(more 6word novels)

Spiritual Diversity on the Hill

by Joni Johnson and Residents

Tis the HOLIDAY SEASON, the season of giving, and here we are, locked down tight as a drum. This year, it’s less about what we will give Uncle Smitty but more about whether we will even see him.

However, it’s also the season of sharing and a time to get to know our community even better than before.  And it turns out that some of this season of giving is a giving of ourselves.  RVM has almost 1000 residents.  We tend to think of ourselves as a fairly monolithic community. But the COMPLEMENT would like to shed light on how wonderfully diverse we are.  Some of us came to our religious beliefs at birth and still follow its tenets. Others have changed the way we believe spiritually or religiously through time and experience. While RVM is primarily Judeo-Christian, we also have among our ranks a fair number of atheists and agnostics, as well as a sprinkling of Buddhists, Hindus, Sufis, Zoroastrians and others.  We are so lucky that some of our community were willing to share a little of their culture or their memories especially during this holiday season.

November, December and January are the months of many major holiday events celebrated around the world. The * indicates a religion with a celebrant here at the Manor.

While I have attached a person to a holiday for that religion, some celebrate the holiday and some are less observant.  But they all feel connected in some way to the religion or the religious experiences listed below.

Click on the people in red and you will have a chance to read their story:

*11/14- HINDU- DIWALI : Festival of lights The middle of a 5 day new years celebration. Changes each year according to Hindu lunar calendar

*1/14  –   HINDU: MAKAR SANKRANTI : Hindu Seasonal celebration marking turning of the sun toward the north.

RC Vasavada

*12/08 – BUDDHIST: BODHI DAY (Buddha’s Enlightenment) – Mahãyãna Buddhists celebrate Buddha’s attainment of understanding

*1/ 29–31    – BUDDHIST:  MAHAYANA NEW YEAR    In Mahayana countries the New Year starts on the first full moon day in January.

*2/ 12 9  – LUNAR NEW YEAR :Confucian, Daoist and Buddhist Also known as the Spring Festival, an important festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar.

Steve Harris

*12/10 – JEWISH: HANUKKAH (12/11-12/18) begins at sundown – commemorates the Jewish victory over the Syrian Greeks, ending a three-year period of religious persecution. . The Hanukkah menorah (candelabrum) has 8 candles and a shamus to light them celebrating the oil that miraculously lasted for eight days instead of one.

*1/ 27  –  JEWISH:   HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

Daphne Fautin

* 12/12 EVE TO 12/13 EVE -SUFI: CELEBRATION DAY FOR MUHYI AD-DIN IBN EL-ARABI (D. 1240),  saint who honored Deity as a unity manifested in all Nature, both genders, and countless forms.  Sufism, mystical Islamic belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God. It consists of a variety of mystical paths that are designed to ascertain the nature of humanity and of God and to facilitate the experience of the presence of divine love and wisdom in the world

Bob Hall

12/13- SANKTA LUCIA:  celebrated in Sweden, Norway, and the Swedish-speaking areas of Finland on December 13 in honour of St. Lucia (St. Lucy). One of the earliest Christian martyrs, St. Lucia was killed by the Romans in 304 CE because of her religious beliefs.

Lillian Maksymowicz

*12/25 – CHRISTIAN: CHRISTMAS – celebrates the birth of Jesus, a public holiday in many countries worldwide

Anita Sumariwalla

Jere Scott

Kathy Perkins

Joanne Hafner

*12/26 – ROMAN CATHOLIC: ST STEPHEN’S DAY – public holiday

*1/ 6- CHRISTIAN: (December 25-January 6 are the 12 days of Christmas):  EPIPHANY • 

Known as Theophany in Eastern Christianity, it celebrates the manifestation of Jesus as Christ. In addition, the Western Church associates Epiphany with the journey of the Magi to the infant Jesus, and the Eastern Church with the baptism of Jesus by John.

Gus Moutos

*1/ 7 –  Eastern Christian( GREEK AND Russian Orthodox): CHRISTMAS :  Most Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas 13 days later than other Christian churches based on their use of the Julian rather than the Gregorian version of the Western calendar.

Orisja Sarles

*(12/31-1/4)- ZOORASTRIAN: MAIDYAREM GAHAMBAR ‘mid-year’/winter feast

Russy Sumariwalla

12/20 – PAGAN AND WICCAN: Yule begins at sundown – sabbat celebrated on the winter solstice, often observed as the rebirth of the great horned hunter god and the newborn solstice sun

12/26-1/1, 2021    KWANZAA  A seven-day celebration honoring African American heritage and its continued vitality. “Kwanzaa” means “first fruits (of the harvest)” in Swahili. 

1/21 WORLD RELIGION DAY • Bahá’í Observance to proclaim the oneness of religion and the belief that world religion will unify the peoples of the earth.