Members of the Beltane Fire Society take part in Samhuinn Fire Festival on October 31, 2023 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Once celebrated from October 31 to November 1 by ancient Celts, Samhain, pronounced “SOW-in” or “SAH-win”, marked the shift from the brighter to the darker half of the year and was seen as a time when the boundary between the physical and spirit worlds was thought to weaken, influencing the development of contemporary Halloween customs. (Photo by Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian)
Elodie Katze, co-owner of Wild Pole Studio, performs a trick on a pole as students look on during a class at the pole dancing studio Wild Pole in Paris, France, on March 26, 2024. (Photo by Benoit Tessier/Reuters)
A girl with white powder on her face celebrates the Songkran holiday which marks the Thai New Year in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 14, 2024. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)
A man watches Israeli Air Force planes fly over the Mediterranean Sea from a beach at Tel Aviv during an aerial show as part of celebrations for Israel's Independence Day to mark the 66th anniversary of the creation of the state, May 6, 2014. (Photo by Nir Elias/Reuters)
A woman rides a horse through the biannual Stow Horse Fair in the town of Stow-on-the-Wold, southern England on October 24, 2019. The Stow Horse Fair has attracted Gypsy and Traveller people from all over the country to the Cotswold town every May and October since 1476. (Photo by Oli Scarff/AFP Photo)
Nine years ago, Tom Carter traveled from San Francisco to China, responding to a job posting that turned out to be a scam. He managed to find another job as a teacher, and saved enough money to embark on a 56,000 km trip through all of China's 33 provinces that lasted two years. Carrying a camera – just a a 4-megapixel point-and-shoot – Carter captured some amazing images of the widely varying landscape, people, and architecture across the nation. Photo: Buddhist pilgrim family from Sichuan. (Photo by Tom Carter via The Atlantic)
A woman takes a selfie picture as Turkish Kurds gather as part of Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakir, on March 21, 2016. Nowruz, the Farsi-language word for “New Year”, is an ancient Persian festival, celebrated on the first day of spring, on March 21, in Central Asian republics, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan and Iran. (Photo by Ilyas Akengin/AFP Photo)