Christingles

One of the Christmas traditions they have here in Britain is making Christingles!  The Children's Society first introduced christingles to The Church of England in 1968 and from then on it was one of the most popular traditions for families and church communities in Britain.

It is supposed to symbolise the Christian Faith.  Here is what all of the things that make up the Christingle symbolize:

The orange - represents the world

The red ribbon - symbolizes the love and blood of Christ

The dried fruits and sweets - symbols of god's creation

The lit candle - symbolizes Jesus, the light of the world

One of the fun things about Christingles is that you can supposedly eat it when you're done. =)  If you want to try to make a christingle it's actually pretty easy!  Here are directions to make the christingles:

1. Take an orange and fasten a piece of red tape or ribbon around the middle.
2. Cut a small cross in the top of the orange and lay a square of silver foil (75 mm/3" square) over it.
3. Place a wax candle on top of the foil and wedge it firmly into the orange (the foil catches the hot wax).
4. Load four tooth picks with raisins, marshmallows, or pretty much whatever you want and insert them around the base of the candle.

So now that you know how to make Christingles, maybe next Christmas you can bring an English tradition into your home. =)

Our Muslim Friends

This past week we had the good fortune of being invited by our Muslim friends to their community centre for dinner.  When we arrived at the centre there were about ten students ranging in age from sixteen to midd twenties who had come to eat dinner with us.  They were students of the Imam, or what we would call the paster, who volunteer at the centre.  They have many programs at the centre such as a nursery school, sport clubs, radio station, a youth centre where kinds can hang out, a study centre where kinds can study the quran, and they also publish a magazine.  The students were all very nice and we had a good time visiting with them.

Before dinner we were invited to come and watch one of their prayers.  It was very interesting.

Prayers

They have to go through the cycle of kneeling to the ground for prayer five time and they pray five different times each day.  They explained the reason they kneel to the ground during prayer is because it symbolizes that before god we are like dust.  During the prayer time women will usually be in the very back row praying or they will pray in a different room.  When I was there, there was only one women there and she was in the back row.

After the prayer we all went into the other room to eat.  The meal was very good!  The Imam's wife had prepared the meal and it was called chicken korma.  Here is a picture of kind of what it looked like:

I did not bring my camera to the meal because I wasn't sure if it would be rude or not so I did not take this picture.

During the meal we all had a lot of time to talk and learn about each other.  The Muslim students wanted to learn about us as much as we wanted to learn about them.  We found out that our religion and their religion are more similar then they are different.  We also found out we had a lot more in than we had differences.  I wish that more events like this were happening all over the world so that we could eliminate a lot of the negative thinking about Muslims and we could eliminate any negative thoughts they may have about Christians.  I think this dinner was a good start and I also think I will have to get the recipe for this delicious meal.

Bonfire Night

Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603.  Under her rule, English Catholics had been persecuted because Elizabeth was a protestant.  The Catholics hoped that the next in line for the throne, James I, would be more accepting of their religion because he had a Catholic mother.  Unfortunately for the Catholics, James turned out to be even less tolerant of the Catholics than Elizabeth.   This led to a group of 13 young men getting together to discus what they were going to do about it.  

They finally decided that violence was the only way.  Their plan was to get a bunch of gun powder and put in in the cellar of the Parliament and blow Parliament up.  By doing this they would kill the king, maybe the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics.  Today we would call this group of men terrorists or extremists because they chose violence as the solution to their problem.

As the group worked on the plot it became clear that innocent people would get killed in the attack including some people who even fought for more rights of Catholics.  Some of the people in the group started to have second thoughts.  One of them even sent a letter to one of his friends in Parliament telling him to stay away from Parliament on November 5th.  This letter reached the King and the King's forces made plans to stop the group from blowing up the Parliament.  Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar with the gun powder when the king's men arrived, was caught and tortured.  He was then executed along with the other members of the plot.

To celebrate the foiled gun powder plot, every 5th of November people get together and light a bonfire and set off fireworks!  The bonfire will usually have an effigy of Guy Fawkes in the middle of the fire symbolizing the burning of Guy Fawkes and the other members of the gun powder plot on the stake.

I actually got invited to one of these bonfires!  It was really fun!  Here are some pictures.

You may not be able to see this very well but if you look closely, you can see the little effigies we put in the fire.

During the bonfire we all got some sparklers and played with them.  It was the second time I have ever played with sparklers!  It scared me when it almost got to the end because I didn't know what I was supposed to do. =)

After the bonfire we went up into the bell tower at the church to watch the fireworks!  This is a picture of us on the bell tower.  We could see tons of fireworks from up there!

This is a picture of me climbing up to the top of the bell tower.  We had to crawl up a lot of ladders and under a lot of bells.

These are some of the fireworks we saw!

The fireworks went on for weeks after that!

Monster Cat

When I left the U.S. I really missed my two dogs, Ole and Lena.  Even though I still really miss them, I have a new little friend here.  When I got to England I was surprised to find out that there was a cat who sometimes would hang out around the house.  I was so excited!  The previous director called it Monster Cat because it was so big.  I didn't know what to expect.  About two weeks went past without any sign of Monster Cat.  I was starting to think she wasn't going to come.  Then one day I was looking out the window and I saw this huge cat going through the garden!  I was so excited that I ran outside to see the cat, forgetting that cats can get scared easily.  As you can guess the cat heard me, took one look and ran.  It was about a week before I saw her again.  The next time I saw her I let her come up to the house before I went outside.  She was still very timid so I just sat with her for awhile so she could get familiar with me.  After that she let me pet her.  She was the softest cat I ever felt!  She was very big and furry!  She was a well trained and gentle cat with a really soft meow like a kitten.  After awhile she was coming almost every day.  My dad says he doesn't like cats but I know that's not true now because he lets me bring the cat inside our home.  Here she is:

I would say she is at least two feet long.  She's a big cat!  I think she is a Norwegian Forest Cat.  When I'm older I think this is the kind cat I want to own. =)

Islam

Every Tuesday we get a speaker to come and talk to the college students.  A couple Tuesdays ago we had a speaker who talked about Islam because a lot of Muslims live in Nottingham.  It was very interesting so I thought I would share it with you.

One billion people from a vast range of races, nationalities and cultures across the globe - from the southern Philippines to Nigeria - are united by their common Islamic faith.  In the UK, home to 2 million Muslims, the Muslim culture has become a familiar part of everyday life in many of their great cities.  In Nottingham there is a thriving Muslim community with its mosques, schools, shops and social and welfare organizations.

A Muslim is a follower of a religion called Islam.  They believe in one unique and incomparable God; in the angels created by him; in the prophets sent by him; in the day of judgment (after death); in God's complete authority over human destiny and in life after death.  Muslims believe in a chain of prophets starting with Adam and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, John the baptist, and Jesus.  But God's final message was revealed to a prophet Muhammad through Gabriel.

For Muslims, Islam isn't just a religion, but also a way of life.  Islam teaches moral values such as justice, honesty, kindness, patients, and respect for others.  The Quran, the sacred writings of Islam, says: "act justly.  Truly God loves those who are just." (9:9)  and: "and let not the hatred of others make you avoid justice.  Be just: that is nearer to piety..." (5:8) and: "And likewise we have made you a middle nation (i.e. not extremists) in order that you are witnesses (for the good) over mankind" (2:143)

Muslims put a high value on family life, as illustrated by:  "And be good to your parents and to relations, orphans and the needy and speak highly to mankind: and establish worship and pay the poor-due." (2:83), and:  "If one or both of your parents attain old age and then do not say to them even fie!  Nor repulse them, rather say to them a noble word." (17:23)  The prophet Muhammad said in his farewell sermon, "The best among you are those wh are best to their wives."

Islam teaches that all faiths come from the same divine source - God.  Muslims therefore believe in Jesus, Moses, David, Abraham and many other Biblical prophets.  Jesus in particular has a special place in Islam.  Muslims respect Christians and Jews as 'people of the book'.  Since Islam teaches freedom of religion, every person is entitled to choose his religion.

A commonly asked question of non-Muslims is "Why do women have scarves to cover their heads?"  Other than the fact that Allah commands it, reasons include the requirements for modesty in both men and women.  Both will then be evaluated for intelligence and skill instead of looks.

Stonehenge

Who built Stonehenge?  Why did they build it?  How did they build it?  Why are the rocks in a circle?  How are they still standing?  Stonehenge is one of those sites that has been puzzling people for years.    There are many legends behind the huge circle of rocks but none of them have been proven.  Some say it was built for religious reasons.  Others say that some giants were dancing in a field one day and were turned into stone which is why the stones are in a circle.  What you believe is up to you but let's talk about what we know for sure about Stonehenge.  Stonehenge is about five thousand years old and one of the top tourist destinations in the UK.  The original structure of Stonehenge was believed to have looked like this all the way around with another smaller circle like this in the middle.

Today some of the rocks have kind of fallen down and some stones are believed to be missing but it's still in pretty good shape for how old it is.

When I went there I was really surprised at how big the stones were!  It made me wonder how on earth five thousand years ago someone could have put those stones on top of one another and why they did it.  Maybe some day scientists will come up with the answers to all my questions, but until then we will just have to keep wondering and coming up with more and more crazy legends that may very well be true.

Speakers Corner

Speakers Corner, on the northeast corner of Hyde Park by the Marble Arch, is a place where anyone, even you or me, could stand up and talk about whatever they want.  They could talk about their religion, political view, or even just stand up and sing.  There was actually a guy singing when I went there!  There were about three people standing around him.  The rest of the people were either standing around an American dressed in a southern preachers outfit or a Muslim talking about his religion.  However, don't get the idea that the people talking are invincible.  There are plenty of people around heckling the speakers.

In this picture you can see the American talking and how many people are around him either listening, video taping, or heckling him.

Nottingham has a Speakers corner too but it's obviously not as popular and only one person can be speaking at a time.  I've walked past a couple of times and seen someone talking but I've never seen anyone heckling the speaker.

The Speakers Corner in London is one of my favorite things we've done in England so far and I can't wait to go back!  It's just fun to stand and listen to all the people talking and heckling each other.  It's definitely a must do if you go to London. =)