Holy Places

Throughout the world are places of special significance to different religious groups. Here's just a sampling of the world's sacred spots.

The Holy Land—a collective name for Israel, Jordan, and Egypt—is a place of pilgrimage for Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

The Ganges River in India is sacred to Hindus. They drink its water, bathe in it, and scatter the ashes of their dead in it.

Mount Fuji, in Japan, is sacred to the Buddhist and Shinto religions.

The Black Hills of South Dakota are a holy place for some Native American people, who travel there in quest of a vision, a moment of peace and oneness with the universe. Vision quests last four days and four nights.

Mount Fai Shan is China's sacred mountain. It is thought to be a center of living energy—a holy place for Taoists and Buddhists.

The Sacred Mosque in Mecca Saudi Arabia, is sacred to Muslims. Muslims around the world face in the direction of Mecca five times a day to pray.

Lourdes, France, is the home of a Roman Catholic shrine where the Virgin Mary was said to appear to St. Bernadette.

Kairouan, Tunisia, became one of Islam's holy cities when, according to legend, a spring opened up at the feet of a holy leader, revealing a golden chalice last seen in Mecca.

Read more...

A Day Lost

Spain introduced the Gregorian calendar into our country. However, until the year 1845, the Philippine calendar was one day behind that of European time. The reason for this error was that the early Spanish explorers had failed to consider the International Date Line, which runs from the North Pole to the South Pole, passing through the Pacific Ocean near the Midway Islands. When Magellan and other Spanish explorers crossed the line sailing westward to the Philippines, they lost one day. They should have advanced their calenday by one day when they reached the Philippines which they did not. It was Governor General Narciso Claveria who corrected the Philippine calendar. On August 16, 1844, he issued an order proclaiming Tuesday, December 31, 1844, to be Wednesday, January 1, 1845. In other words, he advanced the calendar by one day, so that it would be in accord with world standard time.

Read more...

Three Wars in One

The SecondWorld War was thus begun by Hitler. The first steps towards war, however, were taken not by Germany but by Japan ang Italy. But war need never occured had Britain, France and the United States not been too blind, or too self-centered, or too apathetic to act before it was too late. From the First World War flowed consequences economic, social, psyhological and political which produced Bolshevism and Facism, and later the World Economic Crisis. In this crisis Nazism took hold and the Japanese Shintoists turned again to expansion, but the crisis likewise turned the United States to extreme isolationism, and sapped the will and the morale of Britain and France. The period from 1919 to 1939 is rightl named the inter-war period.

The war was three wars in one. The first was Hitler's war against democracy, represented by Britain and the United States, with Mussolini as his by no means happy lacky. The second was Hitler's war against Bolshevism, again supported, though even mre nominally, by Mussolino. The third was Japan's war for conquest and against democracy, which in Asia wore the guise of imperialism.

Read more...

Napoleon's Exile

On July 15, 1815, ater his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon surrendered to the British and was exiled to the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, 1,200 miles off the African coast.

The actual surrender was made to Captain Maitland of the British frigate Bellerophan. Napoleon was transferred to the Northumberland and then taken to St. Helena.

This island is only 10 1/2 miles long and 6 1/2 miles wide. Napoleon had no force at this disposal, as he did on the Mediterranean island of Elba, where he was given sovereignty during his first exile.

He was to spend six years on the island before his death. He frequently quarreled with Sir Hudson Lowe, the Governor, who was very conscientious at thwarting all Napoleon's hopes of escape. He never gave up these attempts,but he also found time to write his memoirs.

He died on May 5, 1821. There were rumors that he had been poisoned, but modern historians and doctors believe it is far more likely that he had cancer of the stomach.

Read more...