Charlemagne

        Charles the Great, also known as Charlemagne, was crowned emperor of the Roman Empire by Pope Leo III. Charlemagne reigned during the Middle Ages, also called the Dark Ages because people lived isolated and had no contacts outside the boundaries of their countries. However, the Emperor had many contacts outside his empire. During the Dark Ages, there were many conflicts between the people in the Islamic and Christian territories. Muslims live until today in the Middle East where many of the sacred places for Christianity are located. Christian kings and emperors tried to recover the Christian places many times during the Middle Ages, and this was the cause for the Crusades. During the Charlemagne government, no Crusades took place and peace reigned in the Roman and Islamic empires. Charlemagne built excellent relationships with the rulers of the Islamic kingdoms. He sent an embassy to the Middle East to beg protection for the Christian sacred places, and he received an elephant from the Middle East as a gesture of friendship. He also received from a pair of Palestinian Monks the keys to the church of the Holy Sepulcher. An act that made him become the guarder of the holiest shrines of Christianity.
        Charlemagne wanted to build an Empire that fused the style of Rome with the nascent Christian style. He built many monasteries, churches, and chapels. The idea of the monastery developed during this time. Monasteries became centers of the medieval life. They were not only places for worship, learning, and meditation for the monks and the community. They also served as hospitals, centers of law for religious and civil courts, and shelters for the travelers and even residents in case of invasion. Knowledge and Art flourished in the Roman Empire. The emperor could not be behind all the majesty of the empire he was creating. At Aachen, Charlemagne built his palace with a chapel in it. Chapels are also places of worship that are still used by Christians. The following is a video that was recorded at the Saint Thomas University Chapel.  
   

Eleanor of Aquitaine

            The last of the three big monotheistic religions in the world is Christianity. Christianity appeared for the first time in Judea, after the birth of Jesus Christ, whose teachings gave birth to a new religion. After his death, his disciples dedicated their lives to travel throughout the Roman Empire and give speeches in order to reach out to people that later converted to Christianity.  Christians were persecuted and killed many times by command of the Roman emperors until they realized that the religion had spread so much that the smartest decision to make in order to gain support from the Romans was to declare it the official religion of the empire. As a result, Constantine the Great, converted to Christianity and declared the religion the official religion of the whole Empire.

             During the Middle Ages, Christianity played the central role in the society. Almost any decision had to be consulted with the Popes and representatives of the church. It was during then Middle Ages that Eleanor of Aquitaine lived. Eleanor was Duchess of Aquitaine by birth, and queen of France and England as a result of her marriages first with Louis VII, and then with Henry II. She was the mother of ten children; two from her marriage with Louis VII, king of France, and eight from marriage with Henry II, king of England. Eleanor could annul her marriage with Louis VII of France by cleverly manipulating the representatives of the church in France. Her child, Richard the Lionheart, the legendary king of Robin Hood stories, changed the destinies of England and France by inheriting Aquitaine from his mother and England from his father. Aquitaine was located in France, and from the moment Richard the Lionheart became king, the kings of England possessed part of the French territory; a fact that caused may problems between the kingdoms and was the cause for the One Hundred Years’ War. The following is a fragment from the book “Eleanor of Aquitaine” by Pamela Kaufman. 

Yes, I will tell my story twice, both my public and private life, with a double objective, as suggested by my grandfather, the first and greatest travador of all times, William IX: If one could write about his life of passion, one could live two lives. Now, I have made ​​myself smile, because the true maximum reads: If one could write about his life of virtue, one could live two lives.
My life of virtue would compose a small book. Should I begin with my birth in Aquitaine? With the mystery of my parents? The war between my aunts and my mother? The bitter fate of my father? So much to tell, so much to tell... Everything is so compelling. The fertile soil from which I fed, but this is his story, not mine. My childhood was a paradise, as I remember it. Did the adults protect me from their misery and resentment? I doubt it. I rather think that everybody loved me, regardless of their other loyalties and their animosities against each other, and love is what makes a child happy, right? I hope my children would remember that. No, my story began when I was fifteen years old, the night I occupied the center of stage in the theater of the world.

Buddhism

          The other main religion that is practiced in India is Buddhism. I am not sure that we could Buddhism a religion. It is actually a series of believes based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama or Buddha, which means the awakened one. As oppose to other religions, Buddha did not receive revelations from any God, he just sat in a mountain far away from the city and he meditated. It was through meditation that Buddha could come up with the ideas that he later taught. The "religion" was later spread to other parts of the world like China, where there are many Buddhist temples. One of the central concepts of Buddhism is the concept of Karma, the belief that all our actions have a consequence. From now on, any time you do something wrong, and somebody  tells you that Karma will follow you, you would know where the original concept came from.

Standing Buddha

Brahma, Vishnu, Siva

             Creation, conservation, and destruction are the main concepts of the religion of India. Brahma is the creator; that is why, the religion is called Brahmanism. Vishnu is the conservation God and Siva the destruction. Brahmanism, also called Hinduism, is a polytheistic religion as ancient as the oldest religion of Egypt. I believe India is the only country in the world that preserves its ancient polytheistic religion as the official religion for the country. This makes India one of my favorite countries and a desired destiny to visit. The sacred literature of Hinduism is the Vedas. Hindus believe that that their souls reincarnate in other bodies. Every time a Hindu comes back to the world is to improve as a human being until they reach the “Nirvana,” which is the highest state that a human being can reach. Hindus worship more the conservation and destruction Gods, because creation has already occurred. The conservation God, Vishnu has many avatars or incarnations. In one of his most common avatars, he is usually represented in blue. It is not a coincidence then that the recent movie directed by James Cameron was called “Avatar” since the humans at the spatial station could "incarnate" in a blue body.

Avatar, the movie

Vishnu, blue avatar

One city, three religions.

Western Wall: Jewish place of worship

               Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, is sacred to the three monotheistic religions of the modern world. An important part of the history of Judaism is based on the quest of the Jewish community for finding the land that God had promised them. This land was Jerusalem. They found it and lost it very easily. After World War II, they were allowed to come back, and today, they finally live in their home.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre:
Christian place of worship

                However, the city is not only sacred to them. It is also sacred to the Christians. It was at Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ was born and executed. It was also there where the resurrection occurred. The Jewish community witnessed the arrival of the Messiah, the son of God sent to the world to suffer for our sins. Many Jewish became pupils of Christ, and they later spread his teachings throughout the Roman Empire. Jerusalem is also considered a holy city for Muslims because it is related to the prophets of Islam: Jesus, Abraham, Salomon, and David. It was also the place where Mohammed, author of the Quran died and ascended to the heavens. The city served as the direction of prayer for Muslims until it was changed to Mecca.

Al-Aqsa Mosque: Muslim place of worship

     

The people of Israel

If we were to talk about suffering, probably not a single example would be more representative of this feeling than the people of Israel. Throughout the course of history, no other population has suffered and showed their survival skills more than the Jewish community.  

According to the Exodus, second book of the Bible, the people of Israel suffered as slaves in Egypt until Moses freed them when, guided by God, spread nine plagues over all Egypt. Many long years had to pass for the children of Israel to get to the land that God had promised them. They crossed the dessert and fought for their land, Israel, where they later built monuments to adore God and thank Him for having taken them to their home.

David's star, a Jewish symbol

The Jewish lived in Israel until the Romans conquered the territory and built in it their pagan monuments with statues of their Gods. Jewish do not believe in images, and they considered the construction of the new monuments and statues an offense to their God. They fought with the Romans, but the Roman army was much stronger, and they were finally expelled from their own country. However, the bad times do not end here. During the Middle Ages, the Inquisition condemned and killed many Jewish because Christianity considered them sinners for having killed Jesus Christ. The only people that tolerated Jewish during the Middle Ages were the Muslims, and many Jewish moved to the Al-Andalus, the territories of the Iberian Peninsula that belonged to the Muslims. There, the Torah and the culture were preserved, and the Jewish were safe.

Israel

It is very well known that during World War II, many Jewish were sent to concentration camps. Few survived. After the end of the war, many efforts were done for the Jewish to come back to Israel. Today, the Jewish live in their land, the land God promised would be theirs some day.       

Some Concepts of Islam

               The main principle for Muslims is that God is superior to anything else. They do not believe in the Christian doctrine because Christians believe on the existence of a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The place of worship of the Muslims is the mosque. Muslims consider that the other books written before the Quran have been distorted, and that the Quran is the finest representation of the word of God. The Quran was written by Mohammed from the revelations that the archangel Gabriel provided him with. Besides Mohammed, Islam considers Moses and Jesus prophets of Islam because they also transmitted the word of God.

                The five pillars of Islam are as followed: Testimony, Fasting, Alms giving, Pilgrimage, and Prayer. Testimony refers to a statement that Muslims recite:  "I testify there are no deities other than God alone and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God." This statement is central to all Islamic believes. Fasting occurs in the month of Ramadan, which is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, when Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, and having sex during daylight hours.  Alms giving is an obligation of all Muslims in good economical standing to donate to the poverty. Pilgrimage to Mecca, the city of composition of Quran, is required for all Muslims once in a lifetime. Finally, Muslims pray five times a day, and wherever they happen to be they try to face the direction of Mecca, the holiest city of Islam. Do you see anything wrong in these believes? Can you identify any violent statement? Do you think the religion justifies the behavior of the extremists? I certainly do not see anything wrong with Islamic faith. To me, terrorists have just misunderstood the word of Allah. What do you think?

Muslims Praying

Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey

Mecca

               The sun rises on the eastern hemisphere, and hundreds of people watch its path through the sky from the holiest city of Islam…So many people cannot be wrong… or they may be… Who knows? Who cares if their faith is so strong? If they believe it, so do I. After all, who am I to judge; who am I to say who is right or wrong? The sun keeps moving, and when it gets to the center of the sky, some people live and some others arrive to Mecca… Mecca… Mecca… the city that all Muslims want to visit.

                Mecca is the place of birth of Mohamed, author of the Quran, the Holy book of Islam. It was in Mecca where Mohammed received the first revelations from God. It was in Mecca where he wrote the Quran… Mecca… Mecca…for the Muslim world, always Mecca… Thousands of people make their obligatory pilgrimage to this city each year. Their religion requires this pilgrimage once in a lifetime; however, many of them will come back because this place represents who they are.

                Our cultures, religions, and believes shape our personalities and define at a great extent who we are. I grew up reading the “Little Prince,” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Any time I need to go back to my roots, I read it again. Any time I need to remind myself that “what is essential is invisible to the eye,” I come back to the bedroom where my aunt used to read for me. This is part of my story. Mecca is part of the story of every Muslim the same way my bedroom is part of mine. All of them have a compromise with themselves to visit Mecca, and they may be back to it a few times physically and a million mentally, because they need to remind themselves of what they have learned. They also go back to the Quran as I go back to my “Little Prince,” and as you, my dear reader may go back to the Bible, the Torah, or any other religious or secular book you happen to believe in.   

Mecca

Mecca

Allah and Jehovah: Conflict or Unity?

The three most successful religions in the modern world: Judaism, Islamism, and Christianity have the same roots.

SOME HISTORY

Judaism is the oldest of the three; it is as ancient as the most ancient religions of Babylonia and Egypt. Judaism’s sacred book is the Moses’ Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The Bible is the sacred book of Christianity. It contains the Old and New Testaments; Moses’ Torah belongs to the Old Testament. For many people, it is very surprising to find out that Christ was Jewish. Christianity appeared for the first time in the Jewish community because of the influences of Jesus Christ’s teachings. Those members of the community that decided to follow Jesus became Christians. The religion was spread by the surviving Apostles after the death of Christ.

The newest of the three religions, Islam is based on the teachings of Mohammed, who received God’s messages through Gabriel, the same angel that talked to Mary announcing that she would give birth to the son of God. Why are there so many conflicts if these religions are so similar? Do they not all believe in God? Is that not their most important message?

THE WORLD NEEDS UNITY

                The city of Jerusalem is sacred to the three religions; however, the city only belongs to the Jewish when it should belong to the world, to the people, to our faith… Apparently, the only culture that accepts people from any of the three religions is the United States of America. For us, it does not matter who you worship, there will always be a place for your temple. It does not matter which sacred book you adore, it will always be a space for it in our libraries. It does not matter the name by which you identify God, for us is still God. The United States is, in this sense, an example of toleration for the rest of the world. Our culture provides the unity that the world lacks for our three religions in conflict.    

Religious symbols

The Crossroads of the World

              Our culture, the United States of America, is probably the most cosmopolitan culture in the world. Generation after generation, our country receives immigrants from an immense variety of places in the world. These immigrants have adapted to the “American way,” and have contributed to our mixed culture. The kids of these immigrants have grown up in a blended environment, where the American culture and the culture of their parents fuse shaping unique personalities in these children.

                New York, the world’s capital city, has acquired its nickname because of the many people from different countries and backgrounds that live in the city. One of the most representative places in New York is Times Square also called Crossroads of the World. Every day, a diverse population walks on the Times Square streets without looking around and realizing that they live in one of the most beautiful cities of the world, a city whose arms and heart are open to anybody.  Times Square screams our secret to anybody that happens to be listening. The success of our culture in the modern society lays on the fact that for years we have tolerated hundreds of cultures, and we have built our own using American hands as well as the hands of those we have tolerated. When we do not tolerate, when we do not forgive, we are not successful, we are just... powerful.

Time Square

     

“La Belle France”

           The culture of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author of “Little Prince,” is la belle France. It is certainly not strange that such a profound book like “Little Price” had been delivered to us by a citizen of such a wonderful country.

How can anybody visit France without admiring its museums, its food, its monuments, its people..? How can anybody decipher the mysteries of Paris, the city of love? Perhaps, out of all the famous places that we all know in France, the one that reflects the most what this culture may represent to the world is the Louvre Museum.  How many outstanding personalities or masterpieces do these two simple words make us remember? Renaissance, Da Vinci, Michel Angelo, Mona Lisa… However, I will not talk about any of the masterpieces that generation after generation have said hello to millions of visitors.

Louvre

The masterpiece at Louvre that encloses the soul of the culture is outside of the building: The Louvre pyramid. Admired by many, criticized by a few, the glass pyramid makes us believe that we can overcome the barriers of time. The building that encloses the most famous masterpieces of the history of arts was built in a classical style. Right next to it, the pyramid seems to give the touch of modernity to the classical building. The city proclaims its power to bring together past and present. If you happen to walk in front of the pyramid, stop for a second and listen carefully to the sound of the wind. Try to understand its melody, it may whisper a secret, “we are the house of the past, present, and future. The building represents the past, the pyramid represents the present, and the future is in your hands.”

"Tell me what you want to see"

              I have thought of a thousand ways of starting this blog. I thought of talking about peace, respect, and solidarity. I thought of saying…

“Where there is love there is life.” 
                                                       Mahatma Gandhi.

…and make an invitation to anybody who wants love to be abundant in the world, but I remembered the very first years of my life. I remember the kind voice of my aunt reading for me what I consider the most beautiful book ever written: “Little Prince.” If you have never read it, I advise you to go find it, while if you have read it, I advise you to read it one more time. “Little Prince” is a book for kids and adults, for the rich and the poor, for men and women; it is a book for you…

You must be wondering why I am talking about a book in a blog about cultures. The answer for your question is the goal I am pursuing with this blog. “Little Prince” was a child who lived in another planet, so small that there was only space for him, his small volcanoes, and his flower. This child wanted to know other people and places bigger that his house. That is why, he traveled to the Earth, but during his journey, he met all sorts of different inhabitants of planets as small as his. Even though he did not understand them, he respected and listened to them all. I want to be like “Little Prince;” I want to know other people, places, and cultures. I also want you to talk to me, no matter what “planet” you came from. I want to listen and respect even if I do not understand…

Every week, I will talk about a personality, place, religion, custom, book, anything that can help us understand a particular culture, and that culture will become the topic of the week. Send me your suggestions, comments, and tell me what you want to see on this page. Become like the “Little Prince,” respectful if you do not understand and willing to learn if do not know.

Little Prince