Wedding Information
In this article, you will learn about traditions observed in three different wedding ceremonies.
A common practice among Jewish couples is the tradition of the bride circling her groom seven times under the wedding canopy. She does this because the phrase "and when a man takes a wife" is mentioned seven times in the Bible. The circling is also significant of the seven days of creation and the Bible story in which Jacob labored for seven years for Rachel.
Another tradition Jewish couples observe during wedding ceremonies is the breaking of a glass underfoot by the groom. When he does this, the wedding party shouts Mazel Tov! a dozen times. This is done because of the loss of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is recorded in a sacred Jewish book that during the joyous wedding of an important man, he took a glass of great value and shattered it, startling his guests. When asked why he did this, he told them that even in the midst of the most joyous occasion, one should never forget the destruction and loss of our Temple.
In many American weddings, it is tradition for the bride to throw her bouquet out to her guests. The person who catches it is said to be the one who will be the next to marry. In a typical American wedding, it is said to be bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the day of the wedding before the ceremony has taken place. It is also considered to be bad luck for the groom to see the wedding dress at anytime before the ceremony.
In the days of slavery in America, there was no way to legally recognize the union of slaves in marriage, since slaves were not seen as citizens. So in order for slaves to demonstrate their union in marriage, they would jump over a broomstick, the woman jumping one way, the man jumping the other way. This was their way of recognizing that a marriage had taken place.
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Rare subterranean fish rediscovered in Brazil
An incredibly rare blind fish that lives underground in Brazil has been rediscovered by scientists.
A number of individual fish have been found almost 50 years after the only known specimen was collected and then described by American experts.
Biologists cannot be sure, but they suspect the fish may be a living relict that has survived deep under the ground while its relatives above went extinct.
Details of the discovery are published in the Journal of Fish Biology.
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The first and only known specimen was caught in 1962 from a communal water well used by inhabitants of the city of Jaiba, in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The fish was taken to American ecologist Dr Joseph Tosi Jr who was in the region at the time, and then described by specialists back in the US.
"This was the most enigmatic species of the order Characiformes, a group of freshwater fishes that includes piranhas and tetras," says Dr Moreira.
Not only did the fish come from underground, but it was blind, whereas most fish live above ground and have good eyesight.
"Because it was never collected since, it was assumed that is was an endangered species. However, no one knew. There was no information of its distribution, abundance, anything."
To find the fish, the expedition team interviewed local people around Jaiba, who reported they had seen the fish swimming in open wells.
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Somali piracy 'boosts Puntland economy'
New research suggests piracy has led to widespread economic development in some parts of Somalia. The study, published by British think-tank Chatham House, looked at detailed satellite imagery. Regional centres have benefited from substantial investment funded by piracy, but coastal communities have missed out, the report indicates. International naval patrols in the Gulf of Aden are making it more difficult for Somali pirates to launch attacks. However, at least 40 vessels and more than 400 hostages are still being held in or just off Somalia, according to the Ecoterra International group which monitors piracy in the region. A two-decade civil war in Somalia has allowed pirates to flourish. Some of them are former fishermen who say they were put out of business by trawlers from around the world taking advantage of the power vacuum to fish in Somali waters.
Report author Anja Shortland says that in 2009, pirates received an estimated $70m (£46m) in ransom payments - more than five times the official budget of the semi-autonomous Puntland region where most pirates are based and almost double total cattle exports from the whole of Somalia. She cites a UN study that about 30% of a ransom payment goes to pirates, 10% to their shore-based helpers, 10% in gifts and bribes to the local community and 50% to financiers and sponsors, who are generally based abroad. She used high-resolution daytime satellite images and also looked at night light emissions throughout the decade starting in 2000.The night pictures show a significant increase in light emissions from Puntland's main centres of Garowe and Bosasso. This suggests an increase in electricity consumption because of economic development, the study says.The increase in the highest intensity light spots in those cities came despite a general decline in intensity across Somalia, which Ms Shortland attributes to global food and energy price rises and renewed conflict. None of the pirate communities on the coast appeared to have enough power, she observed.
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