It is said that Torajans are people who “live to die”. For this Indonesian ethnic group, funerals are such extravagant events that they sometimes attract tourists. Families can postpone burials years (and the deceased are considered sick and hosted at home until the funeral) until the family can raise enough money and gather as many relatives as possible. And then it’s a jubilant multiday social event with a parade, dances and animal sacrifices. Agung Parameswara photographed these funerary practices when he traveled to South Sulawesi province, where the Torajans live. (Photo by Agung Parameswara/The Washington Post)

Exhausted grave diggers rest in between funerals at a cemetery designated for Covid-19 victims in Bandung on June 15, 2021, as infection numbers soar in Indonesia. (Photo by Timur Matahari/AFP Photo)

A person throws a flower towards Britain's Queen Elizabeth's coffin, as it is transported, on the day of her state funeral and burial, in London, Britain on September 19, 2022. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Flowers are left on the ground near the Borisovskoye cemetery during the funeral of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Russia, on March 1, 2024. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

The electronically animated giant baby Miguelin (created by Isabel Coixet in collaboration with the special effects team behind Alien vs. Predator) was seen in the Spanish Pavilion at the site of Shanghai 2010 World Expo on April 27, 2010 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by China Photos)

“My goal was to capture the image of a storm that emulated an atomic explosion”, Dobrowner says of this picture. Here: “Monsoon”, Lordsburg, N.M., 2010. (Photo by Roger Hill)

Relatives wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) mourn a man, who died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during his funeral at a crematorium in New Delhi, India on April 21, 2021. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A woman holds a picture as people pray during a funeral, following a mass shooting at a day care centre, at Wat Rat Samakee, in the town of Uthai Sawan, in the province of Nong Bua Lam Phu, Thailand on October 9, 2022. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)