Word: holidays
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...water and focus on other celebratory activities. As a consequence, this year's festival, which runs from Tuesday through April 15, is likely to look much more authentic than it has in recent years. "Water-splashing is supposed to be a short, almost minor, part of the three-day holiday," says cultural anthropologist and Dai folklore expert Monica Cable. "It's been made central by tourists looking for spectacle...
...official government news agency Xinhua that this year people ought to splash water in a symbolic manner, as was done "in the traditional way," when water-splashing was limited to the last day of the festival. In fact, the Dai do not refer to the New Year's holiday as the "water-splashing festival"; that moniker was introduced by foreigners...
...opportune moment to ask for precipitation; splashing therefore becomes a way of praying for plenty. By sprinkling water, the Dai, like the Indians before them, should be attempting to entice rainfall. It is a most basic appeal, but one that is easily forgotten in the disorder of the holiday. Perhaps not this year, though. "When it rains during the New Year's festival, it's particularly auspicious," says Cable. "It's supposed to mean that the Dai will have a bountiful harvest in the coming year." The drought-hit people of Yunnan could use some good luck. But before bounty...
...course is just one incarnation of the food-science trend at Harvard. Every year, SEAS offers a popular holiday lecture series, including topics such as “The Sweet Science of Chocolate” and “Squishy, Gooey, Stretchy: The Science of Making Pizza...
...stark reminder of the dangers facing German troops in Afghanistan. The latest deaths bring the number of German soldiers killed in the NATO-led mission to 39 since the Afghan invasion of 2001. For Germany's new Defense Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who cut short a holiday in South Africa to fly home following the attack, it marked the first time he had to offer condolences to the relatives of fallen soldiers - a grim task for a young, up-and-coming minister. While expressing his deep regret for the deaths, zu Guttenberg broke a long-held taboo by declaring...