Month: November 2020

St. Catherine's Day

Estonian folklorists believe that the customs associated with Kadripäev, or St. Catherine‘s Day in Estonia, may date back to pre-Christian times. The holiday is strongly associated with women and their traditional activities, such as herding. People dress up in light-colored clothing, symbolizing winter’s snow, and visit their neighbors, singing songs and offering blessings for the family’s animals. In return, householders offer them cloth, wool, or food. An old superstition connected with the day forbade such activities as shearing as a means of protecting the sheep. Discuss

Oracle Bones

Oracle bones—often the shoulder blades of oxen or turtles’ shells—were used for divination during China’s Shang dynasty, which dates to the 18th century BCE. They were inscribed with questions, then heated to produce cracks from which answers were somehow derived. A small number of them are inscribed with the answers to their questions and eventual outcomes. The inscriptions are some of the earliest examples of Chinese writing. When they were first discovered, what were they believed to be? Discuss

grinder

Definition: (noun) A large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States.

Synonyms: hoagie, Italian sandwich, poor boy, sub, Cuban sandwich, zep, torpedo, wedge, bomber, hero.

Usage: I usually have a salad for lunch, but today I am going to treat myself to a carb-laden, ham-stuffed grinder.
Discuss

Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur

Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675) was the ninth of the Sikh gurus, or spiritual teachers. In November 1675, he went to Delhi to meet with the Indian emperor Aurangzeb, who had him beheaded because he would not convert to Islam. Sikhs everywhere observe his martyrdom with religious processions and pilgrimages at gurdwaras, or houses of worship, with a special devotion to him, and especially at the site of his martyrdom in Delhi at the Gurdwara Sisganj temple.

Origen

Probably the son of a Christian martyr, Origen studied philosophy in Alexandria and became a prolific writer and famed teacher. A stern ascetic, he castrated himself out of a desire for purity. He held that even Satan was not beyond repentance and salvation, a view for which he was condemned. Although attacked as a heretic, Origen remained an influential thinker throughout late antiquity and the Middle Ages. He died around the year 250, shortly after having survived what? Discuss