Word: islandness
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...South Korean lore, the windswept tropical island of Jeju, which sits just off the country's southern coast, used to be known as the land of "manys": as in, many winds, many rocks (of the volcanic variety) and many widows (of fisherman husbands who perished in the choppy waters offshore). But folklore can only do so much, and now, 21st century Korea has a real-life legend that Jeju can be rightly proud of: its most famous native son, Yang Yong-eun, a.k.a. the Tiger Tamer...
...capital of Colombo, remained well within the battlegrounds of the civil war between the predominantly Sinhalese government and the separatist Tamil Tigers. It was not until April 2008 that the military gained full control of the shrine; the Tigers, who demanded a separate state for ethnic Tamils on the island nation, were finally crushed in May 2009. (See pictures from inside Sri Lanka's rebel-held territory...
...were still littered with mines and other ordnance; red skull-and-crossbones signs drove the message home. Still, the pilgrims arrived in the tens of thousands, in vans, buses, trucks, public transport, an old British double-decker bus, some in tuk-tuks, the three-wheeler rickshaws that traverse the island. At the shrine, the faint but constant hum of prayers and hymns rose above the rustling of pilgrims' feet. Large piles of slippers, sandals and an assortment of shoes of every nature accumulated by the doors outside the church. Families prayed together, others lined up in a long queue that...
...statue had been in grave danger before. In the late 17th century, the Protestant Dutch tried to eradicate the Roman Catholicism brought to the island by the Portuguese. The Virgin Mother had been moved from the shrine then as well and secreted away. In the 21st century, the statue shared the fate of many Sri Lankans, becoming a refugee as it was carried from church to church until July 2008, when it was in a more secure spot. By November, it was once again at the shrine, ready for the outpouring of piety during this year's Feast...
...ground, there is still much to be done. Some 1500 people are still trapped in Yin's village alone, the Kaohsiung County Commissioner said on Thursday. Over 35,000 are believed to be stranded in other mountainous parts of the island. Once they're rescued, they, too, need to be housed, fed and given a life again. Even though Yin owns land where he has grown mangoes, peaches and bamboos shoots for a decade, he doesn't want to return to Namasia . "I'd be terrified every time it rains," he says, "Our future is also a very difficult problem...