Friday, April 16, 2010

Mother Teresa Memorial House

Mother Teresa (26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), born Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (Agnes Gondza Bojadziu), was a Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in 1950.

Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu was born on 26 August 1910, in Skopje, capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Although she was born on August 26, she considered August 27, the day she was baptized, to be her "true birthday." Her father Nikola, died in 1919 when she was eight years old. 


In her early years Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service, and by age 12 was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life.She left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. She never again saw her mother or sister.


The Memorial house of Mother Teresa is non profit organization financed by the Government of Republic of Macedonia.

The Location of the museum is not randomly chosen. That is to say, on this exact place the old Catholic Church “Sacred heart of Jesus” used to stand. It is where Mother Teresa, then Gonxha Bojaxhiu was baptized just one day after her birth, on the 27th of august 1910, place where she received her first communion and where she find her inner peace after her father’s death.


This place had a great importance and influence on developing of the character of young Gonxha and to her desire to help the poor people. Since she was a child she sang in the Catholic Church choir and participated in charity organizations. Somehow the location itself represents a symbolic bridge that connects little Gonxha to one of the greatest humanitarian of the world, Mother Teresa.


The desire to pay respect to one the most famous person and Nobel Prize winner from Macedonia was accomplished on the 30-th of January 2009 with the opening of the Memorial house dedicated to Mother Teresa. 


The next day, on January 31, 2009 the Memorial house of Mother Teresa was formally promoted in front of several hundred of people. For this special occasion the Catholic Church brought a relic of Mother Teresa.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sculptures in the city center Vol.1

Here are some of the sculptures in the city center of Skopje, the capitol of Republic of Macedonia. 

The sculptures are situated on the main pedestrian street Macedonia and the national plaza Macedonia.

Enjoy the view.








Monday, April 5, 2010

Night before Easter in Skopje, Macedonia

The night before Easter, Macedonians gathered together in the local churches to attend the Easter liturgy. The central feast was in the Apostolic Church St. Clement Ohridski (македонски: Св. Климент Охридски) where people massively gathered.

Easter is the central religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. 



Some Christians celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday (also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday), two days after Good Friday and three days after Maundy Thursday. 

  
Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of fasting, prayer, and penance.

Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the vernal equinox.

  
 Macedonian Orthodox Church bases its calculations on the Julian Calendar whose March 21 corresponds, during the twenty-first century, to April 3 in the Gregorian Calendar, in which calendar their celebration of Easter therefore varies between April 4 and May 8.

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar.


Easter egg "battles" are tradition among Macedonians. After midnight ans Christ uprising, the believers are "fighting" trying to discover who has the strongest Easter egg.