“The Nine Emperor Gods Festival is a nine-day Taoist celebration beginning on the eve of 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, which is observed primarily in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and also the Riau Islands. In Thailand, this festival is called Tesagan Gin Je, the Vegetarian Festival. It is celebrated throughout the entire country, but the festivities are at their height in Phuket, where about 35% of the population is Chinese. It attracts crowds of spectators because of many of the unusual religious rituals that are performed”. – Wikipedia. Photo: A devotee gest pierced at the Bang Neow shrine in Phuket. (Photo by Paula Bronstein)

In this Monday, March 10, 2014 photo, a 9,000 year-old mask is on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The exhibition called “Face To Face” shows eleven stone masks, said to have been discovered in the Judean desert and hills near Jerusalem, which date back 9,000 years and offer a rare glimpse at some of civilization's first communal rituals. (Photo by Tsafrir Abayov/AP Photo)

A woman (C) shops for an offering at the witch doctor's street in La Paz, July 31, 2015. According to Andean culture, the all the month of August is a time to give offerings to “Pachamama” to give thanks for their farms and health. The Aymaras use coca leaves, candies, animal fat, llama fetuses, some dried fruits, powdered minerals and alcohol during these rituals. (Photo by David Mercado/Reuters)

South African maidens wrap themselves in blankets as they head to a ritual bath in a local river on September 5, 2014 at the eNyokeni Royal Palace in Nongoma in the KwaZulu-Natal region ahead of the 13th anniversary of the Reed Dance (uMkhosi woMhlanga) celebrated by the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithin. As part of the ceremony, the young women dance bare-breasted for the king, each carrying a long reed, deposited later as they approach the King and is a cultural celebration that promotes respect for young women, and preserves the custom of keeping girls as virgins until marriage. (Photo by Marco Longari/AFP Photo)

A man rides a horse through a bonfire as part of a ritual in honor of Saint Anthony the Abbot, the patron saint of domestic animals, in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain, Saturday, January 16, 2016. On the eve of Saint Anthony's Day, dozens ride their horses through the narrow cobblestone streets of the small village of San Bartolome during the “Luminarias”, a tradition that dates back 500 years and is meant to purify the animals with the smoke of the bonfires and protect them for the year to come. (Photo by Francisco Seco/AP Photo)

Aymara witchdoctor Ricardo Quispe, also called “Lord of the Lake”, throws coca leaves during a ritual to predict the future, at the witches market of El Alto, on the outskirts of La Paz, December 31, 2014. Dozens of witch doctors tend to a warren of stalls in El Alto, making offerings to give thanks, to promise luck at work or in love, or to call up spirits and banish curses at the end of the year. (Photo by David Mercado/Reuters)

The feet of a Filipino penitent is nailed to a wooden cross during Good Friday rituals on April 3, 2015 at Cutud, Pampanga province, northern Philippines. Several Filipino devotees had themselves nailed to crosses Friday to remember Jesus Christ's suffering and death, an annual rite frowned upon by church leaders in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. (Photo by Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

A Naga sadhu, or naked Hindu holy man, performs a ritual inside his tent during Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher festival, at Trimbakeshwar, India, Friday, August 28, 2015. Hindus believe taking a dip in the waters of a holy river during the festival will cleanse them of their sins. The festival is held four times every 12 years. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)