The last part of the three different cultures and religions I would like to write about is Christianity. As I am catholic myself probably it is easier for me to distinguish different parts of the big church of Christians. The biggest representation of Christians in Jerusalem are Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and Catholic Church.
Lots of pilgrims come to this town to follow the steps of Jesus on His last trip - from Olive Mountain all the way to Golgotha (called as well Calvary Hill). Eventhough almost all Via Dolorosa is situated in the Muslim Quarter you can see many groups of pilgrims of Christians from many countries carrying the big cross, singing and praying on the traditional 14 stations of the Cross. All the way of Via Dolorosa in the muslims shops you can see many items which are dedicated to the christian customers.
In Christian Quarter you can see many monks and priests who came here with their little groups from the local churches around the world.
Via Dolorosa ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian Quarter
Immediately inside the entrance to the church is the Stone of Unction, which commemorates the preparation of Jesus' body for burial. This limestone slab dates from 1808, when the prior 12th-century slab was destroyed. Ownership of this site has varied over the centuries, but it now belongs to the four main sects: the opulent lamps that hang over the stone slab are contributed by Armenians, Copts, Greeks and Latins.
You can see many people meditating and praying by the stone
Many pilgrims - especially Russian Orthodox come with big bags full of icons, candels, crosses, bottles of water and each of these items is carefully placed on the stone for blessing. I´ve seen even mothers putting on the stone their little babies.
For me the most beautiful and fascinating is the Greek part of the Church with the atmosphere created by lamps and of course with Greek priests who look really devoted to their mission.
Very impressive are as well the ancient crosses carved along the stairs to the Chapel of St. Helen
by centuries of pilgrims. Normally people don´t even notice them. Just when we started to take photos some pilgrims stoped and were taking photos too.
It´s a shame that in this holy place it is very difficult to feel the spiritual atmosphere. There is so many people turists as well as pilgrims that whole place feels like museum rather then a church. The only way for me to really feel like I should feel in this place was to come there in the evening. As Jerusalem starts to empty it´s streets about 6pm - there is not so many people who go to the Old City after all the shops are closed. Beeing almost alone in the church for us was really special.
Another interesting culture I observed in Israel is Arab culture.
Although only about 20% of the population of the country are Muslims, in Jerusalem you don't see that it is only minority. Muslim quarter is loud, colourful and lively.
Life of many Palestinian concentrates in their quarter of Old City - here they have their shops targeting mostly turists, here they create market every day which is mostly for local people and consist of veg and fruits put straight on the street.
Life starts early in the morning. Young boys delivering bread from bakeries, carry the trays on their heads or in plastic bags.
Shops are so inviting with the fresh fruits, hot bread and juice squeezed from oranges and pomergranates.
The men LOVE to trade and price haggling is their speciality. In the morning most of the are in front of their shops reading magazines and enjoying the sun.
Later on - if it's not so busy they enjoy the games of blackgammon - you can see AND HEAR the excitements over the game :)
Mosques
Through the colourful streets of the Muslim Quarter we arrive to one of the most important places for Islam. Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa are two of the most important mosques.
Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to Al-Aqsa during the Night Journey.Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the seventeenth month after the emigration, when God directed him to turn towards the Ka'aba.
The mosques are open for turists only twice a day 7.30am - 10.00am and 12.00pm - 1.30pm. Of course you cannot go inside.
The rest of the time the place is devoted strictly to Muslims, who goes there with whole families spending time praying and enjoying the beautiful buildings.
Conflict
One of the biggest problem between the Jews and Muslims is the place where now exist the mosques.
The Western Wall for Jews is the point where everything began. It is the first stone of the earth. The wall is remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's courtyard and is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism outside of the Temple Mount itself. For Jews Jesus was not the Prophet. They believe that when the real Prophet will come they will build the Temple back. Some of the Jewish Orthodox say even that they should build back the Temple now, before the Prophet comes. The problem is that the mosques are just behind the Western Wall. It is not possible to build back the Temple without destroying the mosques...
Another conflict is about the big part of the country refered to as Palestinian Territory. The Palestinian National Authority regard East Jerusalem as part of the West Bank, and consequently a part of the Palestinian territories, while Israel regards it as part of Israel as a result of its annexation in 1980. The Jews divided the country putting a big wall and no Palestinians can go to another side without security checks similar to those at the airport.
While we were walking next to the wall in Bethlehem - on the Palestinian side we´ve seen lots of graffiti and writting comparing it to the Berlin Wall. You can feel that people hate it... Such a shame that this country must be so divided.
Cementery
Walking around we discovered muslim cementery. It is situated behind the wall of the city, close to the mosques. The view from ot is just fantastic! You can see the Mount Olive with its churches, jewish cementery and olive trees. I found it strange that jewish and muslim cementeries are just oposite each other, on the other hills. Miguel explained to me that Jews believe that when the Prophet comes all the Jews will raise from their graves and go with him to the Western Wall. On the other side Muslims believe that they should be as close as possible to their mosques, even after death.
Going through the old cementery was one of the best experiences from the trip. While we were walking amongst old graves with muslim insignia, suddenly in several places started the evening call for praying. It was surreal - the song of praying, the old stones with arabic scribts, the light - everything about this moment will stay in my memory forever.
Just two days ago we came back from Jerusalem. My fiance has been talking for a long time about the magic of this place. He has been there 4 years ago and really wanted to show me Israel.
We were traveling at night and arrived at the Tel Aviv airport early morning. Sherut took us to Polish House which is located in Mea Shearim - part of city inhabited by the Jews Orthodox. Polish House was created in Jerusalem 80 years ago by Sisters of Elisabeth and existed in this part of the city even before the Jewish people moved there. Now the sisters have some problems because of the neighbourhood, as the people living there don´t look favourably at anyone who doesn´t belong to them.
Before I say anything else I need to clear something - I am not an antisemite. All the opinions in here are based purely on the observations. In fact I don´t like any of the extremists - in any religions - especialy those who hate anyone, who is not with them.
To go to the Jewish part of the Old City and the famous Western Wall you need to pass through the muslim quarter. Going through the Damascus Gate I felt like entering another world. Narrow streets full of colorful pashminas, spices, sweets and any kind of souvenirs you can think of accompanied by the melody of "welcome to my shop" sang by every owner reminded me of Marrakesh. And then I observed 2 young Jews quickly walking by. Suddenly both of them muttered some words to the young Palestinian next to them. I suppose it was some rude words because the other guy looked suprised, repeated them and shaked his head.
I was observing many times how the Jewish people go through this quarter. They make very long steps, almost running - it looks like they dream about go by as quickly as they can.
You can feel the tension between different cultures and religions, although according to Miguel it is much calmer and peaceful then 4 years ago. Anyway on every corner you can see the jewish army guarding the peace of the country. The M16s in their hands are a good reason for staying out of trouble.
Western Wall
To be honest I thought it´s a long wall, but the place is not so big. Divided to two sections - bigger for men and small one for women it´s a mirror of the jewish society. The man section is very loud - men praying, singing "shalom aleichem", some of them even dancing.
Women side is silent. Filled with girls completely focused on the prayers. Each one separate in their own world. Lots of them crying quietly with Torah in their hands.
You can see the difference in the status of the women and men in any occasion. Women are usually very young - I´ve seen girls which looked like 15 years old already with 1 or 2 children. This society of Israel in general it is extremely important to have children - as many as possible. Seeing families with 12 children is something very usual there. Women don´t really mean much, they are meant to take care of the children. I´ve seen a family going through a crowd near Damascus Gate - the crowd was so thick it was very difficult for me to walk. People were pushing each other. The girl - about 17years old struggling with 3 years old child and double pushchair. Her husband (close to 40 years old) was walking in front of her - not even looking if she manages....
Another thing which shocked me is how many little children are on their own. 4 years old Jewish boys standing in the middle of the busy street scared to cross is another usual view. You can see as well older children taking care of little ones.
The Jewish Ortodox society is very grey. All of them wear clothes in black, white and grey mostly. Very seldom you can see any other colours. Men are wearing hats. I was trying to find an explanation of their meaning. It´s not easy to find why they wear different kind of hats.
The best explanation I found on the following page: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090902145019AAn6ZFA
Shabbat
Shabbat starts at 5pm on Friday and remains till sunset on Saturday. For this period everything in the Jewish part of the city is closed. Restaurants close the kitchen about 3.30pm on Friday to make sure that everything is closed till 5pm. Buses, taxis, shops - everything suddenly stops. One of the great experience was going out in our extreme neighbourhood on Saturday evening.The place looked abandoned. Lots of rubbish covering the empty streets. Only several dark dressed figures walking by quickly. We passed several buildings with colourful wilndows spreading light. In each of them we could hear voices of children and seperately men singing their prayers.
It is definitely very extreme society. Dark clothing, serious faces, devoted to praying. Fear of God seams to be the main foccus of their existence. It has been very interesting to observe their everyday life. Of course most of the Jewish society is not Orthodox. In a New City you can find restaurants and shops which look like taken from Europe. Appart from the extremists people are friendly and try to help if you have any questions.
Have you ever wanted to spread your wings and fly?
I think everyone has this dream at some point. Humanity always looked up in the sky and envied the birds. Idols and gods were often pictured with wings and angels were never seen without them.
"The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their grueling travels across trackless lands in prehistoric times, looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space, at full speed, above all obstacles, on the infinite highway of the air". ~Wilbur Wright
I love the way that Mark Twain described the reason for this dream
"The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn't it be? - it is the same the angels breathe." ~Mark Twain, "Roughing It"
There is hundreds of songs, books, paintings and any other artistic creations mirroring the dream of flying.
When we finaly made it possible we started to make an art from the flying itself. Every year in almost every country there are the competitions and spectacles made by skillful pilots.
The best I´ve seen has its place every year in Estbourne, UK. This normally very quiet town for one weekend is turn to very colourful, noisy place full of people who stand with the heads turn up to the sky...
And it´s not suprising, because what you see there is simply amazing
Beautiful Eastbourne Pier is a great background for the acrobations in the sky.
The best of all - Red Arrows...
One of the Blades simulating plane crash
And last but not least - fantastic show of the girls who walk on the planes. Most of them are students who just love flying and spend their spare time rehearsing for the next show.
The next Airbourne is planned for 11-14 August 2011. I wish I could see it again...
And...
tomorrow I will be flying as well - going to Israel. Not in such a pretty and exciting way, but still... :)
and to finish all this with a smile I found a quote which has its point too hehe
"If God had really intended men to fly,
he'd make it easier to get to the airport." ~George Winters
so let´s keep dreaming about the beauty of dancing in the sky and try to go to the airport on time too! :)
Hello everyone! I hope you are having fantastic begining of the week :) Today I want to tell you about one of my trips in UK.
Back in 2008 (I can´t believe it´s already so long ago) one of my friends wrote me an email saying he is coming to UK and if I wouldn´t mind to go around with him to show him some beautiful places. OF COURSE I was delighted! :)
We went to DORSET and I was amazed by its breathtaking coastline, charming villages and unspoilt countryside.
First stop - Shaftesbury with it´s Gold Hill - steep cobbled street featured on the cover of countless books about Dorset and rural England.
It was perhaps most famously used as the street in the popular Ridley Scott directed Hovis bread advertisement from 1973.
It still look almost the same :) When you walk down the hill it´s like you are back in those wonderful times when people were simple and polite and everything was more real.
Next we went to Poole, where we spent countless amount of time taking photos of the boats in the fast approaching sunset.
We were so busy that we didn´t notice the darkness around. Sudenly it was completely dark and we didn´t even have a place to stay... As it was February lots of b&bs were closed so at some point I had a vision of sleeping in the car, but luckily we found a place at the end.
Morning greeted us with a fantastic foggy sunrise - there was lots of people enjoying a walk on the quay.
After enjoyable walk around and great fresh coffee we went to see probably the most famous place in Dorset - Durdle Door. It was absolutely fantastic to be with such a strong nature. I was imagining how the arch has been created by the slow process of erosion.
