Word: holidaying
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...sentimental about many things: the lumpy feel of a baby's unused feet, the metallic smell of the air before the first snow, the last scene in It's a Wonderful life. But Valentine's Day leaves me cold. It's a holiday that has no idea of what it's really celebrating. Or at least no idea of whom it celebrates: St. Valentine could be any of half a dozen Christian martyrs whom the early church recruited to clean up and bless pagan fertility festivals. Of the top candidates, the best known is a priest named Valentinus...
...harmony, I should say that my wonderful husband has always handled the day's customs with flair. Our daughters like it for the candy, which now comes in quantities rivaled only by Halloween, with Tootsie Rolls taped to the cards kids hand out. I have no problem with the holiday for 8-year-olds, now that it has shed its Darwinian savagery. Children are expected to bring a valentine for every classmate, unlike the days of our youth, when the teachers would collect the cards in a big red box and then call out names...
...beer in honor of the 61-year-old construction foreman and a dozen of his workmates, and handed each man a red envelope containing a New Year's gift of $70 in cash - one third of a month's salary. Their dinner table is loaded with such tasty holiday treats as lotus root, fresh shrimp and carp, and the hall is festively bedecked with red and gold banners. But Zang's sunburnt skin and his Mao suit and Lenin hat look slightly out of place in this smart Guangzhou hotel with its marble-lined lobby. And despite the generosity...
...equipment that was brought in when needed, because of the almost unlimited supply of labor." But despite the growing attention paid to the laborers in Guangdong, they are still outsiders. "Most migrant workers, they don't feel like they are truly welcome," Yang says. "As a result, during the holiday they rush back home instead of bringing their next of kin [to Guangdong] with them...
...ease pressure on the stricken transport system, Guangdong authorities encouraged migrant workers to spend their holiday in the province. Still, millions still tried to make the journey. For many, like Zang, that proved impossible. His employer, the Hengda Real Estate Group, says about 3,000 of the 10,000 migrants it employs in Guangdong stayed behind over the holiday. Li Xiao, the company's Guangdong general manager, says Hengda will spend $300,000 over the next week to offer banquets, parties and outings for its workers. "They have helped make us rich," Li says. "We have to look...