waterworld

Epiphany in Ethiopia

2008-07-01T05:45:00.000-07:00

Timket, the feast of Epiphany is the greatest festival of the year on the 19 January, just two weeks after the Ethiopian Christmas. It is a three-day celebration. Very early in the morning of Timkat, Christ's baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist is commemorated. In Gondar, the pool of the King Fasiladas medieval Palace is filled with water, the priests throw a cross in the water. The people dive in to find it and in this way renew their faith.

Baptism in Orthodox religion

2008-07-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

In Christianity, baptism (a word derived from Greek βάπτισμα or βαπτισμός, meaning "immersing", "performing ablution") is the sacramental act of cleansing in water that admits one as a full member of the Church.

Baptism is the sacrament of starting anew, of dying to an old way of life and being born again into a new way of life. In the Orthodox Church, baptism is "for the remission of sins" and for entrance into the Church; the person being baptized is cleansed of all sins and is united to Christ; through the waters of baptism he or she is mysteriously crucified and buried with Christ, and is raised with him to newness of life, having "put on" Christ. The cleansing of sins includes the washing away of the ancestral sin.

2008-05-05T23:22:00.000-07:00

Η ιστορία των λουτρών είναι συνδεδεμένη με την ιστορία του τόπου μας.Οι αρχαίοι Έλληνες ήταν από τους πρώτους που χρησιμοποίησαν τα λουτρά, όπως επίσης αρχαίοι Έλληνες γιατροί, φυσικοί, ιστορικοί, και γεωγράφοι ήταν οι πρώτοι που ασχολήθηκαν με τις πηγές και τα μεταλλικά ύδατα.

Στα Ασκληπιεία από τον 13ον π.Χ. αιώνα χρησιμοποιούσαν τα λουτρά για θεραπευτικούς λόγους. Πρώτος παρατηρητής των ιαματικών υδάτων υπήρξε ο ιστορικός Ηρόδοτος, ο οποίος προηγήθηκε του Ιπποκράτη, περιγράφοντας μάλιστα αρκετές ιαματικές πηγές.

Η χώρα μας θεωρείται το μέρος που έχει τις περισσότερες ιαματικές πηγές από όλες τις Ευρωπαϊκές χώρες.

April in Luang Prabang, Laos

2008-05-04T14:39:00.000-07:00

April in Luang Prabang, Laos

Boun Pimai

This is to celebrate Lao New Year. The first month of the Lao New Year is actually December but festivities are delayed until April when days are longer than nights. By April it’s also hotting up, so having hoses levelled at you and buckets of water dumped on you is more pleasurable. The festival also serves to invite the rains. Pimai is one of the most important annual festivals, particularly in Luang Prabang. Statues of the Buddha (in the "calling for rain" posture) are ceremonially doused in water, which is poured along an intricately decorated trench (hang song nam pha). The small stupas of sand, decorated with streamers, in wat compounds are symbolic requests for health and happiness over the next year. It is celebrated with traditional Lao folk singing (mor lam) and the circle dance (ramwong). There is usually a 3-day holiday.

Similar festivals are celebrated in Thailand, Cambodia and Burma

Songkran - The Thai New Year

2008-05-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

Songkran - The Thai New Year

The Thai New Year (Thai: Songkran) is celebrated every year on 13 April to 15 April. The date of the festival was originally set by astrological calculation, but it is now fixed.

Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the end of the dry season. Songkran is a Thai word which means "move" or "change place" as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac. It is also known as the "Water Festival" as people believe that water will wash away bad luck.

In the afternoon, after performing a bathing rite for Buddha images and the monks, the celebrants both young and old, joyfully splash water on each other.

The most-talked about celebration takes place in the northern province of Chiang Mai where Songkran is celebrated from April 13 to 15. During this period, people from all parts of the country flock there to enjoy the water festival, to watch the Miss Songkran Contest and the beautiful parades.

Of all the feasts and festivals in Thailand, which aremany, the Songkran Festival is the most striking, forit is widely observed not only in this country but also in Burma, Cambodia and the Lao State.