Looking for a labyrinth in Barbados - ???

[GmaPajama]

I'm searching for labyrinths to visit on a cruise this winter. My regular research site shows nothing for the Islands we're visiting - and Barbados is one of them. Does anyone happen to know of one, not too awfully far from the cruise port? I'm willing to take a taxi to find one, but not willing to make it an all day trip.

 

Labyrinths are often hidden in small churchyards - so I'm thinking someone here may have spotted one while wandering around. ???

[Aplmac]

I've lived here for 60+ yrs.

Fairly sure there's no "Maze" if that's what you're referring to?

 

My wife says the local roads should suffice!! lol

 

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[Aplmac]

Geez...over a lifetime of travels in these Lesser Antillean islands between P.Rico to the North

and Trinidad in the South (and most everything in between!)

I have never come across...or know of...any labyrinths or mazes in any of these islands!

 

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[GmaPajama]

Thanks for your information, Aplmac. I love your wife's thought! Someone actually found one for me on St. Croix, so I'll do that one the next time I'm there ... but I've found they are, indeed, rare in the Caribbean.

 

Thanks again for responding. Looks like I have to give up my idea for Barbados. So sad.

[Aplmac]

Thanks for your information, Aplmac. I love your wife's thought!

Someone actually found one for me on St. Croix,

so I'll do that one the next time I'm there...

but I've found they are, indeed, rare in the Caribbean.

Always good to know stuff -that's there's one on St.Croix.

Would never have guessed!

 

Mazes seem to be a temperate climate thing?

-where Wealth may have spent the $$$ to amuse the children and the guests.

 

In the tropics, not so important.

We're too busy growing sugar cane.

 

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[GmaPajama]

Just to expand ... a Labyrinth actually has it's roots in Catholicism - and then spread to all of Christianity. It's not so much a maze as it is a round-n-round circular walkway. Usually made of stones or cement or simple pathways in the grass. Most people say a prayer as they walk one. Confession on the way to the center. Receive grace AT the center. Prayers of praise on your way out. It can be a very spiritual thing.

 

A Maze is what we plow into our cornfields, here in Chicagoland, around Halloween. They are intended to befuddle one, and getting lost is not at all unusual. It's a way for the farmers to bring in a little extra cash, and folks in the area love them. I'll bet you could do it with your sugar cane when it's cutting time. I'd visit JUST for that. LOL!

[Deman777]

Barbados is 96 percent protastant,

[GmaPajama]

Barbados is 96 percent protastant,

Thanks, Deman. I attend a protestant church here in the US, and we have our own labyrinth. That makes me think I may yet find one in Barbados.

[mapsmith]

On the spiritual side. There is a very nice Historical Synagogue in Bridgetown that we visited on our cruise there several years ago. Although I am not Jewish, the DW is and we found that it was a peaceful place. Also the sense of the Spirit and History combined seemed present.

[Aplmac]

There is a very nice Historical Synagogue in Bridgetown that we visited on our cruise there several years ago.

Although I am not Jewish, the DW is and we found that it was a peaceful place.

Also the sense of the Spirit and History combined, seemed present.

Our Jewish Synagogue

is indeed a quiet peaceful place within Bridgetown. :)

 

 

Here's some more information, on this Wikipedia page.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgetown_Synagogue

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[Fouremco]

Just to expand ... a Labyrinth actually has it's roots in Catholicism - and then spread to all of Christianity. It's not so much a maze as it is a round-n-round circular walkway. Usually made of stones or cement or simple pathways in the grass. Most people say a prayer as they walk one. Confession on the way to the center. Receive grace AT the center. Prayers of praise on your way out. It can be a very spiritual thing.

 

A Maze is what we plow into our cornfields, here in Chicagoland, around Halloween. They are intended to befuddle one, and getting lost is not at all unusual. It's a way for the farmers to bring in a little extra cash, and folks in the area love them. I'll bet you could do it with your sugar cane when it's cutting time. I'd visit JUST for that. LOL!

 

In fact, labyrinths pre-date Roman Catholicism by many centuries. A Labyrinth-inscribed clay tablet from Pylos, Greece, could possibly be one of the earliest examples (approx. 3200 years old). In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, a mythical creature that was half man and half bull and was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. Daedalus had so cunningly made the Labyrinth that he could barely escape it himself after he built it.

 

Prehistoric labyrinths have been found carved on rock faces at Pontevedra, Spain and at Val Camonica in northern Italy, the latter attributed to the late Bronze Age. The Rocky Valley labyrinths in Cornwall, England, are believed to be from the Bronze Age. Labyrinths are found etched into the sands of the Nazca Plain in Peru, in use among the Caduveo people of Brazil and scratched on boulders and rockfaces in Northern Mexico, New Mexico and Arizona. Native Americans had them and they continue to be used in the sacred ceremonies of the Hopi.

 

The Romans adopted the arrangements as a floor pattern and in modern times the labyrinth can be traced to Catholic cathedrals of the Middle Ages. In Chartres Cathedral in France there is an intricate 40 foot diameter labyrinth of tile imbedded in the floor of the central area of the church. Early Christians took a vow to visit the Holy City of Jerusalem at some point in their lives. During the middle ages the Crusades made travel to Palestine unsafe, so they used other means to honour their commitment. Adopted by the Roman Catholic church, Labyrinths were offered to the congregation as a way of fulfilling their vow to visit the Holy Land.

 

[GmaPajama]

On the spiritual side. There is a very nice Historical Synagogue in Bridgetown that we visited on our cruise there several years ago. Although I am not Jewish, the DW is and we found that it was a peaceful place. Also the sense of the Spirit and History combined seemed present.

 

Our Jewish Synagogue

is indeed a quiet peaceful place within Bridgetown. :)

 

 

Here's some more information, on this Wikipedia page.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgetown_Synagogue

.

 

Sounds like a place I'd very much like to visit. Thank you for posting about it!

[GmaPajama]

In fact, labyrinths pre-date Roman Catholicism by many centuries. ...

 

 

Fascinating history lesson - Thank you!