers.com/topic/mandala

In Tantric Hinduism and Buddhism (see Vajrayana), a diagram representing the universe, used in sacred rites and as an instrument of meditation. The mandala serves as a collection point for universal forces. By mentally "entering" the mandala and moving toward its centre, one is guided through the cosmic processes of disintegration and reintegration. Mandalas may be painted on paper or cloth, drawn on the ground, or fashioned of bronze or stone. Two types of mandalas represent different aspects of the universe: the garbha-dhatu ("womb world"), in which the movement is from one to the many, and the vajra-dhatu ("diamond world"), from the many into one.

Christian

http://dragon_azure.tripod.com/UoA/Med-Arch-Rose-Window.html

What is the meaning behind a rose window? Many contemporary authors wax on about Jungian psychology and the rose window as a mandala, which represents the "expression of human aspiration towards wholeness and coherence." Mandalas have existed in Eastern religion and philosophy for centuries, and in modern thinking, the medieval rose window serves much the same purpose. The rose window operates on many levels: spiritual, meditative, and emotional. Abbot Suger's observations underscore how deep an emotional and spiritual chord is struck by the play of light that passes through the glass. The instructional aspect of rose windows is plainly visible by the subjects chosen for display in each petal--the medieval calendar year, the virtues and vices, the saints, etc.

In much the same way the center of Eastern mandalas depict the "godhead" or divine aspect of the world, so do rose windows. Typically Christ or the Virgin and Christ are found in the central rosette of most windows. In eastern philosophy, there are many paths to reach the divine, and these are represented by "gates" at the cardinal points of the mandala. By the same token, saints depicted in the petals of a rose window can be seen as intermediaries (or paths) to Christ.

Daoist

I suppose the taiji symbol (yin/yang) could be considered a Daoist mandala since on one level it represents heaven (yang) and earth (yin). However, the He Tu (or Ho Tu) diagram might serve as a mandala as well. The five white center dots that form a circle represent heaven, the ten black center dots that form a square represent earth, and the sets of black and white dots around the outside represent the five energy phases that create all things that exist between heaven and earth.

Greek Ancient

http://www.crystalinks.com/labyrinths.html

A labyrinth is an ancient symbol that relates to wholeness. It combines the imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path. It represents a journey to our own center and back again out into the world. Labyrinths have long been used as meditation and prayer tools. A labyrinth is an archetype with which we can have a direct experience.

A labyrinth contains non-verbal, implicate geometric and numerological prompts that create a multi-dimensional holographic field. These unseen patterns are referred to as sacred geometry. They allegedly reveal the presence of a cosmic order as they interface the world of material form and the subtler realms of higher consciousness.

Hindu

See Buddhist above.

Jewish

http://www.aloha.net/~morty/jewish.htm#USE%20OF%20THE%20SHIVITI

"Shiviti" comes from the sentence, "I have set (shiviti) the Lord before me always." Looking at a Shiviti is Name-gazing; it is akin to ikon-gazing: concentrating on the symbol of the Deity with a focused gaze, until the distance between inside and outside becomes obliterated, and what was on the outside (the shiviti) becomes internalized. Looking at the Shiviti we view the world from God's vantage point. Chesed, God's right hand, as it were, is on our right, not opposite our left hand, as it would be if we were facing God. This is connected to God's words to Moses, "You shall see my back, but my face is not to be seen." So one walks, as it were, into the YHVH, facing in the same direction, becoming one with it.

The Name is written in such a way, top to bottom, rather than right to left, to create a hierarchy and also a figure: Yud is the head; the upper Heh, the arms and shoulders; Vav, the heart, spine and genitals; and the lower Heh, the legs, and pelvis. These are the four levels: The top of the Yud is Keter and the rest of it is Chochmah, the two Heh's are Binah and Malkhut. The Vav contains the sephirot Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod and Yesod.

In prayer, one sits in front of the Shiviti, and stares at it to ascend to God's Presence, and then to descend. The four letters represent the parts of the prayer service: In the morning prayer, one looks at the lower Heh during the Birkhat HaShachar, the pening blessings which address the world of Assiyah, the world of our bodies, our environment; getting ready in Assiyah requires doing an inventory of the body: What tensions are my muscles holding on to, what messages is my body telling me that I have been too busy to pay attention to? To place oneself in the presence of God is to let the body out from any compulsion that it is under.

Muslim

http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=547

Some fundamentals that were brought about by the Holy Qur'an similarly gave rise to the form of the mosque. Of these fundamentals, the most important one is "Arsh", namely "the Throne."

The literal meaning of the Throne is: altitude, high place, ceiling, cover, the tent and it is used in the Qur'an and in the Hadiths (the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) as "Divine Sovereignty, Dignity and the Throne" (Devellioglu 1970: Ars.; Golpinarli 1977: Ars, 1989:101; Akay 1991: Ars; DIA: Ars; IA: Kursu).

Alone with the concept of the Throne, it is necessary to mention the iconographical concept of "mandala" which is used in various ways in Turkish architecture and which I suppose to have a close relationship with the Throne.

The shape of the cosmogram called mandala in architecture and handcrafts, consists of a circle and a square, one within the other. While the circle represents God, cosmos, mystical life, eternity, the world of eternity and esoterical concepts; the square represents the world, material life, worldly life and all exoterical concepts. This was commonly used in Central Asia in the pre-Islamic life of Turks as well as in India and Far East. However, we are not concerned here with the origin and the development of the mandala but only with its parallelism with the concept of the Throne.

The full meanings that the square and the circle of the mandala include, both separately and together, is in accordance with the philosophy of Islam. The plan with four iwans and a central courtyard has been interpreted as an image of the cosmos. This plan has a very long past; it has been identified with the diagram of mandala and has been extensively applied in architecture for centuries (Ogel 1986: 59-84; 1994: 63-115). The concept of mandala which takes place in pre-Islamic Turkic beliefs and traditions, has been united and integrated with the concept of the Throne, which has played a significant role in the formation of religious architecture after Islam.

Native American

Sandpainting

http://www.penfieldgallery.com/sand.shtml

The Navajo word for sandpaintings means "place where the gods come and go." The sandpainting has been used for centuries in religious rituals, including healing ceremonies performed by Navajo medicine men. A sandpainting for a ceremony is made on the ground in the ceremonial hogan and destroyed at the end of the ritual. In order to preserve this long-standing tradition, in the late 1940's Navajos began to create permanent sandpaintings, changing the design slightly to protect the religious significance when these paintings were shown publicly. Pictorial sandpaintings which reflect the Navajo environment and lifestyle are also made. Today sandpaintings are made by slowly trickling sand through the hand onto epoxy-covered particle boards, using sand made from naturally colored crushed rock, stone, and minerals for the different shades and colors. The sandpainting is intended to be hung within a frame or by attaching picture hangers to the back of the board. [These sandpaintings are often of a mandala-type design in which the shapes and colors in each quadrant are mirror-images of the others. ~M~]

Medicine Wheel

http://www.sacredart.com/medicinewheel.html

The Medicine Wheel is a symbol of all creation, of all races of human beings, birds, fish, animals, trees, and stones. It's in the shape of a wheel. The circle shape represents the earth, the sun, the moon, the cycles of life, the seasons, and day to night. Movement around the outside of the Medicine Wheel is in a clockwise direction, the rotation path of mother earth. At the center of the wheel (the hub) is the Creator, who sits in perfect balance. Outside the center, there is an inner circle representing the Old Woman (the earth), Father Sun, Grandmother Moon, and the four elements. Four distinct colors, set in the four directions, lay on the perimeter, separated by beads representing the moon's cycles. Leather, laid from the perimeter, in straight lines, to the center (the spokes of the wheel) represent spiritual paths leading us to the center, to perfect balance, to the Creator. The meaning of the number four, as it is in Native American life, is evident in the Medicine Wheel. 4 = four directions + four seasons + four elements (earth, air, water and fire) + the four races of human being.

Scandinavian Ancient

See Anglo-Saxon above.

Shinto

http://www.kimbellart.org/database/index.cfm?detail=yes&ID=AP%201982.02

(Visit link to see picture.)

This simple composition of figures placed against a dark ground is an outstanding example of medieval Japanese Shinto mandala. The top part of the scroll contains small figures of a thunder god, a Buddhist priest, a deer, and a pagoda; the bottom register contains two lion dogs facing each other; and the center section contains four figures. The large central figure of a non-Japanese male dressed in secular costume is identified as an Indian, Vimalakirti, called Yuima in Japanese. Below him, a male in court robes is flanked by a secondary nobleman and a Buddhist priest. Vimalakirti was a layman who is said to have lived in north central India during the lifetime of the historical Buddha in the sixth century B.C. As a devotee of Buddhism, Vimalakirti reached the height of spiritual understanding, but he remained a layman and never became a monk.

The combination of Buddhist and Shinto figures in the same scene is an established convention for a Shinto mandala. When the native Shinto faith reached an accommodation with Buddhism, a foreign religion, the two faiths united Buddhas with native gods in a syncretic whole; indigenous Japanese gods were identified with Buddhist counterparts. In this painting, the figure dressed in court robes below Vimalakirti is thought to be his Shinto counterpart.

Wiccan

http://www.llewellyn.com/bookstore/article.php?id=793

Take, for example, the pentacle, the encircled five-pointed star. This is a neopagan mandala that expresses the wisdom of the elements and their relationship to one another. In this way, the pentacle is not only a magical tool, but a teacher.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are some mandalas for you: World Mandalas book

Book Description

Beautiful and enlightening, these classical mandalas include rose window designs from the cathedrals of Europe, Navajo sand paintings, Hindu yantras, traditional Buddhist thangka scroll designs, and motifs from illuminated Celtic manuscripts.

Heaven in many cultures

Halloween Postcard published by Woodruff House in Ohio, 1901. Courtesy Wikimedia

African

http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Afterlife_-_Life_After_Death/id/46800

Asamando

This is the afterlife of the Ashanti people of Africa. They say it is just like an Ashanti village on earth, only better. No drought, famine or the like. Though the dead still have to farm and tend animals.

City In The Sky: A common belief among a number of African tribes is that the dead go to a great city in the sky, it is like regular village life only in reverse. People rise as the sun sets, and sleep during the day, men to women's work and women do men's work etc. The City is connected to earth by rainbows.

Anglo-Saxon

http://www.homestead.com/englishheathenism/ansaxcos.html

If we examine surviving Anglo-Saxon literary evidence we can speculate and piece together a possible Anglo-Saxon cosmology, which although can not be confirmed historically as a genuine ancient Anglo-Saxon view, can be viewed as a genuine attempt to reconstruct, in modern Heathen terms, an outlook on life and the universe which is true to the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants.

But if the Anglo-Saxons did have a belief in seven worlds, what could these worlds be? Again we can look to Anglo-Saxon evidence to find possible answers.

The first two possible worlds are Heaven and Hell, these two words are found in many ancient Germanic languages. In Old English we have Heofen and Hel, in old Norse we find Himinn and Hel, plus other variants such as Halja (Gothic) and Helle (old Frisian). And as Brian Branston points out, common tradition shows that Heaven was always up, and hell was always down. And as we already know, one of the worlds of which the Norse peoples believed in was Hel, and like our English Hell, this was a place of the dead.

Baha'i

http://info.bahai.org/article-1-4-5-2.html

In the final analysis, heaven can be seen partly as a state of nearness to God; hell is a state of remoteness from God. Each state follows as a natural consequence of individual efforts, or the lack thereof, to develop spiritually. The key to spiritual progress is to follow the path outlined by the Manifestations of God.

Beyond this, the exact nature of the afterlife remains a mystery. "The nature of the soul after death can never be described," Bahá'u'lláh writes.

British/Celtic Ancient

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mag_Mell

In Irish mythology, Mag Mell ("plain of joy") was a mythical realm achievable through death and/or glory (see also Tír na nÓg and Ablach). Unlike the underworld in some mythologies, Mag Mell was a pleasurable paradise, identified as either an island far to the west of Ireland or a kingdom beneath the ocean. In its island guise it was visited by various Irish heroes and monks forming the basis of the Adventure Myth or "echtrae" as defined by Myles Dillon in his book Early Irish Literature. This otherworld is a place where sickness and death do not exist. It is a place of eternal youth and beauty. Here, music, strength, life and all pleasurable pursuits come together in a single place. Here happiness lasts forever, no one wants for food or drink. It is the Celtic equivalent of the Greek Elysium or the Valhalla of the Norse.

Buddhist

http://buddhistfaith.tripod.com/beliefs/id11.html

Many non-Buddhists think that the Pure Land is akin to Heaven or Paradise where one receives their wings and halo or where young virgins await the faithful. Ultimate reality in Buddhism has nothing to do with these fanciful notions. The Pure Land, which is called Sukhavati in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, means Land of Utmost Bliss; in most countries, it is most commonly referred to as the Pure Land. The prefix sukha means the highest bliss and is the opposite from the Sanskrit world dukkha, which means suffering or unsatisfactoriness. Dukkha is well explained in our Buddha’s teaching of the First Noble Truth.

In Shin Buddhism, the Pure Land is the realm of supreme enlightenment and the ultimate dimension. In addition, it is synonymous with Nirvana which is defined as the formless realm of peace, devoid of ignorance, hatred and greed, beyond any conventional understanding. As for the location of the transcendent Pure Land, it is described as being everywhere, in everything, in everyone yet it can not be found in any specific place.

Christian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven

Historically, Christianity has taught "Heaven" as a generalized concept, a place of eternal life, in that it is a shared plane to be attained by all the pious and elect (rather than an abstract experience related to individual concepts of the ideal). The Christian Church has been divided over how people gain this eternal life. From the 16th to the late 19th century, Christendom was divided between the Roman Catholic view, the Orthodox view, the Coptic view, the Jacobite view, the Abyssinian view and Protestant views.

Egyptian Ancient

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaru

In Egyptian mythology, the fields of Aaru (alternatives: Yaaru, Iaru, Aalu), are the heavenly underworld where Osiris ruled.

Only souls which weighed the same as Ma'at (symbolically represented as a feather) were allowed to start a long and perilous journey to Aaru to exist in pleasure for all eternity.

Aaru was usually placed in the east, where the sun rises, and is described as eternal reed fields, very much like those of the earthly Nile delta: an ideal hunting and fishing ground, and hence those deceased who after judgement were allowed to reside there were often called the [eternally] living, those excluded for the weight of their sins said to suffer a second death. More precisely Aaru was envisaged as a series of islands, covered in Fields of rushes (Sekhet Aaru), Aaru being the Egyptian word for rushes. The part where Osiris himself dwelt was sometimes known as the field of offerings, Sekhet Hetepet in Egyptian.

Greek Ancient

http://www.religionfacts.com/greco-roman/beliefs.htm

Elysium

Elysium (also called Elysian Fields or Elysian Plain) was a paradise inhabited at first only by the very distinguished, but later by the good. Elysium first appears in Homer's Odyssey as the destination of Menelaus. It is located at the western ends of the earth and is characterized by gentle breezes and an easy life like that of the gods. Closely related to Elysium is Hesiod's Isles of the Blessed, mentioned in his Works and Days, which was located in the western ocean.

Hindu

http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa051401a.htm

The early Hindus never believed in heaven, and never prayed to attain a permanent place there. The earliest concept of afterlife, say Vedic scholars, was that the dead reunite with Mother Nature and live in some other form on this earth — just as Wordsworth wrote, "with rocks and stones and trees." Going back to the early Vedic hymns, we find an eloquent invocation to the fire god, where the prayer is to assimilate the dead with the natural world:

"Burn him not, scorch him not, O Agni,
Consume him not entirely; afflict him not…
May your eye go to the Sun,
To the wind your soul…
Or go to the waters if it suits thee there,
Or abide with thy members in the plants..."
~ The Rig Veda

The concept of heaven and hell evolved at a later stage when we find such amendments in the Veda as "Go thou to the heaven or to the earth, according to thy merit…"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svarga

In Hinduism, Svarga (or Swarga) is set of heavenly worlds located on and above Mt. Meru. It is a Heaven where the righteous live in paradise before their next reincarnation. Svarga is seen as a transitory place for righteous souls who have performed good deeds in their lives but are not yet ready to attain moksha, or union with God which requires punya (virtuous deeds) as well as abstinence from pāpa (sin). The capital is Amaravati and the entrance is guarded by Airavata. Svarga is presided over by Indra, a chief deva.

In Slavic religion Svarga is Heaven, the residence of god Svarog.

Inca

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior:Ancient_Civilizations/Incas

The central god of the Incan religion was the sun-god, the only god that had temples built for him. The sun-god was the father of the royal family. There were many gods among the Incas, but the sun-god outshone them all. The Incas also believed that there was a heaven, a hell, and a resurrection of the body after death. Yes they did!!

Jainist

http://www.religionfacts.com/jainism/beliefs.htm

There are seven levels of heaven in Jain cosmology. The top level, "the Realm of the Jinas" is reserved for liberated souls. The next level down is the realm of the gods.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1818/overview.htm

The Jain heaven consists of a safe quite happy place, no ageing, no pain, no disease or death.

Jewish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven

While the concept of heaven (malkuth hashamaim מלכות השמים—The Kingdom of Heaven) is well-defined within the Christian and Islamic religions, the Jewish concept of the afterlife, sometimes known as "olam haba", the world to come, seems to have been disputed between various early sects such as the Sadducees, and thus never set forth in a systematic or official fashion as was done in Christianity and Islam.^{[citation needed]} Jewish writings refer to a "new earth" as the abode of mankind following the resurrection of the dead. Judaism does, however, have a belief in Heaven, not as a future abode for "good souls", but as the "place" where God "resides".

Muslim

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven

Islam is similar to that found in Judaism and Christianity. The Qur'an contains many references to an afterlife in Eden for those who do good deeds. Heaven itself is commonly described in the Qu'ran in verse 35 of Surah Al-Ra’d: "The parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised! Beneath it flow rivers. Perpetual is the fruits thereof and the shade therein. Such is the End of the Righteous; and the end of the unbelievers is the Fire, wherein a person dwells forever." Since Islam rejects the concept of original sin, Muslims believe that all human beings are born pure and will naturally turn to God, but it is their environment and lack of will power which influences them to choose ungodly ways of life. In Islam, therefore, a child who dies automatically goes to heaven, regardless of the religion of his or her parents. The highest level of heaven is Firdaws (فردوس)- Pardis (پردیس), which is where the prophets, the martyrs and the most truthful and pious people will dwell.^[12]

Native American

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhappyhunting.html

It's possible that [James Fenimore] Cooper's happy hunting grounds is a real Indianism, but the fact that it first appears in a fictional work inspires some doubt. Cooper's use of other Indianisms and supposed Indianisms in The Last of the Mohicans and other installments of The Leatherstocking Tales doesn't offer much clue one way or the other. He indiscriminately uses both genuine Indianisms like Great Spirit and terms like paleface that are probably spurious.

Regardless of the authenticity of the term, was Chingachgook accurately portraying how real Indians thought of the afterlife when he called it the "happy hunting-grounds"? Whether Mahican or Mohegan, Cooper's fictional Indian would have been part of the Algonquian culture, to which most tribes in what is now the northeastern U.S. belonged. The Algonquians believed in an afterlife, but their ideas about it were not well defined. In general, they believed every person (and animal) had two souls. The body soul or shadow was associated with the heart and provided the person with his memory and intelligence in life. It remained with the body after death forever, usually resting quietly. On the other hand, the free soul or "real" soul was associated with the brain and in life provided the person with his sensations and experiences. The Algonquians believed that the free soul wandered during sleep or while in trance and that after death it made the long journey to the afterlife.

The land of the dead, away to the south or west and sometimes called the "Big Sand," was universally believed to be a pleasant place, but the souls there carried no memories of their previous existence. The Algonquians did not concern themselves too much with what it was like. Some believed the souls there didn't need to eat, others believed they ate rotten wood (which doesn't strike me as very conducive to happiness). And, yes, some believed the souls ate meat, which they got from hunting the spirits of animals that also went there after death.

So at least some Algonquians believed in what might accurately be called the "happy hunting grounds." But I find no evidence that the Algonquians, or any other Indians, actually called it that before Cooper put it in his book. It's as if I, a godless heathen, were to call the Christian heaven the "happy harping grounds." It's not totally out of tune with the general idea of what heaven is supposed to be like, but there's no evidence any real Christian ever called it that.

Scandinavian Ancient

http://www.ancient-mythology.com/norse/valhalla.php

Valhalla (also Valhall, Walhalla, Valhöll, meaning "Hall of the Slain")

Valhalla is the great hall of the Einherjar - the heroic dead. Warriors who died in glorious battle were chosen by Odin to wait in Valhalla until Ragnarok.

The large strucure, built by Odin himself in Asgard, had over five hundred doors, each large enough for eight hundred warriors to march out of at the time of Ragnarok so that they could fight the futile battle with the gods.

Valhalla was the heaven of the Vikings - a large hall where wounds healed quickly and meat was readily available. A constant routine of fighting and feasting ensured that the warriors were at their physical peak when Ragnarok came.

[Note that Valhalla was the destination of only the slain warriors. Everyone else who died, went to the realm of Hel, the name of both the goddess who ruled there and the Norse underworld, a mild and twilight place where everyone lived in peace. ~M~]

Zoroastrian

http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Afterlife_-_Life_After_Death/id/46800

Chinvato Peretav

According to Zoroastrianism after a person dies the soul stays with the body for 3 days. On the forth day angles of protection accompany it to the north to Chinvato Peretav, or as it is also called Al-sirat, or the Bridge of the Separator.

The bridge in question is as thin as a hair and as sharp as a razor and spans a chasm filled with monsters. At the foot to the bridge the angels and some demons debated the worth of the dead soul. You can guess the rest.

Thunder: The Voice of God

What could be more appropriate than a photo of lightening on the planet Jupiter, the Original Father God himself?
The little bright spots are the Jovian Lightening.
Photo courtesy NASA

Anglo-Saxon and Norse, Greek and Roman http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/frazer/james/golden/chapter15.html

“Thor presides in the air; he it is who rules thunder and lightning, wind and rains, fine weather and crops.” In these respects, therefore, the Teutonic thunder god again resembled his southern counterparts Zeus and Jupiter.

Christian http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2018&version=31

Psalm 18:13-14

13 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them.

Daoist/Chinese Folk Religion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology

Pangu, appearing in literature no earlier than about 200 AD, was the first sentient being and creator. At the end of eighteen thousand years, Pangu laid to rest. His breath became the wind; his voice the thunder; left eye the sun and right eye the moon; his body became the mountains and extremes of the world; his blood formed rivers; his muscles the fertile lands; his facial hair the stars and milky way; his fur the bushes and forests; his bones the valuable minerals; his bone marrows sacred diamonds; his sweat fell as rain; and the little creatures on his body (in some versions, the fleas), carried by the wind, became human beings all over the world.

Egyptian http://www.aelives.com/gods.htm

Baal, god of the sky and storms. The war cry of Ramesses III is like Baal in the sky, i.e. Baal's voice (the thunder) which makes the mountains shake.

Greek http://www.jonathantweet.com/religiongod.html

High above the clouds sits a bearded man on a throne, draped in flowing raiment. But this is no man. This is the supreme god, with a voice like lightning and thunder, whose unguarded visage to so terrible that it would strike a mortal dead.

Hindu http://www.khandro.net/nature_thunder.htm

Indian mythology tells us that at the beginning of the cycle of the universes, there once was only one Being whose name is Prajapati. So when we hear the roll of the thunder booming "Da, Da, Da" we can think it is the voice of the Creator repeating his instructions to all the various kinds of beings.

Jewish http://www.jhom.com/topics/voice/sinai.htm

In the second verse, a horn, or shofar is sounded, "a celestial flourish heralding the arrival of the king."[2] The verse recalls the book of Zechariah, in which God Himself poetically "sounds the ram's horn" and advances in a stormy tempest as He manifests His presence.[3] Here God similarly answers "b'kol" — in the same sound of the shofar and in thunder. The blare [kol] of the shofar grew louder and louder." As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder [b'kol]" (Exodus 19:20).

In these verses in Exodus, the loud blast of the shofar, the blasts of the thunder, and God's voice — tied together by the word kol — merge into one potent emotional experience.

[2] Nahum M. Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, on Exodus 19:19.

[3] Zechariah 9:14: "And the Lord will manifest Himself to them, And His arrows shall flash like lightning; My Lord God shall sound the ram�s horn And advance in a stormy tempest."

Native American http://books.google.com/books?id=nTgS42X9scwC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=religions+god's+voice+thunder&source=web&ots=sjzP8kwhGK&sig=OZmjCR3quydXizF7Rnc-NaXfLY8#PPA50,M1

The supreme being is at times manifest in the flash of lightening and in thunder, the latter being his voice; this belief exists among some Yuki Indians in California.

Oceania Aboriginal http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mamaragan.html

In Aboriginal belief, Mamaragan is the man of lightning who rides on a thundercloud and who throws bolts of lightning to men and trees. Thunder is his voice.

Summer Solstice

(Stonehenge Summer Solstice Sunrise)

SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATIONS: ANCIENT AND MODERN

From the pages of Religious Tolerance.org unless otherwise noted.

The Summer Solstice is also known as: Alban Heflin, Alben Heruin, All-couples day, Feast of Epona, Feast of St. John the Baptist, Feill-Sheathain, Gathering Day, Johannistag, Litha, Midsummer, Sonnwend, Thing-Tide, Vestalia, etc.

Overview

People around the world have observed spiritual and religious seasonal days of celebration during the month of June. Most have been religious holy days which are linked in some way to the summer solstice. On this day, typically JUN-21, the daytime hours are at a maximum in the Northern hemisphere, and night time is at a minimum. It is officially the first day of summer. It is also referred to as Midsummer because it is roughly the middle of the growing season throughout much of Europe.

"Solstice" is derived from two Latin words: "sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to cause to stand still. This is because, as the summer solstice approaches, the noonday sun rises higher and higher in the sky on each successive day. On the day of the solstice, it rises an imperceptible amount, compared to the day before. In this sense, it "stands still."

(In the southern hemisphere, the summer solstice is celebrated in December, also when the night time is at a minimum and the daytime is at a maximum. We will assume that the reader lives in the Northern hemisphere for the rest of this essay.)

How people view solstice celebrations:

People view other religions in various ways, and thus treat the celebrations of other faiths differently:

For some people, religious diversity is a positive factor. They enjoy the variety of June celebrations, because it is evidence of wide range of beliefs within our common humanity. They respect both their own religious traditions and those of other faiths for their ability to inspire people to lead more ethical lives.

Others reject the importance of all celebrations other than the holy day(s) recognized by their own religion. Some even reject their religion's traditional holy days if they are convinced that they have Pagan origins. This is a common occurrence with Easter and Christmas.

Some view other religions as being inspired, controlled, or even led by Satan. Thus the solstice celebrations of other religions are rejected because they are viewed as Satanic in origin.

Significance of the summer solstice:

In pre-historic times, summer was a joyous time of the year for those Aboriginal people who lived in the northern latitudes. The snow had disappeared; the ground had thawed out; warm temperatures had returned; flowers were blooming; leaves had returned to the deciduous trees. Some herbs could be harvested, for medicinal and other uses. Food was easier to find. The crops had already been planted and would be harvested in the months to come. Although many months of warm/hot weather remained before the fall, they noticed that the days were beginning to shorten, so that the return of the cold season was inevitable.

The first (or only) full moon in June is called the Honey Moon. Tradition holds that this is the best time to harvest honey from the hives.

This time of year, between the planting and harvesting of the crops, was the traditional month for weddings. This is because many ancient peoples believed that the "grand [sexual] union" of the Goddess and God occurred in early May at Beltaine. Since it was unlucky to compete with the deities, many couples delayed their weddings until June. June remains a favorite month for marriage today. In some traditions, "newly wed couples were fed dishes and beverages that featured honey for the first month of their married life to encourage love and fertility. The surviving vestige of this tradition lives on in the name given to the holiday immediately after the ceremony: The Honeymoon."

Midsummer celebrations in ancient and modern times:

Most societies in the northern hemisphere, ancient and modern, have celebrated a festival on or close to Midsummer:

[British/Celtic]

Ancient Celts: Druids, the priestly/professional/diplomatic corps in Celtic countries, celebrated Alban Heruin ("Light of the Shore"). It was midway between the spring Equinox (Alban Eiler; "Light of the Earth") and the fall Equinox (Alban Elfed; "Light of the Water"). "This midsummer festival celebrates the apex of Light, sometimes symbolized in the crowning of the Oak King, God of the waxing year. At his crowning, the Oak King falls to his darker aspect, the Holly King, God of the waning year..." 13 The days following Alban Heruin form the waning part of the year because the days become shorter.

[Other areas of Europe]

Ancient Gaul: The Midsummer celebration was called Feast of Epona, named after a mare goddess who personified fertility, sovereignty and agriculture. She was portrayed as a woman riding a mare.

Ancient Germanic [Anglo-Saxon], Slav and Celtic tribes in Europe: Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires. "It was the night of fire festivals and of love magic, of love oracles and divination. It had to do with lovers and predictions, when pairs of lovers would jump through the luck-bringing flames..." It was believed that the crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump. Through the fire's power, "...maidens would find out about their future husband, and spirits and demons were banished." Another function of bonfires was to generate sympathetic magic: giving a boost to the sun's energy so that it would remain potent throughout the rest of the growing season and guarantee a plentiful harvest.

Prehistoric Europe: Many remains of ancient stone structures can be found throughout Europe. Some date back many millennia BCE. Many appear to have religious/astronomical purposes; others are burial tombs. These structures were built before writing was developed. One can only speculate on the significance of the summer solstice to the builders. Perhaps the most famous of these structures is Stonehenge, a megalith monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. It was built in three stages, between circa 3000 and 1500 BCE. "The circular bank and ditch, double circle of 'bluestones' (spotted dolerite), and circle of sarsen stones (some with white lintels), are concentric, and the main axis is aligned on the midsummer sunrise--an orientation that was probably for ritual rather than scientific purposes. Four "station stones" within the monument form a rectangle whose shorter side also points in the direction of the midsummer sunrise.

[Christian]

Christian countries: After the conversion of Europe to Christianity, the feast day of St. John the Baptist was set as JUN-24. It "is one of the oldest feasts, if not the oldest feast, introduced into both the Greek and Latin liturgies to honour a saint." Curiously, the feast is held on the alleged date of his birth. Other Christian saints' days are observed on the anniversary of their death. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains that St. John was "filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb...[thus his] birth...should be signalized as a day of triumph." His feast day is offset a few days after the summer solstice, just as Christmas is fixed a few days after the winter solstice. "Just as John was the forerunner to Jesus, midsummer forecasts the eventual arrival of" the winter solstice circa DEC-21.

[Daoist]

Ancient China: Their summer solstice ceremony celebrated the earth, the feminine, and the yin forces. [Daoists still do!] It complemented the winter solstice which celebrated the heavens, masculinity and yang forces.

[Egyptian]

The first day of Akhet which, in 3000 BCE, was at the time of the Summer Solstice, heralded the yearly flooding of the Nile and meant the first day of the agricultural year, the growing season.

There is another astronomical event which takes places at that time; the heliacal rising of Sirius, the star we call the Dog Star, one of the most important astronomical bodies to the ancient Egyptians. (A heliacal rising is the appearance of a star above the horizon just before the sun rises.)

While we, today, call Sirius the Dog star because it is the brightest star in the constellation of Canis Major, the Ancient Egyptians called it Sothis or Sopdet/Sepdet. Sopdet, sometimes identified with Isis, was a fertility goddess associated with the star Sirius and the agricultural year. When Sirius/Sothis/Sopdet became visible in the morning sky just before the sunrise, the sighting was celebrated with a festival called "The Coming of Sopdet" because it was the time of year for the waters of the Nile to rise; she brought with her the waters that would bring fertility to the land.

[Inca]

The Inti Rayni, the Inca festival of the Sun, is celebrated on June 20 and 21. (Universal Festival Calendar)

[Jewish]

Essenes: This was a Jewish religious group active in Palestine during the 1st century CE. It was one of about 24 Jewish groups in the country -- the only one that used a solar calendar. Other Jewish groups at the time included the Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, followers of John, and followers of Yeshua (Jesus). Archaeologists have found that the largest room of the ruins at Qumran (location of the Dead Sea Scrolls) appears to be a sun temple. The room had been considered a dining room by earlier investigators, in spite of the presence of two altars at its eastern end. At the time of the summer solstice, the rays of the setting sun shine at 286 degrees along the building's longitudinal axis, and illuminate the eastern wall. The room is oriented at exactly the same angle as the Egyptian shrines dedicated to the sun. Two ancient authorities -- the historian Josephus and the philosopher Filon of Alexandria -- had written that the Essenes were sun worshipers. Until now, their opinion had been rejected by modern historians.

[Mithraic]

It is well known that Mithras was a Sun God, born at the Winter Solstice. As such, and as the sun itself does, he would have reached his peak at the Summer Solstice, and weakened from that point on, just as the Sun does, for the rest of the year. At the time the cult of Mithras was at its height in ancient Rome and the mid-East, the Summer Solstice was in the constellation of Leo, the Lion. Mithras was often depicted as a lion-headed man, a firm connection of the Sun with the Sun god at the height of their strength, the Summer Solstice. ~Michelle~

[Native American]

The Natchez tribe in the southern U.S. "worshiped the sun and believed that their ruler was descended from him. Every summer they held a first fruits ceremony." Nobody was allowed to harvest the corn until after the feast.

Males in the Hopi tribe dressed up as Kachinas - the dancing spirits of rain and fertility who were messengers between humanity and the Gods. At Midsummer, the Kachinas were believed to leave the villages to spend the next six months in the mountains, where they were believed to visit the dead underground and hold ceremonies on their behalf.

The Bighorn Medicine Wheel west of Sheridan, WY is perhaps the most famous of the 40 or more similar "wheels" on the high plains area of the Rocky Mountains. Mostly are located in Canada. At Bighorn, the center of a small cairn, that is external to the main wheel, lines up with the center of the wheel and the sun rising at the summer equinox. Another similar sighting cairn provides a sighting for three dawn-rising stars: Aldebaran, Rigel and Sirius. A third cairn lines up with fourth star: Fomalhaut. The term "medicine wheel" was coined by Europeans; it was a term used to describe anything native that white people didn't understand.

[Roman]

Ancient Rome: The festival of Vestalia lasted from JUN-7 to JUN-15. It was held in honor of the Roman Goddess of the hearth, Vesta. Married women were able to enter the shrine of Vesta during the festival. At other times of the year, only the vestal virgins were permitted inside.

[Scandinavian]

Ancient Sweden: A Midsummer tree was set up and decorated in each town. The villagers danced around it. Women and girls would customarily bathe in the local river. This was a magical ritual, intended to bring rain for the crops.

[Shinto]

The Shinto celebrate one of their two great Purification Rituals around the date of the Summer Solstice; the other Ritual is celebrated around the time of the Winter Solstice. The "Nagoshi-no-O-Harahi-Taisai (Great Mid-Year Purification Ceremony). This is one of the 2 most important days of Renewal during the yearly cycle. During this ceremony the Oharahi-no-Kotoba (the most important words of Shinto) is read facing the people rather than the inner shrine. Participants receive the Kirinusa Oharae (Oharahi Shinji). This purifies any stagnant Ki from first half of the year. Participants then receive fresh Ki/power of Nature to successfully pass through the second half of the year." (Interfaith Counsel.com)

[Wiccan]

Wicca and Neopaganism: This is a group of religions which are attempted re-constructions of ancient Pagan religions. Of these, Wicca is the most common; it is loosely based partly on ancient Celtic beliefs and practices. Wiccans recognize eight seasonal days of celebration. Four are minor sabbats and occur at the two solstices and the two equinoxes. The other are major sabbats which happen approximately halfway between an equinox and solstice. The summer solstice sabbat is often called Midsummer or Litha. Wiccans may celebrate the sabbat on the evening before, at sunrise on the morning of the solstice, or at the exact time of the astronomical event.

"Midsummer is the time when the sun reaches the peak of its power, the earth is green and holds the promise of a bountiful harvest. The Mother Goddess is viewed as heavily pregnant, and the God is at the apex of his manhood and is honored in his guise as the supreme sun."

It is a time for divination and healing rituals. Divining rods and wands are traditionally cut at this time.