We live our lives forever taking leave - Rilke

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Thursday, 6 April 2023

Thursday, April 6/2023


 This is the Middle East. North Cyprus has a population that is primarily Muslim and we are now in the middle of Ramadan with the celebration of Bayram, meaning festival in Turkish, occurring in two weeks just as we leave the country. (This is the holiday known as Eid-al-fitr in most of the Islamic world). 

It is also a holy time in Judaism, with Passover having begun yesterday evening. And today is Holy Thursday in the Western Christian Church, with the evening marking the beginning of the Easter triduum culminating in Easter Sunday on the ninth. But this is Cyprus, and the Republic of Cyprus is mostly Greek Orthodox and calculates the date based on the Julian calendar. This year Orthodox  Easter will be April 16. (Although in Greece but not Russia or Ukraine Christmas is celebrated December 25. Not a moveable feast and not related to the moon). It’s a long story much of which I do know but if I write a book this won’t be it.