First place, The Beauty of Plants. “There are many stages of lotus growth on display at the Aquatic Gardens, but to come across twotwisted dancing stems of nelumbo nucifera was unexpected and quite magical”. (Photo by Kathleen Furey/The Guardian)

The International Garden Photographer of the Year is one of the world’s premier competitions specialising in botanical photography. There are 11 main categories and numerous special awards including Young Garden Photographer of the Year, and the mobile-only category Gardens on the Go. Here: Winner, Wildflower Landscapes category. Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Goiás, Brazil. (Photo by Marcio Cabral/The Guardian)

A Waura Indian woman watches the activities of this year's “quarup”, a ritual held over several days to honour in death a person of great importance to them, in Xingu National Park, Mato Grosso State, August 24, 2013. This year the Waura tribe is honouring their late cacique (chief) Atamai, who died in 2012 and helped created the Xingu Park, and his important contribution in facilitating communication between white Brazilians and Indians. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

“The Songkran festival is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to 15 April. It coincides with the New Year of many calendars of South and Southeast Asia. The most obvious celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water upon others. Thais roam the streets with containers of water or water guns. In addition, many Thais will have small bowls of beige colored talc sold cheaply and mixed with water which is then smeared on the faces and bodies of random passerbys as a blessing for the new year” – Wikipedia. (Photo by Seua Yai)

A Myanmar Shiite Muslim devotee runs barefoot over a bed of burning coals as he takes part in a Muharram procession ahead of the Islamic holiday Ashura, in Yangon, Myanmar, October 22, 2015. Muslims across the world are observing Moharram, the first month of Islamic calender, the climax of Moharram is the Ashura festival commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed in the Iraqi city of Karbala in the seventh century. (Lynn Bo Bo/EPA)

Women tear the shirt off a man during “Huranga”, a game played between men and women a day after Holi, at Dauji temple near Mathura, March 14, 2017. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

Nepalese Hindu women pray to worship Lord Shiva during the first day of the Sarwan Brata festival, the month of fasting, at the premises of Pashupati Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, 18 July 2016. Thousands of married and single Nepalese Hindu women will gather in temples for each Monday of the Sawan month (spanning from 16 July to 16 August) to pray for a long and prosperous life of their husbands or for a chance to find a good one. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

A Nepalese Hindu boy in festival attire walks in a procession during “Gai Jatra”, or Cow Festival in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, August 19, 2016. Members of Nepal's Newar Community celebrate the festival in memory of their family members who died the preceding year, believing that the cow will guide them in their journey to heaven. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)