A woman walks up the steps decorated ahead of the Chinese New Year festival in Beijing, China, Thursday, January 12, 2017. The Chinese Lunar New Year is the most important holiday for Chinese and hundreds of millions are expected to return to their hometown to spend the new year with their family and relatives. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

A Kathakali classical dancer (2L) watches artists rehearse the traditional folk dance Pulikkali (Tiger Dance) as they wait backstage before their performance at a cultural festival in Chennai on July 12, 2025. (Photo by R. Satish Babu/AFP Photo)

(L-R) American singers Gwen Stefani of No Doubt and Olivia Rodrigo perform at the Coachella Stage during the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 13, 2024 in Indio, California. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for No Doubt)

Member of Unifrance delegation Swiss actress Souheila Yacoub arrives for the screening of the film “Le Comte de Monte-Cristo” (The Count of Monte-Cristo) at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 22, 2024. (Photo by Loic Venance/AFP Photo)

Spectators shoot video with his their cellphones as Aerosparx Grob109b motor gliders launch fireworks while performing aerobatics at the end of Oeiras Valley Air Show, an aerobatics festival integrated in the Portugal Air Summit'22, over Santo Amaro Beach on October 16, 2022 in Oeiras, Portugal. The festival included various aerobatics performances with airplanes from the Air Race Championship, a Supermarine Spitfire, and air shows by former world champions Ramón Alonso, Castor Fantoba, Jorge Macias, Luís Garção, Quijote, Jacobstars and The Raven Team. It also had an overflight of the Portuguese Air Force F16s and, at the end of the afternoon, Aerosparx team illuminating Santo Amaro water mirror with fireworks launched from the airplanes' wings. (Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

A Japanese girl poses in a costume at a Chara Fes (character festival) event on October 26, 2003 in Tokyo. Cosplay (costume play) is becoming popular among Japanese youths, whereby participants dress up as their favourite characters from comics, computer games and animation. (Photo by Junko Kimura/Getty Images)

Actresses Vonnie Lui (R) and Yukiku Suou (L) attend the “3D s*x And Zen: Extreme Ecstacy” photocall at the Majestic Beach Pier during the 64th Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2011 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images)

“Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river. The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the Purna (complete) Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places (Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik). The Maha (great) Kumbh Mela which comes after 12 “Purna Kumbh Melas”, or 144 years, is held at Allahabad.

The last Ardh Kumbh Mela was held over a period of 45 days beginning in January 2007, more than 70 million Hindu pilgrims took part in the Ardh Kumbh Mela at Prayag, and on January 15, the most auspicious day of the festival of Makar Sankranti, more than 5 million participated. The previous Maha Kumbh Mela, held in 2001, was attended by around 60 million people, making it at the time the largest gathering anywhere in the world in recorded history”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Sadhus (holy men) smoke at their camp near the ritual site at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers during the Ardh Kumbh Mela festival (Half Pitcher festival) January 18, 2007 in Allahabad, India. Millions of Hindu pilgrims have flocked to the largest religious gathering in the world which lasts for 45 days in northern India. The festival commemorates the mythical conflict between gods and demons over a pitcher filled with the “nectar of immortality”. Devotees believe that taking a holy dip in the Ganges at this time washes away their sins and paves the path to salvation. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)