Word: customs
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...bride, according to Moslem custom, waited in another room during the wedding ceremony, attired in a rose-pink silk sari heavy with gems and gold embroidery, and wearing a pearl necklace and earrings. She had been bathed in rose water, massaged with scented sandalwood oil, perfumed with attar of roses; her nails, the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet were stained with henna...
When the envoys accredited to the Holy See were invited by diplomatic custom to present their credentials to the new Pope, Papée and Girdvainis received no invitations. Vatican Secretary of State Domenico Tardini explained that the omissions were made because the two diplomats represented "phantom" governments that are no longer recognized by other countries accredited to the Holy See. That statement itself was enough for old Vatican hands to sense a new atmosphere; under Pius XII, who made a point of keeping the Polish and Lithuanian envoys as anti-Communist symbols, there had not been any reference...
Many writers have noted that MacLeish's hero (alias Job) gets his sobriquet from the present-day practice of calling American business executives by their initials. But no-one seems to have mentioned that he also gets it from the widespread ancient Hebrew custom of omitting vowels from the written language...
...longstanding custom, the President of the U.S. makes no public pronouncement about his new budget until after he presents it to the newly convened Congress. Last week Dwight Eisenhower deliberately breached the custom by announcing that the budget for fiscal 1960 (beginning next July 1) "will be a balanced budget." Convinced that he is duty bound to combat both price inflation and governmental bloat, the President decided to risk the course urged by Treasury Secretary Robert B. Anderson: take a stand on fiscal responsibility, and let the political chips fall where they will...
...passengers' fancy with a host of new gimmicks that stress Northwest's "Orient" flavor. He put on Nisei and Chinese-American girls as stewardesses on domestic hops, decked first-class planes with flowers and gave passengers wintergreen-scented hot and cold towels (an old Oriental custom for soothing tired businessmen). Taken together, the changes did much to soothe Northwest Airlines...