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A Tenggerese shaman praying for worshippers at Widodaren cave during the Tenggerese Hindu Yadnya Kasada festival on July 31, 2015 in Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia. The festival is the main festival of the Tenggerese people and lasts about a month. On the fourteenth day, the Tenggerese make the journey to Mount Bromo to make offerings of rice, fruits, vegetables, flowers and livestock to the mountain gods by throwing them into the volcano's caldera. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

A Tenggerese shaman praying for worshippers at Widodaren cave during the Tenggerese Hindu Yadnya Kasada festival on July 31, 2015 in Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia. The festival is the main festival of the Tenggerese people and lasts about a month. On the fourteenth day, the Tenggerese make the journey to Mount Bromo to make offerings of rice, fruits, vegetables, flowers and livestock to the mountain gods by throwing them into the volcano's caldera. The origin of the festival lies in the 15th century when a princess named Roro Anteng started the principality of Tengger with her husband Joko Seger, and the childless couple asked the mountain Gods for help in bearing children. The legend says the Gods granted them 24 children but on the provision that the 25th must be tossed into the volcano in sacrifice. The 25th child, Kesuma, was finally sacrificed in this way after initial refusal, and the tradition of throwing sacrifices into the caldera to appease the mountain Gods continues today. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)
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01 Aug 2015 12:07:00
Devotees attend the annual voodoo festival in Ouidah January 10, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

Devotees attend the annual voodoo festival in Ouidah January 10, 2016. The national voodoo holiday in the West African country of Benin had a distinctively political accent this year as practitioners from Africa and the Americas gathered on Sunday to offer prayers and sacrifices for peace. Hundreds of followers of the traditional religion gathered in the Atlantic coast town of Ouidah, once an important port in the slave trade, to pray for calm during the tiny country's presidential election scheduled for February. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)
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12 Jan 2016 08:05:00
Devotees of the Chinese Jui Tui shrine are seen with spikes piercing their cheeks during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand in this October 19, 2015 combination photo. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Devotees of the Chinese Jui Tui shrine are seen with spikes piercing their cheeks during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand in this October 19, 2015 combination photo. The festival, featuring face-piercing, sacrifice, spirit mediums and strict vegetarianism celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)
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22 Oct 2015 08:01:00
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. But often, their funeral isn’t the last time the dead are seen. In August, crypts are opened, coffins are slid back out and bodies delicately unsheathed. This tender ritual is known as Ma’Nene, which is customarily performed every few years. (Photo by Agung Parameswara/The Washington Post)

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)
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06 Oct 2016 09:15:00
A Tengger tribesman prays at Mount Bromo during the annual Kasada ceremony in East Java on August 12, 2014. The Kasada ceremony is a festival held every 14th day of the Kasada month in the traditional Hindu lunar calender to honour Sang Hyang Widhi (God Almighty) and is based on the legend of Roro Anteng and Joko Seger from the Majapahit Kingdom, from which their Tengger tribe name originates. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)

A Tengger tribesman prays at Mount Bromo during the annual Kasada ceremony in East Java on August 12, 2014. The Kasada ceremony is a festival held every 14th day of the Kasada month in the traditional Hindu lunar calender to honour Sang Hyang Widhi (God Almighty) and is based on the legend of Roro Anteng and Joko Seger from the Majapahit Kingdom, from which their Tengger tribe name originates. Hundreds of worshippers from the Tengger tribe offer food and livestock as a symbolic sacrifice which they throw into the crater for the blessings of safety and prosperity to their familyies and community. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)
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16 Aug 2014 11:19:00
Health workers wearing face masks spray disinfectant liquid on sacrificial animals amid concerns over the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes the pandemic COVID-19 disease ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha at an animal market in Hyderabad, southern Pakistan, 21 July 2020. Eid al-Adha, also known as the Festival of the Sacrifice, is the second and holiest of the two main Islamic holidays celebrated each year (the other one being Eid al-Fitr). Every year, on the 10th day of the Islamic lunar month of Dhu al-Hijjah, Muslims around the world ritually slaughter a sacrificial animal and split the meat into three parts: one is reserved for the family, another for friends and relatives, and the third is given to the poor and needy. The Saudi Supreme Court has declared that the first day of Eid al-Adha this year falls on 31 July. (Photo by Nadeem Khawar/EPA/EFE)

Health workers wearing face masks spray disinfectant liquid on sacrificial animals amid concerns over the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes the pandemic COVID-19 disease ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha at an animal market in Hyderabad, southern Pakistan, 21 July 2020. (Photo by Nadeem Khawar/EPA/EFE)
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23 Jul 2020 00:07:00
In this photo taken on August 26, 2017, a contestant of the “fantasy” category prepares to be judged during the Daegu International Bodypainting Festival in Daegu, South Korea. The bodies of dozens of female models turned into living canvases this weekend as they allowed delicate brush strokes and flamboyant illustrations to cover up their bare skin. They are part of the 2017 Daegu International Bodypainting Festival along with top artists from 10 countries that runs until August 27 in South Korea's southeastern city of Daegu. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

In this photo taken on August 26, 2017, a contestant of the “fantasy” category prepares to be judged during the Daegu International Bodypainting Festival in Daegu, South Korea. The bodies of dozens of female models turned into living canvases this weekend as they allowed delicate brush strokes and flamboyant illustrations to cover up their bare skin. They are part of the 2017 Daegu International Bodypainting Festival along with top artists from 10 countries that runs until August 27 in South Korea's southeastern city of Daegu. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)
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03 Sep 2017 07:32:00
In this photograph taken on September 22, 2016, a Pakistani devotee decorates symbolic paper boats, an offering to Muslim saint Abdulqadir Jilani as a way of giving thanks after their desire to give birth to a son was fulfilled, before dropping it into the water during an annual ceremony on the banks of the River Ravi in Lahore. The ceremony commemorates a centuries-old tale that Muslim saint Abdulqadir Jilani raised a sunken ship carrying a wedding party, at the pleading of the groom's mother, saving all the occupants. (Photo by Arif Ali/AFP Photo)

In this photograph taken on September 22, 2016, a Pakistani devotee decorates symbolic paper boats, an offering to Muslim saint Abdulqadir Jilani as a way of giving thanks after their desire to give birth to a son was fulfilled, before dropping it into the water during an annual ceremony on the banks of the River Ravi in Lahore. The ceremony commemorates a centuries-old tale that Muslim saint Abdulqadir Jilani raised a sunken ship carrying a wedding party, at the pleading of the groom's mother, saving all the occupants. (Photo by Arif Ali/AFP Photo)
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06 Oct 2016 09:19:00