A Kenyan model Ajuma Nasanyana waits behind the scenes before the fashion show showcasing African fashion and culture during a gala marking the launch of a book called “African Twilight: The Vanishing Rituals and Ceremonies of the African Continent” at the African Heritage House in Nairobi, Kenya on March 3, 2019. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

A girl from the Tharu community takes part in a ritual during the Shama Chakewa festival to honor the relationship between brothers and sisters in Kathmandu on November 8, 2022. (Photo by Skanda Gautam/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman prays during a gathering with other devotees for the ritual prayers for Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Destiny), one of the holiest nights during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, outside the Imamzadeh Saleh mosque in Tehran, on April 10, 2023. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP 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.

“These incredible pictures capture the stunning moment waves roll on to a tropical beach. Photographers Nick Selway, 28, and pal CJ Kale, 35, position themselves in the magnificent Hawaiian water – and then wait for the waves to crash into their heads. Their only equipment are standard cameras – but a waterproof case means they do not need to sacrifice their cameras for their art”. (Photo by Nick Selway/CJ Kale)

A woman wearing a kimono performs an uchimizu ritual outside a pachinko game parlor in Tokyo June 30, 2015. The splashing of water onto the hot asphalt in summer is an old Japanese tradition meant to cool down the air as the water evaporates. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A man lies on the floor during a ritual at the Sorte Mountain on the outskirts of Chivacoa, in the state of Yaracuy, Venezuela October 10, 2015. One long night every year in a mountainous rainforest in Venezuela, hundreds gather to dance on red-hot embers, enter trance-like states, and worship an ancient goddess known as Maria Lionza. Those who travel to the mountain known as Sorte in central Venezuela are practitioners of a cult that is built on local indigenous traditions. (Photo by Marco Bello/Reuters)

A Hindu devotee performs a ritual on Bagmati River during Kuse Aunse (Father's Day) at Gokarna Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal September 13, 2015. Hindus all over the country, whose fathers have passed away, come to the temple for worship, holy dips, and to present offerings on this occasion. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)