Day 48 10/29/11 – Saturday

GO BIG RED!!!  Way to pull out a victory!!!

That is really the biggest news today- but I do want to share something else.  My Gramma sent me an email today with some questions about Macedonia, and with her permission I have put her question and my response below-  I felt like it was information you all might be interested in knowing!  Thanks Gramma for asking :)

In some of the other pictures of mosques, I noticed the round towers like the ones on this building.  Is there some purpose for them? 

You asked some questions about the churches that I do not have answers for, at least not yet. But I will tell you what I know.  Being a country with both Muslims and Orthodox religions being present, I get to see a lot of different churches and mosques.  When we have traveled to different cities, the places that we visit are the churches or the mosques because 1. they are all so unique and beautiful  2. it is the main part of the community.  I am sure I will have MANY pictures of different places of worship when I get home :)  As for the mosques- the tall towers are called minarets.  This is where the call for prayer occurs. Five times a day, the Muslims are called to prayer and the muezzin who is appointed to be the prayer caller. It use to be that the muezzin would go to the top of the minaret and call prayer from there, but now it is done with speakers and I am not sure if they still go up the minarets and call from there.  I do hear the prayer calls from my dorm room when the wind is right. If I am out in the community I definitely hear the calls.  I also have learned that they are different types of minarets. Now that seems obvious because they are all a bit unique, but their structures are similar or have similar characteristics. The two types represent which group or culture pays for or supports the mosque. Meaning is it Arab or Islamic. I don't know which is which yet though.
As for the Orthodox churches- I have not learned much about their architecture and reasons behind it. I have been inside them and there are not typical pews like we think of in church, it is open, and the alter sits near the center. There are places for people to sit around the edges of the inside.  The paintings on the insides are BEAUTIFUL and unique to each church.  I did find a website that explains more about Orthodox church structure, but it is a generic site and not just about Macedonia. I will keep asking questions and share what I learn!

Lesson:  Nebraska secondary Rocked!