People dressed in Samurai costume and helmet march during the annual Himeji Castle Festival on August 3, 2013 in Himeji, Japan. The parade of Castle Queens is part of the traditional matsuri festival around the UNESCO world heritage Himeji Castle. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe)

Just a few hours’ drive from the Belarus capital of Minsk, many villagers still live off the land. Nearly 80% of the country’s 9.5 million citizens live in urban areas, but for the rest, being close to nature can outweigh the hardships of country life. Here: Boys play in the Stviga River on a hot summer day near the village of Pogost, Belarus, August 16, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A woman wearing traditional Chinese costumes holds two snake figurines as she poses for a photo by Houhai Lake in Beijing on January 26, 2025, ahead of the Lunar New Year of the Snake which falls on January 29. (Photo by Pedro Pardo/AFP Photo)

Young girls pose for a photo during the Kumari Puja Ritual on the 9th day of the Durga puja festival at a Pandal (Temporary place for worship) in Kolkata on October 4, 2022. Kumari Puja is an Indian Hindu Tradition mainly celebrated during the Durga Puja according to the Hindu Calendar. The philosophical basis of Kumari Puja is to establish the value of women. Devotees believe it will overcome all barriers, dangers for the young girls in the coming future and also, they will be empowered to handle any stress and obstruction in their coming life. (Photo by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Naga Sadhus, or Hindu holy men, participate in the procession for taking a dip in the Ganges river during Shahi Snan at “Kumbh Mela”, or the Pitcher Festival, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Haridwar, India, April 12, 2021. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

The Pied Piper of Hamelin, actually city tourism employee Michael Boyer, leads local children dressed as rats through a quiet street on November 19, 2012 in Hameln, Germany. The Pied Piper (in German: Der Rattenfaenger), is one of the many stories featured in the collection of fairy tales collected by the Grimm brothers, and the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the stories will take place this coming December 20th. Boyer, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Hameln for 15 years, and city children regularly perform a reenactment of the Pied Piper tale throughout the summer months. The Grimm brothers collected their stories from oral traditions in the region between Frankfurt and Bremen in the early 19th century, and the works include such global classics as Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel. (Photo by Sean Gallup)

Veterans Day is right around the corner, so it’s nice to see that one of the time-lapses making the most impact online over the past couple of days is one showing a homeless US Army veteran being given a makeover and, in some ways, a new lease on life.

Children dressed as Santa Clause play with a soccer ball as they celebrate at their school ahead of Christmas in Chennai on December 23, 2021. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)