A different Christmas

Most Christians would not know it, but Jesus' birth is depicted in the Quran. As in the Christian version, Muslims hold that Jesus was the result of a miraculous conception of the virgin Mary, first announced by an angel. As he grew, he preached the word of God and performed signs and wonders. Of course, Muslims do not believe that Christ was God, but rather a prophet. Anyway, Mezba Mahtab of Teaching Kids the Holy Quran depicted the story of Maryam to celebrate the Christmas holiday.



BTW, I have to apologize to Mezba, who sent me this link a couple of weeks ago. I was busy with family etc, and so I wasn't really blogging at all for much of the past month. I had pre-programmed postings for the week or so leading up to Christmas, so the blog was kind of on auto-pilot for a bit. Otherwise I would have definitely put this up earlier.

Epiphany

Today is the traditional date of the Feast of Epiphany, or Three Kings Day. This holiday, closing out the Christmas season (note, yesterday was the twelfth day of Christmas, for you drumming drummers out there). This day celebrates the presentation of Christ to the gentile world, including the visit of the Magi and, three decades later, the baptism in the Jordan. In some countries children leave out their shoes for the Magi to fill with gifts (basically the equivalent of hanging stockings for Santa). In other places people celebrate by eating kings' cake. At my house we note this as the day to take down our Christmas ornaments. ;) MOC by jonathan_W