28 year old Rupa has her hair shaven to donate to the Gods at the Thiruthani Murugan Temple November 10, 2016 in Thiruttani, India. Rupa donated her hair with the wish that her daughter's illness is cured. The process of shaving ones hair and donating it to the Gods is known as tonsuring. It is common for Hindu believers to tonsure their hair at a temple as a young child, and also to celebrate a wish coming true, such as the birth of a baby or the curing of an illness. The “temple hair”, as it's known, is then auctioned off to a processing plant and then sold as pricey wigs and weaves in the US, Europe and Africa. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

“The arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in cold environments. It has a deep thick fur which is brown in summer and white in winter. It averages in size at about 85.3 cm (33.6 in) in body length, with a generally rounded body shape to minimize the escape of body heat. – Wikipedia. (Photo by Trond Eriksen)

Devotees in a state of trance mimic creatures tattooed on their bodies during the annual Magic Tattoo Festival at Wat Bang Phra in Nakhon Pathom province, on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand March 19, 2016. Believers from across Thailand travel to the monastery to have their bodies adorned with tattoos and to pay their respects to the temple's master tattooist. They believe the tattoos have mystical powers, ward off bad luck and protect them from harm. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

Cecilia Paredes was born in Lima, Peru, and lives and works in San Jose and Philadelphia, United States. Her recent photographic work is a conspicuous exploration of sensual surfaces in which the body is deliberately confused with nature and nature with the body.

A PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) activist with her body painted promotes veganism in Bangkok April 21, 2016. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Chief priest Gbenga Saala raises a cutlass to kill a dog during an annual prayer and sacrifice celebration of the iron god Ogun in Abuja, Nigeria, June 23, 2015. Every year worshippers offer a dog as sacrifice to Ogun, a traditional Nigerian deity, in hope of an auspicious year ahead. Taxi drivers, blacksmiths, panel beaters and mechanics – trades that depend on metal for their livelihood – pay homage to Ogun, led by high priest Gbenga Saala. As part of the ceremony, the priest pours the dog’s blood on symbols of these workers’ trade: keys, spanners and other tools piled up in a metal barrel. (Photo by Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

Covered in prayer shawls, Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men participate in a blessing during the holiday of Sukkot, in front of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray in Jerusalem's Old City, Wednesday, September 30, 2015. The Cohanim, believed to be descendants of priests who served God in the Jewish Temple before it was destroyed, perform a blessing ceremony of the Jewish people three times a year during the festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)

Genko Stoykov fires a rifle as he and other men prepare for the traditional “Horo” dance on Epiphany Day in the icy winter waters of the Tundzha river on January 6, 2022 in Kalofer, Bulgaria. As part of the tradition, a priest throws a cross in the river and it is believed that the one who retrieves it will be healthy throughout the year. Today, cultures throughout Christendom mark the Feast of the Epiphany, when Jesus was revealed to the Magi as God incarnate. (Photo by Hristo Rusev/Getty Images)