The Cosmic Love Sky Lantern Festival is sure to be a feast for the eyes this fall in Wadi Rum.  As if the dramatic mountain scenery weren’t breathtaking enough, sky lanterns will rise like one thousand moons over the vast expanses of the desert at 9:00pm on the projected date of September 27. Crafted of paper, a sky lantern, also called a sky candle or fire balloon, is typically made by attaching oiled rice paper to a bamboo frame, and the light inside is either a candle or a fuel cell.  After the air inside the lantern is heated, the density is lowered enough to cause the vessel to rise and fly for as long as anywhere from five minutes to half an hour.

Sky lanterns are traditionally used in East Asian cultures; as per the belief, good luck comes to those who launch sky lanterns, which when flying, symbolize hardships floating away.  Throwing cares to the wind is so much more glamorous when sky lanterns act as emblems, in my opinion.

The autumn event will be held near the Bait Ali settlement in Wadi Rum; attendees are encouraged to take advantage of the chic accommodation of the campsite, perhaps extending their Wadi Rum adventure a few days past the conclusion of the festival.

A Facebook event page will keep those who are interested informed; the allure of exclusivity entices Facebookers to “join” the event.

Ticket prices are still to-be-announced, but some things are already for sure.  Sky lanterns will be provided for visitors, and so will food (at extra cost), as will the music of “floating vibes…slow dubby beats…psychedelic melody.”

The event planners see the festival as an opportunity to unite all attendees, using the surreality of the flying sky lanterns to create a peaceful sensitivity.  Just as sky lanterns symbolize worries floating up, up, and away!, they can also symbolize prejudices being cast aside.  On that Facebook page, “The Aim” is the following:

To forget the emphasis on differences. To help people become more tolerant and loving. To show our appreciation of fire (the greatest human discovery to date – fact). To share our admiration with the cosmos. To advance humanity. To make hundreds, if not thousands of great wishes.

Wadi Rum is a safe space for sky lantern launching, but if not thought out carefully and conscientiously, the activity could be very harmful to the environment.

If sky lanterns land on combustible vegetation, brush fires can blaze.  Electric trouble can be stirred if they fly into power lines.  They are a hazard to aircrafts, so the Cosmic Love Festival will only permit the lighting of lanterns after the last aircraft flying between Amman and Aqaba lands.

Mark your calendars for the Cosmic Love Sky Lantern Festival, if you’ll be in or near Jordan this fall!  The festival is avidly seeking promoters and sponsors…and also fireworks!  Getting involved is as simple as sending a message to cosmicloveslf@gmail.com.

Until the fun starts in late September, you can be transported there by watching this YouTube video.  The song, one of my favorites – “Cosmic Love” by Florence and the Machine – really befits the theme.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gJH22WNqyM[/youtube]

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Like the Gregorian year, the Islamic calendar is made up of 12 months, each around 29 to 31 days. Unlike the solar year which follows the sun, the Islamic year is a lunar one (and no we are not talking about moon dwellings!), following the moon in its orbit and creating a more fluctuating time. In this sense a lunar year is more in tune with the natural order of the planet.

Months are not linked to seasons but the value of passing life.

Lunar Vs Solar Calendar in Islam

For our astronomical readers, it is the Earth’s axial tilt that marks the seasons and hours of daylight.  The word “month” itself is derived from “moon,” essentially measuring one lunar cycle: the roughly 28.5 days it takes the moon to circle the earth.

Because each day the Earth is in a different position in relation to the moon, the lunar year feels shorter, shifting by about 10 days so that the seasons are never in the same quarter for more than 5 years.

Muslims have a scientific history of environmental pioneers who were resourceful and adept craftsmen. Astronomy was a key area which Greeks and the later Arab Muslims excelled in to measure space, distance and time. Exquisite mechanical clocks were carved to beautify the measuring of time, an area that 1001 Inventions from Islamic history is exhibiting worldwide.

With this need for efficiency and accuracy, the Saudi government is pushing for a standardised Islamic calendar, beginning with its unsightly clock tower. And we also see the never-ending debates over moon sightings to begin the next month.

In 2002 Hajj pilgrimage was performed in March during a warmer climate in Saudi Arabia. Ten years on and it has shifted ‘backwards’ to the beginning of November and come 2020, Hajj will hit during peak heat season in August. The keyword for that year – sunscreen (you can make your own organic sunscreen here).

The Hijri Calendar of Islam

Ten points for guessing when the Islamic calendar began… A clue is in the title!

But what you might not have known is that it wasn’t the demise of the Prophet Muhammad, nor his birth, that was commemorated as Year Number 1.

It was the migration (hijrah) of the first Muslims from Makkah to Medina to begin new life and establish the first Islamic state, which worked alongside Jewish and Christian communities in Madina, 622CE. And it was the convert Muslim Umar, (Omar) who went about to create the dating system some 16 years later (638CE), Wikipedia explains.

Islam, Environment and Hijrah – Then and Now

From the first Islamic state 1433 years ago in Madina to 2011, Muslim communities have proactively demonstrated that the ground upon which Islamic seeds have grown, is ecological. After all, as Green Deen author Ibrahim Abdul Matin believes, “the whole earth is a mosque”.

• ECO MOSQUES

The first mosque (Arabic, masjid), today more noticeable as the gleaming white Masjid al-Quba in Madina, was made from dry stones and built by the hands of Prophet Muhammad and his companions. As a place of cleanliness, Muslims were encouraged to wash at home, walk to the mosque to avoid (animal) congestion and pray on a dust-swept floor. This etiquette continues today while Quba mosque is surrounded by palm groves to remind worshippers of the grand pillar’s greener roots.

Further awarded eco-mosques have risen across the globe from Cambridge’s community garden mosque, the first eco-mosque in Europe, to a mud brick mosque in Mali, and the more recent plans for Qatar’s eco-mosques, fully installed with water savers and solar panelling.

But on the other hand, lavish buildings of worship have overshadowed Islamic sites like the Kabah in Makkah with nothing less than an industrial ugliness. So we have to ask, what happened to Islam’s environmentally friendly architecture?

• WASTE AND FAITH

Islam connected its teachings to controlled consumption and minimal waste. Islam has a relationship with water that outright exclaims if you’re using too much, you’re doing it wrong.

Men who ate too much were told to cut back and restore the hunger equilibrium. Women who threw out food were told to share meals with neighbours. When the ruling for the hijab (headscarf) came into action, poor women resorted to tearing extra fabric from their dresses to makeshift headscarves.

In 2010, an estimated 500 tons of food was wasted during Ramadan. Something’s got to give.

• HIJAB HEADS

When Islam unfolded its message, its laws were passed in stages. The first Muslims prayed facing Jerusalem, they did not wear the hijab and alcohol hadn’t been completely forbidden until the 5 daily prayers were set.

Muslims believe God was telling people to not jump into a renewable lifestyle with eyes shut. Islam wanted to take things the natural human way, sustainable and less fussy.
Fashionable hijabs are all the rage for contemporary Muslim women while the more fashion conscious experiment with eco-hijabs. Again, the message is to simplify and reduce waste.

• TERRORISM

Not always an easy subject to discuss but a real one nonetheless. Eco-terrorism and environmental sabotage has leaked its ways into many religious domains, with most of its media coverage falling on terrorist acts from Muslims. The European campaign Inspired by Muhammad was lead by eco-Muslim Kristiane Backer to expose and deal with this misperception, showing the mainstream and moderate environmental Muslims in action.

What Would Muhammad Do? Build a Green Bank Balance

Celebrations are a Muslim’s weakness. We like to party, we really want to “let our hijabs down” with our girlfriends (and we do), but apart from a sustainable Eid festival, and the remembered anniversary, Muslims do little to green up the new year.

So the Islamic new year is not so much a bang as it is a mellow hurray. We reflect, we pray and the Eco-Muslims amongst us recycle resolutions and plant trees.

There is more of an acknowledgement of the passing of time. We take the time to assess our annual actions as a kind of ‘green bank balance’. Did we meet our resolution(s), did we fund water pumps for third world countries, did we plant those trees as promised?

A quotable quote from the Quran sums up the Islamic new year in an allegory, “A good word is like a good tree, with firmly fixed roots and branches high in the sky” (14:24). So we may not have lived up the prophetic ideal of mud, rocks and astronomical genius, but like the seed that grows with patience and nurturing, Muslims have new time to go back to green.

Clever info:
CE = Common Era, or Christian Era, measuring time since the traditional birth of Christ.
AH = (AH = Anno Hegirae = year of the Hijra).
The Islamic year ended 26th November 2011, with the 27th November being the 1st of Muharram, 1433, the first Islamic month.

*Peace be upon him, a Muslim phrase used to bless historic prophets and figures. In Arabic: `alayhi salaam.

Image:: Thefacebeauty.co.uk

More on celebrating green faith:
Saudi Arabia Goes “Green” To Celebrate National Day
Sukkot, the Jewish Environment Holiday
7 Tips for a Sustainable Eid-ul-Adha Festival
Haifa Christmas Tree Made From Over 5,000 Recycled Plastic Bottles

The post About Hijri, the Islamic New Year appeared first on Green Prophet.

This past weekend, Ramallah celebrated what is believed to be Palestine’s first dedicated environment festival. Large-scale ‘green’ development has been making big news in Palestine recently. But this event was on a much more personal scale. According to organisers from community support organisation Juhoud, the Basateen (‘groves’ or ‘orchards’) festival attracted between 1,500 and 2,000 visitors, many of them schoolchildren and young people getting their first taste of environmental activities.

Stands, films and displays informed visitors to the festival about types of indigenous plants and their traditional uses, whilst agricultural and environmental experts gave children and their families and teachers first-hand information about Palestinian nature. If this sounds rather like a day at school, there were also theatrical performances on environmental themes, as well as music and dance. Like many other Palestinian takes on environmental education, the festival also engaged with wider issues in Palestinian society by basing itself at Star Mountain, a rehabilitation centre for disabled children. Star Mountain’s extensive woodlands just outside Ramallah provided the perfect setting for a celebration of the natural world.

According to Juhoud’s Diana Makhlouf, the festival was aimed at “raising awareness of environmental issues in the Palestinian community”. Looking particularly at the issue of biodiversity, Makhlouf says that “Palestine is distinguished by its plant diversity, which is related to its climatic diversity”, with hundreds of native species which often go unrecognised by urban children. Farmers and plant nursery owners were also encouraged to visit the festival to learn more about preserving and encouraging the natural environment in their everyday work.

The festival was also used to launch a seed bank project, helping to preserve Palestine’s native plant species for the future, and to provide a resource for farmers, environmental groups and other organisations wanting to grow indigenous varieties. Many Palestinian sustainability projects recognise the key role of farmers in creating a green Palestinian economy.

The festival attracted plenty of press attention, says Diana Makhlouf, with local and international Arabic TV and news organisations picking up on the story. But a major measure of success, says Makhlouf, is the amount of co-operation and involvement which Juhoud received from local children, organisations and the agricultural community. “We are planning to execute the festival in the coming years in different Palestinian governorates, so that the awareness would revolve around the whole motherland,” Makhlouf concluded.

Read more about the fight to protect biodiversity across the Middle East:
Biodiversity Under Threat At Yemeni ‘Alien-Island’
Jordan Reconsiders Deforestation Plans
Stay The Extinction Of Egypt’s Sacred Cats

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