1.
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
–
Copacabana is a bairro located in the South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is known for its 4 km balneario beach, which is one of the most famous in the world, the district was originally called Sacopenapã until the mid-18th century. It was renamed after the construction of a holding a replica of the Virgen de Copacabana. The name may be derived from the Aymara kota kahuana, meaning view of the lake and this god is androgynous and lives in the Titicaca, and his court consists of creatures that are represented in colonial sculptures and in Catholic churches. They were called Umantuus, known as mermaids in Western culture, Copacabana begins at Princesa Isabel Avenue and ends at Posto Seis. Beyond Copacabana, there are two beaches, one, inside Fort Copacabana and the other, right after it. Arpoador beach, where surfers go after its perfect waves, comes next, the area was one of the four Olympic Zones during the 2016 Summer Olympics. According to Riotur, the Tourism Secretariat of Rio de Janeiro, Copacabana beach, located at the Atlantic shore, stretches from Posto Dois to Posto Seis. There are historic forts at both ends of Copacabana beach, Fort Copacabana, built in 1914, is at the end by Posto Seis and Fort Duque de Caxias, built in 1779. One curiosity is that the lifeguard watchtower of Posto Seis never existed, hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and residential buildings dot the promenade facing Avenida Atlântica. Copacabana Beach plays host to millions of revellers during the annual New Years Eve celebrations, the Copacabana promenade is a pavement landscape in large scale. It was rebuilt in 1970 and has used a black and white Portuguese pavement design since its origin in the 1930s, the Copacabana promenade was designed by Roberto Burle Marx. Copacabana has the 11th highest Human Development Index in Rio, the 2000 census put the HDI of Copacabana at 0.902. According to the IBGE,160,000 people live in Copacabana and 44,000 or 27. 5% of them are 60 years old or older. Copacabana covers an area of 7.84 km² which gives the borough a population density of 20,400 people per km², residential buildings eleven to thirteen stories high built next to each other dominate the borough. Houses and two-story buildings are rare, when Rio was the capital of Brazil Copacabana was considered one of the best neighborhoods in the country. More than 40 different bus routes serve Copacabana, as do three subway Metro stations, Cantagalo, Siqueira Campos and Cardeal Arcoverde.5 km in length, barata Ribeiro Street changes its name to Raul Pompéia Street after the Sá Freire Alvim Tunnel. Twenty-four streets intersect all three major arteries, and seven other streets intersect some of the three, on 26 April 1949, RMS Magdalena broke in two as she was being towed into Rio de Janeiro harbour
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
–
Copacabana
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
–
Copacabana Beach in 1971
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
–
A view of the Copacabana beach from
Sugarloaf Mountain
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
–
The
Portuguese pavement wave pattern at Copacabana beach
2.
Brazil
–
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
Brazil
–
Megaliths in the
Solstice Archaeological Park, in
Amapá, erected between 500 and 2000 years ago, probably to carry out
astronomical observations.
Brazil
–
Flag
Brazil
–
Representation of the landing of
Pedro Álvares Cabral in
Porto Seguro, 1500.
Brazil
–
Painting showing the arrest of
Tiradentes; he was sentenced to death for his involvement in the best known
movement for independence in Colonial Brazil.
3.
Time
–
Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. Time is often referred to as the dimension, along with the three spatial dimensions. Time has long been an important subject of study in religion, philosophy, and science, nevertheless, diverse fields such as business, industry, sports, the sciences, and the performing arts all incorporate some notion of time into their respective measuring systems. Two contrasting viewpoints on time divide prominent philosophers, one view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe—a dimension independent of events, in which events occur in sequence. Isaac Newton subscribed to this realist view, and hence it is referred to as Newtonian time. This second view, in the tradition of Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant, holds that time is neither an event nor a thing, Time in physics is unambiguously operationally defined as what a clock reads. Time is one of the seven fundamental physical quantities in both the International System of Units and International System of Quantities, Time is used to define other quantities—such as velocity—so defining time in terms of such quantities would result in circularity of definition. The operational definition leaves aside the question there is something called time, apart from the counting activity just mentioned, that flows. Investigations of a single continuum called spacetime bring questions about space into questions about time, questions that have their roots in the works of early students of natural philosophy. Furthermore, it may be there is a subjective component to time. Temporal measurement has occupied scientists and technologists, and was a motivation in navigation. Periodic events and periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time, examples include the apparent motion of the sun across the sky, the phases of the moon, the swing of a pendulum, and the beat of a heart. Currently, the unit of time, the second, is defined by measuring the electronic transition frequency of caesium atoms. Time is also of significant social importance, having economic value as well as value, due to an awareness of the limited time in each day. In day-to-day life, the clock is consulted for periods less than a day whereas the calendar is consulted for periods longer than a day, increasingly, personal electronic devices display both calendars and clocks simultaneously. The number that marks the occurrence of an event as to hour or date is obtained by counting from a fiducial epoch—a central reference point. Artifacts from the Paleolithic suggest that the moon was used to time as early as 6,000 years ago. Lunar calendars were among the first to appear, either 12 or 13 lunar months, without intercalation to add days or months to some years, seasons quickly drift in a calendar based solely on twelve lunar months
Time
–
The flow of
sand in an
hourglass can be used to keep track of elapsed time. It also concretely represents the
present as being between the
past and the
future.
Time
Time
–
Horizontal
sundial in
Taganrog
Time
–
A contemporary
quartz watch
4.
Calendar era
–
A calendar era is the year numbering system used by a calendar. For example, the Gregorian calendar numbers its years in the Western Christian era, the instant, date, or year from which time is marked is called the epoch of the era. There are many different calendar eras such as Saka Era, in antiquity, regnal years were counted from the accession of a monarch. This makes the Chronology of the ancient Near East very difficult to reconstruct, based on disparate and scattered king lists, such as the Sumerian King List and the Babylonian Canon of Kings. In East Asia, reckoning by era names chosen by ruling monarchs ceased in the 20th century except for Japan, for over a thousand years, ancient Assyria used a system of eponyms to identify each year. Assyrian scribes compiled limmu lists, including a sequence of almost 250 eponyms from the early 1st millennium BC. This is an invaluable aid, because a solar eclipse was recorded as having taken place in the limmu of Bur-Sagale. Astronomers have identified this eclipse as one took place on 15 June,763 BC. Among the ancient Greek historians and scholars, a method of indicating the passage of years was based on the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games provided the various independent city-states with a recognizable system of dates. Olympiad dating was not used in everyday life and this system was in use from the 3rd century BC. The modern Olympic Games do not continue the four periods from ancient Greece, the 669th Olympiad would have begun in the summer of 1897. Another common system was the indiction cycle, documents and events began to be dated by the year of the cycle in the 4th century, and this system was used long after the tax ceased to be collected. It was used in Gaul, in Egypt, and in most parts of Greece until the Islamic conquest, thus 2001 was the ninth indiction. The beginning of the year varied, the Seleucid era was used in much of the Middle East from the 4th century BC to the 6th century AD, and continued until the 10th century AD among Oriental Christians. The era is computed from the epoch 312 BC, in August of that year Seleucus I Nicator captured Babylon, thus depending on whether the calendar year is taken as starting on 1 Tishri or on 1 Nisan the Seleucid era begins either in 311 BC or in 312 BC. An early and common practice was Roman consular dating and this involved naming both consules ordinarii who had taken up this office on January 2 of the relevant civil year. The use of consular dating ended in AD541 when the emperor Justinian I discontinued appointing consuls, the last consul nominated was Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius
Calendar era
–
Key concepts
5.
Gregorian calendar
–
The Gregorian calendar is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582, the calendar was a refinement to the Julian calendar involving a 0. 002% correction in the length of the year. The motivation for the reform was to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes and solstices—particularly the northern vernal equinox, transition to the Gregorian calendar would restore the holiday to the time of the year in which it was celebrated when introduced by the early Church. The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe, the last European country to adopt the reform was Greece, in 1923. Many countries that have used the Islamic and other religious calendars have come to adopt this calendar for civil purposes. The reform was a modification of a made by Aloysius Lilius. His proposal included reducing the number of years in four centuries from 100 to 97. Lilius also produced an original and practical scheme for adjusting the epacts of the moon when calculating the date of Easter. For example, the years 1700,1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the years 1600 and 2000 are. The canonical Easter tables were devised at the end of the third century, when the vernal equinox fell either on 20 March or 21 March depending on the years position in the leap year cycle. As the rule was that the full moon preceding Easter was not to precede the equinox, the date was fixed at 21 March for computational purposes, the Gregorian calendar reproduced these conditions by removing ten days. To unambiguously specify a date, dual dating or Old Style, dual dating gives two consecutive years for a given date, because of differences in the starting date of the year, and/or to give both the Julian and the Gregorian dates. The Gregorian calendar continued to use the calendar era, which counts years from the traditional date of the nativity. This year-numbering system, also known as Dionysian era or Common Era, is the predominant international standard today, the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar. A regular Gregorian year consists of 365 days, but as in the Julian calendar, in a leap year, in the Julian calendar a leap year occurs every 4 years, but the Gregorian calendar omits 3 leap days every 400 years. In the Julian calendar, this day was inserted by doubling 24 February. In the modern period, it has become customary to number the days from the beginning of the month, some churches, notably the Roman Catholic Church, delay February festivals after the 23rd by one day in leap years. Gregorian years are identified by consecutive year numbers, the cycles repeat completely every 146,097 days, which equals 400 years
Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
–
First page of the papal bull
Inter gravissimas
Gregorian calendar
–
Detail of the pope's tomb by
Camillo Rusconi (completed 1723); Antonio Lilio is genuflecting before the pope, presenting his printed calendar.
6.
Roman calendar
–
The Roman calendar is the calendar used by the Roman kingdom and republic. The original calendar consisted of 10 months beginning in spring with March and these months ran for 38 nundinal cycles, each forming a kind of eight day week ended by religious rituals and a public market. The winter period was used to create January and February. The legendary early kings Romulus and Numa were traditionally credited with establishing this early fixed calendar, in particular, the kalends, nones, and ides seem to have derived from the first sighting of the crescent moon, the first-quarter moon, and the full moon respectively. The system ran well short of the year, and it needed constant intercalation to keep religious festivals. For superstitious reasons, such intercalation occurred within the month of February even after it was no longer considered the last month. Having won his war with Pompey, Caesar used his position as Romes chief pontiff to enact a calendar reform in 46 BC, in order to bring the calendar back to its proper place, Augustus was obliged to suspend intercalation for a few decades. The original Roman calendar is believed to have been a lunar calendar whose months began from the first signs of a new crescent moon. Because a lunar cycle is about 29½ days long, such months would have varied between 29 and 30 days, Romes 8-day week, the nundinal cycle, was shared with the Etruscans, who used it as the schedule of royal audiences. It was presumably a feature of the calendar and was credited in Roman legend variously to Romulus and Servius Tullius. The Romans themselves described their first organized year as one with ten fixed months, such a decimal division fit general Roman practice. The four 31-day months were called full and the others hollow and its 304 days made up exactly 38 nundinal cycles. Later Roman writers credited this calendar to Romulus, their legendary first king and culture hero, although this was common with other practices and traditions whose origin had been lost to them. Rüpke also finds the coincidence of the length of the supposed Romulan year with the length of the first ten months of the Julian calendar to be suspicious, other traditions existed alongside this one, however. Plutarchs Parallel Lives recounts that Romuluss calendar had been solar but adhered to the principle that the year should last for 360 days. Months were employed secondarily and haphazardly, with some counted as 20 days, the attested calendar of the Roman Republic was quite different. It followed Greek calendars in assuming a lunar cycle of 29½ days and a year of 12½ synodic months. The additional two months of the year were January and February, the month was sometimes known as Mercedonius
Roman calendar
–
A fragment of the
Fasti Praenestini for the month of April (
Aprilis), showing the nundinal letters on the left edge
Roman calendar
–
Drawing of the fragmentary Fasti Antiates Maiores (ca. 60 BC), a Roman calendar from before the Julian reform, with the seventh and eighth months still named
Quintilis ("QVI") and
Sextilis ("SEX"), and the
intercalary month ("INTER") in the far righthand column (see
enlarged)
Roman calendar
–
Fragment of an imperial-age consular
fasti, Museo Epigrafico, Rome
7.
Julian calendar
–
The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on 1 January 45 BC, by edict, the Julian calendar gains against the mean tropical year at the rate of one day in 128 years. For the Gregorian the figure is one day in 3,030 years, the difference in the average length of the year between Julian and Gregorian is 0. 002%. The Julian calendar has a year of 365 days divided into 12 months. A leap day is added to February every four years, the Julian year is, therefore, on average 365.25 days long. It was intended to approximate the tropical year, as a result, the calendar year gains about three days every four centuries compared to observed equinox times and the seasons. This discrepancy was corrected by the Gregorian reform of 1582, consequently, the Julian calendar is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Egypt converted on 20 December 1874/1 January 1875, turkey switched on 16 February/1 March 1917. Russia changed on 1/14 February 1918, Greece made the change for civil purposes on 16 February/1 March 1923 - the national day, which was a religious holiday, was to remain on the old calendar. Most Christian denominations in the west and areas evangelised by western churches have replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian as the basis for their liturgical calendars. However, most branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church still use the Julian calendar for calculating the date of Easter, some Orthodox churches have adopted the Revised Julian calendar for the observance of fixed feasts, while other Orthodox churches retain the Julian calendar for all purposes. The Julian calendar is used by the Berbers of the Maghreb in the form of the Berber calendar. In the form of the Alexandrian calendar, it is the basis for the Ethiopian calendar, during the changeover between calendars and for some time afterwards, dual dating was used in documents and gave the date according to both systems. In contemporary as well as texts that describe events during the period of change. The ordinary year in the previous Roman calendar consisted of 12 months, in addition, a 27- or 28-day intercalary month, the Mensis Intercalaris, was sometimes inserted between February and March. The net effect was to add 22 or 23 days to the year, some say the mensis intercalaris always had 27 days and began on either the first or the second day after the Terminalia. According to the later writers Censorinus and Macrobius, the ideal intercalary cycle consisted of ordinary years of 355 days alternating with intercalary years, alternately 377 and 378 days long. In this system, the average Roman year would have had 366 1⁄4 days over four years, Macrobius describes a further refinement whereby, in one 8-year period within a 24-year cycle, there were only three intercalary years, each of 377 days
Julian calendar
–
Russian icon of the
Theophany (the baptism of
Jesus by
John the Baptist) (6 January), the highest-ranked feast which occurs on the fixed cycle of the
Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar.
Julian calendar
–
This is a visual example of the official date change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian
Julian calendar
–
Key concepts
8.
Middle Ages
–
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
Middle Ages
–
The
Cross of Mathilde, a
crux gemmata made for
Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973–1011), who is shown kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the
enamel plaque. The body of Christ is slightly later. Probably made in
Cologne or
Essen, the cross demonstrates several medieval techniques:
cast figurative sculpture,
filigree, enamelling, gem polishing and setting, and the reuse of Classical
cameos and
engraved gems.
Middle Ages
–
A late Roman statue
depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in
Venice
Middle Ages
–
Coin of
Theodoric
Middle Ages
–
Mosaic showing
Justinian with
the bishop of
Ravenna, bodyguards, and courtiers
9.
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar
–
For many the new style calendar is only used for civil purposes and the old style calendar remains used in religious contexts. In the western world, the change was a date shift from the previous Julian Calendar. Today, the Gregorian calendar is internationally the worlds most widely used civil calendar. During – and for some time after – the change between systems, it has been common to use the terms Old Style and New Style when giving dates, to indicate which calendar was used to reckon them. Although Gregorys reform was enacted in the most solemn of forms available to the Church, the bull had no authority beyond the Catholic Church, the changes that he was proposing were changes to the civil calendar, over which he had no authority. They required adoption by the authorities in each country to have legal effect. The bull became the law of the Catholic Church in 1582, but it was not recognised by Protestant churches, Orthodox churches. Consequently, the days on which Easter and related holidays were celebrated by different Christian churches again diverged, when converting a date that occurs in a leap year on one calendar but not the other, include 29 February in the calculation if the conversion spans the February/March month change. A month after having decreed the reform, the granted to one Antoni Lilio the exclusive right to publish the calendar for a period of ten years. The papal brief was revoked on 20 September 1582, because Antonio Lilio proved unable to keep up with the demand for copies. Catholic states such as France, the Italian principalities, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Thursday,4 October 1582 was followed by Friday,15 October 1582, with ten days missing. Countries that did not change until the 18th century had by then observed an additional leap year, some countries did not change until the 19th or 20th century, necessitating one or two more missing days. France adopted the new calendar with Sunday,9 December 1582, the seven Catholic Swiss cantons adopted the new calendar in January 1684 while Geneva and several Protestant cantons adopted it in January 1701 or at other dates throughout the 18th century. The two Swiss communes of Schiers and Grüsch there the last areas of Western and Central Europe to switch to the Gregorian calendar in 1812. Many Protestant countries initially objected to adopting a Catholic innovation, some Protestants feared the new calendar was part of a plot to return them to the Catholic fold, in the Czech lands, Protestants resisted the calendar imposed by the Habsburg Monarchy. They finally adopted the Gregorian calculation of Easter in 1774, the remaining provinces of the Dutch Republic adopted the Gregorian calendar on 12 July 1700,12 December 1700,12 January 1701 and 12 May 1701. Swedens relationship with the Gregorian calendar was a difficult one and this system had potential for confusion when working out the dates of Swedish events in this 40-year period. To add to the confusion, the system was administered
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar
–
Lunario Novo, Secondo la Nuova Riforma della Correttione del l'Anno Riformato da N.S. Gregorio XIII printed by Vincenzo Accolti in 1582, one of the first printed editions of the new calendar.
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar
–
Swedish
Almanach of 1753
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar
–
William Hogarth painting:
Humours of an Election (c. 1755), which is the main source for "Give us our Eleven Days".
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar
–
Partial Russian text of the decree adopting the Gregorian calendar in Russia as published in
Pravda on 25 January 1918 (Julian) or 7 February 1918 (Gregorian).
10.
Baby New Year
–
The Baby New Year is a personification of the start of the New Year commonly seen in editorial cartoons. He symbolizes the birth of the year and the passing of the prior year, in other words. Baby New Years purpose varies by myth, but he performs some sort of ceremonial duty over the course of his year such as chronicling the years events or presiding over the year as a symbol. The myth most associated with him is that he is a baby at the beginning of his year, very rarely is the Baby New Year depicted as any age other than a baby or as a very old man. Some stories, especially those with depictions of years past, will have him bear a likeness to key events in his time. At this point, he hands over his duties to the next Baby New Year, while he dies or remains in this state. The stereotypical representation of Baby New Year is as a boy wearing nothing more than a diaper, a top hat. He is sometimes depicted holding or associated with an hourglass, a noisemaker, or other item either pertaining to time or New Years Day festivities. Often, he is not a complete newborn but instead more closely resembles a toddler, because he is shown standing on his own, crawling or barely walking. In addition to being a figure, the title of Baby New Year is sometimes given to living people. The first baby born in any village or city in a year may be honored by being labeled as the official Baby New Year for that year. The official Baby New Year can be male or female, even though the mythical Baby New Year is nearly always male. Attempts to name an official Baby New Year for a country have sometimes been made. There has however been a deal of several who have come close. Numerous hospitals no longer make a Baby New Year public due to concerns that the infant will become a target for criminals, Baby New Year is featured in the TV special Rudolphs Shiny New Year. Happy ran away due to being laughed at because of his big ears which he wears under his top hat, rudolph shows Happy his nose and tells him his own story of being shunned because of his nonconformity before asking Happy to let him see his ears. After Happys ears played a part in defeating Aeon the Terrible, a parody of Baby New Year, given the name Big Fat Baby, appears in the animated series Histeria
Baby New Year
–
A 19th century Baby New Year with
Father Time
Baby New Year
–
1908 Baby New Year on the cover of
The Saturday Evening Post.
11.
John T. McCutcheon
–
John Tinney McCutcheon was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American newspaper political cartoonist who was known as the Dean of American Cartoonists. McCutcheon was born near South Raub, Tippecanoe County, Indiana to Captain John Barr McCutcheon and he was the younger brother of novelist George Barr McCutcheon, writer of the Graustark books. His son, Shaw McCutcheon was an editorial cartoonist and he attended Purdue University, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, and graduated in 1889 with a Bachelor of Science degree. At Purdue, he worked with typographer Bruce Rogers on the student newspaper, on the Purdue campus, McCutcheon is memorialized in a coeducational dormitory, John T. McCutcheon Hall. The lobby displays an original of one of his drawings, a nearly life-size drawing of a young man, McCutcheon moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he worked at the Chicago Morning News and then at the Chicago Tribune from 1903 until his retirement in 1946. In 1907, his famous cartoon, Injun Summer, was first published and it would make annual appearances in the Tribune for decades. During World War I, McCutcheon worked as a correspondent and combat artist, flying over battlefields in a bi-plane to research, from 1916 to 1979 the McCutcheon family owned Blue Lagoon Island, a cay off Nassau in the Bahamas. In 1917, McCutcheon married Evelyn Shaw, the daughter of his friend Howard Van Doren Shaw, McCutcheon introduced Carl Sandburg to the Bahamian song The John B. Sails which subsequently became a standard and he was the first President of the Chicago Zoological Society from 1921 until 1948, overseeing the construction, opening and early years of Brookfield Zoo. There was talk of renaming the zoo after him, but he refused the offer and he enjoyed traveling the world throughout his life. McCutcheon received the Pulitzer Prize for Cartoons in 1932 for his Depression-era cartoon about a victim of bank failure, McCutcheon High School in his home county Tippecanoe is named in his honor. Travel Plaza 1, Mile Post 22 at Portage, Indiana of the Indiana Toll Road is named after John T. McCutcheon, McCutcheon died in Lake Forest, Illinois. Cartoons, A Selection of One Hundred Drawings, with introduction by George Ade Army Song Book, washington, DC, War Department Commission on Training Camp Activities,1918. Bird Center Cartoons, A Chronicle of Social Happenings at Bird Center Illinois,1904, the Mysterious Stranger and Other Cartoons,1905. Doing the Grand Canyon, illustrated, with cartoons by the author, the Island Song Book, illustrated with photographs and cartoons by the author. Drawn from Memory, The Autobiography of John T. McCutcheon, slow Ball Cartoonist, The Extraordinary Life of Indiana Native and Pulitzer Prize Winner John T. McCutcheon at Project Gutenberg Works by or about John T. McCutcheon at Internet Archive
John T. McCutcheon
–
George Ade (left) and McCutcheon, circa 1894-95
John T. McCutcheon
–
Baby New Year 1905 chases old 1904 into the history books in this John T. McCutcheon cartoon.
12.
Country
–
A country is a region that is identified as a distinct national entity in political geography. Sometimes the word countries is used to both to sovereign states and to other political entities, while other times it refers only to states. The word country comes from Old French contrée, itself derived from Vulgar Latin contrata and it most likely entered the English language after the Franco-Norman invasion during the 11th century. Areas much smaller than a state may be called by names such as the West Country in England, the Black Country, Constable Country. In many European countries the words are used for sub-divisions of the territory, as in the German Bundesländer. The modern Italian contrada is a word with its meaning varying locally, the term country is frequently used to refer to sovereign states. There is no agreement on the number of countries in the world. There are 206 sovereign states, of which 193 states are members of the United Nations, all are defined as states by declarative theory of statehood and constitutive theory of statehood. The latest proclaimed state is South Sudan in 2011, the Kingdom of Denmark, a sovereign state, comprises Metropolitan Denmark and two nominally separate countries—the Faroe Islands, and Greenland—which are almost fully internally self-governing. The Kingdom of the Netherlands, a state, comprises four separate countries, Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao. The degree of autonomy of non-sovereign countries varies widely, some are possessions of sovereign states, as several states have overseas territories, with citizenry at times identical and at times distinct from their own
Country
–
Topographical map of
Europe
13.
Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar
–
The Eastern Orthodox Liturgical Calendar describes and dictates the rhythm of the life of the Eastern Orthodox Church. There are two types of feasts in the Orthodox Church calendar, fixed and movable, Fixed feasts occur on the same calendar day every year, whereas movable feasts change each year. The moveable feasts are generally relative to Pascha, and so the cycle of feasts is referred to as the Paschal cycle. The following list of links only to fixed feasts of the Orthodox Church. These are the dates, the particular day on which that date is observed differs depending upon whether one follows the Julian Calendar or the Revised Julian Calendar. All dates having to do with Pascha - the beginning of Great Lent, Ascension, Pentecost, etc. - are moveable feasts and these important notes should be remembered in using the following calendar, For the day in the modern Gregorian Calendar. For example, Christmas Day on the Julian Calendar falls on January 7 of the modern Gregorian Calendar, for those churches which follow the Revised Julian Calendar the dates below correspond exactly to the dates on the Gregorian Calendar. The Orthodox liturgical year begins on September 1, Pascha is, by far, the most important day in the ecclesiastical year, and all other days, in one way or another, are dependent upon it. Pascha falls on different calendar dates from year to year, calculated according to a set of rules. While the Fixed Cycle begins on September 1, the new Paschal Cycle begins on Zaccheus Sunday, eleven Sundays before Pascha, the Epistle and Gospel readings at the Divine Liturgy throughout the year are determined by the date of Pascha. There are Twelve Great Feasts throughout the church year—not counting Pascha and these are feasts which celebrate major historical events in the lives of Jesus Christ or the Theotokos. Simpler wall calendars will show the major commemoration of the day together with the scripture readings. Nashville, Tennessee, Thomas Nelson Publishers,1993, 771-780
Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar
–
Russian icon depicting the calendar of saints (18th-19th century).
Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar
–
Anglican Communion
14.
Three Holy Hierarchs
–
The Three Hierarchs of Eastern Christianity refers to Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. They were highly influential bishops of the church who played pivotal roles in shaping Christian theology. In Eastern Christianity they are known as the Three Great Hierarchs and Ecumenical Teachers. The three are venerated as saints in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism and other Christian churches, disputes raged in 11th century Constantinople about which of the three hierarchs was the greatest. Some argued that Basil was superior to the two because of his explanations of Christian faith and monastic example. Supporters of John Chrysostom countered that the Golden Mouthed archbishop of Constantinople was unmatched in both eloquence and in bringing sinners to repentance, all three have separate feast days in January, Basil on January 1, Gregory on January 25, and Chrysostom on January 27. As a result, a January 30 feast day commemorating all three in common was instituted around 1100 under the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, cappadocian Fathers Patristics Russian battleship Tri Sviatitelia, named after the Three Holy Hierarchs Parry, David, David Melling, et al. eds. The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, the Three Holy Hierarchs Synaxis of the Ecumenical Teachers and Hierarchs, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom Orthodox synaxarion
Three Holy Hierarchs
–
Icon for the feast day of the
Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs
Three Holy Hierarchs
–
Icon of the Three Hierarchs:
Basil the Great (left),
John Chrysostom (center) and
Gregory the Theologian (right)—from Lipie, Historic Museum in
Sanok,
Poland.
15.
Revised Julian calendar
–
This calendar was intended to replace the ecclesiastical calendar based on the Julian calendar hitherto in use by all of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Revised Julian calendar temporarily aligned its dates with the Gregorian calendar proclaimed in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII for adoption by the Christian world, the synod was chaired by controversial Patriarch Meletius IV of Constantinople, and called Pan-Orthodox by its supporters. But only the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Serbian Patriarch were represented, there were no representatives of the other members of the original Orthodox Pentarchy or from the largest Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church. This synod synchronized the new calendar with the Gregorian calendar by specifying that the next 1 October of the Julian calendar would be 14 October in the new calendar, thus dropping thirteen days. It then adopted the rule of Milanković, an astronomical delegate to the synod representing the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats. Milanković selected this rule because its mean year was two seconds of the then current length of the mean tropical year. The present vernal equinox year, however, is about 12 seconds longer, although the instant of the full moon must occur after the instant of the vernal equinox, it may occur on the same day. If the full moon occurs on a Sunday, Easter is the following Sunday, however, all Eastern Orthodox churches rejected this rule and continue to use the Julian calendar to determine the date of Easter. The following are Gregorian minus Revised Julian date differences, calculated for the beginning of March in each century year and these are exact arithmetic calculations, not depending on any astronomy. A negative difference means that the proleptic Revised Julian calendar was behind the proleptic Gregorian calendar, the Revised Julian calendar is the same as the Gregorian calendar from 1 March 1600 to 28 February 2800. A positive difference means that the Revised Julian calendar will be ahead of the Gregorian calendar, the Revised Julian leap rule omits seven of nine century leap years, leaving 225−7 =218 leap days per 900-year cycle. The number of days per Revised Julian cycle =900 ×365 +218 =328,718 days. Taking mod 7 leaves a remainder of 5, so like the Julian calendar, but unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Revised Julian calendar cycle does not contain a whole number of weeks. Therefore, a repetition of the Revised Julian leap cycle with respect to the seven-day weekly cycle is seven times the cycle length =7 ×900 =6300 years. The epoch of the Julian calendar was on the Saturday before the Monday that was the epoch of the Gregorian calendar, in other words, Gregorian 1 January 1 AD = Julian 3 January 1 AD. The Revised Julian reform not only changed the leap rule but also made the epoch the same as that of the Gregorian calendar and this seems to have been carried out implicitly, and even scientific articles make no mention of it. The year range of the chart was limited to dates before the year 4400 AD—by then ΔT is expected to accumulate to about six hours, the chart shows that the long-term equinox drift of the Revised Julian calendar is quite satisfactory, at least until 4400 AD. Therefore, the wobble is essentially a curiosity that is of no practical or ritual concern, the new calendar has been adopted by the Orthodox churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria, called the New calendarists
Revised Julian calendar
–
Equinox-Revised-Julian-Jerusalem-SOLEX-11
16.
Chinese New Year
–
Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival in modern Mainland China, is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Celebrations traditionally run from the preceding the first day, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first calendar month. The first day of the New Year falls on the new moon between 21 January and 20 February, in 2017, the first day of the Chinese New Year was on Saturday,28 January, initiating the year of the Rooster. The New Year festival is centuries old and gains significance because of several myths, traditionally, the festival was a time to honor deities as well as ancestors. Chinese New Year is considered a holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors. Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely, often, the evening preceding Chinese New Years Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to clean the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune. Windows and doors are decorated with red color paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of fortune or happiness, wealth. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes, in about one third of the Mainland population, or 500 million Northerners, dumplings feature prominently in the meals celebrating the festival. It is one of the worlds most prominent and celebrated festivals, the lunisolar Chinese calendar determines the date of Chinese New Year. In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese Lunar New Year begins at the new moon that falls between 21 January and 20 February, the median date of Chinese New Years Day is lichun on 4 or 5 February, the solar term next to Dahan. In the Chinese calendar, winter solstice must occur in the 11th month, to determine whether a year has an intercalary month, one only needs to check whether Chinese New Year is within the month of January. The Gregorian Calendar dates for Chinese New Year from 1912 to 2101 are below, along with the years presiding animal zodiac, the traditional Chinese calendar follows a Metonic cycle, and returns to the same date in Gregorian calendar roughly. The names of the Earthly Branches have no English counterparts and are not the Chinese translations of the animals, alongside the 12-year cycle of the animal zodiac there is a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems. Each of the ten heavenly stems is associated with one of the five elements of Chinese astrology, namely, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, the elements are rotated every two years while a yin and yang association alternates every year. The elements are distinguished, Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire. These produce a cycle that repeats every 60 years. For example, the year of the Yang Fire Rat occurred in 1936, many people inaccurately calculate their Chinese birth-year by converting it from their Gregorian birth-year
Chinese New Year
–
Prayers and simple offerings to the gods.
Chinese New Year
–
Chinese New Year celebration in
Chinatown, Manhattan.
Chinese New Year
–
House decorated for the New Year.
Chinese New Year
–
Chinese new year in Singapore chinatown.
17.
New moon
–
In astronomy, new moon is the first phase of the Moon, when it orbits not seen from the Earth, the moment when the Moon and the Sun have the same ecliptical longitude. The Moon is not visible at this time except when it is seen in silhouette during a solar eclipse when it is illuminated by earthshine, see the article on phases of the Moon for further details. A lunation or synodic month is the time from one new moon to the next. In the J2000.0 epoch, the length of a lunation is 29.530588 days. However, the length of any one month can vary from 29.26 to 29.80 days due to the perturbing effects of the Suns gravity on the Moons eccentric orbit. In a lunar calendar, each corresponds to a lunation. Each lunar cycle can be assigned a unique Lunation Number to identify it, the length of a lunation is about 29.53 days. Its precise duration is linked to many phenomena in nature, such as the variation between spring and neap tides, an approximate formula to compute the mean moments of new moon for successive months is, d =5.597661 +29. For all new moons between 1601 and 2401, the difference is 0.592 days = 14h13m in either direction. The duration of a lunation varies in this period between 29.272 and 29.833 days, i. e. −0. 259d = 6h12m shorter, or +0. 302d = 7h15m longer than average. This range is smaller than the difference between mean and true conjunction, because during one lunation the periodic terms cannot all change to their maximum opposite value, see the article on the full moon cycle for a fairly simple method to compute the moment of new moon more accurately. These are now outdated, Chapront et al. published improved parameters, quadratic term, In ELP2000–85, D has a quadratic term of −5. 8681T2, expressed in lunations N, this yields a correction of +87. 403×10–12N2 days to the time of conjunction. The term includes a contribution of 0. 5×. The most current estimate from Lunar Laser Ranging for the acceleration is, therefore, the new quadratic term of D is = -6. 8498T2. Indeed, the polynomial provided by Chapront et alii provides the same value and this translates to a correction of +14. 622×10−12N2 days to the time of conjunction, the quadratic term now is, +102. 026×10−12N2 days. For UT, analysis of historical observations shows that ΔT has an increase of +31 s/cy2. Converted to days and lunations, the correction from ET to UT becomes, the theoretical tidal contribution to ΔT is about +42 s/cy2 the smaller observed value is thought to be mostly due to changes in the shape of the Earth. Because the discrepancy is not fully explained, uncertainty of our prediction of UT may be as large as the difference between these values,11 s/cy2
New moon
–
Physical lunar features
New moon
–
A graphic depicting the new moon phase
18.
Gregorian Calendar
–
The Gregorian calendar is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582, the calendar was a refinement to the Julian calendar involving a 0. 002% correction in the length of the year. The motivation for the reform was to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes and solstices—particularly the northern vernal equinox, transition to the Gregorian calendar would restore the holiday to the time of the year in which it was celebrated when introduced by the early Church. The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe, the last European country to adopt the reform was Greece, in 1923. Many countries that have used the Islamic and other religious calendars have come to adopt this calendar for civil purposes. The reform was a modification of a made by Aloysius Lilius. His proposal included reducing the number of years in four centuries from 100 to 97. Lilius also produced an original and practical scheme for adjusting the epacts of the moon when calculating the date of Easter. For example, the years 1700,1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the years 1600 and 2000 are. The canonical Easter tables were devised at the end of the third century, when the vernal equinox fell either on 20 March or 21 March depending on the years position in the leap year cycle. As the rule was that the full moon preceding Easter was not to precede the equinox, the date was fixed at 21 March for computational purposes, the Gregorian calendar reproduced these conditions by removing ten days. To unambiguously specify a date, dual dating or Old Style, dual dating gives two consecutive years for a given date, because of differences in the starting date of the year, and/or to give both the Julian and the Gregorian dates. The Gregorian calendar continued to use the calendar era, which counts years from the traditional date of the nativity. This year-numbering system, also known as Dionysian era or Common Era, is the predominant international standard today, the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar. A regular Gregorian year consists of 365 days, but as in the Julian calendar, in a leap year, in the Julian calendar a leap year occurs every 4 years, but the Gregorian calendar omits 3 leap days every 400 years. In the Julian calendar, this day was inserted by doubling 24 February. In the modern period, it has become customary to number the days from the beginning of the month, some churches, notably the Roman Catholic Church, delay February festivals after the 23rd by one day in leap years. Gregorian years are identified by consecutive year numbers, the cycles repeat completely every 146,097 days, which equals 400 years
Gregorian Calendar
Gregorian Calendar
Gregorian Calendar
–
First page of the papal bull
Inter gravissimas
Gregorian Calendar
–
Detail of the pope's tomb by
Camillo Rusconi (completed 1723); Antonio Lilio is genuflecting before the pope, presenting his printed calendar.
19.
Earthly Branches
–
The Earthly Branches provide one Chinese system for reckoning time. This system was built from observations of the orbit of Jupiter, Chinese astronomers divided the celestial circle into 12 sections to follow the orbit of 歲星 Suìxīng. Astronomers rounded the orbit of Suixing to 12 years, Suixing was associated with 攝提 Shètí and sometimes called Sheti. In correlative thinking, the years of the Jupiter cycle also identify the twelve months of the year, twelve animals, directions, seasons. When a Branch is used for an hour, the listed periods are meant. When used for a time of a day, it is the center of the period. For instance, 午 means noon or a period from 11am to 1pm, Chinese seasons are based on observations of the sun and stars. Many Chinese calendrical systems have started the new year on the new moon after the winter solstice. The Earthly Branches are today used with the Heavenly Stems in the current version of the traditional Chinese calendar and in Taoism. The Ganzhi combination is a new way to mark time, in the second millennium BC, during the Shang era. The Branches are as old as the Stems, but the Stems were tied to the calendars of Chinese kings. They were not part of the systems for the majority of Chinese people. In the traditional Kazakh version of the 12-year animal cycle, the Dragon is substituted by a snail, since twelve points were not enough for sailing, twelve midpoints were added. Instead of combining two adjacent direction names, they assigned new names as follows, For the four diagonal directions, for the rest, the Heavenly Stems were used. According to the Five Elements theory, east is assigned to wood, thus they were assigned clockwise to the two adjacent points of the east. Following is a table of the 24 directions, Advanced mariners such as Zheng He used 48-point compasses. An additional midpoint was called by a combination of its two closest basic directions, such as 丙午 for the direction of 172. 5°, the midpoint between 丙, 165°, and 午, 180°. Sexagesimal cycle Sheng Xiao Celestial stem Chinese calendar Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches - Hong Kong Observatory
Earthly Branches
–
(A study of the cardinal directions chart)
Earthly Branches
–
The 24 cardinal directions (ancient Chinese convention places the south (red) at the top).
Earthly Branches
–
Geography
20.
Five elements (Chinese philosophy)
–
The Five Phases are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. This order of presentation is known as the generation sequence. In the order of mutual overcoming, they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, the system of five phases was used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. The system is used as a reference in some forms of complementary and alternative medicine. Xing of Wu Xing means moving, a planet is called a star in Chinese. Wu Xing originally refers to the five planets that create five dimensions of earth life. Wu Xing is also translated as Five Elements and this is used extensively by many including practitioners of Five Element acupuncture. This translation arose by analogy with the Western system of the four elements. By the same token, Mù is thought of as Tree rather than Wood, the word element is thus used within the context of Chinese medicine with a different meaning to its usual meaning. It should be recognized that the phase, although commonly preferred, is not perfect. Phase is a translation for the five seasons mentioned below. Manfred Porkert attempts to resolve this by using Evolutive Phase for 五行 Wǔ Xíng and Circuit Phase for 五運 Wǔ Yùn, some of the Mawangdui Silk Texts also present the Wu Xing as five virtues or types of activities. Within Chinese medicine texts the Wu Xing are also referred to as Wu Yun or a combination of the two characters these emphasise the correspondence of five elements to five seasons, another tradition refers to the Wǔ Xíng as Wǔ Dé, the Five Virtues. Wood parts Earth Earth dams Water Water extinguishes Fire Fire melts Metal Metal chops Wood This cycle might also be called controls, according to Wu Xing theory, the structure of the cosmos mirrors the five phases. Each phase has a series of associations with different aspects of nature. In the ancient Chinese form of known as Feng Shui practitioners all based their art. All of these phases are represented within the trigrams, associated with these phases are colors, seasons and shapes, all of which are interacting with each other. Based on a directional energy flow from one phase to the next
Five elements (Chinese philosophy)
–
Five Chinese Elements - Diurnal Cycle
Five elements (Chinese philosophy)
–
Diagram of the interactions between the Wu Xing. The "generative" cycle is illustrated by grey arrows running clockwise on the outside of the circle, while the "destructive" or "conquering" cycle is represented by red arrows inside the circle.
Five elements (Chinese philosophy)
–
Tablet, in Chinese and
Manchu, for the gods of the five elements in the
Temple of Heaven. The Manchu word "usiha", meaning star, explains that this tablet is dedicated to the 5 basic planets, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus & Mercury rather than their respect element itself.
21.
Korean New Year
–
Korean New Year is the first day of the Korean lunar calendar. It is one of the most significant traditional Korean holidays, the celebration lasts three days, the day before Korean New Year day, Korean New Year day itself, and the day after Korean New Year day. Seollal generally refers to Eumnyeok Seollal, also known as Gujeong, Seollal may also refer to Yangnyeok Seollal, also known as Shinjeong. Korean New Year generally falls on the day of the new moon after winter solstice. In such a case, the New Year falls on the day of the new moon after the solstice. Korean New Year is generally the day as Chinese New Year except when new moon occurs between 15,00 UTC and 16,00 UTC. In such case, new moon happens on the day in Korea compared to China. In the Joseon Dynasty, all the government officials gathered in the Five Grand Palaces to make New Years greetings, Korean New Year is typically a family holiday. The Korean New Year is also known as Seollal, the three-day holiday is used by many to return to their hometowns to visit their parents and other relatives, where they perform an ancestral ritual called charye. The three days are the day of, the day before, and the after, in 2016,36 million South Koreans reportedly would be traveling to visit their families during the Korean New Year. Koreans not only travel within the country, but around the world, many Koreans travel from overseas to visit their families for this annual holiday. Since it is one of the few times families may be able to get together and catch up on one anothers lives, it is considered respectful, often, the family members first visit the elders, and this includes the grandparents and the parents. It is also considered respectful for people to visit their mothers-, including travel expense, preparation for this holiday is very costly. Gifts are usually given to members and new clothes are worn during the holiday. Traditional food is prepared for family members coming to visit for the holiday. Due to the demand, food prices are inflated during the month of Seollal. As a result, some people have chosen to forgo some traditions because they have become too expensive and these families prepare a modest ancestral rite only with necessary foods for Seollal. The government has started taking certain measures to stabilize and support ordinary peoples livelihood for Seollal holiday period
Korean New Year
–
Traditional game
tuho being played.
22.
Vietnamese New Year
–
Tết, or Vietnamese New Year, is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. The word is a form of Tết Nguyên Đán, which is Sino-Vietnamese for Feast of the First Morning of the First Day. Tết celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar, Tết is generally celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year, except when the one-hour time difference between Vietnam and China results in new moon occurring on different days. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the Vietnamese calendar until at least the third day, many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday food and cleaning the house. These foods include bánh chưng, bánh dày, dried young bamboo soup, giò, Tết is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. They start forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hope for a better upcoming year and they consider Tết to be the first day of spring, and the festival is often called Hội xuân. Vietnamese people usually return to their families during Tết, some return to worship at the family altar or visit the graves of their ancestors in their homeland. They also clean the graves of their family as a sign of respect, although Tết is a national holiday among all Vietnamese, each region and religion has its own customs. The first day of Tết is reserved for the nuclear family, children receive a red envelope containing money from their elders. This tradition is called mừng tuổi in the north and lì xì in the south, usually, children wear their new clothes and give their elders the traditional Tết greetings before receiving the money. The act of being the first person to enter a house on Tết is called xông đất, xông nhà or đạp đất, which is one of the most important rituals during Tết. According to Vietnamese tradition, if good things come to the family on the first day of the lunar New Year, usually, a person of good temper, morality, and success will be the lucky sign for the host family and be invited first into the house. Sweeping during Tết is taboo or xui, since it symbolizes sweeping the luck away and it is also taboo for anyone who experienced a recent loss of a family member to visit anyone else during Tết. During subsequent days, people visit relatives and friends, traditionally but not strictly, the second day of Tết is usually reserved for friends, while the third day is for teachers, who command respect in Vietnam. Local Buddhist temples are popular spots as people like to give donations, children are free to spend their new money on toys or on gambling games such as bầu cua cá cọp, which can be found in the streets. Prosperous families can pay for dragon dancers to perform at their house, also, public performances are given for everyone to watch. This parade will also include different masks, and dancers hidden under the guise of what is known as the Mua Lan or Lion Dancing. The Lan is an animal between a lion and a dragon, and is the symbol of strength in the Vietnamese culture that is used to scare evil spirits
Vietnamese New Year
–
Tết at the Saigon Tax Trade Center (2012)
Vietnamese New Year
–
Tất Niên offering
Vietnamese New Year
–
An altar from a family in Vietnam
Vietnamese New Year
–
Ancestors altar or Gods altar
23.
Tibet
–
Tibet is a region on the Tibetan Plateau in Asia, spanning about 2.4 million km2 and nearly a quarter of Chinas territory. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an elevation of 4,900 metres. The highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, Earths highest mountain, the Tibetan Empire emerged in the 7th century, but with the fall of the empire the region soon divided into a variety of territories. The current borders of Tibet were generally established in the 18th century, following the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing dynasty in 1912, Qing soldiers were disarmed and escorted out of Tibet Area. The region subsequently declared its independence in 1913 without recognition by the subsequent Chinese Republican government, later, Lhasa took control of the western part of Xikang, China. There are tensions regarding Tibets political status and dissident groups that are active in exile and it is also said that Tibetan activists in Tibet have been arrested or tortured. The economy of Tibet is dominated by agriculture, though tourism has become a growing industry in recent decades. The dominant religion in Tibet is Tibetan Buddhism, in there is Bön, which is similar to Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is an influence on the art, music. Tibetan architecture reflects Chinese and Indian influences, staple foods in Tibet are roasted barley, yak meat, and butter tea. The Tibetan name for their land, Bod བོད་, means Tibet or Tibetan Plateau, although it meant the central region around Lhasa. The Standard Tibetan pronunciation of Bod, is transcribed Bhö in Tournadre Phonetic Transcription, Bö in the THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription and Poi in Tibetan pinyin. Tibetan people, language, and culture, regardless of where they are from, are referred to as Zang although the geographical term Xīzàng is often limited to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The term Xīzàng was coined during the Qing dynasty in the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor through the addition of a prefix meaning west to Zang, the best-known medieval Chinese name for Tibet is Tubo. This name first appears in Chinese characters as 土番 in the 7th century, in the Middle Chinese spoken during that period, as reconstructed by William H. Baxter, 土番 was pronounced thux-phjon and 吐蕃 was pronounced thux-pjon. Other pre-modern Chinese names for Tibet include Wusiguo, Wusizang, Tubote, the English word Tibet or Thibet dates back to the 18th century. Historical linguists generally agree that Tibet names in European languages are loanwords from Semitic Ṭībat orTūbātt, itself deriving from Turkic Töbäd, literally, according to Matthew Kapstein, From the perspective of historical linguistics, Tibetan most closely resembles Burmese among the major languages of Asia. More controversial is the theory that the Tibeto-Burman family is part of a larger language family, called Sino-Tibetan
Tibet
–
"Greater Tibet" as claimed by Tibetan exile groups
Tibet
–
Tibetan family in
Kham attending a horse festival
Tibet
–
King
Songtsän Gampo
Tibet
–
Tibet in 1734. Royaume de Thibet ("Kingdom of Tibet") in la Chine, la Tartarie Chinoise, et le Thibet ("China, Chinese
Tartary, and Tibet") on a 1734 map by
Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, based on earlier Jesuit maps.
24.
Losar
–
Losar is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. The holiday is celebrated on various dates depending on location and tradition, the holiday is a new years festival, celebrated on the first day of the lunisolar Tibetan calendar, which corresponds to a date in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. The variation of the festival in Nepal is called Lhochhar and is observed about eight weeks earlier than the Tibetan Losar, Losar predates the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet and has its roots in a winter incense-burning custom of the Bon religion. During the reign of the ninth Tibetan king, Pude Gungyal, on the first day of Losar, a beverage called changkol is made from chhaang. The second day of Losar is known as Kings Losar, Losar is traditionally preceded by the five-day practice of Vajrakilaya. Originally, ancient celebrations of Losar occurred solely on the winter solstice, after the Dalai Lama was exiled, many monasteries were dissolved during the Cultural Revolution. Since that time, Tibetan Buddhism practice in Tibet has been somewhat restored, debts are settled, quarrels are resolved, new clothes are acquired, and special foods such as kapse are made. A favorite drink is chang which is served warm, because the words sheeps head and beginning of the year sound similar in Tibetan, it is customary to fashion a sheeps head from colored butter as a decoration. Another traditional decoration that symbolizes a good harvest is the phyemar and this bucket is filled with zanba and barley seeds, then decorated with barley ears and colored butter. Losar customs in Bhutan are similar to, but distinct from, traditional foods consumed on the occasion include sugarcane and green bananas, which are considered auspicious. In Bhutan, picnicking, dancing, singing, dart-playing, archery, and the giving of offerings are all traditions
Losar
–
Losar celebration in Lhasa, 1938
Losar
–
The Gumpa dance being performed in
Lachung during the
Buddhist festival of Losar
25.
Aztec
–
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to 16th centuries. The Nahuatl words aztecatl and aztecah mean people from Aztlan, a place for the Nahuatl-speaking culture of the time. Often the term Aztec refers exclusively to the Mexica people of Tenochtitlan, situated on an island in Lake Texcoco, who referred to themselves as Mēxihcah Tenochcah or Cōlhuah Mexihcah. From the 13th century, the Valley of Mexico was the heart of Aztec civilization, here the capital of the Aztec Triple Alliance, the Triple Alliance formed a tributary empire expanding its political hegemony far beyond the Valley of Mexico, conquering other city states throughout Mesoamerica. At its pinnacle, Aztec culture had rich and complex mythological and religious traditions, as well as achieving remarkable architectural and artistic accomplishments. Subsequently, the Spanish founded the new settlement of Mexico City on the site of the ruined Aztec capital, the term extends to further ethnic groups associated with the Aztec empire such as the Acolhua and Tepanec and others that were incorporated into the empire. In older usage the term was used about modern Nahuatl speaking ethnic groups. In recent usage these ethnic groups are referred to as the Nahua peoples. Linguistically the term Aztecan is still used about the branch of the Uto-Aztecan languages that includes the Nahuatl language and its closest relatives Pochutec, to the Aztecs themselves the word aztec was not an endonym for any particular ethnic group. Rather it was a term used to refer to several ethnic groups, not all of them Nahuatl speaking. In the Nahuatl language aztecatl means person from Aztlan and this usage has been the subject of debate in more recent years, but the term Aztec is still more common. For the same reason the notion of Aztec civilization is best understood as a horizon of a general Mesoamerican civilization. Particular to the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan was the Mexica patron God Huitzilopochtli, twin pyramids, the Aztec Empire was a tribute empire based in Tenochtitlan that extended its power throughout Mesoamerica in the late postclassic period. Soon Texcoco and Tlacopan became junior partners in the alliance, which was de facto led by the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, the empire extended its power by a combination of trade and military conquest. The political clout of the empire reached far south into Mesoamerica conquering cities as far south as Chiapas and Guatemala, the Nahua peoples began to migrate into Mesoamerica from northern Mexico in the 6th century. They populated central Mexico, dislocating speakers of Oto-Manguean languages as they spread their influence south. As the former nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples mixed with the civilizations of Mesoamerica, adopting religious and cultural practices. During the Postclassic period they rose to power at such sites as Tula, in the 12th century the Nahua power center was in Azcapotzalco, from where the Tepanecs dominated the valley of Mexico
Aztec
–
The Aztec Pyramid at
St. Cecilia Acatitlan, State of Mexico
Aztec
–
Aztec
wood mask
Aztec
–
Large ceramic statue of an Aztec Eagle Warrior
Aztec
–
Aztec cosmogram in the pre-Hispanic
Codex Fejérváry-Mayer —the fire god
Xiuhtecuhtli is in the center
26.
Northeast India
–
Northeast India is the eastern-most region of India. It comprises of the contiguous Seven Sister States, and the Himalayan state of Sikkim, the Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal, with a width of 21 to 40 kilometres, connects the North Eastern region with East India. The region shares more than 4,500 kilometres of border with China in the north, Myanmar in the east, Bangladesh in the southwest. The northeast India states are officially recognised under the North Eastern Council, the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd was incorporated on 9 August 1995 and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region was set up in September 2001. The earliest settlers were Austro-Asiatic speakers, followed by Tibeto-Burmese and lastly by Indo-Aryans, due to the bio- and crop diversity of the region, archaeological researchers believe that early settlers of Northeast India had domesticated several important plants. Writers believe that the 100 BC writings of Chinese explorer, Zhang Qian indicate a trade route via Northeast India. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mention a people called Sêsatai in the region, in the early historical period, Kamarupa straddled most of present-day Northeast India, besides Bhutan and Sylhet in Bangladesh. Xuanzang, a travelling Chinese Buddhist monk, visited Kamarupa in the 7th century and he described the people as short in stature and black-looking, whose speech differed a little from mid-India and who were of simple but violent disposition. He wrote that the people in Kamarupa knew of Sichuan, which lay to the kingdoms east beyond a treacherous mountain, for many of the tribal peoples, their primary identification is with subtribes and villages, which have distinct dialects and cultures. Many of the peoples in present-day Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland converted to Christianity under the influence of British missionaries, in the early 19th century, both the Ahom and the Manipur kingdoms fell to a Burmese invasion. The ensuing First Anglo-Burmese War resulted in the region coming under British control. In the colonial period, North East India was made a part of Bengal Province from 1839 to 1873, after Indian Independence from British Rule in 1947, the Northeastern region of British India consisted of Assam and the princely states of Manipur and Tripura. Subsequently, Nagaland in 1963, Meghalaya in 1972, Arunachal Pradesh in 1975, Manipur and Tripura remained as Union Territories of India between 1956 until 1972, when they attained fully-fledged statehood. Sikkim was integrated as the eighth North Eastern Council state in 2002, the city of Shillong served as the capital of the Assam province created during the British Rule. It remained as the capital of undivided Assam until formation of the state of Meghalaya in 1972, the capital of Assam was shifted to Dispur, a part of Guwahati, and Shillong was designated as the capital of Meghalaya. In 1944, the Japanese planned an attack on India. Traveling through Burma, its forces were stopped at Kohima and Imphal by British and this marked the furthest western expansion of the Japanese Empire, its defeat in this area presaged Allied victory. Arunachal Pradesh, a state in the Northeastern tip of India, is claimed by China as South Tibet, Sino-Indian relations degraded, resulting in the Sino-Indian War of 1962
Northeast India
–
Madan Kamdev
Northeast India
–
Red-orange area shows location of Northeast India within India
Northeast India
–
Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1907
Northeast India
–
Snowy peak at Sikkim
27.
Babylonia
–
Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in central-southern Mesopotamia. A small Amorite-ruled state emerged in 1894 BC, which contained at this time the city of Babylon. Babylon greatly expanded during the reign of Hammurabi in the first half of the 18th century BC, during the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called Māt Akkadī the country of Akkad in the Akkadian language. It was often involved in rivalry with its older fellow Akkadian-speaking state of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia and it retained the Sumerian language for religious use, but by the time Babylon was founded, this was no longer a spoken language, having been wholly subsumed by Akkadian. The earliest mention of the city of Babylon can be found in a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad. During the 3rd millennium BC, a cultural symbiosis occurred between Sumerian and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian and vice versa is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the millennium as a sprachbund. Traditionally, the religious center of all Mesopotamia was the city of Nippur. The empire eventually disintegrated due to decline, climate change and civil war. Sumer rose up again with the Third Dynasty of Ur in the late 22nd century BC and they also seem to have gained ascendancy over most of the territory of the Akkadian kings of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia for a time. The states of the south were unable to stem the Amorite advance, King Ilu-shuma of the Old Assyrian Empire in a known inscription describes his exploits to the south as follows, The freedom of the Akkadians and their children I established. I established their freedom from the border of the marshes and Ur and Nippur, Awal, past scholars originally extrapolated from this text that it means he defeated the invading Amorites to the south, but there is no explicit record of that. More recently, the text has been taken to mean that Asshur supplied the south with copper from Anatolia and these policies were continued by his successors Erishum I and Ikunum. During the first centuries of what is called the Amorite period and his reign was concerned with establishing statehood amongst a sea of other minor city states and kingdoms in the region. However Sumuabum appears never to have bothered to give himself the title of King of Babylon, suggesting that Babylon itself was only a minor town or city. He was followed by Sumu-la-El, Sabium, Apil-Sin, each of whom ruled in the same manner as Sumuabum. Sin-Muballit was the first of these Amorite rulers to be regarded officially as a king of Babylon, the Elamites occupied huge swathes of southern Mesopotamia, and the early Amorite rulers were largely held in vassalage to Elam
Babylonia
–
The extent of the Babylonian Empire at the start and end of Hammurabi's reign
Babylonia
–
Old Babylonian
Cylinder Seal,
hematite, The king makes an animal offering to
Shamash. This seal was probably made in a workshop at
Sippar.
Babylonia
–
Geography
28.
Northward equinox
–
In the Northern Hemisphere the March equinox is known as the vernal equinox, and in the Southern Hemisphere as the autumnal equinox. On the Gregorian calendar the Northward equinox can occur as early as 19 March or as late as 21 March. For a common year the computed time slippage is about 5 hours 49 minutes later than the previous year, and for a leap year about 18 hours 11 minutes earlier than the previous year. Balancing the increases of the years against the losses of the leap years keeps the calendar date of the March equinox from drifting more than one day from 20 March each year. The March equinox may be taken to mark the beginning of spring and the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere but marks the beginning of autumn, in astronomy, the March equinox is the zero point of sidereal time and, consequently, right ascension. It also serves as a reference for calendars and celebrations in many human cultures, the March equinox is one point in time commonly used to determine the length of the tropical year. The mean tropical year is the average of all the tropical years measured from every point along the Earths orbit. The following table shows the small variations in timing over a period of time. The point where the Sun crosses the equator northwards is called the First Point of Aries. However, due to the precession of the equinoxes, this point is no longer in the constellation Aries, by the year 2600 it will be in Aquarius. The Earths axis causes the First Point of Aries to travel westwards across the sky at a rate of one degree every 72 years. It passed by a corner of Cetus at 0°10′ distance in the year 1489. In its apparent motion on the day of an equinox, the Suns disk crosses the Earths horizon directly to the east at dawn—rising, the March equinox, like all equinoxes, is characterized by having an almost exactly equal amount of daylight and night across most latitudes on Earth. Due to refraction of light rays in the Earths atmosphere the Sun will be visible above the horizon even when its disc is completely below the limb of the Earth and these conditions produce differentials of actual durations of light and darkness at various locations on Earth during an equinox. This is most notable at the extreme latitudes, where the Sun may be seen to travel sideways considerably during the dawn. The Persian calendar begins each year at the equinox, observationally determined at Tehran. The Indian national calendar starts the year on the day next to the equinox on 22 March with a 30-day month. The Julian calendar reform lengthened seven months and replaced the intercalary month with a day to be added every four years to February
Northward equinox
–
Bas-relief in
Persepolis – a symbol
Iranian/Persian Nowruz – on the day of an equinox, the power of an eternally fighting bull (personifying the
Earth) and that of a lion (personifying the
Sun) are equal.
Northward equinox
–
Illustration of astronomical calculations of northward equinox and
Nowruz
Northward equinox
–
Chichen Itza pyramid during the spring equinox –
Kukulkan, the famous descent of the snake
29.
Iran
–
Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
Iran
–
Cave painting in Doushe cave,
Lorestan, Iran,
8th millennium BC
Iran
–
Flag
Iran
–
A depiction of the united
Medes and
Persians in
Apadana,
Persepolis
Iran
–
Ruins of the
Gate of All Nations,
Persepolis
30.
Zoroastrian
–
Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, it exalts a deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda, as its Supreme Being. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633-654, recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and in Iran. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds, the religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, in Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu is an all-good father of Asha, in opposition to Druj and no evil originates from him. He and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas, Spenta Mainyu adjoined unto truth oppose the Spirits opposite, Angra Mainyu and its forces born of Akəm Manah. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to be among those who renew the world. to make the progress towards perfection. Its basic maxims include, Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean, Good Thoughts, Good Words, there is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the thing to do. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is, Ahura, The Lord Creator and he proclaimed that there is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that human beings are given a right of choice, Zoroasters teachings focused on responsibility, and did not introduce a devil per se. The contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit, post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu. The name Zoroaster is a Greek rendering of the name Zarathustra and he is known as Zartosht and Zardosht in Persian and Zaratosht in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda- with the Avestan language word yasna, meaning worship, in English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is Behdin, meaning The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā. In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is used as a title for an individual who has formally inducted into the religion in a Navjote ceremony. The term Mazdaism /ˈmæzdə. ɪzəm/ is a typical 19th century construct, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda, the March 2001 draft edition of the Oxford English Dictionary also records an alternate form, Mazdeism, perhaps derived from the French Mazdéisme, which first appeared in 1871. In older English sources, the terms Gheber and Gueber were used to refer to Zoroastrians, however, Zoroastrian philosophy is identified as having been known to Italian Renaissance Europe through an image of Zoroaster in Raphaels School of Athens by Giorgio Vasari in 1550. The Oxford English Dictionary records use of the term Zoroastrianism in 1874 in Archibald Sayces Principles of Comparative Philology, Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, supreme god, Ahura Mazda, or the Wise Lord
Zoroastrian
–
Farvahar.
Persepolis, Iran.
Zoroastrian
–
The
Faravahar, believed to be a depiction of a
fravashi
Zoroastrian
–
A scene from the
Hamzanama where
Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib Burns Zarthust’s Chest and Shatters the Urn with his Ashes
Zoroastrian
–
The
fire temple of
Baku, c. 1860
