Ba

Ba, symbol for the element barium.

In Judaism, a h1 bestowed on men who worked wonders and cures through secret knowledge of the names of God. The practice dates to the 11th century, long before the term was applied to certain rabbis and Kabbalists. They were numerous in 17th- and 18th-century eastern Europe, where they exorcised demons, inscribed amulets, and performed cures using herbs, folk remedies, and the Tetragrammaton. Because they combined faith healing with use of the Kabbala, they clashed with physicians, rabbis, and followers of the Haskala. Seealso Baaynal Shem Tov.

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(born June 3, 1899, Budapest, Hung.—died June 13, 1972, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.) Hungarian-born U.S. physicist and physiologist. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1947 and taught at Harvard University in 1947–66. He discovered that sound vibrations travel along a membrane in the cochlea in waves, peaking at different places, where nerve receptors determine pitch and loudness. His research resulted in greatly expanded understanding of the hearing process, partly through instrumentation Békésy had helped design, and the differentiation of forms of deafness, which permitted the selection of proper treatment. He received a 1961 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

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or Basra

Port and city (pop., 2003 est.: 1,400,000), southeastern Iraq. It lies at the head of the Shatt al-Arab, about 70 mi (110 km) upstream from the Persian Gulf. Founded in AD 638, it became famous under the aynAbbāsid dynasty; in The Thousand and One Nights it was the city from which Sindbad the Sailor set sail. In the 17th–18th centuries it became a trading centre. Occupied by the British in World War I (1914–18), the town and port underwent many improvements and grew in importance. After World War II (1939–45), the growth of Iraq's petroleum industry turned Al-Bassubdotrah into a major refining centre. It suffered heavy damage in the Iran-Iraq War (1980–90) and the Persian Gulf War (1990–91), and in the early 21st century it was a scene of fighting during the Iraq War.

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formerly Saigon

City (pop., 2004 est.: city, 3,452,100; 2005 est.: urban agglom., 5,065,000), southern Vietnam. It lies along the Saigon River north of the Mekong River delta. The Vietnamese first entered the region, then part of the kingdom of Cambodia, in the 17th century. In 1862 the area, including the town, was ceded to France. After World War II Vietnam declared its independence, but French troops seized control and the First Indochina War began. The Geneva conference in 1954 divided the country, and Saigon became the capital of South Vietnam. In the Vietnam War, it was the headquarters for U.S. military operations; it was captured by North Vietnamese troops in 1975 and renamed for Ho Chi Minh. Rebuilding since the war has promoted its commercial importance.

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orig. Nguyen Sinh Cung

(born May 19, 1890, Hoang Tru, Viet.—died Sept. 2, 1969, Hanoi) President (1945–69) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). Son of a poor scholar, he was brought up in a rural village. In 1911 he found work on a French steamer and traveled the world, then spent six years in France, where he became a socialist. In 1923 he went to the Soviet Union; the next year he went to China, where he started organizing exiled Vietnamese. He founded the Indochina Communist Party in 1930 and its successor, the Viet Minh, in 1941. In 1945 Japan overran Indochina, overthrowing its French colonial rulers; when the Japanese surrendered to the Allies six months later, Ho and his Viet Minh forces seized the opportunity, occupied Hanoi, and proclaimed Vietnamese independence. France refused to relinquish its former colony, and the First Indochina War broke out in 1946. Ho's forces defeated the French in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, after which the country was partitioned into North and South Vietnam. Ho, who ruled in the north, was soon embroiled with the U.S.-backed regime of Ngo Dinh Diem in the south in what became known as the Vietnam War; North Vietnamese forces prevailed over the south six years after Ho's death.

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Dievturība is a Neopagan religious movement; a modern revival of the ethnic religion of the Latvians before Christianization in the 13th century. Adherents call themselves Dievturis (singular Dievturi), literally "Dievs keepers", "people who live in harmony with Dievs".

The Dievturi movement was founded in 1925 by Ernests Brastiņš. Today, it is one of the main religious minorities in Latvia.

History

Dievturība started in 1925 and (as a reconstructionistic and folktruar movement) is primarily based on Latvian folklore, old folk songs (dainas) and mythology. By necessity, modern Dievturība differs from the historical Latvian religion. For example, there is no evidence that the Latvian pagans recognized a trinity of deities; in Dievturība, Dievs, Māra and Laima are a triune godhead.

Ernests Brastiņš (1892-1942) was the primary force in the early development of Dievturība. He was an artist, an amateur historian, a folklorist and an archaeologist. He documented many ancient Latvian temples and castles, writing the Index of Mythological Notions of Latvian Dainas. Dievturi Catechism is the main inspirational text of Dievturība.

Beliefs

Dievturība is essentially a pantheistic religion. Other deities are either aspects of the Dievs (the universe itself, the ultimate reality), or other types of non-deified spirits. In Dievturi theology, several triumvirates of deities and concepts are recognized.

• Gods of fate, the primary triumvirate
• Dievs – the primary god who emanates the others gods as aspects of himself
• Laima
• Māra
• Goddesses of water
• Jūras māte
• Ūdens māte
• Upes māte

Soul complex

• Human form
• velis – astral body
• miesa – physical form
• dvēsele – soul

The difference between the dvēsele (soul) and velis (the astral body) is a fine one. The dvēsele is eternal. It comes from Dievs (god) and will return to him after the death of the miesa. The velis stays near the body, gradually melting and disappearing over time similar to the concept of a ghost or the Greek shade. The end of autumn and the start of winter is accepted as the time of remembrance of dead ancestors. In the dark time of autumn people gave food for their dead relatives due to the "dying of nature" or as a thanks gesture for a good harvest during the summer.

References

• The Ancient Latvian Religion — DIEVTURĪBA - Exhaustive study-paper on the Dievturi movement.

See also

• Romuva (church)

External links

• Latvian Dievturi Church - main organizational body of Dievturība in Latvia.
• The Ancient Latvian Religion — DIEVTURĪBA
• Paper on the Fellowship of Baltic Native Religions