About Howard Kramer

The Holiday season in general, and Christmas in particular, is a time of many things: faith, festivities, traditions, movies, music, decorations, gifts and much more. But the thing that ties it all together?  The food! With roots that trace in part back to ancient pagan Solstice festivals, which were marked the world over by great feasts, the holiday season is in some ways … [Read more...]

There are few things as evocative of the holiday season as the endless variety of Christmas decorations that festoon virtually every structure in the western world during the month of December.  Strings of lights, which originated at Thomas Edison’s workshops in New Jersey in the late 19th century, are a mainstay. But what about everything else?  What about the ornaments, … [Read more...]

Thanksgiving is almost upon us, with this year marking the 399th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts.  2020 will mark four centuries of the American experience, at least as counted since the founding of the Plymouth colony.  In anticipation of this, major events are being planned for next year across the United States, … [Read more...]

The American colonies were home to a vibrant Christian culture that gave birth to a religious diversity that still thrives in the United States today.  Much of modern American faith can be traced to early religious leaders who, from the humble Puritan beginnings of the Pilgrims, went on to establish a great Reformed tradition.  This was manifested in the Presbyterian and other … [Read more...]

Frank Lloyd Wright, arguably the greatest architect in American history and one of the pivotal figures of the modern architecture movement, made his impact on modern church design as much as he impacted everything else.  Over the course of his career Wright designed over a dozen churches and other religious structures, some of which were so ground breaking that they set the … [Read more...]

Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world (among the major active religions it is only predated by Hinduism). Despite this, little if anything remains of Jewish religious sites prior to the Middle Ages.  Thousands of years of wars and persecutions have left little in the way of ancient synagogues.  The world’s last intact Roman-era synagogue was sadly destroyed when a … [Read more...]

Over the last few years, The Complete Pilgrim has featured stories about synagogues all over the United States, looking at the most historic by region. Today The Complete Pilgrim is narrowing it down to a highly subjective top ten list of America’s must-see synagogues, which would be difficult in just New York (which I just realized I have never done a list for!).  Actually, I … [Read more...]

New York City has what is arguably the greatest collection of must-see churches and religious sites in the United States.  And ground zero for church hopping here is the island of Manhattan.  Many of the most historic churches, such as Trinity Church, are packed into the downtown area, which we looked at in Part One.  However, for New York’s most famous and visited churches, … [Read more...]

Washington DC, the capital of the United States, receives millions of visitors every year.  People come from all over the world to see the historic government district, with its immense, stately buildings, museums and monuments.  What most visitors to Washington do not often see are its equally magnificent religious buildings.  This is due in large part to the fact that there … [Read more...]