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Nepalese women take a traditional holy purifying bath in the Bagmati River as they mark the Rishi Panchami festival in Kathmandu, Nepal, 18 September 2015. During the Rishi Panchami festival Nepalese women worship Sapta Rishi (seven saints) asking forgiveness for their sexual and religious sins committed during their monthly bleeding periods throughout the year. In the Hindu religion, menstruation is taken as a symbol of impurity and women are not thought to take part in religious practices and in sexual activities during their periods. Thus, it is believed that Rishi Panchami is the occasion to wash off one's impurity for the whole year. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)
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