The festival marks the end of the monsoon season and beginning of autumn. More than hundred girls under the age of nine gathered for the tradition of worshiping young pre-pubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female energy. The ritual holds a strong religious significance in Newar community. It is a community affair held primarily to save small girls from diseases and bad luck in the years to come. Photo: A young Nepalese girl dressed as a Kumari or living Goddess, smiles for camera as she waits for Kumari puja at Hanuman Dhoka, Basantapur Durbar Square in Katmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, September 17, 2013. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

A mahout walks with an elephant after bathing him in a river, before taking part in an elephant festival, which organisers say aims to raise awareness about elephants, in Sayaboury province, Laos February 17, 2017. (Photo by Phoonsab Thevongsa/Reuters)

Happiness on a Rainy Day by Fardin Oyan, Bangladesh. Winner of the young environmental photographer of the year. Many children in Bangladesh love to bathe and play in the rain. The country, which is flat and occupied by the huge Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, is exposed to floods, especially during monsoon season. (Photo by Fardin Oyan/2018 Ciwem environmental photographer of the year 2018)

A child enjoys a bath in a horse feeding tub near Settle, North Yorkshire, on Tuesday, May 31, 2022, as he and his family, from Accrington, Lancashire, head to Appleby, Cumbria, for the world-famous Appleby Horse Fair, which starts a week on Thursday, 9 June 2022. (Photo by Lorne Campbell/Guzelian)

A sommelier serves the glass with 2021 Beaujolais Nouveau wine of a young woman bathing in a red colored hot water bath, on the day of the Beaujolais Nouveau official release, at Hakone Kowakien Yunessun hot spring resort in Hakone, Japan, 18 November 2021. Japan is a major market for the Beaujolais Nouveau. However, the country's total Beaujolais Nouveau imports are expected to fall by 20 per cent from 2019 to around 3,6 million bottles, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)

A woman cools off after taking a traditional steam bath (banya) at Sergei Benke's homestead in the village of Bobrovka, Tarsky District in Omsk Region, Russia on December 11, 2020. (Photo by Sergei Malgavko/TASS)

A red deer stag takes a mud bath in Wollaton Park near Nottingham, England on May 23, 2020. Gareth Williams, who took the photograph, said it was a “once in a lifetime shot”. (Photo by Gareth Williams/Kennedy News)

Migrants bathe in the Huixtla River, Chiapas state, Mexico, Tuesday, October 26, 2021, as they take a day of rest before continuing their trek across southern Mexico to the U.S. border. (Photo by Marco Ugarte/AP Photo)