An Asian elephant called “Plai Deaw” goes for a walk on a mountain road in Nakhon Nayok, Thailand on July 11, 2022. The bull has become well known in the area for his taste for venturing out from the deep forest and emerging among cars and village homes. Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild but there is often conflict when they come into contact with humans on roads and in villages. A similar number of elephants are kept captive where they work in zoos and are hired out for religious festivals and weddings. (Photo by Mongkol Pitakmoo/ViralPress)

A young girl dressed as living goddess Kumari drinks juice as she waits for Kumari Puja, a worship ritual at Hanuman Dhoka, Basantapur Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, September 27, 2023. Girls under the age of nine gathered for the tradition of worshiping young prepubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female energy. The ritual holds a strong religious significance in the Newar community that seeks divine blessings to save small girls from diseases and bad luck in the years to come. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

A group of sadhus (holy men) participate in a religious rally to mark the Mahashivaratri festival at Pashupati Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, 06 March 2024. The festival celebrated on 08 March, sees Hindu devotees from across the country and neighboring India gather to fast and offer special prayers to celebrate the birthday of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of creation and destruction. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA/EFE)

Devotees perform religious rituals by splashing holy water during the Madhav Narayan Festival, a month-long event dedicated to Lord Madhav Narayan, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu in Thacho, Lalitpur, Nepal on February 10, 2025. Devotees also carry butter lamps and blow conch shells (shankha) as part of the sacred observance. (Photo by Safal Prakash Shrestha/ZUMA Press Wire)

A Nepalese devotee prepares for a religious mask performance during the Seekaali Festival in Khokna village, near Kathmandu, Nepal, 07 October 2016. During the 300-year-old Seekali festival, elderly ethnic Newari devotees wear masks of 14 various goddesses including Lord Ganesha, Lord Shiva, Lord Laxmi, Lord Brahma and Lord Bishnu. The Khokna people celebrate the Seekaali festival as an alternative of the Dashain festival which is biggest festival of Nepalese Hindus that celebrates the victory of the gods over demons. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

Filipino Muslims pray outside the Blue Mosque as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr on May 13, 2021 in Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, during which Muslims in countries around the world spend time with family, offer gifts and often give to charity. Parts of the Philippines remain under strict lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, with religious venues restricted to 20 percent capacity only. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

A devotee of the Jor Soo Gong Naka shrine with skewers pierced through her cheeks takes part in a procession during the annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket on September 27, 2022. The festival, back after two years of hiatus because of the Covid-19 pandemic, features religious devotees who slash themselves with swords, pierce their cheeks with sharp objects and commit other painful acts to purify themselves, taking on the sins of the community. (Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP Photo)

A competitor tries to swipe away some grease as he slips off the “gostra”, a pole covered in grease, during the celebrations for the religious feast of St Julian, patron of the town of St Julian's, outside Valletta August 30, 2015. In the traditional “gostra”, a game stretching back to the Middle Ages, young men, women and children have to make their way to the top of a pole and try to uproot one of the flags to win prizes. Photo by Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters)