Chaldean Church History and Christian Diaspora (Part 3) Hannah wraps up her research on the Chaldean Catholic Church with their modern history in Northern Iraq, the destruction by ISIS, and the Christian diaspora to the West. What is the fate of Alqosh now? What will happen in the future to the church as their numbers [...]
Chaldean Church History and Tradition (Part 2) Hannah teaches Colleen more on the history and beliefs of the Chaldean Church in this, part two, of a three part series. This episode covers the re-unification of the Chaldean Catholic Church with Roman Catholic Church along with some of the distinguishing features of the Chaldean Catholic Church [...]
What is the Chaldean Church? (Part 1) Hannah teaches Colleen about the origins of the Chaldean Church in this, the first episode of THREE episodes on the history and beliefs of the Chaldean Church. The splits, lines, and practices help illustrate how the Christian community in Iraq came to be there and their long history [...]
Between Iraq and a Hard Place - Episode 40 Hannah and Colleen talk about their experiences with cleanliness in Kurdish culture, the biggest compliment they ever received from Kurdish women, and how some of those things are already changing! Learn more on our Iraq Page! Ask questions about this episode or life in Iraq on [...]
Buddhism (an overview) Buddhism is non-theistic. There is no belief in a higher power and holding on to such a belief is thought to keep one from achieving enlightenment. Enlightenment is achieved not by learning the doctrines of Buddha but by following the Eightfold Path. This Path is concerned with three things: morality ( 3-5 [...]
Sometimes I am astounded at my kids. This week has been… I struggle to find a sufficient adjective to describe the strange combination of blessings and struggles. One boy brought me a little charm of the American Flag. A girl brought me a necklace that she made herself out of little gold colored glass beads [...]
Mystery and Minority Religions Many people think that everyone in Iraq is Muslim. And it's true that the majority are. Some people know of some of the Christians even. But there's a long history and heritage of different minority religions in Iraq. Hannah and Colleen ran into a few themselves traveling around the area and [...]
Islamic Holidays in Northern Iraq This is part 3 of our episodes focusing on holidays! We tackled American holidays (we're good at those!), Newroz (you just get swept up in in!), and now we're attempting to explain the Islamic holidays. Disclaimer: We are not Muslim and while we did some research online, we certainly didn't [...]
Yarsani Religion The followers of the Yarsani faith are called by many names and scattered across at least three countries. The creation of this faith is often attributed to Islamic Sufism (the mystical branch of Islam) but the Yarsan themselves claim that their beliefs have always been and Islam is a heresy of Yarsanism. They [...]
Regarding the Peacock icons and two that are missing. Are these very old relics and hold historical significance? If so, does the author know approximately how old they are? The icons are old, but only historically relevant to the Yezidi. They claim that they are several thousand years old, but no one knows for sure. [...]
