A man dressed in the likeness of the Hindu deity Agni Kandakarnan performs during the Theyyam ritualistic dance festival on March 14, 2023 in Somwarpet, India. Theyyam is a colourful socioreligious dance form that is the amalgamation of ritual, vocal and instrumental music, dance, painting, and literature and its genesis can be traced to the coastal regions of the southern Indian states of Kerala and Karnataka. (Photo by Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)

Elders perform coronation rituals on Kabaka (King) Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II during his 30 year coronation at his palace in Mengo, Kampala, on July 31, 2023. Thousands of Ugandans thronged the palace grounds of the country's largest kingdom Buganda despite pouring rain on July 31, 2023, dancing and ululating as they marked 30 years since the coronation of King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II. (Photo by Badru Katumba/AFP Photo)

God of Wealth arrives at the Lunar New Year celebration at Thean Hou Temple on February 10, 2024, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Chinese New Year in Malaysia is marked by family gatherings, festive adornments and traditional rituals embodying a spirit of hope and renewal for the year ahead, and aims to bring joy and prosperity to all while fostering a sense of unity and hope for a successful Year of the Dragon. (Photo by Annice Lyn/Getty Images)

An offering of a dried baby llama and fake U.S. burn in honor of Pachamama, or Mother Earth, during a New Year ritual on Turriturrini Mountain on the outskirts of Huarina, Bolivia, Friday, June 21, 2024. Aymara Indigenous communities are celebrating the Andean New Year 5,532 or “Willka Kuti” which translates to “Return of the sun” in Aymara. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

Indian girl, Amrita Bannerjee, gets dressed as the Goddess Durga, during Kumari Puja ritual as part of the Durga Puja festival at Shidaspur village, far north of Kolkata, India, 30 September 2025. During the Kumari Puja, devotees worship a girl aged between six and twelve, symbolizing the Kanya Kumari (virgin) form of the Goddess Durga Devi. Hindu devotees believe that Kanya is a living embodiment of the goddess Durga. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Florin Bors, aged 8 from Bacau, northern Romania, wearing a bear fur takes a break from performing a holiday season ritual in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, December 16, 2014. In pre-Christian rural traditions, dancers wearing colored costumes or animal furs, touring house to house in villages singing and dancing to ward off evil. In recent years following the economic downturn in Romania, a European Union member since 2007, the tradition has moved to Romania's cities where dancers travel to perform the ritual for money. (Photo by Octav Ganea/AP Photo/Mediafax)

Two Hindu holy men of the Juna Akhara sect are being take on a motorcycle by their teacher as they got delayed for a rituals that are believed to rid them of all ties in this life and dedicate themselves to serving God as a “Naga” or naked holy men, at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna River during the Maha Kumbh festival in Allahabad, India, Wednesday, February 6, 2013. The significance of nakedness is that they will not have any worldly ties to material belongings, even something as simple as clothes. This ritual that transforms selected holy men to Naga can only be done at the Kumbh festival. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Its population was estimated to be around 6.5 million in 2012. A third (33%) of the country's population lives below the international poverty line which means living on less than U.S. $1.25 per day.