Name of Site: About.com Beliefnet
URL: about.beliefnet.com
Plug-Ins: Yes
Navigability: Easy
Graphics: Heavy, Good Quality
Internal Links: 60+
Review: Are you sick of spending yet another Christmas mindlessly following the herd around the shops, stuffing stockings, gobbling turkey and spamming your family and friends with Christmas cards? Maybe it's time to open your mind to the entire gamut of theistic rituals available to you on this blessed heavenly orb we call earth. Three wise men, a virgin and a donkey are just the tip of the sacramental iceberg, and Belief Net brings it all on in a no-gods-barred orgy of holy worship that would make the most liberal Taliban regime demand the execution of the webmaster, their family, friends and neighbours. Here Scientologists and Hindus sit alongside Baha'is and Buddhists, comparing and sharing their beliefs in the hope that all who visit may walk away more enlightened and tolerant of one anothers' views, maybe even participating in their respective rites and rituals. Admittedly it is only the more popular cults that are represented, but the coverage is comprehensive, with prayer circles, forums, guided meditations and a biblically proportioned menu of resources to help you through the festive season. Enlightenment through information overload. - SS
Rating: *****
Name of Site: The Official Kwanzaa Website
URL: www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org
Plug-ins: No
Navigability: Easy
Graphics: Low, Medium Quality
Internal Links: 20
Review: Way back in the last millennium, 1966 to be precise, in a time of great cultural change and activism, Dr. Maulana Karenga realised a need for people of African heritage the world over to reconnect with their spiritual roots and created Kwanzaa, the Swahili word for 'first fruits', a celebration of unity, self-determination, collective work, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith, that spans seven days - 26th December through 1st January. The idea has been growing ever since, establishing itself on the calendar as a vital affirmation of the African spirit, reconnecting with the past, providing hope for the future and strengthening family and community life. Read all about the rituals, the meditations, the symbols, food, colours, greetings and historical perspective. In only a few decades, with the deep commitment of its supporters, the festival has taken on a great reverence, since the values expressed, though only recently defined in this way, are ancient and deep. - SS
Rating: ****
Name of Site: Christmas.com
URL: www.christmas.com
Plug-ins: No
Navigability: Easy
Graphics: Low, Medium Quality
Internal Links: 6
Review: For those of you still hanging on to the notion that Christmas is a religious occasion, it's time to wake up and smell the mistletoe. Christ's big mass has its own dotcom! This site is a rather cynically devised lure to increase your yuletime spending, with more of a focus on chestnuts, eggnog, Santa and "Christmas Depot - The Largest Christmas Superstore on the Net". Hardly a mention of the Son of God, Peace on Earth, or spontaneous ovum fertilizations. There are a few redeeming features. They have tried to add the personal touch - My.Christmas.com - and allow people around the world to tell their tales of Christmases past, a global Christmas story navigator, a heap of carols for the devoted vocalist in us all and a bunch of background information to explain the phenomenon of Christmas and make you feel even more guilty if you don't max out the Visa card on the Christmas.com wish list. - SS
Rating: ***
Name of Site: Loy Kratong
URL: www.thailand.com/travel/festival/festivals_loykratong.htm
Plug-ins: No
Navigability: Easy
Graphics: Low, Medium Quality
Internal Links: 23
Review: Part of the Thailand.com portal, here is all the info you need about the romantic and beautiful Loy Kratong festival. On the twelfth full moon of the year, when the tide is high and the moon bright, the 'festival of light' brings the whole country out to float the lotus-like candle-bearing rafts down the river, paying homage to the Goddess of Water, thanking her for letting us use and abuse her rivers, and making wishes for a better life and long-lasting relationships. Recently new rules had to be introduced because the millions of "Kratongs" were clogging up and polluting the very rivers they were honouring, so the new environmentally friendly rafts continue to sail. This site could do with larger and better pictures, but the info is well presented, and combined with a host of travel options to entice you to drop in and share the joy of the "Loy" - SS
Rating: ****
Name of Site: Festivals of Bharat
URL: www.hindunet.org/festivals
Plug-ins: No
Navigability: Questionable
Graphics: Low, Medium Quality
Internal Links: 30
Review: Although rather disappointing from a web site point of view, with dead links and dead ends - not very conducive to a full-bodied spiritual experience - there is plenty of good information about the Hindu traditions in this section of the much larger HinduNet. Throughout the year harvests are reaped, junk is burned, bodies are submerged in rivers, and processions arranged in honour of the creation of new goddesses or in memory of the decapitation of heaven-sent Gurus and Avatars by Islamic overlords. The site gives details of how each festival began and also provides a range of links to other Hindu domains and sub domains that delve a little deeper into the practical application of rituals, in an attempt to keep the traditions relevant for new generations. It's all very colourful, fascinating and complex, it is no wonder Hinduism is much misunderstood, but it also explains why so many of us brought up on the Christian dogma are so attracted to these ancient beliefs and go trekking to the subcontinent in search of enlightenment. - SS
Rating: ****
Name of Site: Worldwide Jewish Web - Chanuka.com
URL: www.chanuka.com
Plug-Ins: Yes
Navigability: Easy
Graphics: Heavy, Medium Quality
Internal Links: 20
Review: What started as a repsonse to a serious defilement of rituals and traditions by marauding Greeks, and a subsequent miraculous oil-burning lamp episode that defied logic, as the oil lasted a good deal longer than expected, has developed over the years to become a highly ritualised occasion for spiritual reflection. Created by the World Wide Jewish Web, the site provides a colourful, informative and involving discourse into the history and practices of the Chanuka tradition. That combined with the opportunity to get your own Menorahs and Dreidels, send Chanuka postcards to loved ones, and cook and sing up a Chanuka storm makes for a pretty hectic schedule over the festive season. Follow the links to the huge Jewish portal connected with this site, and you'll be burning the candle at both ends to get the good oil on this major event on the Jewish calendar. - SS
Rating: *****
Name of Site: Ramadan
URL: www.islaam.com/ramadan
Plug-Ins: Yes
Navigability: Easy
Graphics: Low, Medium Quality
Internal Links: 22
Review: For the unitiated in the rites, rituals and musings of the Muslim faith, this site provides an easily digestible, if not mildly confronting (due to the sheer divergence of theistic traditions over the centuries) run down. For Musilms there are tomes of religious instruction, contemplation and motivational quotations guaranteed to fortify the mind and sanctify the soul with its constant gratitude and servitude to the omnipotent one. Having an empty digestive tract is an important part of attaining 'taqwaa', and you can find a large selection of texts explaining the significance of fasting, including an audio lecture. Follow the links back to the main page and discover a whole world of theological wonder the likes of which no late-night evangelist could ever dream of beholding. A few dead links, unfortunately, at the time of writing - let's hope Allah has been merciful, before this goes to print, and corrected the glitches. - SS
Rating: ****
Name of Site: The Holiday Spot
URL: www.theholidayspot.com
Plug-Ins: Yes
Navigability: Easy
Graphics: Medium, Medium Quality
Internal Links: 50+
Review: This site is one of probably thousands of virtual temples erected in the name of vacuous festivity. It contains a range of pan-religious celebratory dates and encourages visitors to click away sending virtual cards to all and sundry in profound and heartfelt celebration of, among others, Durga Puja, Diwali, Halloween and Cheese Pizza Day. Send in your favourite festive recipes, post a message, pick up some gift ideas, then while away your hours of worship downloading screen savers, wallpaper, jokes and games like all good devoted practitioners of spiritual enlightenment do. Yes, the magnificence of creation and our most humble place within this boundless universe has been reduced to being measured by clickthroughs to affiliates and pop-up casino windows. Halleluljah! - SS
Rating: *
Name of Site: The 8 Pagan Holidays
URL: www.witchvox.com/xholidays.html
Plug-Ins: No
Navigability: Easy
Graphics: Low, Good Quality
Internal Links: 60
Review: From the annals of The Witches Voice comes a lesson in the wheel of pagan life, spoked with equinoxes and solstices, naturally geared for the practise of rituals acknowledging the ever spinning cycles of birth and death, decay and renewal that our precariously poised and spinning planet has adopted. In a series of contributed essays, pagans reveal the origins of some of our more popular rituals and expose vistors to the earthy roots of the Christmas tree, Christmas carols with a Jethro Tull backbeat, and Santa with a sackful of herb. Mike Nichol's link goes into far more depth, as does the rest of the site, and upon reflection you may begin to see that perhaps all spiritual celebration is one and the same, and the rituals, though important to the individual performing them at the time, are all an expression of our gratitude for existing, and our hope for a better life as Gaia sets about yet another of her billion or so majestic journeys around our tiny little sun. - SS
Rating: ****
Name of Site: Schoolies Week
URL: www.schoolies.com.au
Plug-Ins: Yes
Navigability: Medium
Graphics: Medium, Good Quality
Internal Links: 12
Review: Being as we are at the opposite side of the globe from the crucible of religious revelation (not counting the arguably far more spiritually advanced indigenous understandings), our society is devoid of theological pomp and ceremony thus open to new and perhaps even more profound expressions of spiritual devotion than our antipodean cousins. Enter Schoolies Week! A once in a lifetime opportunity to experience rapture on a heavenly scale. Fuelled by overactive glands and overproof liqour, freedom from oppressive parental control, separated from the shackles of geographical familiarity and launched into a blissful state of perpetual indulgence aided by a fake ID and a Gold Coast business community prepared to turn a blind eye for the sake of your spiritual growth, your enlightenment is guaranteed. There will be much piercing of tongues, the occasional exorcism of satanic bile into the porcelain chalice, and for many a lucky local DJ, drummer, bouncer or barman, a chance to behold a blessed virgin. The path to bliss is made easy, with tours, accomodation and travel plans all taken care of by the Priests of Party, Break Free Travel. - SS
Rating: ****
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