♫ Highway to Hell ♫'s definitions

Seppuku

Ritual suicide by disembowelment carried out by samurai. Literally means "stomach cutting." The samurai committing seppuku would shove a dagger such as a tanto into their stomach while another samurai acted as their second by lopping off their head.

Seppuku is also reffered to as Harakiri

by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ July 8, 2011

Fumi-e

Japanese flat image of a Christian symbol, usually the crucifixion, designed to be stepped on. Suspected Christians were required to step on the representation of Jesus or the Virgin Mary to prove that they were not believers. At one point in Japan, Christians were persecuted by the Shogunate, because the Japanese feared that the influence of Christianity would make Japan too westernized. To be a Shintoist was to be loyal to Japan.

(fumi 'stepping-on' + e 'picture')

Fumi-e is pronounced "foo-mee-EH."

by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ July 25, 2011

Hinduism

Hinduism is a modern reference to the many religious paths of India deriving from the Persian word for an Indian. Hindus themselves now use the term, though it is more traditional to refer to the Sanatana Dharma—the Eternal Law. The religion is centered on the Vedas (the 4 Hindu holy texts) and the caste system related in it. Outside that core is a vast and rich world of texts, teachings, stories, rituals, behaviors, experiences, etc. A pious Hindu will rise early, to meditate on the god or goddess, pray and ritually bathe before the morning meal. Hinduism has many gods/goddesses such as Vishnu, Krishna, Shiva, Rama, and Kali, to name a few.

4 important goals in Hinduism are kama (pleasure), artha (wealth), dharma (duty and obligation), and moksha (liberation from samsara, the endless cycle of reincarnation).

by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ June 1, 2010

Sunni

The branch of Islam that accepts the first four caliphs as rightful successors of Muhammad.

Anyone who is a Sunni believes that any good Muslim man may be elected as the caliph. However, anyone who says there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad is the prophet of Allah, is a Muslim.

by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ May 25, 2010

Contagious Magic

A form of sympathetic magic based on the view that things once conjoined continue to influence each other when separated; thus magic performed on a lock of hair may affect the person from whom it came.

Contagious Magic is magic that attempts to affect a person through something once connected with him or her, as a shirt once worn by the person or a footprint left in the sand; a branch of sympathetic magic based on the belief that things once in contact are in some way permanently so, however separated physically they may subsequently become.

by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 4, 2010

Umayyad Dynasty

The caliphs resident in Damascus from 661 to 750 CE.

The Umayyad Dynasty was the first Muslim dynasty. The Umayyad house was one of the major clans of the Quraysh tribe. Technically, Uthman, the third "Righteous Caliph", was the first Umayyad caliph. During his tenure (644-655), he appointed members of his clan to various posts; in particular, Muawiya b. Abi Sufyan was given the governorship of Syria. Upon the accession of Ali to the caliphate, Muawiya refused to pay him allegience, and in 658 the Syrians acknowledged Muawiya as caliph. That same year he gained control of Egypt; following Ali's death in 661, he subdued Iraq and then formally established himself as caliph. The first line of Umayyads were the Sufyanids (descendants of Abu Sufyan) who ruled from 661- 684. Under Muawiya (661-680) the capital of the Muslim empire was transferred to Damascus. He is credited with raising a highly-trained army of Syrian soldiers which was used to expand Muslim authority east into Khorasan and west into North Africa. Muawiya also led excursions into Anatolia beginning in 672 which culminated in an unsuccessful three-year seige of Constantinople (674-677). He retained the administrative structures left by the Byzantines and Persians but consolidated his authority by appointing kinsmen to key posts. Before his death, Muawiya secured allegiance to his son, Yazid, thus introducing dynastic succession to Muslim rule.

by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 9, 2010

Phaethon

The son of Helios, the sun god.

Phaethon seeks assurance that his mother, Clymene, is telling the truth that his father is the sun god Helios. When Phaethon obtains his father's promise to drive the sun chariot as proof, he fails to control it and the Earth is in danger of burning up when Phaeton is killed by a thunderbolt from Zeus to prevent further disaster. The name "Phaëton" means the "shining” is also an epithet of Clymenus by Merope or Clymene and Lucifer the Morning Star Venus.

by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 4, 2010