Good evening
Ladies & gents... this will be by far my favorite post. Probably out of all I've written. You will get the chance to get a glimpse of paradise, two of the most beautiful places I have ever been to in my entire life - so far.
Mom, Haris, his best friend Kemal and I decided to go on a "little trip" and visit Mostar and Međugorje since those were the cities that I've always wanted to see - for a reason.
I've heard a lot about Mostar before, for several reason, one unfortunately being the war. There were two things I was most excited about:
• Number 1: The "bridge of Mostar".
I didn't knew she was called "Stari Most" until I was in Bosnia for the first time. When I was a child all I ever heard were 2 words "bridge" and "Mostar". I guess it always came on the radio. It's strange what kind of things you remember, I couldn't have been older than 3. I knew it was destroyed during the war and if you are from Germany or probably America you will know that there are all kinds of rumors surrounding especially Stari Most, the biggest being: they are still rebuilding it/they didn't rebuild it at all. Well, as you see above, they did. And it is beautiful.
Here are pictures of the bridge before the war and shortly after it.
(I guess 1995, from google)
In my opinion they did a pretty good job at rebuilding it. This bridge has by far more meaning than just connecting two riversides. It connects the predominantly Muslim part of the city with the predominantly Catholic part of the city. Imagine what not rebuilding it would have meant. It was considered (and still is) as the symbolic connection between "East and West", "Christianity and Islam" and even "Catholic and Orthodox Christians".
• Number 2: The Neretva.
See, I've read German author Juli Zeh's book "Die Stille ist ein Geräusch - Eine Fahrt durch Bosnien" (my sloppy translation: "Silence is a Sound - A Journey through Bosnia."). She tried to describe the color of the water, of the river Neretva. She comes to the conclusion that she has never seen a color like that and is not able to find the right words to "do it justice". The Neretva's color is just one of the questions she hopes to find answers to on her trip. At the end she comes back with a lot, not with an answer to any of her questions though.
"Wo wachsen die Melonen? Wie grün ist der Neretva-Fluss? Warum war hier Krieg? Wer hasst wen und wie sehr?" ("Where do the melons grow? How green is the Neretva-river? Why did the war start? Who hates whom and how much?")
I understand her. Of course I wanted to know whether what she said about the water was true. Whoever knows me knows that water has an extremely special meaning to me and I believe one of the reasons I consider Mostar and the area around it a sacred place is the color of the water, which is - extraordinary. No camera could ever be able to pick up that color, not really. It is almost surreal. That is why I have found a name for it, and mine is - as already mentioned - sacred.
I could go on and on and on about Mostar but I will just continue, with another - for me and many other - sacred place.
The topic "religion and me" is not always a good one and never easy. I am not at all a religious person but I am very much a spiritual one. I was raised as a Protestant and would say that out of all the World Religions Christianity is the one that personally suits me best - but even Christianity is not what I fully believe in, not at all. And believe me - I know a little about Religions. I read. I read everything I could get. I've read the Torah, the Bible, the Qur'an. I am still missing the Tripitaka and Veda - which I am actually most excited about. I would not talk about something I don't know ish about.
Personally I started to pick out what I liked and what makes most sense to me - still: Humans come before any saint or god.
Mostly I have been interested in Goddesses or rather in every little female character you can find in several different religions.
That mainly derives from my strong interest in Egyptian religion (I mean the ancient one - of course) and my love for Sue Monk Kidd. Her books deal with the Sacred Feminine in a lot of ways, especially "The Secret Life of Bees" containing the "Black Mary" and OF COURSE: "The Dance of the Dissident Daughter - A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine". After these books and even before, my strong interest in the Holy Mary became apparent - which is funny since mostly Catholics worship her. For me, the love a mother has for her child is the most natural thing on earth and in heaven (short explanation).
That's why I was so thrilled to go to a place of pilgrimage dedicated to the Virgin Mary. We didn't see all of it and didn't climb the mountain where children originally said they saw HER (which made this place so special for Christian (Catholic) pilgrims around the world). I definitely have to go back again. With more time.
Those are the main reasons why these two places out of all I have visited were probably the most special to me.
I'm sorry for my rather intimate ramble but I believe that you can still look up more "objective" and general information on the net, and of course everything else you should know.
You can always find a collection of important information on Wikipedia but there are also other, maybe not so objective pages like this one for Medjugorje.
When it comes to Mostar I find visitmostar quite helpful.
I will end this post with two quotes
***
>> Of everything that man erects and builds in his urge for living nothing is in my eyes better and more valuable than bridges. They are more important than houses, more sacred than shrines. Belonging to everyone and being equal to everyone, useful, always built with a sense, on the spot where most human needs are crossing, they are more durable than other buildings and they do not serve for anything secret or bad. <<
Ivo Andrić (for more information check my next post)
***
***
>> You don't have to place your hand on Mary's heart to get strength and consolation and rescue, and all the other things we need to get through life. You can place it right here on your own heart. Your own heart. <<
Sue Monk Kidd
***
• Number 1: The "bridge of Mostar".
I didn't knew she was called "Stari Most" until I was in Bosnia for the first time. When I was a child all I ever heard were 2 words "bridge" and "Mostar". I guess it always came on the radio. It's strange what kind of things you remember, I couldn't have been older than 3. I knew it was destroyed during the war and if you are from Germany or probably America you will know that there are all kinds of rumors surrounding especially Stari Most, the biggest being: they are still rebuilding it/they didn't rebuild it at all. Well, as you see above, they did. And it is beautiful.
Here are pictures of the bridge before the war and shortly after it.
(August 1974, from the German wikipedia article)
In my opinion they did a pretty good job at rebuilding it. This bridge has by far more meaning than just connecting two riversides. It connects the predominantly Muslim part of the city with the predominantly Catholic part of the city. Imagine what not rebuilding it would have meant. It was considered (and still is) as the symbolic connection between "East and West", "Christianity and Islam" and even "Catholic and Orthodox Christians".
• Number 2: The Neretva.
See, I've read German author Juli Zeh's book "Die Stille ist ein Geräusch - Eine Fahrt durch Bosnien" (my sloppy translation: "Silence is a Sound - A Journey through Bosnia."). She tried to describe the color of the water, of the river Neretva. She comes to the conclusion that she has never seen a color like that and is not able to find the right words to "do it justice". The Neretva's color is just one of the questions she hopes to find answers to on her trip. At the end she comes back with a lot, not with an answer to any of her questions though.
"Wo wachsen die Melonen? Wie grün ist der Neretva-Fluss? Warum war hier Krieg? Wer hasst wen und wie sehr?" ("Where do the melons grow? How green is the Neretva-river? Why did the war start? Who hates whom and how much?")
I understand her. Of course I wanted to know whether what she said about the water was true. Whoever knows me knows that water has an extremely special meaning to me and I believe one of the reasons I consider Mostar and the area around it a sacred place is the color of the water, which is - extraordinary. No camera could ever be able to pick up that color, not really. It is almost surreal. That is why I have found a name for it, and mine is - as already mentioned - sacred.
I could go on and on and on about Mostar but I will just continue, with another - for me and many other - sacred place.
The topic "religion and me" is not always a good one and never easy. I am not at all a religious person but I am very much a spiritual one. I was raised as a Protestant and would say that out of all the World Religions Christianity is the one that personally suits me best - but even Christianity is not what I fully believe in, not at all. And believe me - I know a little about Religions. I read. I read everything I could get. I've read the Torah, the Bible, the Qur'an. I am still missing the Tripitaka and Veda - which I am actually most excited about. I would not talk about something I don't know ish about.
Personally I started to pick out what I liked and what makes most sense to me - still: Humans come before any saint or god.
Mostly I have been interested in Goddesses or rather in every little female character you can find in several different religions.
That mainly derives from my strong interest in Egyptian religion (I mean the ancient one - of course) and my love for Sue Monk Kidd. Her books deal with the Sacred Feminine in a lot of ways, especially "The Secret Life of Bees" containing the "Black Mary" and OF COURSE: "The Dance of the Dissident Daughter - A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine". After these books and even before, my strong interest in the Holy Mary became apparent - which is funny since mostly Catholics worship her. For me, the love a mother has for her child is the most natural thing on earth and in heaven (short explanation).
That's why I was so thrilled to go to a place of pilgrimage dedicated to the Virgin Mary. We didn't see all of it and didn't climb the mountain where children originally said they saw HER (which made this place so special for Christian (Catholic) pilgrims around the world). I definitely have to go back again. With more time.
Those are the main reasons why these two places out of all I have visited were probably the most special to me.
I'm sorry for my rather intimate ramble but I believe that you can still look up more "objective" and general information on the net, and of course everything else you should know.
You can always find a collection of important information on Wikipedia but there are also other, maybe not so objective pages like this one for Medjugorje.
When it comes to Mostar I find visitmostar quite helpful.
I will end this post with two quotes
***
>> Of everything that man erects and builds in his urge for living nothing is in my eyes better and more valuable than bridges. They are more important than houses, more sacred than shrines. Belonging to everyone and being equal to everyone, useful, always built with a sense, on the spot where most human needs are crossing, they are more durable than other buildings and they do not serve for anything secret or bad. <<
Ivo Andrić (for more information check my next post)
***
***
>> You don't have to place your hand on Mary's heart to get strength and consolation and rescue, and all the other things we need to get through life. You can place it right here on your own heart. Your own heart. <<
Sue Monk Kidd
***
Yours,
Lea.
Mostar
Međugorje
