A honor guard soldier stands at attention during a memorial religious service for those killed in the 1989 anti-communist uprising in University Square, in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, December 21, 2022. Participants and relatives of those killed marked the 33rd anniversary of the anti-communist uprising which started in Bucharest on Dec. 21, 1989 and left more than one thousand people dead and ended the rule of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/AP Photo)

“Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river. The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the Purna (complete) Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places (Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik). The Maha (great) Kumbh Mela which comes after 12 “Purna Kumbh Melas”, or 144 years, is held at Allahabad.

The last Ardh Kumbh Mela was held over a period of 45 days beginning in January 2007, more than 70 million Hindu pilgrims took part in the Ardh Kumbh Mela at Prayag, and on January 15, the most auspicious day of the festival of Makar Sankranti, more than 5 million participated. The previous Maha Kumbh Mela, held in 2001, was attended by around 60 million people, making it at the time the largest gathering anywhere in the world in recorded history”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Sadhus (holy men) smoke at their camp near the ritual site at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers during the Ardh Kumbh Mela festival (Half Pitcher festival) January 18, 2007 in Allahabad, India. Millions of Hindu pilgrims have flocked to the largest religious gathering in the world which lasts for 45 days in northern India. The festival commemorates the mythical conflict between gods and demons over a pitcher filled with the “nectar of immortality”. Devotees believe that taking a holy dip in the Ganges at this time washes away their sins and paves the path to salvation. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 30, 2014, a dragonfly sits on the nose of a Gharial, rare crocodile-like creatures, in the River Chambal near Bhopepura village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The narrow 250-mile stretch of the Chambal is a place of crocodiles and jackals, of river dolphins and the occasional wolf. Hundreds of species of birds, storks, geese, babblers, larks, falcons and so many more, nest along the river. Endangered birds lay small speckled eggs in tiny pits they dig in the sandbars. Gharials, rare crocodile-like creatures that look like they swaggered out of the Mesozoic Era, are commonplace here and nowhere else. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)

“For centuries, the Moken sea nomads have traveled the islands between Thailand and Myanmar fishing and foraging for food on the sea floor. Throughout the Mergui Archipelago, Moken migrate in flotillas of Kabangs (traditional boat of the Moken people), stopping at different islands and beaches. Expert freedivers, the Moken have adapted physically to an aquatic life, developing unique characteristics that let them see better and hold their breath longer while underwater”. – Taylor Weidman. Photo: Hook, an indigenous Moken man, holds a three-pronged throwing spear and searches for fish in the waters of Ko Surin National Park. March 1, 2013 – Ko Surin, Thailand. (Photo by Taylor Weidman/zReportage via ZUMA Press)

A visitor looks at a creation by Russian artist Irina Nakhova presented at the Russia's pavilion during the 56th International Art Exhibition (Biennale d'Arte) titled “All the Worlds Futures” on May 5, 2015 in Venice. (Photo by Gabriel Bouys/AFP Photo)

Peruvian shamans holding a figure of a Nino Jesus (Child Jesus) and a snake perform a ritual at the Rimac river to fight the negative effects of the Nino weather phenomena over Nature, in Lima, October 1, 2015. (Photo by Mariana Bazo/Reuters)

A Palestinian woman paints a mural, depicting a masked Palestinian holding a knife, in support of Palestinians committing stabbing attacks against Israelis, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip November 3, 2015. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Aeronautics and Space engineer at France's Compagnie Maritime d'Expertises, or Comex, Arnaud Prost (C) meets with a jogger as he tests on the ground the “Gandolfi 2” underwater training suit for spacewalk, on January 20, 2016 in the calanques region (rocky inlets) of Marseille. The underwater training suit “Gandolfi 2”, developed with the European Space Agency (ESA), is designed for training astronauts underwater to simulate space gravity for the astronaut's extravehicular activities (EVAs). (Photo by Boris Horvat/AFP Photo)