Bulgarians brave the freezing temperatures as they carry torches while celebrating an ancient Surva ritual in the village of Donna Sekirna, Bulgaria, south of the capital Sofia, late Saturday, January 13, 2024. The authentic pagan festival, called Surva, is held every year on the 13th and 14th of January in the western part of Bulgaria to mark the New Year. Surva is performed by costumed men, some in sheepskin or other colorful garments, bells, and masks, who walk around and dance to scare away the evil spirits in the hopes of providing a good harvest, health, fertility, and happiness. (Photo by Valentina Petrova/AP Photo)





A woman wears a mask during the open street show of the Carnival, in Venice, Italy, Saturday, January 27, 2024. This year's edition “To the East. The amazing journey of Marco Polo” pays homage to Marco Polo, its greatest traveller, on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of his death. (Photo by Luca Bruno/AP Photo)





A commando unit stand in formation during a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Cambodian Army in Phnom Penh on January 24, 2024. (Photo by Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP Photo)





The Princess Y85, a 26-meter-long motor yacht weighing 67 tons, is seen after being lifted from the water of the Rhine river by a ship crane called “Big Willi”, in Dusseldorf, Germany, 05 January 2024. Dusseldorf is preparing for the water sports trade fair “Boot 2024”, one of the largest yacht and water sports trade fairs in the world. The fair will open its doors on 20 January until 28 January, with more than 1,500 exhibitors expected to present their products in 17 exhibition halls. The Princess Y85 is the first motor yacht that the “Big Willi” ship crane lifted from the water. (Photo by Christopher Neundorf/EPA/EFE)





Attendees dressed in drag outfits get ready for “RuPaul's DragCon UK” event at the ExCeL London, in London, Britain, 13 January 2024. The “RuPaul's DragCon UK” is a fan convention that celebrates drag culture and brings together the drag queens from the popular television show “RuPaul's Drag Race”. The event is held from 13 January to 14 January 2024. (Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA/EFE)





Milla Ruud Reitan and Nikolaj Majorov of Sweden perform in rhythm dance during the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania, Friday, January 12, 2024. (Photo by Mindaugas Kulbis/AP Photo)





Students perform traditional dance as they take part in Pongal celebrations, the Tamil harvest festival, at a college in Chennai on January 10, 2024. (Photo by R. Satish Babu/AFP Photo)





People run into the sea at the beach of Scheveningen, Netherlands on January 1, 2024, on New Year's Day for the traditional New Year's dive. For the first time since its existence, the dive did not take place in front of the Kurhaus, because the boulevard there has been opened up. (Photo by Hollandse Hoogte/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





Members of the National Guard patrol during a fair at the Revolution Monument in Mexico City, on January 4, 2024. (Photo by Rodrigo Oropeza/AFP Photo)





A woman walks with a child in her arms along a street with election campaign posters hanging in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, January 5, 2024. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)





Priests lead a service to celebrate Timket, or the feast of Epiphany, in the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo church in Leeds, northern England on January 20, 2024. The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church's festival of Timket, literally meaning “baptism”, is celebrated on January 19th, or January 20th in a leap year, corresponding to the 11th day of Terr in the Ge'ez calendar. (Photo by Oli Scarff/AFP Photo)





Doveze Mathieu (fra), BAS World KTM Racing Team, KTM, Moto, FIM W2RC, action during the Stage 5 of the Dakar 2024 on January 10, 2024 between Al-Hofuf and Subaytah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Frederic Le Floc'h/DPPI/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) supporters, dressed in little more than bear masks and covered in bloody “arrow wounds” lie on a Union Jack flag as they hold a “die-in” near the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) headquarters to protest its support of the slaughter of Canadian black bears for purely ornamental bearskin caps in London, Friday, January 19, 2024. (Photo by Frank Augstein/AP Photo)





Bulgarian dancers wearing costumes perform a ritual dance with flaming torches during the Kukeri Carnival in the village of Batanovtsi, western Bulgaria, on January 13, 2024. The Kukeri Carnival is a festival of brightly colored masks and costumes which marks the beginning of Spring. Every participant makes his own multi-colored personal mask, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels. The heavy swaying of the main mummer is meant to represent wheat heavy with grain, and the bells tied around the waist are intended to drive away the evil spirits and the sickness. (Photo by Nikolay Doychinov/AFP Photo)





A woman stands beside the flooded banks of the River Ouse in York, England on January 24, 2024 as Storm Jocelyn brings strong winds and rain, prompting further weather warnings across the UK. (Photo by Richard Saker/The Guardian)





Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard (R) and US actor Jack McBrayer arrive for the 75th Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theatre at L.A. Live in Los Angeles on January 15, 2024. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP Photo)





Models present creations by Hungarian designer Virag Kerenyi during the 13th edition of the Budapest Central European Fashion Week in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary on January 28, 2024. (Photo by Zoltan Balogh/EPA/EFE)





Icicles hang from a mermaid sculpture as temperatures across the country continue to drop, on January 17, 2024 in London, United Kingdom. The sculptures were created by William McMillan and Sir Charles Wheeler for the Trafalgar Square fountains, and designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1935. The UK is in the grip of a cold spell, with Arctic air sweeping in from the north, causing widespread frost, strong winds, and substantial snowfall in the northern regions. As temperatures drop to -3 and –4, yellow Cold-Health Alerts (CHAs) from the UK Health Security Agency and the Met Office have been upgraded across all regions of England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)





A dancer warms up backstage during the first day of the 52nd Prix de Lausanne at the Theatre de Beaulieu, in Lausanne, Switzerland, 29 January 2024. Launched in 1973, the Prix de Lausanne is an international dance competition for young dancers aged 15 to 18. At the closing the six-day event, scholarships granting free tuition in a world-renowned dance school or dance company will be awarded to the best dancers out of 87 participants, 43 girls and 44 boys from 18 different countries this year. (Photo by Valentin Flauraud/EPA/EFE)