REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

Hamsa Hands: Gifts from Israel

When I was buying gifts to bring back home during my February pilgrimage trip to Israel, I included five gifts to myself among 20 or so that I purchased. One was a hand carved rosewood rosary from Bethlehem, a beautiful plaque of the sixth station of the cross (Veronica wipes the tears from Jesus's face), a small plaque from Bethlehem's Milk Grotto near the Church of the Nativity, and two metal hamsa hands in cobalt blue. 

This a five inch amulet of a hamsa hand. 

About: The hamsa is an ancient Middle Eastern amulet symbolizing the Hand of God. In all faiths it is a protective sign. It brings it's owner happiness, luck, health, and good fortune.

The hamsa hand is known by many names—hamsa, hamsa hand, hamesh, hamesh hand, khamsa, and chamsa. It is also called the Hand of Miriam, named for Moses and Aaron’s sister, Hand of Fatima. There are two main styles of a hamsa hand: the most popular is the stylized hamsa hand with two symmetrical thumbs, but there are also hamsa hands that are not symmetrical and shaped like actual hands.

Either hamsa hand can be worn with the fingers pointing up or down, and both are believed to offer its owner happiness, peace, and prosperity, as well as protection from the ayin ha'ra, or the evil eye. The renewed interest in Kabbalah and mystical Judaism has brought the hamsa pendant back into vogue, and many artists are using the image of the hamsa hand in various aspects of their art including hamsa jewelry, paintings, sculptures, wall hamsas, and amulets.

Origin: Although the hamsa hand has been symbolic in Islam and Judaism for centuries, archeological digs in the Middle East provide evidence that the hamsa pre-dates these religions and originated with the Phoenicians and was used as a protective symbol for an ancient Middle Eastern goddess. The hamsa hand has always been associated with a female entity offering protection from evil and misfortune.

When I had traveled in Greece and Turkey three years ago, I don't remember seeing hamsa hands, or maybe they weren't on my radar screen. Evil eye amulets were everywhere in both countries, however, and hamsa hands usually have an eye in the center. I found out that belief in the evil eye is very old. It is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible and references to it appear in cuneiform texts of the Sumerians dated to 3000 BC.(How about that knowledge for Trivial Pursuit?)

I purchased this one from a small gift shop inside the old city of Jerusalem from a small shop right outside the Jaffa Gate. Here I am with the two men working in the shop that day who were joking with all the women tourists about ways they might come to America. 

As some of you know, I collect cobalt blue glass and both the hamsa hands I purchased, were in that color. 

This hamsa hand is keychain size and it is my plan to incorporate it into a mixed media art piece of some sort. The larger one is hanging with my other sacred objects on a wall next to my bed. 

Have you heard of or do you have different variations of hamsa hands? A Google search showed hundreds of pieces of jewelry available as well as stylized wall hangings. 

 

 

 

Postcards from Paradise: Bethlehem and Jerusalem

Rebecca at Recuerda mi Corazon has offered a new Sunday challenge she is calling Postcards from Paradise. Some of you who read here regularly know that I returned a week ago from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where I took more than 500 photos. I've been posting entries as I debrief my trip. It was a life changing experience for me on many levels and it will take me the rest of my life to even begin to assimilate it.   

Here are a few photos from Israel that aren't as touristy as some, but that really spoke to me about life simply happening no matter where you are. 

This photo of a shepherd near Ruth's Field Restaurant in Palestine's Shepherd's field really struck me. I shot it through the restaurant window. I'll have to admit that had I been outside, the shepherd was asking for money if you took his photo. Everybody has to make a living, yes? 

And this includes Ruth herself. Her restaurant serves the best falafel I've ever eaten in my life. 

The food, mostly Mediterranean, was plentiful everywhere we stayed--and healthy. So, between all the exercise and the good food, I actually lost weight on this trip. 

We stayed five nights at the Knight's Palace, Latin Patriarch, inside the walls of Jerusalem, a classic pilgrim's hotel. It was just inside the New Gate and the wall itself could be seen in our patio. The second day we were there, a hoard of Russian orthodox tourists joined us for meals. I had brought my iPad and each night before dinner I checked my e-mail, and so did Fr. Ray. Yes, the hotels all had wi-fi. Ljudmila, one of the Russian tourists, plunked herself next to Mary Lou and me. She spoke no English and we spoke no Russian, but she managed, with the iPad, to show us where she lived in Russia--and to show us where she would be going next in Jordan. We all exchanged e-mails and it really touched me that our paths had crossed thousands of miles from our homes. 

In our patio was this Peace Pole which the school I work at also has displayed in one of our gardens near my office. You can see a peek of the Jerusalem wall at the top of the photo. When we took the Ramparts walk around Jerusalem on the top of the wall we could see directly into our patio and our rooms on the garden level.