HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON!

Today is my sister's birthday!
Much like my mom's birthday, I wish I could be there to celebrate with you. However, I have found that there are celebrations that go on worldwide. Obviously, there will be much happiness in Canada and Singapore, but check this out:

Abu Simbel Festival
(Twice every year, in February and October)

Ramses II, in a fit of precision and despotic architectural egotism, carefully angled his temple at Abu Simbel so that the inner sanctum would light up twice a year: once on the anniversary of his rise to the throne, and once on his birthday. The combination of human endeavour and natural phenomena provides what must be one of the most spectacular sights in the world.

Crowds pack in to the temple before sunrise and watch the shafts of light slowly creeping through the stone. Eventually, statues of Ramses, Ra and Amun are illuminated in the inner sanctum (the statute of Ptah - the god of darkness - remains in the shadows). When they have recovered their breath, spectators can join celebrations outside, including a fair and music demonstrations. However, nothing can really impress you immediately after witnessing such a sight.

The Abu Simbel temple was built by Ramses II (1279-1213 BC) to demonstrate his political clout and divine backing to the ancient Nubians. On each side of the temple, which was carved into a sandstone cliff overlooking the Second Cataract of the Nile, sit a pair of colossal statues of him, more than 65 feet tall. Though the statues have been damaged in earthquakes since their construction, they remain an awe-inspiring, tremendous sight. The temple is aligned to face the east, and above the entrance sits a niche with a representation of Re-Horakhty, an aspect of the sun-god.

In the early 1960s the entire temple was moved to higher ground, a task requiring considerable international engineering resources, when the Aswan Dam caused the Nasser lake to rise and inundate the area. For this reason, the sun now strikes a day later than Ramses had originally planned, though the event itself is no less stunning.

Happy Birthday Allison!

love you

Mike