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The girls, Vigneswari and Masiakanni, dressed up in traditional bridal finery -- gilded sarees and gold jewellery -- married the frog 'princes' in separate, elaborate ceremonies at two different temples in the presence of hundreds of villagers.Amidst chanting of vedic hymns, the temple priests garlanded the brides and tied the magalsutras on behalf of the frogs pronouncing the two as wives of the amphibians before the sacred fire at the auspicious hour.
The villagers threw themselves into the ceremonies with gusto. While residents living in the western part of the village acted as relatives of the brides and those from the eastern part play-acted as relatives of the grooms. The ceremonies had all the usual elements of a traditional marriage including a sumptuous feast.
However, unlike the fairy tale `Frog Prince', where the ugly toad turns into a handsome prince when the princess kisses it, the Villupuram village belles bid their amphibian grooms goodbye and lead a normal life thereafter. As for the terrified frogs, they are thrown back into the temple ponds after the ceremony.
One event for which King was popular was a successful boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus system, which had previously required black riders to sit in the back of the bus or give up their seats for whites when the bus was full. King persuaded other African Americans to refuse to ride the bus until they allowed blacks the same privileges as whites. He also helped lead as many as 300,000 people into Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. The marchers wanted to convince congress to pass Civil Rights legislation and to bring national attention to the bill.
Soon after King was assassinated in 1968, followers began campaigning to make his birthday (January 15, 1929) a national holiday. But it was not signed until 1983 (Ronald Reagan) and was not observed until 1986. Even then, some states, especially in the south, combined it with other observances. So it was not until 2000 that all 50 states recognized Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Usually, on the first Monday following January 15.
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