Selamat Idul Fitri

Aripramz wishes us all a Selamat Idul Fitri, which is a traditional Indonesian greeting for the Eid (holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan). "Mohon maaf lahir dan batin" is a request for forgiveness - this holiday is a time to atone for the wrongs that you have done to others in the previous year. It is also a time to travel to see relatives, and the 'musafeer' or traveler depicted here must be doing that.



BTW, that image to the right of the LEGO picture is ketupat, an Indonesian food where rice is boiled inside a pouch made of woven palm leaves, as this is a characteristic dish eaten at Eid celebrations in Indonesia.

Ramadan Mubarak

I'd like to wish all of our Muslim readers a blessed conclusion to their Ramadan. For today, let's take a look at this mosque in Legoland Billund. I do not know if this is a reproduction of an actual structure, but I kind of assume it is since most of those Miniland displays are. So if someone knows exactly what is depicted here I'd love to know.

Cowherd and Weaver Girl

Sometimes I debate whether a MOC is truly about a religious subject, or would better be characterized as a cultural practice. For example, the Danish holiday Sankt Hans aften I blogged here earlier this month. The Chinese folktale Cowherd and Weaver Girl (here depicted by Tigerggyy) is one of these. As the story goes, the daughter of the Jade Emperor (one of the chief gods in Chinese traditional religion and also in Taoism) fell in love with a mortal cowherd. They were separated by the river of the Milky Way, but once a year the Jade Emperor allows them to meet on a bridge across the river. That day is called the Qixi Festival, the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day.

Pagoda

Matija Grguric continues to build great MOCs, such as this pagoda. The design comes from Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto.

Moai

As I understood it, the significance of the Moai of Easter Island (here in LEGO by Matija Grguric) was unclear. Wikipedia suggests they represented deified ancestors.

Kościół Mariacki

The Kościół Mariacki, or St. Mary's Basillica (here by Diabel), was built in Krakow in the 13th century and then rebuilt in the 14th. Every hour a trumpet signal plays from the taller tower, commemorating the 13th century trumpeter who was killed while sounding the alarm of the oncoming Mongol attackers.

Star and crescent

Eilonwy77 is a master at mosaics and patterns using LEGO. She was recently challenged to come up with the star and crescent symbols of Islam. While a six-pointed star is more commonly associated with Judaism, she says that in researching this she found some examples with six and eight-pointed stars rather than the more common five-pointed star. For the non-LEGO builders who may read this, the 36 degree angle for a five-pointed star is pretty much impossible* at this scale with LEGO pieces.



*Of course, that raises this as a challenge to all you builders out there.

Pantheon

The Pantheon (here built in the style of the Architecture line by Victor Martinez Nouvilas) was built in 126 and dedicated to all the gods of Rome. Later it was reconsecrated as a Catholic church, and is still used today.

Westminster Abbey

One last detail from the Westminster Abbey shows the high altar.

Westminster Abbey

Another detail from the Westminster Abbey MOC shows the great West Door.

Westminster Abbey

This cutaway of the massive Westminster Abbey MOC displayed at AFOLcon shows the architectural details.

Westminster Abbey

How in the world did I not post this Westminster Abbey to GodBricks? I put it on the front page of Classic-Castle, but I guess it was when I was completely backed up on my blogs. Anyway, this was built by a group of British AFOLs and displayed at the AFOLcon gathering just before the wedding of William and Kate in Westminster Abbey, and now it will be displayed at various LEGO events around Europe.

Tibetan temple

Matija Grguric made this beautiful Tibetan temple.

Long Hu

I'm not sure if I should be featuring this here or not. The Long Hu Tower, or Dragon Tiger Tower is named after Long Hu Mountain in China, a holy region seen as one of the birthplaces of Taoism. I don't know if these towers in Taiwan have any religious significance, or if they are more of a tourist destination.

Sankt Hans aften

In Denmark, Midsummer's eve is called Sankt Hans aften, or Saint John's Eve. It's not a religious holiday, but the traditions reach back to religious roots. The day is named for the feast day of John the Baptist. Bonfires date back to Viking beliefs that these would drive away evil spirits. Witches are burned in effigy, remembering the witch burnings of centuries past.

Giant Buddha of Changhua

A giant Buddha looks over Changhua City, Taiwan, from atop Bagua Mountain. This LEGO version is part of a huge map of Taiwan on public display (perhaps built by TWLUG members?). - Edit: I guess this is part of an official LEGO display.

Ark of the Covenant

Matt Armstrong made a version of the Ark of the Covenant

Mosque

\/\/\/\/\/\ made this mosque.

Brick Testament Book

I missed the announcement before, but Brendan Powell Smith is coming out with a new Brick Testament Book, that will cover a large chunk of the Old Testament.



He's also posted some new chapters from Genesis (or are these remakes of previous chapters? I don't remember for sure). Today let's look at the first two:

Isaac Marries Rebekah - As always with Brendan these are very well done, and he uses new figures and torsos that weren't available to him when he last covered this part of Genesis. My favorite build detail is how he made kneeling camels. I also like how he came up with 4 different sizes of children in Gen 25:1-3.



Isaac Deceives Abimelech (aka 'Ah, Abimelech, will you never learn?') - He highlights the humor in that this is largely a rehash of a previous event. The combination of various white and blue elements is really cool, as is the perspective in this scene.

Transfiguration

Cody G. shows us his LEGO interpretation of the transfiguration of Jesus. As described in three of the Gospels, Jesus went with Peter, James and John up onto a mountain. While there, they saw him filled with glory, and conversing with Moses and Elijah. The Gospel accounts don't mention them rising into the air (unless I'm misremembering, but I didn't see it in a quick skim over the relevant passages), but (at least to me), by raising the three figures up, Cody's MOC points ahead to Christ on the cross. Of course, the symbolism breaks down in that would make Moses and Elijah into the two criminals, but I like the visual connection it makes between Christ's glory and his sacrifice.



BTW, I apologize for the month+ hiatus in this blog. I've been quite busy with work and with life lately.