Tag: Religion

Guru Purnima at the full moon

In June or July of each year, students commemorate their spiritual teachers (Gurus) with a big festival in India, but also in many parts of Asia. This festival is always celebrated at a full moon (Purnima) and takes place this year on 3rd July 2012 [*].

In Hinduism, this day is also dedicated to the wise Vyasa who is connected to vital Indian writings, like the Vedas, a significant collection of religious scripts.

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The Last Supper at the full moon

Shortly before Easter, we are taking a look at Christianity and notice that a very important event must have taken place at the full moon: the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples. From a historical point of view, the Last Supper derives from the Jewish Passover feast (Seder), which traditionally takes place on the eve of Passover. This meal is being celebrated on the 14th Nisan, which is always the first full moon after the spring equinox – the beginning of spring. This is how later, the calculation of the Easter date had been determined: »Easter takes place on the Sunday after the first full moon in spring.« [read more]

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The full moon above Stonehenge

Everyone is familiar with the silhouette of the Stonehenge rocks  in the southern English county of Wiltshire, one of the truly ancient structures of human kind that continues to fascinate because of its archaic construction and mystical presence. Maybe it reminds us people of our origin and of something we often tend to forget amid our hectic everyday world: simplicity.

At the same time, the building of Stonehenge has been everything but easy back then. The age of the grounds is estimated to be more than 5000 years. Experts assume, it took many millions of working hours to dress and transport the up to 50 tons heavy rocks by hand and to erect them in the well-known formation. In particular the lintels, on top of the upright stones, leave us in awe. [read more]

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The full moon in the Bible

The Bible is undoubtedly one of the most important books in human history – most printed, most translated and worldwide the most widespread. It is the Holy Scripture of Christianity and Judaism (in different forms) and therefore the manifestation of God’s word in two of the major world religions.

The text contains, with its archaic, poetic language, many descriptions of nature and celestial events. So, it is obvious that the Sun, the Moon and the stars are mentioned. But is the full moon also to be found? [read more]

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The lunar calendar of Islam

As a general rule, we live our secular life by a so-called solar calendar, the Gregorian calendar, which determines our calculation of time since the end of the 16th century. The biggest advantage of a solar calendar is its connection to the seasons: it is warm in summer, cold in winter, at least this is how it should be … at times however, as we all know, the weather goes crazy and sunshine is long-awaited in summer and snow stays away in winter. The seasons are connected to the (solar) calendar months. [read more]

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Buddha and the full moon

Today is full moon and for many Buddhists this is a special day, because the Vesak holiday is celebrated worldwide. According to tradition, Buddha was born on full moon in May, later became enlightened and also passed away on this day. This is how this day is honoured in countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and also in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and many more. And above all of this, the full moon shines. [read more]

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Luck on Friday 13th

Today is Friday 13th and we wanted to take a look at, whether it is considered lucky and what this has to do with the full moon. Interestingly enough, the interpretation of the number 13 has developed in various directions in different countries and cultures and you can find as many examples for bad luck, as much as the ones that promise good luck, albeit diverse interpretations exist.
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What’s full moon got to do with Easter?

Quite a lot! The date of Easter is actually determined by the full moon. Quite contrary to Christmas, the Easter date is part of the changing holidays and defined as follows: »Easter is on the Sunday after the first full moon of spring.«

At first glance, this appears to be quite easy: one look at the calendar, beginning of spring is mostly on 21st March and then simply search for the next full moon and the weekend after will be Easter. [read more]

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