Monday, July 19, 2010

The Moses Miracle

We all know the famous parting of the sea when Moses chased by the mighty armies of the Pharaoh raised his walking stick above his head and prayed to the almighty to save them from the wrath of Pharaohs. And the sea parted for the Israelis to go to the other end unharmed. Well that was long ago and can only be witnessed in the motion picture “The Ten Commandments.”

But there is no dearth of miracles of the nature. There now exists a living miracle that reminds us of the historical parting of the sea. South Korea, far away from the Biblical lands, is home to a spectacular miracle, which remained unknown to the world till as recently as 1975 when Pierre Randi, French Ambassador in Korea, himself came to the island of Jindo to confirm the news and told the world about it.

At Jindo, this rare phenomenon occurs twice a year in the months of May and June. The sea between the islands of Jindo and Modo islands splits and creates a corridor of some 2.8 kilometres long and forty metres wide for about an hour and allows people, tourists and locals to walk “walk over” the sea and reach the other island. Amazing!!

Like all such natural phenomenon, there is a folklore attached to this miracle as well. According to the belief, the island of Jindo was once attacked by hungry and ferocious tigers. The Jindos fled the island except one old lady. Out of fear and despair, she pleaded the gods for her safety. And like the prayers of Moses which were answered by the Almighty, the Sea God helped paved the way for the old lady to safely reach the island of Modo before tigers could reach her.

Now the place is a venue of annual festivities when people all over from South Korea and tourists from around the world gather here to actually walk over the sea like the people of Moses did in biblical times.

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