Adventures in China: Temples and Camels and Mosques, Oh My!

Staying in Beijing and Xian has given us the wonderful opportunity to visit some beautiful ancient places of worship.

During our last day in Beijing, we visited the Lama Temple, a beautiful Buddhist Lamasery built during the Qing dynasty. Side note: It was remarkable how many times I sang the A.P. World History Chinese dynasty song in order to have some inkling on the relative ancientness of a certain ancient site.

Although the Temple is still in use as a monastery and place of worship, tourism had an overwhelming presence and manifested itself in the crowds of people and cameras wherever one turned. Each visitor was given a complimentary bundle of incense sticks to burn at various locations. Although we were told only to burn three sticks, there were quite a few people going ham with their incense. The resultant wall of rosemary scented smoke was a little distracting-and smothering-and it was quite a different experience from any other religious buildings I’ve been in.

While we were walking through the maze of buildings, we did see a few monks wandering about. I’m not sure where they lived on the premises or where all the other monks had gone off to. In one of the buildings, I was rounding a corner and heard the sound of a monk humming/chanting. I eventually located the source- a classic pot bellied, bald headed, maroon robed monk sitting on a stool. After a moment, his chanting was punctuated by a profound yawn, followed by continued humming. It’s always nice to see the more familiar aspects of humanity even in our holiest of men.

It was definitely frustrating not to understand what all the symbols and statues represented. I’m not sure if Buddhism is extremely complicated and contains tons of different religious figures that I’m totally ignorant about, or if Buddhism is way more abstract and less ritualized than I’m imagining. Either way, it was fascinating to be exposed to a totally new and foreign religion.

After arriving in Xi’an the following day, I continued with this theme of new and foreign religions by exploring the Great Mosque in the city’s Muslim Quarters. The Great Mosque is one of the largest and oldest Islamic places of worship in China. It’s especially notable in its blending of traditional Chinese architecture and Arabic lettering and decorations. I was initially not going to pay the 25 Yuan for admission, but boy am I glad I did!

Shortly after entering the mosque’s gorgeous and peaceful grounds, a group of Malaysian Muslims with remarkably good English approached us and, during our conversation, informed us that that very day was Eid Al-Adha, one of the two major Islamic holidays. It is also called the Festival of Sacrifice and celebrates Abraham’s willingness to obey God…..by sacrificing sheep!!!!

That’s right, in that beautiful and ancient mosque, devout Muslim men were killing sheep and hanging them on hooks in rows in order to strip off the meat and give it to the poor. After hearing about this from our new friends, I was excited enough to witness my first animal sacrifice, but I was totally unprepared for the entire CAMEL lying deceased in the courtyard. Up to that day, I had not seen a camel, or an animal sacrifice, or the slaughtering and disembowelment of any animal. Basically, we hit the jackpot. While I was watching- partly in disgust, but mostly in absorbed fascination, more friendly English speaking Muslims shared more about this holiday, their beliefs, and the significance of animal sacrifices.

Later on in our visit, we were able to witness one of the five daily calls to prayer. I loved watching all the Muslim men in the mosque gradually make their way to the prayer hall (for lack of a better or more correct term) and prepare themselves to worship. It was different than what I had always imagined the frequent calls to prayer to be, and it was a wonderful sight to see.

All the people we met there were so kind and devout and accepting. The place was beautiful and the people were beautiful. I wish we could have stayed longer in the Mosque, but street vendors and our rumbling stomachs called.