Religious Holidays and Calendars: An Encyclopedic Handbook (Religious Holidays & Calendars)

Religious Holidays and Calendars: An Encyclopedic Handbook (Religious Holidays & Calendars) free ebook download.

The revised and updated second edition of Religious Holidays and Calendars: An Encyclopedic Handbook has been reorganized for ease of use and expanded to cover more than 450 religious holidays. The holidays covered in this encyclopedic reference

are those with a sacred component that celebrates, commemorates, or honors people, places, events, and concepts important to a specific religious community. Entries for more than 450 religious holidays are organized in the new edition byreligion, according to the most appropriate calendar, rather than alphabetically by holiday name. Each religion chapter begins with an introductory essay that provides the reader with background information, followed by an essay covering specificissues related to the religion and its sacred calendar. The religion chapters begin in the Middle East, the birthplace of many religions. These are listed in order of the historical appearance of their founders: Abraham (Judaism), Zoroaster(Zoroastrianism), Jesus (Christianity), Muhammad (Islam), and Baha'u'llah (Baha'i). Several post-Christian movements of the last few centuries have been included in the Christian chapter. Moving eastward, the next group of religions are thosewith origins in the Indian subcontinent: Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism. Buddhism serves as a bridge to the religions of the Far East: Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religions, and Shinto. These are folowed by religions for the Oldand New Worlds: Native American and tribal religions, Paganism (including Wicca, Druidry, Asatru, and Goddess Cults), and Western African Religions and their New World expressions (including Yoruba religious traditions, Vodoo, Santeria, andCandomblé). Preceding the main section on religious holidays are four chapters on the historical development of lunar, lunisolar, and solar calendars, their sacred and secular uses, and calendar reform movements. Completing the work are anappendix listing Internet resources, a topically arranged bibliography, and four indexes: Alphabetic List of Holidays, Chronological List of Holidays, Calendar Index, and Master Index.

ISBN: 0780806654, Author: , Publisher: Omnigraphics, Pages: 400, Publication Date: 2004-04

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