Such a gift to find this edition for the weekend! So beautiful. I’m reading the James K A Smith as well, so cannot wait to read your deep dives - it’s extraordinary, isn’t it? I got it on Audible, but I’m going to get the hardback as I wanted to write so much down and I wasn’t even one chapter in! When you talk about time collapsing in on itself as you describe your experiences, and your dream of returning to your childhood home, and remembering your dear mother at all the ages she’s been ... – I so deeply relate to this. Just thank you – and happy Christ the King Sunday!
Thank you, Jenni. The more I read Smith’s book, the more I recognize how deeply the past is present with me now. Sometimes it catches me off-guard, like with the cake, but it’s more a reality of who I am than I am aware of most of the time. Can’t wait ti talk with you more about the book!
My husband is Muslim, so we live with a keen awareness of the moon (especially at Ramadan) as the Islamic calendar is lunar. Daily prayer times are tied to moon rise and set.
I didn’t know this about Islam. Thanks for sharing! I’d like to learn more about that tradition. How does this lunar connection inform the experience of Ramadan, do you think?
I think the Christian tradition of praying the hours was also probably tied more to the rhythms of light and dark, sun and moon, than our post-industrial culture experiences it. This has me curious!
Since Islam follows a lunar calendar with 29 or 30 day months, Ramadan is not held at the same time each year—it moves ~10 days earlier each year. All of the months in the Islamic calendar begin with the sighting of the new crescent moon. Traditionally this sighting is done with the naked eye. This can get interesting, particularly for Ramadan, when the official body in one country fails to see the sliver of moon while another does resulting in two different start days for a month. Most US mosques have started following official scientific calculations, so that at least most US Muslims are together for Ramadan…most being the operative word. And, of course, the hours of fasting are tied to dawn and sundown. Interestingly, the Muslim five prayers a day closely align with the praying of the hours.
I love knowing all of this about Ramadan, Marianna. Thank you for taking the time to share it with me. How interesting that difference mosques celebrate at different times because it requires a lunar siting to officially start. I wonder if that was true of most religious holidays in the past ... when time and calendars and such were not so official.
I’m glad you’re sticking around. This gave me so much to think about, time is precious and so limited. So important to be mindful
of how we are spending it.
Thank yo so much! I'm looking forward to a deep dive about time after the start of the new year.
Such a gift to find this edition for the weekend! So beautiful. I’m reading the James K A Smith as well, so cannot wait to read your deep dives - it’s extraordinary, isn’t it? I got it on Audible, but I’m going to get the hardback as I wanted to write so much down and I wasn’t even one chapter in! When you talk about time collapsing in on itself as you describe your experiences, and your dream of returning to your childhood home, and remembering your dear mother at all the ages she’s been ... – I so deeply relate to this. Just thank you – and happy Christ the King Sunday!
Thank you, Jenni. The more I read Smith’s book, the more I recognize how deeply the past is present with me now. Sometimes it catches me off-guard, like with the cake, but it’s more a reality of who I am than I am aware of most of the time. Can’t wait ti talk with you more about the book!
My husband is Muslim, so we live with a keen awareness of the moon (especially at Ramadan) as the Islamic calendar is lunar. Daily prayer times are tied to moon rise and set.
I didn’t know this about Islam. Thanks for sharing! I’d like to learn more about that tradition. How does this lunar connection inform the experience of Ramadan, do you think?
I think the Christian tradition of praying the hours was also probably tied more to the rhythms of light and dark, sun and moon, than our post-industrial culture experiences it. This has me curious!
Thanks so much for your comment.
Since Islam follows a lunar calendar with 29 or 30 day months, Ramadan is not held at the same time each year—it moves ~10 days earlier each year. All of the months in the Islamic calendar begin with the sighting of the new crescent moon. Traditionally this sighting is done with the naked eye. This can get interesting, particularly for Ramadan, when the official body in one country fails to see the sliver of moon while another does resulting in two different start days for a month. Most US mosques have started following official scientific calculations, so that at least most US Muslims are together for Ramadan…most being the operative word. And, of course, the hours of fasting are tied to dawn and sundown. Interestingly, the Muslim five prayers a day closely align with the praying of the hours.
I love knowing all of this about Ramadan, Marianna. Thank you for taking the time to share it with me. How interesting that difference mosques celebrate at different times because it requires a lunar siting to officially start. I wonder if that was true of most religious holidays in the past ... when time and calendars and such were not so official.