A woman wearing a traditional costume attends the celebrations marking the National Flag Day and the Day of Kyrgyz national “Ak-kalpak” hat at the central Ala-Too Square in Bishkek on March 4, 2021. (Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP Photo)

Hindu devotees celebrate Diwali with oil lamps, candles, Incense and flowers at Dhakeshwari Temple in Dhaka on November 12, 2023. (Photo by Syed Mahabubul Kader/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Members of the Pentacle Drummers perform in front of a burning wicker man during the Beltain Celtic Fire Festival at Butser Ancient Farm, in Waterlooville, Hampshire on Saturday, April 29, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images)

Children run next to a paraglider wearing Santa Claus costume landing to deliver gifts to refugee children from Karabakh region, near the village of Akunk, outside Yerevan, on December 26, 2023, as part of “ParaSanta”, an event organised by the Armenian Paragliding Club. (Photo by Karen Minasyan/AFP Photo)

In this Saturday, June 24, 2017 file photo, Zeid Ali, 12, left, and Hodayfa Ali, 11, comfort each other after their house was hit and collapsed during fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq. The Ali cousins said some of their family members are still under the rubble. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo/File)

A woman holding an umbrella walks past the sculpture by Chinese artist Yue Minjun beside a road during a snow in Beijing, China, November 22, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

A hot air balloon floats over farm fields south of Washington, Ill., as the sun slips behind clouds on the autumn afternoon of Wednesday, September 24, 2014. (Photo by Ron Johnson/AP Photo/Peoria Journal Star)

It is said that Torajans are people who “live to die”. For this Indonesian ethnic group, funerals are such extravagant events that they sometimes attract tourists. Families can postpone burials years (and the deceased are considered sick and hosted at home until the funeral) until the family can raise enough money and gather as many relatives as possible. And then it’s a jubilant multiday social event with a parade, dances and animal sacrifices. Agung Parameswara photographed these funerary practices when he traveled to South Sulawesi province, where the Torajans live. (Photo by Agung Parameswara/The Washington Post)