The Crystal Cathedral

This week the Crystal Cathedral was sold in bankruptcy to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. The main sanctuary—designed by Philip Johnson—consists of over 10.000 panes of glass, and contains one of the worlds largest pipe organs. It is designed to withstand to an 8.0 magnitude earthquake.

Here is a video that focuses on the organ, but you can also see a good bit of the architecture it.

Diwali

From the Guardian, a set of colorful photographs to celebrate Diwali.

Diwali, festival of lights - in pictures

Ramadan

A set a photographs from The Guardian to mark the start of Ramadan.

First day of Ramadan – pictures

The St Cuthbert Gospel

A video on the British Library's purchase of the St. Cuthbert Gospel of St. John. Dating from the 7th century, it is the oldest known European book still totally intact with the original binding. I doubt that anyone will ever pay millions of dollars for a 1,000 year old ebook, in fact I doubt that any ebooks last 1,000 years.

Holi Pictures

For some color, a set of Holi photographs from The Big Picture blog.

Holi: Festival of Colors

Rev. Peter Gomes

Rev. Peter Gomes died earlier this week. A professor, minister and successful author, he is one of the characters that Anna Deavere Smith recreates in her current show Let Me Down Easy. (See previous blog post) Here is part of an interview with Gomes. You can click on the link to see the entire interview.

1640 Luthern Bible

A news story on a 1640 Lutheran Bible that was discovered in a school in Bondeul, Wisconsin.

WLUK Story: 340-Year-Old Bible Found @ Yahoo! Video

Happy Birthday KJV

This year is the 400th anniversary of the completion of the King James version of the Bible. Though many now use trendier translations of the Bible, the KJV is still one of the most important influences on the English language.

Two good books that deal with the English translation of the Bible are: God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson, and Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired by Benson Bobrick.

To mark this anniversary here is a list of 78 phrases that passed into the English language from English translations of the Bible.

78 everyday phrases that have a biblical origin

A Social Network Christmas

From Igniter Media A Social Network Christmas. Not quite as poetic as the King James, but it does cover the main points. (You might need to scroll down. I cannot get the video to move up.)

Happy St. Nicholas Day

This link is from the Smithsonian Libraries' Facebook feed, but I really like this illustration, which looks like it may be from the Wiener Werkstätte. So I have cribbed it, as well as the link to their blog post.

Happy St. Nicholas Day

Le Grand Voyage

A post to mark the end of the Hajj. From the guardian.co.uk, a set of photographs. Following that is the trailer for Le Grand Voyage, a movie I saw several years ago. In the film a young man and his father set out to drive from the south of France to Mecca for the Hajj. Over the 3,000 mile trip their relationship transforms.

The annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca

Charter for Compassion

On the one year anniversary of the establishment of the Charter for Compassion, here is Karen Armstrong's lecture that started the whole thing.

The Book of the Dead

The link below goes to a video on the British Museum's new exhibit that contains the longest know Book of the Dead. It has great images of the various spells needed to reach paradise.

A rare view of Egyptian Book of the Dead

Vatican Secret Archives

On guardian.co.uk, a collection of Vatican Secret Archives images and documents going back over 800 years. The Vatican has one of the largest collections of historic documents in the world.

In pictures: secrets of the Vatican archives

Lonely Voice in the Wilderness

Not that I want to do a series of blog post on things that I am upset about, but I have to wonder if Orrin Hatch can say this, why do Obama and the rest of the democrats have such a problem with this.

Ramadan

We are about 2/3's of the way through Ramadan, so I am doing this post despite the fact that it may cause some members of the general public to think that I am a secret Muslim. From The Big Picture on Boston.com, a set of scenes from Ramadan.

Ramadan 2010

The Saint John's Bible

In 1998, the Saint John's Abbey and University commissioned calligrapher Donald Jackson to create the first hand-written, hand-illuminated Bible since the Middle Ages. The resulting Saint John's Bible is divided into seven volumes and is two feet tall by three feet wide when open, with 160 illuminations.

I saw parts of it in an exhibition at the Walters Art Gallery last year.

A video about the Bible from the Pepperdine University.

Jackson discusses creation of the bible.

Archaeology in the News

Two recent archaeological finds. The boat from the World Trade Center site has been brought to the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory in St. Leonard, Maryland, for conservation and study. Not sure what has become of John the Baptist.

Téenek Hawk Dance

This year's Smithsonian Folklife Festival features Mexico, Asian Pacific Americans, and Smithsonian Inside Out.

The high point is the Hawk Dance performed by the Téenek of Tamaletón, Mexico. Here is the description of it from the SI web site:

The Téenek of Tamaletón in the Huasteca region of San Luis Potosí celebrate the Danza del Bixom Tíiw ceremony. This ritual involves "flying" from a pole, in honor of Dhipaak, the Lord of Corn, to ensure good crops. In a newly inaugurated cultural center, the Téenek also perform for tourists, inviting them to experience local ceremonial and foodways traditions as well as vernacular crafts and architecture.

• Florentina Manuel Martínez, Hilaria Martínez Santos, María Concepción Méndez Orta, María Juana Santos Miramontes, Palo Volantín ceremony: dancers
• Bernardino Martínez Santos, Rodrigo Martínez Zapata, Juan Reyes Méndez, Manuel Reyes Crisóstomo, Palo Volantín ceremony: flyers
• Benigno Robles Reyes, Palo Volantín ceremony: director
• Juan Miguel Santiago Reyes, Palo Volantín ceremony: musician, flyer

The rope is wrapped around the pole and as they let go the rope unwinds and spins them around.

Here are some photographs from the morning performance and preparations for the afternoon performance.

Téenek Hawk Dance

This is a video of the afternoon performance—the first YouTube video I have ever created myself.

Leonard Knight & Salvation Mountain

A video about Leonard Knight and Salvation Mountain. Knight is one of the subjects of the film God's Architects which I discussed in one of my previous posts.

Before he had the Mountain, Knight had a hot air balloon with his message on it. That balloon is now in the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.