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I know why they don’t want to call it a Christmas Tree anymore!I know why they want to banish it from the public square! An evergreen is a symbol of eternal life; yet, it is cut down and nailed to two wooden members— reminding men of the Eternal Son of God Who was nailed to the Cross. It is topped with a star reminding men of the Bright and Morning Star or the Star of Bethlehem; or, it’s topped with an angel who announced and attended His birth; or, the bow— a love-knot binding the two: man and God together...

More Than 200,000 Animals Slaughtered at Nepal Sacrifice Festival November 24, 2009 Nov. 24: A butcher prepares to slaughter a buffalo with his knife during a mass sacrifice ceremony at Gadhimai temple in Bariyapur, Nepal. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus gathered at a temple in southern Nepal on Tuesday for a ceremony involving the slaughter of more than 200,000 animals, a festival that has drawn the ire of animal-welfare protesters. A Nepalese minister said it was the largest sacrificial slaughter of animals in the world. Animal rights groups and activists including the actress Brigitte Bardot have condemned the event, which...

If you're going to be in N.E. Florida this weekend, come visit! IT'S FREE! Just West of the SR16 & I-95 exit, off of CR208. look for the KFC, Agriculture Center Drive is the next left. Go all the way to the end.

Fr. Matteo Ricci Related articles: Paul's Missionary Journeys & Last VoyageThursdayThursdayThursday Venice, Italy, Sep 12, 2009 / 06:13 pm (CNA).- A new documentary on the life of Fr. Matteo Ricci, a pioneering Jesuit missionary to China, was screened at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday. The film is part of a revival of interest in Ricci, whom Pope Benedict XVI has called a model for a “fruitful meeting” between civilizations.The movie, directed by Italian filmmaker Gjon Kolndrekaj, was shot in China and Italy.Political and religious dignitaries from both countries attended the screening, ANSA reports. They included the Patriarch of...

The Crab Orchard Museum and Pioneer Park in the small town of Tazewell, Virginia, sponsors a July 4 festival every year, filling the Park area with displays, demonstrations, and re-enactors. For those who prefer the traditional ways, pictures have been posted.

FRUITA, Colo. – Recession. Unemployment. Swine flu. Now's the time for an inspiring story about one headless chicken's will to live. Residents of Fruita, a western Colorado town of 11,000, are holding their 12th annual festival this weekend for a chicken named Miracle Mike who, according to legend, lived 18 months after a farmer lopped off his head with an ax but left his brain stem, a jugular vein and one ear intact.

Reno -- On the windswept desert of northern Nevada, spring in one tiny town has been welcomed for years with a festival to a celebrated group of visitors - migrating loons. Perilously clumsy on land but graceful and sleek in water, the large birds with a haunting call used to descend on Walker Lake by the hundreds to gorge on a fishy feast of small tui chub before continuing their journey to who knows where. Not this year, and the reason is Walker Lake itself. Its water quality and levels have declined and along with them the rich bounty of...

LANCASTER [CALIFORNIA] - Poppies popped up Wednesday at Lancaster City Park. So did painted antelopes and ferocious-looking dinosaurs - all in preparation for this weekend's annual California Poppy Festival. "We've been planting poppy plants all week and will be planting about 500 plants today," said Jeff Campbell, recreation supervisor for Lancaster's Parks, Recreation and Arts Department. "And we'll probably be planting through Friday. "The tents for the festival started going up Monday and have been going up non-stop every day so far this week," Campbell said. "All told, we'll have about 175 tents. In the northwest area of the festival...

Arab singers will boycott a music festival in Jordan next month over claims it is being set up by the same company which organised Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations in May, a union leader said on Monday. The month-long Jordan Festival, due to open on July 8, will feature local and international artists including tenor Placido Domingo and jazz vocalist Diana Krall. But several Arab singers will boycott it after calls by Jordan's Islamist-dominated 14 professional trade unions, said Shaher Hadid, president of the Jordan Artists Association. Jordan's tourism board, however, denies that the company involved in the Israeli festivities is...

Planning an eco-friendly wedding just underlines how committed Jamie Hanson and Mark Hamlyn are to living an environmentally respectful life. "Sometimes we choose things that are not absolutely perfect, but we do our absolute best," says Hamlyn. An operations manager at Suncor in Fort McMurray with a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta, Hamlyn, 37, met Hanson while on the job. "He wandered into my office to thank the girl I shared an office with for recommending someone to hire and we got to talking," remembers Hanson. Hanson, 32, works for TransAlta Utilities, Suncor's partner, as manager...

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2008 – In celebration of Military Appreciation Month, more than 100 festival queens will gather in Opelousas, La., on May 10 for “Operation Rhinestone.” The ladies, ages 7 to 23, will record messages of support for a DVD the Thank You Foundation will send to troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout May. In addition to their verbal messages, each festival queen will write a note of support to be included with the discs. “We are very excited to be a part of this project,” said John Guinn, president and founder of The Thank You Foundation....

LANCASTER [California]- The flash of a smile, a flash of steel, a flash of skirt and a flash in the pan (actually a levitating table) got things started at Wednesday morning's press conference at City Hall to announce details of the 2008 California Poppy Festival. The annual event will take place Saturday and Sunday, April 19 and 20, at City Park, 43011 10th St. West. Mayor Henry Hearns smiled as he introduced Japanese swordsmen Michael Kazmer and Buddy Merritt of Araki Mujinsai Ryu Laido, who will perform at the festival. .... The swordsmen were followed by salsa dancers Zuly Zappala...

Cigar festival lights up Havana Cigar aficionados celebrate Cuba's tradition of fine cigar making at a week-long festival in Havana. One-third of the 400 million hand-rolled cigars sold in the world each year are Cuban, but they are banned in the United States under four-decade-old trade sanctions against Cuba's communist government.

Scottish festival bans 'American' Hallowe'en By Tom Chivers Last Updated: 3:31pm BST 26/10/2007 A Scottish Hallowe'en festival is banning "consumerist" pumpkins in favour of turnips. Jack O'Lantern: persona non grata north of the border The spooky celebration, at Scone Palace, Perthshire, is being organised by Scottish firm Herald Events as a riposte to the Americanisation of the traditional autumn festival, based on the ancient Celtic ritual of Samhain and co-opted by the Church. Speaking to the BBC, Jock Ferguson from the company said: "We will be having none of that pumpkin or trick-or-treat rubbish. "Pumpkins are banned and will not...

While other Northern Virginia locales have moved aggressively against illegal immigrants in recent months, the small city of Manassas Park has cut a different course. Its lawmakers have resisted pressure to adopt the tough measures approved in surrounding Prince William County and elsewhere, lashing back last month with a statement denouncing the "vigilante agenda" of anti-illegal-immigrant activists. So when Manassas Park announced that it had decided to cancel its third annual Latino Festival this month, the city said others were to blame for scaring away sponsors and spoiling the fun. "There is a bit of a shadow cast because of...

Red-heads welcomed at ginger festival By Bonnie Malkin and agencies Last Updated: 2:15am BST 10/08/2007 They are a frequent target for comedians and playground bullies, but red-heads have finally been offered some consolation. Model Lily Cole would get free entry to the event The National Botanic Garden of Wales has offered red-heads free entry to a festival celebrating the ginger plant. Organisers claims the event on August 26 will be the country's first ever "Ginger Family Festival". The day will celebrate the opening of the new Tropical House at the tourist attraction in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, which features many exotic...

ELDERON, Wis. --Around here, it may be tough to pass up anything deep-fried. Wisconsinites have deep-fried cheese curds, candy bars and Twinkies. They now have deep-fried livestock testicles, too. More than 300 people paid $5 for all-you-can-eat goat, lamb and bull testicles Saturday at the ninth annual Testicle Festival at Mama's Place Bar and Grill in Elderon in central Wisconsin.

A SUICIDE bomber who lured Iraqi pilgrims with cakes, and gunmen firing out of passing cars turned joyful preparations for a religious celebration into a day of carnage. At least 149 Shiite pilgrims were killed and more than 200 wounded in the attacks in Hillah, in southern Iraq, on Tuesday. The US military also announced an unusually high death toll of nine soldiers, including six victims of a huge bomb blast north of Baghdad. The deaths coincided with an optimistic assessment of his new Iraq strategy by the US President, George Bush. He told a veterans' gathering in Washington: "It...

SAPPORO, Japan - This year it was almost the Snow Festival that wasn't when an unexpected thaw struck opening day of the internationally renowned Sapporo ice sculpture fair. Blame it on climate change or just bad luck, but temperatures well above freezing and a steady drizzle reduced thousands of visitors to slushing through coffee-colored mud. They watched helplessly as the lovingly hand-crafted crystalline artworks withered away before their eyes. "I was really worried. Parts of the sculptures were falling off," said Masaya Ishikawa, chief of promotion at the Sapporo Tourist Association, which administers the event. February temperatures normally average -3.5...

You may remember MahonyFest 2006 with dread. The Religious Education Congress in LA showcases the cardinal's violations of liturgical norms, bad taste in music, gimpy wanna be pop stars and the oddest dancing this side of "Hair". Then there are the speakers, some of which make one wonder. Every day has a main speaker. On Saturday it's a priest specializing in "social justice". The Sunday address will be given by Jim Wallis. Who's Jim Wallis? Another "social justice" guy. Or rather, "socialist justice". A Protestant married to an Anglican priestess, he's as left as it gets. He founded the magazine...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 – The northwestern suburbs of Chicago will hold a Freedom Walk on Sept. 9 to remember the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and to honor the nation's veterans, past and present. "We just really feel that on this five-year anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, it's extremely important that we honor, in a very visible way, the victims of 9/11, … our military and our police and firefighters," Dirk Beveridge, the event's lead organizer, said. The walk will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Metra train station in downtown Barrington. The walk will be...

FAENZA, Italy - Environmentalists, foodies and travelers, unite! You have nothing to lose but your boring supermarket produce. The Festival of Forgotten Fruits — scheduled for Oct. 14-15 in the town of Casola Valsenio, Italy — is an event designed to bring attention to little-known and sometimes ancient varieties of wild fruit that are still cultivated locally. The festival will feature pomegranates, vulpine pears, rose apples, jujubes (also known as red dates or Chinese dates), quince apples, sorb apples, cornelian cherries and unusual types of berries, as well as medlars, which are used as an ingredient in desserts, jelly and...

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Ned Lamont, the Democratic challenger for U.S. Senate and several of his campaign staff workers were in the same crowd that a station wagon plowed into Saturday afternoon during the city's annual Sailfest. Lamont was not injured, said a campaign spokeswoman, but three of the staffers were treated for various injuries. In all 27, people were injured in the incident. Lamont, who is challenging three-term incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Aug. 8 primary, was campaigning at festival, said spokeswoman Liz Dupont-Diehl. "Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was hurt," Dupont-Diehl told The Associated...

Black Cultural Festival cancels event for this year The sponsoring group for the 24-year-old celebration comes up short of money to put on the event, but promises to return. By Laura Dempsey Staff Writer The shoestring budget of the Dayton Black Cultural Festival snapped this year, forcing the board to cancel the popular, 24-year-old summertime event. "This is a huge loss for the community," said Linda Hudson, executive director of the Dayton Black Cultural Festival. "The decision was made a couple of weeks ago, because we just don't have the money and couldn't get enough sponsors. We still owe some...

LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 21, 2006 – Kentucky's largest city today formally joined the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program on the eve of "Thunder Over Louisville," an annual air show and festival that culminates with the world's largest fireworks display. America Supports You spotlights the efforts of the American people, the corporate sector and municipalities to show their support for men and women serving in the nation's armed forces. At a morning news conference, Louisville Mayor Jerry E. Abramson presented Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Allison Barber with a proclamation he had signed declaring today "America Supports You Day" here....

Revelers call for anti-Islamic Regime demonstration on Wednesday March 15th at 7pm Iran Time (GMT +3:30). Farsi language radio station KRSI in Los Angeles took calls live this Tuesday morning from people gathered in the streets in Iran and broadcasted them live to listeners all over Iran. Despite a total ban by the Islamic regime against celebrating an ancient Zoroastrian festival, traditionally on the last Wednesday of the Persian Year, by jumping over lines of smallish tumbleweed bonfires and chanting "your redness to me, my yellowness to you", crowds ignored the edict. And faced up to the attacks from the...

HAVANA (AFP) - More than a thousand cigar lovers from 60 countries ringed the center of the cigar universe in Havana, comparing notes and celebrating Cuba's finest smokes. Distributors, specialists and simple aficionados packed opening day of the Eighth Habanos Festival, an annual event sponsored by Habanos, a global distributor of the esteemed Cuban cigar. British actor Joseph Fiennes was among a hundred celebrities on hand for the festivities, dedicated this year to Habanos' leading brand, Cohiba. The presence of the 36-year-old actor at the event, who played the lead of Will Shakespeare in the 1998 film comedy "Shakespeare in...

LIU CHUNXIAO and his partner were calm when police shut down the opening of China’s first gay and lesbian culture festival yesterday. Mr Liu may be 19 but he is more than familiar with sexual discrimination.

NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2005 – Servicemembers, veterans and supporters of the people past and present who have worn the nation's uniform packed the historic Roseland Ballroom here Nov. 11 for a night of music and a celebration of freedom. The American Freedom Foundation's 2nd annual American Freedom Festival brought together a variety of entertainers who donated their talents to raise money and awareness for veterans organizations. The foundation places special emphasis on the welfare and education issues facing those wounded in action, amputees, and the families and children of servicemembers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Retired Sgt. Maj. Of...

Tens of thousands of evangelical Christian youths, families and leaders from more than 800 area churches will converge on the District Saturday and Sunday for the D.C. Festival, with music, activities and faith. The free festival is open to Christians and non-Christians alike, said organizer Luis Palau, an Argentina-born evangelical minister whom some call the "new Billy Graham." "We want people to realize that following Jesus is a normal part of everyday life," Mr. Palau told The Washington Times. "Symbols become passe and people would instantly turn it off. We want to draw in people who would be turned away...

The throngs of "anti-war" marchers heading to DC to attend the September 24th rally don't know that they are being used. CodePINK and United For Peace and Justice are both prodigy of Global Exchage, the 501(3)c non-profit formed by Global's Medea Benjamin. It's the "Benjamins For Benjamin Weekend"!. Using the attraction of a Hate America event to lure attendees, Code Pink's Medea Benjamin's cash cow, Global Exchange, has scheduled one of it's "Green Festivals" for the same weekend and is running it in competition with the anti-war events scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. How convenient? How many people will...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (August 19, 2005) -- Lance Cpl. Jason L. Johnson jumped off the stage and into the moonwalk. His popping moves, gyrating hips and captivating smile prompted laughter from the crowd as he unconsciously danced to Michael Jackson's 'Thriller.' He tossed his hat to the side, flared his leg, popped his hips and stood on his toes. He smiled into the audience he didn't realize was there. The hypnotized victims of Paul LeBlanc's demonstration were guests at the depot's annual Marine Corps Community Services-sponsored Bayfest 2005, Saturday. During the demonstration, volunteers performed dances for...

Witnesses from dozens of countries, including Colombia, Vietnam and communist-led Cuba, argued their cases against the alleged "imperialist" foreign policies of the United States before the jury. Thousands of young men and women from leftist groups participating in the world youth festival cheered when the judge on Sunday read the verdict ending the two-day trial: "Condemned, for crimes against humanity." "We declare President George W. Bush in particular as guilty, of being directly responsible for the crimes," said Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel as he continued to read the verdict. The mock trial was part of the festival, hosted...

DUBLIN (Reuters) - A wild mountain goat was crowned King of Ireland on Wednesday in an ancient annual ritual whose origins are lost in the mists of history. For three days, Charlie, a grey male goat with brown trimmings, will reign over this year's Puck Fair -- one of Ireland's oldest and best-loved street festivals -- in Killorglin, in the southwestern county of Kerry. "Nobody really knows how it came about or when," said Jean Kearney, a spokeswoman for the festival, which is expected this year to attract more than 100,000 visitors for a marathon of music, drinking and dancing....

Wake! For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight The Stars before him from the Field of Night, Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light Portland, Oregon -- So begins The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, one of the best-known poems in the world and perhaps the most famous piece of Persian literature. The several hundred quatrains that make up this enduring 11th century work have been translated into dozens of languages and inspired countless readers and scholars with their beauty. At least nine editions of The Rubaiyat are currently in print...

'City of Whales' to regain former glory with festival, museumBy Kim Tae-shikSEOUL, June 16 (Yonhap) -- Ulsan, an industrial city and symbol of Korea's modernization, was originally known for its whales and rich cultural legacies that harked back to more primitive ages. Although the city 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul has been transformed into an industrial hub with world-class Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hyundai Motor Co., Ulsan was a center for Korea's whaling industry until 1986, when commercial whaling was banned around the world to protect the biggest mammal on Earth. A farmers band perform in front of the...

Michael Moore has taken a page from Robert Redford's playbook and has set up his own version of the Sundance Film Festival. He's calling it the Traverse City Film Festival, and the first opening is scheduled for July 2005. Moore lives near the festival town in northern Michigan. The schlockumentary maker claims that his politics are not a factor in the selection of cinema for the debut event. Included in the festival lineup are some non-Moore movie classics like "Jaws," "The Princess Bride," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Casablanca." Still, Moore has an array of flicks that are guaranteed to...

A large scale snow statue depicting Japan's Nagoya castle. Visitors gather around a snow sculpture depicting South Korean actor Bae Yong-joon. The illuminated old City Hall of Leipzig, Germany.

Phuket Gay Festival set to earn Bt100 million PHUKET, March 19, (TNA) – The pink baht will help revive the tsunami-damaged tourism industry on the southern island of Phuket next month when over 5,000 homosexuals from across the world descend on the island for the province’s 6th annual Gay Festival. According to Mr. Chanok Kaewsrinual, head of the Phuket Gay Association, the festival on Patong Beach on 7-10 April will include a range of events, including the unmissable drag parade. This year the event will take on particular significance, as it will be seen as a means of reviving the...

January 30, 2005 -- PARK CITY, Utah - There was plenty of shock and awe at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Sundance screens were awash in semen, and all other kinds of bodily fluids, as audiences were treated to graphic scenes of rape, castration, dismemberment and sex acts that crossed the threshold of almost every imaginable taboo - sometimes by performers who will be too young to attend these movies when (or if) they make it into theaters.

LONG BEACH, Calif., Dec. 7 -- All those accusations of unwelcome gropes in hostile work environments? A distant memory of a recent unpleasantness, it seems. Because when the actress Jamie Lee Curtis introduced California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at his Conference on Women and Families here on Tuesday, the audience of 10,000 -- about 9,995 of them female -- gave the Republican action hero a standing ovation. "Welcome to the estrogen festival!" announced Curtis, who described her co-star in 1994's "True Lies" as a caring, compassionate gal pal who gets it. "He is," Curtis sighed, "the ultimate girlie man." When...

"...and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation, let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise." Gov. William Bradford, 1640's That is my favorite passage from Bradford's Journal. Two decades after the famous landing of the Mayflower, Bradford sat down to write of Pymouth Colony, in a family journal to pass on to his descendants, relating the period of time from the first beginnings in England, their sojourn in Holland, and their first 20 years in New England. Little did...

Ten new conservative documentary films to be released in the next two weeks...Plus a feature film. Never before has the conservative movement brought it's message so effectively as in these new films. Now you have an opportunity to educate your family and friends. Come to the film festival and/or order a DVD of these films. We need to invest in the future of conservative film. Check out their trailers... Join us at the Liberty Film Festival, Hollywood CA October 1-3, 2004. Many of these films plus others will be shown. FAHRENHYPE 911 Unraveling the Truth about Fahrenheit 9/11 & Michael...

I was extremely lucky to be part of history earlier this month, when America’s first conservative film festival took place in Dallas, Texas. The American Renaissance Film Festival was scheduled for the third anniversary weekend of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and it was a fitting tribute. I was there to accompany my mother, Mara Wallis, whose documentary, Entertaining Vietnam, screened at the festival. Vietnam loomed large at the festival, thanks in great part to John Kerry who foolishly built his whole presidential campaign on a house of cards. In a weird way, we can thank Kerry for finally allowing Vietnam...

CHESTERTON, Ind. (AP) - Two top Munchkins won't be taking the Yellow Brick Road to Chesterton's annual Oz Festival this month because of a contract dispute. Jerry Maren, who played the Lollipop Kid in "The Wizard of Oz," and Karl Slover, who played the First Trumpeter in the 1939 musical, have been regular attendees at past festivals in the town about 15 miles east of Gary. But the two former Munchkins were "disinvited" this year following a flap over their agent's request that organizers pay his travel expenses, said Karen Spallina, president of Lakeshore Festival and Events. Two other former...

Some officials think Lumberjack Days getting out of hand The boozing and brawling at Stillwater's Lumberjack Days festival grew so rowdy Saturday night that nearly 50 police officers could barely keep up, leading three City Council members to say the city should tone down next year's event.

INDIO, Calif. (AP) - Tens of thousands of music fans descended on this California desert town Saturday, despite sizzling temperatures, for a two-day music festival featuring more than 80 rock, rap and other acts. Organizers of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival anticipated crowds of around 50,000 people on each of the two days of performances on the grassy grounds of the Empire Polo Field. Fans tried to keep cool as the midday temperature reached 90 degrees by huddling in shade under large open-sided tents. "I'm drinking a lot of water and trying not to think about it," said...

River City: Ohio Blues Competition at its Finest March 7, 2004 by Bob Orndoff Cambridge, OH Well it's so cold up north, that a bird can hardly fly Now you know I'm goin' back down south, let this winter pass on by (Muddy Waters) So, following Muddy’s advice, I headed south on I-77 from Cambridge to the River seeking a small measure of relief from winter’s perils. Eureka!---I found it. The River City Ohio Blues Competition held its twelfth annual event in Marietta on Saturday Feb. 21, at the Lafayette Hotel. I’ve been fortunate to be able to attend five...

Robbie Robinson doesn't look like many of the other vendors selling jewelry and crafts at the Ormond Beach Native American Festival. The fair-skinned Robinson is only one-eighth Cherokee, but she has embraced the culture as her own. "It's what's in your heart," says Robinson, 57, who lives in Hot Springs, Ark., and travels to powwows throughout the Southeast selling Native American spiritual items, art and jewelry. -snip- But not everyone shares their enthusiasm. Some full-blooded Native American skeptics sharply criticize those who claim to be American Indian. Some of these wannabes, these critics say, just want the social programs and...