Saturday, December 20, 2008

Season's Greetings Dec/Jan

Season’s Greetings !!!!!
With Christmas and New Year just about the corner, it's the time of the year to be cheerful and merry. Celebrate the warmth of the season and multiply the happiness around. It’s also time for Holiday Thank You! Be grateful for the gifts that your friends/ family/ loved ones have given you. Thank them for making your Holiday Season a great one!

Around the world, holiday greetings are a selection of greetings that are often spoken with good intentions to strangers, family, friends, or other people during the months of December and January.


Holidays with greetings include Christmas, New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Ramadan (which falls at a different time each year; every year it goes back a month) and recently, Kwanzaa. Some greetings are more prevalent than others, depending on the cultural and religious status of any given area.


Typically, a greeting consists of the word "Happy" followed by the holiday, such as "Happy New Year", although the phrase "Merry Christmas" is a notable exception.

The tradition of sending Christmas cards originated in the mid-1800s when a few people began to design handmade cards to send to family and friends. A man named John Calcott Horsely is credited as being the first to actually print Christmas cards. The card depicted a family enjoying the holiday, with scenes of people performing acts of charity. The card was inscribed: "Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to You".


I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Wise new Year!

Eid Al-Adha / 8th December

Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى) or the Festival of Sacrifice is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims and Druze worldwide in commemoration of the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to Allah (God). The devil tempted Ibrahim by saying he should disobey Allah and spare his son. As Ibrahim was about to kill his son, Allah intervened: instead Allah provided a lamb as the sacrifice. This is why today all over the world Muslims who have the means to, sacrifice an animal, as a reminder of Ibrahim's obedience to Allah. The meat is then shared out with family and friends, as well as the poorer members of the community (Islam names Ishmael as the son who was to be sacrificed, whereas the Judeo-Christian name Isaac).
Eid al-Adha is one of two
Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims, whose basis comes from the Quran.
Eid ul-Adha annually falls on the 10th day of the month of
Dhul Hijja (ذو الحجة) of the lunar Islamic calendar. The festivities last for two to three days or more depending on the country. Eid ul-Adha occurs the day after the pilgrims conducting Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.


I wish you a very Happy Eid (عيد مبارك Eid mubarak) !!