The religious art and celebration don’t stay inside the churches

Whenever I think I have heard the most bizarre "story" of a miracle, another one crosses my path. I found my most recent favorite in an article about stained glass windows.

The thousand year old Romanesque Grossmunster Cathedral in Zurich was built on the site of an unusual miracle. In the year 286 Saint Felix, Saint Regula and Saint Exuperantius were decapitated for defending their faith. They picked up their heads and climbed to the top of a hill where they buried themselves. Charlemagne is supposed to have selected the site for his church when his horse bowed down there.

In Mexico, the religious art and celebration don’t stay inside the churches. Cholula has more religious festivals every year — about 400 — than any other town in Mexico. The town is distinct because its social system, based on separate neighborhoods, is still functioning strongly, and each neighborhood, or barrio, still celebrates its own saints day with one or as many as 20 festivals featuring food, music, religious processions and of course fireworks. On important holidays such as Good Friday, the streets in the center of town are closed down and carpeted with flowers for the parades.

From the steps of the Iglesia de los Remedios de Cholula a 17,900-foot volcano, known to the Aztecs as Popocatépetl, or "Smoking Mountain". According to Aztec legend, Iztaccíhuatl's father sent him to war in Oaxaca, promising him his daughter as his wife if he returned (which Iztaccíhuatl's father presumed he would not). Iztaccíhuatl's father told her that her lover had fallen in battle and she died of grief. When Popocatépetl returned, and discovered the death of his lover, he committed suicide by plunging a dagger through his heart. The gods covered them with snow and changed them into mountains. Iztaccíhuatl's mountain was called "La Mujer Dormida, (the "Sleeping Woman"), because it bears a resemblance to a woman sleeping on her back. Popocatépetl became the volcano Popocatépetl, raining fire on Earth in blind rage at the loss of his beloved.

When I first visited Cholula, Mexico I was shocked to realize that the town market is open 365 days a year. Tomorrow is Mother's Day here in the USA. I hope my readers everywhere take a moment tomorrow (and any day for that matter) and offer a kind word or token of appreciation to those women who are the backbone of our society.

While not a qualifying ride for the Tour de France, the Tour De Cure is a noteworthy cycling event. All across the United States 30,000 riders become reacquainted with their bicycles. For some, it's just a matter of grabbing a few power gels and a bag of granola, filling a Camelback with water and heading out for a 100 mile ride. For others, it's trying to find tubes to fix the flats and WD 40 to dissolve the rust accumulated on the chain while the bike sat in the garage since the last Tour. Most riders are somewhere in between Fit and Desperate. My next ride will be along the shore of the old fishing town Gloucester, Massachusetts. If you would like to donate to our efforts as a sponsor, you may do so online: ADA sponsor page for the E Team. Each mile I ride, each dollar I raise will be used in the fight to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. No matter how small or large, your generous gift will help improve the lives of more than 20 million Americans who suffer from diabetes, in the hope that future generations can live in a world without this disease. Together, we can all make a difference! Thank you for making a generous contribution to this cause that is so important to me!

You may enjoy reading: M'Lady, I make myself your prisoner.

The creature, called Swamp Thing, was originally conceived as Alec Holland mutating into a vegetable-like creature, a "muck-encrusted mockery of a man". However, under writer Alan Moore, Swamp Thing was reinvented as an elemental entity created upon the death of Alec Holland, with Holland's memory and personality intact. He is described as "a plant that thought it was Alec Holland, a plant that was trying its level best to be Alec Holland."

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing had a profound effect on mainstream comic books, being the first horror comic to approach the genre from a literary point of view since the EC horror comics of the 1950's, and broadened the scope of the series to include ecological and spiritual concerns while retaining its horror-fantasy roots.

Waldo County, situated in mid-coast Maine along scenic Penobscot Bay, has genuine New England character evidenced by working port towns and quaint rural villages. Visitors are awed by the area's unspoiled beauty. From striking coastal views to sweeping mountain vistas, dramatic natural settings abound. In addition great care has been taken to preserve and refurbish numerous historic landmarks, homes and buildings. Consequently, the Maine of yesteryear is still found here.

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