Mary Discenzo holds her baby, Celine Dianne , at Cleveland Clinic's Fairview Hospital Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, in Cleveland. Discenzo said she realized Thursday night that the baby might be born on 11-11-11 and said it was ?just so weird? and a ?wonderful thing? that the delivery occurred at 11:11 a.m. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
Mary Discenzo holds her baby, Celine Dianne , at Cleveland Clinic's Fairview Hospital Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, in Cleveland. Discenzo said she realized Thursday night that the baby might be born on 11-11-11 and said it was ?just so weird? and a ?wonderful thing? that the delivery occurred at 11:11 a.m. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
Newlywed couples swear in during a mass wedding ceremony at the Hokkien Association building in Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. Over 300 brides and grooms attended the ceremony to mark the unique date of 11-11-11. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
Newlywed couples swear in during a mass wedding ceremony at the Hokkien Association building in Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. Over 300 brides and grooms attended the ceremony to mark the unique date of 11-11-11. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
Ng Woon Teng, left, 20, puts a wedding ring on Lim Chee Soon, 25, during a mass wedding ceremony at the Hokkien Association building in Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. Over 300 brides and grooms attended the ceremony to mark the unique date of 11-11-11. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
Newlywed couples pose at a photo session during a mass wedding ceremony at the Thean Hou temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. Over 200 brides and grooms attended the ceremony at the temple, to mark the unique date of 11-11-11. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
In years to come, babies born Friday should have no trouble remembering the date ? and in some cases, the exact minute ? of their birth.
The day marked the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011. From China to New York, people celebrated the convergence of 11s with a splash by placing bets, tying the knot or making a wish.
Some babies were born right at 11:11 a.m., giving them 1's across the board for their time of birth. In Mount Holly, N.J., Jacob Anthony Saydeh made Veterans Day even more memorable for his parents, who are a veteran and current member of the Air Force.
Newborn Alexander David Hockaday Ruiz took things a step further in Los Angeles when he was born at 11: 11 a.m. in room 1111 of a hospital's maternity ward. Providence Holy Cross Medical Center says the birth was natural and the room assignment was a coincidence.
But in Colorado, Cayson Childers' birthday wasn't left to chance. His parents ensured his arrival by scheduling a Caesarean section for Friday, and then doctors were able to make the operation work right at 11:11 a.m.
In Las Vegas, the Clark County Marriage Bureau says roughly 1,700 licenses were issued by midday for 11-11-11 weddings, second only to the roughly 2,600 licenses issued for weddings on July 7, 2007. That date more than two years ago consisted of three lucky sevens.
Fred Botero went to great lengths to ensure he could get married at precisely 11 a.m. on Friday.
The Macon, Ga., man and his bride put down a deposit of $1,111.11 to reserve the slot nearly a year in advance.
"We knew it was a big day and a tough day to get. We didn't want to take a chance and booked the wedding early," the 53-year-old purchasing manager said moments before their ceremony began at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel.
Across Malaysia, some 1,000 ethnic Chinese couples exchanged vows on a date viewed as auspicious and romantic. In China, a special "1111" train started at 11:11 a.m. on the No. 11 line in Shanghai.
"The numbers rhyme with one husband, one wife and one soul in Chinese and signifies a marriage that would last a lifetime," said nurse Pua Kim Giok, 25, who tied the knot with engineer Lee Chin Siong, 27. They were among 460 couples who got married at the popular Thean Hou Temple in Kuala Lumpur.
Not everyone was smiling, however.
Egypt's antiquities authority closed the largest of the Great Pyramid of Giza following rumors that groups would try to hold spiritual ceremonies on the site at 11:11.
The authority's head Mustafa Amin said in a statement Friday that the pyramid of Khufu, also known as Cheops, would be closed until Saturday morning for "necessary maintenance." The rest of the complex, which includes two other large pyramids, numerous tombs and the Sphinx, and is one of Egypt's biggest tourist attractions, remained open Friday, though security appeared to be heavier than usual.
The Chinese have always had a fascination with number sequences.
And in a country where ages of first marriages are creeping upward, the 11/11/11 date represents six "bare sticks," a term for bachelors in Chinese.
And there are now more of them, with housing prices, focus on jobs and growing independence of young women meaning people are getting married later.
"It's just difficult for men to afford the housing prices nowadays, and traditionally in China that is the responsibility of the man his family. I feel a lot of pressure from this," said Zheng An, a 26-year-old employee at a solar company in Shanghai.
___
Associated Press writers Martin Griffith in Reno, Nev.; Thomas J. Sheeran in Cleveland; Michael Crumb in Des Moines, Iowa; Tim Talley in Oklahoma City; Geoff Mulvihill in Haddonfield, N.J.; Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Fu Ting in Shanghai and Ben Hubbard in Cairo contributed to this report.
Associated Presskim zolciak kim zolciak austin rivers austin rivers unc basketball college basketball kroy biermann
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.