The Holy Days Celebrations, Observances, and Information Religious, Spiritual, and Cultural Occasions Office of InterFaith HOLY DAYS, EVENTS, WITH NO FIXED DATE Pastoral and Spiritual Care Miwok Acorn Festival This is an annual two-day event of the Miwok (which Senior Chaplain means "people") Indians, held at the Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park Rev. Kathleen Ennis-Durstine near Sacramento, Calif. The park was a gath- 202-476-3321/ room 4201 ering place for Indians for thousands of years until Europeans settled there in 1848 at the Staff Chaplains time of the Gold Rush. This is an ancient har- Staff/Spanish Language Chaplain vest festival, largely religious, with ceremonial Margarita Roque rites and traditional dances. It celebrates the 202-476-2626/ room 4115 acorn, just as Indians in the east have harvest festivals for the turkey, and in the south and Rev. Eliezer Oliveira southwest for corn. Acorns were a staple of 202-476-5050/ room 4115 the California Indians' diet, and were ground to Speaks: Portuguese/Spanish make soup and meal for bread. http:// www.sierrafoothillmagazine.com/natives.html Rev. Sonna Schambach, PBCC http://mewuk.com/cultural/history.htm Staff Chaplain, Children’s National and Photo: wildcarebayarea.org HSC Pediatric Center HOLY DAYS, EVENTS, WITH FIXED DATE 202-476-6736/room 4115 September 1 First Parkash The Guru Granth Sahib is the anthology of Catholic Chaplain prayers and hymns that constitute Sikh scriptures, and they contain actual Fr. Christopher Oranyeli words and verses uttered by the Sikh Gurus themselves. It is a storehouse of 202-476-2966 / room 4115 spiritual knowledge and teachings that stress meditation in the name of God Catholic Mass: Thursday at 12:00 pm in order to become a ‘person of truth’. (Main Chapel, room 3201, 3rd floor) This day commemorates the first parkash Saturday at 4:00 pm (‘opening ceremony’) of the Guru Granth Sa- (Main Chapel, room 3201, 3rd floor) hib at the newly built Golden Temple in Am- ritsar, India, in 1604. Friday: Jummah Prayer at 1:15 pm (R-114, floor 3.5 Main Hospital) The picture to the left is of a man writing a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib. Photo: thelangarhall.com Note the Information Boards and Brochure Racks for other information Page 2 September 1 Beginning of the Ecclesiastical Year Orthodox Christian Although the first of September is considered the start of the Church year, according to the Orthodox Church calendar, the real liturgical center of the annual cycle of Orthodox worship is the feast of the Resurrection of Christ. All elements of Orthodox liturgical piety point to and flow from Easter, the celebration of the New Christian Passover. Even the “fixed feasts” of the Church such as Christmas and Epiphany which are celebrated according to a fixed date on the calendar take their liturgical form and inspiration from the Paschal feast. This is Saint George Orthodox Sanctuary in Canada, the oldest Greek Orthodox- Church in Canada. Orthodox church buildings have the following basic shapes, each with its own symbolism: Elongated: rectangle, rounded rectangle (oval), symbolizing the ship as a means of salvation (Noah's Ark) Cruciform (cross shaped) Star shaped Circular Photo: hdrcreme.com The cupola instead of a flat ceiling symbolizes the sky. In Russian churches, cupolas are often topped by onion-shaped domes, where crosses are mounted. These domes are called "heads" (глава) or "poppy heads" (маковица, маковка). Sometimes crosses have a crescent-like shape at the bottom so that the shape resembles an anchor, which symbolizes hope for salvation. The altar (sanctuary) is situated in the eastern part of the church, regardless of its shape. A bell tower is attached to (or built separately by) the western part of the church. The church building has many symbolic meanings; perhaps the oldest and most prominent is the concept that the Church is the Ark of Salvation (as in Noah's Ark) in which the world is saved from the flood of temptations. Because of this, most Orthodox Churches are rectangular in design. Another popular shape, especially for churches with large choirs is cruciform or cross-shaped. Architectural patterns may vary in shape and complexity, with chapels sometimes added around the main church, or triple altars (Liturgy may only be performed once a day on any particular altar), but in general, the symbolic layout of the church remains the same. The Church building is divided into three main parts: the narthex (vestibule), the nave (the temple proper) and the sanctuary (also called the altar or holy place). A major difference of traditional Orthodox churches from Western churches is the absence of any pews in the nave. In some ethnic traditions of Orthodoxy, it was deemed disrespectful to sit during sermons. However in some churches in the West and particularly in the diaspora churches in the USA, pews and kneelers were introduced, under the influence of other Christian denominations. Photo: en.wikipedia.org September 7 Birth of His Holiness Sakya Trizin The Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism was founded in 1073, when Khon Konchog Gyalpo (a.k.a. Kön Gönqog Gyäbo), a member of Tibet’s noble Khön (Koin) family, established a monastery in the region of Sakya, Tibet, which became the headquarters of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism. Since that time, the leadership of the Sakya Order has descended within the Khön family. The current Sakya Trizin is the 41st Sakya Trizin. His legal name is "Sakya Trizin" and he is referred to as His Holiness Sakya Trizin. His religious name is Ngawang Kunga Tegchen Palbar Trinley Samphel Wangyi Gyalpo. Sakya Trizin is considered second only to the Dalai Lama in the spiritual hierarchy of Tibetan Buddhism. Sakya Trizin was born on September 7, 1945 in Tsedong, near Shigatse, Tibet. From his father, Vajradhara Ngawang Kunga Rinchen, he received important initiations and teachings in the Sakya lineage. He began intensive religious study at the age of five. In 1952, he was officially designated as the next Sakya Trizin by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. He continued intensive training from his main teacher Ngawang Lodroe Shenpen Nyingpo and many other famous Tibetan scholars, studying extensively in both the esoteric and exoteric Buddhist traditions. (continued) Page 3 In 1959, at the age of fourteen, he was formally enthroned as head of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism. In the same year, due to the political situation in Tibet, the Sakya Trizin, his family, and many lamas and monks from the Sakya Monastery relocated to India. To maintain the unbroken lineage of the Khon family, in 1974 Sakya Trizin consented to requests that he accept Tashi Lhakee, daughter of a noble family from Dege in Kham as his consort. In the same year his first son, H.E.Khondung Ratna Vajra Rinpoche, was born. In 1979, a second son, H.E.Khondung Gyana Vajra Rinpoche was born. After leaving Tibet, in 1963, the Sakya Trizin re-established the seat of the Sakya Order in Rajpur, India, building a monastery known as Sakya Centre. Since that time, he has worked tirelessly to preserve the thousand-year-old religious heritage of the Sakya Order and to transmit its teachings to succeeding generations. He founded and directly guides a number of institutions, including Sakya Monastery in Rajpur, Sakya Institute, Sakya College, Sakya Nunnery, Sakya College for Nuns, Sakya Tibetan Settlement, Sakya Hospital, dozens of other monasteries in Tibet, Nepal, and India, and numerous Dharma Centers in many countries. Sakya Trizin is a highly accomplished Buddhist master respected by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and teaches widely throughout the world. He has bestowed the extensive Lam Dre teaching cycle, which is the most important teaching of the Sakya Order over 18 times on various continents, and also transmitted major initiation cycles such as Collection of All the Tantras, and the Collection of all the Sādhanās, which contain almost all of the empowerments for the esoteric practices of the various schools of Tibetan Buddhism to hundreds of lineage holders in the next generation of Buddhist teachers. He has trained both of his sons, Khonrig Ratna Vajra Sakya and Khonrig Gyana Vajra Sakya as highly accomplished Buddhist masters, and they both travel widely, teaching Buddhism throughout the world. You can read more about Sakya Trizin here: http://www.hhthesakyatrizin.org/bio_hhst.html Photo: drogmi.org September 8 Ananta –chaturdasi , Festival of the Ten Virtues Jain Jain holidays and festivals largely revolve around important events (such as births and deaths) in the lives of the thirthankaras, or saints. There are said to be 24 thirthankaras, the last of which was Vardhmana Mahavira, the organizer of the Jain religion. Digambara Jains celebrate Anata-chaturdasi during Paryushan. It involves austerities, special worship, and often a procession to the community’s main temple. September 8 Nativity of Mary Catholic and Orthodox Christian The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated at least by the sixth century, when St. Romanos the Melodist, an Eastern Christian who composed many of the hymns used in the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox liturgies, composed a hymn for the feast. The feast spread to Rome in the seventh century, but it was several more centuries before it was celebrated throughout the West. The source for the story of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal gospel written about A.D. 150. From it, we learn the names of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna, as well as the tradition that the couple was childless until an angel appeared to Anna and told her that she would conceive. (Many of the same details appear also in the later apocryphal Gospel of the Nativity of Mary.) The traditional date of the feast, September 8, falls exactly nine months after the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.