Priests arrange fruits offered by Hindu devotees inside a temple to mark the Annakut festival in Ahmedabad, India.
Sikh devotees perform Gatka, a
traditional martial arts form during celebrations to mark the 414th
anniversary of the installation of the Guru Granth Sahib, the religious
book of Sikhs, in Amritsar, India.
A women participates in an archery competition during the Third Nomad Games, in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan.
Shi'ite pilgrims take part in a ceremony during the 10-day mourning period leading up to Ashura, in Iraq's holy city of Karbala.
Indians form a human pyramid to
break the "Dahi Handi," an earthen pot filled with curd hanging above
them, as part of celebrations to mark the Janmashtami festival in
Mumbai.
Regional dancers perform at the Guelaguetza festival in Zaachila, Oaxaca, Mexico
Horsemen ride during the 14th Tan-Tan Moussem Berber festival in the western Moroccan desert town of Tan-Tan, Morocco.
Women in yukatas, or casual
summer kimonos, pose to take their photos between paper lanterns during
the annual Mitama Festival at the Yasukuni Shrine, where more than 2.4
million war dead are enshrined, in Tokyo, Japan.
Alphorn blowers perform an
ensemble piece on the last day of the Alphorn International Festival on
the alp of Tracouet in Nendaz, southern Switzerland.
A statue of Saint Domenico
covered with live snakes is carried by the faithful during an annual
procession in the streets of Cocullo, a small village in the Abruzzo
region, Italy.
An ethnic Lisu man dances
barefoot on hot charcoal embers to celebrate the annual Knife Pole
Festival in Luzhang township of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in
Yunnan province, China.
Thousands of believers join
Buddhist monks praying at the Wat Phra Dhammakaya temple during a
ceremony on Makha Bucha Day in Pathum Thani, Thailand.
Ethnic Miao women wearing traditional costumes take part in a parade
during the traditional Lusheng (reed-pipe wind instrument) festival in
Gulong, Guizhou province, China.
Nepalese women hold coconuts and offer prayers to the setting sun on the
banks of the Bagmati River during the Chhath Puja festival in
Kathmandu, Nepal.
Artists dressed as Hindu gods Rama and Laxman act as fireworks explode
during Vijaya Dashmi, or Dussehra festival celebrations in Chandigarh,
India.
The group Colla els Capgrossos de Mataro forms a human tower called
'Castell' during the All Saints Day in Vilafranca del Penedes town, near
Barcelona, Spain.
Participants row their dragon boats during the Water Festival on the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
A crowd releases lanterns into the air as they celebrate the Yee Peng
festival, also known as the festival of lights, in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The event is held to show respect to Buddha.
Malaysian ethnic Chinese men walk barefoot on a
bed of burning coals on the final day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival
at a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Festival is an annual Taoist celebration held from the first day to the
ninth day of the lunar month.
(Sadiq Asyraf)
Cambodian boat dancer rests on a traditional
rowboat during the annual water festival on the Tonle Sap River in Phnom
Penh, Cambodia. The three-day festival began with
traditional boat racing and evening fireworks. (Heng Sinith)
People take part in the Seoul Kimchi Festival in South Korea. (Kim Hong-Ji)
A woman decorates palms with flowers during the Palms and Flowers festival in Panchimalco, El Salvador. (Marvin Recinos)
A Balinese man holds his son during a mud bath tradition known as
Mebuug-buugan, in Kedonganan village, near Denpasar on Indonesia's
resort island of Bali.
A Buddhist devotee dashes barefoot through flames during the Nagatoro
Hi-Matsuri, or fire-walking festival, to herald the coming of spring at
the Fudoji temple in Nagatoro town, Saitama prefecture, Japan.
An Indian Hindu man dressed as Lord Shiva holds a lit candle in his
mouth in a religious procession ahead of the Maha Shivratri Festival in
Jalandhar
Devotees form a human pyramid to celebrate the festival of Janmashtami,
marking the birth anniversary of Hindu Lord Krishna, in Mumbai, India.
Ethnic Yao minority women brush their long hair as part of a performance
during the local Long Hair Festival, to celebrate the third day of the
third lunar month which is regarded as a traditional festival for many
ethnic minorities in Huangluo village of Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region, China.
Men throw water on a woman as part of traditional Easter celebrations in Szenna, Hungary.
Belarusian children eat pancakes during Maslenitsa celebrations, or
Shrovetide, in the village of Otradnoye, 150 km (93 miles) south of
Minsk, Belarus.
Kyrgyz women wearing traditional costumes perform during the
celebrations of Nowruz (New Year) at the central Ala-Too Square in
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Villagers catch ducks as they celebrate a traditional festival of ethnic Miao, in Jianhe, Guizhou Province, China.
Penitents hold candles as they take part in the "Procesion del Silencio" brotherhood, during the Holy Week in Zamora, Spain.
A lantern installation of a dragon is displayed during a lighting test
ahead of the park's lantern festival, in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province,
China.
Sri Lankan fireball dancers are seen performing during the inauguration
of the annual 'Duruthu Perahera' festival at Kelani Buddhist temple, in
the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Revelers participate in a parade on the street during a carnival in the
village of Vevcani, south of the Macedonian capital of Skopje. Vevcani
village marks the annual Orthodox St. Vasilij Day with a carnival that
features a 1,400-year-old celebration with pagan roots.
Bangladeshi Muslim devotees leave on an overcrowded train after taking
part in Akheri Munajat, or final prayers, at the Biswa Ijtema, or World
Muslim Congregation, at Tongi, some 30 kms north of Dhaka.
A man dressed as Caspar (C), one of the Three Wise Men, stands on a
float as he parades with his entourage during the traditional Epiphany
parade in Madrid, Spain.
Loi Krathong festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Joost Hardesmeets)
People light candles before releasing a traditional home-made paper
balloon into the sky during the annual Tazaungdaing festival in
Taunggyi, Myanmar.
A jockey falls off during a traditional Barapan Kebo or buffalo races in
Taliwang, on the island of Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.
Members of the Miao ethnic
group wearing ceremonial costumes take part in a parade during the
traditional Lusheng (reed-pipe wind instrument) Festival in Gulong,
Guizhou province, China. (Reuters)
Peoples gather on the road of Indore city for playing with colours during the Indian festival of colors called "Holi" (Chetan Soni)
A member of the Samaritan sect decorates a traditional hut known as a
sukkah with fruits and vegetables on Mount Gerizim, on the outskirts of
the West Bank city of Nablus.
Thai jockeys competing in the annual water buffalo race cross the finish
line in Chonburi Province southeast of Bangkok. The annual race is a
celebration of rice farmers before harvest.
Artists perform during Ram Lila, a re-enactment of the life of Lord Rama, ahead of Dussehra festival in New Delhi, India.
Steamed Chinese-style buns, known locally as salapao, are decorated with
faces during the start of the annual 10-day vegetarian festival in Bang
Saphan, southern Thailand. (Matthew Richards)
Nepalese Hindu women, dressed in red, dance after paying homage to
Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction as they celebrate the Teej festival
at the Pashupatinath temple area in Kathmandu.
Balloons are released during a celebration event at the Potala Palace
marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet Autonomous
Region, in Lhasa.
Tribal dancers entertain Burundians in Bujumbura to celebrate nation's 53rd Independence Day.
A boy is tossed in the mud during the Asar Pandhra festival in Pokhara
valley, west of Nepal's capital Kathmandu, to mark the commencement of
rice-crop planting.
People participate in the ninth annual tomato fight festival, known as "tomatina", in Sutamarchan, Boyaca department, Colombia.
Balinese fighters combat with sticks wrapped in thorny pandanus leaves
during a village festival ceremony in Bali, Indonesia, as part of a
sacrifice to placate the evil spirits.
Married Hindu women tie sacred threads around a banyan tree, believed to
be a divine wishing tree, at a ceremony to pray for good luck during
the Hindu religious festival of Vata Savitri Purnima in Ahmedabad,
India.
People take part in the "City of Future" carnival in central Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia.
Pilgrims push a carriage as they cross the Quema River on their way to the shrine of El Rocio in Aznalcazar, southern Spain.
A boy rides on a carabao during the annual Carabao Festival in Pulilan, Bulacan in northern Philippines.
A ceremony takes place in the courtyard of the Put Jaw Chinese Temple
during the annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand. (Kampol Jindaprom)
Participants pass an egg using their mouths during a religious ritual
during the Popo (Mask) Carnival of Bonoua in the east of Abidjan, Ivory
Coast.
Visitors participate in the annual water-splashing festival in
Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, China, to celebrate the 1,377th New Year
of the ethnic Dai minority.
Hungarian dance as part of traditional Easter celebrations in Szenna. Locals celebrate the traditional "watering
of the girls," a fertility ritual rooted in Hungarian tribes'
pre-Christian past, going as far back as the second century after
Christ.
Penitents take part in a procession on Good Friday in Zipaquira,
Colombia.
Japanese Zen practitioners or "Komuso", in traditional religious outfit,
playing the bamboo flute, or shakuhachi, parade as cherry blossoms are
in full bloom at Ueno park in Tokyo.
Balinese Hindu dancers perform during a ritual before Nyepi Day in
Jakarta, Indonesia. Nyepi is a day of silence for self-reflection to
celebrate the Balinese Hindu new year, where people may not use lights,
light fires, work, travel nor enjoy entertainment.
Tadjik women throw water on men from rooftop as they take part in a
celebration to welcome the coming Spring in Tadjik autonomous county,
Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China.
Women and girls wearing Miao traditional costumes dance during the
traditional Lusheng (reed-pipe wind instrument) Festival in Kaili,
Guizhou province, China.
A Burmese laborer lifts a basket of fish from boiling water at a
processing factory near Bang Saphan in Prachuap Khiri Khan province,
southern Thailand. (Photo taken by Matthew Richards,
Thailand)
Young Nepalese girls dressed traditional attire wait to perform a dance
at an event to mark International Women's Day at the Maiti Nepal in
Kathmandu.
Women dressed in costumes for "Weiberfastnacht" (Women's Carnival) celebrate in Cologne, Germany.
Children wearing traditional costumes are seen during preparations for
Chinese Lunar New Year of the Goat celebrations in Hong Kong.
Hindu devotees, their bodies pierced with lemon and paladai, or bowl
with a spout mainly used to feed milk to infants, wait to participate in
a procession to mark Shivratri, or the night of Shiva, in Chennai,
India.
A man with a sheep soft toy waits to plant his first joss stick at the
Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho temple in Singapore. Each year, at the stroke of
midnight, hundreds of people vie to be the first to place joss sticks in
an urn at the temple to mark an auspicious start to their year.
Sri Lankan traditional dancers perform in front of the Gangarama Temple during the Navam Perahera festival in Colombo.
Men in costumes and traditional masks take part in the Schleicherlaufen festival in the western Austrian town of Telfs.
A boy carries a cross during Epiphany Day celebrations in Prijedor,
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Orthodox priests throughout the country bless
the waters by throwing a cross into it as worshippers try to retrieve
it, with a strong belief that catching the cross brings health and
prosperity to the person who catches it
Devotees prepare ritual rice dishes to offer to the Hindu Sun God as
they attend Ponggal celebrations at a slum in Mumbai, India.
Men dressed as "Chlaeuse" figures that scare away evil spirits, carry
round bells and cowbells as they stand on a partially snow-covered
meadow during the traditional "Syvesterchlausen" near the northeastern
village of Urnaesch, Switzerland.
A "Sadhu", or Hindu holy man, takes a dip at the confluence of the river
Ganges and the Bay of Bengal, ahead of the "Makar Sankranti" festival
at Sagar Island, south of Kolkata, India.
Women wearing traditional clothing known as "Pollera" take part in the
annual Thousand Polleras parade in Las Tablas, in the province of Los
Santos, Panama.
Muslim participants gesture from a departing train following the
conclusion of the World Muslim Congregation, also known as Biswa Ijtema,
at Tongi, on the outskirts of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka.
Sikh devotees perform Gatka - traditional Sikh martial arts - to mark the birth
anniversary of the tenth Sikh Master Guru Gobind Singh in Jammu, India.
Indian students pour water on each other as part of a ritual bath on the
eve of Magh Purnima in Ahmadabad. Many Hindu devotees take a holy bath
during the auspicious festival hoping that their sins are washed away
according to ancient Hindu tradition.
A man prays a day before Moulid, which commemorates the birth of Prophet
Muhammad, the central figure of the Islamic religion, at a mosque in
Cairo, Egypt. Every year, Egyptians celebrate Moulid by performing
ritual dances and prayers and spending time with their families.
Women riding on a "mikoshi" or portable shrine cheer as people carry the
shrine into the sea during a festival to wish for calm waters in the
ocean and good fortune in the new year in Oiso, west of Tokyo, Japan.
Children dressed as snowmen take part in a New Year's parade in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.
Thousands of biodegradable balloons are released by members of the Sao
Paulo's commercial association at Patio do Colegio, the site of the
Brazilian city's foundation in 1554.
Christians hold candles during the mass service in Surabaya in the
eastern Java island. Millions of Christians in Indonesia
celebrated Christmas eve in the most populous Muslim country.
A spectacular light and sound show is staged at the ancient Khmer city
of Phimai in Nakhon Ratchasima province as part of an annual festival, held within the grounds of a temple at Phimai
Historical Park, Thailand, which marks one end of the former Khmer
highway from Angkor. (Matthew Richards)
Male children and elders belonging to the ethnic Gayo tribe perform a
traditional Saman dance during a ceremony in Gayo Lues highland district
in Indonesia's Aceh province.
Members of the
Castellers Joves Xiquets de Valls try to complete their human tower
during the 25th Human Tower Competition in Tarragona, Spain, (Emilio Morenatt)
A woman makes traditional Korean side dish kimchi, or fermented cabbage,
during the 2014 Seoul Kimchi Making and Sharing Festival at Seoul City
Hall Plaza in Seoul, South Korea. More than 2,300 volunteers made 250
tons of kimchi to give away to needy people during the winter season.
A warrior
screams with joy after hitting a member of the opposing team during
Pasola in Ratenggaro, Sumba, Indonesia. Pasola is a festival occurring in which rival clans of West Sumbanese men joust with blunt,
wooden spears. The festival is tied to the arrival of the Nyale sea worm
and looks forward to the rice-growing season. (Andrea Orioli)
Shiite Muslims take part in a traditional mourning event to mark Ashura
in the northern Iraqi holy city of Najaf. Ashura mourns the death of
Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammed, who was killed by
armies of the Yazid near Karbala in 680 AD.
Kyoto, Japan: Shrine parishioners hold huge torches during the Kurama Fire Festival, known as the Kurama no Himatsuri
at Yuki Shrine. The festival originated in 940, when Emperor Suzaku
moved Yuki Shrine from Heian-Kyo, then capital of Japan to Kurama to
quell unrest. (The Asahi Shimbun)
Moroccan horsemen perform during the 7th edition of the "Salon du Cheval" in the port city of El Jadida.
Japanese Shrine Parishioners of Usazaki, Mega and Nakamura(from front)
teams jolt their Yatai, (portable shrines) against one another during a
parade as a part of Nada Fighting Festival at Matsubara Shrine in
Himeji, Japan. (Buddhika Weerasinghe)
Figures of Barong Brutuk perform at the sacred Barong Brutuk dance at
Pancering Jagat Temple in Trunyan Village, Bali, Indonesia. The Barong
Brutuk, is a rarely performed ritual that has costumes made from dry
banana leaves and wooden masks. This dance is only danced by young men
of Trunyan village who have been purified, selected and then go through a
quarantine for 42 days. There are 21 masks of Barong Brutuk that
represent the role as a King, a Queen, a Knight, the Queen's brother and
other members. (Agung Parameswara)
Balinese men lashing each other with burning coconut husks during
'Mesabatan Api', a sacred firefighting ritual at a Hindu temple in Bali,
Indonesia.
Indian Sikh school children dressed as Punj Pyara participate in a
procession from the Sri Akal Takhat at the Sikh Shrine, The Golden
Temple in Amritsar on the eve of the birth anniversary of the fourth
Sikh Guru Ramdas.
A member of the Samaritan sect decorates a traditional hut known as a
sukkah with fruits and vegetables on Mount Gerizim, on the outskirts of
the West Bank City of Nablus. A sukkah is a ritual hut used during the
week-long Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Muslim pilgrims walk on a bridge as they head to cast stones at pillars
symbolizing Satan during the final day of the annual haj pilgrimage in
Mina, near the holy city of Mecca.
Castellers Colla Vella Xiquets de Valls form a human tower called
"castell" during a biannual competition in Tarragona city, Spain.
Bavarian riflemen and women in traditional costumes fire their muzzle
loaders in front of the 'Bavaria' statue on the last day of the
Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, southern Germany.
A Garba dance practice in traditional costume in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India for the Navratri festival,
during which nine forms of Durga, the Hindu mother goddess, are
worshiped. (Divyakant Solank)
Hindu devotees celebrate Radha Ashtami with dancing and dye-throwing in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, India. (Xinhua News Agency)
A bull with its horns set on fire is seen during the El
Novillo de Bombas festival in Mira, north of Quito. The yearly event originated from
Spain many centuries ago. The controversial festival has caused concern
among animal rights activists. (Guillermo Granja)
Schoolgirls wear traditional Punjabi dress during a ceremony marking Independence at the Guru Nanak stadium in Amritsar, India. (Narinder Nanu)
Umbrella dancers turn out in record-breaking numbers at the Tottori Shanshan Festival in Japan. (Toshihiro Kashiwagi)
A golden hue created by the lantern
poles that are the centerpiece of the Kanto Festival in Japan.
(Kengo Hiyoshi)
Muslims offer prayers at the ruins of the Feroz Shah Kotla mosque on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr in New Delhi, India.
Men hang Vesak lanterns ahead of Vesak Day celebrations in Colombo, Sri
Lanka. Vesak Day, which is celebrated on in Sri Lanka,
commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha.
An Indian boy with his face painted participates in a procession on the occasion of Chandan Yatra festival in Puri, near eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar. Chandan Yatra means Sandalwood Voyage, where devotees smear the deities of the Lord with cooling sandalwood paste.
Shi'ite pilgrims beat themselves as a sign of grief at the holy shrine of the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim during the annual commemoration of the saint's death at Kazimiyah district of Baghdad, Iraq.
A child wearing a costume performs a tea ceremony ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival in Shenyang, Liaoning province. The festival is commemorated in memory of Chinese patriotic poet Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in 277 B.C.
Chinese dancers perform for the opening ceremony of 2014 International Akhal-Take Horses Association Special Conference and China Horse Culture Festival at Forbidden City, in Beijing, China.
A Turkmenistan man performs on a horse during the opening ceremony of 2014 International Akhal-Take Horses Association Special Conference and China Horse Culture Festival at Forbidden City, in Beijing, China.
Buddhist monks perform the "three steps one bow" ceremony at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery in Singapore on the eve of Vesak Day to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha.
Buddhists pray during a ceremony to commemorate the birth of Buddha, at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan.
Local residents carry portraits of their ancestors, participants in
World War II, as they celebrate Victory Day in St. Petersburg, Russia.
About 30,000 people walked in the march named 'Immortal regiment.'
Victory Day marks the defeat of Nazi Germany and is Russia's most
important secular holiday.
Participants take part in a bun scrambling competition during Bun
Festival at Hong Kong's Cheung Chau island. The festival celebrates the
islanders' deliverance from famine many centuries ago and is meant to
placate ghosts and restless spirits.
Back
to the Middle Ages! The battle rages between the French, in blue,
and the Poles, in red. Knights from all over the world compete in the
World Championships of medieval combat. The tournament is run at the
beautiful fifteenth century castle of Belmonte in Spain. (Susana Vera)
Participants are sprayed with color powder during the Color Run in
Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Color Run is a five-kilometer, un-timed race
held worldwide with the aim of promoting healthy living and to benefit a
charity that organizers choose in each of the cities the run visits.
Leicester Morris Men dance at Bradgate Park in Newtown Linford, central
England. The May Day Morris celebration is a traditional rite thought to
be connected to changing seasons and fertility.
A woman dressed up as a witch walks at the summit of Brocken mountain in
the Harz region celebrating the Walpurgisnacht pagan festival. Legend has it that on Walpurgisnacht or May Eve, witches fly
their broomsticks to meet the devil at the summit of the Brocken
Mountain in Harz.
Worshipers attend the Day of the Spiritual Indoctrinator annual
celebrations at the Vale do Amanhecer (Valley of the Dawn) community in
the Planaltina neighborhood of Brasilia, Brazil.
Men dressed in traditional ancient Roman costumes line up to parade
along the ancient Roman ruins of the Colosseum, Circus Maximus and the
Roman Forum to celebrate the festivities of the Christmas of Rome in
Italy. Every year the city celebrates its 753 BC foundation
with parades and fighting in costume, re-enacting the deeds of the great
ancient Roman Empire. (Andrew Medichini)
Women in traditional costumes are sprayed with water as members of the
Marghareta Dance Group perform Easter folk traditions of the region in
the Museum Village in Nyiregyhaza, northeast of Budapest, Hungary.
A Sufi Muslim pilgrim holds his eye open with a
sword as he performs inside the shrine of Shah-e-Alam during the saint's
annual Urs or death-anniversary festival. (Amit Dave)
Batey La Higuera, Dominican Republic: Local
men take part in a ritual dance during a Gaga ceremony. Gaga, which
originated in Haiti is a combination of Santeria, Voodoo and Christian
beliefs and developed among the workers on sugar plantations. (Ricardo Rojas)
A gaucho is unseated by a wild horse during the annual celebration of Criolla Week in Montevideo, Uruguay. (Andres Stapff)
Penitents take part in the Procesión del Silencio during Holy Week in Zamora, Spain. (Andres Kudacki)
Hungarian children celebrate Easter with a traditional fertility ritual
which involves watering the girls. In Kalocsa, some 100 km south of
Budapest the boys take on their roles as waterers with gusto. (Attila Kisbenedek)
A Jewish man raises Torah scrolls during the Cohanim prayer (priest's
blessing) during the Pesach (Passover) holiday at the Western Wall in
the Old City of Jerusalem. (Thomas Coex)
A woman takes part in a parade to celebrate the Dai ethnic group new year in Jinghong, southwest China. (AFP)
Ultra-Orthodox Jews burn leavened items in a final preparation before
the start at sundown of the Jewish Passover holiday, in the city of Bnei
Brak, central Israel. (Jack Guez)
A woman holds palm fronds made into the shape of a cross during a Palm
Sunday celebration outside the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua,
Nicaragua. For Christians, Palm Sunday marks Jesus Christ's entrance
into Jerusalem, when his followers laid palm branches in his path, prior
to his crucifixion. (Esteban Felix)
A devotee, whose face has been smeared with vermillion powder, takes
part in the "Sindoor Jatra" vermillion powder festival at Thimi, near
Kathmandu. The festival is celebrated by singing, dancing, playing
traditional instruments, carrying chariots of various deities around the
town, offering prayers and throwing vermilion powder over each other to
mark the Nepalese New Year and the beginning of spring season in the
country. (Navesh Chitrakar)
A boy dressed as a devil, popularly known as "Talciguin", participates
in the celebration of an ancient local Catholic tradition that marks the
start of Holy Week in Texistepeque, west of San Salvador, El
Salvador. (Jose Cabezas)
Dancers perform at the Voodoo Festival in Ouidah, Benin. Voodoo, or
vodun, is an official religion in Benin, a small country tucked between
Togo and Nigeria in West Africa. (Dan Kitwood)
Devotee walk on burning coal as they perform a ritual during the Danda
festival at Mandhasal village in Khurda district in the eastern Indian
state of Odisha.
Water is sprayed on revelers during the traditional new year water
festival in Rangoon, Burma. Burma began celebrating Thingyan on Sunday,
marking the New Year according to the traditional Burmese Lunisolar
calendar.
People carry masks and different animal floats down a street during
celebrations on Pohela Boishakh, the first day of the Bengali new year
in Dhaka.
People dance with umbrellas during a celebration for the New Year of the Dai minority in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, China.
Penitents of the "La Borriquita" brotherhood take part during a Holy
Week procession in Cordoba, southern Spain. Hundreds of processions take
place throughout the country during the Easter Holy Week. (Manu Fernandez)
Penitents called "Morions" parade along the streets of Mogpog town in
central Philippines. During the annual festival, masked and costumed
penitents called "Moriones" dress in attire that is the local
interpretation of what Roman soldiers wore during biblical times. (Erik De Castro)
Children take part in a religious procession to mark the Palm Sunday in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Balinese men carry an animal statue during cremation ceremony at a beach
in Bali, Indonesia. The cremation is an essential rite of passage for
Balinese Hindus as it is considered a means of releasing the soul from
the body so that it can be reincarnated.
An Indian artist dressed as Hindu goddess Kali participates in a
procession to celebrate the Ram Navami festival - the birth anniversary
of Lord Rama - in Allahabad.
Dancers perform a traditional dance during the opening ceremony of
ancient Thai New Year or Songkran festival celebrations in Chiang Mai
province, northern Thailand.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill releases a white dove to mark
Annunciation Day in the Kremlin in Moscow. In Christianity, Annunciation
celebrates the revelation to the Virgin Mary that she would bear a son,
Jesus.
Hindu devotees break coconuts on a wooden log placed on another devotees
lying on the ground as they perform a ritual during the "Danda"
festival at Kulagarh village in Ganjam district in the eastern Indian
state of Odisha.
A Balinese girl, right, tries to avoid a kiss from another during the
"Omed Omedan" kissing festival in Bali, Indonesia. Locals believe the
festival ensures the good health of those taking part and prevents bad
luck hitting the village. During the festival, village priests dump
buckets of water over couples to douse their passions.
Ethnic Dong women wearing traditional costumes pick tea leaves during a
ceremony marking the start of tea picking season in spring, at a tea
plantation in Liping county, Guizhou province, China.
Hanging bird cages are displayed on poles during a bird-singing contest
in the Rueso district in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat.
Hundreds of bird owners from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore took part
in the traditional festival held every year.
Iraqi Kurds with a giant banner in the colors of the Kurdish flag
celebrate Nowruz, or the New Year, in Dahuk, 260 miles (430 kilometers)
northwest of Baghdad, Iraq.
Wearing their traditional costumes Kyrgyz women and a man take part in
the celebrations of Nowruz (New Year) in the outskirts of the
Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek. Nowruz, "The New Year" in Farsi, is an
ancient festival marking the first day of spring in Central Asia.
Easter eggs adorn an apple tree in the garden of the summerhouse of
German pensioners Christa and Volker Kraft, in the eastern German town
of Saalfeld. Each year since 1965 they spend up to two weeks decorating
the tree with their collection of 10,000 colorful hand-painted Easter
eggs in time for Easter celebrations.
Sikh warrior Major Singh, wearing a 425 meters long turban, brandishes a kirpan
(sword) as he participates in a religious procession during the annual
fair of 'Hola Mohalla' in Anandpur Sahib, in the northern Indian state
of Punjab. (Altaf Qadr)
Devotees react as Buddhist monks spray holy water during the annual
Magic Tattoo Festival at Wat Bang Phra in Nakhon Prathom province,
Thailand.
Revelers in costumes are sprayed with foam during a parade for the
Jewish holiday of Purim outside Bialik Rogozin school in south Tel Aviv,
Israel. Purim is a celebration of the Jews' salvation from genocide in
ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther.
Mahouts pray while sitting on top of elephants during Thailand's National Elephant Day in the ancient Thai capital Ayutthaya.
Hindu priests throws colored powder at the devotees during Holi
celebrations at Bankey Bihari temple in Vrindavan, in the northern
Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Holi, also known as the Festival of
Colors, heralds the beginning of spring and is celebrated all over
India.
An Indian Hindu woman at the Nandagram Temple during Lathmar Holi festival in Nandgaon, India. (Altaf Qadri)
Revelers take part in Morgestraich marking the opening of the Basel
Fasnacht carnival in Basel, Switzerland. Starting at 4am when the city
lights shut down, groups of fifers and drummers move through the town
center playing carnival tunes. (Harold Cunningham)
A Balinese woman (R) sits between effigies called "Ogoh-ogoh"
symbolising evil, in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali.
Ogoh-ogoh will parade as part of a traditional celebration a day before
the Indonesian holiday island of Bali shuts down for a day of silence to
mark the Hindu new year on March 31. (Sonny Tumbelaka)
A painted youth stops to pose for a photo during the Los Pintados (The
Painted Ones) carnival, in San Mateo Ozolco community, Puebla State,
Mexico. Los Pintados is a 62-year-old tradition during which young
people paint their bodies and 'threaten' locals and tourists with paint
unless they give them money. (Alfredo Estrella)
Belarusian ballet dancers perform during the premiere of Grand Pas from
the ballet Flower Festival in Genzano at the Bolshoi National Academic
Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Minsk, Belarus. (Tatyana Zenkovich)
Men with helmets are hit by oranges during the traditional "battle of
the oranges" held during the carnival in Ivrea, near Turin, Italy.
Revelers known as Los Indianos throw talcum powder over each other
during carnival in Santa Cruz de la Palma, Tenerife, Canary islands.
'Los 'Indianos' represent emigrants from the Americas, who returned to
the island wealthier. (Andres Gutierrez)
Revelers dressed as Lamia take part in the Aratustes (carnival) in the
Basque coastal town of Mundaka. The Lamia, a figure of Basque mythology,
is a half human half animal creature whose lower parts are those of a
goat or duck in inland regions, and a mermaid-like creature in coastal
areas. (Vincent West)
The first day of the world-famous Rio Carnival with dancers dressed in various costumes. (Reuters)
Participants march during Sydney's annual gay and lesbian Mardi Gras
night parade in Australia. Some 10,000 revelers on 144 individual floats
marked the journey down Oxford Street, hub of the city's gay and
lesbian nightlife, in a vibrant show featuring drag queens, political
parodies and plenty of glitter.
Mah Meri women wearing their traditional dresses perform the "Main
Jo-oh" dance during the Ari Muyang festival in the village of Sungai
Bumbun on Pulau Carey, southwest of Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Monks dressed as Tibetan Buddhism characters attend a religious
ceremony, known as "Da Gui" or beating ghost, to celebrate the upcoming
Tibetan New Year which starts on March 1 at Yonghegong Lama Temple, in
Beijing.
Women dressed in costumes for "Weiberfastnacht" (Women's Carnival) celebrate in front of Cologne's Cathedral, Germany.
An Indian Hindu devotee holds a python during a procession for Maha
Shivaratri, dedicated to the Hindu god Lord Shiva, in Allahabad, India.
Hindus mark the Maha Shivratri festival by offering special prayers and
fasting to Lord Shiva, the god of destruction.
A women dressed as Hindu Goddess Kali participates in a procession on the eve of Shivratri festival, in Jammu, India.
A Japanese Geisha prepares green tea during the annual Baikasai, (Plum
Blossom Festival), at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto, Japan. This
annual event commemorates enshrined Michizane Sugawara, a politician and
plum-blossom aficionado of the Heian-Period, who died in the year 903. (Buddhika Weerasinghe)
Dancers parade during the Nice Carnival in Nice, southeastern France.
The theme of this year's carnival is the "King of Gastronomy".
Members of a Basque folk group take part in a parade during the VII
Xornaes de Mazcares d'Inviernu (VII Winter Mask Meetings) in Valdesoto,
near Oviedo. Groups from different regions of Spain and Portugal
attended the gathering and displayed their traditional carnival rituals. (Eloy Alonso)
A vendor sells colorful butter sculptures before the coming of Losar
(Tibetan New Year) at a bazaar in Lhasa, China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Barcroft Media)
Masked dancers participate in the International Poetry Festival in Granada city, Nicaragua (Oswaldo Rivas)
Herdsmen take part in a horse race during a local snow festival in Altay, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China.
Nepalese Hindu devotees dressed as the Hindu god Madhav Narayan look on
during the Madhav Narayan festival in Thecho in Lalitpur on the
outskirts of Kathmandu. Married and unmarried women in the Himalayan
nation are marking the month-long fast of the Narayan festival in the
hope of a prosperous life and conjugal happiness.
Ethnic Miao women wear elaborate headwear during the annual Tiaohua
festival in China, to celebrate the Chinese lunar new year. (Reuters)
A Murzuq band performs a popular song during the Ghat Festival of Culture and Tourism in Libya. The annual event draws Tuareg tribes
from across the region, as well as tourists. (Esam Omran Al-Fetori)
People throw colored powder in the air at the Color Run in Sydney,
Australia. The event is a 5-km (3.1-mile) fun run where participants
are covered with bright-colored powder at each check station and is less
about speed and more about enjoying a day with friends and family.
An ethnic Dong Minority villager carries a child on her back during a
performance to celebrate the traditional Dong Minority festival "Tai
Guan Ren", in Huanggang village of Liping county, Guizhou province. Tai
Guan Ren, which means "carry the peace and luck envoy," is an annual
festival celebrated during the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year. (Reuters)
People receive fire from special torchbearers at a fire festival in
Wakayama, Japan. Once the torches are lighted, temple gates
are opened and participants run down hundreds of stone steps to the
bottom of a mountain in the ancient New Year’s festival. (Everett Kennedy Brown)
Believer Benito Martinez (C), dressed as a "devil" wearing a mask, walks
around in Almonacid del Marquesado, in central Spain, during the
"Endiablada" traditional festival.
Nepalese Hindu devotees wait to fill pots with water from the Bagmati
River at the Pashupatinath Temple during the month-long Swasthani
festival in Kathmandu. Scores of married and unmarried women in the
Himalayan nation are marking the month-long fast in the hope of a
prosperous life and conjugal happiness.
Lanterns are hung in a Chinese temple ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Performers dressed in costumes of the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1911)
rehearse the ancient royal heaven worshiping ceremony for the upcoming
Lunar New Year or Spring Festival at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. (AFP)
Participants dressed as Vikings prepare to participate in the annual Up
Helly Aa festival in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, northeast of Britain. Up
Helly Aa celebrates the influence of the Scandinavian Vikings in the
Shetland Islands and culminates with up to 1,000 'guizers' (men in
costume) throwing flaming torches into their Viking longboat and setting
it alight later in the evening.
Tamborilleros
wearing their uniforms try to shelter from the rain, as they march in
the traditional ' La Tamborrada', during 'El Dia Grande', the main day
of San Sebastian feasts, in the Basque city of San Sebastian, northern
Spain.
A man drinks
wine near a bonfire during celebrations in honor of St. Anthony, the
patron saint of animals, in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain.
People also celebrate the feast day by riding horses through fire. (Emilio Morenatti)
Disguised revelers named "Kukeri" hold torches as they take part in the
Kukeri Carnival in the village of Batanovci, Bulgaria. The Kukeri
Carnival is a festival which marks the beginning of the spring. (Dimitar
Dilkoff)
The Thousand Camel festival, held in the Gobi desert, is a celebration
of the endangered Bactrian camel and the role it plays in the lives of
the Gobi's nomads. Camel races and polo competitions, as well as
performances of traditional Mongolian music and dance, are among the
highlights of this annual event
Visitors are silhouetted against lighted ice sculptures at the Harbin
Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in the northern city of Harbin,
Heilongjiang province, China.
Chinese dancing master Yang Liping performs in her dance drama "The
Peacock" during the first Yang Liping International Dance Festival in
Kunming, China. (Xinhua)
Villagers
hold torches during the Divina Pastora procession, as part of a
festival to honor the Virgin of Los Rondeles, in the southern Spanish
village of Casarabonela. (Jon Nazca)
Iga, Japan: Girls wearing ninja costumes watch a performance during the Iga-Ueno Ninja Festival. (Toshifumi Kitamura)
North Korean artists from Pyongyang rehearse for an evening dancing
performance called "Azalea" during the 13th Asian Arts Festival in
Kunming, Yunnan province, China.
Buddhist monks prepare to release lanterns after a blessing ceremony
during the Loy Krathong Festival at a temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Sikh devotees queue up to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, on the
birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru in Amritsar, India.
'Wa' ethnic people in Pu'er Tea Festival in Yunnan, China. (Jia Kuanming)
Indian school children in traditional dress wait to perform during an
inauguration of the annual cattle fair in Pushkar, in the western Indian
state of Rajasthan. (Ajit Solanki)
People celebrate in the streets of downtown Duesseldorf after the
symbolic awakening of the Hoppeditz, the symbol for carnival, Germany.
Hindu devotees offer prayer during the Chhat Puja festival, while
standing in the water tank of the Durgiana temple in Amritsar, India. (Narinder Nanu)
Devotees play after offering prayers in the river Yamuna on the occasion
of the Hindu festival "Bhai Dooj" in the northern Indian city of
Mathura, India. The festival is celebrated by the
Hindu community to mark the bond between brothers and sisters. (Stringer)
People gathered to pray at Shoamibag celebrating
the Hindu festival 'Rakher Upabash', in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Mohammad Asad)
Ethnic Qiang people perform celebrations for their New Year’s Day in China’s Sichuan province. (China Daily)
A
girl sits among diyas, or oil lamps, in her yard during Diwali
celebrations in Felicity, central Trinidad. The festival marks the
beginning of the Hindu new year and the homecoming of Hindu god Rama
after 14 years in exile. (Reuters)
The Seymens, representing Ankara local militia who welcomed Mustafa
Kemal Atuturk in Ankara in 1919 as Atuturk arrived to organize the the
Independence war that led to the foundation of Turkish republic, march
during the celebrations for the 90th anniversary of republic in Ankara,
Turkey.
In the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the faithful take part in the colorful annual tsechu,
or mask-dance festival, that lasts for several days and celebrates the
life of Guru Rinpoche, who brought Buddhism to their country. (Lynsey Addario)
Members of the Shia Houthi group dance with traditional daggers named jambiya during Eid al-Ghadeer in Sana'a, Yemen. (Hani
Mohammed)
South Korean chefs and students, who are majoring in culinary arts,
prepare bibimbap, a signature Korean dish, for 12,013 people during an
event to mark the Korean Food Festival in Seoul.
Shrine Parishioners during the Usuki Lantern Festival in Himeji, Japan. (Buddhika Weerasinghe)
Samaritan man stands under a Sukkah made of fruits inside his house
during the holiday of Sukkot (the Tabernacles Feast) celebrations on
Mount Gerizim near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, in Palestine.
A
traditionally decorated elephant performs at Kyaukse’s Elephant Dance
Festival in Kyaukse, near Mandalay in Myanmar. (Zarni Mann)
Indian villagers take part in a community fishing on the occasion of
Kati Bihu festival on the outskirts of Guwahati city, India. Kati Bihu
festival is closely related to agriculture. (Stringer)
Shinto priests walk out from the outer shrine after they administer a
Shinto rite "Kiyoharai" on the first day of the four-day autumn festival
at the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan.
The traditional hazing or initiation rites of first year students by
senior students in Granada, Spain is underway during the annual
celebration of their patron Saint Lucas at Granada University. (Reuters)
Thousands of Indian Hindu devotees light candles in the form of the
"Aum" religious symbol during a Maha Arti (Mass Prayer) on the eighth
night of ongoing Navratri in Ahmedabad, India. (AFP)
Men carry a Yatai, or portable shrine, during a parade as part of the
Nada Fight Festival in Himeji, Japan. (Buddhika Weerasinghe)
The Potsdamer Platz is lit with colourful lights during the celebration
of the Festival of Lights in Berlin, Germany. Festival Of Lights is one
of the world's largest illumination festivals. (Imago)
Fuengirola, Spain: A couple dance to traditional Spanish music during the week-long Lady Of The Rosary festival. (Denis Doyle)
Hindu devotees perform Garba, a traditional folk dance, during the
celebrations to mark the Navratri festival at Surat in the western
Indian state of Gujarat. Devotees worship various forms
of Hindu goddesses during the festival, whose name literally means nine
nights. (Amit Dave)
Every Muslim is required to perform the hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca at least once in his or her lifetime if able to do so. (Amr Nabil)
The Grand mosque in the holy city of Mecca during the annual haj pilgrimage festival. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
Priests play traditional instruments as part of the Shikali festival at Khorana village, Nepal. (Navesh Chitrakar)
People in coordinated colors take part
during Taiwan's National Day celebrations in Taipei. (Pichi Chuang)
Visitors and waitresses celebrate the end of this year’s Bavarian
Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich. (Christof Stache)
Widows attend the celebration of Durga Puja, a Hindu festival, in Kolkata, India. (Tumpa Mondal)
Bavarian riflemen and women in traditional costumes fire their muzzle
loaders in front of the 'Bavaria' statue in Munich, Germany. Members of
various shooting clubs of the region met for a salute on the last day of
the famous 'Oktoberfest' beer festival. (Matthias Schrader)
Members of the Special Warfare Command give a demonstration of their
skills in the traditional Korean martial art of taekwondo during
celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of Korea Armed Forces Day, at a
military airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul. (Kim Hong-Ji)
Comanche dancers perform at a ceremony honoring the Comanche Code Talkers in Lawton, Oklahoma, USA. (Sue Ogrocki)
Students perform during an annual ritual ceremony to celebrate the
Chinese philosopher and teacher Confucius' birthday at Sungkyunkwan
University in Seoul, South Korea. (AFP)
Burlesque artists perform during the
Newcomer Night of the first international Berlin Burlesque Festival in
Berlin, Germany. (Gero Breloer)
Traditional dancers wait for guests during the Kramaski factory's 20th
anniversary celebrations in Katunayake, north of
Colombo, Sri Lanka(Dinuka Liyanawatte)
Yemeni boy scouts hold fireworks during a ceremony in San’a,
Yemen, to mark the anniversary of North Yemen’s 1962 revolution against
the leadership. (Hani Mohammed)
Young
men wearing the garb of local associations take part in the traditional
costume parade of the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, Germany.
(Christof Stache)
The world's largest beer festival in full swing in Munich. People in a beer tent. (Christof Stache)
A woman, her face covered with colored powders, dances during the Holi
Festival of Colors in Lisbon, Portugal. The festival, which
is mainly celebrated during the spring in some regions of India and
Nepal, has become popular among people in other communities. (Francisco Seco)
A reveler celebrates the anniversary of El Salvador's independence. (Landov)
Nepalese girls wore traditional attire as they waited for a worship
ceremony for girls meant to offer protection from evil and good luck in
the future in Katmandu. (Narendra Shrestha)
Dancers in body paint wait to take part in a performance during the
festivities marking the start of the annual harvest festival of "Onam"
in the southern Indian city of Kochi. The ten-day-long festival is
celebrated annually in India's southern coastal state of Kerala to
commemorate the return of King Mahabali to meet his beloved subjects.
People covered in black grease celebrate the
traditional festivities of the Cascamorras, in Baza, near Granada.
Every year a villager from Guadix dresses as an oddball
character 'Cascamorras' and travels to the village of Baza to recapture
the statue of the Virgen de la Piedad. Residents of Baza dirty their
faces and wait with colored water and eggs to pelt the intruders, thus
staining the clothes of Cascamorras and ensuring his failure. (Jorge Guerrero)
Participants of the band of the Royal Netherlands Navy perform during
the "Spasskaya Tower" International Military Orchestra Music Festival at
the Red Square in Moscow, Russia.
A new student at the University of Toronto in Canada finds herself in a
purple patch. First year engineering students are traditionally dyed
purple at most Canadian universities in initiation rites by senior
students. (Norm Betts)
Bavarian Christian
Democrats drink beer at the annual Gillamoos beer tent day of politics
in Abensberg, Germany. (Joerg Koch)
Horsemen ride in procession during the
Agricultural Cavalcade in Tarifa, Spain. Every year, hundreds of
horsemen ride eight kilometres from the Sanctuary of the Virgin of the
Light, a shrine to the Virgin Mary located in the Meadow of Caheruelas,
to the Church of San Mateo in Tarifa. (Pablo Blazquez
Dominguez)
A Mariachi band playing music while participating in a parade
commemorating the 20th anniversary of International Mariachi and
Charreria in Guadalajara City, Mexico. (Hugo Ortuno Suarez)
Malaysian students perform during the 56th National Day celebrations at Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur.
People parade through the streets during the
Generation Festival in Anoumabo, Ivory Coast. The festival is held
every year by the Achan, an ethnic group living in southern Ivory Coast,
as a way to introduce the next generation that will participate in the
ruling of the village. The men, dressed as warriors to symbolize
strength and power, perform combat dances as they are introduced to the
community. (Luc Gnag)
A Bedouin woman wears a traditional costume
as she sits in her tent during the Sanaa Summer Festival in Sanaa, Yemen. (Mohamed
Al-Sayaghi)
Revelers
celebrate at the annual Tomatina festival in Bunol, Spain. About 20,000
people pelt each other with tons of tomatoes. (David Ramos)
Students dressed as the Hindu Lord Krishna (L) and his consort Radha
take part in celebrations to mark the Janmashtami festival in the
northern Indian city of Amritsar. The festival marks the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna and is celebrated across
India. (Munish Sharma)
A waitress presents the official Oktoberfest beer mugs during a
presentation in Munich, Germany. Oktoberfest, the world's biggest beer
festival.
People launch a 30-meter-diameter paper lantern at Xiapo village,
Qionghai, Hainan province, China. The lantern, made of 72 smaller
lanterns, was designed for a local ritual ceremony to mark the Chinese
Hungry Ghost Festival, also known as Yu Lan, a traditional Chinese
festival on the 15th night of the seventh month of the Chinese calendar.
Thousands of people gather in the main
square of Tarazona waiting for "The Cipotegato" to throw tomatoes at
him. The Cipotegato is a hooded character, dressed as a harlequin, who
must run through the streets of Tarazona in Spain ending in the Plaza de
Espana. (David Ramos)
Revellers play with fireworks in Valencia during the annual La Corda festivities. (Heino Kalis)
Jember, Indonesia: A participant in a spider costume in the Grand Carnival of Jember Fashion Carnaval XII. (Robertus Pudyanto)
Worshipers pray to the Osun goddess and other spirits at the Osun River
in Osogbo, Nigeria. Many of the worshippers observing the
centuries-old ethnic Yoruba celebration in southwestern Nigeria are
Christians and Muslims.(AP)
Participants run as they carry their sheep during a "Running with Sheep"
race, which is a part of a harvest celebration activity, in Yiwu
county, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in China. (Reuters)
People in costumes parade in the street during the annual Badagry festival in Lagos, Nigeria.
A shopkeeper selling sacred threads or “rakhis”
ahead of the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan in Mumbai, India.
The festival celebrates the special bond between brothers and sisters
with the sisters tying the sacred thread on their brothers’ wrists. (Indranil Mukherjee)
Women dance in the street during Rath Yatra, a Hindu celebration that's also known as the Festival of Chariots. (Abir Choudhury)
Schoolboys perform Bhangra, a traditional Punjabi
dance, during a dress rehearsal for India's 67th Independence Day
celebrations in the northern city of Amritsar. (Munish Sharma)
Participants play traditional Mongolian instruments during a
performance at the opening ceremony of Nadam Fair in Xilinhot, Inner
Mongolia, China.
Tibetan Buddhists and tourists view a giant thangka, a religious silk
embroidery or painting displaying the Buddha portrait, during the Shoton
Festival at Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet. (China Daily)
People of Hezhe minority ethnic group attend the “Wurigong” festival in Tongjiang, China. (icpress)
People from the ethnic Yi minority celebrate during the Torch Festival
in Xichang, Sichuan province, China. Around 180,000 people
participated in the celebration. (Reuters)
Revelers wait for the start of the Carnival of Flowers celebrations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Dieu Nalio Chery)
Revelers attend the boat procession of the Virgen del Carmen, patron
saint of fishermen, at Puerto de la Cruz on Spain's Canary island of
Tenerife. (Desiree Martin)
People in folk costumes hold torches as they participate in a procession
the night before a wedding in Galicnik village, west of Macedonia's capital Skopje. The Galicnik Wedding, a
three-day traditional Macedonian wedding celebration held each
"Petrovden" or St. Peter's Day for a selected couple, involves
traditional customs, costumes, and rituals and dances that have been
passed down over the centuries. (Ognen Teofilovski)
Women in yukatas, or casual summer kimonos, look at paper lanterns
during the Mitama Festival at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. (Toru Hanai)
Women wearing 'Yukata' summer kimono's attend the
annual Himeji Yukata Festival in Himeji, Japan. The Himeji
Yukata Festival is one of biggest festivals in western Japan, and was
started by Himeji lord Sakakibara Masamune over 250 years ago. (Buddhika
Weerasinghe)
Hindu devotees stand around a traditional artwork made of colored powder
during the annual Rath Yatra festival or chariot procession in
Hyderabad, India. (AP)
Kiev, Ukraine: women jump over a campfire while celebrating Ivan Kupala Night, a traditional Slavic holiday. During the celebration, which originated in pagan times, people plait wreaths, jump over fires and swim naked. (Sergei Supinsky)
Yemeni girls wearing traditional costumes, attend a festival for
children to welcome the Holy month of Ramadan in the old city of Sanaa. (Hani Mohammed)
A Thai buffalo racer competes during a buffalo racing competition in
Chonburi Province, Thailand. The race was held as a celebration for the
arrival of ploughing season. (Xinhua)
Several hundred runners or 'mozos' are chased by bulls in the bull run of San Fermin Festival in Pamplona,
Spain. (Rodrigo Perez)
Latvia: Dancers in traditional costumes perform at the Grand Dance Performance
during the Latvian Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration in Riga. (Ints Kalnins)
Ukraine: A man holding his son jumps over a campfire during a celebration of the
traditional Ivana Kupala (Ivan the Bather) holiday near Kiev. (Gleb Garanich)
In Japan people celebrate the Tanabata or Star Festival by writing wishes on strips of paper and hanging them under bamboo
trees. (Koji Sasahara)
Pagan Tradition: Women participate in the Rusalle festival, the
‘holiday of mermaids,’ in Sosny, Belarus. They sing and dance
around a fire, and throw wreaths into a river in the belief that their
newly chosen leader of the mermaids will protect harvests. (Vasily
Fedosenko)
Yamabushi or Japanese Buddhist monks in the mountains hold a ceremony of
official opening of Mount Fuji climbing season at Murayama Sengen
Shrine in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka prefecture. (AFP)
A man participating in a day-long archery festival in Stok village on the outskirts of Leh, in Jammu and Kashmir, India. (AP)
Guests use wheelbarrows to carry their
belongings at the Roskilde festival in Denmark. The festival is one of
the largest annual music events in Europe. (Torkil Adsersen)
A participant jumps in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral during a festival of youth street culture in St.Petersburg, Russia.
A young Turkish gypsy stand jumps over a fire
during the celebration of the annual Spring Festival "Hidirellez"
in Edirne, south-western Turkey. Gypsies celebrate the beginning of the
spring season according to their calendar. Hidirellez is celebrated as
the day on which Prophets Hizir (Al-Khidr) and Ilyas (Elijah) met on
earth. (Gurcan Ozturk)
People are busy making zongzi, or rice dumplings, the centerpiece of Dragon Boat Festival in Chongqing, China. (China Daily)
A horsewoman leads thousands of sheep at the Old Port during a
simulation of a transhumance, the seasonal migration when herds are
moved to grazing grounds, as part of festivities to mark
Marseille-Provence being named the 2013 European Capital of Culture in
Marseille, France.
People throw mud onto each other at a crop field during Hucang Festival
at Zhangjiajie, Hunan province, China. Hucang Festival is a
traditional celebration among local ethnic Tujia people, who believe the
muddier a person is after the celebration, the better the harvest he or
she will enjoy.(China Daily)
Participants play in the mud during Mud Day celebrations, at the
American Club in Hanoi to promote the upcoming World Environment Day on
June 5, (Kham)
Beijing, China: A
contestant dressed in traditional costume checks her make-up with a
mirror before a rehearsal at the annual national chorus singing event. (Kim Kyung-hoon)
Revelers play with tomato pulp during the annual "Tomatina" (tomato fight) festival in Sutamarchan province in Boyaca, Colombia.
Participants of the Morioka Sansa Odori Festival parade down a downtown
city street followed by members of the Aomori Nebuta Festival in an
event held in Fukushima, Japan.(Kengo
Hiyoshi)
Revelers surround the 'Nans Vells', Catalan for 'old dwarfs', during
the first day of La Patum festival in Berga, Spain. (David
Ramos)
La Chorrera,
Panama: A dancer performs 'Grand Devil' on the eve of Corpus Christi
celebrations. The dance is a mixture of Spanish and indigenous
traditions that represents the struggle between good and evil. (Xinhua/Landov)
Berga, Spain: Firecrackers explode as revelers take part in the dance of the 'Plens'
during the first day of La Patum festival. The festival stems from
theatrical performances of the Middle Ages and is held each year during
the week of Corpus Christi. (David Ramos)
Members of the minority Sorb community take part in a Corpus Christi procession in Crostwitz, Germany. (Matthias Hiekel)
Kurdish youngsters hit each other with whips at Dicle, in Diyarbakir.
They fight to prove their courage as part of a thousand-year old
tradition.
The so-called 'Whip Fest' is held every year to
aid a bountiful harvest. (Mehmet Engin)
Local people in traditional costumes dance to pay their tribute to the
ancestor of tea
in Pu'er, Southwest China's Yunnan province. (Xinhua)
People gather at the Grand Place in Mons, Belgium, during the Ducasse
(Doudou). The Ducasse is a popular medieval festival that holds every
year on Trinity Sunday and depicts the fight between Saint George,
representing the good, and the dragon, the evil. Spectators are taking
part by trying to catch the mane from the tail of the dragon which is
believed to give luck for one year.
Hundreds of candles burn during Wesak Day celebrations at the Buddhist
Maha Vihara temple in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Brickfields in Malaysia. (Mark Baker)
Bordeaux, France:
The Mexican navy training tall ship Cuauhtemoc during the opening of the
'Bordeaux Celebrates Its River' event (Jean Pierre Muller.)
Bineta Ndiaye
looks at herself in a mirror as her friend Coumba Faye fixes her hair in
Faye's house in the village of Ndande in Senegal. Every year,
inhabitants of the village take part in a Sufi Muslim ceremony called
Gamou-Ndande. (Joe Penney)
Masked men ride in
a morning procession as part of the Cavalhadas festival in Pirenopolis,
Brazil. The popular festival is a tradition that was introduced in the
1800s by a Portuguese priest to mark the the ascension of Christ. The
three day festival re-enacts the Christian knights' medieval defeat of
the Moors. (Eraldo Peres)
People dance the "al-Bara" during a mass wedding ceremony in Sana'a, Yemen.
Members of a Chechen dance group at a government-organized event marking Chechen language
day in the center of the Chechen capital Grozny. (Maxim
Shemetov)
Indian women carry earthen pots covered with red cloth during a
religious procession locally called Gangaji in Ahmadabad. Members of
Sargara community organize a pilgrimage to the River Ganges, considered
holy by the Hindus, in Haridwar after this ritualistic procession.
Holi is a spring festival celebrated as a festival of colors. It is a Hindu religious festival celebrated in India and Nepal.
Every spring hundreds of thousands of devotees converge at a shrine to
pay homage to the Virgin del Rocio during an annual pilgrimage in Spain. (Jasper Juinen)
A young girl in traditional dress gets ready for her Confucian
coming-of-age ceremony in Seoul. The ceremony is a celebration for those
turning 20 this year and encourages awareness of the responsibilities
of adulthood. (Chung Sung-Jun)
A man drinks from a wooden wine jug during the Salter Festival in
Schwaebisch-Hall, southern Germany. The annual salter festival is held
since the 14th century to celebrate the salt production that promoted
the city of Schwaebisch-Hall
Members of the Castellers "Vila de Gracia" start forming their famous
human tower called "castell" in the Barcelona neighborhood of Gracia,
Catalonia, Spain.
Buddhists wait to take part in a lotus lantern parade to celebrate the upcoming birthday of Buddha. (Kim Hong-Ji)
Little girls of the Bailuo people attend their traditional Qiaocai
Festival at Chengzhai Village in Malipo, China. (Xinhua)
Pilgrims on their way to the shrine of El Rocio in the Donana National
Park, southern Spain. Every spring, hundreds of thousands of devotees
converge at a shrine to pay homage to the Virgin del Rocio during an
annual pilgrimage.
Cadets of the Ukrainian Military academy preparing to celebrate the
anniversary of victory over the Nazis at a memorial to World War II
veterans in a memorial park in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Edirne, Turkey: Gypsies gather round a bonfire as they celebrate the spring festival of Hidirellez. (Gurcan Ozturk)
A man crosses a stream near lanterns hanging for celebrations for Buddha's birthday in Seoul, South Korea.
Swiss Guards attend a swearing-in ceremony, at the Vatican. The ceremony
is held to commemorate the day in 1527 when 147 Swiss Guards
died protecting Pope Clement VII during the Sack of Rome.
A South Korean traditional gate guard beats a drum during the reopening ceremony of landmark Sungnyemun gate in Seoul
Manila,
Philippines: A transvestite walks inside a decorated arch for the
'Flores de Mayo', a religious festival celebrating the Virgin Mary (Cheryl Ravelo)
A worker attaches prayer petitions, with names written on cards, to
lotus lanterns in preparation for the upcoming birthday of Buddha at
Jogye temple in Seoul. (Kim Hong-Ji)
Traditional drum dancers perform as the emblem of the PyeongChang 2018
Olympic Winter Games is unveiled (top) during its Launch Ceremony in
Seoul, South Korea.
Students perform along a cobblestone street during the Binatbatan festival in Vigan, Philippines. (Ted Aljibe)
The T-Company perform for International Dance Day in Gendarmenmarket Square in Berlin. (Reuters)
Young members of an Indonesian village community walk around their
village with painted bodies to ward off evil spirits during the Grebeg
Ritual. (Putu Sayoga)
Participants
in bright colored costumes dance in a parade in Cebu City, Philippines,
to celebrate the Sinulog, an annual festival commemorating the Filipino
people's pagan origin, and their acceptance of Roman Catholicism.
(Froilan G. Rogor Jr)
The Entredos Ballet Espanol dancers perform during the gala concert of
the 12th Dance Open International Ballet Festival in St. Petersburg,
Russia. (Shamukov Ruslan)
A group of morris dancers perform during St. George's Day celebrations
in Leadenhall Market, in the City of London. (Dominic
Lipinski)
Romans march in front of the Colosseum during a parade to mark the anniversary of the foundation of the city in 753 BC. (Giorgio Cosulich)
Carp streamers hang during the 'Koinobori' festival at Tsuruuda River in
Tatebayashi, Japan. Traditionally people hang carp streamers to pray
for the health and future success of their sons. (Keith
Tsuji)
Jakarta,
Indonesia: Female members of the Indonesia's military attend a roll call to
mark Kartini day, which commemorate the birth in 1879 of Raden Ajeng
Kartini, a national hero who pioneered women's rights in the country. (Adek Berry)
Benghazi, Libya:
girls wearing folk costumes participate in a carnival to celebrate
Benghazi's designation as Libya's Capital of Culture. (Esam Omran Al-fetori)
'Thingyan': Water Festival in Myanmar preciously known as Burma. (Htoo Tay Zar)
Artists perform Muqam, a traditional Uygur song and dance cycle, in Shche county, Northwest China.
Thailand's annual Poi Sang Long Festival marks the ordination of young
Buddhists as novice monks. Here, boys costumed for the elaborate
ceremony gather in the prayer hall at Wat Pa Pao, a temple in Chiang Mai. (Jack Kurtz)
Visitors participate in the annual water-splashing festival to mark the
New Year of the Dai minority in Xishuang Banna, Yunnan province, China.
Revellers enjoy foam and splashing water during Songkran Festival
celebrations in Bangkok. Also
known as the water festival, it marks the start of Thailand's traditional
New Year and is believed to wash away bad luck. (Damir Sagolj)
A float crosses the Nakabashi bridge during 'Tennosai', the Spring
Festival in Takayama, Gifu, Japan. The festival, thought to date back to
the 16th or 17th century, attracts around 123,000 visitors on its first
day. (The Asahi Shimbun)
A boy is smeared with vermillion powder while celebrating Sindoor Jatra,
a festival involving colored powder, at Thimi, near Kathmandu. The
festival is celebrated to mark the Nepalese New Year. (Navesh
Chitrakar)
Bangladeshi people float flowers at Ramna park lake in Dhaka on the
first day of the three-day Boisabi festival. The festival marks the
Bangla new year. (Monirul Alam)
A mascot dressed as a ghost splashes water to an elephant ahead of the
Songkran festival, Thai New Year celebration in Bangkok,
Thailand.
Performing a folk dance
in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. (Amit Dave)
Men visit the graves of their ancestors during the Qing Ming Festival,
or Tomb Sweeping Day, at a Chinese cemetery in Singapore. The festival is a day for the Chinese to remember
and honor their ancestors.
Devotees
roll on hot sand during the beginning of the Danda festival or the
festival of self-punishments at Kulagarh in the Ganjam district, Orissa,
India. Only males participate in the 21-day long festival. (Biswaranjan
Rout)
Women
take part in the yearly Lagos carnival parade in Nigeria. This year's
Easter festival coincides with Lagos' yearly carnival.
Ayacucho, Peru: Women dressed in traditional costume dance in the main square as part of Holy Week celebrations. (Rodrigo Abd)
A participant competes during the 8th annual comic tobogganing
competition, dedicated to All Fools' Day and the end of a
winter sports season, at the Vetluzhanka ski stadium in the suburbs of
Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
Penitents
of the Nuestra Senora del Rosario brotherhood prepare their costumes
prior to taking part in a procession during the Holy Week in La Laguna
on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife. (Desiree Martin)
Guatemala City, Guatemala: parishioners parade the Jesús Nazareno de la Merced statue in the annual Holy Tuesday procession. (Moises Castillo)
Belarusian women in traditional clothing take part in a Slavic 'Spring
welcome' festival in the village of Viazynka, near Minsk.
Indian
Hindu devotees participate in colourful rituals for the Lathmar Holi
festival at the Nandji Temple in Nandgaon. (Sanjay Kanojia)
Uzbek
dancers in embroidered silk costumes perform during the festivities
marking the Navruz holiday (Persian New Year) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Pasalamat Festival - La Carlota City, Philippines. (Jundy Tiu)
Revellers
celebrate 'Ash Monday' by participating in a colorful flour war, a
traditional festivity marking the end of the carnival season and the
start of the 40-day Lent period until the Orthodox Easter, in the port
town of Galaxidi, north west of Athens, Greece. (Yannis Behrakis)
Strumica, Macedonia: revelers perform during a carnival procession. (Boris Grdanoski)
Albanians
celebrate the Summer Festival in Tirana, capital of Albania. The
festival is celebrated to mark the end of winter, the rebirth of nature
and a rejuvenation of spirit amongst the Albanians. [Xinhua]
A
Thai woman dressed in traditional costume wears orchids in her hair as
she prepares to march in a parade to celebrate Thailand's National
Elephant Day in Lampang. The annual event aims at drawing public
attention to the efforts to save the species and protect their habitats.
(David Longstreath)
Denpasar,
Bali: a young couple react as they are soaked with water during a
tradition called Omed-Omedan, also known as the kissing festival. (Sonny Tumbelaka)
Indonesian
Hindu devotees wear traditional costumes during the Ogoh-ogoh parade on
the eve of Nyepi Day, the Balinese Day of Silence, in Jakarta,
Indonesia. (Mast Irham)
Devotees raise their hands to receive coloured holy water from a priest
on the banks of the river Ganges at the ongoing "Kumbh Mela" or Pitcher
Festival, in the northern Indian city of Allahabad. (Jitendra Prakash)
A
dancer takes part in the carnival of the Dominican Republic, the
biggest cultural event in the country, held in the capital Santo
Domingo. (Orlando Barr)
People in festive clothes gather in a Tibetan village to celebrate events during the Tibetan new year. (Xinhua)
South
Koreans celebrate the Independence Movement Anniversary in Cheonan
marking the 1919 civilian uprising against Japanese colonial rule from
1910-1945. (Jung Yeon-Je)
Guna
Yala, Panama: Women leave after drinking a beverage called Chicha
during anniversary celebrations of the Guna Revolution in Ustupi. (Arnulfo Franco)
A
man with tsampa on his face takes part in a tsampa fight in Shigatse,
Tibet. Participants throw tsampa (roasted barley flour) at each other to
pray for good harvest, and the festival is held on the 15th day of
January in the Tibetan calendar, marking the end of the Tibetan new year
celebration.
Members
of a "Samulnori" dance troupe, or traditional South Korean percussion
quartet, perform during the inauguration of South Korea's new and first
woman President Park Geun-hye. (Kim Hong-Ji)
Performers present Yangge dance, a
popular rural Chinese folk dance, at an annual gala to celebrate the
traditional Lantern Festival in Yan'an City, Northwest China's Shaanxi
Province.
Large lantern decorations are seen at a shopping mall in Beijing, China.
Revelers of 'X-9 Paulistana' samba school perform during the first night of Carnival parades at Sao Paulo, Brazil.
People decorate a temple with Thai banknotes ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations in Bangkok's Chinatown, Thailand.
Two hundred and eighty-eight dancers perform during the opening ceremony of the traditional Opera Ball in Vienna, Austria.
Taiwanese dancers perform in front of a large snow sculpture of
Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall at the opening of the annual snow
festival in Sapporo, on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.
The waist drum dance in Ansai county
of Yan'an city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province. The
performance was given to greet the upcoming Lantern Festival.
Monks and visitors pray
around the portrait of a Budda on a huge 'tangka' during a Tibetan
Buddhism festival at the Labrang Monastery. The monastery, which was founded in 1709, is a major venue for Buddhist ceremonies.
An Indian villager participates in a bullock cart race during a rural
sports festival, also known as the 'Indian Rural Olympics' in Kila
Raipur, near Ludhiana, in the northern Indian state of Punjab.(AP)
Granada, Nicaragua: Crowds gather to take part in an international poetry festival honouring Ernesto Cardenal. (Estbean Felix)
The
Chinese love a festival. Today it is the festival of the fish lanterns,
celebrated in the village of Zhaikou in east China's Zhejiang Province.
(Wu Xiaohang)
Hug
a camel day in Mongolia. Herdsmen decorate a camel in celebration of
the traditional livestock prosperity festival at Hexigten Banner in
Chifeng, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Spring
Festival, celebrated by nomadic Mongolians heralds in the New Year for
their livestock herds. (Sun Guoshu)
A member of the Pa Then tribe jumps into a fire during a ritual to mark the end of the harvest season in Vietnam. (Kham)
Tibetan Baoxing minority group members form a human pyramid at the
Shangjiu festival in Baoxing county, China. The event is celebrated on
the ninth day of Chinese lunar new year. (Jiang Hongjing)
Myanmar Hindu devotees spray holy water onto devotees during a
traditional Hindu fire festival in Dalla, about 15 kilometers south of
Yangon, Myanmar. (AP)
Nice, France: Performers parade at the 129th Carnival of Nice. (Eric Gaillard)
This
is the Springerzug carnival parade in Herbstein, Germany. The
Springerzug, which means 'jumping parade', is an interpretation of a
carnival tradition particular to Herbstein since 1823 and celebrates
free-spirited merrymaking before the beginning of Lent. (Thomas Lohnes)
Dong Ky, Vietnam: A villager is tossed into the air during the traditional firecracker festival. (Luong Thai Linh)
Italy:
Dressed up as middle ages kings' guards, a group of men ride in a
horsedrawn carriage and pelt 'foot soldiers' with oranges as thousands
of people gather to re-enact the battle when the townsfolk of the
Piedmontese town of Ivrea near Turin overthrew an evil king. In a
strange twist, instead of swords and crossbows, these days the weapons
of choice are oranges. (Stefano Rellandini)
Sesimbra, Portugal: children wait to take part in a samba parade during the carnival. (Rafael Marchante)
Macau, China: Performers with a 238-metre long golden dragon during the festivities of the lunar new year or spring festival. (Carmo Correia)
Loetschental,
Switzerland: A 'Tschaeggaettae' – a villager who takes part in the
annual coming-of-spring carnival – walks in the streets of the village
of Wiler. Traditionally people would wear horror masks to scare away
winter and death. (Olivier Maire)
Fireworks paint the skyline at the Chinese Lunar New Year Eve over Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.
São Paulo, Brazil: Revellers of Rosas de Ouro samba school perform atop a float during the first night of carnival parades. (Nelson Almeida)
Allahabad,
India: Hindu pilgrims arrive for a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence
of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, during the Maha
Kumbh festival. (Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Buddhists carry candles while encircling a large Buddha statue during
Asanha Puja Day, the eve of the Buddhist Lent, at a temple in Nakhon
Pathom province on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)
Horsemen of the French Republican guard ride their horses down the
Champs-Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe in the background, during the
annual Bastille day parade in Paris. (Reuters)
Boys in traditional dresses attend a ceremony a day before their circumcision ritual in Istanbul, Turkey. (Reuters)
Performers sing during a revolutionary song concert in celebration of
the Communist Party's 90th anniversary, in Chongqing municipality.
(Reuters)
People attend the White Dinner event in front of the Notre Dame
Cathedral in Paris, France. Participants attend the dinner, which takes
place at a different place in Paris every year, are required to be
dressed in white, bring their own food, drink and cutlery to the event.
(Reuters)
Women
dressed as Smurfs celebrate the Women's Carnival in Cologne, Germany.
Women's Carnival marks the start of a week of street festivals, the
highlight of the event being Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), the final day of
the carnival where mass processions are held. (Ina Fassbender)
Traditional
Chinese dancers wait to perform in a preview event for the Chinese
Lunar New Year celebrations in Suphan Buri province, north of Bangkok.
The Lunar New Year is also known as the Spring Festival. (Chaiwat
Subprasom)
A
young girl views festive lanterns during a lantern show in Changsha,
capital of central China's Hunan province. The show was held to greet
the upcoming spring festival, or the Chinese lunar new year. (Li Ga)
With
bolivianos tucked into their traditional wool derbies, Aymara men and
women celebrate in Sajama, a province in west-central Bolivia. Aymara
wear layers of sweaters, shawls, and blankets to keep out the cold in
the Andean highlands. (Heiko Meyer)
A
dancer prepares to bring Buddhist tales to life at an annual religious
festival, or tsechu, in Paro, Bhutan. For more than a thousand years,
the tiny Himalayan realm has survived in splendid isolation—a place the
size of Switzerland wedged into the mountainous folds between two
giants, India and China. (Paula Bronstein)
Revelers dance during the annual block party known as the "Suvaco do
Cristo" (Armpit of Christ), one of the many pre-carnival parties to take
place in the neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro. (Ricardo Moraes)
Devotees pray with incense sticks ahead of the Lunar New Year at Kwan Im
Thong Hood Cho temple in Singapore. (Edgar Su)
Masked in Saint Mark's: a woman strikes a pose during the Venice
carnival. (Marco Secchie)
Colored lanterns at a lantern festival in Deyang city, Southwest China's Sichuan province, China. (Xinhua)
Participants
from the "All Ah We is One Family" group take part in a masquerade
parade at the Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross Society's Children Carnival
at Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain.
Nepalese Gurung community women with traditional attire during Tamu Loshar, the New Year of the Gurungs, in Katmandu. (AP)
Iranian mourners attend a ceremony commemorating Arbaeen, the final day
of the annual 40-day mourning period for the seventh century martyrdom
of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, in Tehran. (AP)
Buddhist monks participate in a procession to mark the 2,600th
anniversary of the enlightenment of Lord Buddha, on the outskirts of
Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)
Members of the Edo Firemanship Preservation Association display their
balancing skills atop bamboo ladders during a New Year demonstration by
the fire brigade in Tokyo, Japan. (Reuters)
In celebration of Twelfth Night, marking the end of the twelve days of
winter festivities, an actor representing The Holly Man walks past St
Paul’s Cathedral, in a free performance by The Bankside Mummers on the
Bankside, near Shakespeare’s Globe, in London. (AP)
Newly ordained bishops lay on the floor as Pope Benedict XVI leads the
Epiphany mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. (Reuters)
Indians wearing traditional Assamese attire raise their khol, a
traditional percussion instrument of Assam, as they participate in an
attempt to create a Guinness record, in Titabar, about 350 kilometers
(219 miles) east of Gauhati, India. 14,833 people participated in the
event. (AP)
Men jump into the waters of a lake in an attempt to grab a wooden cross
on Epiphany Day in Sofia, Bulgaria. Orthodox priests throughout the
country bless the waters by throwing a cross into it as worshipers try
to retrieve the cross. It is strongly believed that catching the cross
brings health and prosperity to the person who catches it. (Reuters)
Men in traditional ‘Befana’ costumes compete in the ‘Regatta of Befane’
(witches’ race) on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. (Reuters)
Georgians with national flags take part in a religious procession to
mark the Orthodox Christmas, in Tbilisi, Georgia. Christmas falls on
January 7 for Orthodox Christians that use the old Julian calendar. (AP)
Dancers perform at Independence Square ahead of the inauguration
ceremony of President-elect John Dramani Mahama, in Accra, Ghana. (AP)
Sumo grand champion or Yokozuna Hakuho displays the sumo ceremonial
stamping form during the New Year’s ring entering ceremony at Meiji
Shrine in Tokyo, Japan. (AP)
Buddhist monks release paper lanterns into the sky in Suphan Buri
province, Thailand, during a traditional pilgrimage to pay homage to
Lord Buddha and bless the country as it enters the new year. (Reuters)
Ethnic Chinese pay a visit to a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as it
is decorated Chinese traditional lanterns in preparation of the upcoming
Chinese New Year. (AP)
Voodoo worshipers make sacrifice at the beach during the annual Voodoo Festival in Ouidah, Benin. (AP)
Revelers pose while parading in the streets during a carnival marking
the Orthodox St. Vasilij Day in the village of Vevcani, some 170 km (106
miles) from the Macedonian capital Skopje. The annual carnival
features a 1,400-year-old celebration with pagan roots. (Reuters)
Young women dressed in kimonos walk on a snow-covered street to attend a
coming-of-age ceremony in Tokyo. (AFP)
Performers dressed in Lama monk costumes blow horns during a ceremony
marking the beginning of a week-long winter fishing festival in Kangping
county, Liaoning province, China. (AP)
Indian Sikh devotees light candles at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Sikhs are celebrating the 348th birth anniversary of the 10th Sikh Guru
Gobind Singh. (AFP)
Christian Orthodox pilgrims march toward the Jordan River before a
baptism ceremony as part of the Orthodox Feast of the Epiphany at the
Qasr al-Yahud baptismal site in the West Bank. (AFP)
Performers participate in the opening ceremony of the Africa Cup of
Nations (AFCON 2013) soccer tournament in Soweto, South Africa. (Reuters)
Indian Hindu pilgrims travel on boats to take a holy dip at Sangam, the
confluence of the Rivers Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati
during the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India. (AFP)
A Nepalese Hindu priest, center, carries the idol of a deity as devotees
get ready to take a holy dip at the Salinadi River on the first day of
Madhav Narayan festival, in Sankhu, northeast of Katmandu, Nepal. (AP)
Guizer Jarl Stephen Grant raises his axe as he gestures to the the other
Jarl Squad vikings to start their march around Lerwick on the morning
of the Up Helly Aa fire festival in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The
festival, introduced by men returning from the Napoleonic Wars of the
early 19th century, takes place annually on the last Tuesday of January. (Reuters)
Upwards of a million elated Hindu holy men and pilgrims take
a bracing
plunge in India's sacred Ganges river to wash away lifetimes of sins, in
a raucous start to an ever-growing religious gathering that
is already the world's largest.
A
Royal cart carrying coffin of late former Cambodian king Norodom
Sihanouk past by thousands of mourners on a street near Independence
Monument during the Royal Funeral ceremonies in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The longest Carnival in the world, the festivities in Uruguay lasts for a
total of 80 days in European parade style with reflections from the
Bantu and Angolan Benguela cultural celebrations.
The Llamadas, which is Spanish for "call", originated during the
colonial times when slaves played drums to keep in touch with relatives
and friends. (Reuters)
Fantastic collection of festivals worldwide. Amazing that so often people arrange themselves in patterns with amazing use of colour. Even more astounding is the variety of ways in which people celebrate.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful ! and you had the opportunity to be there for each cermeony, it is incredible...I love what you are doing, and your way. If you come in Laos one day, I would be happy to meet you in Champasak.
ReplyDelete