Pilgrims

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Bombers and gunmen killed more than 110 Shiite Muslim pilgrims observing a religious ritual and wounded more than 250 others in scores of sectarian attacks yesterday that threatened to derail a renewed effort to stabilize Iraq. In the worst incident, two suicide bombers walking among the pilgrims in the southern city of Hilla detonated their explosive belts within two minutes of each other, killing at least 77 and injuring 127, according to local police. Around Baghdad, gunmen, car bombs and roadside bombs killed at least 35 and injured 137 others.

BAGHDAD -- The new U.S. commander in Iraq acknowledged yesterday that U.S.-led forces could not protect all Iraqis from "thugs with no soul" bent on re- igniting sectarian warfare. "Any student of history recognizes that there is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq," Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said at his first news conference since assuming command last month. Political negotiations were vital and would require reaching out to "some of those who have felt the new Iraq did not have a place for them," Petraeus said.

Baghdad -- Marching under blood-spattered banners, mourners carried coffins yesterday through streets still littered with pieces of flesh and debris, as the death toll from three consecutive days of attacks on Shiite Muslim pilgrims climbed to 188. At least 30 people were killed in fresh attacks yesterday on some of the more than 1 million pilgrims streaming to the holy city of Karbala for weekend rites commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of...

BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- It was the night this not-so-little town had been waiting for.Though tourism fell short of extravagant predictions, apparently out of security fears, thousands crowded lighted, decorated Manger Square in a carnival-like prelude to a stately Midnight Mass celebrating the birth of Christ here.For Palestinians unveiling a makeover of Bethlehem, it was the culmination of years of building, paving and planning in a $200 million drive to become a Year 2000 showplace. Never mind that it's still not ready, with half-built hotels, dust and rubble marring the approach to the newly scrubbed Old City of 50,000 people.

WESTERNERS have known for centuries what the goal of life is. As the French philosopher Diderot stated in his 1773 conversations with Catherine II: "There is only one duty: That is to be happy."But as the summer commences, Americans are asking: "How can I fulfill that `duty'? How can I rid myself of the stress and anger that my high-speed chase of a life is bringing to me? How can I make others happy, if I cannot be happy myself?"In his 1731 autobiography, one of America's most inventive citizens, Benjamin Franklin, speculated that happiness is produced "not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day."

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain -- As in the Middle Ages, so at the turn of the millennium: The price of praying with your feet is swollen ankles, tendinitis and blisters.Nevertheless, the Camino de Santiago -- the Way of St. James, a pilgrimage trail across northern Spain -- is enjoying its greatest revival since the Middle Ages.Pilgrims come to Santiago from all continents. They cross the Pyrenees into Roncesvalles, the site of the eighth-century battle immortalized in the "Chanson de Roland" and the start of the main branch of the trail in northern Spain.

The signs of Thanksgiving are everywhere. Pilgrims smile from store windows, cartoon turkeys sell cranberry sauce, magazines push pumpkin pie recipes. By Nov. 26, the hoopla will have fallen as thick as leaves, and there's a good chance the spirit of Thanksgiving will be buried beneath the pile.So we'd like to take time to remember the real meaning of the holiday, and we'd like you to help.Tell us what you're thankful for. It may be a new wife or a new life, the gift of health, or a simple act of kindness, Write 100 words or fewer and by Nov. 18, send to: Giving Thanks, c/o Features Dept.

What are you thankful for? we asked our readers.A simple question. But with so many answers.Little things. Big things. Things we have that others don't. The sound of a child's voice. A fluffy dog named Nunzio. A stranger's kindness. A set of bagpipes. A memory of closeness in a family that has grown apart. A hug, a laugh, the smell of rain. A second chance at life.Thousands of people sent us their notes of thanks, far too many, unfortunately, to publish here. What follows is just a small sampling of their amazing breadth.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Are you ready to eat a nice bowl of samp?What's samp? It's a cornmeal mush, which was popular during Pilgrim times. Samp was a lot like polenta, an Italian dish that's eaten today.Most of the foods the Pilgrims ate still are eaten in America. But there wasn't much variety compared to what we have now: hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos, pizza, spaghetti and ice cream. And there were no snacks - unless you count bread and cheese. It just wasn't a snacking kind of culture.

UNITED NATIONS -- In a setback for the United States, the Security Council issued a statement yesterday that did not condemn Iraq for violating sanctions by flying a group of Muslims to Saudi Arabia last week without United Nations permission so they could make the pilgrimage to Mecca.After four days of tortuous diplomacy, the council issued a unanimous statement that failed to say whether the flight violated sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 or deliver even the mildest rebuke to Iraq after China and Egypt, with varying degrees of support from Russia and France, took a firm stand against criticizing Baghdad.

BAGHDAD -Two bombers detonated suicide vests outside a gold-domed religious shrine Friday and killed at least 71 people, raising the toll in two days of attacks on Shiite Muslims in Iraq to 159 and reviving fears of a return to sectarian war. The attacks at the Imam Musa Khadimiyah shrine in northeast Baghdad raise concerns that the Sunni insurgency is regrouping just as U.S. forces are preparing to withdraw from Iraq's cities and President Barack Obama...

NEW DELHI, India - A religious festival in northern India turned into a horrific deadly crush yesterday as thousands of Hindu pilgrims stampeded at a temple shrine, piling into each other on a treacherous walkway slick with spilled coconut milk. Officials said at least 168 people, most of them men, suffocated. Television images showed dead pilgrims strewn on the narrow walkway near the Chamunda Devi temple, at the southern edge of the 15th-century Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur, in the western state of Rajasthan.

BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber blew himself up among Shiite Muslim pilgrims at a crowded rest stop yesterday, part of an eruption of sectarian violence that killed at least 43 people, injured 148 and tarnished one of Shiite Islam's holiest holidays. The bloodshed will put pressure on a truce first declared by a powerful Shiite militia in August. Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr renewed the cease-fire Friday for six more months in a move U.S. and Iraqi officials hope will reinforce recent security gains.

BAGHDAD -- Seven people were killed in Iraq's northwest yesterday when a rocket landed amid a gathering of Shiite Muslims celebrating the most important holiday of the year. The young pilgrims had just completed re-enactments of the slaying of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson and revered saint, Imam Hussein, when the Katyusha rocket exploded. Another seven people were critically injured in the attack in Tal Afar, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. It was the second day of violence surrounding the Ashoura holiday, coming on the heels of deadly clashes in the south between security forces and a Shiite cult intent on disrupting the celebration.

Dec. 21 1620 Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth, Mass. 1967 The Graduate, with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, was released.

Upon my return from a week's vacation this past summer in Tel Aviv, my friends and family appeared visibly impatient as I bragged about the city's beaches (" ... the sand? Like talcum powder!"), fascinating architecture, great shopping, as well as chic restaurants that serve splendid, fresh Mediterranean cuisine and excellent Israeli wines. No sooner did I pause for air, then they quickly interrupted, and always with the same two questions. "Did you feel safe there?" Answer: Yes, completely, despite several vivid reminders of Israel's perilous geopolitical status.

BAGHDAD -- The new U.S. commander in Iraq acknowledged yesterday that U.S.-led forces could not protect all Iraqis from "thugs with no soul" bent on re- igniting sectarian warfare. "Any student of history recognizes that there is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq," Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said at his first news conference since assuming command last month. Political negotiations were vital and would require reaching out to "some of those who have felt the new Iraq did not have a place for them," Petraeus said.

Baghdad -- Marching under blood-spattered banners, mourners carried coffins yesterday through streets still littered with pieces of flesh and debris, as the death toll from three consecutive days of attacks on Shiite Muslim pilgrims climbed to 188. At least 30 people were killed in fresh attacks yesterday on some of the more than 1 million pilgrims streaming to the holy city of Karbala for weekend rites commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Bombers and gunmen killed more than 110 Shiite Muslim pilgrims observing a religious ritual and wounded more than 250 others in scores of sectarian attacks yesterday that threatened to derail a renewed effort to stabilize Iraq. In the worst incident, two suicide bombers walking among the pilgrims in the southern city of Hilla detonated their explosive belts within two minutes of each other, killing at least 77 and injuring 127, according to local police. Around Baghdad, gunmen, car bombs and roadside bombs killed at least 35 and injured 137 others.

FAIRFAX, VA. -- Press the smooth, walnut stock against your cheek and squint down the ancient barrel to line up the well-crafted sights. Rest your finger on the surprisingly dainty trigger and hold your breath. Then imagine, as John Alden must have, a wild bird less than 100 yards away at the forest's edge and squeeze off a shot. Maybe Alden didn't put wild game on the table for that first celebratory feast in 1621. But chances are that as a hired hand for the Pilgrims he did. And his weapon of choice - and one of the earliest rifles to make it to the New World - sits in a glass case at the National Firearms Museum here.