The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1984 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Red Hats
(Turkish adherents of the
afavis):
Red Hats
(rebels in China):
Red heifer
(Heb.,
parah adummah
). The animal used in Jewish ritual purification of persons or objects defiled by contact with a dead body (Numbers 19. 1–22). The tractate
Parah
in the
Talmud
discusses the laws of the red heifer.
Red letter day
.
Important feast or saint's day (in Christianity), printed in
calendars
in red.
Red Sea, crossing of
(Heb.,
keriyat yam suf
; possibly ‘reed’ rather than ‘red’). The miraculous event which enabled the Israelites to escape from the pursuing armies of the Egyptians at the beginning of the
Exodus
.
Red Turbans
.
Rebel and millenarian bands, associated with the
White Lotus
, which appeared during the Yuan dynasty (1260–1367) in China. The ‘turbans’ were in fact sashes, but were sometimes worn round the head. They believed in the imminent return of
Maitreya
, and went before him to prepare his way.

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